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Devoted Buckeyes fan is taking his team spirit for a unique ride

March 31, 2010

By Julia Harris

Any casual Buckeyes fan can slap a decal or two on the back bumper of the family car. It’s not even that unusual to see scarlet and gray buses or vans in parking lots around campus during football season. Continue reading ‘Devoted Buckeyes fan is taking his team spirit for a unique ride’

Biomedical technology: A dream surpassed

March 31, 2010

It has been seven years since the first grants were awarded under Ohio’s Third Frontier program. It is not too early to ask if Ohio bond dollars have paid for innovation and economic progress, as is evident in the growth of Ohio’s biomedical imaging industry.

Two of those early grants totaling $17.1 million went to Ohio State University’s Wright Center of Innovation in Biomedical Imaging (WCI-BMI). Today, the project has paid off the investment many times over, advanced biomedical technology significantly, expanded medical services into new areas and created a platform for economic success on a global scale. In truth, it has evolved beyond the earliest dreams of principal researcher Dr. Michael Knopp and his partners. Continue reading ‘Biomedical technology: A dream surpassed’

Ohio’s niche in hybrids

March 31, 2010

“Houston, we have . . . a solution.”

Can a project funded by Ohio’s Third Frontier program steal a line from the Apollo 13 mission and actually make that claim?

In the city of Houston, where summers are torrid, some 2,500 transit buses idle for an hour each day before they hit the streets while the air conditioning lowers the inside temperature. That’s 2,500 gallons of fuel a day up in smoke. No one suggests that Houston passengers should suffer in a hot bus. But engineers at Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research (CAR) and Vanner, Inc. are sure they can eliminate the diesel emissions and save Houston millions of dollars a year while keeping passengers cool. Continue reading ‘Ohio’s niche in hybrids’

Dandelions: A growth industry in Ohio

March 31, 2010

Dandelions as a cash crop? It sounds like a bad joke. But certain dandelions grown on a commercial basis could provide Ohio farmers with a new source of income and Ohio manufacturers with a home-grown raw material.

The dandelion in question is Taraxacum kok-saghyz, known as the Russian dandelion, a native of Kazakhstan. Its roots are the source of high-grade latex, comparable to that of Malaysian rubber trees, America’s main source of natural rubber.

Natural rubber is so important in the manufacture of tires, especially big ones that take a lot of stress, like those on airplanes and tractors, that it is considered a strategic material. But the supply of Malaysian rubber has been declining.

According to Bill Ravlin, associate director of The Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural and Research Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster, and Bryan Kinnamon, retired project manager for alternative rubber crops at Goodyear, this convergence of factors creates a great opportunity for Ohio. Thanks in part to $3 million in funding from Ohio’s Third Frontier program, they are engaged in an industry/academic partnership to turn the humble Russian dandelion into a commercially viable product. Continue reading ‘Dandelions: A growth industry in Ohio’

Ohio’s wireless future

March 31, 2010

When it comes to electronic gadgetry, we live in a whirlwind of change. Every year brings products that are smarter, faster, smaller and more powerful. And wireless. Don’t forget wireless.

Randy Moses, professor of electrical and computer engineering and interim associate dean for research in Ohio State’s College of Engineering, says, “My kids are 18. When they were two, I had a camcorder the size of a suitcase; now people use their iPhones. We used to have cassette tapes; now videos are stored on chips the size of your thumbnail.”

Moses thinks about wireless and the fast pace of change every day. He is Ohio State’s principal researcher for the Third Frontier-funded Institute for the Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST). Led by the University of Dayton, with partners including Boeing, General Dynamics and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, IDCAST’s purpose is to serve as a sort of pace car in the race to the future of electronics. Continue reading ‘Ohio’s wireless future’

About State Issue 1

March 31, 2010

Facts and figures about State Issue 1:

• State Issue 1 (Third Frontier) - Will extend Ohio’s plan to promote product innovation and development to enhance job growth.
• Election Day: May 4
• Has led to the creation of more than 48,000 jobs in Ohio.
• Ohio State’s work on 60 separate projects has resulted in partnerships with more than 200 businesses across the state, the launching or attracting of 26 companies, and the filing of 125 patents.
• The Ohio legislature approved the ballot initiative with strong bipartisan support.
• Endorsed by the Ohio State University Board of Trustees and a statewide coalition of business, labor and agricultural organizations.

Major Ohio newspapers endorse State Issue 1

March 31, 2010

As early voting began this week for Ohio’s May 4 election, three major Ohio newspapers have come out with strong editorials supporting Issue 1.

Issue 1 renews funding for the Third Frontier, a program that fosters technology-based research and development and the creation of new jobs.

At Ohio State, President Gordon Gee is the program’s champion-in-chief.  ”As a program matching areas of expertise with areas of need, Third Frontier very firmly connects the bat with the ball,” Gee said. “The result is a home run, for our students and faculty conducting the research, for our business partners and investors, and for the thousands of Ohioans whose jobs have been created thanks to Third Frontier.”

Referring to the “culture of innovation necessary for Ohio to compete globally, Cleveland’s Plain Dealer wrote, “(T)he Third Frontier has consistently won applause from business, labor, academic and political leaders across geographic, party and ideological lines. And for a very good reason: It works.”

The Columbus Dispatch points out, “Because of the state’s excellent record in administering such programs, these bonds will not affect the state’s credit rating and will not raise taxes …  Voters’ approval of Issue 1 will send a strong signal to potential investors in these projects that Ohio is a place that welcomes and nourishes innovation.”

And from the Cincinnati Enquirer: “This isn’t about the old model of luring firms from other states with incentives and merely shifting jobs around. It’s about developing new technologies, industries and opportunities … this is about making the economic pie bigger.”

The Ohio State University’s Board of Trustees also has weighed in, endorsing a resolution supporting passage of Issue 1. Ohio State has received $220 million in Third Frontier Awards to date. Since 2002, the Third Frontier has invested $681 million in technology-based research and development and the creation of new businesses and jobs. It has attracted more than $3.2 billion in additional investments from public and private sources. Statewide, the Third Frontier has been responsible for 571 new companies, for the expansion of many existing companies and more than 48,000 new jobs in Ohio.

State Issue 1 renews the Third Frontier Program through 2016.

Laid to rest

March 17, 2010

After a tragic campus shooting, hundreds line Woody Hayes Drive to pay final respects to a man most had never met

By Jeff McCallister

It can be all too easy to assume a place as large and expansive as Ohio State University is nothing but a monolithic giant, cold and impersonal.

But the morning of March 15 showed a different side of the university — a tight-knit community that cares about its own. Continue reading ‘Laid to rest’

Ohio Union, top to bottom

March 17, 2010

If you’re a Buckeye, you can’t help but feel special about the new Ohio Union

By Adam King

To walk through the entire Ohio Union is like taking a jaunt into different worlds. Some rooms have intimate architectural details, such as relief designs in the ceiling tile that bring an old-world feel to an otherwise modern structure. Other rooms are blasts of bright one-of-a-kind scarlet carpeting in functional spaces. Continue reading ‘Ohio Union, top to bottom’

Turning heartache into poetry

March 17, 2010

By Adam King

In the days after May 12, 2008, after a massive earthquake rocked Sichuan Province in China, killing 70,000 people and injuring 374,000 more, the Chinese people found solace in their thousands-year-old relationship with poetry. Continue reading ‘Turning heartache into poetry’

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