A $6 million gift from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation created two endowed chairs in studio art and art history, celebrating the work of the internationally renowned Ohio State alumnus and that of his contemporaries. {pg. 46}
Changing lives in the lab and in the field Women faculty in the Arts and Sciences, speaking from their own experiences, say that role models are the catalyst for bringing about change in STEM — and they are paying it forward for the next generation. What’s lost if we don’t support women in STEM? The women in this issue show that the opportunity costs are profound: improvements to children’s health, research to support therapies for cancer and multiple sclerosis, an understanding of our changing atmosphere and our massive universe, a convergence of technology with art.
On the Cover: Lichtenstein’s “Masterpiece,” 1962, copyright Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
Read “Women in STEM” on page 32.
In North High Brewing Company’s taproom, you’ll find many salvaged and repurposed architectural elements. Some come from historic Ohio State buildings, like the windows above the bar, which are
In This Issue
from Brown Hall (built in 1903).
16 The Buckeye Ale Trail
students 7 President’s Prize 8 Contando Su Cuento 10 Making Science Accessible 12 Creating Magic to Ease Pain
32Women in STEM
alumni 20 Honoring Excellence/J.D. Vance Comes Home 22 Lost Boys Give Back 24 No Stranger to Film 26 Speaking the Same Language 28 Bursting at the Seams 30 Don’t Worry
In under a decade, the Columbus metro area has become home to 30 craft breweries and taprooms. Meet the Arts and Sciences alumni who are part of this local entrepreneurial boom.
Six change agents discuss their research, the challenges facing women in STEM and how they are making a difference despite those challenges.
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Breaking Barriers with Shakespeare
Ohio State uses Shakespeare’s texts as a social and interpersonal intervention — helping children with autism and military veterans transitioning back into civilian life and thousands of Ohio schoolchildren.
read online at asc.osu.edu/ascent
In Every Issue 4 A Message from Executive Dean Manderscheid 65 Research & Scholarship
faculty&research 38 Machine Morality 40 On Deadline 42 From Field to Flight 44 Each One, Teach One philanthropy 46 Bang, Pow! 48 Dance Department Founder’s Legacy Lives On 50 Catalyzing Collaboration 52 Their Cup of Tea outreach 58 Episodic Education 60 Connecting Farmers to Real-Time Weather 63 The Legacy of Imperial Beijing
The Arts and Sciences The engine that drives the world
At Ohio State’s College of Arts and Sciences, knowledge is not the means to an end. It’s the start of whatever comes next. An Arts and Sciences education is a lifelong experience that informs and defines our perspective, our work, our lives. Extraordinary artists, scholars and research scientists enable and deliver a liberal arts education and engage with communities that extend far beyond campus. Students create and design projects that transform the world. Our alumni give back. It’s how you live every day that changes the world.
Should there remain any doubt about the value, the power and the necessity of an arts and sciences education, our latest issue of ASCENT should put it to rest. In this issue, you will find examples and role models on every page: Meet students and alumni whose stories show the unique, diverse ways they are using their arts and sciences education to create, innovate and contribute to positive change locally and globally. Meet their teachers and mentors who are dedicated to pushing themselves to be the best in their fields and inspiring their students to do even better.
“The Arts and Sciences, essential to the prosperity of the State and to the ornament and happiness of human life, have a primary claim to the encouragement of every lover of his country and mankind.” {George Washington} to Mark Cuban, visionary leaders have fully understood that the power and value of an arts and sciences education will never decline. I hope you enjoy this issue of our newly redesigned ASCENT as much as I have. Let us know what you think and what you’re up to.
The labs and classrooms, facilities and learning spaces are crucibles where change begins. The opportunities for learning beyond those spaces provide experiences where change is transformed into reality. Now more than ever, the College of Arts and Sciences is a powerful engine that drives meaningful change across the world. From George Washington
ASCENT The act or process of ascending; advancement.
DAVID MANDERSCHEID, PhD Executive Dean and Vice Provost College of Arts and Sciences, The Ohio State University
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.
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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. Contact Us/Unsubscribe Please send us your feedback, comments and story ideas. Additionally, you always can choose to stop receiving this magazine by sending a note or email to asccomm@osu.edu, or by mail to: 1010 Derby Hall, 154 N. Oval Mall, Columbus, Ohio 43210
Read more: go.osu.edu/nagoya
“I personally think there's going to be a greater demand in 10 years for liberal arts majors than there were for programming majors and maybe even engineering, because when the data is all being spit out for you, options are being spit out for you, you need a different perspective in order to have a different view of the data.”
Translational Data Analytics — one of Ohio State’s Discovery Themes — hosted a Japanese delegation on March 9 to celebrate the creation of a faculty exchange program in data research between Ohio State and Nagoya University. After the signing ceremony, a memorial seminar began with the theme of using “big data” to help society. This partnership will help to solve today’s complex data challenges like never before. (pictured above from left) Ohio State alumnus and senior advisor to the Japanese minister of education Shuzaburo Takeda, Nagoya
{Billionaire investor Mark Cuban, in an interview with Bloomberg}
University President Seiichi Matsuo, Ohio State Provost Bruce McPheron and Executive Dean David Manderscheid.
EDITOR Libby Eckhardt CREATIVE DIRECTOR Karin Samoviski PRODUCTION MANAGER Molly Kime EDITORIAL STAFF Elizabeth Tarpy Alcalde, Victoria Ellwood, Erik Pepple and Sandi Rutkowski DESIGN STAFF Greg Bonnell DIGITAL Kevin Leonardi, Derek DuPont PHOTOGRAPHY Plain Janell Photography WEB COMMUNICATIONS Eva Dujardin Dale, Christopher Wallace, Brian Canini, Sean Quigley
David Manderscheid | Executive Dean and Vice Provost Susan Williams | Vice Dean, Faculty Affairs
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 186 University Hall | 230 N. Oval Mall | Columbus, Ohio 43210 | asc.osu.edu
Janet Box-Steffensmeier | Divisional Dean, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Graduate Studies Christopher Hadad | Divisional Dean, Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Research Peter Hahn | Divisional Dean, Arts and Humanities, Outreach and Engagement
students The balance of science and art is what distinguishes the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio State, because we have so many opportunities to learn more about the world around us. PASS enhanced my educational experience by giving me a space to talk about current events or important topics that aren’t typically covered in the classroom. {Fatima Vakil, neuroscience major}
Fatima Vakil hails from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. The fourth-year neuroscience major began her journey at Ohio State in the Program for Advancing Scholarship and Service (PASS), a selective first-year academic learning community for Arts and Sciences students who have a shared interest in the academic, cultural, career and community benefits of diversity. She is a member of the Ohio State Muslim Students’ Association and a student assistant for the Office of Academic Affairs.
President’s Prize Readying high school students for college
“I want these students to know that someone believes in them and believes that they have what it takes to succeed.” {KayMesha Knox}
KayMesha Knox, a fourth-year student majoring in English, is the product of Columbus City Schools. When she graduates in August, she will dedicate her next year to working with students from the same school system to transform their dreams of college into reality. “I know what a difference having a support system can make,” said Knox. “I want these students to know that someone believes in them and believes that they have what it takes to succeed.” Knox, a first-generation student from Columbus’ South High School, is one of two graduating seniors selected in November 2016 to receive
the first-ever President’s Prize, created by Ohio State President Michael V. Drake. The prize is the highest recognition Ohio State bestows on exceptional students committed to social change. “The President’s Prize at Ohio State — extensive in its reach and transformational in its effects — will address the most important and pressing issues of our time, harnessing the power and knowledge of Buckeye Nation for change,” said Drake.
continued on pg. 11
students | 7
Contando Su Cuento (Telling his story)
Since he was five years old, Daniel Rodriguez has dreamed of writing stories, just like his grandfather. “My abuelo (grandfather) wrote a book of bedtime cuentos (folk tales or stories), and my mom would read them to me when I was young,” said Rodriguez, a fourthyear student majoring in communication with a minor in theatre. “Even then, I sensed the power of using your voice.” Coming from a family of immigrants, Rodriguez learned the value of communication at an early age. His parents taught him that a story isn’t about the language in which you present it, but about how you choose to tell it and the emotion infused into it. “My parents would always tell me, ‘There’s a bright spark of creativity in all of us, and you must let it burn.’” When Rodriguez was in seventh grade, he wrote “Writing Is Like Dancing with Words.” Years later, he submitted it for his personal statement as part of his application to Ohio State. Rodriguez’ love of writing followed him from his home in North Canton, Ohio, to Ohio State, where he initially declared a major in biomedical science. Midway through his freshman year, Rodriguez had a change of heart — all because of a frozen bird’s nest. “I was on my way to biology class, and I noticed this beautiful bird’s nest encased in ice. By the time I got to class, all I could think about was writing a poem about it.” At the end of Rodriguez’ sophomore year, he received a Second-year Transformational Experience Program (STEP) grant to self-publish a book of poems and short stories. His book, The Peregrine Muse, won the Best of the Best Award for Creative and Artistic Endeavors from STEP and has sold more than 200 copies to date. The university’s STEP program was designed to focus on student success and development and allows students the opportunity to engage in activities that cater to their individual interests and needs.
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“Black and white. That is the difference between the person that I was when I first arrived at Ohio State and the person that I have now become. This place has indelibly changed my view of the world.” {Daniel Rodriguez} “This undertaking allowed for creative expression and growth, as well as an opportunity for me to practice effective communication, both of captivating stories and of salient societal issues,” said Rodriguez. “The support I have received from faculty and students and so many others has reaffirmed why I do what I do and reassures me in my aspirations for the future.” Rodriguez was invited to share his STEP experience and read from his book at the university’s Board of Trustees meeting last November. When Rodriguez isn’t writing, he is dividing his time between his responsibilities as the president of SPHINX Senior Honorary and head mentor of Ohio State’s Latino Leadership Development Institute (LLDI). “Having come from a community and a school system comprised entirely of white and black, with not much brown in between, I was so excited to find a Latino community at Ohio State. I believe in the power of the LLDI to help young Latinos who want to reach their full potential.” Rodriguez will graduate in May 2017. He currently is working on book number two. “I am forever grateful for the opportunities that the College of Arts and Sciences and Ohio State afford their students. To invest in the future is a powerful thing, so here’s to a place that has never ceased to do just that!”
go.osu.edu/daniel-rodriguez Hear from Daniel about his journey to press and his involvement in various campus student organizations.
For Daniel Rodriguez, his dream became a reality when he became a published author with the support of a grant from Ohio State’s Second-year Transformational Experience Program (STEP).
students | 9
Making Science Accessible
Anna Voelker has embarked on a lifelong quest to make science accessible to everyone. Pursuing a new, custom degree program in science communication and accessibility, Voelker is redesigning a planetarium show for visually impaired audiences. Until autumn 2016, the third-year student from Pittsburgh had been an honors double major in astronomy and physics. However, because her love for astronomy and physics is intertwined with her passion for making science accessible, she knew she had to have as many tools at her fingertips as possible. That’s what made her explore her options with Ohio State’s Personalized Study Program. Voelker was able to design her own major in science communication and accessibility while minoring in astronomy and astrophysics. “I am very excited to be majoring in science communication and accessibility; I was able to personally select courses that apply perfectly to what I want to do with my life,” Voelker said. “My major plan involves a course about 3-D modeling, which I hope to apply to my interest in 3-D printing astronomical bodies for blind and low-vision audiences.”
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Voelker’s work is made possible by a grant from the National Federation of the Blind, provided by the National Science Foundation, which is funding multiple collaborations with science centers around the country. “My primary project is to create a planetarium experience inclusive of blind audiences,” Voelker said. “This means I will be focusing on tactile astronomy and using 3-D printing, so that during the show, visitors can feel the constellations on a model of the sky.” Voelker is creating her planetarium show at COSI, a science museum and research center in Columbus. She is corresponding with astronomy-accessibility experts around the world and will likely use a model of the night sky developed by a team in Spain. She also wants to be inclusive of those who are deaf-blind, so she says she avoids relying entirely on a sight/sound combination with no tactile element. She aims to implement the principles of universal design to involve sustainable enhancements and long-lasting change. She wants to develop a revised show integrated into COSI’s regular schedule and run on a reccurring basis year-round. “My goal is to print out 200+ copies of this model so that every single audience member can have their very own tactile sky. I want to normalize accessibility by making this show a shared experience for sighted and blind visitors alike. “We are working toward a world of astronomy education where these types of multisensory materials are standard,” Voelker said. “I hope that inclusive experiences, such as the one that this planetarium project aims to offer, not only become more widely accepted but also become expected of science centers and institutes. I dream of a world in which educational accessibility is second nature.” Voelker’s project is just the latest step on her ambitious scientific journey. She previously has interned at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, served on NASA’s public outreach team and worked as an accessibility intern at COSI. “I want to combat misconceptions regarding who can be a scientist by sharing this information and the many other innovative ways in which science can be done,” she said.
“At the end of the day, my message is simple: If science is important to you, then you have the potential to be important to science. Your unique experience is needed, your ideas are needed, you are needed.” {Anna Voelker}
Aside from her work in redesigning a planetarium show for visually impaired audiences, Voelker recently created a series of original theatre games for COSI’s Sensory Disability Day, a project designed to make
President’s Prize continued from pg. 7
Knox and Margaret Griffin, a social work major from Cincinnati, each will receive a one-year, $50,000 living stipend and up to $50,000 in startup funding to implement an innovative project to positively impact a community. The President’s Prize, to be awarded annually, is funded solely through donor contributions. Griffin is fighting food insecurity by improving the availability of farm produce for children living in areas with poor access to fresh foods. Knox is taking on a pressing issue in American higher education: creating pathways for teenagers from low-income families to pursue postsecondary education. Which brings us back to Columbus City Schools. Knox’s project, Steps to Success — a targeted, in-person mentorship program at East High School — will provide underserved students with the resources necessary to enroll in postsecondary education and complete their selected program. Knox and volunteer mentors will help with ACT prep, college applications and homework, as well as scholarship and grant application guidance, one-onone mentorship, financial training, FAFSA workshops and parental meetings. “My project addresses the three main reasons why underserved students don’t apply to or attend college: financial burden, lack of guidance navigating the financial aid process and insufficient support once enrolled.” Steps to Success also will provide a laptop and wireless Internet to every student involved. This will enable them to have more availability to work on college and scholarship applications, and will allow their parents easier access to complete their portions of these applications. Knox will be on-site at East High School four days each week to maximize time with students. Knox got involved with East High School as a freshman, when she became a site leader for Ohio State’s Buckeye Civic Engagement Connection. For years, Knox has been tutoring students at East High School and helping them navigate the ACT and SAT as well as scholarship processes. “It’s hard to believe in yourself without self-love, and you don’t get to that point without a lot of people in your corner,” said Knox. “I know what a difference a mentor can make.” Knox’s project will begin right after graduation, as she has a lot of students to get ready for college. In June 2018, Knox will be moving to Miami, Florida, where she will begin her two-year English teaching assignment with Teach for America.
