Campus and community briefs
ROTC to host free year-end breakfast
This week, Utah State University students involved with the military will be holding their end-of-the-semester events.
According to a news release, the Air Force ROTC plans to host a free breakfast Wednesday on the Quad.
The group will be serving pancakes, hashbrowns, eggs and juice from 8:30 to 11 a.m.
Thursday, the cadet corps will be holding a patriotic parade. The event starts at 3 p.m. on the Quad. For more information, stop by the Military Science Building or call 797-USAF.
English 2010 professor awarded for proposal
Brock Dethier, an Utah State University English department faculty member, won this year’s $3,000 Northern Rockies Consortium for Higher Education prize for his proposal to integrate research ethics more thoroughly in the English 2010 research writing curriculum.
The private, nonprofit organization awards the prize to someone in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming or Utah on a competitive basis for proposals to improve higher education.
Joyce Kinkead, vice provost for Undergraduate Studies and Research, wrote a letter in early April supporting Dethier’s application for the prize. In it, she maintained that the plan to enhance research ethics falls nicely in line with the university’s research goals.
“Students should be knowledgeable about conventions of authorship, credibility of data and conflict of interest to name but a few no matter what their chosen discipline,” she wrote.
Student accepted to Notre Dame program
Jenny Cummings, an undergraduate anthropology student, was accepted to a summer National Science Foundation program housed at Notre Dame.
Cummings was one of 10 students chosen for the fellowship. She will focus on paleopathology, the study of ancient diseases, this summer.
In the acceptance e-mail Cummings received, the program’s representatives congratulated her for being selected.
“Well done. The competition this year was extremely high. You have reason to be proud,” they wrote.
USU research award given to biochemist
Steven Aust, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, is this year’s recipient of the D. Wynne Thorne Research Award, to be presented at commencement ceremonies May 3.
The D. Wynne Thorne Award is an annual prize of $5,000 given to an individual or group on campus that completed some of the most outstanding research in the previous five years.
“Steven Aust has a distinctive career as a research scientist at Utah State,” said Brent Miller, vice president for Research, in a press release. “He is particularly famous for his discoveries in chemistry that have implications for useful biotechnology. He has also been highly productive in training undergraduate and graduate students, as well as many post-doctorates.”
Aust’s accolades include $12 million in research funding, 350 published papers, the supervision of 50 graduate students and 16 post-doctorates and the Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology, according to a news release.
Aust is an internationally recognized expert in a number of fields, including the toxicology of polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons, lipid peroxidation, the role of iron in the deleterious oxidation of biomolecules and the degradation of lignin and environmental pollutants by white-rot fungi, according to a news release.
“Dr. Steven Aust is at the pinnacle of an illustrious research career,” said Steve Scheiner, a colleague in the chemistry and biochemistry department, in a press release. “His reputation and accomplishments are truly international in scope.”
The award, named after USU’s first vice president for Research, is the top research award given by USU, according to a news release.