CAS News

Far to the west from American shores sits the island of Betio, now part of the most populous area of the nation of Kiribati. More than 70 years ago, Betio was a fortress, the site of a Japanese airfield that was the focal point of one of the first amphibious assaults by U.S. Marines in World War II.

As the closing ceremonies of 2016 Olympic Games draw near, a much lesser known international effort for Brazil comes to an end.  The country introduced its “Science Without Borders” program in 2011 with the lofty goal of qualifying 100,000 Brazilian students and researchers to study at the top universities in the world. 

An Oklahoma State University microbiologist and a colleague have reported progress in understanding the evolutionary origin of the genetic code used by all known cells. The scientists reconstructed the genetic code of the last universal common ancestor (LUCA), believed by some scientists to be the origin of all life on Earth.

Oklahoma State University has joined a list of 25 “rising stars” among North American research institutions, according to a supplement from the journal publisher Nature. Nature Index 2016 Rising Stars showed OSU rose dramatically in publication of high-quality research in elite journals from 2012 to 2015.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has awarded Oklahoma State University clinical psychology graduate student Elly Leavens a prestigious fellowship to examine the co-use of alcohol and hookah tobacco.  

Capitalizing on the popularity of the craft brewing phenomenon to teach science, Oklahoma State University is offering an interactive online learning course this fall to explain microbiology through the practical application of micro brewing.

Oklahoma State University associate professor of integrative biology Kristen Baum and assistant professor of integrative biology Monica Pape? will receive funds from a $5.5 million U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program to help protect imperiled species.  Baum and Pape? will collaborate with the University of Texas at Austin’s Shalene Jha on a 3-year project focusing on pollinator habitat restoration in Oklahoma and Texas grasslands. 

Riley E. Dunlap, Regents Professor of Sociology and Dresser Professor, has been elected to membership in the Sociological Research Association (SRA).  The SRA is an honorary association created in 1936 to recognize and promote excellence in sociological research. It is comprised of more than 400 leading members of the sociological research community.

An Oklahoma State University scientist studying the effects of abnormally expressed imprinted genes on embryonic development and maternal behavior has been awarded a four-year, $720,000 National Science Foundation grant. The award will fund the investigation of an area of genomic research that has yet to be explored, said Polly Campbell, assistant professor in OSU’s Department of Integrative Biology and the project’s lead investigator.