COSI more accessible to children with disabilities. students | 11
Creating Magic to Ease Pain
Voxel Bay, a first-of-its-kind virtual reality experience, was developed through a collaboration between Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) and the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD). The game is designed to entertain and comfort young patients during medical procedures. Created by the Comprehensive Hemophilia Team and design experts at the hospital alongside ACCAD graduate students, the game relied on the development skills of two graduate students who have worked closely with the hospital for over a year. Filled with calming environments including mermaids, penguins, pirates and hermit crabs, Voxel Bay (named for the most basic element of 3-D modeling, a voxel) helps distract pediatric patients from stress-inducing procedures like needle sticks and infusions. “I’ve made lots of games and know what appeals to kids and what doesn’t, but creating something that has actually helped children have a better patient experience, there is nothing greater than that,” said Jeremy Patterson, an Ohio State art alumnus and head of User Experience Technology at NCH. Alice Grishchenko, an MFA student in design, and John Luna, an MFA student in dance, worked with Patterson to create the virtual reality game suite. Most of the game segments in the program center around an underwater playground, an island-hopping dragon and a boat trip on a lazy river. In an innovative approach to gaming, patients control the action with their breath, head movements and gaze, so they remain stationary during medical procedures. “Patients ages 6 to 17 have been testing the game during procedures in Nationwide Children’s hemophilia clinic,” Patterson said. “The majority of the kids have really enjoyed it, and we’ve been surprised at how much their parents like it, too. In some cases, it puts both the children and the parents at ease.” In fact, one child immersed in Voxel Bay did not even realize all of the lab work had been completed. “It’s rare when something really exceeds your expectations, and this certainly is one of those cases,” Patterson said.
“Virtual reality can be very effective in treating pain and anxiety. These are soothing environments for the children to explore.” {Alice Grishchenko}
Now that the first clinical study is nearing completion, Patterson said the next steps are to make some adjustments to the games in response to patient feedback and then obtain funding to move forward with expanding the program for use with young patients across NCH. “There are plenty of opportunities out there for these games,” Patterson said. “We’ve just started talking to other medical areas that this might be applied to, as it’s creating quite a lot of interest. It’s very unique, and unique in a wonderful way.” Grishchenko is grateful for the experience she gained with Voxel Bay. “Working on this project has given me an amazing array of opportunities to create work in virtual reality and use design problem-solving skills for the issues that come up with this specific user group,” she said. “It feels great to see everything come together. My studies at ACCAD really prepared me to work on a project of this magnitude.”
Jeremy Patterson of Nationwide Children’s Hospital and ACCAD’s Alice Grishchenko testdrive the virtual reality game Voxel Bay, which is designed to distract young patients during medical procedures. The game uses a cardboard headset and runs on a simple iPhone. Learn more about ACCAD on pg. 14.
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go.osu.edu/voxel-bay Voxel Bay creators talk about the impact the virtual reality game has had on the young patients so far.
Voxel Bay was one of five finalists for the 2017 SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards in Health, Med & Biotech. The SXSW advisory board selected 65 finalists and named the top five entries launched in 2016 in each of 13 categories. This award is bestowed on new technology that best improves the quality, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care in health and medicine.
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Exploring ACCAD At home in the newly renovated and historic Sullivant Hall, the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) is a creative hub for scholars and practitioners of digital arts and sciences. Projects include work in artistic, interactive data and scientific visualizations, digital performances, digital movement archives, museum installations, medical and first-responder teaching applications and more. Research partners have ranged from medical colleges, hospitals and animal health experts to security units, historic centers, musicians, choreographers and even space centers.
“We’re a model for collaborative research, where multidisciplinary teams of graduate students and researchers work on applied projects that are part of our mission.” {Maria Palazzi, ACCAD director}
ACCAD’s specialized, 8,000-square-foot facility houses a network of hardware, software and highend graphics resources, including reconfigurable collaborative areas, natural lighting, classrooms, a motion-capture lab, a digital HD video editing suite, a surround-sound composition lab and an interactive performance space. Reflecting its interdisciplinary approach, students studying at ACCAD may be pursuing graduate degrees in design, dance, theatre, art and technology or computer science and engineering — allowing ideas to converge in unexpected ways. “ACCAD is recognized internationally as one of the leading centers of its kind,” said Maria Palazzi, ACCAD director. “Our alumni hold positions in countless technology-centered industries and institutions, and are prominent in major motion picture and film studios around the world.”
Notable Alumni John Donkin Producer, Blue Sky Studios Beth Hofer Production Executive at DreamWorks Animation Fran Kalal Cloth and Simulation Technical Director, Pixar Animation Studios Jeff Light Character Technical Director, Dreamworks Animation Steve Martino Director, Blue Sky Studios Steve May Chief Technology Officer, Pixar Animation Studios Chris Wedge Co-founder and Animator, Blue Sky Studios Cheng Zhang NASA Scientific Visualization Studio
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(top left) ConstructAR, is an augmented reality mobile app that allows users to sculpt forms in a virtual physical space. (middle left) The ConstructAR app created by Alan Price, associate professor of design, being demonstrated in ACCAD SIM Lab. (top right) Graduate student, Caitlyn Trevor (music, PhD candidate) scores music for Shumeng Zhao’s film, In the Rain. Shumeng (MFA, design, 2016) now works for Polygon Pictures in Tokyo. (bottom left) John Luna (dance, MFA candidate) demonstrates an interactive project created for ACCAD’s Game Design II course. Luna’s project, “Cube Sea” visualizes physical inputs such as sound and movement.
While at Ohio State, I became a well-rounded artist and was encouraged to experiment with a variety of media. This experience directly affects my approach to cake sculpture. My conceptual designs hold personal meaning for clients in a way that is unique to the food industry and is what makes me and my business stand out. {Natalie Sideserf, owner of Sideserf Cake Studio}
Award-winning cake sculptor Natalie Sideserf (BA, fine art, 2008) has made a name for herself with some of the most intricate cake sculptures in the world. She is also the host of the television series Texas Cake House on Food Network, which documents the process of creating custom cake sculptures at her shop, Sideserf Cake Studio in Austin, Texas.
The Buckeye Ale Trail Columbus is thirsty. It’s a hotbed for hops, a thriving location for craft beer, its fans and our alumni. There are enough breweries here for you to have a different IPA every day for a month. In under a decade, the Columbus metro area has become home to 30 craft breweries and taprooms. Many of them are locally owned and operated, and some — like Scotlandbased BrewDog, which recently opened its first U.S. bar in the Columbus suburb of Canal Winchester — are coming from outside Ohio to make Columbus their new home. This is all part of a growing national trend as beer drinkers are shifting from massproduced, macro-brewed suds to flavor-packed, hand-crafted, palette-pleasing brews made in their own backyard. As an industry, craft brewing grew by more than 8 percent in 2016, and all signs point to ongoing growth as beer enthusiasts continue the hunt for something new in their brew. According to Justin Hemminger, communications manager for the Ohio Craft Brewers Association, it is a trend that does not seem to be ebbing anytime soon. “Craft breweries in Columbus and throughout Ohio have been able to capitalize on a national market trend toward locally made beer. Even with the tremendous growth we’ve seen locally and nationally in the last five years, economic indicators still show that there is room for craft beer to take an even larger market share. As the hyper-local trend continues, we’ll see more craft breweries established to serve neighborhoods and suburbs rather than states and regions. Craft breweries will be successful when closely tied to their local communities.” We started to notice another trend — our alumni are to be found throughout this entrepreneurial boom. We recently got in touch with a few to share their stories with you. This is by no means an entirely comprehensive look at Columbus-based craft breweries, so think of it as a flight — a sampler of the microbrew alchemy created by our alumni.
With a local presence for nearly three decades, the Columbus Brewing Company (CBC) (lead brewer Grant Anklam, pictured right) recently relocated its production to Columbus’ west side. While its brewery is currently not open to the public, CBC is working to open a tasting room in the near future.
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go.osu.edu/breweries Go behind the bar for an inside look at our featured local breweries and the ASC alumni who work at them.
“Brewing is a lot of experimentation, documentation and exploring all options — not just seeing what happens but figuring out why and moving forward from it. It really allows me to use science with my art. Brewing is the perfect balance of art and science.” {Grant Anklam}
Columbus Brewing Company 2555 Harrison Rd.
A stalwart of the Columbus brewing scene, the Columbus Brewing Company (CBC) has been creating its popular and award-winning brews since 1988. Lead brewer Grant Anklam’s (BA, psychology, 2007, pictured left) time at Ohio State was when he first discovered his love of brewing and the thrill of creation. “I have always enjoyed beer, and as a musician, I’ve also always enjoyed creating things. The two go hand in hand. I actually went into the brewery with a friend one day, and after a couple pints with the then-owner and the current owner, Eric Bean, I had somehow talked myself into a job.” Anklam worked his way up from day-to-day brewery grunt work, such as washing the kegs, and with the support of the CBC he honed his brewing chops at the American Brewer’s Guild, where he graduated in 2015. “First and foremost, my time at Ohio State taught me dedication, commitment and integrity. It may sound cliché, but I feel those are all valuable traits in any career but extremely important in our industry. Brewing and everything that comes with it is not as glamorous as one may think,” said Anklam. “Ohio State taught me to follow through and be proud of everything I do. Character is everything.” Among the award winners on tap at Columbus Brewing Company is the Bodhi, a double IPA that Anklam suggests if you are having your first CBC brew. “It has won many awards and has developed a cult following. It has wonderful tropical fruit notes combined with a piney finish. It truly takes your senses for a spin.”
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With Head Brewer Colin Vent, Seventh Son brewed around 3,000 barrels of beer in 2016. This year, the company is in the process of expanding its production and bar space, as well as opening a second bar on High Street in the Brewery District.
Seventh Son Brewing 1101 N. 4th St.
Friends and beer go together like chocolate and peanut butter or Martin and Lewis, which makes the origins of Seventh Son Brewing all the more inspiring. Childhood friends Jen Burton, Collin Castore and Travis Spencer joined forces with head brewer Colin Vent (BFA, ceramics, 2005) to create this Columbus craft-brew staple. With eyes on a future expansion (which Vent says will be “massive”) of their taproom and production facilities this fall, they’ll also be opening Antiques on High, a new brewery specializing in sours and wild beers. Vent says his time in the Department of Art “left a huge impact on the way I look at the world and how I process ideas. I remember I had an intro-drawing instructor who said something along the lines of ‘learning to draw is just learning to actually see.’ I walked away from the art department with the concept of ‘context is everything’ seared permanently into my mind. “Sometimes I put a beer together just to see what a particular hop tastes like, or I want to try brewing my interpretation of a classic style. But often I start with an idea, a name or a concept for a beer first, and then I ask myself, ‘What kind of beer would fit this concept? How
can I use the raw materials to suggest something larger than just the beverage?’” Reflecting on his time at Ohio State, he remembers “most fondly the easy camaraderie of it. Starting out in Baker West, the ‘art dorm,’ was a blast, a whole building of interesting kids to be friends with. Then, once accepted into the BFA ceramics program, the basement of Hopkins became a comfortable space, filled with collaborators.” As far as beverages go at Seventh Son, he suggests that a newbie to the brewery “hurry in to the taproom and try some beer. Get a flight. The bartenders can help you pick out four sample pours that illustrate the wide variety of styles, flavors and aromas we produce here.”
Creative Director Walt Keys (right) develops and implements all creative, marketing and branding initiatives for Land-Grant Brewing Company, including their signature posters and can designs. Land-Grant is housed in a 12,000-square-foot historic building in East Franklinton.
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Land-Grant Brewing Company 424 W. Town St.
It may not come as a surprise to discover that Land-Grant Brewing has a close association with one of the United States’ premier land-grant universities. Cofounders Walt Keys (BA, English, 2006) and Adam Benner (business, 2006); brewer Justin Reik (BA, English, 2012); canhand Tom Bond (BA, English, 1986); and outreach coordinator Jackie Kemble (BS, international relations and economics, 2011) are just a few members of the Land-Grant team who have roots at Ohio State. Hatched in 2012 in Chicago by Keys and Benner, the process of bringing LandGrant to life took, according to Keys, “a ton of blood, sweat and beers (sorry),” from a Kickstarter campaign to a lengthy search for just the right building to house the brewery and taproom. In October 2014, in a historic renovated factory in East Franklinton, Land-Grant opened and began serving up its brews in its bustling taproom, becoming a mainstay in the Columbus craft-brew scene. Since then, Land-Grant expanded with a taproom, which opened last December, in John Glenn International Airport. All the while, the influence of Ohio State looms large. “I’m responsible for essentially all Land-Grant communications. Those communications consist of visual design and brand development, copywriting, marketing initiatives and social media content,” said Keys, who is Land-Grant’s creative director. “So, while I don’t necessarily work in the ‘English’ field, the ability to communicate and develop a voice impacts my work every single day.” Never been to Land-Grant? If it’s your first visit, Keys says to quaff a pint of the 1862 Ale. “It’s our Americanized twist on the traditional German Kölsch, so you get the crisp clean flavor of a German beer, but — because we dry-hop it with Cascade hops — you get this really great hop aroma. It’s a really refreshing drink, and we like to think of it as a 'gateway' beer for non-craft drinkers. It’s approachable and delicious, but there’s enough going on below the surface to also satisfy the beer nerds.”
North High Brewing 1288 N. High St.
