Week highlights work of OSU
Week highlights work of OSU

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By Stephen W.S. McKeever

Published: February 17, 2008

Starting Monday, Oklahoma State University will celebrate the work of its student and faculty scholars through "Research Week,” an annual event featuring distinguished speakers, student art competitions, a research symposium and more events designed to highlight the outstanding work of OSU's scholars.

Never has research and scholarly pursuit into technical and social issues been as important to our way of life as it is now. As we become more global, more industrial and more overcrowded; as environmental, financial, political and cultural issues engage us in more complex ways with our international neighbors, we seem to be faced continually with problems of ever-increasing complexity. Such problems are unlikely to be solved by relying only on our experience from the past, or keeping ourselves isolated from one another. They require new solutions, using new technologies and insight and knowledge gained from ever more penetrating and determined scholarly examination. In all these areas, OSU finds itself engaged in the pursuit of new knowledge and understanding.

Addressing the energy crisis is one example. The alternative fuels industry continues to be the primary focus of the Division of Agriculture's Biofuels Teams. Their efforts were recently highlighted nationally through the announcement of a partnership between Coskata and General Motors to bring the next generation of ethanol fuels to the automobile marketplace. Coskata has licensed the OSU-OU microorganisms used in converting biomass to ethanol through a patented gasification-fermentation process.

Our aging population is the focus of a team of researchers from the College of Human Environmental Sciences. The team is investigating ways to improve older rural Oklahomans' access to available nutrition and health resources and use of assistive technology devices to improve activities such as shopping, cooking and eating.

The Center for Health Sciences' Center for Applied and Integrative Neuroscience provides a comprehensive facility for neuroscience research and health care. Project areas include epilepsy, neuropsychiatric disorders, substance abuse, chronic pain, neurotoxicology, neurodegenerative disease and traumatic brain injury.

The College of Education is committed to continually improving teacher quality in Oklahoma. Teams will participate in summer workshops and online learning to enhance their knowledge and teaching skills, enabling them to engage students in authentic, multidisciplinary problems.

Development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is under way in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. UAVs have applications ranging from the military to homeland security. Current projects include work on plasma micro-thrusters without moving parts for use in nano air vehicles.

The Center for Veterinary Health Sciences is capitalizing on its historic strengths in parasitology through the development of a National Center for Veterinary Parasitology. The center will meet national diagnostic, consulting and training needs in this important area of animal (and human) health.

These projects represent examples of how Oklahoma research universities are tackling complex problems of critical importance to the way of life of today's Oklahomans. You can read about more OSU research pursuits in the 2008 Vanguard magazine, and I invite you to experience other OSU research and scholarly quests during Research Week.

•http://researchweek.okstate.edu

McKeever is vice president for research and technology transfer at Oklahoma State University.

Never has research and scholarly pursuit into technical and social issues been as important to our way of life as it is now.

Related Topics: Social Issues, Veterinary Medicine