We are happy to announce an NSF funded workshop on the Challenges in Vertical Farming,

Sep 26, 2012 at the  University of Maryland Conference Center.    Here is some motivation:

——-

By the year 2050, we expect human population to increase to 9 billion and to be

further concentrated in urban centers. An estimated billion hectares of new land

will be needed to grow enough food to feed the earth. At present, however, over

80% of the land suitable for raising crops is already in use. Further, if trends in

climate change persist, the amount of land available for farming will decrease.

Since crops consume 87% of all water used globally, an increase in water usage

is not possible. Finally, while the need is for 50% higher yield by the year 2050

to maintain the status quo, we expect agricultural productivity to decline significantly

across the world, especially in densely populated areas. There is an urgent need for

high-yield agriculture that decreases the use of water and carbon based inputs per

unit of product, while simultaneously reducing vulnerability of crops to natural

environmental conditions. Vertical Farming (using controlled environments for

urban agriculture) will reduce transportation energy required from the distant

outdoor farms. Recent implementations have shown high yields in the production

of vegetables in controlled environments. Water usage has been significantly

reduced compared to traditional outdoor farming, and crops are shielded from

adverse climate, and, from pests and diseases. In addition, Vertical Farming has

the potential to provide fresher and healthier produce to the local consumer.

Since no one community or technology holds the magic key, the opportunity for

is to collectively enumerate and prioritize the challenges that must be addressed to

bring high yield, resource efficient agriculture to fruition.  The greatest contribution

from this workshop could be a roadmap for governmental agencies and researchers

to follow as they weigh their priorities in the coming years.  Obviously the needs will

vary depending on the locale addressed– we expect that the needs for developing

countries will be different than those that are less resource constrained.

The goal of our workshop is to capture the state of the art in agriculture in controlled

environments, to define a research agenda for the future and to establish a working

group at the nexus of Agriculture, Engineering, Economics and Architecture. The

output of the workshop will be a report that could serve as the basis of research agenda

by agencies such as the NSF, USDA and USAID.

——

We have assembled a group of experts from around the world to address various aspects — horticulture,

lighting, irrigation, automation, architecture, economics and outreach–  of vertical farming.  More

information including the list of speakers, registration for attendance (in person or via live webcast) is

available  at:

http://challengesinverticalfarming.org

Please feel free to forward this notice to those interested in participating in the workshop.

Organizers:

1.                    SANJIV SINGH (CARNEGIE MELLON)

2.                    DICKSON DESPOMMIER (COLUMBIA)

3.                    GENE GIACOMELLI (UNIV OF ARIZONA)

4.                    MARC VAN IERSEL (UNIV OF GEORGIA)

5.                    JOEY NORIKANE (FRAUNHOFER)

6.                    GEORGE KANTOR (CARNEGIE MELLON)

7.                    NIKOLAUS CORRELL (UNIV OF COLORADO)

8.                    MICHAEL HOADLEY

The Coalition of Graduate Employees union (CGE) has negotiated changes to their collective bargaining agreement for 2012-16.   It is expected that CGE members will vote to ratified the contract; however, the final vote will not take place until sometime in September 2012, which is after payroll runs.  The University has entered into an agreement with CGE to move forward with fee remission and minimum salary levels, as retroactive increases are very difficult to administer.

OSU will remit a flat amount of $430 towards student fees.  This is in addition to their tuition remission.    This extra $430 will be charged to the dept. as part of the IGF Grad Fee Remission deduction.   If this is the first term for the grad student, in addition to the $430, OSU will remit their matriculation fee of $300and in addition for a Non Resident Alien,  they would also qualify for the International Orientation fee of $50.

Because not every graduate employee qualifies for these latter two fee remittances,  they will run on a new, separate deduction code, IGM, Grad Matric/NRA Fee Remissions.   This remittance will occur towards the end of the term but as it is brand new with Fall term,  we are still working on the timing.

To offset the cost of the tuition remission, CGE agreed to rescind the quarterly payment of $300 for eligible graduate appointments during the academic year  The earn code GDR  is ended effective immediately.   Thus you will see perhaps a reduction in payroll charged but an increase in OPE.  Please share with your finance staff as well.

Thank-you

Steve Nash | Payroll Manager | Oregon State University

Corvallis, OR 97339-1086 | Phone: 541-737-9491 | Fax: 541-737-9490

Universities nationally have seen positive outcomes in student learning and success through the use of hybrid courses.  A hybrid course by definition includes both regularly scheduled, on-site classroom meetings and significant online components that replace at least 40% of regularly scheduled class meeting time.  This RFP is designed to explore the use of hybrid course structure to more fully meet the educational learning outcomes for both undergraduates and graduate students in 4XX/5XX courses.