Land-Grant isn’t the only Columbus brewery teeming with Ohio State alumni. Cofounder Gavin Meyers (BA, economics, 2006) tapped into brewing after meeting Tim Ward while the two were graduate students in the Fisher College of Business. Seeing an opportunity in the burgeoning homebrew market, they would go on to co-found North High Brewing in 2011. For Meyers, it was a no-brainer to open a brewery in Columbus, which he calls “one of the greatest cities in the world.” Meyers’ arts and sciences education impacts his work every day, saying his economics degree “set me up for success.” He even brought a bit of the Ohio State campus with him to the brewery — several of the windows decorating the North High space come straight from historic Sullivant Hall and Brown Hall, keeping a bit of Buckeye history alive inside the bar. Chris Welker (BA, middle childhood education, 2013), a fellow Buckeye, came to North High Brewing after doing some exploring at the end of his undergraduate career.
go.osu.edu/breweries Go behind the bar for an inside look at our featured local breweries and the ASC alumni who work at them.
Welker now finds himself brewing for North High, which has grown considerably since opening the taps in 2011. An expansion in 2015 catapulted them from one of the city’s smallest breweries to one of the largest. And, as Columbus’s first and only “brew-onpremises” brewery (homebrewers can rent their brew kettles and equipment to make their recipes a reality), North High has carved out a distinctive niche in an already distinctive craft beer scene. Which of those distinctive brews are best for your inaugural visit to North High? Welker says, “If you haven’t had a North High Beer, I suggest our Pale Ale or our IPA. Two great beers.”
go.osu.edu/breweries
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Honoring Excellence Recognizing our alumni
Held on April 21, the College of Arts and Sciences 2017 Honoring Excellence Dinner and Ceremony provided an opportunity to recognize alumni who have demonstrated extraordinary achievements and service. This year's winners are (pictured l-r) Edward Hubbard, Dr. Redonda Miller, Charles Newirth, Susan Munthe and J.D. Vance. Distinguished Achievement Edward Hubbard
Every year, the college honors outstanding alumni whose accomplishments and service are tangible evidence of the distinction of an Arts and Sciences education.
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Dr. Redonda Miller
(BA, 1974; MA, 1975; African American and African studies)
(BS, biology, 1988)
Edward E. Hubbard, PhD, is president and CEO of Hubbard & Hubbard, Inc., an international organization and human performance-consulting corporation specializing in techniques for applied business performance improvement, workforce diversity measurement, instructional design and organizational development. Hubbard is one of the first metrics authors in the field of diversity and one of the first to develop automated software technologies for measuring diversity return on investment and performance improvements. Hubbard has performed client work in organizational change and diverse workforce integration for private Fortune 500 companies, the U.S. government and corporations across the globe.
Redonda Miller, MD, is president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Before her July 2016 appointment as the hospital’s 11th president and the first woman to hold the position in the hospital’s 127-year history, she served as vice president of medical affairs for The Johns Hopkins Hospital and senior vice president of medical affairs for The Johns Hopkins Health System. A 1988 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Ohio State, Miller obtained her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1992. Miller has been voted by Baltimore magazine as one of “Baltimore’s Best Doctors” and one of “Baltimore’s Best Doctors for Women.” She was honored by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of “100 Hospital and Health System CMOs to Know.”
Charles Newirth (BA, photography and cinema, 1977) Charles Newirth is a film producer currently in production on his third film for Marvel Studios, Ant Man and the Wasp. He broke into the film industry as a location manager on such films as Flashdance and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and moved up to producing titles like 1999’s sleeper hit Galaxy Quest, as well as Robert Zemeckis’ Academy Award-winning blockbuster film, Forrest Gump. He was responsible for the physical production of all 48 of Revolution Studios’ motion pictures, including Black Hawk Down, xXx and 13 Going on 30. Most recently, Newirth served as executive producer on Marvel’s blockbusters Doctor Strange and Iron Man 3 and Martin Scorsese’s Hugo. Read more about Newirth on pg. 24.
Distinguished Service Susan Munthe (BA, political science, 1974) Susan Munthe is passionate about higher education and is a tireless advocate for the College of Arts and Sciences and The Ohio State University. Munthe is past president and current member-at-large of the College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Society, where she has been instrumental in drafting the society’s bylaws and designing diversity programming. In 2014, Munthe established the Susan Pratt Munthe Fund for Latin American Studies. Munthe served as co-chair for The Ohio State University Capital Campaign, representing The Ohio State University Alumni Association. She has also served in a variety of officer and board positions with the Greater Kansas City Alumni Club and currently with the Orange County Alumni Club in California, with an emphasis on student recruiting and scholarship.
Young Alumni Achievement J.D. Vance (BA, political science, 2009) J.D. Vance is the author of the No. 1 New York Times bestselling book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. Vance grew up in Middletown, Ohio, and the Appalachian town of Jackson, Kentucky. He enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school and served in Iraq. A graduate of Yale Law School, he has contributed to the National Review and The New York Times and has appeared on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and CNBC.
J.D. Vance Comes Home to Ohio Alumnus J.D. Vance, a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, can now add bestselling author to his list of accomplishments. Vance’s book, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, published in the summer of 2016, took the nation by storm as its subject matter — the struggles of America’s white working class — dovetailed with a contentious presidential election. Vance, who grew up in Middletown, Ohio, and the Appalachian town of Jackson, Kentucky, tells his account of social, regional and class decline. A deeply moving memoir, the book is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country. “The book has given me a platform I frankly didn’t expect to have,” Vance said in an interview. “It has given me the flexibility to talk about some of the issues that are most important to me.” In January, Vance announced that he will relocate from San Francisco to Columbus, where he hopes to search for solutions to some of the problems he wrote about in his book, including family trauma, the opioid epidemic and a broken education pipeline to gainful employment. He
plans to travel around the state to better understand the issues facing poor Ohioans. “I’m trying to approach this with humility,” said Vance, who has formed a nonprofit called Our Ohio Renewal with Jai Chabria, a former top advisor for Governor John Kasich. “These are problems that people who are pretty smart have been trying to work on for a while. I’m at the stage of trying to understand what it is they’ve done, and where they’ve seen opportunities to make things better.” Vance will join the Ohio State Department of Political Science as scholar in residence. He will be working with undergraduates to study the public policies addressing the state’s opioid crisis, employment and educational challenges and impacting all Ohioans.
go.osu.edu/jd-vance Listen to J.D. Vance’s TEDx talk on America’s forgotten working class. alumni | 21
Lost Boys Give Back Buckeye Clinic provides medical care in Africa
Art has always been Bol Aweng’s (BA, art, 2009) passion. Since he was a young boy, art was something that helped him express his emotions and illustrate his experiences. Aweng’s childhood experiences, however, were far from idyllic. Aweng and his cousin, Jok Dau, were among the Lost Boys of Sudan, who, as six year olds in the 1980s, fled their village of Piol, in South Sudan, which was under attack by the Sudanese government. They were among a group of children who walked 1,500 miles to Ethiopia and later to Kenya — surviving attacks by government troops and wild animals — before living for 14 years in a refugee camp. In the refugee camp, the two learned English, math, science and Kiswahili. With limited resources, Aweng developed his art skills using his memory and imagination. He illustrated his thoughts on cardboard, walls and the ground with charcoal, chalk, colored pencil and pigmented dirt. He started by using stick figures to show his flight from Sudan and progressed to depicting African scenery and illustrations of diseases in the camp. Eventually Aweng and Dau settled in Nashville, Tennessee, as refugees, and came to Ohio State as students in the early 2000s. Aweng studied fine art, exploring new materials and painting on canvas and smooth river rocks. Dau studied international diplomacy, majoring in international studies and minoring in international economic and social development. After graduating in 2009, they returned to their village, reuniting with families they had not seen in two decades. They soon realized the villagers had little to no health care, and they returned to the U.S. determined to make a difference. In 2010, with the support of Scioto Ridge United Methodist Church, they returned to Piol and met with elders and chiefs, who said that care for pregnant women and babies was a priority. Determined to help, they traveled back to the United States to raise funds for a clinic. While in Piol, Aweng gave the chief a buckeye necklace, a symbol of luck and hope in Ohio State culture. When the clinic opened there, it was named the Buckeye Clinic, in honor of that “lucky” tradition. Today, the Buckeye Clinic provides prenatal care to women, newborn care and crucial vaccinations to babies; it’s also a site for distributing muchneeded food and supplies, and encompasses a large community garden. “At least 1,000 women and babies have been helped by the Buckeye Clinic,” Aweng said. “Our next goal is to hire a professional nurse midwife to provide medical care during pregnancy and delivery and to care for newborns.”
“The feeling I get from being a Buckeye is really something, and it’s even shared by people all the way across the ocean in a small African village. You don’t have to be in Ohio to be a Buckeye.” {Bol Aweng} Today, Dau lives in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, where he continues to serve the Buckeye Clinic as a member of its steering committee, helping the clinic implement its goals. Though Aweng lives in Columbus, he still raises awareness and support for the clinic whenever he can. He often visits local elementary, middle and high schools and teaches students about South Sudan and the clinic when he talks about his journey and his art that came from his experiences. He also has assisted with art classes at Bexley Middle School for the past two years, teaching students to create art based on their personal experiences. Students often are inspired by Aweng’s visits and help raise funds for the clinic with projects ranging from walk-a-thons and dodge ball tournaments to bake sales and chili cook-offs. As a result, local schools have raised more than $121,000 for the clinic. When Aweng isn’t visiting schools or working at the Wal-Mart warehouse in Grove City, he continues to make his own art, drawing on his experiences as a child. His canvas and smooth rock paintings depicting scenes from the African landscape or curled-up animals tell his story as a Lost Boy of Sudan. For his work with the Buckeye Clinic, Aweng was honored last fall with Ohio State’s Robert M. Duncan Alumni Citizenship Award, presented to alumni who have distinguished themselves in service to humanity. Aweng was the guest speaker at a celebration of Black History Month at Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center in February, where he shared his journey and hope for the future. Dr. Michael Caligiuri, CEO of the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute and director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, commended Aweng for his efforts to bring better health care to his former country.
To make a contribution, visit buckeyeclinic.org/donate.
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$429,000 Total funds raised for the Buckeye Clinic
$56,000 Raised by Upper Arlington High School students
$28,000 Raised by Bexley Middle School students
600+ Newborn babies in Piol who have received measles, polio, DPT and TB vaccines
28 Number of Columbus-area elementary, middle and high schools contributing to the cause
2012 Year the Buckeye Clinic opened, powered by solar energy
1 Emergency Medical Transport vehicle (a three-wheeled motorcycle with cargo bed) purchased
100,000 Pounds of rice, beans, corn, flour, salt, sugar and cooking oil distributed in Piol in 2016
110 Fruit trees (including lemon, mango and avocado) and shade trees planted in the clinic compound
2 football fields Size of a fenced, secure area for residents to use in times of attacks
5,000 Gallons of water that each of four tanks can hold at the clinic
35,000
Aweng’s artwork reflects the hardship of his journey and hope for a better future (top). The Buckeye Clinic, completed in 2012 (middle left), serves the health and wellness needs of the 10,000 people in Piol, including mothers and their children (middle right).
Number of Lost Boys of Sudan
16,000 Number of Lost Boys who survived their journey
6 Age of Bol and Jok when they walked to Ethiopia and Kenya
go.osu.edu/bol-aweng Aweng (left) spreads the mission of the Buckeye Clinic and the story of the Lost Boys of Sudan through speaking engagements, including a talk at TEDxOhioStateUniversity in 2013. alumni | 23
No Stranger to Film On location with Charles Newirth
Ohio State alumnus Charles Newirth ( far left) traveled around the globe to bring the evilfighting Doctor Strange to life on film. On location in Kathmandu, Nepal, he confers with Stephen Broussard, executive producer.
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(photo by Jay Maidment, property of Marvel Studios)
“Film continues to be the most influential art form in the world because it transcends borders, cultures and languages and has the ability to move people emotionally and intellectually.” {Charles Newirth}
Doctor Strange was a megahit at the movies in 2016, pulling in more than $659 million at the worldwide box office and enticing a massive fan base of thrilled Marvel Comics enthusiasts. And according to executive producer and Ohio State alumnus Charles Newirth (BA, photography and cinema, 1977), bringing the globe-trotting, time-traveling superhero to life in his ever-shifting fantasy world was no easy task. “Without question, Doctor Strange was the most complex project I’ve ever worked on in my career, and I’ve done a lot of films!” said Newirth. “Because of the demanding visual aspects of this film, we had to come up with visual effects that worked with the original comic story — the colors, the multiple dimensions, the psychedelic and science-fiction feel of it. Plus, we filmed on location all over the world — Nepal, Hong Kong, London, New York and Hollywood. It was truly a global project in size and ambition.” In light of these complexities that stretched over two years, Newirth said, “Doctor Strange was challenging but very fun and very exciting. That’s what I love about my job — there’s always something new to learn, discover and create.”
In addition to Doctor Strange, Newirth’s bio is jampacked with films he’s spent the last several decades overseeing — Iron Man 3, Forrest Gump, Galaxy Quest, Black Hawk Down, Across the Universe, Hugo, Peter Pan, Patch Adams, Bugsy, America’s Sweethearts, Robocop and many more. He credits, in large part, his Buckeye background for encouraging his journey to Hollywood. “I’m a very proud graduate of Ohio State,” he said. “I love my university, and it really helped to shape me.” Newirth came to Ohio State in the ’70s from upstate New York, originally to study architecture. “But (architecture) wasn’t really working for me,” he remembers. “It was a lot of engineering and math — not creative enough for me. Then I discovered the photo and cinema major, and I was just on fire for the next few years. Having that program available really inspired me in ways that I didn’t think were possible, and I loved it.”
Moving Image Production Though Ohio State retired Newirth’s photography and cinema major in the ’90s, it’s coming back next fall as the moving image production (MIP) major in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Newirth couldn’t be more pleased. “This is something Ohio State has to do. With all of the advances in technology and communication, we are able to tell new and old stories in ways we couldn’t even imagine before. It’s 2017, and I think that it is crucial to have this new major as an option at a school as big and highly respected as Ohio State.” Newirth, who has consulted with the college as it shapes the new major, said he would be happy to support it via guest lectures and visits with Hollywood film experts. The new major will be administered by the Film Studies Program, with partners in the Departments of Theatre, Art and Design; the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD); and the Wexner Center for the Arts. “For young people, particularly those living in Ohio, rather than in New York or L.A., it’s important for them to know their voice can be heard and have a platform to express it. This major will absolutely help them do that,” Newirth said. “They just need to roll up their sleeves and get to work and find their voice to tell their story, whether through experimental, documentary or narrative visual storytelling — it’s all good.”
