ASCENT Autumn 2018 by College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio State

NEWS FROM THE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AT OHIO STATE AUTUMN 2018

A DINOSAUR FOR ORTON STUDENTS ON-SITE IN SCIOTO COUNTY REINVENTING HOW MATH IS TAUGHT

PICK YOUR POISON

VENOM RESEARCHERS ARE MAKING POWERFUL DISCOVERIES [pg. 15]

COVER IMAGE: Photo taken by Heather Glon, a PhD student in Professor Meg Daly’s lab studying biogeography and evolution of sea anemones. Learn more about our researchers’ work with venom on pg. 15.

IN THIS ISSUE ON CAMPUS 6 10

ANNIVERSARIES & MILESTONES IN THE ARTS

HISTORY AND INNOVATION ENTWINE AT RENOVATED POMERENE HALL Iconic campus building reopens after two years

THE OHIO FIELD SCHOOL Student research on-site in Scioto County

A DINOSAUR FOR ORTON Crowdfunding campaign brings Cryolophosaurus to life at Orton Hall

JUST MONKEYING AROUND Student researchers study the endangered bonobos at the Columbus Zoo

THE ECONOMICS OF IMMIGRATION Students experience service-learning in Mexico

AN UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY As a Monda Scholar, one Arts and Sciences student continues his nontraditional path

FAMILY MATTERS Children create scholarship to honor their parents

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STUDENTS

PICK YOUR POISON Our venom researchers are making powerful discoveries THE AFRICAN CENTURY Studying the implications of population growth in Africa

ALUMNI

HUMANITY AND THE HUMANITIES A day with Frederick Luis Aldama

MAKING A DIFFERENCE Arts and Sciences alumni pay forward by giving back

NEUTRINO HUNTERS Astrophysicists unlock mysteries deep beneath Antarctic ice

IMMERSIVE WORLDS Using classics to create video games

THE SCIENCE OF PEACE Political scientists challenge conventional wisdom of conflict

BRINGING ART AND HISTORY TO LIFE Anthropology alumna designs corsets for TV and music videos

RESILIENCE IN THE AFTERMATH OF GENOCIDE Learning from victims, perpetrators of Rwandan genocide

BLINDSPOTS One alumna’s quest to uncover our hidden biases

THE COOPERATION DESTINATION Concepts and creations converge at the Collaboration for Humane Technologies

PRESERVING HISTORY Young alumna ensures prosperity of tetrapod collection

HONORING EXCELLENCE Recognizing service and achievements

OUTREACH 30

DO THE MATH Ohio State mathematicians have a formula

CUE THE LIGHTS Carmina Burana: A campus collaboration

BE THE STREET Ohio State and Hilltop residents use performance to create community

A FOCUS ON STUDENT SUCCESS Arts and Sciences launches the new Center for Career and Professional Success

IN EVERY ISSUE 4

A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

RESEARCH & SCHOLARSHIP

INVESTING IN EXCELLENCE

READ THE ISSUE ONLINE AT

ASC.OSU.EDU/ASCENT

ASC IN THE FIELD: Melisa Diaz, PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences, spent her winter break in Antarctica studying how ecosystems respond to changes in climate.

COLLEGE LEADERSHIP (top photo, from left to right) Peter Hahn, Divisional Dean of Arts and Humanities, Outreach and Engagement; Professor of History Morton Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Kelly, Divisional Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Research; Professor of Geography Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier, Interim Executive Dean and Vice Provost; Vernal Riffe Professor of Political Science Luis Casian, Divisional Dean of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Graduate Affairs; Professor of Mathematics Trevon Logan, Faculty Fellow for Special Priorities; Hazel C. Youngberg Distinguished Professor of Economics

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A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

ASCENT The act or process of ascending; advancement. EDITOR Kevin Leonardi

Greetings from The Oval! I am continually inspired by the remarkable work and achievements happening in the College of Arts and Sciences, and I am excited to share some of that inspiration with you in this issue of ASCENT. For the past 25 years, I have had the pleasure of serving on the Ohio State faculty, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to give back to the College of Arts and Sciences and the university as interim executive dean and vice provost after four years as divisional dean of social and behavioral sciences. In Ohio State’s College of Arts and Sciences, knowledge is not the means to an end. It is the start of whatever comes next. It is an enormous privilege to watch that process unfold in myriad ways across our 38 departments. The College of Arts and Sciences is a community of excellence that equips the next generation of artists, scholars and scientists for career and professional success. The college also serves as a hub for the whole of Ohio State. We are charting the course for groundbreaking research, innovative teaching, and general education — as world-class faculty prepare our talented students from colleges and majors across campus to find success in their fields. In this issue, I was impressed with so much, including our milestone anniversaries and exciting trajectory in the arts; my colleague Hollie Nyseth Brehm and her students, who study the lasting impacts of the Rwandan genocide; and our Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology and its study of natural venoms and their applications in creating new therapies. I am also awestruck by our amazing alumni featured in this issue. These are just a small sample of those who put their Arts and Sciences education into action through their exciting careers, their service to others and their love for their alma mater as they help equip our students for success. We often call the College of Arts and Sciences the academic heart of Ohio State. This is not simply because of our size, but rather it is because this is where arts, humanities, and natural, mathematical, social and behavioral sciences can converge in unique and unexpected ways. When we combine different perspectives and expertise, we can better investigate critical problems through creative and scholarly inquiry, engage the public in reciprocal community collaborations, and deliver an exceptional education for Ohio State students. Please join me in celebrating our excellence in the stories contained here, because our faculty, staff and students are generating knowledge that changes the world — with the steadfast support of alumni and friends around the globe.

DESIGN Molly Kime CONTRIBUTORS Elizabeth Alcalde Erik Pepple Denise Blough Sandi Rutkowski Victoria Ellwood Avery Samuels Jennifer Farmer Juliana Scheiderer Josh Friesen Hannah Smith Breanne LeJeune DIGITAL Julie Brown PHOTOGRAPHY Plain Janell Photography

Welcome to the College of Arts and Sciences at The Ohio State University. For us, ASCENT reflects the amazing potential and value of an arts and sciences education at Ohio State. The Buckeye experience is powerful, transformative and stays with us throughout our lives, reaching far beyond geographic borders. We want to share these stories with you, and we hope that you’ll share your stories, ideas and feedback with us.

CIRCULATION ASCENT is mailed annually to alumni and donors. We also send supplemental updates to our alumni, students, faculty, staff, donors and friends throughout the year via email communications.

CONTACT US/UNSUBSCRIBE Please send us your feedback, comments and story ideas. To stop receiving this magazine send an email to asccomm@osu.edu, or notify us by mailing a note to: 1010 Derby Hall 154 N. Oval Mall Columbus, OH 43210

With gratitude,

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier Interim Executive Dean and Vice Provost Vernal Riffe Professor of Political Science

186 University Hall 230 N. Oval Mall Columbus, Ohio 43210 asc.osu.edu

ON CAMPUS

Colloquy by Stanley Berke, University Dance Company (1979), photo credit Harry Blaine.

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ANNIVERSARIES & MILESTONES IN THE ARTS The power and impact of the arts at Ohio State is undeniable. At the college, we are providing upgrades to our facilities, and as a university, we are heavily investing in our physical environment, especially in the arts. Significant progress has been made on the Arts District, as Ohio State now enters the design phase for the most ambitious arts renovation in its nearly 150-year history. Moreover, several groups within the arts are celebrating key milestones this year, making 2018 more exciting than ever.

DEPARTMENT OF DESIGN AT 50 The Ohio State Department of Design is celebrating 50 years of innovation and creation this year. The department’s roots were first found in the Department of Art, which offered study in interior design, industrial design and commercial art. As the years went on and the programs grew and flourished both here in Columbus and through a series of international faculty exchanges that deepened and enriched the already robust program, design emerged as an independent area of study in 1968, the year that the College of the Arts officially formed. And now, this fall, the department will celebrate with a wide range of events, all devised to illustrate the rich, impactful history of this influential and deeply respected program. Distinguished alumni will return to campus for reunions and camaraderie during Homecoming weekend and a celebration of Columbus’ thriving design scene via a series of design firm tours and rolling receptions.

THE BIG 5-OH: DEPARTMENT OF DANCE AT 50 The Department of Dance arrives at the half-century mark as one of the premier dance programs in the United States. Decades of “throwing its weight around” (as the department says in its 50th anniversary notice) has generated a legacy of partnership, innovation and creativity in the world of dance practice and theory. Thanks to ongoing relationships with Dance/USA, BalletMet Columbus, Movement Research Inc. of New York City, OhioDance and growing exchange programs with universities and centers in Europe, Asia, Central and South America, and Africa, the department has established a deep commitment to providing students and faculty with an immersive and comprehensive education. Combining rigorous theoretical work with vigorous physical practice, the educational experience is unmatched. Also new this year is a partnership with the Department of Theatre and School of Music to establish a minor in musical theatre, all housed in the home base of Sullivant Hall, situating them at the center of a campus-area arts district offering access to resources such as the Advanced Computing Center

A major exhibition will also take place at Urban Arts Space that shares the fascinating story of its evolution as a department; showcases the accomplishments of a select group of distinguished alumni; and demonstrates the department’s role in the creation of successful spaces, products, services, systems and experiences. Learn more at go.osu.edu/Design50.

for the Arts and Design (ACCAD); the Wexner Center for the Arts; and the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy, among many others. This year’s celebration arrives at the Barnett Theatre in Sullivant Hall for two weekends in November and features new works choreographed by dance faculty Crystal Michelle Perkins, Susan Van Pelt Petry, Daniel Roberts and Eddie Taketa, as well as a selection of Motion Lab (MOLA) performances by the Renegade Performance Group artistic director and choreographer Andre M. Zachary. It will be just a sampling of the innovation and creativity that has (and will continue to) burst from the department. Learn more at go.osu.edu/Dance50.

ASCENT

URBAN ARTS SPACE Celebrating its 10th birthday, Urban Arts Space continues to serve as a community resource and as an integral part of Columbus’ vibrant arts and culture scene. With a front-row seat for the revitalization of downtown Columbus, Urban Arts Space has hosted hundreds of exhibitions, performances, talks, artmaking classes and tours, bringing the creative work of Ohio State students, faculty and staff to the greater Columbus community.

DEPARTMENT OF ARTS ADMINISTRATION, EDUCATION AND POLICY A trio of anniversaries comes from the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy. The department celebrates 50 years as a community of scholars, faculty, staff, students and funders committed to engaging with the culture via top-tier research, policy, leadership and teaching. In 2018, the department’s ongoing Barnett Symposium celebrates 25 years and the Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise is celebrating five years of preparing students for careers in arts and entrepreneurial fields. When it comes to the impact and importance of the role of the arts in society, the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy has been at the forefront. The Barnett Symposium, established in 1993 by Lawrence R. Barnett and Isabel Bigley Barnett to support the Arts Policy and Administration Program, is just one vehicle to support this research and engagement. Through in-depth investigation and discussion of the nonprofit sector’s policies and practices, the symposium digs deep into the intersections of business, creativity, the arts and experience.

In those 10 years, thousands of guests have entered the space’s home in the historic Lazarus Building and have been impacted by the space’s diverse and accessible slate of programming, including “Pattern Thinking,” an exhibition curated by Arts and Sciences alumna Anne Keener, to the ongoing collaborative partnerships with such Columbus stalwarts as the Columbus Commons and the Columbus College of Art and Design. In addition to the impactful and memorable events in the galleries, Urban Arts Space has served as a professional launching pad for its student employees, with many past employees taking their gallery experience at the space and finding careers at the Wexner Center for the Arts and the Columbus Museum of Art, among many others.

This year’s celebratory symposium will feature international thought leaders and local innovators in dynamic, powerful conversations and will be headlined by keynote speakers JiaJia Fei, digital director at The Jewish Museum in New York City, and Joseph Conyers, assistant principal bassist at the Philadelphia Orchestra. It is a certain-to-be-compelling conversation that reflects on the past to catalyze and energize the future of the arts.

With its focus on encouraging open dialogue and creative collaboration, Urban Arts Space’s celebration of its first decade partners with the Department of Design to present its extensive 50th anniversary exhibition this October and tying its popular Art Explorations and Crafternoons artmaking sessions to key moments from its past, such as its memorable opening exhibition, “Midnight Robbers: The Artists of Notting Hill Carnival.”

Learn more at go.osu.edu/Barnett25.

Learn more at go.osu.edu/UAS10.

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RICT

A NEW ARTS DISTRICT Since 2009, when the College of Arts and Sciences united the legacy colleges to once again become a cohesive home to more than 38 departments and 21 centers, the college and university have invested more than $40 million to renovate its arts facilities. Most notably, Hopkins Hall and Sullivant Hall, renovated in 2011 and 2013, respectively, illustrate significant investments in facilities for the Departments of Art, Dance, Design, and Arts Administration, Education and Policy. The development of a new Arts District includes long-term plans to open Ohio Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s front door to the heart of the University District at 15th Avenue and High Street. The project, encompassing areas of campus between 15th

and 18th Avenues, envisions high-quality, modern learning environments for interaction across arts disciplines. Included are new facilities for the School of Music and Department of Theatre, which will feature a home for the new Moving Image Production program. The Arts District is part of Framework 2.0, a plan for the physical environment of the Columbus campus guided and informed by Ohio Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Time and Change strategic plan. Alumni, friends and supporters will help us bring music and theatre together as part of a cohesive, innovative arts and performance district designed for the students and audiences of today and the future.

Rendering of the Arts District at 15th and High Street, which will serve as an entrance to campus. Image courtesy of Campus Partners.

Learn more at pare.osu.edu/framework.

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ON CAMPUS

HISTORY AND INNOVATION ENTWINE AT RENOVATED POMERENE HALL Iconic campus building reopens after two years The arts and sciences are converging at the newly renovated Pomerene Hall on Neil Avenue, which now houses the Department of History of Art and the undergraduate data analytics major, as well as Ohio State’s Translational Data Analytics Institute. Located in the revived Mirror Lake District, Pomerene Hall has long been an emblem of campus. Its roughly $60 million renovation — most of which was funded by the state of Ohio — is the building’s first major update in nearly a century. “There was plaster falling from the ceiling in the hallways … in general the building looked and felt pretty neglected,” said Lisa Florman, professor and chair of the Department of History of Art, which was located in Pomerene Hall from 2010 until renovations began in summer 2016. Built in 1922, the hall originally served as a women’s student union, complete with a gymnasium and a swimming pool. In recent years the iconic building saw little use for its size. Acock Associates Architects, which headed the design of the renovation,

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did an amazing job both modernizing the building and respecting its historical character, according to Florman. “The embossed ceilings have been repaired; the interior woodwork brought back to its original luster; and the newly added masonry and brickwork on the exterior are absolutely indistinguishable from the original.” The history of art main office, seminar spaces and graduate student reading room have largely been kept intact, and an updated faculty suite and new undergraduate study room will breathe new life into the department, Florman said. For the undergraduate data analytics major — now in its fifth year — the renovation provides the program’s first dedicated physical space on campus. “Because the major is interdisciplinary, the students have never had a space that was their own,” said Brooke O’Leary, academic planning specialist for the data analytics major. “For the first time, they’ll have that space element to make them feel like they have a home on campus and that there’s a place for them to connect.”

VIDEO: See how the spaces in Pomerene Hall have been transformed to house the Department of History of Art, Data Analytics Program and Translational Data Analytics Institute: go.osu.edu/pomerene-reno

Pomerene Hall is a storied and iconic feature of campus, and the building’s history and integrity have been revived with its first major updates in nearly a century.

The data analytics program was created in 2014 in response to a quickly growing need for versatile data scientists, and, while the program is housed within the Department of Statistics at the College of Arts and Sciences, curricular partnerships exist between the College of Engineering, the College of Medicine and the Fisher College of Business.

“I think it’s going to be a dynamic space, and it’s got some excitement to it.”

The major’s new home in Pomerene features a student lounge space, a tutor room, two computer labs, several lecture halls and an advising office.

A portion of the renovation costs went toward other restorations within the Mirror Lake District, including updates to Oxley Hall and the Browning Amphitheater. The finished project is another stepping stone in the university’s Framework 2.0, a long-term vision for the transformation and revitalization of Ohio State’s physical campus to help strengthen Ohio State’s position as one of the world’s most important and effective centers of teaching and research.

Pomerene’s former gymnasium has been transformed into an “Ideation Zone” — a massive collaborative space for the Translational Data Analytics Institute — with movable furniture, meeting spaces and cutting-edge labs for building hardware, testing software and conducting large-scale data simulations. All of these advances lie upon 90 percent of the original wood floor. “It was important to at least make a nod to what the space was used for, and so you can still tell that it was a gymnasium,” said Ruth Miller, director of projects for Ohio State Facilities Operations and Development.

A new, three-story atrium and glass wall will serve as a modern intersection between the two main wings of the building.

“I like to see collaboration between the state of Ohio, The Ohio State University and then between the arts and the mathematical sciences,” O’Leary said. “The new building will be beautiful, and for anyone visiting campus it shows the breadth of what we offer here.”

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ON CAMPUS

A DINOSAUR FOR ORTON

Crowdfunding campaign brings Cryolophosaurus to life at Orton Hall There’s a saying around the Orton Geological Museum: “Every third-grader is a paleontologist.” When Orton Museum Director Bill Ausich and Curator Dale Gnidovec lead tours, they always report that their most enthusiastic patrons are in elementary school. “For every little boy in the back row pulling pigtails, there’s a little girl up front who knows more dinosaur names than I do,” said Ausich.

