OSU Graduate School hosted the first annual University-wide “Scholars’ Insight” event, a graduate student competition to communicate impact. OSU Graduate students had the opportunity to present a three minute “impact” of their scholarly works, to a non-specialist audience at OSU and the Corvallis community.

OSU SRP Trainee Andy Larkin was the second place winner in the April 2013 Scholar’s Insight competition. Andy is a graduate student in both toxicology and statistics.  His major professors are Dr. David Williams and Dr. William Baird with Project 1Andy shared what he has learned about communicating science to the public in a blog post of the Linus Pauling Institute.

Below is the video of his three-minute presentation at the competition. Congratulations to Andy!

As part of our focus on PAHs, we sampled the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in air and water in the Gulf of Mexico related to the oil spill. The level of PAHs in crude oil varies between 0.2 and 7%, depending on location. Although this seems like a small percent, PAHs are a significant toxicological health concern.

Sampling was accomplished by the research staff of Project 4 using passive sampling devices (PSDs).

The Community Engagement Core (CEC) collaborated with the EHSC COEC to create PAH-related environmental health education that applies to the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill research of Project 4.

See the Gulf of Mexico Spill Main Page for videos, resources, and more details about the research using passive sampling devices.
OSU Deepwater Horizon Spill Research
Initial research crew in 2010 after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
Pictured left to right: Kevin Hobbie, Dr. Kim Anderson,
Sarah Allan, Lane Tidwell