Newirth ( far left) confers with fellow producers and directors during a scene being shot for Iron Man 3. (photo by Zade Rosenthal, property of Marvel Studios)
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Speaking the Same Language
Litsa Kozyris (BS, elementary education, 1985; MA, history, 1994) is passionate about enabling study-abroad experiences for students in Greece, which inspired her to create the Phaedon John Kozyris and Litsa Kozyris Travel Award, named for herself and her late husband, Ohio State Law Professor John Kozyris. The endowed award provides financial support for students to study Modern Greek language and engage in research in Greece. This past summer, three undergraduates studying Modern Greek were the first to benefit from the fund. “When you travel to Greece today, you are not just traveling to Greece; you are taking a journey to classical times and early Christian times. In the 18th and 19th centuries in Greece, an indispensable part of an education was to go abroad,” Kozyris said. An enthusiastic educator, Kozyris teaches Modern Greek language and culture everywhere she goes. She is an insatiable learner who believes teaching and learning are interactive processes. “It is important to learn firsthand by traveling, to talk to the people, find out how they feel, listen to their jokes, absorb their philosophy, to learn their language — and to share,” said Kozyris. “Travel should be a way to meet people, not just see things, and learn, not passively through books or movies.” Kozyris, a true citizen of the world, divides her time between Thessaloniki, Greece, and Columbus, Ohio, and travels to as many other places on the planet as possible.
Stavroula Pabst, a fourth-year student majoring in history and Modern Greek, was one of the three students chosen to study at the University of Athens last summer, courtesy of the Phaedon John Kozyris and Litsa Kozyris Travel Award. “I was gifted with a wonderful opportunity to spend more time in a country I consider to be my second home, as well as meeting many different people from around the world who were just as interested in learning about Modern Greek as I was,” Pabst said. “While the classes, taught in Greek, were somewhat intimidating, it was an amazing experience to meet so many students from other countries — Bulgaria, Russia, Germany, Italy — and see
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“Travel allows me to reimagine and recreate myself; gaining a better understanding of other people increases understanding of yourself. We should not be bystanders in the world, but full participants.” {Litsa Kozyris} their passion for Greek, Greece and learning languages in general. My Greek has improved greatly as a result; it was a key period to work toward fluency in another language.” As an educator, Kozyris fully understands that classroom learning is a key piece in the educational process. But she firmly believes it is but one piece. “We do not just learn in formal, structured situations. Learning is always taking place, everywhere, if one is open to new experiences,” she said. Kozyris knows firsthand that traveling offers unparalleled opportunities for experiences not to be found by any other means. “Travel allows me to reimagine and recreate myself,” Kozyris said. “Gaining better understanding of other people and their cultures increases understanding of yourself.” Pabst has taken advantage of every opportunity at Ohio State to complement and supplement her classroom learning. In summer 2014, Pabst had the chance to work with History Professor Timothy Gregory’s Kythera Program on the Greek island of Kythera through The Ohio State Excavations at Isthmia. “I did field work and learned the basics of archaeological survey around the island, and had the chance to see and do interesting things from all time periods of the island’s history,” said Pabst. In spring 2015, Pabst was one of the students selected to take part in History Professor David Steigerwald’s World War II study-tour program. A unique component of this program is the requirement for students to blog about their experiences in London, Normandy, Paris and Berlin. These become part of an indelible living-learning legacy.
Litsa Kozyris endowed a travel award allowing students to study abroad in Greece. This winter she had the opportunity to chat with Stavroula Pabst, a student recipient of the award. The two were able to express — in Greek and English — how much Kozyris’ generosity meant to Stavroula, and how proud she was of Stavroula and her accomplishments.
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Bursting at the Seams Entrepreneurial young alumni outfit Columbus
“Studying history at Ohio State, I was able to imagine what the future might hold based on lessons of the past. That combination is invaluable when it comes to building a business from the ground up.” {Amanda Sima}
Alma Mater Amanda Sima founded Alma Mater clothing company in 2008 at just 26 years old. Her inspiration? A vintage Ohio State sweater that she borrowed from her grandmother to wear to a tailgate. Her goal was to wake up the licensed apparel market with garments, namely sweaters, that were unique in style and quality, encouraging customers to “wear your loyalty.” With operations in Columbus and Los Angeles, Alma Mater is delivering styles to the masses as the first specialty brand in fan apparel offering affordable fashion — one of the few woman-owned companies to do so. In the spring of 2014, Alma Mater received an Ohio State apparel license — no easy feat, especially for independent merchandise. The Alma Mater line is available in five locations around Columbus, including on campus at Barnes & Noble, the Wexner Medical Center and the Blackwell Inn, keeping customers looking cool while staying warm.
Amanda Sima (top) graduated from Ohio State in 2005 with a degree in history. As an entrepreneur, she uses her degree to help her run her growing clothing company: selling vintage-inspired collegiate sweaters.
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“I love being an entrepreneur — doing and learning new things daily and not being shoehorned into one specific task. I believe the College of Arts and Sciences helped prepare me for that.” {Paul Hopler}
Keep It Simple Socks Since graduating from Ohio State in 2015 with a degree in actuarial science, Paul Hopler has become cofounder and self-described “numbers aficionado” of Keep It Simple Socks, a Columbus brand dedicated to creating unique socks for both work and play.
Paul Hopler, a 2015 actuarial science alumnus, will knock your socks off with his local brand, Keep It Simple Socks. Hopler and his friends started the business with the goal of creating fun, unique socks for every occasion.
What inspired you to start Keep It Simple Socks? I've always wanted to be my own boss, so when my two friends Austen and Michael approached me with this, I was very excited. We all love socks, and having fun, creative socks is kind of a necessity in the group we hang out with, so starting a company like this was a no-brainer.
How did an education in the College of Arts and Sciences equip you for this entrepreneurial role? Although I didn't fully understand why at the time, I always remember my Arts and Sciences advisors saying they wanted us to be “well-rounded,” which equated to me taking many GE courses. But looking back, that helped me to learn things I never would have, and to always be open to new experiences.
What is your role in the company as the “numbers aficionado”? I was an actuarial science major, and now I am an accountant, so all of the accounting, bookkeeping and numbers part of the business was a natural role for me. However, when it comes to something like this where your team is so small, all of our roles kind of blend together. For instance, as the president of finance, I also handle all of the manufacturing communications, and even some of our graphic design work for social media and designs.
What advice do you have for students who may be interested in starting a business? If you have an idea that you really believe in and are excited about, commit to it and jump in. You have to be fully committed to going for it if you want it to work out, and you need to just take a chance. If you try and it doesn't pan out, then 10 years from now you'll never remember that lost time and money from investing in something you're excited about and you will know you gave it your best shot. However, if you don’t go for it, you'll never know what could have been.
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As a way to process tragedy through artmaking, Patrick Callicotte’s fourth-grade students at Chapman Elementary created worry dolls for Ohio State students, faculty and staff. Worry dolls, originating in Guatemala, are small handmade dolls made of wires, strings and fabrics.
Don’t Worry On the morning of Nov. 29, after an attack on the Ohio State campus, the usual sounds in Patrick Callicotte’s (BA, 2011; MA, 2016; art education) art classroom — of lively music, paintbrushes splattering inside water cups and children laughing — were replaced with fragile voices asking concerned questions. One student asked, “Can art be medicine?” Callicotte’s fourth-grade students at Chapman Elementary in Dublin had been studying the importance and power of children’s voices and ideas. So the class decided to create worry dolls to help ease the uncertainties of Ohio State students, faculty and staff. “Throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies at Ohio State, I was inspired to be an agent of change and use art education as a medium for social progress. This project helped me realize that sometimes the most powerful impact I can make is by stepping back and simply allowing the time and resources for the next generation to have their voices heard.” Callicotte’s students twirled yarn and cut felt — enough for hundreds of small colorful worry dolls. Word got out on campus, and requests to the class poured in. More than 120 worry dolls with notes like, “I hope all your worries go away,” “I bet you need a smile right now!” and “Made with love,” were sent to the Ohio State community.
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My sister is an artist. I am a scientist. Recently we began collaborating on projects to promote my research, and I realized that we both share strengths in creativity and curiosity. I believe our arts and science educations have enabled us to connect the two disciplines and communicate science to a broad audience, an essential part of being an educator and an advocate for the environment. {Rachelle M.M. Adams, assistant professor of evolution, ecology and organismal biology}
Biologist Rachelle M.M. Adams studies symbioses of ants and the evolution of behavior in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology. This May, Adams will offer a new field course, Tropical Behavioral Ecology and Evolution, as a study-abroad program in Panama designed to provide tropical field-research experience to graduate and undergraduate students.
Women in STEM Changing lives in the lab and in the field
“The leadership of our women faculty in the Arts and Sciences is a great indicator of women’s increasing presence and influence in STEM fields, nationally and internationally.” {David Manderscheid} While women make up half of the college-educated workforce in the U.S., according to the latest Science & Engineering Indicators from the National Science Foundation, they only comprise 29 percent of those in science and engineering occupations. Modest gains have been made over the past few decades, but the gender gap isn’t closing fast enough. Women faculty in the Arts and Sciences, speaking from their own experiences, say that role models are the catalyst for bringing about change in STEM — and they are paying it forward for the next generation. “Mentorship and role models are crucial,” said Laura Lopez, assistant professor of astronomy. “I think that young girls need to see that science is a possible career path for them. I think they need exposure to science in order to know what it is, what kinds of questions can be asked, and also what being a scientist actually is.” A priority for the College of Arts and Sciences is to increase the number of underrepresented women and minority faculty, students and staff in STEM disciplines. A particular area of support is in offering partner career and support resources — ensuring that raising a family and having a career are not mutually exclusive. The university offers part-time, tenure-track positions and tenure clock flexibility as institutional policies, along with other measures designed to make the path a bit more attractive for women and other underrepresented groups. What’s lost if we don’t support women in STEM? The women on the following pages show that the opportunity costs are profound: improvements to children’s health, research to support therapies for cancer and multiple sclerosis, an understanding of our changing atmosphere and our massive universe, a convergence of technology with art. And what’s to gain by having role models in place for the next generation? The possibilities are limitless.
Elisabeth Dowling Root (left) with a member of her maternal and child health survey team on-site in Matlab, Bangladesh. (photo courtesy of Elisabeth Dowling Root)
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Big Data for Big Problems Elisabeth Dowling Root, associate professor of geography and epidemiology, wants to know why people get sick — by uncovering as much information as possible. Root researches and teaches at the intersection of geographic science and public health, and is an affiliate of Ohio State’s Translational Data Analytics program. She explores geographic patterns of health and disease using quantitative spatial methodologies, with an emphasis on improving children’s health. She has been involved with several major international health projects, including in Bangladesh, Honduras, Philippines and Indonesia, and with two research initiatives in the United States. Her work evaluates the short- and long-term impacts of public health interventions in low-income countries, including vaccination campaigns, health system changes, maternal and child health and family planning programs. She is currently working with the Ohio Department of Health and Ohio Department of Medicaid to examine infant mortality in the state and identify interventions and resources necessary to improve birth outcomes in underserved populations. Speaking from experience, Root says that by sparking curiosity about the world, educators will inspire more young girls to pursue STEM fields. “I think we can encourage young girls to go into STEM by developing their curiosity about the world and encouraging them to ask questions and to accept that they don’t always know the answer, but the adventure and the excitement is trying to figure out the answers to those questions,” she said.
Guiding Light As she was doing her chemistry homework as a young student, Claudia Turro, the Dow Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, knew that chemistry was the field for her. “I realized that atoms came together to make molecules, and molecules made up everything in the world, in the universe,” Turro said. “That everything around me — the table, the floor, the dirt, the flowers — was made up of atoms and molecules. This fascinated me, and I wanted to learn more.” Flash forward, and Turro is the recipient of several top awards and honors from organizations including the National Science Foundation and the American Chemical Society. Turro’s research focuses on understanding and utilizing reactions of metal complexes that can be initiated with light. Such light-triggered reactions have enormous therapeutic, industrial and environmental applications, including treating tumors, developing luminescent reporters and sensors, degrading pollutants and converting solar energy. Turro has been a driving force in her department’s quest to recruit and retain underrepresented minority and female students at all levels, and she said she sees the tide turning in her field in large part due to role models and mentors. “Role models are invaluable,” Turro said. “Having role models who look like you lets you know that it’s possible to reach the level of what that other person has achieved. Having mentors who treat and promote everyone equally has also made it possible for me to be where I am today.“
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Intervening With Evidence Ruchika Shaurya Prakash, associate professor of psychology, is director of the Department of Psychology’s Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory. Prakash examines the efficacy of psychosocial lifestyle interventions, such as physical activity training and mindfulness meditation, in preserving and improving cognitive control and emotion regulation in older adults and in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). “For a long time, MS patients were told not to exercise because there was a fear it could exacerbate their symptoms,” Prakash said. “But we’re finding that if MS patients exercise in a controlled setting, it can actually help them with their cognitive function.” Recently, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society awarded Prakash a $631,000 grant to investigate the relationship between increased physical activity and improved cognitive functioning in people with MS. Prakash and her team will be comparing the impact of a step-count tracking intervention to a water-intake tracking intervention on measures of cognition and brain functioning. If proven effective, step-count tracking could represent a low cost intervention for increasing levels of everyday physical activity in people with MS, with subsequent gains for cognitive health. Prakash says she’s been fortunate to have positive role models throughout her career, but that those in STEM need to be cognizant of the messages they send. When she was completing her PhD at the same institution as her husband, one of her committee members asked her whose career would be more important, noting that a man’s career would normally take priority over a woman’s. “Fortunately for me, I’ve had the backing of several role models in my life who have provided me with unwavering support, and I’ve been able to persevere forward, but we need to watch out for the messages that we give young women and girls — those messages sometimes really impede our ability to succeed within these fields.”
Building a Rich Community of Scholars The College of Arts and Sciences affirms that academic excellence depends on recruiting and supporting a diverse population of faculty, staff and students and on encouraging this diverse community to pursue innovative research, engaged outreach and transformative teaching and learning. We are committed to promoting the principles of equal opportunity, affirmative action and multiculturalism in which all individuals are valued, respected, unobstructed in their pursuit of excellence and provided opportunities to flourish. Diversity is everyone’s goal, everyone’s priority and to everyone’s benefit. As perhaps the most expansive arts and sciences college in the country, we have the unique qualification — and the unique obligation — to address the complex issues related to fostering an inclusive and diverse community both inside and outside the academy.