The Graduate School is offering compensation and course development support to OSU faculty for the redesign of established classroom4xx/5xx-level “slash” courses into hybrid courses.  Faculty participants will receive $3000 paid either as overload pay or professional development funding, will participate in a faculty learning community–facilitated by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL)–on effective practices in hybrid course design, and will receive individual support from the CTL instructional designer as well as the Ecampus Program Development and Training Team.  Details are provided below.
The new hybrid courses will serve on-site students, and they will adhere to the regular on-site (not Ecampus) tuition structure.  It is anticipated that the new hybrid sections will replace the existing fully classroom-based section (for example, the new hybrid CH 427/527 would replace the existing classroom-based CH 427/527).  Participation is limited to 6 faculty participants for the Winter 2013 term.

Graduate faculty approved to teach graduate courses and who have taught at least 2 years at OSU are eligible to participate.  Faculty should submit hybrid course development proposals with a supporting message from the respective academic unit head.

Funding

The Graduate School will allocate $3000 per course to each participating faculty member who develops a hybrid course, paid either as overload pay or as professional development funds and as allowed by university policy.  Overload pay will be subject to taxes and withholding.  If multiple instructors work as a team to develop the hybrid course, the $3,000 stipend will be equally split among them.

These funds are in support of:

1 – Participation in the CTL faculty learning community focused on hybrid course development, approximately a 30-hour commitment.  This group will have a blend of online activities and approximately five, two-hour face-to-face meetings on the Corvallis campus during the Winter 2013 term.

AND

2 – Providing course content and working with the CTL instructional designer and members of the Ecampus Program Development and Training Team to redesign and produce a new hybrid course.

The CTL, in collaboration with Ecampus, will provide basic course development and production support (instructional design and best practices, including accessibility and copyright; project management; media development; Blackboard course development, training, and on-going support). Training and support is available for all participants in Blackboard, multimedia, pedagogy for hybrid courses, and video production.  Resources in Technology Across the Curriculum and Media Services will also be available to support the technology in the classroom component of hybrid courses.

Please note this program is explicitly for faculty who would like to redesign an existing classroom course as a hybrid during Winter 2013, not faculty who already intend to teach the course as a hybrid during Winter 2013.

Timeline

An initial meeting between the instructor and the instructional designer will occur in December, followed by hybrid course development—including participation in faculty learning community—during the Winter 2013 term. The hybrid course must be offered for the first time by Winter 2014.

Requirements

Instructor must fully participate in the “Hybrid Course Development” faculty learning community, including completion of all online activities and attendance at all scheduled face-to-face meetings.  The meetings will be on Tuesdays from 2:00 to 3:50 pm in Milam 215 on Jan. 15 and 29, Feb. 12 and 26, and March 12.

Online portions of each hybrid course will be designed and delivered through the Blackboard course management system.  Multimedia components may be included in course design as needed to meet specified learning objectives.

Instructors will work with the CTL instructional designer to redesign the hybrid course according to best practices in blended learning and OSU accreditation standards.

• Course can be readily redesigned for hybrid delivery without excessive development cost.
• Academic unit accepts responsibility for the curriculum and quality of instruction.
• Hybrid course will be offered at least once per year.
• Hybrid course will be available to all OSU students who meet prerequisites.
• Separate learning outcomes must be clearly stated for undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in the course.
• Instructor must demonstrate basic skills in computer use.
• For syllabus and online components of the hybrid course, instructor will follow OSU course quality standards as described in

o   Ecampus Course Quality Standards  –Sections 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0

o   “Best Practices in Designing a Course” (see particularly 0.2, 0.2.1 and 0.2.2 under Course Planning and Design)

o   OSU Curricular Policies and Procedures

and other research-based best practices for blended and online courses such as those of the 2011-2013 Quality Matters Rubric Standards.

• Any online content requiring Ecampus staff development time for graphics, animation or multimedia work must be delivered to Ecampus staff at least 6 weeks in advance of the term in which the course will be offered. Faculty should consult with Ecampus as soon as possible about any multimedia development to allow sufficient production time.

New hybrid courses must include both regularly scheduled, on-site classroom meetings for both undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in the class and significant online components that replace at least 40% of regularly scheduled class meeting time for students.  So, for example, hybrid delivery of a 3-credit course that normally meets for two 80-minute periods each week might involve meeting face-to-face for one undergraduate weekly meeting and one graduate student weekly meeting each blended with online activities, assignments and assessments that require student engagement at a level equivalent to a full 3-credit course for each cohort.