For more than 120 years, the Orton Geological Museum has played an important role in teaching, outreach and research, and the addition of the Cryolophosaurus in the building’s lobby helps further the university’s landgrant mission.

The oldest free public museum in the state, Orton is home to many exhibits that celebrate the prehistoric. From a 7-foot-tall giant sloth skeleton — the Megaloynx jeffersoni nicknamed Jeff — to collections of meteorites and mastodon teeth, there’s plenty for kids to marvel over. But with the recent addition of an entire dinosaur skeleton, molded from a fossil discovered by an Ohio State professor, enthusiasm and support for the museum is sure to increase exponentially. “You should see all the little kids who run up the steps just to see the museum,” Ausich said. “Can you imagine the excitement if there was a dinosaur sitting there?” Dinosaurs, after all, are the “gateway to science,” according to Ausich. Dinosaurs get kids excited about science for the first time. In addition to education and research, Ausich and Gnidovec see outreach to the area’s youth as a vital function of the museum. “We feel that this is a really important way to get people involved in science, which we desperately need today,” Ausich said.

DISCOVERING “OHIO’S DINOSAUR” The mission to bring a dinosaur to Orton began in 1991, when Ohio State faculty member David Elliot was in Antarctica tracking volcanic ash deposits with the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center. While on his lunch break, Elliot stumbled upon massive dinosaur bones, encased in rock and ice. Four field seasons later, Cryolophosaurus ellioti was free. According to Ausich, the location of Elliot’s discovery is hugely significant, proving not only that the Earth’s continents have shifted throughout time, but also that Antarctica was once much warmer than it is now.

“Some people think of fossils as dusty, old, uninteresting things, but dinosaurs are dynamic. You’ll be able to see Cryolophosaurus as a living animal — a very active, very fast, very lively animal.” {Dale Gnidovec} “This is material evidence that climates have changed through time,” Ausich explained. “In terms of dinosaurs, this discovery tells us something unique about what was happening in Antarctica during that time.” The dinosaur’s location isn’t the only significant thing about its discovery. Cryolophosaurus is unlike any other dinosaur discovered in Antarctica — or anywhere else in the world for that matter. “It’s a brand-new species,” said Ausich. “It’s also the first fairly complete dinosaur ever found in Antarctica.” Although researchers have found “scraps” of dinosaur fossils in Antarctica in the past, Cryolophosaurus is the most complete dinosaur ever found in that region. Nicknamed “Elvisaurus” for its unique crest (which resembles The King’s signature ’do), this dinosaur can also provide valuable evolutionary insight, according to Ausich. Scientists wonder if its crest was used to separate sexes or if it was used to attract mates, much like a peacock’s tail. Knowing what the crest was used for can fill in details on the greater evolutionary tree or “phylogenetic tree.” “The more bits and pieces we have on that tree, the more we’ll understand the big picture,” Ausich explained. “Getting more specimens helps us get a better idea of how life evolved.” In spite of its Antarctic roots, Ausich sees Cryolophosaurus as “Ohio’s dinosaur.” “There are no dinosaurs in Ohio. The rocks are the wrong age,” he said. “But this dinosaur was found by one of our faculty members. It’s much more unique than the standard dinosaurs that you’ll see in other Ohio museums.” ASCENT

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INSPIRING YOUNG SCIENTISTS Here’s a peek behind the scenes at the Cryolophosaurus cast being made by Research Casting International, a Canadian company that specializes in making dinosaur casts for museums.

Orton Geological Museum welcomes tens of thousands of visitors each year. Gnidovec gives dozens of talks throughout the year to children, college students, senior groups and museum patrons. The museum itself is frequented by a wide variety of groups across campus; biology majors, art students and paleontology fans alike visit to learn more about the history of Earth.

“What better way to get the museum noticed than with a dinosaur?” Gnidovec said.

To bring Cryolophosaurus to campus, the team at Orton raised the necessary funds through a crowdfunding campaign that drew donors from all over the world.

“Some people think of fossils as dusty, old, uninteresting things, but dinosaurs are dynamic,” Gnidovec said. “You’ll be able to see Cryolophosaurus as a living animal — a very active, very fast, very lively animal.”

This isn’t the first time the community has stepped up to support the museum. A 2012 vandalism incident prompted massive outpourings of support from across the country. Major donors and local patrons alike gave what they could, and Orton’s youngest fans even brought in their piggy banks to help save the museum. When it came time to raise money for Cryolophosaurus, these preschool-aged fans (with the help of their parents) mobilized once again by dressing up as dinosaurs and selling cookies to raise awareness for the project on campus. Partnering with the community is really all about inspiring the next generation of scientists, according to Ausich. “We bring kids to campus. We let them think, ‘Wow, I could be a part of this place someday,’” Ausich said.

LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE Gnidovec hopes that the addition of Cryolophosaurus will put the museum on the map and ignite future support for the museum’s educational mission.

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The 24-foot carnivorous creature will certainly be difficult to ignore. The dinosaur is mounted in the museum’s lobby, positioned so he is staring down at visitors hungrily.

Orton partnered with Research Casting International (RCI), a Canadian company renowned for its dinosaur casts made for museum exhibits around the world. RCI made casts of Cryolophosaurus’ bones at its facility near Toronto before assembling and mounting the skeleton in the lobby of Orton Hall this fall. The team anticipates that the project will be complete just in time for Homecoming weekend. The next step of the planned renovation will incorporate technology into the museum’s exhibits, but it won’t attempt to replace the magic of being able to see and touch physical specimens. “We don’t want to duplicate what any kid can do on his iPad at home,” Ausich said. “We want to have real things that people can touch. You can touch a dinosaur bone here, a real one! People are amazed by that.” Gnidovec agrees. “Here at the museum, I can show kids real dinosaur teeth. I can show people real gold or real meteorites, which is really neat,” he said. “That’s what we’re all about here — educating people on the neat stuff our planet has to offer.”

FACULTY

PICK YOUR POISON

Venom researchers making powerful discoveries For wild animals, life is all about survival. And most don’t have the luxury of cheetah-fast speed or shark-like strength.

A single “strawberry anemone” in California, which uses venom to capture and eat fish. Image courtesy of Meg Daly.

But nature has equipped a select group with an unusually powerful weapon — venom. While venom is most often associated with creepy, crawly creatures like scorpions, snakes and spiders, this naturally occurring biological weapon is used by an extremely diverse set of species across the animal kingdom. From caterpillars to cone snails to short-tailed shrews, venom serves as a quick, efficient way to subdue prey, as well as a potent defense tactic. Venom can paralyze the respiratory system, destroy muscle tissue and prevent blood from clotting, among other physiological effects achieved through entering the victim’s bloodstream. On a genetic level, venom is a diverse and sophisticated cocktail of protein-based toxins that has captured the fascination of many scientists for its potential in medicinal drug development and its unique evolutionary history.

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BEYOND THE BITE Lisle Gibbs, an evolutionary biologist and professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology (EEOB), studies one of venom’s most notorious and lethal vessels: the snake. “We know a great deal about the proteins and all the molecular machinery that make up snake venom, and it’s highly variable,” said Gibbs. Snake venom greatly differs between and within species, and largely seems to be adapted to a snake’s diet and environment. “Snakes with different venoms can eat different kinds of prey,” explained Gibbs, noting the arms race between prey resistance and venom evolution. But some variation within snake venom has yet to be explained. “You can take two snakes from the same field in Ohio, for example two massasauga rattlesnakes, and they’ll have 30 percent different proteins in their venom, which is a huge number,” Gibbs said. “There should be really strong selection to be the same, but they’re not.” His research seeks to identify the evolutionary patterns underlying this variation, which will shed light on the intricacies of natural selection, as well as inform the development of effective antivenoms. The death toll from venomous snakebites is quite small in the U.S — with just a handful of cases each year — but globally, poisonous snakes kill between 81,000 and 138,000 people and cause about three times as many permanent disabilities annually, according to the World Health Organization. Most of these incidents occur in

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rural Africa, Asia and Latin America — regions with more snake populations and fewer medical resources. Last year, the WHO added venomous snakebites as a highest-priority neglected tropical disease. Gibbs is currently working with an interdisciplinary team of U.S. and Brazilian scientists to measure venom variation in wild snakes in the U.S., Central America and Brazil. “Finding snakes is a hard thing to do, and finding rare venomous snakes in the tropics is a really hard thing to do, so we’re looking at almost everything we can get our hands on,” Gibbs said. “No one’s ever tried to do this on such a large scale.” One of the main questions Gibbs hopes to answer is if venom evolution is correlated with new species evolving. He also hopes to uncover whether venom evolves in a repeatable or predictable way in different species. “These are big questions in evolutionary biology,” Gibbs said. “Snakes are special, and they allow us to really get deep insights that you cannot get working in other systems.” Gibbs is also working with the Ohio Division of Wildlife to look at venom in local endangered snake populations, like massasauga rattlesnakes, to assess if inbreeding is affecting their ability to reproduce. “This will help us preserve the species because we’ll see whether small populations are highly inbred and whether the lack of genetic variation will prevent them from persisting, which will dictate management activity,” Gibbs said.

A wild massasauga rattlesnake in Ohio. Massasaugas dwell in northeastern regions of the U.S., typically in wetland areas, and are listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Image courtesy of James Chiucchi.

This sea anemone is commonly known as the “fluffy sea anemone,” and all are genetically identical. When they meet up with another clone, they use venom to fight for the space that the other clone occupies. Image courtesy of Meg Daly.

TOXIC TENTACLES Meg Daly, professor at EEOB, studies venom in a slightly less intimidating animal — the sea anemone. Sea anemones are covered in specialized cells that produce venom, which they fire toward predators and prey in the form of tiny, stinging capsules called nematocysts. Nematocysts are “10 microns large, which is smaller than the width of your hair, and the tip is bathed in venom,” said Daly. For an animal with no ability to run away or grasp prey in the traditional sense, this venom-delivery method is quite useful and also is found in other cnidarian species, such as jellyfish and coral. “They can’t afford to lose venom, because it’s really all they have,” Daly said, adding that sea anemone venom is harmless to humans apart from several highly toxic species. Sea anemones also use venom in a way rarely seen in the animal kingdom: against members of the same species and just to fight over territory. Anemones reproduce by making clones of themselves, and when two different clones come up against one another, anemones can eject pieces of their own skin attached to nematocysts that suture themselves onto the other clone. “The loser can be covered in little chunks of tissue, and they kind of shut down,” Daly said. “Their immune system is trying to kill that tissue and in the process, might kill them.” Platypuses — one of the few venomous mammals — also use venom against each other during male-on-male competition for a female mate, she added. Daly has been documenting the diversity of venom across sea anemones and, like Gibbs, has uncovered a lot of complexity and variation between and within species.

“The diversity of genes that are associated with or involved in venom is about 100 times larger than we realized. My interest is in biodiversity and why and how is there so much.” {Meg Daly} She recently helped organize the first of three interdisciplinary conferences on venom evolution and its applications to medicine. “One of the nice things about venom is that it can be very specific in targeting certain kinds of cells,” Daly said. “So, if you can find venoms that target cells that are undergoing massive replication as part of a cancer, you could very effectively shut that down or treat it.” There are several successful drugs that utilize venom, such as Tirofiban, a heart drug based on a molecule found in snake venom, and Ziconotide, which is derived from cone snail venom and used to treat severe and chronic pain. “The next step might be to look at natural variation,” Daly said. “What are differences in the genes contributing to that protein that could give it a different, more targeted approach?” With Daly, Gibbs and EEOB Professors Rachelle Adams and Andreas Chavez — who study venom in ants and short-tailed shrews, respectively — Ohio State has formed a small research community around venom. “When I came to Ohio State, I didn’t really know about venom, but when I met Lisle (Gibbs), it shaped some of the questions I began to think about, and then we expanded this circle,” Daly said. “Venom is so cool and there are so many angles to it — I just want to know more.”

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FACULTY

THE AFRICAN CENTURY

Studying the implications of population growth in Africa John Casterline, Robert T. Lazarus Professor in Population Studies and professor of sociology, is director of Ohio State’s Institute for Population Research (IPR), one of the premier population and health research centers in the world and one of only a handful with concentrated expertise in the demography of Africa. Casterline and a team of affiliated faculty — Professor Samuel Clark and Associate Professor Sarah Hayford from the Department of Sociology — are at the forefront of research investigating a broad range of population and health issues that affect the well-being of families and communities in Africa. According to United Nations projections, Africa’s population will triple between 2000 and 2050, increasing from about 800 million to roughly 2.4 billion people. It will then nearly double between 2050 and 2100, to 4.2 billion. At the end of the century, Africa is projected to have nearly as many people as all of Asia, and roughly as many as the entire world did in 1980. Nearly two out of every five people on Earth in 2100 will be African.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS? The birthrate average for African women is significantly higher than the global average: 4.7 children per woman in Africa compared to 2.5 children per woman globally. Scholars and policymakers expected Africa’s fertility to follow the path of Asian and Latin American countries in the 1960s and 1970s, when birth rates declined rapidly as women gained better access to education and modern contraception. However, birth rates in Africa have remained high. According to Casterline, the bonds and exchanges in traditional kinship systems may explain, in part, the persistence of the desire for a large number of children in many parts of Africa. “There is a need for labor, sharing of resources to take care of the family and perpetuating the family lineage,” said Casterline. “A preference for a large family is a central feature of many African social and cultural systems.” With a three-year $1.6 million grant from the Gates Foundation, awarded in August 2018, Casterline and Clark will investigate these and other obstacles to widespread adoption of modern methods of contraception in Africa. A crucial catalyst for a decrease in family size, Casterline argues, would be recognition by policymakers in Africa that the current demographic trajectory is a major obstacle to improvement in the well-being of their populations. “The size and age structure of the population can constrain peoples’ lives or give them opportunities,” said Clark. “When mortality and fertility fall in the right sequence there is a brief time with a surplus of healthy working-age people, and this sets the stage for rapid economic growth — the so-called ‘demographic dividend.’”

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“IPR is the place to be if you want to study African demography.” {Sarah Hayford} Africa has the potential for a large demographic dividend. “However, cashing in the dividend requires investment in education and a business-friendly policy environment,” Clark added. The demographic challenge is not simply a problem of numbers. In many low- and middle-income countries, most deaths happen at home and are not officially recorded or given an autopsy and cause of death. The resulting lack of information about priority diseases makes health system decision-making challenging. In much of Africa, researchers rely on verbal autopsy as the method to ascertain the probable cause of death. Although imperfect, it is the best alternative in the absence of autopsy and medical certification. “Something like two-thirds to three-quarters of the world’s deaths don’t get recorded,” Clark said. “Cause-of-death information is some of the most basic and essential data for informing public health policy, estimating the burden of disease and planning health services.” Clark, who has conducted research on the population impact of HIV, is a member of the World Health Organization’s Verbal Autopsy Working Group — researchers, data users and other stakeholders who are developing standards for verbal autopsy. With colleagues at Ohio State, other universities and in Africa, Clark is developing statistical methods for automated cause-of-death assignment using verbal autopsy data. Migration is currently at the center of fierce debates between mainly poor sending countries, many in Africa, and richer receiving nations. But what happens to the children of those families when an adult must migrate to another country for work? Hayford, who has been studying family structure across a wide variety of countries for more than 10 years, is addressing this issue as part of a five-year, $5 million study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “Migration is an increasing global phenomenon affecting individuals

continued on pg. 20

IPR researchers Samuel Clark, Sarah Hayford and John Casterline are at the forefront of research investigating a broad range of population and health issues.

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THE AFRICAN CENTURY continued from pg. 18 and families in most regions of the world,” Hayford said. “However, there is limited understanding of how these dynamics influence the lives of children and adolescents beyond the material impact on household economies.” Drawing on theoretical frameworks of migration, child development and the early life course, Hayford and 15 project personnel from across four countries are examining how migration of family members alters children’s development, aspirations, education and subsequent life-course transitions to address questions like: Does the presence of a migrant in the household change the way young children and teenagers think about their future? Do they envision a future at all? New information gathered on the role of familial migration and child development can help inform programs and policies directed at children in areas with a high prevalence of labor migration. Globally, there are just a few university research centers conducting research on African demography. “Our vision,” Casterline said, “is to build on this momentum and catapult Ohio State into the top tier of North American universities active in Africa.”

ABOUT IPR Ohio State’s Institute for Population Research (IPR) was established in 2000 with the goal of building an internationally recognized, multidisciplinary population and health research center with signature strengths in family demography, reproductive health, mortality and immigration. Core funding comes from the NIH, including renewal in 2014 of a five-year NIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant. “NIH support for such centers recognizes a central fact about contemporary research on population and health problems: Progress and breakthroughs are made by research teams that span multiple disciplines,” Casterline said. IPR brings together researchers from seven colleges and 17 departments at Ohio State to examine challenges facing families, children, adults and communities. In various ways, IPR serves as a bridge between the social sciences and biomedical research communities at Ohio State. The institute provides affiliates administrative and technical assistance with research projects, maintains a large seed grant program to launch new projects, and hosts a series of lectures and research seminars by local and visiting scholars. Learn more at go.osu.edu/ipr.