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“Women researchers can help address the challenge of our under-representation. We need to share our passion; show and tell the stories of amazing role models so that more young girls can begin to see themselves in STEM fields.” {Virginia Rich}
Thawing Out In high school, Virginia Rich, assistant professor of microbiology, thought she wanted to be a poet, but — by her own admission — she realized she wasn’t very good at it. Science, however, was a different story. “I had some amazing teachers, and the further I got along in my biology classes, the more convinced I was that this was an amazing thing I should do,” said Rich. Rich received her PhD through the MIT and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Joint Program in 2008, then served as a postdoc, then assistant professor at the University of Arizona before joining Ohio State’s Department of Microbiology in 2015. A global change microbiologist, she studies how microorganisms respond to and mediate change caused by human activity, including climate change.
More female students are taking classes like pre-calculus and advanced biology during high school than male students, according to the National Girls Collaborative Project.
Rich co-leads an international team of 13 researchers in Arctic Sweden on a quest to understand how thawing permafrost impacts climate change. Permafrost-associated soils cover nearly a quarter of our planet’s land surface and contain more than a third of the world’s soil carbon. When permafrost thaws, the release of carbon into the atmosphere has major implications for climate change. The three-year project is funded by a $3.75 million Department of Energy grant. Rich draws scientific inspiration from her mother, who, although not a scientist, was a fifth-grade teacher charged with leading science experiments. “Her curiosity about how things were working as she prepared to teach fifth graders was absolutely contagious,” Rich said. “Not just that, but her intellectual rigor in evaluating the experiments she was doing still remains my bar for how rigorous I want to be and how excited I want to be about my science.”
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“Young girls need to see that science is a possible career path for them. They need exposure to the sciences in order to know what they are, what kinds of questions can be asked and also what being a scientist actually is.” {Laura Lopez}
Looking Skyward Laura Lopez, assistant professor of astronomy, decided she wanted to be an astronomer in the fifth grade. “Our class went stargazing, and I was really captivated by the night sky and how everything worked in space,” said Lopez. “I was only 11 years old and I had no idea what an astronomer actually did, but I was really into the mysteries of space and trying to understand it.” Lopez came to Ohio State in 2015 after serving as a NASA Hubble Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, as a NASA Einstein Fellow and as a Pappalardo Fellow in Physics at MIT. She earned her PhD in astronomy and astrophysics in 2011 at the University of California-Santa Cruz.
In 2014, LEGO launched “Research Institute,” its first ever set of female scientist figurines, thanks to a pitch from geophysicist Ellen Kooijman.
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Lopez’s research focuses on the birth and death of massive stars and how these processes affect the surrounding interstellar medium. She studies star-forming regions and supernovae explosions in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies using data from across the electromagnetic spectrum. In March 2016, NASA appointed Lopez to the X-ray Surveyor Science and Technology Definition Team to study the feasibility of one of four candidate space-based telescopes to be launched in the 2030s. In addition to her passionate dedication to teaching and research, Lopez is deeply committed to enhancing the participation and retention of women and diverse students in the sciences. “My mom was really supportive of me when I decided I wanted to be an astronomer, and she encouraged me to get involved and try new science activities,” Lopez said.
Art + Tech Assistant Professor Isla Hansen’s colorful, quirky soft sculptures, robotic installations and unusual videos may look frivolous … but they pack a punch. Hansen, who specializes in art and technology and holds faculty appointments in both the Department of Art and the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD), said she wants her art to reflect the technology that surrounds us. “I make art about the times we live in,” she said. “What are the tools that define us? What are new ways to think about the technologies we use every day?” A current piece she’s creating, called Demolition One, which will debut at the Columbus Museum of Art, is a huge, soft sculpture of a limo with hidden soft sensors that viewers can push, punch, poke and prod. When they do, a connecting animation of the vehicle will show it slowly being destructed. “It breaks the rules of traditional art because you can touch it,” Hansen said of this piece and others she’s created. “In some of my works, I want people to get involved, to interact with the piece. On the surface, the work is playful and silly, and allows people to play with familiar technology in new ways. But underneath, there is a more complex critique.” Hansen said her challenges lie in the balance between art and science. “People working in traditional STEM fields might not take me seriously. And people working in traditional art forms may not take me seriously either,” she said. “But I want to offer both of these fields a new perspective, to push people to challenge their preconceived notions. Even if they don’t ‘get it’ right away, I think people are starting to come around to the idea that play should be taken very seriously.”
The Way Forward No one argues that the pursuit of STEM careers is a straightforward path for women. While many challenges remain, Ohio State aims to make a difference by emphasizing diversity in STEM fields. The arts and sciences have a long legacy of embracing inclusion, diversity, community and openness, and as the college looks toward the future, it will continue to advance these values and serve as a role model to all. The bottom line: A brilliant scientific mind cannot be wasted, and brilliant scientific minds know no gender. The women featured here are living proof.
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Machine Morality Can smart cars make good decisions?
“The aspiration is to have cars that make better decisions in the moment than human drivers. But this requires reflecting in advance about what their priorities should be.” {Justin D’Arms}
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illustration courtesy of Greg Bonnell
Thanks to a BETHA grant, Professor Justin D’Arms hopes to bring resources from moral philosophy to address the problem of ensuring that autonomous machines behave ethically, and to elevate the discussion of the issue with colleagues and students in engineering.
Self-driving cars for the average citizen will be a reality in the not-toodistant future. “It’s going to happen, and it’s going to happen soon, so we should start applying our best moral thinking to the behavior of this incredible new technology,” said Justin D’Arms, chair, Department of Philosophy. Studies suggest that these cars will be on the general market by the end of this decade — just two years from now, says D’Arms’ collaborator Bryan Weaver, a senior lecturer in philosophy. In Pittsburgh, Uber already has a fleet of self-driving vehicles navigating the streets of the city. Though currently there is an Uber rep in each car “just in case,” the eventual plan is for vehicles that won’t need that human backup. Why are philosophers interested in probing the future of self-driving cars? Because although they promise great benefits, self-driving cars also pose important moral questions the industry needs to address. Self-driving cars will have quicker reaction times and (eventually) better sensors than we do, and they won’t be hampered by human risk factors caused by distracted driving, fatigue or alcohol, D’Arms said. But they will also face choices that have important moral consequences. He offers this example: “Let’s say you’re in a driverless car and an SUV coming in the opposite direction swerves into your lane. There is a woman with a baby carriage on the sidewalk to your right. Does your car choose to stay the course and hit the SUV, potentially injuring you? Or does it swerve right and risk hitting the mom and baby?” This raises two big questions, said D’Arms and Weaver. “What should the ethics settings for these cars be in cases of this sort? And who should be deciding that?” They are investigating these issues, funded by a Battelle Engineering,
Technology and Human Affairs (BETHA) grant they received last year. The BETHA grant is a Battelle Memorial Institute-Ohio State partnership that fosters programs that examine the complex relationship between science and technology and broader social and cultural issues. Responses to this and countless other situations may be programmed into self-driving cars by engineers, explained Weaver. These are the cars’ ethics settings. “We are looking at situations we think are relevant to the industry,” D’Arms said. “Some of these will require the vehicle to trade off the well-being of its own passengers against the well-being of other drivers on the road and against the well-being of pedestrians, like that mother and her baby.” “Obviously, in a crash situation we (humans) can panic and make a snap decision,” Weaver noted. “The ambition is to have the vehicle make even better decisions than a human driver would. But that requires moral thinking in advance about which decisions are best in cases like these.” D’Arms and Weaver are working on several articles on this topic, some scholarly and some for a broader audience. Weaver is also teaching classes to undergraduate computer science engineering students, some of whom presented their research this spring at Ohio State’s Denman Undergraduate Research Forum. The broader university community is also focusing on autonomous vehicles and recently announced a major initiative to expand the Ohio State-affiliated Transportation Research Center to support research on driverless cars. D’Arms said the lasting product of the research project will be a contribution to the academic literature on machine morality, which will help further education, discussion and debate about how best to design autonomous machines.
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On Deadline Real-life, real-time, real-stakes reporting
Students who sign up for one of Nicole Kraft’s four public affairs journalism courses will spend only some of the time in the classroom. The clinical assistant professor of journalism doesn’t believe you learn how to be a journalist from reading a book. Rather, she engages her students in real reporting scenarios with journalism professionals, law enforcement, policymakers, lawyers, intelligence analysts and politicians, to show students what the real world of journalism looks and sounds like.
United States — played by Mansoor — had just addressed a joint session of Congress, requesting authorization for use of military force in Iraq and Syria. Students had two days to learn, address and analyze real-world law, policy and fact and determine the simulation’s outcome.
“Bringing in people at the top of their field to share not only their experiences but their expectations is what sets Ohio State’s journalism program apart,” said Kraft. “Having professionals on hand to catch mistakes, challenge students and offer real-time feedback helps prepare them for a job as soon as they graduate.”
“The simulation forced me to think critically about what information needed to be written about and what information was missing,” said Doherty. “When it ended, I was able to speak with the media professionals about their jobs, which I found helpful.”
And Kraft should know. By the time she graduated magna cum laude from Temple University, she had worked as a photographer (her father’s horse racing photography business), PR intern (Philadelphia 76ers) and reporter/editor (Montgomery Newspapers in the Philadelphia area). After graduation, she worked as a press secretary, design editor, magazine editor and director of communication. For three years, students in Kraft’s Media Writing and Editing class have participated in Ohio State’s National Security Simulation, a two-day event that models a national security issue in the federal government. Developed by Dakota Rudesill, Ohio State assistant professor of law, the simulation includes curriculum designed by Kraft and Peter Mansoor, the General Raymond W. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History. Mansoor is a retired U.S. Army colonel, with a 26-year career that culminated in his service in Iraq as the executive officer to General David Petraeus, the commanding general of Multi-National Force-Iraq, during the period of the surge in 2007-2008. Seasoned practitioners from Washington, D.C., and Ohio State — lawyers, reporters, policy makers, analysts, judges and politicians — convene in Columbus to test the students’ mettle. During last November’s National Security Simulation, Kraft’s students were confronted with a national security crisis ripped straight out of the headlines. The President of the
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Ian Doherty, a third-year journalism student, said the reality of the simulation challenged his abilities to think quickly and accurately.
For journalism major Sheridan Hendrix, taking on the role of reporter allowed her the opportunity to dip her toes into the world of political coverage. “Having real-world politicians and reporters as mentors and guides was unbelievably helpful,” Hendrix said. One of those mentors was Travis Tritten, Capitol Hill reporter for Stars and Stripes and Ohio State journalism alumnus (2001). “As somebody who covers Washington, D.C., on a daily basis, I thought the simulation was surprisingly spot-on and real-tolife,” said Tritten. “The students who participated got a good taste of what it takes to report on breaking national events, and probably found out how they need to work or what they need to do to be better at it.”
Kraft joined the faculty at Ohio State in 2011 and teaches journalism with a digital dynamic, specializing in news reporting, editing, media law, feature writing, social media in journalism and multimedia journalism. She has authored 10 iTunes U courses and the interactive textbooks Always Get the Name of the Dog on media interviewing and Writing Like Rabbits. She was named a 2015 Apple Distinguished Educator. For more info about Nicole Kraft visit her website, nicolekraft.com.
“There are few more gratifying moments in journalism education than when you realize students ‘get it.’ That day, our students showed us they got it — they learned, they executed, they excelled.” {Nicole Kraft}
November 28: More Than a Simulation Two years ago, Nicole Kraft worked with university Administration and Planning to develop an active shooter simulation assignment to more deeply immerse her students in learning experiences and to continue building a strong working relationship with campus police. On Monday, Nov. 28, 2016, in the wake of an early morning stabbing and vehicle attack on campus, the simulation transformed into real lifeand-death coverage. The Lantern was one of the first news outlets to report on the attack, which quickly gained national attention. Student journalists with The Lantern and students in Kraft’s newswriting classes were on the ground and in the field in minutes, reporting as well as or better than any professional news crew. One of the first on the scene was Lantern campus editor Nicholas Roll, a fourth-year student majoring in international studies. “I was right across High Street from the scene, when I got the Buckeye Alert text,” said Roll. “I ran as close to the scene as I could get, which ended up being outside a police line next to Ramseyer Hall. From there, we filed live updates and talked to other students, professional journalists, the FBI and Columbus police. We filed 35 stories either about or referencing the attack.” Roll participated in Kraft’s active shooter simulation in spring 2016. “The biggest challenge in Nicole's simulation was to sit down, and think, ‘OK, what did the authorities actually say? What are the facts?’ You learned to write only what you know and what you can confirm.” Third-year journalism major Owen Daugherty had recently completed the active shooter simulation when confronted with the Nov. 28 attack and the ensuing chaos.
Students in Nicole Kraft’s active shooter simulation discussed police procedures, interviewed law enforcement personnel and pored over police logs and crime reports — they visited a crime scene, talked to witnesses and practiced the art of investigative reporting.
“The press conference I filmed and wrote about on the afternoon of Nov. 28 was eerily similar to the mock press conference in the simulation,” said Daugherty. “It made me feel prepared and comfortable in that environment, ready to ask pertinent and thoughtful questions.” Daugherty had the opportunity to work with The New York Times throughout the week on a stringer contract basis. He contributed to three stories published by Times reporter Mitch Smith.