Proposal Guidelines

Applicants are asked to submit a narrative proposal of 2 to 3 pages, which includes the following information in this order:

1.     Course designator, title and credits.

2.     Instructor’s contact information and rank.

3.     Degree, program(s), or certificate to which this course would apply and the role/importance of this course to the program(s); and/or description of audience or express need for this course.

4.     Is there currently a fully online (Ecampus) version of the course?

5.     Typical enrollment in each section of the course, and total number of sections of the course offered per year.

6.     Proposed terms to be taught as a hybrid course.

7.     Instructor’s experience with Blackboard and online technologies.  Both instructors without online teaching experience and veteran online instructors are encouraged to apply.

8.     Instructor’s (or department chair’s) rationale for converting this specific course to hybrid delivery.

9.     One paragraph of preliminary ideas for course design, learning materials and online resources upon which the course will be based.

10.  One paragraph describing why instructor is interested in participation in this program.

11.  Indication of academic unit’s approval for hybrid course development and ongoing offerings of hybrid course.  This approval can be by separate email from head of academic unit.

12.  Attach a current course syllabus to the proposal.

To Find Out More about Hybrid Courses and This Program

The Center for Teaching and Learning will offer an hour-long workshop about the hybrid pilot program–including tips for successful proposal preparation–and effective practices for hybrid course design on Thu., Oct. 11, 1:00 pm, in Milam 215.  To register, go tohttp://calendar.oregonstate.edu/event/71815/.   Additionally, the CTL has many resources about hybrid teaching and learning athttp://oregonstate.edu/ctl/hybrid-course-initiative.

Submission of Proposals

Submit proposals for the hybrid course development pilot program by email by Friday, Oct. 19, to:

Cub Kahn, Instructional Designer

Center for Teaching and Learning

323 Waldo Hall

Cub.Kahn@oregonstate.edu

Announcement of Award

Decisions will be announced by Nov. 5, 2012.

Upon acceptance, an MOU will be drawn up with the academic unit for course production, use of course and materials, control and credit, distribution of supporting funds, and course delivery.  Funds will be sent to the academic unit by budget transfer upon satisfactory completion of hybrid course development and all program requirements.

Please address questions to Cub.Kahn@oregonstate.edu or call 7-2803.

Funding Opportunity

Sponsor:         Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Grand Challenges Explorations, Round 10

Amount:         Up to $100,000

Deadline:        Applications accepted until November 7, 2012 at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will accept grant proposals until November 7, 2012 for Grand Challenges Explorations Round 10, an initiative to encourage bold and innovative research on new global health solutions.

The topics for this round of the Grand Challenges Explorations in Global Health are:

• New Approaches in Model Systems, Diagnostics, and Drugs for Specific Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Labor Saving Innovations for Women Smallholder Farmers
• New Approaches for the Interrogation of Anti-malarial Compounds
• Aid is Working. Tell the World (Part 2)

Successful projects have the opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to $1 million.

The Grand Challenges Explorations initiative uses an agile, accelerated grant-making process with short two-page applications and no preliminary data required. Applications are submitted online, and winning grants are chosen approximately five months from the submission deadline.

The grant program is open to anyone from any discipline, from student to tenured professor, and from any organization – colleges and universities, government laboratories, research institutions, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies.

Following are some tips provided by the Gates Foundation for grant seekers wishing to submit proposals:

• Proposals must represent an innovative approach responsive to the topic.  There are other avenues of funding for the equally important research that is within currently accepted paradigms.  Such work will not be funded under Grand Challenges Explorations.

• Proposals will be reviewed by a panel with broad expertise and a track record in identifying innovations – these reviewers may not be deep domain experts in your field.  Ideas should be described in clear language without the use of jargon unique to a particular field.

• Proof-of-concept for ideas need not be completed in Phase I. However, credible evidence supporting the validity of an idea, sufficient proof to warrant expanded support, and next steps for the project should be provided.

• Grant seekers must select only one of the topics under which to submit and may submit only one proposal. Submit your best idea. You may submit multiple ideas in partnership with collaborators, but an individual PI may lead the submission of only one proposal each round of Grand Challenges.

• You must select a topic prior to submitting a proposal. View the detailed topic descriptions and determine which topic best suits your idea. You may change your topic and edit your proposal any time before the application deadline.