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HUMANITY AND THE HUMANITIES

A day with Frederick Luis Aldama Reflection by Breanne LeJeune of the Department of English, 2017 It’s 11 o’clock on an unseasonably hot September morning, and long lines of elementary school students walk single-file through Hale Hall. They are on their very best behavior — they chatter, they wiggle, like characters in a modern-day Madeline — trying their best to contain their excitement. But it’s a school day, and they’re on their way to learn about digital painting, animation, zines, comic books, digital art and flip books from comics creators from around the country. Today is SÕL-CON: The Black and Brown Comix Expo, and today, these are the luckiest comics fans in the world. I am looking for Frederick Luis Aldama, Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor in the Departments of English and of Spanish and Portuguese, and co-creator of SÕL-CON. When I emailed Aldama to schedule this photo shoot, he responded with characteristic warmth and enthusiasm: “Of course! Any time!”

FACULTY This year, Frederick Luis Aldama received the Eisner Award for Best Academic/Scholarly Work for his book Latinx Superheroes in Mainstream Comics (University of Arizona Press, 2017). The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, presented annually at the San Diego Comic-Con International convention, are often referred to as the “Oscars of the comics industry.” in order to execute it all with elegance and joy. Three months earlier, I sat at a table in this same room with a group of middle and high school students eating tacos and talking about brain dissection. It was the last day of the Humanities and Cognitive Sciences Summer Institute (HumCog). Now in its fourth year, HumCog drew 47 students from around the country — mostly from Columbus, and mostly from the Latinx community with whom Aldama has developed close ties through his outreach program, LASER — to come to Ohio State for one week and enjoy a veritable buffet of what the College of Arts and Sciences has to offer. More specifically, however, they learn that the intersection of the sciences and humanities can teach us something foundational about what it means to be human. HumCog student scholars toured the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum, participated in lectures and labs with world-renowned Ohio State faculty, engaged in group discussions and collaborative research projects, and, yes, even dissected a brain. Aldama is the founder and co-director of HumCog. A ringmaster, really. A showrunner. And it is through HumCog that one can get the most complete sense of what unifies his teaching, research, outreach and advocacy. Because, after all, it’s difficult to summarize a man whose selected curriculum vitae is 23 pages long. A man who has published more than 30 books on topics including sports, comics, film, teaching, poetry, narrative theory and the humanities. A man who is dually appointed and who has founded, co-founded, directed, co-directed, writes, edits, speaks, travels and mentors as prolifically as he does. This year’s event — now in its third year — drew more than 250 participants and 30 exhibitors. Throughout the day, K-12 comic enthusiasts participated in a series of workshops while older comics fans and scholars attended panel discussions, explored the expo and talked with the creators themselves. I found Aldama in the doorway of the expo room flanked by giddy students and frantic volunteers. “Do you need me?” he asked, grinning. And we were off, speed-walking to the zine-making workshop where the photographer had set up shop. Behind us, comics artists diagrammed frames and discussed techniques for building dynamic stories. For the briefest of moments, the children grew quiet, the room calmed, we all took a breath and the camera flash went and went and went. And then Aldama was off again — maneuvering to the front of the room to grab some extra paper and pencils to take back to the volunteers. Before he could make his delivery, however, we passed another line of students in the hallway. “Let’s take a picture together!” he exclaimed, and the students excitedly gathered around. He never stops. Witnessing Aldama navigate this controlled chaos, with the ease and grace that he manages each encounter, it requires no stretch of the mind to imagine that he may have lived this day hundreds of times before, memorizing the moves, calibrating each step and perfecting the timing

At a time in their lives when most middle and high school students are being encouraged to put a pin on their futures — narrow down possible majors, career options, etc. — HumCog invites them to do exactly the opposite. To instead, cultivate interests in the arts and the sciences. To ask questions about the world and their experiences in it and launch thoughtful investigations. To try new things. To relish complexity. To dream big and loud and often. In his closing message to the HumCog scholars, Aldama reiterated the importance of keeping their brains flexible and how the practice of being creative can help them imagine different worlds, different realities and even different futures for themselves. “He has an eye for seeing so many wonderful things and then makes them possible,” said Samuel Saldívar, a former student of Aldama’s who now works in the Chicano/Latino Studies Program at Michigan State University. “Aldama always has and always will care about people. He was my guide while I journeyed through undergraduate and graduate school as a first-generation Chicanx student. I take heart knowing that if there’s some other first-generation Latinx/Chicanx student trying to figure out college and they run into Aldama, their experience will hit warp speed in so many positive ways.”

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FACULTY

NEUTRINO HUNTERS

Astrophysicists unlock mysteries deep beneath Antarctic ice What could be more daunting than searching for an invisible particle — one so elusive that physicists had no evidence of its existence until 1956? This is just the kind of challenge that Ohio State astrophysicists Jim Beatty and Amy Connolly find irresistible. They are not alone — teams of international researchers hunt relentlessly for these high-energy neutrinos to extract clues that will tell us more about the universe and ourselves. Neutrinos are tiny subatomic particles that are nearly massless and travel almost at the speed of light. Most neutrinos have been around for billions of years, shortly after the birth of the universe, and trillions pass through our bodies every second. Unlike other particles, neutrinos carry no electrical charge and interact only weakly with other particles, meaning they can travel the cosmos unabsorbed from the high-energy collisions that produced them. If they can be observed directly, the hope is that they will unlock some of the greatest mysteries of our universe.

Designed to observe neutrinos, IceCube consists of 5,160 digital sensors, which are attached to vertical strings and frozen into 86 boreholes, one of which is seen here. Photo courtesy of Mark Krasberg, IceCube/NSF.

Today, neutrino hunters rely on detectors located in Antarctica — the coldest, most remote place on Earth and the optimal site for tracking neutrinos. “Antarctic ice is a great medium to search the universe for neutrinos,” said Connolly. “And, thanks to 21st century computers, we can search from the warmth of our labs.” Beatty, a professor of physics and astronomy, has tracked this tiny particle for three decades. Connolly, an associate professor of physics, has been dedicated to this pursuit since the early 2000s, when she started as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. Both Beatty and Connolly work on the NASA-funded Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, designed to study ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrinos by detecting radio pulses emitted from interactions with the Antarctic ice sheet via an array of radio antennas suspended from a helium balloon floating above the continent. Beatty also works with the world’s largest neutrino detector, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, an underground telescope with thousands of sensors distributed over a cubic-kilometer block under Antarctic ice. Spherical optical

“IceCube’s telescope is a powerful tool in the search for dark matter; it could reveal physical processes associated with the enigmatic origin of the highest-energy particles in nature.” {Jim Beatty} sensors, called digital optical modules, are deployed on “strings” about 2,500 meters deep within the ice. Each sends digital data to a counting house on the surface. “IceCube’s telescope is a powerful tool in the search for dark matter; it could reveal physical processes associated with the enigmatic origin of the highest-energy particles in nature,” Beatty said. According to Beatty, when neutrinos interact with atoms inside deep Antarctic ice, they can give off puffs of energy. As neutrinos pass through the ice and interact, they produce charged particles, which give off light while traveling through ice at near-lightspeed. The light leaves a ring-like pattern that can be observed by researchers, enabling them to infer information from the neutrino. Connolly searches for these ghost particles using this method. She examines data from ANITA and the Askaryan Radio Array (ARA), deployed deep in the ice near the South Pole. Additionally, Connolly and her colleagues are working to develop a prototype of a proposed “super-ANITA,” called EVA (Exa Volt Antenna), that would become the world’s largest airborne telescope. “Finding neutrinos is an important challenge,” Connolly said. “They can help us learn more about the ultra-high energy universe and even about particle physics at higher energies than those probed by the Large Hadron Collider.” The neutrinos that Connolly and her team are looking for come from greater distances and are of much higher energy than any extraterrestrial neutrinos seen before. They come from the very particle collisions that created this universe and everything in it, and they hold great promise for understanding our place in it.

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FACULTY

THE SCIENCE OF PEACE

Political scientists challenge conventional wisdom of conflict Two political scientists at Ohio State are taking aim at conventional wisdom on war and peace. Bear Braumoeller, professor of political science, conducts research in the area of international relations, focusing on international security and statistical methodology. Skyler Cranmer, the Carter Phillips and Sue Henry Associate Professor of Political Science, focuses on political methodology and the application of quantitative methods to the study of international politics.

ESCALATING INTENSITY

For Braumoeller, recent scholarly works and popular books advancing the decline of war and violence are troubling. “That theory and the evidence used to support it left me with a nagging little itch that something might not be quite right,” he said.

While Braumoeller’s research revealed a significant drop in the rate of conflict initiation just after the end of the Cold War, “the bad news,” he said, “is that’s the only good news.” Looking at data from the Correlates of War project on war intensity, or deadliness, Braumoeller found that there has been no significant change in the intensity of warfare since 1815.

Similarly, Cranmer is skeptical of people who write off the United Nations as a paper tiger. “I don’t like assumptions,” he said. “I wanted to determine whether the U.N. really fulfills its mission of suppressing conflict.”

To answer the question of whether war is, in fact, on the decline, Braumoeller set about exploring the data. “The data simply doesn’t support the ‘decline of war thesis,’ no matter how I’ve looked at it,” Braumoeller said.

“Peace is more than just the absence of war,” Braumoeller said. “The spread of peace doesn’t automatically imply a decrease in war or warlike behavior. There is no evidence that improvements in human nature have led to a decline in international conflict.” The key to understanding this apparent paradox, said Braumoeller, is to understand the nature of international order. During the Cold War, peace spread and became more consolidated within the Western liberal international order. It also did so, to an extent, within the Soviet bloc. But at the same time peace was growing within those two international orders, there was a lot of conflict between them. And in the post-Cold War world, we saw peace spread as the Western liberal order expanded in the wake of the Soviet collapse. But Braumoeller says it looks like peace has reached its limits and that the Western liberal order might be in real trouble in the not-too-distant future, and with populism on the rise and Russia actively working to undermine it. Almost 30 years ago, Braumoeller decided to devote his life to the study of war in hopes that a better understanding of war would help to create peace. His biggest concern about the argument that war is on the decline is the risk of complacency.

“If decision-makers really believe that war is coming to an end and that people just don’t fight international wars anymore, then they may fail to deter a threat or address dangerous issues like a territorial dispute.” {Bear Braumoeller}

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ALUMNI — CONNECT WITH US! Did you have a favorite professor during your time at Ohio State? Were there any faculty members that had a significant impact on your education? Share your story with us at: ascadvancement@osu.edu

But Braumoeller isn’t all doom and gloom. He believes that the human race has the capacity to reject violence and, in fact, has done quite a bit to reduce it. “We’ve learned perhaps the most important lesson that humanity can learn: Long-term cooperation is more valuable than short-term gain,” he said.

SUPPRESSING CONFLICT Finding common ground is difficult, but Cranmer’s research suggests that the U.N. is just the forum for building alliances and reducing conflict. Last July, Cranmer published his conclusive finding — the U.N. delivers on its promise and actually does suppress conflict. The study, conducted with collaborator Scott Pauls of Dartmouth University, was the first of its kind to present evidence that U.N. voting coalitions improve the chance for peace among voting block members and that the U.N. provides a forum where diplomacy reduces the chance of war. Cranmer and Pauls analyzed more than 65 years of U.N. voting records to assess the organization’s impact on the spread of democracy, the building of defensive alliances and the suppression of conflict. They found that the process of nations working together over time builds trust and facilitates fast, transparent communication that raises the chance of resolving crises peacefully. “There is more nuance in voting records than was previously thought,” Cranmer said. “The evidence demonstrates that the U.N. is more effective at achieving its mandate of avoiding wars than many experts think.” From the voting records, Cranmer and Pauls identified historic voting alliances — affinity communities — consisting of long-term macro-clusters and short-term micro-clusters, which provide the basis for coalitionbuilding and cooperation. Macro-clusters named in the research are the more enduring U.N. voting communities. One macro-cluster identified is comprised of the U.N.’s Western European and Others Group as well as Russia, Japan, China and some Eastern European countries. The second, much larger group comprises the balance of U.N. members. According to the study, there have been 15 times in the U.N.’s history when the two macro-clusters have merged into a voting community including all but a few states. In most of these instances, the U.S. and a small number of other countries formed a group separated from the rest of the world as a result of divisive votes on issues like the Middle East and human rights. Micro-clusters are more volatile voting alliances that form and dissolve in response to faster-moving political dynamics. The high level of voting

“The peacemaking impact of an alliance between two countries goes beyond the two that signed the agreement. It permeates the network of alliances, like ripples in a pond, to prevent conflicts beyond the two countries that have the alliance.” {Skyler Cranmer}

agreement within micro-clusters translates into the largest degree of conflict suppression. “It is through this mechanism of intensified diplomatic interaction that the U.N. has historically been able to better achieve its primary goal of maintaining international peace and security,” Cranmer said. While this is all well and good, the fact remains that in the process of doing what’s right, we often resort to force, like when confronting human rights abuses, international terrorism or nuclear threats. “That’s not bad, in and of itself,” Braumoeller said. “What we haven’t yet done is figure out how to make the world a better place and eliminate war at the same time.”

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FACULTY

RESILIENCE IN THE AFTERMATH OF GENOCIDE Learning from victims, perpetrators of Rwandan genocide Imagine that you’re standing on a site where a school was once under construction. That school building is now a museum, and beneath the ground lie the remains of more than 50,000 men, women and children — all victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. This is the Murambi Genocide Memorial Center in southern Rwanda, one of many sites visited by students in a unique study abroad program that focuses on genocide and its aftermath. In April, Rwanda observed the 24th anniversary of the 1994 genocide, which claimed the lives of as many as 1 million people in the span of about 100 days. “Genocides often fade into history; while people may know that violence occurred, less attention is paid to the aftermath,” said Hollie Nyseth Brehm, assistant professor of sociology and director of Ohio State’s genocide-focused study abroad program in Rwanda, which ran for the second time this summer. For nearly a decade, Brehm has been chronicling the history of the Rwandan genocide, painstakingly analyzing data from nearly two million court trials and conducting countless interviews with both perpetrators and victims of the genocide. “While many people believe that genocide is unpredictable, I study how it is actually patterned,” said Brehm, who serves on the U.S. Political Instability Task Force creating risk models and identifying factors that influence when, how and why genocide occurs. “There are state-level and societal-level factors that cause genocide, and there are individual-level factors that cause people to participate.”

“It’s so important for students to know that genocide continues to happen, and understanding why is the first step to preventing it from taking place.” {Hollie Nyseth Brehm}

members were victims and the many people committed to moving the country forward. Over three weeks, students met with rescuers, victims and perpetrators who committed atrocities. They visited places filled with sorrow, and many filled with hope. They witnessed loss, change and renewal. “It’s so important for students to know that genocide continues to happen, and understanding why is the first step to preventing it from taking place,” Brehm said. Each student lived with a separate host family for a week and participated in the daily routines of Rwandans living in a country experiencing rapid economic growth and a digital revolution.

In Rwanda, tensions from recent colonial rule, an economic downturn, a civil war and a growing animosity between the nation’s two main ethnic groups — the Hutus and the Tutsis — preceded the genocide.

As a teacher, Brehm wanted to create life-changing experiences for her students. As a sociologist, what she wanted most was for students to broaden their understanding of the world and question the familiar.

“It didn’t emerge out of nowhere,” Brehm said. “It was informed by past events.”

“It was the greatest experience of my life,” said Melvin Gregory, a psychology student from Youngstown, Ohio, who was on the trip. “I’ve always been interested in why people do the things that they do, and this trip taught me how important it is to dig for answers.”

She has spent many months in Rwanda working with the Rwandan National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide and is currently studying how convicted genocide perpetrators are reintegrated back into the community. This research could be vital to the future stability of Rwanda, as more than 30,000 of the nation’s 12.3 million citizens are presently serving sentences for genocide-related crimes. As a professor at Ohio State, Brehm teaches classes on global crime, violence, terrorism and, most recently, the study abroad course Genocide and Its Aftermath in Rwanda. During the program’s inaugural run in 2017, 13 students accompanied Brehm to Rwanda to study genocide firsthand, meeting those whose family

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For Gregory, talking with perpetrators of the genocide, as well as those who were victimized, opened his eyes to a more nuanced explanation of what took place in Rwanda. “There are no monsters,” he said. “I learned what people are capable of when they’re afraid and when they’re taught to hate.” There are many reasons why someone would participate in genocide, said Brehm, noting fear, discriminatory attitudes against a targeted group, pressures from social networks and economic gains (like looting houses), among others.

Jamie Wise, an undergraduate student from Wentzville, Missouri, was already working with Brehm on a research project on Rwanda before she joined the study abroad group. As a double major in sociology and international studies with minors in world politics and Arabic, Wise is deeply aware of and interested in global conflict.

emerged — their lives were changed. And they have a stake in creating a more peaceful future.

“The resilience of the Rwandan people was so inspiring,” she said. “They had every reason to keep on hating, but they chose not to. There has to be lessons we can learn about how we deal with our differences here in the U.S.”

This summer, 14 additional students flew to Rwanda for the second round of the study abroad program.

When Brehm and her students returned to the U.S., they met for a post-trip analysis and debrief. Lots of memories and photos were shared, and one recurring theme

“Each of us has a responsibility to make the world a better place, where we are now, in whatever capacity we can,” Gregory said.

“We like to tell ourselves that genocide is rare,” Brehm said. “The reality is that Rwanda is one of many countries that has experienced genocide in the last century, and it will happen again if we don’t make it our responsibility to understand it so that we can predict and prevent it.”

The Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda serves as a place where people can remember their lost loved ones and as a museum where visitors can learn about the history, implementation and consequences of the genocide. Photo courtesy of the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

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FACULTY

THE COOPERATION DESTINATION Concepts and creations converge at the Collaboration for Humane Technologies When artists, scientists and scholars collaborate to tackle some of our most pressing challenges, the creative spark is undeniable. For the Collaboration for Humane Technologies, a crossdisciplinary network of some of the most innovative thinkers in their fields, it is that creative spark that makes new, inspiring ideas for a better future possible. “We’re bringing together multiple collaborators, scientists and artists to make discoveries we can only make together,” said Norah Zuniga Shaw, professor and director for dance and technology and the principal investigator for the Humane Technologies research. The roster of lead partners on the projects bears out this expansive collaboration: the Departments of Design and Dance, ACCAD (Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design) and the Champion Intergenerational Center (Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Social Work), all joined by students and contributing faculty from design; dance; music; theatre; engineering; architecture; Spanish and Portuguese; English; women’s, gender and sexuality studies; nursing; medicine; social work and ACCAD.

Pop-Up events bring together artists, humanists and scientists, including faculty, international artists, current students and alumni, to explore what it might be like to work, share, play and think in more dynamic technological mediums that access our full multisensory human capacities.

Each year they tackle a different theme: In 2017 it was “Livable Futures,” and for 2018 it is “Well-being.” Working in tandem, these Humane Technology partners join a growing movement in the technology industries toward putting human concerns at the forefront of innovation. Research topics include robotics for assisted living; simulations to improve empathy in dementia care; games for well-being; stress reduction through mindfulness in virtual reality; data humanism and health insurance in artificially intelligent futures; and more. While the topics are weighty, the approach is one that merges the rigorous work needed to tackle these ideas with a sense of play designed to ignite discovery and surprising insights — it is both work and play. The project’s arts-driven approach — many of the projects revolve around creating games, VR experiences, performance, animation — opens the door to novel solutions. “Because it’s rooted in the arts, we allow for imaginative leaps,” Zuniga Shaw said. “It is that sense of playfulness and openness that breaks open traditional modes of thought and makes the collaborations at ACCAD so unique.”

“We’re bringing together multiple collaborators, scientists and artists to make discoveries we can only make together.” {Norah Zuniga Shaw}

She continues: “This approach runs counter to the habitual desire for fixed categories and clear hierarchies, which is a 20th century headache. It creates what appears to be a messier process at first, but it works every time and people end up relating differently to each other and discovering powerful new connections.” These are forged in various ways, including a forwardthinking, collaborative Pop-Up Week, held earlier this year. The Pop-Up Week hosted a formidable roster of Ohio State researchers, alumni, students and visiting innovators — including acclaimed sound artist and technology visionary Pamela Z — for a fast-paced week of flash talks, prototyping, open discussions and performance, all designed to focus on well-being and igniting the spark that lights the best and most productiove collaborations and partnerships. As Humane Technologies continues to grow — next year looks to see more intersections with the newly established Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme at Ohio State, including medical arts and humanities programs and expansion of Livable Futures projects — it is important to keep focused on effective strategies for bringing these diverse disciplines together. Zuniga Shaw says it is all part of ACCAD’s and Humane Technologies’ groundbreaking work. “That’s what it is entirely about: fostering these collaborations and enhancing collaborative experiences to created sustained engagement across the board, right now and beyond.” Learn more about Humane Technologies at humanetechosu.org and ACCAD at accad.osu.edu.

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OUTREACH

DO THE MATH

Ohio State mathematicians have a formula Ohio State’s Department of Mathematics is a powerhouse. Some of the world’s top experts in diverse fields of mathematics call it home, and it is leading a strategic charge in an ambitious effort to change the way we learn — and think — about mathematics. Mathematics allows us not only to advance science and technology, but also to think better and successfully navigate everyday life. While many of us struggle with it (calculus, anyone?), there is now proof that mastery begins by creating individual pathways to learning mathematics, from K-12 to BS, MS and even PhD. For decades, Ohio State has led the way in implementing initiatives, establishing programs and devising creative ways of outreach — all with the aim to make the world of mathematics more accessible, more intuitive and more fun.

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VIDEO: Watch Jim Fowler talk about “The Humanity of Calculus” — his desire to improve the teaching of calculus and make it more accessible for a broad range of students: go.osu.edu/humanity-calculus

THE OHIO MATH INITIATIVE: ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL Since 2013, the Ohio Math Initiative, a collaboration among faculty from Ohio’s public colleges, universities and high schools, has been rethinking and revising how math courses and curricula integrate and correspond to other disciplines. While chair of Ohio State’s Department of Mathematics, Luis Casian, now divisional dean for natural and mathematical sciences, helped lead efforts to help students find their perfect fit by matching appropriate courses to diverse majors and programs of study. “We want to provide every student at Ohio State with a way to learn mathematics that matters to them and their future careers,” said Casian. “Not everyone needs to learn calculus, and a course that focuses on quantitative reasoning can help many students solve problems they encounter in their field of study or in their lives as productive citizens.”

Located in downtown Columbus, The STEAM Factory, pictured here, provides a space where Ohio State researchers, like Jim Fowler (left) and Luis Casian (right), can broaden their perspectives, share resources, spark creative research ideas and form collaborations across areas of common interest.

Casian and others in the department are developing courses for students in multiple academic disciplines, along with interdisciplinary tracks in the honors program, such as tracks in financial mathematics and computation. Ohio mathematicians’ ideas are being emulated in at least 10 other states, and their progress is attracting national attention. In 2016, Casian was part of an Ohio contingent presenting “Multiple Pathways: A Successful Case Study” at the national Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics Conference in Washington, D.C., where Ohio was cited as leading the nation in making the language of mathematics accessible.

ADVANCING MATHEMATICAL LITERACY Ohio State has long been a leader in meaningful mathematics education and outreach, and a trio of summer math programs have paved the way to enhancing Ohio State’s mathematics learning experience. For more than 60 years, the Ross Mathematics Program, founded by Arnold Ross — world-renowned mathematician and former chair of Ohio State’s Department of Mathematics (1963-1976) — has provided instruction for gifted pre-college students in the art of mathematical thinking. It has inspired generations to discover the value of abstract ideas. The sixweek program runs each summer and has been the model to imitate. Now taught by Assistant Professor Jim Fowler, Professor Emeritus Dan Shapiro and others, its alumni include some of the world’s brightest stars in science, math, business, technology and the arts. As proof that math is a universal language, Ross/Asia, held this year in China at Chenshan

“Math outreach should convey that mathematics is about making sense of confusing situations. Both outreach and good teaching are opportunities to help people be comfortable with not understanding something, and to experience the pleasure of finding things out. Those are both great things.” {Jim Fowler}

School in Huangshan City, Anhui Province, just finished its third successful year. (u.osu.edu/rossmath) Sampling Advanced Mathematics for Minority Students (SAMMS) is relatively newer to the Department of Mathematics, but its impact has made waves around the globe. Since 2011, SAMMS, designed by Casian, other Ohio State faculty and colleagues at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, has provided undergraduates from traditionally underrepresented minority groups the opportunity to test the waters of graduate mathematics before diving in. The four-week course offers additional graduate school preparation activities, such as working with faculty on math projects and presenting work. Many of its graduates go on to be successful in graduate programs, including here at Ohio State, where several SAMMS alumni have received their master’s degrees or are working toward their PhD degree. (samms.osu.edu) Finally, Beyond the Classroom: Girls Exploring Math, invites high school-aged girls to the STEAM Factory to participate in engaging activities that helps them develop a deeper understanding of mathematical and algorithmic reasoning and problem-solving skills. The program surrounds participants in a supportive atmosphere and uses nontraditional means to cultivate a deeper appreciation of mathematics.

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Math professors Jim Fowler (left ) and Luis Casian (right) are working with other faculty members in the state of Ohio, reinventing the way math is taught, thought about and learned at high school and university levels through the Ohio Math Initiative, outreach programs in the community, and summer programs for underrepresented minority students interested in the discipline.

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“We want to provide every student at Ohio State with a way to learn mathematics that matters to them and their future careers. Not everyone needs to learn calculus, and a course that focuses on quantitative reasoning can help many students solve problems they encounter in their field of study or in their lives as productive citizens.” {Luis Casian}

MATH GOES VIRAL Mathematicians aren’t just developing more palatable courses and content for non-STEM majors. They are challenging themselves to rethink how they deliver that content. Math is joining legions of other disciplines in building “active learning,” or putting groups or pairs of students together to solve problems. Equally important, they are learning to sell the powerful magic of math. When it comes to transforming the mathematically challenged into mathletes, Jim Fowler is a math maven. He is on a mission to reveal the magical properties of mathematics, encouraging both the gifted and the uninspired. The scope of Fowler’s reach beyond just his classroom is boundless, and he strives to find innovative ways to help others learn. He teaches at The STEAM Factory in downtown Columbus, speaks at local schools and has given TED talks. He has a substantial following on YouTube, where his quick, engaging videos about math properties have more than 3.2 million views, and his channel has over 20,000 subscribers. Fowler also teaches the world’s first, most watched, award-winning online calculus course — Mooculus. When it premiered in 2013 on iTunes, it had 150,000 downloads and 186,000 streams. It is still thriving online at mooculus.osu.edu. Fowler believes that a lot of math anxiety has to do with being expected to get a right answer rather than being allowed to feel comfortable with confusion and uncertainty. “Math outreach should convey that mathematics is about making sense of confusing situations,” he said. “Both outreach and good teaching are opportunities to help people be comfortable with not understanding something, and to experience the pleasure of finding things out. Those are both great things.” Ohio State’s Department of Mathematics has a track record not only of providing top-notch education, but also of identifying ways to engage learners and advance students through a variety of different fields and careers. The department has established itself as a leader in providing multiple avenues of outreach, and it is dedicated to continuing and maintaining that trend.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT OHIO STATE’S MATH MAVEN: JIM FOWLER The Ohio State math professor has been frequently recognized for his creative approaches to making the subject more accessible. Through online learning, virtual reality and sheer force of personality, Fowler is just one Ohio State faculty member who is taking a fresh approach to teaching and learning. Here are five things to know about one of Ohio State's innovative faculty members.

1. He’s incorporating virtual reality into teaching. Fowler is working with a team of Ohio State researchers, including project lead Chris Orban at The STEAM Factory, who are exploring ways to use virtual reality to facilitate the learning process. Fowler and colleague Bart Snapp have created an app that allows users to plot whatever 3D vector fields and surfaces they want in stereoscopic 3D on their smartphones. When used with Google Cardboard, the app gives students a more visual way of understanding challenging concepts. Learn more at go.osu.edu/buckeye-vr.

2. He’s a big deal on YouTube. Bringing a high-energy approach to his videos, Fowler owns a math-oriented YouTube channel with more than 20,000 subscribers. These videos feature Fowler discussing and explaining a number of different math conundrums. Videos on Fowler’s channel have been viewed more than 3.2 million times. Check him out at go.osu.edu/jim-youtube.

3. He’s created the most successful online calculus course. During the summer of 2013, Fowler created a Calculus One massive open online course that was made available through iTunesU. That summer, it had more than 150,000 downloads and 186,000 streams, making it one of the most popular courses on the Apple platform. The course is still thriving at mooculus.osu.edu.

4. He gives a great TED Talk. Fowler’s TEDx Talk “The Humanity of Calculus” covered his desire to improve the teaching of calculus and make it more accessible for a broad range of students. His presentation focused on calculus’s backstory, the people who brought it to the forefront and how it can be used to better understand math. Watch the video at go.osu.edu/ humanity-calculus.

5. He’s helping make college more affordable. Fowler and Snapp received an Affordable Learning Open Impact Grant from Ohio State. With their grant, Fowler and Snapp are exploring moving a three-semester sequence calculus textbook online, something that could save students more than $250,000 in book costs. Learn more at go.osu.edu/affordable-learning.

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OUTREACH

CUE THE LIGHTS

Carmina Burana: A campus collaboration This past winter, more than 40 Ohio State faculty and staff members across all disciplines honed their singing skills to join the School of Music and the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) in a multimedia performance of Carmina Burana, the iconic cantata composed by Carl Orff in 1935-1936. This unique, first-of-its-kind collaboration, which culminated with two performances on Feb. 25 in Weigel Auditorium, began with a simple idea from Kristina MacMullen, associate professor of conducting and assistant professor of choral activities in the School of Music. “I wanted our faculty and staff across the Ohio State community to interact, create together and work toward something bigger than themselves,” said MacMullen. So, she extended an invitation to all faculty and staff members to join Ohio State’s various student choirs in a large-scale choral production — no experience necessary. “And what better work than Carmina Burana?” MacMullen said. “Carmina Burana is present in pop culture; with epic battle scenes … it has this universal appeal, and it’s exciting.” Almost everyone has heard the dramatic opening and closing movement, “O Fortuna,” which appears in countless films — from Excalibur to Jackass: The Movie — TV shows and advertisements, often in a satirical nature. But the larger cantata Carmina Burana, based on the medieval poetry collection of the same name, comprises 23 additional movements, which are mostly in Latin. Themes span ageold topics of life, death, wealth, gluttony and lust, among others. “I heard this piece performed in a church when I was on sabbatical in Copenhagen, and it was a beautiful experience,” said Allison Snow, Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology and one of the faculty members who took part in the production. Though Snow had some musical experience in high school, it had been years since she was part of a large choir. “It sounded like a great opportunity and I just thought, ‘Why not?’ — I want to relearn these things I used to know about music and not just do biology all the time,” said Snow, who, along with other participants, attended weekly, hour-long rehearsals for two months leading up to the show. “The power of this music has really been confirmed by the investments people made to join us,” MacMullen said.

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Along with the inclusion of nontraditional vocalists, the production included another special element. “Orff included a very mysterious indication in his title — he described it as a secular cantata for chorus, instruments and ‘magic images,’” said Anna Gawboy, associate professor of music theory. According to Gawboy, the term “magic images” was likely a reference to magic lantern shows, which were popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and combined projected images with live narration and music. But because there are no surviving records from Orff’s original performances of Carmina Burana, there’s no way to determine with certainty what he meant. She and Alex Oliszewski, associate professor at ACCAD and the Department of Theatre, teamed up to create an unforgettable digitalvisual design that was projected onto the ceiling of Weigel Hall during the production. Brilliant lights and moving images were played in real time using a custom-designed MIDI controller that operated “like an

instrument,” explained Oliszewski, who developed most of the technology. “Unlike other types of musical multimedia where the media is fixed … this interface can be controlled in real time, following the conductor’s beat and responding to the performers,” said Gawboy. “We wanted the media to be responsive to musical time and musical decisions instead of the other way around.” “There’s an interesting perceptual effect that happens any time you add media to music or music to media; it really changes the way that you experience both,” Gawboy said. “We really asked people to hear the music in a different way than they’ve ever heard it before.” The production also brought in community players such as the Hilliard Youth Chorus, as well as guest conductor Richard Bjella, director of choral studies at Texas Tech

University. The final performances included two additional conductors, more than 300 singers, a percussion orchestra and two pianos. Some singers had to position themselves off the stage, which was filled to its perimeter. “This has been a really rewarding, collaborative process,” said Oliszewski. “I hope we’ve established that these different parts of arts and sciences can come together and invest in really successful public performance.” For MacMullen, she hopes that all of her musicians walked away having experienced the intangible and “the spark that can only happen when living human beings come together and create.” “I learned a lot — the people were really friendly; the music was really thrilling and it’s just brought me a lot of joy,” said Snow.

VIDEO: Brilliant lights and images were projected onto the ceiling of Weigel Auditorium during the production of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and controlled in real time via a customdesigned MIDI controller: go.osu.edu/ carmina

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At a performance in May 2018, participants from the community along with Ohio State students created original pieces to tell stories about their lives using storytelling, spoken-word poetry and music. Photos courtesy of Victor M. Espinosa.

ONLINE: Learn more about Be the Street, a performance studies project on human mobility and placemaking: u.osu.edu/BeTheStreet

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OUTREACH

BE THE STREET

Ohio State and Hilltop residents use performance to create community In an era marked by global migration, war refugees and terrorism, it is more important than ever to understand both how the uprooted, displaced and relocated find ways to create community and how communities incorporate new residents. Be the Street, a Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme project, brings residents of one of Columbus’ most diverse neighborhoods together with faculty and students from theatre, dance, folklore studies and Spanish and Portuguese. By collaborating with immigrant communities in the Hilltop area, the Be the Street team creates performances that tell stories of connectedness and belonging. “Performance is a powerful way for people to explore and reflect on events that impact their lives and the meaning it creates,” said Harmony Bench, associate professor of dance and co-investigator of the Be the Street team. Partnering with local nonprofits and organizations, Be the Street hosts movement and theater workshops and offers after-school activities designed to engage with community members and highlight their life stories. Be the Street has held workshops for participants ranging in age from middle schoolers to senior citizens from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds. Along with local partners like the Hilltop YMCA, West High School, Our Lady of Guadalupe Center and CleanTurn Enterprises, as well as a group of teens that gathers at the Hilltop Public Library, Be the Street works with the internationally recognized, Chicago-based Albany Park Theater Project. In January 2018, staff from the Albany Park Theater Project came to the Hilltop to lead a series of training workshops with the Be the Street team, teaching them how to create performances that drew from participants’ individual experiences as recounted through interviews. Using a style of performance known as “devised theatre,” Be the Street devisers from the Ohio State community, alongside Hilltop locals, collaborate to create their performance works throughout the year, incorporating themes from the performers’ own life stories. These sessions culminated in a series of final performances in May 2018, during which participants showcased their work to the community. Senior citizens from the YMCA performed a dance movement piece to a voice-over in which the participants recalled favorite memories of their neighborhood. Teens from West High School used a theater game called “Cross the Line” to relate their recent experiences with threats of gun violence and lockdowns at their school. The teens who meet at the Hilltop Library wove together a series of vignettes about friendship and family across time and space; one portion included improvised piano

“Working without a predetermined script can be scary, yet there is something extraordinary about taking your own experiences, stories and feelings and crafting them into a combination of word, song, music and physical movement that gives others a glimpse into your reality.” {Ana Elena Puga}

and saxophone. Our Lady of Guadalupe Center participants, who were mostly immigrants from a variety of Latin American countries, performed a sort of choreo-poem centered on three questions: What have we left behind? How did we survive? What did we learn? Performing in both English and Spanish, the group reflected on the powerful feelings of loss and nostalgia that arise when moving to a new place. The three women from CleanTurn called themselves “The Warriors” and performed a recipe for transforming a survivor into a warrior. “Our hope is that this project accurately reflects the community in the Hilltop and demonstrates how local communities have something important to contribute,” Bench said. According to principal investigator Ana Elena Puga, associate professor in the Departments of Theatre and Spanish and Portuguese, Be the Street is also an outreach program with the potential to have lasting impact. “I hope we can raise the funds to keep this program going, because based on what Hilltop participants tell me, it has stretched them creatively and meant something to them,” said Puga. The Be the Street team plans to create an annual performance event that celebrates the vibrant Hilltop community while giving residents the tools to share their own experiences. A postdoctoral fellow, Moriah Flagler, recent master of fine arts graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, has been hired with funding from the Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme to spearhead workshops and performances for the next two years. Funding for next year’s performance has been secured with a $20,000 bridge grant from the Global Arts and Humanities Discovery Theme.

