Story Ideas for Media 2-6-06

News

University to help college-bound students fill out their financial aid forms – Feb. 12. One of the most important homework assignments of a student's career is due within the next several weeks: applying for financial aid. College-bound students have until March 1, the Ohio State deadline, to complete the Free Application for Federal Financial Aid (FAFSA) – the single largest source of college scholarships, grants and loans in the country.
Financial aid experts from Ohio State will be available to help families fill out the eight-page FAFSA form during "College Goal Sunday." On Sunday (2/12) from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., college financial aid experts from Ohio State and other institutions will be in 34 locations across the state to help college-bound families complete the FAFSA form in one afternoon. The free, expert assistance is part of a statewide effort to improve access to college for Ohioans. In Franklin County, financial aid experts will be assisting potential students and their families in four locations: Briggs High School, 2555 Briggs Rd; DeVry University, 1350 Alum Creek Dr.; Gahanna Lincoln High School, 140 S. Hamilton Rd.; and Westerville North High School, 950 County Line Rd. Participants must bring their parents' and their own 2005 IRS 1040 tax return and W2's along with any other 2005 income and benefits information. Students may register online through February 10 at "www.oasfaa.org/docs/forms/CGSReg.html. CONTACT: Jim Lynch, University Relations, (614) 247-4110.

Experts

Ohio State bioproducts initiative doing its part to end "addiction to oil" – President Bush's call to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, made during the recent State of the Union address, is being answered by the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center (OBIC). Created by the state's Third Frontier Project, OBIC joins Ohio State agricultural scientists with technology specialists at Battelle and Ohio companies such as Procter & Gamble and Scotts to generate specialty chemical products from domestic, renewable materials – like soybeans and corn – instead of petroleum. CONTACT: Stephen Myers, OBIC Director, (614) 292-1399, myers.603@osu.edu.

Events

Privacy protection and technology is focus of Glenn Institute event – Feb. 7. Battelle and the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy present the inaugural Battelle Policy Day, "Exploring the Intersection of 21st Century Technology and Personal Privacy Protection."
Battelle Policy Day is a full day of scholarly presentations and discussions about the impact of technology on security and privacy, on Tuesday (2/7) in Page Hall, 1810 S. College Rd. The event begins at 9 a.m. with welcoming remarks from Senator John Glenn, Ohio State President Karen Holbrook and Battelle President and CEO Carl Kohrt. Discussions include "The Due Process of Government Watch Lists" from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.; "Using Consumer Information to Improve Recalls," from 10:45 to 11:45 a.m.; Privacy and Access to Public Records in the Digital Age" from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., and "Human Error, Trust and Trustworthiness" from 2:45 to 3:45 p.m. Peter Swire, professor of law at Ohio State and former Chief Counselor for Privacy in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, will present the keynote address from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. CONTACT: Laura Sipe, Glenn Institute, (614) 247-6369

Lecture focuses on world's oceans – Feb. 7. Ransom A. Myers, Killam Chair of Ocean Studies at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia will give the inaugural lecture in the Mathematical Biosciences Institute (MBI) Public Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Tuesday (2/7) in the Fawcett Center auditorium, 2400 Olentangy River Rd. Myers will speak on "The Global Loss of Top Predators in the Ocean: Consequences of a World Without Sharks, Tuna and Great Fish." Recently named by Fortune magazine as one of the world's top ten people to watch, Myers is an oceanographer with degrees in mathematics, physics and biology. His recent research has shown that within the last 50 years, the abundance of large fish predators has been reduced by approximately 90 percent. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The MBI, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, is the only national institute devoted entirely to the interaction of the mathematical sciences with life sciences. The MBI offers a community of mathematical and biological scholars the opportunity to collaborate in developing new mathematical theories, statistical methods and computational algorithms for the analysis of the vastly growing amount of biological data. This academic year, the MBI is focused on ecology and evolution, two areas of biology that have historically benefited most from mathematical methods. CONTACT: MBI, (614) 292-3648, http://mbi.osu.edu

Ohio State offers lecture series on Ohio's Indians – Feb. 8. The American Indian Studies Program at The Ohio State University announces its first lecture series – Native Ohio: Leaders and Landscape in the Cradle of American Indian Studies. The lectures are free and open to the public and will be held on four Wednesday evenings through May from 7-9 p.m. in 210 Main Library, 1858 Neil Ave. The first lecture, "Black Hawk and Keokuk: Intertribal Politics of Leadership," is Wednesday (2/8) and features Donald Fixico, a premier Native American scholar who is professor of history at Arizona State University. While at Ohio State, Fixico will meet with the American Indian Council and American Indian Student Services. He will also view the archives at the Ohio Historical Society and visit the Ohio State-Newark campus and the Indian Earthworks in the Newark area. CONTACT: Amy Murray (614) 292-8385.

Lecture series looks at "Public Faith, Public Reason" – Feb. 8. David C. Jehnsen heads the Institute for Human Rights and Responsibilities in Galena, will deliver a free public address at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday (2/8) at the Humanities Institute, 104 East 15th Ave. Jehnsen, who worked with Dr. Martin Luther King in the 1960's, provides leadership training in Kingian principles of non-violent conflict resolution and sits on the Steering Committee of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, four of whose members are being held hostage in Iraq. His visit is 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. CONTACT: Laura Sipe, Glenn Institute, (614) 292-4545.

Nuclear Expert to Present Lecture at Ohio State – Feb. 14. Siegfried S. Hecker, director emeritus of Los Alamos National Laboratory and visiting professor at Stanford University, will deliver "A Personal Perspective of the Changing Nuclear Threat" at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, (2/14) at the Blackwell, 2110 Tuttle Park Place. Hecker's talk, which is free and open to the public, will address the challenges in avoiding a nuclear 9/11. According to Hecker, while the Cold War nuclear deterrence brought an uneasy global peace, the dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in a resurgence of regional and ethnic conflicts, troubling nuclear proliferation developments, and the emergence of international catastrophic terrorism. The gravity of these developments was demonstrated on 9/11. Now, our country faces new difficult challenges that threaten international order and our way of life. While in Columbus, Hecker will also be the featured speaker for the Crichton Club, at a private presentation at the Columbus Museum of Art. CONTACT: Gina Langen, OSU College of Engineering, (614) 688-4423, langen.2@osu.edu

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