A full description of the Grand Challenges Explorations initiative and application instructions is available at:

http://www.grandchallenges.org/Explorations/Pages/ApplicationInstructions.aspx.

If you have questions, contact Martha Coleman, Director of Principal Gifts for Foundation Relations at OSU Foundation by phone at 541-737-6961 or via email at Martha.coleman@oregonstate.edu.

2012 LPS

The 2012 Pauling Symposium & Banquet will be held on Saturday, October 6, 2012 on the campus of The University of Washington. The 2012 Medalist is Professor Robert J. Cava, Russell Wellman Moore Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University.

There is no charge or need to RSVP for the symposium. Attached is a flyer which contains contact information for the banquet ($).

Link to the event website: http://depts.washington.edu/chem/newsevents/pauling2012.html

While I will be addressing Professor Cava on Friday evening, I am unable to attend the symposium and banquet on Saturday.  Please reply (not to all) if you are interested in having me book a van and recruit a driver.

2012 Pauling Symposium and Banquet

The 47th Annual Pauling Medal Award

Saturday, October 6, 2012

University of Washington

Seattle, Washington

Symposium

1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Mary Gates Hall 389, Auditorium

1:00 pm – Welcoming Remarks

1:15 pm – Ram Seshadri, Professor, Materials Department, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara

“Solid state chemistry and reactivity of noble metal oxides: Pauling electronegativities and gold chemistry”

2:05 pm –Mas Subramanian, Milton Harris Professor of Material Science, Department of Chemistry, Oregon State University

“Beyond the Nature of the Chemical Bond: How close are we to ‘Functional Materials by Design’?”

2:50 pm – Break

3:20 pm – Susan Kauzlarich, Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Davis

“Adding 3+ rare earths to transition metal Zintl phases and their resulting magnetic and thermoelectric properties”

4:05 pm – Introduction of Roberrt J. Cava

4:10 pm –Robert J. Cava, 2012 Pauling Award Winner, Russell Wellman Moore Professor of Chemistry, Princeton University

“A Molecule in a Metal – Dimer Formation in _ThCr2Si2-type Pnictides”

Determining how crystal structure and chemical bonding influence the properties of solids is at the heart of collaborative research programs between solid state chemists and materials physicists. In some important electronic materials – the high temperature copper oxide superconductors and “colossal magnetoresistance” manganese oxides for example – stoichiometry, structure, bonding, and properties are coupled to yield an almost baffling complexity of chemistry-physics relationships, while in others, such as many classical intermetallic superconductors, bonding and structure play a much less profound role. In this talk I will describe some of our recent work on superconductor-related ThCr2Si2-type solid solution phases as examples of the kinds of insights that structural and chemical studies can contribute to understanding the electronic properties of materials.

5:00 pm – Final Remarks

Public Reception following the Symposium

Mary Gates 135, Commons

Banquet and Medal Presentation

Reservations/Tickets Required

6:30 pm to 9:30 pm

Kane Hall 225, Walker-Ames Room

Symposium Chair:

Professor Jim Mayer, University of Washington

For more information, contact:

Diana Knight

206-543-1611

knight@chem.washington.edu

Hello everyone – Please join me in congratulating Carlos Monzano, graduate student in Dr. Staci Simonich’s laboratory for being recognized by NIEHS on the SRP webpage for receiving the highly prestigious 2012 Student Paper Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS), which he presented during the 244th ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia.  Carlos received the award for his research developing different gas chromatography (GC) techniques to  separate and identify mixtures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).  The announcement is located on the SRP homepage (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/srp/index.cfm) and the rest of the story is on the news page (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/srp/news/index.cfm).

Congratulations to Carlos and Staci!

Last month’s article focused on marinomycin, a cyclic polyketal with rather obvious symmetry – and the synthetic strategy hinged on that feature. However, symmetry in natural products isn’t always so apparent and it is uncovering such ‘hidden symmetry’ that forms the core of this month’s column.

Again, we’re plunging into the marine depths to find natural products with prodigious biological activity. The amphidinolide family comprises over 30 members, varying in architecture but (almost) all featuring a complex and highly decorated macrolactone ring at the core. Amphidinolide F was first isolated in 1991, but as yet remains unconquered territory in synthetic laboratories.^1,2However, new ground has been broken by a pair of chemists from Oregon State University, US, led by Rich Carter.³ Their key insight was that hidden symmetry exists in the complex tetrahydrofuran (THF) regions. Although these two regions are not identical, the team considered that enough chemistry was in common that a mutual precursor might be used.

Read More…