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A FOCUS ON STUDENT SUCCESS Arts and Sciences launches the new Center for Career and Professional Success The power and value of a liberal arts education transforms the world. Every day, extraordinary artists, scholars and research scientists engage students who often ask themselves how their arts and sciences education will make an impact, both for their communities and well beyond their time on campus. While no student begins college charting out their whole career, every student deserves an opportunity to construct and design a plan that focuses on their next step. In order to foster this, the College of Arts and Sciences has committed to a new professionally focused standard, ensuring that all students have every opportunity to help them gain career clarity and connections. This commitment has resulted in the expansion and formation of the Center for Career and Professional Success. Launching in autumn 2018, the center’s vision is to galvanize a community of engaged professional champions so every student is prepared to design their lifetime of opportunity. To achieve this, the college launched a national search in 2017, recruiting Brian Guerrero from the University of California, Berkeley’s Career Center to establish a career education model that meets the varied and unique needs of its nearly 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students. During his first six months, Guerrero has connected with a variety of stakeholders, including students, faculty, academic advisors, campus partners, employers and alumni. “Listening to and learning from our key constituents will continue to drive

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our service delivery. It’s clear the campus community views career and professional success with significant importance,” said Guerrero. As resources and services grow, he aims to establish a new enterprise that is uniquely liberal arts focused. As such, the center will be launching a career communities and connections model. The model features 10 industry-focused communities so students can gain deeper insight and understand how their education relates to future opportunities. Led by career coaches, students can join multiple communities and attend events that help them through the discovery-to-search continuum of their professional journey.

HOW DOES THE CENTER FOR CAREER AND PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS STAND OUT? “While other campuses also provide world-class education, they often don’t go beyond that. Arts and Sciences not only provides an unmatched educational experience but also is ready to go beyond the classroom,” Guerrero said. “The college is providing students with a competitive edge, which gives them strong footing in a rapidly changing career landscape.” What impact will the new Arts and Sciences Center for Career and Professional Success have? The college believes it will emerge as a national model in liberal arts career education, building stronger relationships throughout the Ohio State ecosystem and beyond.

For the short term, the center will work on a number of priorities that include: • Identifying an appropriate space, one that will enhance connections and inspire students and employers to engage in meaningful ways • Embracing modern technologies and a new web presence that articulates the intersections of a liberal arts education and career development • Establishing an industry connections team to integrate industry partners into initiatives that help students translate classroom education to the professional world • Developing and elevating national career readiness competencies • Increasing involvement of alumni in student support efforts, in particular growing a mentoring program An emerging enterprise is only as strong as the support it receives from professional champions, like alumni or industry partners, who realize they have the ability to unlock the tremendous potential of next-generation Buckeyes. When asked how professional champions can support student career success, Guerrero said that it is easy. “Reach out to the center and share how you would like to lend your expertise to students. There is always a way to connect you with talented Buckeyes who can benefit from your insight, professional experiences or employment/ internship opportunities.”

ALUMNI — PAY FORWARD! The Center for Career and Professional Success welcomes alumni to connect with students when they are back on campus or throughout the entire school year, or to connect virtually, across a variety of programming options, including joining the ASC Match 50 Mentor Program, participating in career connections events or inviting students to visit their organization. Learn more at: go.osu.edu/ccps-alumni

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STUDENTS

THE OHIO FIELD SCHOOL

Student research on-site in Scioto County Folklore isn’t all old wives tales and urban legends — it’s about documenting cultures and communities here and now. That’s why the Center for Folklore Studies (CFS) at Ohio State has been conducting an ongoing research project through its Ohio Field School, which focuses on Scioto and Perry Counties in Appalachian Ohio. Since summer 2016, CFS students, faculty and staff have been building relationships with core community partners in both counties and developing archival projects that support, document and preserve local culture. Here is just a glimpse of this work.

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Over spring break, students traveled to Scioto County to take part in service-learning projects with community partners, including restoration of local poet Brian Richards’ letterpress, pictured here. “The researchers have been a delight: thoughtful, inquisitive, eager to learn, but equally respectful of my privacy as an artist and helpful in every encounter,” Richards said.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Near the confluence of the Scioto and Ohio Rivers in the rolling foothills of Appalachian Ohio is the Shawnee State Park Lodge. Inside, Ohio Field School (OFS) staff and students spread butcher paper over banquet tables, assemble easels, check mics, queue PowerPoints and stock buffet tables. It’s a big day for the OFS, a collaboration between Ohio State’s Center for Folklore Studies and community partners in Portsmouth, Ohio. After two years of conducting folklore fieldwork in Scioto County, the OFS is in its early stages of curating a traveling exhibit designed to spark conversations centered around creative placemaking. Today, participants have invited local collaborators to provide feedback and think creatively and critically about contemporary life in Scioto County. The more than 50 attendees are a diverse set of community members spanning generations, race, class and gender, with people coming from both rural and urban regions in the county. They are engaged, first, in a short activity identifying three words they want to hear said about their community and three words they don’t want to hear. Positive words include “friendly,” “history” and “beautiful.” Negative words included “poverty,” “drugs” and “crime.” This fall event is a hallmark of the OFS mission: to collaborate as a means of understanding how people see and create within their communities, and to facilitate conversation and give people a reason to gather.

ON-SITE FIELDWORK Fast forward to spring 2018: Cassie Patterson, assistant director of the CFS, emerges from a cabin door, looking out at the trees that blanket 63,000 acres of the surrounding Shawnee State Park. Over the next half hour, Patterson’s students make their way from nearby cabins into their cars to begin their work for the day. It’s spring break, and instead of jetting off for a beachside vacation, the students in Patterson’s Comparative Studies Field School class have decided to spend their break conducting immersive research in Scioto County. Together, they document contemporary local culture through interviews, photographs, ephemera and fieldnotes. Groups of two to three students are paired with a community partner who has coordinated a service-learning project for the week. Over the semester, Patterson and CFS Director Katherine Borland teach the students how to craft interview questions, use recording equipment, conduct interviews, take photographs and write field notes and observations. They discuss fieldwork ethics, particularly issues of representation. Integral to the course is learning about the role of archives in fieldwork, and each team of students codes, logs and deposits its materials into the Folklore Archives at the end of the term. Once they return to Columbus, they spend the remainder of the semester learning to make their collections accessible to future researchers. Students produce a final project — what Patterson calls “a public-facing product,” such as a photo gallery or a blog post.

While on the spring break trip, students also engage in folklore fieldwork to learn about what kind of fieldworker they are — something Patterson encourages them to reflect seriously upon: When do they write best? How do they need to prepare in order to be able to listen fully? What personal frameworks and prejudices do they bring with them to the field? This reflexivity, Patterson hopes, will give her students the confidence to take on similar projects in the future. “My sense from the students is that they are delighted to figure out who they are in the field,” said Patterson. “These students have space for self-discovery, and they get to take that knowledge with them afterward.” In spring 2018, students engaged in four service-learning projects that were directed by community partners: • Charlie Birge and Zoe Enciso-Edmiston worked with the Portsmouth Area Arts Council and its production of “Willy Wonka Jr.” • Frank Isabelle and Anping Luo spent a week pulling invasive species across several counties with Josh Deemer, Southern District preserve manager for the Division of Natural Areas & Preserves at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. • Molly Todd, Ana Mitchell and Luna Luo assisted with the restoration of local poet Brian Richards’ letterpress print shop, Bloody Twin Press. (You can check out original printings from the ’80s and ’90s at Ohio State’s Rare Books & Manuscripts Library.) • Mariah Marsden and Laura Thomas carried out a project, “Farm Books,” with Barb Bradbury of Hurricane Run Farm, which included digitizing ledgers and letters from the 1930s to the present. In Patterson’s class, students also consult with local scholars and activists to learn about how they curate their own histories, culture and lives. For instance, the class listened as Andrew Feight, a digital history professor at Shawnee State University and creator of the website Scioto Historical (go.osu.edu/sciotohistorical), explained the history of segregation, desegregation and the African American community in the Portsmouth area — the location of a now infamous conflict over the desegregation of a private pool, Dreamland. Feight recently hosted the first annual Visualizing Appalachia conference, where multiple presentations explored the power of local representation. (Check #sciotocounty, #digitalappalachia and #tellourownstories on Instagram.) On the last day of field school, students visited the home of local renaissance man Andrew Carter, a DJ, rapper, soapmaker and community activist who runs a small animal farm east of Portsmouth. They fed alpacas, petted goats and toured his property as he shared his plans to develop a youth homesteading program. Carter will join Patterson this fall at the annual American Folklore Society meeting, where he will discuss his use of Facebook Live (go.osu.edu/ watchmegrow) as a tool for community activism.

ONLINE: Explore the Center for Folklore Studies Archives on campus and online: cfs.osu.edu/archives ASCENT

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BLOODY TWIN PRESS RESTORATION: Over the course of four days, students learned about the intricate process of letterpress printing and the incredible stories and experiences owner Brian Richards has had during his life on the ridge above the Upper Twin Creek. Learn more: go.osu.edu/ofs-press

The mission of the OFS is to provide students with hands-on experience documenting culture — both past and present — to understand how people maintain a sense of place in changing environments. Patterson and Borland are the enduring backbone of this effort: a service-learning and community engagement project that is not limited to the semester class. As such, they set up this multiyear research project in order to build long-term, sustainable relationships with community partners. This allows them to address community-identified needs, as well as build their archival collection, deepening and enriching it over time. “The goal is to have an integrated project that addresses the need for students to have ethnographic and fieldwork training, at the same time that it supports the community’s needs and cultivates meaningful and mutually reciprocal relationships,” Patterson said. The full Ohio Field School Collection is available at four public locations in Scioto County, including the Portsmouth Public Library, the 14th Street Community Center, Shawnee State Park office and Shawnee State University.

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PORTSMOUTH AREA ARTS COUNCIL: Students helped the Portsmouth Area Arts Council on its production of “Willy Wonka Jr.” The council is a vital resource for Portsmouth, where economic neglect and precarity limits artistic opportunities for kids. Learn more: go.osu.edu/ofs-paac

COMPLEX ENGAGEMENTS AND REPRESENTATIONS The detailed portraits of life in Appalachia created through this work are important because this region of America tends to be misunderstood. The declaration of the opioid epidemic as a national public health emergency, and, before that, the detailing of the epidemic’s hold in places like Portsmouth in Sam Quinones’ book Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic, brought fraught attention to places like Portsmouth. While Quinones’ book drew much-needed international attention to this issue, an unintended consequence is that the first thing most people now associate with the region is drugs. In reality, the stereotypes of Appalachia are far less compelling than the complexities on the ground, and the OFS seeks to help portray this region by engaging this complexity from the expertise of the people who know it best.

BRADBURY FARM BOOKS DIGITIZATION: Students worked with Barb Bradbury of Hurricane Run Farm near Otway, Ohio, to digitize ledgers and letters from her grandmother’s farm in the 1930s, as well as the family farm’s current records. Learn more: go.osu.edu/ofs-farm

The reductive view of this region and the people that live there is a sensitive subject to Scioto County residents, and many wish that outsiders had a broader view that included the recovery programs they have in place. Locals like Whitney Folsom-Lecouffe, who works at Ascend Counseling and Recovery Services, recently curated an exhibit of an art therapy project created by people in recovery. “Canary in the Coal Mine: Escaping the Opioid Crisis” provides a space to visualize the systemic nature and the personal experiences of addiction. Noting the sensitivity of these issues, Patterson and Borland developed the OFS model to embody sustained investment in the community that fosters trust through collaborative process and, in return, allows them to curate a complex, dynamic and living portrait of a place. “Portsmouth, Ohio, is reaching a turning point. It’s been on the precipice of significant cultural change, this last two or three years especially,” said Nicholas Sherman, a service provider for Portsmouth’s Creative Cult Coalition. “I’m thankful there’s a group from outside the area who can look at what’s happening more objectively, document and discuss the good things to come.”

WORKING TOUR IN NATURE PRESERVES: ODNR preserve manager Josh Deemer teamed up with students to teach the ins and outs of preservation, from dumpsite cleanup and trail maintenance to managing invasive species and other pests, all the while sharing the history and lore of the land. Learn more: go.osu.edu/ofs-nature

FOLKLORE IN THE WORLD Like the Appalachian region, the study of folklore is also frequently misunderstood. While the study of folklore does in fact include old wives’ tales, urban legends and folk art, it is much broader in its scope than many realize. The American Folklore Society defines folklore as “the traditional art, literature, knowledge and practice that is disseminated largely through oral communication and behavioral example. Every group with a sense of its own identity shares, as a central part of that identity, folk traditions — the things that people traditionally believe (planting practices, family traditions and other elements of worldview), do (dance, make music, sew clothing), know (how to build an irrigation dam, how to nurse an ailment, how to prepare barbecue), make (architecture, art, craft) and say (personal experience stories, riddles, song lyrics).” The Friends of Scioto Bush Creek, a local organization dedicated to maintaining and improving water quality at the Scioto Bush Creek, says that the OFS “has already gotten the ideas flowing, and hopefully the community leaders will keep the skills they’ve learned to improve our community and make it stronger for future generations.” ASCENT

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STUDENTS

JUST MONKEYING AROUND

Student researchers study the endangered bonobos at the Columbus Zoo In the Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology (EEOB) Undergraduate Research Laboratory in Behavioral Ecology (UResearch), there’s no room for monkeying around, except when it comes to the bonobos at the Columbus Zoo. During the 2017-2018 school year, student researchers in the UResearch Lab have been collecting and analyzing data on the zoo’s population of bonobos, an endangered species of primate closely related to chimpanzees. Students Sophie Aller and Madison Zimmerly are focusing on dominance behaviors, and Jamie Champlin and Chelsea Mascuch are studying grooming habits. Aller and Zimmerly are challenging previous research that states female bonobos are more dominant than male bonobos. They are also trying to confirm if these dominance behaviors are consistent across both wild and captive populations. “Determining dominance hierarchy is important for the conservation of species because it allows for better mental and physical health within the groups,” said Aller, a fifth-year zoology major. “Since the Columbus Zoo tries to mimic the social structure in the wild, this is important to know for captivity purposes.”

The UResearch lab strives to provide research opportunities for aspiring undergraduate scientists who would like to take their academic studies beyond the classroom. This year, undergraduate researchers went to the Columbus Zoo to study bonobos.

Similarly, Champlin and Mascuch are researching the effects of social grooming on social group dynamics in captive bonobos. Because bonobos are understudied as a species, Champlin hopes their research can help create a better understanding of bonobo societies and group dynamics. “The overall goal is to gain an understanding of the benefits of (the bonobos’) behavior and therefore improve quality of life for captive bonobos,” said Champlin, a fourthyear evolution and ecology major. “This research also could be used as a platform for further research in wild bonobos.” The UResearch Lab would not exist without EEOB research scientist Zeynep Benderlioglu, who built the lab and its curriculum on the idea that undergraduate students should have access to intensive research opportunities. Benderlioglu began by designing courses that emphasized research-design, hypotheses, appropriate data collection, statistical analyses and grant writing. She added peermentoring and outreach components and launched the new lab during the 2013-2014 academic year.

“Zeynep takes time with all of her students and makes sure that they know and, more importantly, understand the material. I want to go into the research field in the future, and this class has set me up for success in independent research.” {Sophie Aller}

Over the past four years, students have been involved in myriad projects, including studying aggression in field crickets and the effects of textbook construction. They also have participated in multiple outreach initiatives through Columbus City Schools and the Columbus Metro Parks, engaging more than 4,000 children and families in Franklin County to explore basic science and animal diversity. For Benderlioglu, watching students grow and develop their skills throughout their time in the lab reminds her why the work she’s doing is important. “It’s incredible; in the beginning they just have no idea what they want to study, what they want — and then slowly they gain confidence,” Benderlioglu said. “I am so glad that I am able to see that development with my own eyes.” Working in the UResearch Lab has inspired many students to pursue research beyond their undergraduate careers. Champlin, for example, wants to conduct research in the field of ecological restoration. Aller is set on continuing to conduct research beyond the UResearch Lab and is confident that the skills she gained under Benderlioglu’s guidance will help her go far in the field. “Zeynep takes time with all of her students and makes sure that they know and, more importantly, understand the material,” Aller said. “I want to go into the research field in the future, and this class has set me up for success in independent research.”

