Story Ideas for Media 3-10-08

News

Spring break is just around the corner – March 14-24. Ohio State students are wrapping up winter quarter this week, with final exams scheduled through March 13. Spring break begins March 14. Spring quarter starts March 24.

Research

Large Binocular Telescope achieves “first light.” After more than a decade of preparation, the world’s most powerful telescope is now looking skyward with both of its massive eyes wide open. Owned by Ohio State and four other partners worldwide, the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) has successfully achieved first binocular light. With this latest milestone, the telescope will provide new and more powerful views of deep space, including potentially answering fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and mysterious worlds in other planetary systems. Resting atop Mount Graham in southeastern Arizona, the $120 million telescope is the first of a new generation of extraordinarily large optical telescopes that continue to break boundaries in astronomy and related fields. CONTACT: Kathleen Kennedy, (614) 688-4892. SEE: http://www.mps.ohio-state.edu/

Events

Bob Evans Farms CEO to give winter commencement address – March 16. Steven A. Davis, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Bob Evans Farms Inc., will deliver Ohio State’s winter quarter commencement address. Approximately 1,800 degrees will be awarded at the ceremony, which begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday (3/16), at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
In addition, during the commencement ceremony, Ohio State will award honorary degrees to Roy J. Glauber, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard University and winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics; and John G. Thompson, professor of mathematics at the University of Florida. The university will also present the Distinguished Service Award to Patricia Duke Robinson and Thomas E. Robinson of Troy, who have committed time and resources to many university projects. CONTACT: Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385.

Conference to examine online democracy – March 14. Ohio State will host an international conference to address a variety of e-democracy issues brought about by advances in technology. The Internet offers unprecedented capacity to network citizens with their governments, each other, and the organs of civil society. The conference, “Online Consultation and Public Policy Making: Democracy, Identity, and New Media” takes place on Friday (3/14), at the Barrister Club, 25 W. 11th Ave. It will feature researchers from Australia, England, France, Israel, Italy, Korea and Slovenia, as well as the United States, addressing a variety of e-democracy issues from diverse interdisciplinary backgrounds.
The conference is sponsored by the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, Moritz College of Law, and I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, all at The Ohio State University, and the Center for Technology and Government at State University of New York-Albany.
CONTACT: Cathy Becker, (614) 292-7529. SEE: http://mershoncenter.osu.edu/events/march08/reconnectingdemocracy.htm

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: Liz Cook; (614) 292-7276; Shelly Hoffman; (614) 247-4748; Jim Lynch; (614) 247-4110; or Amy Murray; (614) 292-8385.