Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond to speak April 2

Jared-DiamondHe wrote Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Now in his new book, The World Until Yesterday, he asks, What can we learn from traditional societies? Mark your calendar: Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond headlines the Provost’s Discovery Themes lecture series April 2 at Ohio State. (Photo: UCLA.)

‘I knew it was what I wanted to do with my life’

medium_Seger.Krystal_OSU.jpgKrystal Seger, pictured, serves as a health volunteer in Uganda. A CFAES graduate, she’s one of 64 Ohio State alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps. Read more about her work and about Ohio State’s top 5 ranking as a producer of Peace Corps volunteers here. (Photo: Office of International Programs, CFAES.)

‘Indispensable opportunity’ to make a difference

Kennedy_greeting_Peace_Corps_volunteers,_1961Ohio State ranks fourth on the Peace Corps’ latest list of the top volunteer-producing large universities. In all, 64 current Peace Corps volunteers are Buckeye alumni. Read more, including about CFAES alumna Krystal Seger’s work in Uganda, here. Ohio State’s Peace Corps office is housed within CFAES. The photo, from the U.S. National Archives, shows President John F. Kennedy greeting Peace Corps volunteers in 1961, the year he established the agency. Since then, 1,735 Ohio State graduates have served as Peace Corps volunteers.

National Geographic photographer to speak at Ohio State

Joel Sartore at a game preserve in South Africa.The Environmental Professionals Network hosts a special evening program on March 26, “Protecting Our Earth’s Biodiversity Through Images, Stories and Action,” featuring acclaimed National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore. Check out some of his fantastic shots. Admission is free, but you have to sign up in advance. Find details and a link to online registration here. EPN is a service of CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. (Photo: joelsartore.com.)

Today at 4 p.m.: Fighting the frog-killing chytrid fungus

The rescheduled talk by Smithsonian scientist Brian Gratwicke (originally set for last week but postponed due to weather) is today, Feb. 26, at 4 p.m., part of the spring seminar series by CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. Details here. He’ll speak on captive breeding of frogs in Panama, and using it as a stopgap while scientists try to come up with a way to manage chytridiomycosis. Chytridiomycosis is an emerging fungal disease killing amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders, newts) in many places around the world, causing huge declines or the extinction of many species.

Climate change and food security: ‘Adaptation strategies should be under way’

Interesting NBC News story this morning. Scientists speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting say climate change has moved America’s breadbasket north — North Dakota now produces more wheat than Kansas; the corn and soybelt belts have pushed into Canada. What does this hold for farms and farmers, consumers and food security, and the research that supports them? From the story: “The experts said heading off a food crisis will require changes in every aspect of production and consumption. ‘Adaptation strategies should be under way,” (Berkeley Lab scientist Michael) Wehner said. ‘Denying this, I think, is a disservice to the public.’ ”

Bright future, energetic goals

What has CFAES meant to Miranda McClendon, a senior honors student from Gary, Indiana, in the Environment, Economy, Development and Sustainability program? “I can really see the change in me, and the growth.” Get to know her, and her energy- and community-related goals after graduation, in this new video. (Video: Walter Warkus, CFAES Communications.)