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STUDENTS

THE ECONOMICS OF IMMIGRATION Students experience service-learning in Mexico When some Ohio State students arrived in Mexico for spring break, they were met by sandy beaches, ocean waves and a week of relaxation. For others, such as the students in Darcy Hartman’s The Economics of Immigration class, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. The 14 students in Hartman’s service-learning course traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, a border city about 20 miles south of San Diego, to spend spring break working with impoverished families in the community. The group partnered with Esperanza International, a nonprofit community development organization. “Working with Esperanza International gave students a better opportunity to interact with the people they were helping and to look beyond the numbers and statistics,” said Hartman, senior lecturer in the Department of Economics. Before the students could get started, they had to make their own migration. They traveled from Columbus to San Diego and used public transportation to get to the border. From there, they walked from the United States into Mexico, where they were met by Esperanza International members. For Bethany Cady, a third-year economics major, the journey revealed the reality of Tijuana’s economic despair, but also displayed moments of beauty. “Tijuana at first fit the general stereotype of a developing community. The streets were messy, and it seemed like all of the signs were rundown or handmade,” said Cady. “Still, there was so much beauty. In the first few days we went to an outdoor market, where vendors could sell basically anything. All of the colors and scenes were gorgeous and the buildings were bright and colorful, and it was overall just really incredible to look at.” The group was tasked with building the structure for a new kitchen on an existing home, as well as working on improving the infrastructure of a government-donated property. What was consistent across both worksites was the ability for the students and community members to work together, despite at times having an evident language barrier. Together, they moved dirt and cinder blocks, mixed concrete, tied rebar and completed many other tasks that come with construction. “I was expecting us to work as two different groups: students and community members,” said Thomas Meade, a fourth-year economics major. “But within a few minutes of getting to work we were one group working toward a common goal.” Many of the people that Esperanza International helps are individuals who have been deported from or want to immigrate to the United States. The students had the opportunity to meet with some of these people at Casa del Migrante, a shelter that provides migrants, deportees and refugees with food, shelter and other resources. Meade said the most memorable part of the trip for him was when the group was at Casa del Migrante and

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“It’s an opportunity to get outside of the classroom and relate to people individually. We do a lot of number crunching in economics, but people are more than just numbers. Nobody’s really the average of anything.” {Darcy Hartman} he met a 17-year-old boy who had attempted to cross the border in an effort to escape poverty. Hearing the boy’s story helped Meade see the importance of the service work they were doing in Tijuana. “I believe it was important to see firsthand the people that have been targeted so heavily,” Meade said. “Seeing the work that Esperanza has done in the past also made me more confident in the belief that the work we do contributes to an increase of the quality of life in Tijuana.” This year’s class was the third group that Hartman has taken to Tijuana since the course was established in 2013. Prior to 2014, the class focused on working with immigrants in the Columbus community through Tewahedo Ethiopian Social Services. Once the study abroad component was approved, the course incorporated the trip to Tijuana, while also keeping a local component. This past semester, students helped to manage the finances of a Columbus-based family facing deportation. The goal of the course is and has been to give students a better understanding of how immigration affects different communities. Umar Shafiq Bin Hisham, a fourth-year economics major, has witnessed his fair share of the effects of immigration while in his home country of Malaysia. “It’s very common to see the flow of immigration back and forth within my country and also surrounding countries,” said Hisham. “I thought that if I experienced immigration myself and see their reception to outsiders, then I can better understand the immigrant experience and I can bring that back to Malaysia after I graduate this semester.” Another major takeaway from the experience was students being able to see how data were fleshed out in a real-world setting. While you can see numbers reflected in rates of homelessness and housing quality, you can’t see how owning a home enables people to have an increased quality of life, Cady explained. Through their experiences, the students were able to see how the numbers shape people’s lives. “You get to learn why people do things, rather than just seeing correlations without any ability to assert that there is actually a causal relationship,” Cady said. “It allows expression and experiences that you can’t really summarize with numbers and digits.”

Fourteen students in the Economics of Immigration service-learning course traveled to Mexico over spring break, working with Esperanza International, a nonprofit community development organization, to help impoverished communities rebuild. The goal of the course is to give students a better understanding of how immigration affects different communities and to see how data look in a real-world setting.

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OUTREACH

AN UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY As a Monda Scholar, one Arts and Sciences student continues his nontraditional path As Chris Newman reached the peak of Table Mountain and looked out over the town of Cape Town, South Africa, below, he had the startling realization of how much of a feat this was. Not only was this the first mountain he had ever climbed — and not only did he travel some 8,215 miles from Columbus to do so — but he also realized that he was having a deeply personal and unique experience unlike anything he could have ever imagined. “Getting to the top of it, I realized that there’s no one else I know intimately that will ever experience this, so I’m just going to take it all in,” Newman said. “I thought, ‘I’m here by myself, thousands of miles away from home on top of this mountain,’ and it was just amazing.”

Chris Newman, a 37-year-old undergraduate student, celebrates reaching the summit of Stellenbosch Mountain in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Newman’s experience studying abroad as a Monda Scholar was deeply personal and unique, and unlike anything he could have ever imagined.

Newman traveled to South Africa during summer 2017 for an education abroad experience. At 37 years old, Newman, an undergraduate majoring in African American and African Studies, admits that his aspirations of attending Ohio State were “a bit delayed.” Growing up in a poverty-stricken neighborhood on the south side of Columbus, Newman never thought that attending college — let alone studying abroad — would be in the cards for him. “I honestly never thought that I would be able to arrive at Ohio State,” Newman said. “For me, growing up in the type of environment I grew up in, a gang-related environment, it just was not necessarily something that I even aspired to.” After being inspired by the then-television show Save My Son, on which black families sought guidance and intervention for their sons, Newman saw too many similarities to his own environment and decided to make a change. For about five years, he taught underrepresented minority students, developing a system of reading and writing adaptability called Project Lit-Ed. As part of the program, students sent a letter to President Obama and were thrilled to receive a response. “For my students, many of whom struggled academically and personally, they never would have dreamed Obama would have personally written to them,” Newman said. While his initial career goal was to teach young students to offer positive intervention, earning an associate’s

degree in early childhood education from Kaplan University along the way, Newman realized that he could have more impact as an academic at the post-secondary level. As a next step, he applied and was accepted to the Department of African American and African Studies. Studying with David Crawford Jones, senior lecturer in the department, piqued his interest in South African history. After taking a class on the African diaspora with Lupenga Mphande, associate professor and director of the South Africa study abroad program, Newman realized that an immersive experience in South Africa would be a perfect complement to his education. However, with money being tight, a trip would be unlikely without needed support. Taking a chance, Newman applied for and was awarded a Keith and Linda Monda International Experience Scholarship. Established by Keith Monda (’68, ’71 MA) and his wife, Linda, these need-based scholarships every year enable dozens of Arts and Sciences students who normally would not have the opportunity to travel and study abroad to have an international experience. So far, The Keith and Linda Monda International Experience Scholarships Fund has empowered hundreds of Ohio State students to travel to more than 40 countries. This investment in study abroad scholarships has enabled students like Newman to have transformative experiences around the globe. “Every young person should have a worldview,” said Keith Monda. “Our program provides an opportunity for those students that would not be able to afford this important growth experience.” Having experienced the impact of their scholarship firsthand, Newman is grateful for the Mondas’ desire to help students like him. “To know that Mr. and Mrs. Monda have a passion for other people, a passion for students and a caring spirit to want to help people like me is amazing,” Newman said. “They had never met me, and I had never met them. They worked for years and have dedicated their lives to service, and them giving in this way is a value you can’t put a monetary tag on. It’s a value that I don’t know how I

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could use words to express my overall gratitude and sincerity.” Through his study abroad experience, Newman was able to learn more about apartheid in South Africa and draw parallels to the civil rights movement in the U.S. His mother was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1950, and through her and elder family members, he had an understanding of the impact of Jim Crow in America. And as a child of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Newman had at least an awareness of apartheid in South Africa. “To have an understanding of the South African version of Jim Crow, so to speak, really hit home and allowed me to see it from a different perspective,” he says. “The remains of apartheid are still there, structurally and otherwise, but beyond that, it’s a beautiful country, Stellenbosch University was a welcoming environment, and if I have an opportunity, I definitely will return.”

Newman plans to graduate in May 2019 and soon will begin applying to graduate school to pursue a PhD in the study of early Christianity. He hopes to work as a professor — but he would like to “retire as a dean.” “I dropped out of high school my senior year,” he said, “but here I am in my senior year of college giving it everything I have.” Newman is also open about the daily challenges he faces with clinical depression and bipolar disorder, and he hopes his education journey, however nonlinear it may be, can help others fighting their own personal battle realize they are not alone. “People can walk by me and never know that on a daily basis it was a struggle,” he said. “I would say to any student who has ever wanted to give up, throw in the towel when it comes to their education or even their life, I want them to know that they’re not alone.”

THE MONDA IMPACT The Keith and Linda Monda International Experience Scholarships have had a significant impact on students in Ohio State’s College of Arts and Sciences since 2012. Each year, in perpetuity, the need-based scholarships will enable dozens of Arts and Sciences students who normally would not have the opportunity to travel and study abroad to have an international experience. Students have been all over the world, participating in programs like Dance Denmark; Genocide and Its Aftermath in Rwanda; Japanese

40+ COUNTRIES VISITED

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Language and Culture in Kobe; Social Issues and Human Rights and Nicaragua; Impact of HIV: Tanzania; Berlin Then and Now: People, Places, Experiences; Multicultural Histories and Legacies of Rome and London; Shanghai 1750-2050: Chinese Hub Port, Treaty Port, Global Mega-City; and Global May New Zealand. Since its inception, The Keith and Linda Monda International Experience Scholarships Fund has empowered hundreds of Ohio State students to travel to more than 40 countries, some of which are shown below.

$1.2M+ SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED TO HUNRDEDS OF STUDENTS

STUDENTS

FAMILY MATTERS Children create scholarship to honor their parents When Ohio State alumni give back, many want their contributions to reflect the values and skills they learned during their time on campus. The Liu siblings — Leo (BA, humanities, 1978), Ursula (BS, international studies, 1985) and Isabel (BA, economics, 1979) — wanted to honor their parents, the people who instilled in them high values for education. “Both of our parents came from very poor countries and, through education, achieved professional success and personal happiness in raising our family,” said Isabel. “They set very high standards for us, not only for education, but also for achieving excellence through hard work. They were pioneers in many ways, which I only appreciated later in life.” The Liu siblings established the Chen Ya and Siuha Anita Liu Fund for Professional Writing, an annual award for an undergraduate student majoring in a science, technology or engineering field and minoring in professional writing. The writing aspect is an homage to their parents’ high regard for well-written work. “In (our father’s) own career as an engineer originally from China, he knew how important communication is for scientists,” said Leo. “So, my sisters and I thought, ‘Why not create a scholarship to further this sort of interdisciplinary education?’ The more we talked about it, the more we felt that such a scholarship should honor our mother, as well as our father. She wrote and published several stories while she was still in high school.” Chen Ya and Anita Liu met as graduate engineering students at New York University in the 1950s. Through hard work, they were both able to earn their degrees and professional qualifications, becoming pioneers in their respective fields. “My mom and dad both emigrated to New York City to pursue graduate studies in engineering,” Leo said. “It’s difficult to convey the number of obstacles they had to overcome to get to America, including a complete lack of family and financial support, and political and social barriers of their time and place.” Through their endowment, the Lius hope to eliminate as many barriers as possible for others, opening up the possibility for professional writing education to as many students as possible. “College is a significant financial burden,” Isabel said. “The purpose of the skills gained in the professional writing program is to help students learn to communicate across boundaries — to effectively communicate technical content. The more the program can be open to students from a broad range of backgrounds, the better.” “I, like many other children of immigrants, am completely humbled by our parents’ perseverance and ability to succeed against the odds,” Leo said. “My sisters and I believe that it’s very fitting to name the scholarship in their honor.”

Chen Ya Liu and Siuha Anita Go on their wedding day in New York City, 1956. Their children established a professional writing scholarship in their honor. The endowment was approved by the Board of Trustees in summer 2017 and will be available to students starting in fall 2018. Halima Mohamed, a fourth-year psychology major, will be the first student to receive an award in autumn 2018. Mohamed said that the endowment will enable her to incorporate her passion for writing with her desire to improve her professional writing abilities. “I feel extremely lucky to receive the endowment. It will help me further succeed at Ohio State because it will allow me to better focus my time into my studies,” said Mohamed.

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ALUMNI

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Arts and Sciences alumni pay forward by giving back Buckeyes give back â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to the university, to their communities and across the world. Three Arts and Sciences alumni are doing just that by helping those suffering from hearing loss from the ongoing airstrikes in Syria, rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck and providing medical services to those in need in Haiti.

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TASNIM HAMZA

(SPEECH AND HEARING SCIENCE, 2012; AUD, 2018)

Airstrikes deliberately targeting Syrian civilians have led to unprecedented rates of hearing loss among child refugees. While there are a number of nongovernmental organizations and humanitarian aid organizations on the ground providing food, clothing, water and crucial medical assistance, audiological care is not a priority. Without it, however, children will suffer delays in language, communication and academic development.

At least 50 percent of the children were profoundly hearing impaired or deaf. For these children, hearing aids were of no help. Hamza and others had to teach them — and their parents — enough basic sign language to survive. Hamza, who is fluent in Arabic, didn’t learn sign language until she boarded the plane to Lebanon.

Tasnim Hamza, a recent graduate of the doctor of audiology program in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science, was born in the United States. Her parents are Syrian, and she has relatives who live in Aleppo, a city in northern Syria.

At the end of the trip, the team had provided services and support to nearly 300 children. “We barely scratched the surface,” she said. “There are thousands of kids on the waitlist for future trips.”

“I’ve always known that I wanted to go into a humanitarian profession focused on improving the quality of life of people,” said Hamza. “I want to use the skill set that my education at Ohio State has given me to help people who have been displaced from their homes by war.”

VIDEO: Audiologist Tasnim Hamza traveled to refugee camps in Lebanon with Deaf Planet Soul to provide hearing services to young Syrian refugees who suffered hearing loss from the trauma of barrel bombs. Hear more about her story: go.osu.edu/tasnim

that, and the team made the difficult decision to give each child only one rather than two, to help as many as they could.

As fate would have it, Hamza received an email from a friend asking her to join a humanitarian aid trip to refugee camps in Lebanon. Without hesitation, she signed on as the audiology coordinator and the only student-member of the world’s first deaf-led humanitarian aid mission, sponsored by Deaf Planet Soul, a Chicago-based nonprofit providing resources and support for the deaf community. In March 2017, Hamza and the team of audiologists and therapists from Deaf Planet Soul arrived on the ground in Lebanon. For 10 days, they moved from camp to camp setting up makeshift diagnostic stations, dispensing hearing aids, teaching sign language and providing mental health therapy to Syrian refugee children and their parents. Because this was the first humanitarian group to offer audiological care in the camps, no one knew for sure what to expect in terms of numbers and demand. “You can never really prepare yourself for what you’ll see,” Hamza said. “Every morning, we were met with overwhelming need. Hundreds of children and their parents lined up, desperate for help.” Hamza and the team began their days at 6 a.m. and worked 12- or 13-hour shifts. For most of the children, it was the first time they had sat down with therapists and audiologists for treatment. The team brought 130 hearing aids to disperse, but the demand far exceeded

“We needed to give these children and their parents a means to communicate,” Hamza said. “Without language or hearing aids, they would continue to live in isolation, and many would be ostracized.”

According to Gail Whitelaw, director of Ohio State’s Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic and an audiologist herself, the humanitarian work that Hamza has undertaken is exactly the type of outreach that Ohio State audiology strives to have in the world. “We prepare our audiologists to provide the highest quality of care for those in need of our services, whether across the street or across the world.”

KAREN BOUDRIE GREIG (BROADCAST JOURNALISM, 1982)

From using her public relations firm to aid in the repopulation of a parish devastated by Hurricane Katrina to being crowned goddess of the largest all-female Mardi Gras krewe, Karen Boudrie Greig’s connection to the Big Easy has blossomed quickly. Greig earned her degree in broadcast journalism from Ohio State in 1982 before starting her career as a reporter and anchor for a station in Corpus Christi, Texas. She moved to New Orleans in 1992, where she continued her broadcast journalism career as a reporter and anchor until 2001, when she started her own marketing and public relations firm. In August of 2005, the dynamic and character of New Orleans changed forever when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi. Neighborhoods were flooded. Buildings were destroyed. There were people who were trapped, scared and alone.