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From Field to Flight Making aviation fuel from a common weed
Creating viable biofuels to alleviate the world’s energy crisis has been an elusive dream, but an interdisciplinary “dream team” at Ohio State, equipped with federal grant funding, is actively working to transform a common weed into aviation fuel. With support from the Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ana Alonso, associate professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and director of the Targeted Metabolomics Laboratory, is spearheading an initiative that involves tinkering with pennycress, a plant that Alonso calls “a Cinderella crop” with all the right stuff. “It is a common weed that does not compete with food crops, but has something no other weed has,” she said. “An oil that could fuel our future — given the right conditions.” In today’s energy-hungry and increasingly carbon-loaded world, there is an urgent need for bioenergy crops like pennycress, with potential for jetfuel production that do not compete with food crops. The team’s federal grant will assist the effort to produce plant-seed oil as a viable, renewable source of biodiesel and aviation fuel. Positive results could lead to major breakthroughs for improving the oil content of alternative bioenergy crops, decreasing the planet’s carbon footprint. By applying high pressure to pennycress seeds, scientists can extract the plant’s oil, which contains acids, including fatty acids, that are suitable for biofuel production. To ultimately create an economically viable and sustainable source of jet fuel, though, molecular and genetic resources will need to be developed, then integrated with multivariable analyses to guide strategies to increase oil production via breeding, genetic manipulation or both. Alonso’s role in the project is using plant metabolomics to enhance pennycress’s carbon flow, which would produce more fatty acids that can be transformed into biofuel. She is joined by Erich Grotewold, professor in the Departments of Molecular Genetics and Horticulture and Crop Sciences, and Ajay Shah, assistant professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, who are serving as co-principal investigators on the project. Grotewold’s task is to establish plant-gene regulatory network structures to understand mechanisms underlying combinatorial gene regulation. Shah will assess plant viability, by conducting multivariate technoeconomic analyses to see what works, what does not and how to make it work better.
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“A major goal of this project is to enhance the fatty oil content of the pennycress, which can be used to produce several advanced fuels, including renewable jet fuels that can be used to run the aircraft,” said Shah, who leads the Biobased Systems Analysis Lab at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster, Ohio. Though there’s not yet a date on when pennycress oil might be fueling our jets, the researchers believe in this project. “It’s a really exciting project because it bridges multiple data types, multiple disciplines and also multiple colleges and centers at Ohio State to try to establish a new bioenergy crop or the possibility of a new bioenergy crop in Ohio,” said Grotewold, who also is the director of the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC) and the Center for Applied Plant Sciences (CAPS). While no one dismisses the challenges involved in turning pennycress into an economically viable and sustainable source of jet fuel, to this team, hard work is merely a detail. Plus, they are secure in their access to the multiple resources across the Ohio State campus, including ABRC, CAPS and OARDC. Project researchers also have an ongoing relationship with the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative, an effort that seeks to create and bring commercially viable, environmentally sustainable aviation fuels to market. Ohio State is well positioned to make this happen. Its multiple opportunities for cross-disciplinary networking and collaboration, unmatched, world class facilities and funding for leading edge equipment and start-up grants translate ambitious ideas into game changing reality.
Ana Alonso studies metabolomic engineering — the optimization of genetic and regulatory processes in cells — and explores how to enhance the flow of carbon in plants for the production of fatty acids for biofuel and industrial applications.
go.osu.edu/STEM See the biofuel production process and learn more about the impact scientists working with pennycress seeds are hoping to have.
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Each One, Teach One Anthony Stanco has jazzed his way to Kyrgyzstan and back. The School of Music lecturer in jazz studies leads The Crucial Elements, a nationally recognized, five-piece jazz ensemble that toured last summer with the U.S. State Department’s America Music Abroad program — a 40-year-old international endeavor embraced in the past by such luminaries as Louis Armstrong and Dave Brubeck. Stanco’s Kyrgyzstan visit was his sixth State Department tour; he and his band also have been to myriad countries such as South Africa and Indonesia to promote cultural exchange.
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“We’re really trying to spread love and positivity through music across the world while being ambassadors for America,” he said. “I wrote two songs titled ‘Unity’ and ‘Freedom,’ and we perform them at every show as the closer.” Stanco recently completed another State Department tour to Saudi Arabia and looks forward to the next assignment. In the meantime, he loves passing his music knowledge on to students. “In jazz, we say ‘each one, teach one,’” he said.
philanthropy
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As a non-traditional student, I didn’t go to college right out of high school, so I found myself having to make a living. I had to balance working with paying tuition and paying attention to my studies. These grants are very, very helpful and have given me some financial stability, allowing me to cut back on my work hours and to focus on what I need to. {Cole Henry Jones, dance major}
Cole Henry Jones (BFA, 2018) grew up in Columbus and is majoring in dance with a minor in creative writing. He is the recipient of the President’s Affordability Grant and the Ohio College Opportunity Grant, giving him the financial support to excel both in and out of the classroom.
Bang, Pow! Lichtenstein gift will leave a lasting impact
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“We are delighted and honored to carry forward the creative spirit and intellectual inquiry of alumnus and world-renowned artist Roy Lichtenstein. These complementary chairs will elevate the arts and humanities across the university, broadening horizons for students and faculty for years to come.” {Ohio State President Michael V. Drake} Two permanently endowed named chairs are being created in the College of Arts and Sciences as a result of a $6 million gift from the Board of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and Dorothy Lichtenstein. Internationally known pop artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ohio State and served on the art faculty for five years. Two $3 million endowments will support the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Endowed Chair of Art History and the Roy Lichtenstein Endowed Chair of Studio Art. “Roy’s family and the foundation have been looking for the most promising way to enhance the Ohio State program,” said Dorothy Lichtenstein, Roy’s widow. “Happily, as the Ohio State Arts District begins to take shape and the Columbus art and museum scene expands, we think these professorships can build on this momentum.” “These positions ensure that generations of students and faculty will be encouraged to experiment, explore and reinterpret American modernism through an everchanging lens,” said David Manderscheid, vice provost and executive dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Our faculty is energized by this extraordinary gift and is looking forward to adding two senior scholars to their departments.” The university is planning a national search for distinguished candidates. The endowments will
Roy Lichtenstein was one of the most influential and innovative artists of the second half of the 20th century, preeminently identified with the pop art movement he helped originate. “Masterpiece,” 1962, copyright Estate of
recognize the formative role Ohio State played in the development of the talent and aesthetic interests of Roy Lichtenstein. The artist matriculated into Ohio State’s College of Education, School of Fine and Applied Arts, in 1940, where he was influenced and encouraged by Hoyt L. Sherman, a teacher whose perception-based approach to art shaped his own. Lichtenstein was drafted and sent to Europe in 1945, returning to Ohio State after the war to complete his BFA in 1946. He was invited to join the faculty as an instructor, and while teaching, he earned his master’s degree in 1949. He taught studio courses in the School of Fine and Applied Arts between 1946 and 1951, remaining close to Sherman and appreciative of Sherman’s impact on him. In 1994, Lichtenstein donated funds to endow the Hoyt L. Sherman Studio Art Center at Ohio State. In Columbus, the exhibition Roy Lichtenstein was on view at the Wexner Center for the Arts in 1996, following tours in cities in the U.S. and Europe. Additionally, visitors to Columbus have been able to view his aluminum sculpture Brushstrokes in Flight for more than three decades at John Glenn International Airport. “It’s wonderful that this endowed chair has been created at just this moment. The history of art department is launching a number of new initiatives, including an MA program in Contemporary Art and Curatorial Practice, with which we hope the new chair will play a significant role,” said Lisa Florman, chair of the Department of History of Art. Rebecca Harvey, chair of the Department of Art, added, “We are delighted the Department of Art will be home to this chair. Roy was an artist ahead of his time, and we look forward to bringing in an artist whose works bring a similar mixture of science and aesthetics to a new generation.” Roy Lichtenstein and, subsequently, Dorothy Lichtenstein, supported numerous fellowships, projects and publications at Ohio State. The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation continues this support and expansion of the capabilities of the art history and fine arts departments.
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Dance Department Founder’s Legacy Lives On Helen Alkire once said, “I loved dancing and thought it should be the center of the whole university.” So she made it her mission. Alkire founded The Ohio State University Department of Dance and spent decades sharing her visions and inspirations with students, creating new degree programs, touring student and faculty dance groups, collaborating with national and international dance associations, and so much more. Alkire first convinced university officials to add a dance program in the 1950s. When the original College of the Arts was formed in 1968, she became chair of the new Department of Dance, continuing in that role until 1983, when she retired. Over the years, she steadfastly continued her involvement with the department and was a devoted audience member for many dance concerts, recitals and special events. She died at age 100 in November 2015 at her family farm in Orient, Ohio.
Helen Alkire convinced Ohio State to form a dance program in the 1950s, inspiring students from the studio to the stage.
A generous gift to the Department of Dance from the estate of Helen P. Alkire adds substantially to the student scholarship that already exists in her name. The gift brings that endowed scholarship to more than $1 million, and was announced last November at the annual Dance Downtown performance in Columbus.
The Helen P. Alkire Scholarship is presented to dance majors with the artistic excellence and motivation to pursue careers in the professional dance field. Hadley said the additional funding will allow the department to increase student scholarship support and will also be a strong incentive to attract top dance students from around the country.
“Clearly, this wonderful gift is a fitting tribute to Helen and her legendary devotion to dance students,” said Susan Hadley, professor and chair of the Department of Dance. “Helen always encouraged all kinds of opportunities for her students.”
Alkire’s strong connections with professional working artists helped establish the department’s focus on visiting artists and scholars. Her interest in developing dance literacy led to the creation of the Dance Notation Bureau Extension, positioning Ohio State as a leader in dance documentation and analysis.
Hadley said there was a time in the 1950s when Alkire loaded up dance students in her own car and drove them all the way to Connecticut College so they could attend the American Dance Festival. This let them make important connections that eventually led to career opportunities with professional dance companies. “She wanted them to make these connections,” Hadley said, “to get out there and meet professionals in the dance field. And that legacy continues today; our programs still reflect Helen’s vision.”
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In 1990, Alkire was awarded an honorary doctor of education degree from Ohio State. The degree was awarded in recognition of her outstanding achievements and the importance of her contributions to the field of dance in higher education. Alkire’s visionary leadership left a lasting impact on the department, elevating it to one of the premiere dance programs in the nation.
“The only thing I ever remember as a child was wanting to dance, and seeing dancers, and talking about dance, and doing something with it, making it the most important thing in your life.� {Helen Alkire}
1938 Receives BS in education from Ohio State
1939 Receives MA in education from Ohio State
1946 Joins Ohio State Dept. of Physical Education faculty
1954 Convinces Ohio State officials to add a dance program
1968 College of the Arts is formed; Alkire becomes the chair of the Department of Dance
1979-1980 Serves as treasurer of Council of Dance Administrators
1980 Receives Plaudit Award from the National Dance Association and serves as vice president of American College Dance Festival Association
1983 Retires as chair of the Department of Dance
1990 Presented with Honorary Doctor of Education from Ohio State
May 2015 100th birthday party
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Catalyzing Collaboration Gift to transform space for statistics
Cockins Hall, the home to the Department of Statistics, was built in 1930 and was known as the Pharmacy and Bacteriology Building until it was officially renamed Edith Cockins Hall in 1967. Housing a department that boasts top-20 graduate programs and is internationally recognized as a leader in statistical science research and statistics education, the building and its current infrastructure have struggled to keep up with the needs of faculty, students and staff. A generous gift from Gary and Carolyn Koch is about to change all that. Gary Koch (BS, mathematics, 1962; MS, industrial engineering, 1963) and his wife, Carolyn, have donated $300,000 to transform the fourth floor of Cockins Hall into a series of spaces that maximize and encourage collaboration and excellence. “It has long been a dream for the department to have common spaces that foster collaboration, innovation and creativity,” said Steve MacEachern, professor and chair. “The Kochs’ gift allows us to transform a building that was built primarily for laboratory science into a space to share knowledge, develop skills and nurture ideas.” The Kochs’ gift will allow the Department of Statistics to update faculty offices, create new shared common spaces and add several meeting rooms for student candidacy exams and academic counseling. Construction begins in spring 2017, with expected completion in spring 2018. “Students and faculty need an environment that is nurturing,” said Koch. “I have witnessed how different questions from collaborative investigators — students and faculty alike — motivate statistical thinking that leads to innovations that address new methodology.” Koch, a professor of biostatistics and director of the Biometric Consulting Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), has seen the fruits of collaboration from both sides of the desk. He studied statistics at Ohio State and worked as a student computing assistant for his mentor D. Ransom Whitney, former chair of the statistics department. He went on to earn his doctorate in statistics from UNC in 1968. For the last 49-plus years, he has been on the other side, as a teacher and mentor. This is not the first gift from the Kochs to the faculty and students in the Department of Statistics. In 2012, they established the Gary G. Koch and Family Graduate Student Travel Award, allowing graduate students in statistics to travel to present research at professional meetings.
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“I have always thought of students as the central part of the university. They come to a university with lots of enthusiasm to learn as much as they can, and they take what they learn into the world, to make it a better place.” {Gary Koch} “More of our graduate students travel to professional meetings than any other statistics department in the country because of the Kochs’ immensely generous spirit,” MacEachern said. “Those kinds of experiences can be life-changing for graduate students. They meet new people in the field, learn new things inside and outside of the field and build a professional network.” For Koch, a native of Mount Vernon, Ohio, his undergraduate experience at Ohio State was pivotal and significant. He considers his work as a student computing assistant to D. Ransom Whitney to have been one of the most important components of his training in statistics.
The New Landscape of Statistics “Students with degrees in statistics are highly sought after for their ability to analyze and interpret data and to understand risk and uncertainty,” said Steve MacEachern, professor and chair of statistics. “In the last 10 years, enrollment in our undergraduate statistics courses has jumped more than 40 percent.” Currently, the Department of Statistics offers undergraduates only a statistics minor, but in response to demand from students and employers alike, a new statistics major is being planned. According to the American Statistical Association, statistics is one of the fastest-growing degrees in the U.S., but the growth may not be enough to satisfy the high demand for statisticians in technology, consumer products, nonprofit, health care, government, manufacturing and other areas of the economy.
“Statistics is a broad discipline that encompasses areas ranging from data acquisition and analysis to modeling of complex phenomena to decisionmaking under uncertainty,” said MacEachern. “It drives science, it drives business and it drives our understanding of the world.” Several years ago, Forbes named statistics as one of the six classes that will make any college graduate employable. Why? Everyone in a position of responsibility looks at data, the argument goes. “Whether you are student in the arts or the humanities, the social or the natural and mathematical sciences, statistics will give you an immediate and better skill set to offer employers and a leg up for graduate school,” said MacEachern.
Cockins Hall (middle), home of the Department of Statistics, was built in 1930. Originally known as the Pharmacy and Bacteriology Building, it was officially renamed Edith Cockins Hall in 1967 in honor of the university's first registrar (pictured here). A generous gift from Gary ( far left) and Carolyn Koch will reimagine outdated lab spaces into collaborative learning environments. If you are interested in supporting the Cockins Renovation and Improvement Fund (#311587), contact Tammy Parker at parker.465@osu.edu.
