Scholarship available for bio and chem majors

Thermo Fisher Scientific is offering two-$10,000 scholarships and four-$5,000 scholarships for the 2012/2013 academic year to students majoring in biology, biochemistry or chemistry.  The deadline for applications is July 15th and application information can be found here.

Biology Professor Merrill Tawse takes part in bat survey

Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat, captured
by mist net in Florida

Professor Merrill Tawse is well known as one of the State of Ohio's foremost bat experts.  But this past month he worked as a team leader for a "Bat Blitz" in the Apalachicola National Forest in the Florida panhandle.  Along with 10 other team leaders Professor Tawse led groups of volunteers using mist nets to identify local bats and determine which species occur in the national forest.  Much of the trapping occurred in cypress swamps, where hollow cypress trees can be used as bat roosting sites.

Professor Tawse wrote:

A hollow cypress tree and
potential bat roosting site

"Getting back into some very remote sections of this land of gators, bears and a variety of snakes with “super spit” (venomous), the 11 team leaders and their crews ranging in size from four to ten people caught 246 bats of 8 different species, making this the most comprehensive bat survey ever conducted in the state of Florida.   Exciting finds included the Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) and the Seminole Bat (Lasiurus seminolus), somewhat similar to our Eastern Red Bat (Lasiurus borealis), which were also found during the survey."

The region where bats were collected has been in drought conditions and the teams had to be careful of several wildfires sparked by lightning strikes.  But Professor Tawse was able to contribute information about Florida bat populations and will bring that experience back to Ohio where he works with Ashland University Biology students conducting research on the ecology of our local bat species.

Ashland University hosts the Ohio Academy of Science

AU alum Dr. J. Patrick Card provided the
keynote address for the Ohio Academy of
Science Meeting at Ashland University

The 121st annual meeting of the Ohio Academy of Science was held on the Ashland University campus on April 13 and 14. The meeting was attended by more than 300 academic, government, and industry scientists and engineers, including faculty and students from many of Ohio’s universities and colleges, as well as precollege teachers and students.  The theme of the meeting was Undergraduate Research, which was highlighted in an afternoon symposium featuring several Ashland University faculty members discussing their work with undergraduate students, as well as Dr. Tonia Hsieh of Temple University.

The meeting was keynoted by Dr. J. Patrick Card, a 1972 graduate of Ashland University. Card is professor of Neuroscience and co-director of the Center for Neuroanatomy with Neurotropic Viruses at the University of Pittsburgh. His lecture was titled “Mentorship, A Key to Success in Research, Teaching and Life,” and drew from his personal experience in studying the functional organization of the hypothalamus and central autonomic networks to highlight the importance of mentorship in developing a successful career in academia or industry.

Ashland’s science programs were well-represented at the meeting by numerous student oral and poster presentations of their research in Biology, Chemistry and Geology.

Lynette Vana stands by her poster reporting on the effects of the pesticide chlorpyrifos on rat gene expression in the brain, which was advised by Dr. Mason Posner.

Julie Arko (left) and MaryKate Casper stand by their posters describing research on polymer synthesis with Dr. Perry Corbin.

Geology/Environmental Science Major receives Scholarship

Ashland University junior Mitch Ramsey has been selected to receive a $1000 Central OhioMineral, Fossil, Gem, and Jewelry Show Scholarship.  This scholarship is offered to a deserving student of the earth sciences. It holds an annual minimum of $1,000. This Gem and Jewelry Show is an annual show held in the spring in Columbus, Ohio, and its purpose is to educate the general public and promote the encouragement of careers in the earth sciences.

Job Outlook Bright in the Sciences

A new report from Change the Equation.org finds that the job outlook is good for individuals with a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) background. Their analysis of online job postings and unemployment data in the past 3 years finds that across the STEM fields, job postings outnumbered unemployed people by almost 2-to-1, while overall, unemployed people outnumbered job postings by well more than 3-to-1.  For healthcare occupations that require STEM training, there were 3.2 jobs per unemployed person.

"Our analysis of online job postings and unemployment data shows similar patterns across every state," said Linda Rosen, CEO of Change the Equation. "For their own economic vitality, states must put in place policies that help workers get retrained with STEM skills, offer incentives to students to master STEM knowledge, and focus on the pipeline--beginning in elementary school--to create a robust supply of STEM-adept citizens."

The "STEM Help Wanted" Vital Signs report is available at the organization’s website at www.changetheequation.org/stemdemand.  Change the Equation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative that is mobilizing the business community to improve the quality of science, technology, engineering and mathematics learning in the United States. 

Kettering labs and classrooms undergoing renovations

With the growth of the Chemistry and Biology programs as a consequence of adding the new Dwight Schar College of Nursing and HealthSciences, additional renovations are being made to Kettering Science Center this summer.  Demolition of old classroom and laboratory spaces began on May 7th and will be completed prior to the start of fall classes.  The $1.4 million project will provide a completely renovated Analytical Chemistry laboratory, a new Microbiology laboratory, three new research laboratories to support faculty-mentored student research in Chemistry, Biology, and Geology, and relocation of the Geology teaching laboratory and microscopy room.

Two Biology majors co-author a new research paper on lens protein evolution

Jackie Skiba and Amy Drossman

Biology majors Amy Drossman ('11) and Jackie Skiba ('10) recently published a portion of their undergraduate research in the journal PLoS One.  Their project, mentored by Professor of Biology Mason Posner, provides new insights into the function of a protein involved in preventing diseases as diverse as Alzheimer's, cancer and lens cataracts.  The Ashland University research team collaborated on this newly published work with scientists from the National Eye Institute and Miami University of Ohio.

The Antarctic toothfish was used to study
how a human protein could be modified
to better prevent disease

The protein at the center of this new paper, alpha crystallin, is a member of the small heat shock protein family, which is used in most tissues of the human body to prevent the clumping of proteins that could lead to multiple types of diseases.  While most research on these protective proteins is done in mammals like mice or humans, the Ashland University research team used six species of fishes to examine how alpha crystallin has evolved to function at different body temperatures.  This unique approach allowed the researchers to identify small changes in the protein that increased its protective ability.  Similar changes engineered into human versions of alpha crystallin could potentially enhance the body's ability to protect itself against disease.

Amy and Jackie previously presented their findings at an international vision research meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2010.  Amy is currently attending the Illinois College of Optometry in Chicago and Jackie is working as a quality control technician in the coffee division of the Smuckers Corporation.