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In the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, Greig was in the middle of it all. “Half of that city was basically underwater,” she said. “I was embedded within a bunch of emergency crews and the public works and Homeland Security folks. We were all together making decisions on how we were going to handle things.” The chaos and tragedy of that fateful summer left deep scars that are still felt to this day. Though New Orleans has managed to emerge from the ashes galvanized and united, communities in and around southeastern Louisiana are still impacted by the storm 13 years ago. And Greig remains immersed in the effort to restore and rebuild. St. Bernard Parish — which is situated on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico on New Orleans’ southeast side — was obliterated. A 25-foot storm surge created by Katrina destroyed levees protecting the parish from the sea, leaving almost the entire community flooded. Today, much of St. Bernard’s infrastructure has been rebuilt, and the community has gone from recovery mode to redevelopment mode. Sold on St. Bernard is a program dedicated to moving folks back to the community. Greig’s public relations firm built the program’s website, handles its social media, develops marketing strategies and promotes its media. “They’re redeveloping smartly, and they’re doing it better than it was done before as far as revitalizing neighborhoods and bringing back communities,” Greig said. Greig’s tie to New Orleans doesn’t end there. Last February, she led a massive Mardi Gras parade down the city’s historic St. Charles Avenue as goddess of the Mystic Krewe of Nyx. The krewe, which formed in 2012, carries out charity and philanthropic work throughout New Orleans. Greig became involved with the krewe because of her role as president of the Military Officers’ Wives Club of Greater New Orleans. This year, she is helping fundraise for Hero Dogs, a group that trains service dogs for military veterans. Greig once thought New Orleans would be just another stop on a longer journey. But now, after 26 years, she can safely say she’s found her destination. “There’s just something special about the people here and the culture here,” she said. “Hurricane Katrina and Mardi Gras just makes you tied to that community in a way that you might not be in other places.”

MARK PETERS

(MATHEMATICS, 1983; MD, 1987; RESIDENCY, 1991)

“Each step of the way, I give a lot of credit to Ohio State for giving me opportunities and educating me in the way that they did, and I always felt like I wanted to do something to give back to the community.” Mark Peters grew up with scarlet and gray in his blood. His uncle was a professor at Ohio State, and both were huge fans of Buckeye sports. So, when it came time for Peters to go to college, it

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was no surprise that he packed his bags for Columbus. He had planned on becoming a doctor, but his journey to medical school was not as typical as others.” “I went to Ohio State with the intent of ultimately going to medical school, but I ended up exploring different pathways. I had always really liked math and had excelled at it in high school, so I pursued a degree in mathematics — and enjoyed every minute of it.” His undergraduate years as a math major prepared him for the next step in his education: attending medical school at, you guessed it, Ohio State. Once he completed the program in 1987, he moved on to his residency, focusing on internal medicine and pediatrics. From there, he became a pulmonary specialist for both adults and children, practicing in Nashville, Tennessee. Peters and his family have been in Nashville since 2001, but it wasn’t until three years later that he started doing outreach work in Haiti. “When I got to Nashville, our church had just started a relationship with a parish in Gobert, Haiti, and one of the organizers asked me to participate in the trip. We arrived at this village in a very rural area of northwestern Haiti in the mountains and worked pretty much from dawn until dusk,” Peters said. “When I left that first time, I thought that I’d never return. After several months of reflection, however, I went back the next year and just never stopped going back.” Peters has been traveling back and forth to Haiti for 15 years now, with no plans to stop any time soon. His missions are primarily medical, but they also focus on clean water projects at the same time, because many of the primary forms of disease in Haiti are caused by dirty water. In addition to clean water and general medical care, the mission offers women’s health services and, for the past few years, dental care. “About three years ago, I became involved with an organization called Be Happy Haiti, which does dental prevention for school-aged children. It’s rewarding not only because of the students I got to work with, but also because this was a chance to utilize preventative medicine, rather than reactive medicine.” For Peters, it’s important to pay forward, and he’s hopeful about the future of the missions. “Haiti is always going to have a place in my heart. I’ve fallen in love with the country, and I will continue to go back there as long as I am able, which hopefully will be a very long time.” “I’m looking to really expand things that we’ve already done, including the Be Happy Haiti program, into other communities, mostly because I think prevention is really the way to go. If we can do more preventative care with the clean water, women’s health, dental care, immunizations and others, that would be ideal.” And, though his journey has been long, Peters has not forgotten his time in Columbus and the impact it’s had on him, every step of the way. “I am continually reminded what a great gift I was given to be able to attend such an amazing university and am so grateful to have had that opportunity. I’d love for others to have the same opportunity as well, and not only that, but to utilize the talents and the tools they gained at Ohio State to give back to their community.”

ALUMNI

Jack Emmert’s journey led him from being an arts and humanities major into the corporate world as an established game designer and a CEO at Daybreak Game Company — a worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games.

IMMERSIVE WORLDS Using classics to create video games Jack Emmert ’97 MA designs smash-hit video games like City of Heroes, City of Villains and Star Trek Online — and he says his background in classics and the humanities has greatly contributed to his career success. “Designing characters that resonate with players and telling stories about the hero’s journey is a direct application of my classics background,” said Emmert. “Designing a good character is an intellectual endeavor, and the lessons we learned in classics are still applicable today.” Emmert, who earned a master’s degree in Greek and Latin at Ohio State in addition to completing doctoral coursework, credits his studies in Greek mythology for helping to create the “immersive worlds” and superhero characters that make his games so popular. Aside from lessons from literature and characters that have stood the test of time, Emmert says classics students’ ability to absorb large amounts of information and memorize ancient languages provides a unique competitive advantage in his line of work. “You have to be very analytical in studying classics, and that skill is incredibly useful when you start coding and programming computer games,” he said. “You learn to analyze data every day in classics, and you analyze data every day in the gaming industry. You learn Greek and Latin through memorization; they’re not conversational. Programming languages

work the same way and are a direct application of my classics background.” In recognition of his firsthand appreciation for classics at Ohio State, he established the Jack Emmert Fund in Ancient Greek and Roman Myth and Religion, which will support the Emmert Colloquium on the Teaching of Myth, to be held in April 2019. The colloquium will examine the best methods for teaching ancient Greek myths on the college level, with an eye toward using the best contemporary technological advances and making myths come to life for today’s college students. In the early 2000s, Emmert helped launch Cryptic Studios, a video game development company later acquired by Atari. At Cryptic Studios, he served as designer, lead designer, creative director, chief creative officer, COO, CEO and chair of its board. In May 2016, Emmert joined Daybreak Studios as CEO of its Austin studio. Currently, he oversees Daybreak’s Austin, San Diego and Boston studios as head of all games — including DC Universe Online, a massive multiplayer online game set in the world of DC Comics heroes and villains. “On any given day, there are a million players for my games,” he said. “The video game industry is bigger than Hollywood, with a bigger impact than any film.”

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ALUMNI

BRINGING ART AND HISTORY TO LIFE Anthropology alumna designs corsets for TV and music videos When Larissa Boiwka ’05 was an anthropology undergraduate at Ohio State studying ancient cultures, she never imagined where her degree would take her after graduation. After taking classes on witchcraft, archaeology and tribal cultures, Boiwka traveled extensively, tracking the sites she learned about in her classes. She even had the opportunity to summit a volcano in Guatemala to visit the shrine of the local deity Maximón, an impish saint who accepts offerings of hand-rolled cigarettes and alcohol. “The expedition sounded like the beginning of an Indiana Jones movie, so of course, I jumped at that invitation,” said Boiwka. Boiwka’s adventurous nature lends itself well to life as an entrepreneur. Her bespoke corsetry business, Wilde Hunt Corsetry, formed serendipitously after she made a corset for herself for a Halloween costume. “While I was busy considering my next move, my business formed very organically and it became abundantly clear that there was a real niche and strong demand for what I was creating,” Boiwka said of her business’ beginnings. “It’s definitely not something that I could have planned in advance.”

“The things I read about, the cultural sites I visited and the relationships I formed as a result of my education at Ohio State still inform my work as an artist today.” {Larissa Boiwka}

Under the Wilde Hunt Corsetry label, Boiwka creates custom leather corsets, often using historical beading and embroidery techniques and incorporating inspiration from the ancient cultures she studied in school. Boiwka, who is an entirely self-taught designer, credits the education she received from Ohio State's Department of Anthropology with setting her up for success as an artist and small-business owner. “The things I read about, the cultural sites I visited and the relationships I formed as a result of my education at Ohio State still inform my work as an artist today,” she said. Boiwka also cites the cognitive and language skills she gained during her studies with helping her tell her story today, as well as securing grants and funding for her projects. Her studies also provided the inspiration for her shop’s unique name. Taken from a lecture in Professor Sarah Iles Johnston’s class on witchcraft in the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, “The Wilde Hunt” (or “die Wilde Jagd”) is a myth that tells of an ethereal hunting party, and includes divinities such as Frau Holle, Hulda, Diana, Freya and Odin. The topic captured Boiwka’s interest immediately. “I thought this story painted a really lush creative landscape that could hold a wealth of tales, almost a unique universe in and of itself for me to create within,” Boiwka said. In addition to creating custom corsets for clients worldwide, Boiwka has captured the attention of television and music producers. She has

Model Amelia Bindofer wears one of Boiwka’s custom corsets. Through her Wilde Hunt Corsetry label, Boiwka creates custom corsets for clients around the world and in the entertainment industry. Photo by Rachel Lauren.

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created pieces for music videos and, most recently, the PBS Civil War drama Mercy Street, which premiered in 2016, starring Josh Radnor. Mercy Street costume designer Amy Harrell Andrews commissioned Boiwka to create two period corsets for the show and tasked her with the unique challenge of blending the show’s artistic aesthetic with historically accurate details. Luckily, Boiwka had access to Ohio State’s Historic Costume and Textiles Collection, which provided her with inspiration and guidance to help her craft the historic costumes. Although her work on Mercy Street is complete, Boiwka’s partnership with PBS allowed her to contribute to a new series on the network. The new show Civilizations examines the role of art and creative imagination throughout history, and PBS publishes blog posts written by current artists to accompany each new episode. Boiwka was asked to provide her reactions to episode two, entitled “How Do We Look?” which centers on art and the human body.

“Examining the human body through art and viewing my work through an anthropological lens brought the journey of my education and my business creation full circle for me," she said. Reflecting on her experience at Ohio State, Boiwka recommends aspiring artists cultivate good observation skills and always be on the lookout for new opportunities. “Good luck is really just the result of paying attention,” she said. “If you are attentive, you will recognize great opportunities when they present themselves to you — things you could never predict.”

PHOTOS: See more pictures of Boiwka’s work and learn about the types of corsets she makes on her website: wildehunt.com.

She also reminds young people to be kinder to themselves. “Try to get more sleep and not be so critical of yourself. This is something we easily forget when we’re working on a goal,” she said. “And finally, maybe go bring Maximón some rum, jade or copal. It worked out pretty well for me.”

According to Boiwka, this assignment gave her the opportunity to reflect on her work and her education.

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Mahzarin Banajiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Anthony Greenwaldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bestseller Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People explores the hidden biases people all carry from a lifetime of exposure to cultural attitudes about age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, sexuality, disability status and nationality. Learn more about the book online: go.osu.edu/blindspot

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ALUMNI

BLINDSPOTS One alumna’s quest to uncover our hidden biases If you ask Mahzarin Banaji ’82 MA, ’86 PhD what she does for a living, she’ll tell you that she “focuses mainly on the troublesome aspects of the human mind.” Why? “Because they tell you a lot about human nature and human experience and the decisions humans make about themselves and others.”

in society give us the content of what our minds know.”

Banaji is the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University and a pioneer in the field of social psychology. She has, in a relatively short period of time, revolutionized the scientific study of attitudes and stereotypes.

In 2017, Banaji received the American Psychology Association (APA) Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions, the APA’s highest honor, and this year, Banaji was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. In 2016, the Department of Psychology honored her with its Distinguished Alumni Award. Gifford Weary, professor emeritus of psychology and former department chair, presented Banaji with the award. “Mahzarin has quite literally changed the field of psychology,” Weary said.

Born and raised in India, Banaji studied some psychology but was particularly drawn to experiments on individuals as social creatures. She discovered that there was a field called experimental social psychology and that its headquarters was located in Columbus, Ohio.

Never one to rest on her laurels, Banaji is the founder of a new project, Outsmarting Human Minds, a set of videos and podcasts aimed at bringing psychological science to broader understanding. You can find these at outsmartinghumanminds.org.

“I packed my bags, showed up at the football stadium — where the psychology department’s offices were located — and was fortunate to end up in a lab that taught me everything I know and use today.”

Q&A WITH MAHZARIN BANAJI

Banaji enrolled in the graduate program in psychology at Ohio State in the 1980s, and psychology professor Anthony Greenwald became her faculty mentor. She and Greenwald have collaborated for more than 35 years in their search to understand how the mind operates in social contexts. “Ohio State was a transformative experience,” said Banaji. “I was surrounded by brilliant people who took their craft seriously, who set unimagined standards of excellence to aspire to and who lit the path of learning to become a scientist for me.” In the 1990s, Banaji and Greenwald co-developed the Implicit Association Test (IAT), with Brian Nosek (University of Virginia), a student of Banaji’s, helping to give it life on the Internet. The IAT was born out of the idea that a test that requires people to make rapid categorizations might shed light on people’s implicit attitudes without having to rely on their self-report or awareness. The test, which can be taken in roughly five minutes, has been applied to the practice of medicine, law, policing and other fields. To date, more than 184 million people have taken the test. (You can as well, at implicit.harvard.edu.) In 2013, Banaji and Greenwald published the bestseller Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, which provides a deeper understanding of our unconscious and unintentional biases. Evidence presented in the book suggests that our attitudes toward things like race, gender, sexuality, age and politics are formed by “mindbugs,” learned habits that impair the brain’s ability to perceive things as they truly are. “Biological pressures that gave us the brain we have account for the process by which bias occurs,” Banaji said. “Culture and daily experiences

What about the field of social psychology interested you so much that you left India to come to Ohio State? I couldn’t believe that prejudice, obedience to authority, why we help and don’t — not just atoms and cells — could be studied in the laboratory. In the late 1970s that sounded radical. I had to find out more. I had to do it myself.

Many people will admit to favoritism toward others. Is that such a bad thing? Favoritism is the oil that greases social interaction. It becomes a problem only when it begins to interfere with the quality of decisions we make — when it leads us to hire the less competent candidate or treat a patient with less care because they are not favored.

What do you mean when you say that implicit bias shows up in who we help? Helping is a wonderful thing. But helping is one way in which inequality is sustained. To the extent that helping is extended to those we know and favor rather than those who are most deserving, we can, by doing something quite nice — helping — be discriminating.

They say the first step to fixing a problem is to acknowledge it. Can we fix our biases? I like your use of the word “acknowledge.” Often people speak about becoming aware. But I think that it is acknowledging that is necessary. Life presents difficult moments — I learn that I’ve lost a parent, I discover that I have a chronic disease — and the first step, of course, is to acknowledge it. That it’s real, that it has consequences. And then, to begin to deal with the challenge.

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ALUMNI

PRESERVING HISTORY Young alumna ensures prosperity of tetrapod collection In the far reaches of West Campus, thousands of specimens await discovery. They sit in cabinets, drawers and jars of ethanol, until they are needed for research. Tiny, handwritten tags tell their life story. Collection years range from the mid-1800s to present day. Some came from as far away as the Philippines, while others were found closer to home, near Lake Erie. Some specimens are common, like thrushes that could be found in any Ohio backyard. Others — like the Eskimo Curlew — were collected abroad and are now likely extinct. This diverse group of creatures makes up the Museum of Biological Diversity’s prized tetrapod collection. Containing mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles collected by Ohio State faculty and staff across decades, this collection is vital to the greater scientific community as a repository of research subjects for future study. With this purpose in mind, the safety and continued preservation of specimens is the museum’s top priority, says Angelika Nelson, former curator of the collection. “Our main goal is preserving these specimens for future generations,” said Nelson. “You never really know what the future will bring — what might happen to these species or what new research techniques might come up.” Although many animals in the collection have been dead for years, they still provide a valuable service, especially as research goals and methods change over time. “I mean, who would have thought that in 1860, when they collected some of these specimens, anyone would one day want to get a genetic sample?” Nelson said. “But today, it’s possible.” The collection’s mission is becoming more crucial, as more animals that were once common become endangered or extinct. “The classic example is the passenger pigeon, which was once the most common bird in North America,” Nelson explained. “There were millions of them, so many that a flock would move through a city and darken the skies for 24 hours. And then, a century later, they were completely extinct.” Luckily, the safety of the museum’s tetrapod collection has been ensured thanks to alumna Jennifer Foren ’14, whose contributions have helped the museum enormously. The biology and studio art graduate donated $50,000, specifically to the tetrapod collection. Foren, who worked at the museum as a summer research fellow, says the focus of her contribution is on meeting the collection’s immediate needs. One of those needs was for special cabinets on wheels that could be

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“Our main goal is preserving these specimens for future generations. You never really know what the future will bring: what might happen to these species or what new research techniques might come up.” {Angelika Nelson} easily moved in an emergency, to store some of the collection’s most valuable specimens. This includes crucial “type specimens” — specimens researchers use to identify and classify species. The collection still stores some of its specimens in heavy wooden cabinets. In the event of a fire, many of the 25,000 tetrapods might be lost. While Foren’s desire to contribute to the museum is fueled by a lifelong love of animals and her formative summer research experience, she also cherishes her Ohio State experience as a whole. After growing up in Ohio and working for the U.S. Army in Japan, Foren values the time she spent at Ohio State, saying it gave her the greatest sense of community out of all the places she’s lived. “I also learned to appreciate how many resources the school had and how many people there are to connect with,” said Foren. “There’s something for everyone here.” As a summer fellow at the Museum of Biological Diversity, Foren conducted research in bird egg shell reflectance and contributed to the museum’s preservation efforts. To preserve bird specimens, Foren prepared and cataloged bird carcasses, a task not everyone outside the walls of the museum understood. “I tried to explain to someone about how I would prepare the birds and then put the specimens away in drawers,” Foren said. “And they asked, ‘Why would you put them in drawers?’ And I’m like ‘To save them!’” Although the museum is open to public only on a limited basis, Foren calls it a “hidden gem,” and feels it’s important that more people know about the work that’s being done there. In addition to the tetrapod collection, the museum houses Ohio State’s Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics, as well as collections of fish, fungus and insects. “It’s so important to preserve what we can, while we can,” Foren said. “It’s definitely an area that needs a lot of funds.” Nelson concurs, adding, “There’s always something that needs to be done. We’re not static. Things improve here. Our goal has always been to move forward.”