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Last fall marked the second time that Mari Noda (pictured below) offered the course, Tea Culture in East Asia, attracting students from all over the university interested in learning about tea. Students were drawn to the course because of interests in drinking and tasting tea, nutrition and health, and history.
Their Cup of Tea Mari Noda, professor of Japanese, developed a new General Education course, Tea Culture in East Asia, a multidisciplinary experience. “It’s really a hands-on course — students brew tea in class, try different teas, use different brewing methods and learn tea practices,” said Noda. “Students from all over the university take the course; we have had students majoring in languages, engineering, medicine, nursing, music — it’s across the board.” Columbus physicians Jonathan and Olivia Wilkin have taken a number of Japanese language and culture courses at Ohio State through the university’s Program 60 — including Noda's course — and enjoyed their studies so much that they made a generous gift to fund an endowed scholarship. The Jonathan & Olivia Wilkin Student Scholarship was established last September and will provide funding to students committed to mastering the Japanese language as an integral part of their academic endeavors. According to Noda, the couple “have been really solid supporters of our program and have taken courses, including an intensive Japanese course, a calligraphy class and the tea class that they both thoroughly enjoyed.”
Program 60 lets Ohio residents age 60 and older attend university courses in a tuition-free, noncredit/nondegree program.
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outreach
An arts and sciences education provides a place to participate in that ongoing struggle to understand the world. As a mathematician, the breadth of my education has helped me understand how math fits into the wider academic world. It reminds me that, despite how abstract mathematics might appear, people throughout history have confronted these same puzzles and lovely thoughts. {Jim Fowler, assistant professor of mathematics}
In 2013, Jim Fowler brought calculus to the world, designing and teaching Ohio State’s first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), a friendly introduction to calculus facilitating self-study and interactive feedback. More than 47,000 people signed up for MOOC, the majority from outside the U.S. In 2014, Fowler received the Crestron Summum Bonum Award for Excellence in Teaching, recognizing the impact of his innovative work on students across the world. He continues to teach and inspire students everywhere, on campus and throughout the community.
Breaking Barriers with Shakespeare The words and works of William Shakespeare have inspired people for centuries. More recently, Ohio State has used his texts as a social and interpersonal intervention — helping children with autism and military veterans transitioning back into civilian life — as well as bringing Shakespeare’s words to thousands of Ohio schoolchildren. Ohio State’s Department of Theatre has been closely involved with all of these endeavors, employing Shakespeare’s texts to cope, socialize, communicate and learn.
Shakespeare and Autism A recently completed study, 400 years in the making, demonstrated marked improvement in the social and communication skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The endeavor, the result of a collaboration between the Department of Theatre and the Nisonger Center at the Wexner Medical Center, used a signature approach pairing the recitation of Shakespeare’s rhythmic language with physical gestures.
imitation, pragmatics of dialogue exchange, personal space, turn taking, affective expression, humor and social improvisation, while using the rhythmic Hunter Heartbeat Method.
Results of the study were published in the journal Research and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, showing better language skills and recognition of facial expressions in children with ASD. Fourteen children took part in the intervention, which included twice-a-week workshops for 10 weeks, led by Ohio State theatre students.
Patricia Heaton, actress and Ohio State theatre alumna, known for her roles on Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle, made a generous gift to support the program through the Patricia Heaton-Hunt and David Hunt Shakespeare and Autism Fund.
The successful research results came as no surprise to Kevin McClatchy, assistant professor of theatre, who directs the Shakespeare and Autism program. “The project is a unique collaboration between the arts and the sciences. It uncovers the effectiveness of playing games based on the works of Shakespeare to confront the communicative blocks facing children with autism,” said McClatchy. The program is based on an intervention known as the Hunter Heartbeat Method, created by Kelly Hunter, an actress who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She worked with McClatchy, the theatre students and researchers Marc J. Tasse, professor of psychology and psychiatry and director of the Nisonger Center, and doctoral student Margaret Mehling. During the workshops, facilitators lead the children through a series of games based on the plot of The Tempest and focusing on skills such as facial-emotion recognition, eye contact, gross motor imitation, affective
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Heaton and her husband joined the Ohio State researchers and theatre leaders last summer when their funds made a workshop and performance possible at The Help Group in Los Angeles; the nonprofit organization serves children, adolescents and young adults with autism and other special needs. Ohio State participants and Kelly Hunter led 15 local children from The Help Group’s Bridgeport School in an interactive performance of The Tempest. During a visit to Ohio State last fall, Heaton talked about the experience. “I support the Shakespeare and Autism project, and I think the success of this program clearly shows us that the arts are very worth funding,” she said. “The arts are essential to our well-being — for our mental health, for our spiritual health, for our emotional health.” McClatchy and the theatre students continued to conduct workshops with children at the Nisonger Center this spring.
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go.osu.edu/shakespeare Researchers describe the initial results of the study so far and share hopes for the program’s future.
“There’s this ‘armor’ that they have. But over the course of an hourlong workshop with every child, you start to see the armor fall away. It’s amazing. This is what art is supposed to be — what it can do and should do.” {Kevin McClatchy}
In the workshops, facilitators lead children through a series of games based on the plot of The Tempest. Their aim is to improve the social and communication skills of children with autism spectrum disorder, using a signature approach of pairing the recitation of Shakespeare’s rhythmic language with physical gestures. outreach | 55
“It is unbelievably amazing as I watch students — who consider school to be extremely hard — work with Shakespeare’s text and understand it. They beg to do Shakespeare! How many times does a teacher get to hear that.” {Sandra Guinto, Ohio teacher and participant in the Ohio State/RSC Partnership}
Ohio schoolchildren perform Macbeth (above), just
Shakespeare in the Schools Through an unprecedented seven-year partnership, Ohio State and Great Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) brought Shakespeare to schoolchildren and their teachers across Ohio and supported international touring productions by the RSC to cities across the U.S. This collaboration has had a profound impact on the educational experiences of children in Ohio. The partnership between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Ohio State was administered through the Arts Initiative in the College of Arts and Sciences. The partnership involved university faculty, students and staff – including MFA acting students from the Department of Theatre. They were closely involved with the more than 100 Ohio K-12 schoolteachers who were trained in the RSC’s Stand Up for Shakespeare program, which focused on active teaching approaches drawn from RSC rehearsal rooms. In turn, the program affected more than 15,000 Ohio schoolchildren in classrooms and at Shakespeare festivals.
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one of the Shakespeare plays explored by nearly 200 young actors in grades 3-12 in a Stand Up for Shakespeare Festival. Because of these approaches, 71 percent of children in the program said “Shakespeare is not hard to understand.” Related studies showed a reversal in a longstanding trend of growing dissatisfaction with reading and a long-held assumption that Shakespeare was no longer relevant to young people. The Ohio State/RSC partnership brought four RSC Shakespeare performances geared to younger audiences to Ohio, touring to schools around the state and reaching thousands of schoolchildren, as well as bringing RSC directors to the Department of Theatre for guest residencies. The program was made possible by a lead gift from the Abigail and Les Wexner Family Foundation, with additional support from organizations and individuals in Ohio and New York.
Shakespeare and Soldiers The Department of Theatre is embarking on a new program to use Shakespeare to help military personnel, veterans and military family members find new ways to process, understand and give expression to their experiences as they navigate the transition from soldier to civilian. “Our goal is to build a safe and creative space where participants can find new ways of expressing themselves and develop new frames of reference for what they’ve experienced,” said Assistant Professor Kevin McClatchy. “Through a series of workshops, we will create invaluable opportunities for these individuals to explore their challenges and triumphs in a safe and playful atmosphere.” McClatchy explained that theatre’s nine Master of Fine Arts actors will conduct the workshops. One set will be for veterans and military personnel; another set will be for families and caregivers. The group is working closely with the Chalmers P. Wylie VA Center in Columbus; counselors from there will be on hand for all events. “Theatre is an amazing art form because anyone can relate to it, and it has meaning in the moment,” said Linnea Bond, an MFA acting student. “It’s incredibly powerful; you can’t be neutral or removed. So I’m excited to
use theatre activities with veterans because it can help walls come down and let people really relate to those around them.” “This outreach project will take full advantage of our students’ unique blend of training, talent and experiences to construct these original workshops to engage veterans,” McClatchy added. “Our acting students are genuinely breaking new ground in providing space and opportunity for these groups to be heard, to tell their stories and to witness the stories of others.” Workshop participants include three Vietnam veterans and 10 active duty and post-9/11 conflict veterans, along with families and caregivers. In addition to partnering with the VA Center, he said the theatre team is working with the Whetstone Community Center, where workshops will take place; the Ohio National Guard; Blue Star Mothers; and Ohio State’s student veterans organization, Vets4Vets. Workshops will take place throughout spring semester, and will result in a new piece of theatre devised by the MFA students based on the veterans’ experiences. “Ultimately, through the act of creative artistry, we aim to bridge the military-civilian divide,” said McClatchy.
“Shakespeare’s works are unique because he was obsessed with exploring and communicating what it feels like to be fully alive.” Theatre Assistant Professor Kevin McClatchy believes it is that obsession, expressed in brilliant language written in the rhythm of the heartbeat, that makes Shakespeare’s work timeless and able to help those facing challenges with communicating their own experiences of being alive. The heartbeat rhythm is familiar and physical and allows for opportunities in a visceral way to reconnect mind and body. McClatchy oversees the acting curriculum and directs both the Shakespeare and Autism program and the new Shakespeare endeavor with veterans.
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go.osu.edu/podcasts There are a number of podcasts produced across the college to listen to, from history to space and everything in between.
History Talk podcasts are published monthly on today’s pressing issues and topics. During a recent taping, PhD candidates Brenna Miller (left) and Jessica Blissit interviewed guests about the Dakota Access Pipeline and the history of Native American sovereignty rights.
Episodic Education Podcasts extend the classroom walls Through podcasts, departments across the College of Arts and Sciences are opening their research and scholarship to the public — for free. By producing media grounded in current events, looking toward the future while being mindful of the past, these departments transport an Ohio State education beyond campus to communities, classrooms and mobile devices around the world.
Anthropology is A Story of Us “A Story of Us not only covers interesting and relevant topics,” said graduate student Frances Sutton, “but allows us to share our field with anyone who has ever asked, ‘What do you do with a degree in anthropology?’” Sutton and fellow anthropology graduate student Mackie O’Hara launched A Story of Us podcast last fall. Sutton, O’Hara and a team of graduate students tackle timely themes, drawing on the four subfields of anthropology at Ohio State: cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, archaeology and linguistics. Season 1 began in September 2016. The twice-a-month podcast explored migration, past and present, from an anthropological point of view. Each episode featured conversations with graduate students and faculty in the department, who offered their own insights and analyses. Season 2, which runs through the spring, explores childhood mortality, growth and development, motherhood, pathologies and childhood in the archaeological record.
Ask a Spaceman! Want to know what the universe is made of? How to describe astronomy to the blind? How the sun gets spots? Astrophysicist Paul Sutter’s Ask a Spaceman! podcast answers all of these stellar questions and more in its biweekly episodes, which bring the mysteries of space down to Earth for nonscience kids (and adults). “Podcasts give an amazing venue to dig into topics without having to break for commercials or fit into a predetermined time slot,” said Sutter, cosmological research and community outreach coordinator for Ohio
State’s Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP) and chief science officer for COSI in downtown Columbus. “When someone asks me a question about how the universe works, I want to give them the answer that they deserve and the time needed for them to understand it,” said Sutter.
Exploring our Origins Every month, more than 65,000 people from every continent connect with the Department of History’s Origins, an online magazine of podcasts, articles, essays, book reviews and more that look at current events from a historical perspective. “History is more than just dates from the past,” said Nick Breyfogle, associate professor of history. “Ultimately, historians offer a special perspective that brings knowledge and insight from the past to help us understand our world today. History is a way to make sense of the real issues that are happening now.” Breyfogle launched Origins nearly a decade ago with Steven Conn, who now teaches at Miami University in Ohio; the two universities jointly produce the monthly materials. “Each month we publish articles or podcasts including a long-form article, written by a professor or graduate student, that examines a current issue,” he explained. Recent compositions included the “Dakota Access Pipeline,” “America and Free Trade,” “Media and Politics in the Age of Trump,” “Immigrants in Europe” and “Understanding Boko Haram.” The magazine also includes podcasts called “History Talk,” which can be streamed or downloaded from iTunes or accessed on NPR’s website.
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Connecting Farmers to Real-Time Weather
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“Climate change poses a major challenge to Ohio agriculture. Our goal is to connect Ohioans with weather and climate information necessary to improve lives.” {Bryan Mark} Longer growing seasons. More frequent and intense severe weather. Wetter summers. Longer droughts. False springs and milder winters. Who tracks what, and how do we get the information to the people who need it the most? The new State Climate Office of Ohio (SCOO), a team of researchers, educators, climatologists and meteorologists with more than 25 years of experience and expertise from Ohio State’s Department of Geography and the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center (BPCRC), now serves as the steward of climate data and education, research and outreach for the people of Ohio. “Having access to accurate climate information is critical for farmers, regional planners, policy makers and all sectors of Ohio’s economy,” said Bryan Mark, professor of geography and Ohio’s new state climatologist. “It directly impacts quality of life, health, food and water security.” In 2016, Mark started as Ohio’s state climatologist and immediately began assembling a team of weather and climate experts to help broaden his mission to connect Ohioans with transformative climate information. Though historically the state climatologist has been a volunteer position held by a member of the geography faculty, growing concerns about climate impact underscored the need for a more comprehensive effort to gather, prepare and disseminate information and engage the public in education and training. The new SCOO team includes Jim DeGrand, assistant state climatologist and senior researcher, Department of Geography; Jason Cervenec, education and outreach director, BPCRC; Aaron Wilson, senior research associate, BPCRC-OSU Extension; Andy Londo, assistant director, agriculture and natural resources, OSU Extension; Steve Quiring, professor of geography and atmospheric sciences; Wesley Haines, alumnus and meteorologist; and Jeff Rogers, professor emeritus of geography, and former Ohio state climatologist. “With this new office, we will greatly expand our agricultural weather outreach, enhance reporting of key data to individual farmers, planners and local officials, and mobilize resources on campus, across the state and within the region to address climate change in Ohio,” said Mark. According to Mark, a significant amount of meteorological and climatological data is available, but it is not tailored to the needs of public and private stakeholders nor is it available on an intuitive and applicable platform for farmers, resource managers and policy makers to utilize effectively. A new grant is about to change that.
