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THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2013 • OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY CORVALLIS, OREGON 97331
DAILYBAROMETER.COM
Junior college transfers bolster defensive line
VOLUME CXVI, NUMBER 112
OSU faces impacts of sequestration Areas of research at Oregon State confront cutbacks, look for ways to lessen the blows
mated financial impact this year to OSU as a result of the sequester cuts will be $10,098,211. In particular, three areas of OSU funding will sustain the most significant financial impacts: Federal research funding, land-grant capacity By Gabriella Morrongiello funds and federal student aid. The Daily Barometer On March 1, President Barack Obama “We’re disturbed by this,” said Rick signed into law a federal budget seques- Spinrad, OSU’s vice president for tration that plans to reduce the fed- research. “We obviously would have eral deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next liked to have seen a resolution from decade. congress that wasn’t as immediately According to the Oregon State impactful, [but] people are being realistic University Research Office, the esti- about this and are trying to find ways to n
accommodate these hits.” Spinrad has been busy educating faculty members, staff and students on the three conditions concerning sequestration he believes are most important. “It’s real, it’s inflexible and it’s inconsistent from one agency to another,” Spinrad said. Of the expected $10 million hit to OSU, about 95 percent of the cuts will be in research funding. The OSU Research Office estimates a significant loss of about $7 million in the salaries and benefits of research professors,
faculty research assistants and graduate research assistants. These reductions are also expected to result in the eventual loss of 105 research-related jobs, half of which will be full-time faculty research assistance positions. “We expect the similar amount of sequestration to the research department every year for the next nine years,” Spinrad said. According to Spinrad, OSU received $176 million in research funding last year. Around 20 different federal
agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sponsor research at Oregon State. Each agency is facing at least a 5 percent budget cut resulting in a 5 percent cut to federally funded OSU research programs. Some faculty members have been told by their supporting agency they can expect cuts to their current research See SEQUESTRATION | page 2
Tackling state hunger OSU’s chapter of Enactus plans to start up a food pantry in Tillamook by the end of April
skills to real-world scenarios. Enactus has been up and running for six years, and the division dedicated to fighting hunger has been around for four. OSU Enactus’ hunger initiative team operates both on a national and a local By Jack Lammers The Daily Barometer level. The local level has been of parIt did not take long for Oregon State ticular importance, especially considerUniversity Enactus to fire up a major ing Oregon is one of the top-five worst project countering food insecurity in states in the country when it comes to childhood food insecurity. Oregon. This endeavor to create the pantry In March, OSU Enactus met with Tillamook community members to talk has required extensive planning to about starting up a food pantry in their configure how to start up and maintain area, primarily for Tillamook, which has the pantry. Natasha Badaa, project lead for Enactus, said the goal of the pantry grappled with food insecurity. “My unearned entitlement was bla- is to help people in bouts with food tant as I conversed with the woman insecurity. “Right now we across from me, who, are on a short time at 40, was just comframe, but we are pleting her GED and We are addressing taking skills we’ve confessed to living on learned to help them the need for food food stamps for seven set up their pantry,” years,” said Jenna security on college Badaa said. Wiegand, incoming campuses. I am OSU Enactus projThe group is workect lead for Fighting ing with Tillamook excited to go back Hunger in the Bay Community in three weeks. Homeland. College to reduce hunger in Tillamook Now, only a month Natasha Badaa and is planning to later, OSU Enactus OSU Enactus project lead offer seminars and — as a part of its community resourcFighting Hunger in the es to make the pantry Homeland Initiative — is working to have the pantry open self-sufficient. by April 27. Many employees in Tillamook work To complete the project, OSU minimum-wage jobs, with about twoEnactus partnered with Tillamook Bay thirds of the population living below Community College. Grants and part- the poverty line. nership with the Oregon Food Bank will “Tillamook is one of the most impovhelp finance the project. erished areas in Oregon,” Badaa said. “We have been meeting with partThe Tillamook project is another ners, filling out paperwork for legal Enactus project made possible by their status and training our team so that coordination with the OSU food pantry, the pantry can open on time,” Wiegand with which they designed curricusaid. lum to train universities to understand Formerly known as Students in Free and address food insecurity in their Enterprise, Enactus is an entrepreneur- communities. ship club focused on giving students See ENACTUS | page 2 opportunities to apply their business
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Courtesy of OSU enactus
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OSU Enactus volunteers led by Natasha Badaa (middle) hope to have a food pantry set up to serve Tillamook by April 27.
jackie seus
| THE DAILY BAROMETER
OSU student Spencer Mairs has expanded his role with the Audobon Society by teaching elementary school students and working on the 2020 bird-monitoring project, studying climate change and bird populations.
Aspirations overtake Asperger’s OSU student Spencer Mairs talks about living with Asperger’s syndrome, his educational involvement with Audobon Society, community
university Chorale, Bird Nerds and projects involving the study of birds. This year, his involvement in the Audubon Society has expanded. “Last week, I was helping out our education coordinator with a couple of first-graders, and I taught them a little By Katherine Choi bit about birds and took them out for a little nature hike,” The Daily Barometer By hearing the mere call of a bird, Spencer Mairs can Mairs said. His expertise in ornithology, the study of birds, has also identify the species with little difficulty. allowed him to work with Douglas Robinson, associate Mairs, who studies fisheries and wildlife at Oregon State University, may seem like a typical college student with his professor at OSU, on the 2020 bird-monitoring project, which is looking at birds and climate change in the state of own special set of skills and expertise. But, what Oregon. Mairs’s job is to conduct bird surveys many people might not know about Mairs is that in the Corvallis area. he is diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. Mairs has earned the titles “professional Asperger’s syndrome falls under the scope of birder” and “expert birder” as a result of his autism spectrum disorders. According to the expertise in birds and wildlife. National Alliance on Mental Illness, “[Asperger’s] Mairs’s love and passion for birds came from syndrome involves several social impairments his childhood adventures with his family. and restricted interests.” “There’s a cute little picture of me on the back In his junior year of high school, Mairs was of my dad at one of the local wildlife refugees,” given a series of tests to see if he had Asperger’s. Mairs said. “One of the early memories that While some tests assessed his basic math and I remember is going out to the Sacramento English skills, other tests assessed his reflexes and Wildlife Refuge and looking at ducks and geese, sensitivity to stimuli. especially during the winter time.” Spencer Mairs In 2002, Mairs was diagnosed with Asperger’s Other than birding, Mairs enjoys biking and syndrome. singing for the university chorale. Mairs has struggled with anxiety, starting conversations “This guy could be a professional singer,” said Jo with new people and picking up non-verbal cues and Alexander, program manager for Deaf and Hard of Hearing sarcasm. Access Services. “He has an amazing voice.” “With sarcasm, I had a really hard time figuring out if Although Mairs sometimes wishes he had a “normal” people were actually saying what they really meant or brain, he knows that if he never had Asperger’s, he would were just being sarcastic,” Mairs said. “I always took stuff not be the same person he is today. so literal.” “Some days, I do wish that things would be better and I When he’s around people he knows well, Mairs said he wish things were easier for me to understand,” Mairs said. has no trouble opening up and starting a conversation. “I told my mom at one point: If I had some type of normal However, when Mairs is surrounded by strangers, he finds brain at all, I would probably be done with school and it difficult to answer questions and process information probably would have had a job by now, but she told me because of his anxiety. that it’s a part of who I am.” But Mairs’ anxiety hasn’t stopped him from being an Well-known figures like Albert Einstein, Vernon Smith, active member in the community. See Mairs | page 2 Mairs is involved in the Audubon Society of Corvallis, n