The tetrapod collection, housed in the Museum of Biological Diversity on Ohio Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campus, originated shortly after the founding of the university in 1870 and is an important repository of birds in Ohio and of research expeditions worldwide.

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ALUMNI

HONORING EXCELLENCE Recognizing service and achievements Each year, the College of Arts and Sciences Honoring Excellence Dinner and Ceremony recognizes a distinguished few of our more than 200,000 alumni. Their accomplishments are tangible evidence of the lasting value of an arts and sciences education. Their contributions to their fields, communities, country, college and university make a lasting difference — locally and globally. The Distinguished Service Award recognizes exemplary service to the College of Arts and Sciences, its faculty, students, prospective students or programs. The Young Alumni Achievement Award recognizes an alumnus/a, 35 years old or younger, who has demonstrated distinctive achievement in a career or civic involvement or both. The Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award recognizes the outstanding career achievements and contributions of our alumni in fields such as arts, business, research, academics and public service. This year, the April 13 event honored five alumni and one student for their extraordinary achievements and service, spanning the fields of law, technology, international relations, television, retail consulting and philanthropy.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE Thomas Murnane Murnane (marketing, business administration, 1970, 1977) is a co-founder and principal of ARC Business Advisors, a strategic advisory firm focused on apparel, retail and consumer industries. Murnane currently serves as a director and chair of the audit committee for Blain Supply; as vice chair of Goodwill Southern California; and as a member of the advisory board of SIRUM, a nonprofit organization that matches unused medicines with indigent patients who need them. He started his career as a partner at Management Horizons, a division of Price Waterhouse, working with many of the largest and most recognized companies in the United States, and eventually becoming the global director of marketing and brand management. Murnane is active in the Ohio State community, serving as the vice chair of the President’s Alumni Advisory Council and as the vice chair of the Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Committee.

Derek Whiddon Whiddon (political science, 2018) received this award while a fourth-year undergraduate student at Ohio State, double majoring in economics and political science, and minoring in history. He served as a student representative with the Arts and Sciences Alumni Society Board of Directors since the spring of his freshman year, helping to organize multiple alumni events and initiatives. Whiddon also worked with Arts and Sciences Advancement to create the Student Ambassador Program to further assist the college in connecting students with alumni. Additionally, he had a hand in developing Framework 2.0, a long-term plan to develop Ohio State’s Columbus campus, working with President Michael V. Drake and other influential members of the Ohio State community. Through his role, he was able to provide student input to the president’s planning committee, ensuring that the student voice was heard throughout the planning process. Whiddon maintained academic excellence throughout his undergraduate career, making the Dean’s List every semester. He was also a member of the national political science honor society Pi Sigma Alpha. He will be attending law school this fall.

PHOTOS: See pictures from this year’s event, where alumni and donors were honored for their achievements and generosity: go.osu.edu/he-photos

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YOUNG ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT Malcolm Jenkins Jenkins (communication, 2009), a former Ohio State football player, is currently a safety for the 2018 Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. He also holds the honor of being the first Buckeye to win a Super Bowl with two different teams, first with the New Orleans Saints in 2009. In 2010, he launched The Malcolm Jenkins Foundation, a nonprofit public charity with a mission to bring about positive change in the lives of youth in low-income communities. The foundation emphasizes education, health and wellness, life skills and scholarship. This past year, Jenkins was the Eagles’ nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award to commend his humanitarian work and was the recipient of the NFL Player Association’s Byron “Whizzer” White Award for excellence on and off the field. During his senior year at Ohio State, Jenkins served as team captain, was a consensus All-American selection and was awarded the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given to the nation’s top defensive back. In 2012, he was awarded the Jesse Owens Influential Athlete Award by the Ohio State Alumni Association.

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT Judge Colleen McMahon McMahon (political science, 1973) has served as the Chief Judge for the Southern District of New York since June 1, 2016. She was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton and confirmed on Oct. 21, 1998. Prior to being appointed to the federal bench, Judge McMahon worked in private practice for 19 years at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, becoming the first woman litigator elected in the partnership. She has also chaired multiple committees, including the Committees on the State Courts of Superior Jurisdiction, Women in the Profession of the New York City Bar Association and a commission to reform the New York jury system. She was nominated to the New York Court of Claims in 1995, where she served as an Acting Justice of the State Supreme Court until her appointment to the federal bench three years later. Judge McMahon continues to be an active member of the Ohio State community by serving on the Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Committee.

Fred Silverman Silverman (speech, 1960) is president of The Fred Silverman Company, a multifaceted production and program consulting entity. Some of his clients have included MTV Networks, Chris Craft TV Stations, ABC Entertainment and Discovery’s Hub Channel. The New York City native has worked for all three leading television networks — CBS, ABC and NBC — and is the only individual to ever do so. His leadership and expertise played a significant role in the creation of popular television shows such as Charlie’s Angels, Battlestar Gallactica, Family Feud, Late Show with David Letterman, M*A*S*H, The Price is Right and Roots. Throughout his career, Silverman has received honors for his work in television, including induction into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame and the Man of the Year Award from the National Association of Television Program Executives. He has also been honored with the Man of Achievement Award from the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and the Richard Rogers Award from the Professional Children’s School of New York.

Shuzaburo Takeda Takeda (physics, 1969) is president of Takeda and Associates in Japan. He also serves as senior advisor to the President’s Office at Nagoya University and a management advisor at RIKEN, Japan’s largest comprehensive research institution. As the senior advisor to Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, he has been heavily involved in Japan-United States relations, helping to foster a spirit of collaboration between universities and research institutions in Japan and the U.S. In March 2017, Ohio State formalized a faculty exchange program between Ohio State’s Translational Data Analytics faculties and the Graduate School of Information Science at Nagoya University in Japan. The partnership enables data scientists from the two institutions to share knowledge and ideas while extending Ohio State’s global outreach to a world-renowned university in Asia. Takeda’s interests extend beyond data analytics to other areas of academia, including chemistry, peace studies and international affairs. His extensive experience and knowledge have earned him spots as a member or chairman on multiple government committees concerned with energy, technology and industrial policy in Japan.

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RESEARCH & SCHOLARSHIP Across the College of Arts and Sciences, scholars and researchers are making discoveries that advance their fields and influence the world. Their work doesn’t just live in labs and libraries — it is woven into students’ lives and folded into communities across the globe. With this collective scholarly inquiry and an ever-growing research profile, the college is building a powerhouse to nurture innovation and shape the future. Below is just a sampling of the incredible work happening in the Arts and Sciences.

Barbara Andersen of the Department of Psychology was named a 2018 Distinguished University Professor — a permanent, honorific title awarded by Ohio State’s Office of Academic Affairs to full professors with exceptional records in teaching, research, scholarly or creative work and service. Andersen is one of only two Distinguished University Professors named in 2018. She was awarded a $30,000 one-time grant to support her academic work, which surrounds psychological, behavioral and biobehavioral aspects of cancer as they relate to disease progression, with recent work including clinical trials for cancer patients to reduce stress and depressive symptoms; improve immunity; and reduce the risk of recurrence. Stephen Lindert, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and faculty member under the university’s Translational Data Analytics Institute, received a five-year, $1.8 million R01 grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study heart-muscle contraction and identify potential new drugs to treat heart failure. Lindert and his team will use computer-aided drug discovery to pinpoint new therapeutics for left ventricular systolic dysfunction, one of the most common types of drug failure in which the heart loses some of its ability to contract and can’t pump with enough force. Molly Farrell, associate professor of English, won the Virginia Hull Research Award for Scholarship in the Humanities to support the completion of her second book, New World Calculation: The Making of Numbers in Colonial America. The book investigates mathematics as a form of humanistic inquiry and personal expression, and will be the first literary critical monograph exploring numeracy in colonial America. Farrell’s award will allow her to travel to research libraries around the country, examining historical documents key for her book’s completion. Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, associate professor of physics and director of the Center for Exploration of Novel Complex Materials, is leading a multiinstitution research initiative to develop a new way to construct microwave circuits, thanks to a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Emerging Frontiers and Multidisciplinary Activities. Johnston-Halperin’s four-person team will work on next-generation microwave electronic devices, which play a critical role in wireless communication and information technology. Elizabeth Cooksey, professor of sociology and director of the Center for Human Resource Research, continues her work on the National Longitudinal Study of Youth with a $2.3 million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Her research will extend data collection for young adults ages 21 and over who have been interviewed on a biennial basis as part of the longitudinal study, and will

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enhance the data with information on relationship history, employment and environmental pollution exposure. The results of this project are increasingly showing links between behaviors, health and wellness in the first two decades of life, and family, economic and health outcomes later in life. Brian Joseph, Distinguished University Professor of linguistics, received a $74,800 National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Advancement Grant for his project, “Named Entity Recognition for the Classical Languages for the Building of a Catalog of Ancient Peoples.” Joseph, along with classics lecturer Christopher Brown and linguistics professors Marie Catherine de Marneffe and Micha Elsner, will create a catalog of groups and individuals mentioned in ancient sources, focusing on the historical role played by those other than “great actors” (the important individuals, states or empires singled out in historic texts). Baldwin Way and Zhong-Lin Lu of the Department of Psychology, along with Christopher Brown of the Department of Sociology, received a $730,200 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for their ongoing research on the correlation between exposure to violence and substance abuse. Their study works in tandem with a longitudinal study of adolescents in Franklin County, and combines traditional surveying with neuroimaging to determine independent effects of exposure to violence and substance use on changes in neural structure and function over time. They will also examine the degree to which neural activity predicts future substance use. The Arts Initiative at Ohio State received a $16,754 Sustainability grant from the Ohio Arts Council, which will provide financial support for operating activities at Hopkins Hall Gallery and Urban Arts Space, including exhibitions, programs and funding for student interns. The Ohio Arts Council’s continued support of the arts at Ohio State has positioned the Arts Initiative as a leader in art education through collaborative alliances with local, national and international arts organizations, creating opportunities for faculty and students to exhibit and perform beyond the university community and in turn advancing the creative growth of the citizens of Columbus. Katherine Borland, associate professor of comparative studies, is the recipient of a prestigious 2018-2019 Fulbright Bicentennial Chair in American Studies award. As part of the American Studies program of the Department of World Cultures, Borland is teaching folklore and performance studies at the University of Helsinki in Finland through May 2019 to explore Finnish humanities research models that connect contemporary research with existing archival collections. Borland will also visit the folklore programs and ethnological archives at the

University of Turko, Åbo Akademi, University of Jyväskylä, University of Eastern Finland and the Folklore Archive of the Finnish Literature Society in Helsinki. Jay Hollick, professor of molecular genetics and director of the Center for Applied Plant Sciences, received a three-year, $660,000 grant from the NSF Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences for his research on paramutation — the DNA mechanism involved in selecting genes that will be passed to offspring — in corn. The project will identify novel molecules and chromosome structures responsible for gene selection during paramutations. Because paramutation occurs in both plants and animals, the results of this research could have broad impact, ranging from increased understanding of reproductive biology and genetics to new strategies for improving agriculture or animal health. Richard Pogge, professor and vice chair for instrumentation at the Department of Astronomy, received a $443,150 grant from the NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences for his research on the abundance of elements in regions of partially ionized gas (called HII regions) in nearby and distant galaxies, a topic of crucial importance for understanding the chemical evolution and growth of galaxies over cosmic time. There are two primary ways of measuring chemical abundances of HII regions, and Pogge’s research seeks to resolve a decades-old discrepancy between the two methods by using the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona, as well as a new, NSF-enabled instrument, to observe 13 spiral galaxies. Hollie Nyseth Brehm, assistant professor of sociology, won the 2018 Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of criminology by someone who completed their graduate degree within the last five years. Brehm received the award — the highest honor a junior scholar can receive in the discipline — for advancing knowledge on the criminology of genocide. Lisa Voigt, professor of Spanish and Portuguese, was named a recipient of the American Council of Learned Societies 2018 Collaborative Research Fellowship, which supports small teams of scholars as they co-author a major project. With the fellowship, Voigt and her colleagues from Florida State University and Tulane University will examine texts and images of various geographies and languages from the early modern period. The resulting co-authored book will trace the spread of stereotypes across national, linguistic and confessional borders, as well as their relation to European imperial, commercial and colonial products. Sociologists Craig Jenkins, Maciek Slomczynski and Irina TomescuDubrow received a four-year, $1.4 million NSF award funding work to develop an international database, derived from 3,000+ national surveys administered over five decades to more than 3.5 million respondents

in more than 150 countries. It will enable innovative, data-intensive research on major substantive topics of social science interest, advancing comparative methodology and survey-data harmonization. Additional PIs include Spyros Blanas and Han-Wei Shen of the College of Engineering. Faculty members Janet Box-Steffensmeier, political science; Russell Fazio, psychology; Geoffrey Parker, history; and alumnus Carter Phillips, law, were elected to the 237th class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The 228 new members include some of the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers and artists, along with civic, business and philanthropic leaders. Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the country’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers. James Beatty, professor of astronomy and physics, and Andrea Grottoli, professor of Earth sciences, were elected as 2017 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) — a prestigious honor bestowed upon AAAS members who are elected by their peers and who have made exceptional efforts to advance science. Beatty’s recognition is based on his groundbreaking work in astroparticle physics, and Grottoli’s for her leading research on coral reefs and climate change. Zeynep Saygin, assistant professor of psychology, and Hannah Shafaat, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, were named recipients of the 2018 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowships — a noteworthy award given annually to early-career scientists of outstanding promise from the U.S. and Canada. The two-year fellowships — each totaling $65,000 — are granted by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to scientists in eight fields. Saygin and Shafaat join 124 additional 2018 awardees, as well as 52 past Sloan Research Fellows from Ohio State since 1956. They are the first to be named from the university since 2015. Eleven faculty members were recently awarded the NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, the foundation’s most prestigious award supporting early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education. The 11 awards comprise millions in collective funding, and were granted to Ann Cook and Audrey Sawyer (Earth sciences); Eric Katz, Hoi H. Nguyen, David Penneys and Yulong Xing (mathematics); Comert Kural and YuanMing Lu (physics); Steffen Lindert and David Nagib (chemistry and biochemistry); and Kelly Wrighton (microbiology).

ONLINE: See more of the impactful scholarship happening in the college: go.osu.edu/asc-scholars ASCENT

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INVESTING IN EXCELLENCE The College of Arts and Sciences is the academic heart of The Ohio State University. This is not merely a function of our size, but also because the college is where arts and humanities, together with natural, mathematical, social and behavioral sciences converge with unique and groundbreaking results thanks to our students, staff and our world-class faculty. Our 1,400+ faculty members are leaders in their respective fields, garnering major awards and recognition from national and international academies and associations — including the National Medal of Science, the National Medal of Arts, the Heineken Prize, the MacArthur Fellowship and the Sloan Fellowship, as well as selection for membership in the country’s top academic societies. Campus-wide, our faculty stand out for teaching, research and service — the three tenets of the great land-grant institutions. In fact, Arts and Sciences faculty members are responsible for delivering 50 percent of all credit hours offered at the university each year, preparing our talented students from all colleges and majors across the campus to find success in their chosen fields. One of the highest honors that an academic institution can bestow upon a faculty member is an endowed chair or professorship, and this is no different at Ohio State. These positions provide a consistent annual revenue source for the holder and bring an added layer of prestige and name recognition. They are essential to recruit and retain the best and brightest scholars who enrich our classrooms and set us apart in our teaching, research and service to the community. Endowed chairs and professorships also illustrate the powerful partnership between faculty and philanthropists in supporting dreams of discovery and bringing them to fruition. The College of Arts and Sciences is committed to building and maintaining an exceptional and diverse faculty, and your investment — whether through the creation of a new endowed position, research and program support, or faculty awards — is critical to realize our mission of excellence.

Interested in supporting Arts and Sciences faculty? Please email ascadvancement@osu.edu, call (614) 292-9200 or visit go.osu.edu/ASCFaculty.

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“Why I’m here has a lot to do with Carter Phillips (BA, ’73, DRH, ’11) and Sue Henry. Their gift has given me the freedom to do political science, not within a narrow disciplinary boundary, but to follow the most interesting, the most relevant and the hardest problems, wherever they present themselves.” {Skyler Cranmer, Carter Phillips and Sue Henry Professor of Political Science}

100% TBDBITL The Best Damn Band in the Land is marching into the final months of the 100% TBDBITL scholarship campaign, a $10 million initiative that aims to provide scholarship support to 100% of our band students â&#x20AC;&#x201D; those who give 100% on the field and in the classroom. Recognizing the contributions these talented students make to Ohio State, the university will match the distribution on the first $6 million of eligible gifts given by Dec. 31, 2018. Join in showing your support: tbdbitl.osu.edu/give

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