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Geography Professor and State Climatologist Bryan Mark has set a course for the new State Climate Office of Ohio (SCOO) to become the leader in climate data stewardship and outreach to farmers, regional planners, policy makers and all sectors of Ohio’s economy. outreach | 61
In December, Mark was awarded $45,000 from OSU Extension, in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and Ohio State’s Office of Energy and Environment and Office of Outreach and Engagement to develop a web-based climate data portal and decision design tools, create a strong network of campus and statewide partners and a more reliable and accurate network of climate stations, and expand outreach to a larger agricultural audience.
“The partnership between OSU Extension and SCOO provides invaluable guidance to farmers,” said Ken Martin, associate director of programs and department chair of OSU Extension. “We coordinate drought and flood monitoring that directly impacts the agricultural cycle; we are working to develop a streamlined approach to collecting field soil conditions that will aid in the creation and dissemination of drought and precipitation information across Ohio.”
“This grant will lead to a multiplatform prototype tool consisting of the FARM (Fertilizer Application and Resource Monitor) mobile and web app and climate database,” Mark explained. “This tool will provide farmers with the real-time weather and climate information needed to assess and plan field applications, better comply with state regulations and reduce nutrient runoff to streams.”
What will be the impact of climate variability on our economy, food security, natural resources, energy infrastructure, health and well-being? What are the chances and potential manifestations of extreme floods and droughts? How can Ohioans build resilience to actual and future climate disruptions? The State Climate Office of Ohio, under Bryan Mark’s leadership, hopes to be a leader in climate data stewardship to ensure a healthy and growing agricultural community of Ohio.
SCOO’s continued vitality depends on the strength of its connections with diverse stakeholders across the state, including those in health, food and water security, emergency management and agriculture. They have already forged strong relationships that are yielding positive impacts. One such relationship is with OSU Extension, a statewide network with a presence in all 88 counties in Ohio that links communities, businesses and the general population to intensive research and development resources of Ohio State.
The new State Climate Office of Ohio team includes (pictured above l-r) Aaron Wilson, Jim DeGrand, Bryan Mark, Jason Cervenec and Wesley Haines. Team members interpret climate data that impact citizens and livelihoods in Ohio.
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The Legacy of Imperial Beijing A look at the Wiant Collection of Chinese Art
Over the winter, the Arts Initiative’s Urban Arts Space, Ohio State’s 10,000-square-foot gallery downtown, hosted the exhibition The Legacy of Imperial Beijing: Selections from the Bliss M. and Mildred A. Wiant Collection of Chinese Art. The show was organized by history of art faculty members Christina Burke Mathison and Julia F. Andrews. The exhibition included more than 100 objects from the extensive collection housed at the university, including embroidered silk, musical instruments, fan paintings and such curiosities as cricket cages and Chinese snuff bottles. “The Bliss M. and Mildred A. Wiant Collection of Chinese Art captures, as I believe the educators who collected it may have intended, aspects of the unparalleled technical and aesthetic sophistication of one of the world’s great civilizations for the enlightenment of future generations of students and scholars,” explained Andrews. In 1923, the Wiants moved from Ohio to Beijing, China, to serve as Methodist missionaries. They lived in China until 1951, teaching at Yenching University, where Bliss Wiant founded the music department. continued on pg. 64
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“It has been a tremendous opportunity to work in the galleries with students as they have a moment of realization of the significance of these pieces. The fact that these valuable pieces of art history are a part of the university is remarkable.” {Christina Burke Mathison}
The Arts Initiative’s Urban Arts Space in downtown Columbus kicked off 2017 with an exhibition of featured items from the Bliss M. and Mildred A. Wiant Collection of Chinese Art. Painting and calligraphy, seals, textiles, musical instruments and more provided a rare glimpse of an Ohio State treasure.
This was a period of tumultuous change, as China shifted away from the patterns of imperial rule toward modernization but also endured an intense period of civil strife. The fortunes of former officials and aristocrats declined, and their household antiques flooded into curio shops. Over the years, Bliss and Mildred Wiant acquired more than 600 Chinese objects, a diverse collection that reflects the legacy of imperial taste among the residents of the capital. "Gathered during the second quarter of the 20th century by two Ohioans, this collection is a unique resource among central Ohio institutional collections, offering Ohio State students the opportunity to see and study firsthand an array of exquisite objects, from paintings and calligraphy to textiles and musical instruments," said Andrews. The Wiants donated their collection to Ohio State in 1978, with the hope that these objects would share aspects of Chinese culture with the university community. The Urban Arts Space exhibition supported that goal by investigating how the collection reflects Chinese imperial culture as well as the transitions of early 20th-century China. Collectively these pieces draw together the refinement of Chinese emperors and the tastes of an American educator and missionary living in that time and place.
photo (top left) courtesy of Aubrey Elder, Arts Initiative, all other photos courtesy of Christina Burke Mathison
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Research & Scholarship Arts and Sciences faculty members perform at the highest levels in teaching, research and service — the three tenets of the great land-grant institutions. They engage in collaborative research, multidimensional scholarship and creative activity that drive discovery and innovation locally, nationally and worldwide. Their work is recognized and supported by major granting agencies.
Clark Spencer Larsen, distinguished professor of social and behavioral sciences and chair of the Department of Anthropology, was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences — recognizing distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Larsen’s primary work is the history of the human condition, viewed from the perspective of health, quality of life, adaptation and lifestyle during the last 10,000 years of human evolution. Julia F. Andrews, Distinguished University Professor and professor of history of art, joins an impressive list of scholars, artists and researchers from around the country as a Guggenheim Fellow — those who have a proven record of exceptional scholarship, innovative research and/ or creative ability. Andrews, a specialist in Chinese art, was one of the first American art historians to conduct research in China after formal reestablishment of U.S.-China relations in 1979. Lonnie Thompson, Distinguished University Professor and professor in the School of Earth Sciences, is co-creator of the new Third Pole Environment (TPE) Program office at Ohio State, the only one in the Western Hemisphere. The office will focus on studying ice repositories on the Tibetan Plateau, which is often referred to as the “third pole” (in addition to the North and South Poles). There are only two other offices in Nepal and Beijing. Andrew Leber, assistant professor of psychology, received a $499,888 award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to investigate the role of three factors that may influence how attention is controlled: performance maximization (the drive to achieve a goal as quickly as possible), effort minimization (avoiding tasks that are cognitively taxing) and novelty-seeking (exploring new stimuli in the environment). His work may have important implications for screening and training employees in professions that depend heavily on attention control. John Grinstead, associate professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, received a $349,474 NSF grant to examine development of sentence meaning in Spanish-speaking children. Grinstead’s project team is comprised of faculty, clinicians, graduate students and undergraduate students at Ohio State and in Mexico City. Isaac Weiner, associate professor of comparative studies and associate director of Ohio State’s Center for the Study of Religion, is co-director of the American Religious Sounds Project, a collaborative, multidisciplinary
project of Ohio State and Michigan State University, funded by a two-year, $200,000 grant to Ohio State from the Henry Luce Foundation. Rachael Frush Holt, associate professor of speech and hearing science, was awarded a $2.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She will team with experts from Indiana University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital to examine communication development in children fitted with cochlear implants and hearing aids. Holt’s work is among the first to formally examine the powerful influence that family environment has on the outcomes of these children. Matthew Kahle, associate professor of mathematics, is principal investigator on a new five-year, $1.72 million Research Training Group grant from the NSF’s Division of Mathematical Sciences. The team is expanding possibilities for an interdisciplinary Ohio State working group in algebraic topology, applied topology and related fields that have a number of surprising applications — most notably, providing powerful new methods for detecting and describing shape and structure in complex and high-dimensional data. Vladimir Sloutsky, professor of psychology, is principal investigator on a new NIH project awarded $5.8 million to advance our understanding of the developmental, neural, evolutionary and cognitive mechanisms of categorization, a critically important human intellectual ability. Categorization is crucial for humans’ ability to learn abstract concepts in many domains, including mathematics, science, ethics and law. David Nagib, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, received a five-year, $1.7 million NIH MIRA (Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award) Outstanding Investigator Award, which funds work on synthesizing medicinal candidates via a new strategy called Chaperones for Radical Relays: Enabling Directed C-H Functionalizations. Andreá Williams, associate professor, English, was named a 2017 ACLS Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellow. She will pursue her project on single women and 20th century Black culture, while in residence for the next academic year at the National Humanities Center in North Carolina. Williams’ work examines how marital status impacts crucial matters of everyday experience, including how one imagines home, work, sex and the future. The nationally competitive Burkhardt Fellowships are made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. continued on pg. 66
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Research & Scholarship continued from pg. 65
Sanjeevi Krishnan, assistant professor of mathematics, received a threeyear, $509,998 grant from the Air Force Office of Science Research for work in algebraic topology to develop promising collaborative connections between topology, logic and dynamics. Krishnan’s goal is to refine qualitative behavior of today’s complex systems — think massively parallel computers.
“We need to educate on all levels, and I plan on using astronomy as a gateway science to lifelong learning.” {Michael Stamatikos}
From NASA to Newark Michael Stamatikos, assistant professor of physics at Ohio State’s Newark campus, is a member of NASA’s Swift satellite mission science team. Recently, NASA ranked the Swift mission number one in terms of science output among similar-class ongoing missions. The Swift satellite, launched in 2004, is the first multiwavelength observatory dedicated to the study of gamma-ray bursts — distant and powerful explosions that are likely the beginnings of new black holes. In his role as a Swift team member, Stamatikos works one or two weeks a month as the “scientist on duty” to report any activity that Swift picks up. Stamatikos joined Ohio State in 2009 after serving as a NASA postdoctoral fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center. At Newark, undergraduate students conduct research with Stamatikos using NASA data from the Swift mission. Middle-school students also benefit from his experience and expertise during workshops conducted by Stamatikos at The Works, a history, art and technology center in Newark. “I really get a kick out of helping others see the beauty of nature and our everlasting struggle to understand phenomena ranging from subatomic processes all the way up through and including the entire cosmos,” Stamatikos said. “The look of genuine understanding that flashes in a student’s eyes and the eureka moment of scientific discovery both get me euphoric.” Stamatikos says that Ohio State’s Newark campus provides him with a perfect environment for research, teaching and learning. “It offers an ideal venue that affords the ability to teach in a small, liberal arts college setting that’s nested within a tier-1 research university system, which I consider to be the best of both worlds,” Stamatikos said. “I like the fact that I’m able to do what I love: learn about the universe and teach what I’ve learned to others.”
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Dongping Zhong, the Robert Smith Professor of Physics and professor of chemistry and biochemistry, received a five-year, $2.1 million NIH MIRA award. Zhong’s research has important implications for drug transport and design, protein folding and unfolding, and enzyme catalysis. His research is critical to understanding the nature of elementary processes in biological systems, relating dynamics and structures to functions at the most fundamental level. Eric Healy, professor of speech and hearing science, was awarded a $1.9 million NIH grant to study the primary complaint of people with hearing loss — limited speech understanding in background noise. The current award adds to an existing $1.8 million collaborative NIH award with Ohio State’s College of Engineering. Healy’s team also will partner with industry to implement their noise-reduction technology into the leading bionic-hearing prosthetic. Adam Leroy, assistant professor of astronomy, and his students will get the best look yet at how stars are born in galaxies’ “stellar nurseries,” thanks to a new five-year, $582,635 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. The award provides five years of financial support to jump-start the careers of the nation’s exceptional junior faculty, plus funding for outreach to help grow new generations of scientists, many from underrepresented minorities. Abraham K. Badu-Tawiah, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, received an Early Career Award from the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. His five-year grant of $150,000 per year will support his research on using light from the sun to make chemical compounds for fuels. Marcos Sotomayor, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, received a five-year, $1.6 million Research Project (R01) grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders at the NIH to support his research focusing on the molecular mechanics of inner-ear tip link proteins essential for hearing and balance. A new five-year, $2.4 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation will allow Ohio State’s existing All-Sky Automated Search for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) project, led by astronomy professors Kris Stanek, Christopher Kochanek and Todd Thompson, to add two new observatories, doubling the total number of ASAS-SN telescopes to 16. Astronomers will observe the entire visible sky every night, providing realtime public alerts of new astronomical transients. The 2017 Battelle Engineering, Technology and Human Affairs (BETHA) Endowment annual grant competition selected four Arts and Sciences faculty for awards: Marie-Catherine de Marneffe, assistant professor of linguistics, for “Assessing Trustworthiness in Social Media”; Allison Bean Ellawadi, assistant professor of speech and hearing science, for “Using Technology to Support Communication: Training Parent and Teacher Buy-in”; Maria Miriti, associate professor of evolution, ecology and organismal biology, for “Community Gardens as Tools to Promote Science Education”; and Derek Sawyer, assistant professor of Earth sciences, for “Shake the Shoe: Connecting Earthquake Science and Football with the Best Fans in the Land.”
An arts and sciences education nurtures objective reasoning, clear and persuasive communication, examination of problems from diverse perspectives, technical expertise, practical skills and an appreciation of team effort. Such a broad education and training prepares one for lifelong learning, a key to innovation and a fulfilling path to design resourceful and sustainable solutions for complex global problems. {Venkat Gopalan, professor of biochemistry}
Biochemistry Professor Venkat Gopalan is a past recipient of the College of Arts and Science’s Harlan Hatcher Award, which recognizes faculty whose ongoing, exceptional research and dedication to teaching and outreach is an exemplary model for both colleagues and students. His team also earned a Frontiers in Life Sciences Research Grant to adapt courses delivered via nontraditional teaching and learning formats to enhance access to postsecondary education.
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#BuckeyeLove On Valentine’s Day, alumni, students and friends showed their #BuckeyeLove through Ohio State’s first-ever Day of Giving. The College of Arts and Sciences raised $257,656 from 603 donors — more dollars and donors than any other academic unit on campus — for student support across the college and for scholarships for members of The Ohio State University Marching Band. Show your #BuckeyeLove with a gift to the College of Arts and Sciences at asc.osu.edu/giving.