Environmental Lecture Series on The Ecology of Urban Living

The 21st Ashland University Environmental Lecture Series kicked off on Sept. 20 with a discussion of urban streams by Dr. Anne Jefferson, Assistant Professor of Geology, Kent State University. Our theme this year is "The Ecology of Urban Living."  

Dr. Jefferson's presentation was titled "The Science of Streams in the City" and can be viewed here.

This year's series continues Thursday, Oct. 11 with a presentation by by Dr. Parwinder Grewal, Director of the Center for Urban Development and the Environment at OSU-OARDC. He will be discussing "Urban Agriculture, Food Security, and Ecological Footprint of Cities."  [7:30 pm, HCSC Auditorium] 

Dr. Grewal will focus on the potential value and hurdles in developing sustainable urban agricultural enterprises. Daily needs of cities for food, water, energy, and other materials are met almost exclusively through importation of goods from distant places, often across continents. Urban agriculture offers a comprehensive framework for local self-reliance and resilience and a means to reducing the ecological footprint of cities. Interest in urban agriculture has escalated recently due to the accumulation of vacant land particularly in post-industrial U.S. cities and motivation to address food insecurity and childhood obesity issues in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. Urban agriculture can revitalize affected neighborhoods and cities by generating new employment opportunities, increasing access to healthy food and sustaining cities by  forming closed-loop ecological systems with vacant spaces, waste water and solid waste as potential resources. 

Dr. Grewal is based in Wooster and holds joint appointments with OARDC and OSU

Extension. Dr. Grewal’s basic research has  made important contributions to the mitigation of insect pests in both agricultural and urban settings.  Grewal created the interdisciplinary Urban Landscape Ecology Program,  which brings together scientists from a wide range of disciplines to address challenges to urban landscapes and ecosystems.

The Environmental Lecture Series is supported by the Ashland University Environmental Science Program and a grant from the Lubrizol Foundation.  All lectures are free and open to the public.

Two AU Students Receive National ACS Scholarships

Senior Biochemistry and Biology major Jared Baisden and Junior Toxicology and Environmental Science/Biology major Cassie Nix, have been awarded scholarships this year through the American Chemical Society Scholars Program.  Both Jared and Cassie are actively involved in undergraduate research this year.  Jared’s honors thesis is focused on the isolation of compounds produced by wilting red maple leaves, which may be associated with toxicity to horses that eat these leaves.  He is working under the supervision of Dr. Jeff Weidenhamer.  Cassie is working with Dr. Andrew Trimble on the analysis of estrogens and DDT in environmental samples, and on the analysis of toxic alkaloids in jimsonweed plants.

Jared Baisden

This American Chemical Society program awards renewable scholarships of up to $5,000 to underrepresented students who want to enter the fields of chemistry or chemistry-related fields, such as environmental science, toxicology and chemical technology.  High school seniors and college freshmen, sophomores, or juniors are eligible to apply. 

Cassie Nix

The ACS Scholars Program was established in 1994 to attract African American, Hispanic, and American Indian students considered underrepresented in the chemical sciences by the National Science Foundation to pursue careers in the field.  The program also aims to build awareness of the value and rewards associated with careers in chemistry and to assist students in acquiring skills and credentials needed for success.  AU aluma Marie Southerland (Biochemistry ’12) was a previous recipient of this award. 

Toxicology graduate works for Ohio Department of Health

Tricia Matz (Toxicology ’11) recently received her Master’s degree in Public Health from Ohio State University with a dual specialization in Epidemiology as well as Health Behavior, Health Promotion.  Following graduation, she was hired to serve as the Adolescent Health Epidemiologist for the Ohio Department of Health, Department of Maternal and Child Health.  At ODH, she is working with data from the Youth Risk Behavioral Survey along with some surveys conducted in the state.  Her primary role is to use the data to assess the health of adolescents in Ohio to determine if any trends exist for particular behaviors (seat belt use, tobacco use, alcohol use, etc.).  Tricia will also use the data collected to compare Ohio adolescents to those in the nation to see how Ohio adolescents are doing overall, as well as some areas where more programming and policies are needed. 

Full-time research internship with the U.S. EPA

Brenda Parris (Toxicology/EVS ’03) is an environmental scientist at the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water of the U.S. EPA in Cincinnati.  She is looking for recent college graduates to fill two paid intern positions.  Start dates may be in January or possibly June of 2013.  Applications must be postmarked by September 30, 2012.  

Contact Dr. Rebecca Corbin, Associate Professor of Chemistry, for additional information about this opportunity.  Ashland science alumni and graduating seniors are encouraged to apply.

Biology major volunteers as HIV/AIDS prevention educator in Tanzania

Gina Laginya, a senior Biology major from Youngstown, Ohio, spent this summer helping educate local Tanzanians about HIV/AIDS prevention with the Global Service Corps.  Gina writes that:

"I had the best time in Tanzania. Words cannot describe the amount of growth and realization I experienced from being outside of my comfort zone. East African views and culture is tremendously different than ours. Being submerged into the Tanzanian way of life has allowed me to truly understand world problems with a new perspective. I am more than grateful for the knowledge and experience that I gained while in Tanzania. I would suggest fellow students to consider an international volunteer opportunity, as I found my experience to be life altering."

Gina is interested in pursuing a career in health care in the area of community medicine.  This volunteer opportunity in international health arose through conversations with Ashland University's Global Education Office Director, Rebecca Parillo.  If you are interested in investigating possible international internship, course, or volunteer options check out our new study abroad for science students wiki page, or the Global Education Office webpage.

Ashland microbiologist publishes new review article

Paul Hyman, Assistant Professor of Biology at AU, along with his OSU colleague Stephen T. Abedon, have published a review article in CAB Reviews entitled "High-affinity and -specificity, bacteriophage-based technologies: beyond phage therapy."  Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacterial cells.  In this minireview, they examine technologies that take advantage of the very specific interactions of bacteriophages with their bacterial hosts to develop new medically-oriented tests and pharmaceuticals.  These technologies include phage display which is used to develop pharmaceuticals and biomaterials as well as several bacterial detection methods for more rapid detection and diagnosis of bacterial contamination or infection.

Dr. Hyman is currently conducting research with several Ashland University biology majors in one of our newest faculty/student research labs.  This lab was part of $1.4 million in renovations that took place in the Ashland Science Center this summer.

Summer course heads to Great Smoky Mountains

This summer Dr. Dick Stoffer taught his summer course on the Ecology of the Great Smoky Mountains, which includes a camping and hiking trip to Tennessee.  One of the students on the trip this year, Junior toxicology major Cassie Nix, shared some pictures with us.

One particularly exciting night required Dr. Stoffer to move a timber rattlesnake out of the campsite.  You can see some video of that operation here.

Timber Rattlesnake

Flame Azalea

White Tail Deer Doe