Story Ideas for Media 1/17/06
News
Ohio State opens new office for undergraduate research – Research collaborations between undergraduates and faculty at The Ohio State University should become more common through a new Undergraduate Research Office that has been created to foster undergraduate research opportunities.
A collaboration between the Office of Research and the Office of Enrollment Services and Undergraduate Education, the new office coordinates a variety of programs and venues to engage undergraduate students in research activities within the Ohio State community. The office will function not only as an incubator – providing support for research endeavors – but as a catalyst to encourage more undergraduate research to take place.
"Our ultimate goal is to make research experience a part of the culture for students at Ohio State," said Allison Snow, the new office's director. Snow, a nationally-respected researcher and a professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, says, "Research should be a vital part of the educational process for all students, regardless of whether they are in the sciences or the humanities or in the honors program." CONTACT: Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385 or murray-goedde.1@osu.edu
Research
Car make, age and fuel economy all affect how much vehicles pollute, study finds – When it comes to how much automobiles pollute, some makes are cleaner than others.
Jean-Michel Guldmann, professor of city and regional planning at Ohio State, studied data on nearly 4 million cars that underwent government-mandated emissions tests in three states and found that cars manufactured by German auto maker BMW were the least likely to fail these state pollution tests. Cars manufactured by Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Chrysler and GM were most likely to fail. Guldman says while other studies have analyzed data from state emissions tests, this is the first time that researchers examined how different car makes compared.
"There are several factors that determine how much cars and trucks pollute, and vehicle make is one of the more significant," Guldmann said.
In the case of trucks, Honda, Nissan and Toyota models were least likely to fail pollution tests, while Mitsubishi, Mazda and Chrysler were most likely to fail. The study also found that the vehicles that polluted the most tended to be those that were older models, had higher mileage, poorer fuel economy, and were less-well-maintained. CONTACT: Jean-Michel Guldmann, (614) 292-2257; Guldmann.1@osu.edu, SEE: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/carpolut.htm
Events
Students urged to 'dress for success' for career and job fair – Jan. 18-19. Job-hunting students can meet with representatives of 111 diverse local, national and international companies at the Office of Minority Affairs' 33rd Annual Career and Job Fair, Wednesday and Thursday (1/18-19) in the Ohio Union ballrooms, 1739 N. High St. The two-day event, which has attracted 1,700 participants in past years, is open to all students and is the largest of its kind at Ohio State. On Wednesday (1/18) from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., students can meet with company representatives and discuss possible opportunities. Some prospects may be invited to return for Interview Day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday (1/19) which is not a second Job Fair day. CONTACT: Luis Diez, Office of Minority Affairs, Career and Job Fair Student Association, (614) 292-4608.
Seminar looks at Post-Katrina Louisiana – Jan. 19. The causes and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and coastal Louisiana will be the topic of a presentation at 7 p.m. on Thursday (1/19) at the Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, 352 W. Dodridge St. John W. Day, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University Distinguished will discuss "The Mississippi River Delta and New Orleans: Post-Katrina humanity and ecology in a time of scarcity," in the Ruth E. Smart Wetland Library of the Heffner Wetland Research and Education Building. Day, who has written more than 200 papers on estuarine and coastal ecology, currently serves on an advisory committee to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on post-Hurricane Katrina restoration in the Louisiana Delta.
CONTACT:: William Mitsch, Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, (614) 292-9774 or mitsch.1@osu.edu
Event celebrates formation of academic department – Jan. 20. Ohio State's newest academic department, the Department of Biomedical Engineering, will celebrate its inauguration from 12-12:30 p.m. Friday (1/20) at the Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Rd. Faculty members will attend to showcase their research in this burgeoning field, and the department will honor Professor Herman Weed, an alumnus and former faculty member who pioneered biomedical engineering at Ohio State in 1971. The department status, which became official
Jan. 1, was approved by the university's board of trustees in November. CONTACT: Andreas von Recum, chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 614-292-1285 or Vonrecum.1@osu.edu; Joan Slattery Wall, Engineering Communications, 614-292-4064 or wall.107@osu.edu.
Glenn Institute presents E.J. Dionne – Jan. 25. Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne will deliver a free public address at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday (1/25) at the Ohio Union Conference Theatre, 1739 N. High St. Dionne, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, writes on issues of religion, civil society and civic engagement. His visit is the first of three lectures scheduled for this quarter as part of a new speaker series, "Public Faith, Public Reason" sponsored by the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy and the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities. The lecture is free and open to the public, but RSVP's are required by Jan 20 to (614) 688-3208 or jan25@jgippm.ohio-state.edu. CONTACT: Laura Sipe, Glenn Institute, (614) 292-4545.
The person listed as the CONTACT will have the most current information about the story. Call on our media relations staff for help with any Ohio State story: Shelly Hoffman, (614) 247-4748 or hoffman.511@osu.edu, Jim Lynch, (614) 247-4110 or lynch.270@osu.edu, or Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385 or murray-goedde.1@osu.edu
