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Chairman O'Kelly's News Brief

January 13, 2017

Chairman O'Kelly's News Brief

Ganesha

I hope that the first week back is going well.

As mentioned here in the past, we are delighted to report Sam Kay's success with a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad grant. Sam's adviser is Max Woodworth. This award is now prominently mentioned on the OIA website and to quote: Sam will be in China from May 2017 – March 2018 to research “Urban Outcasts – Environmental Cleanup and Internal Migration in North China.” His research will examine how environmental cleanup policies are impacting the livelihoods of migrants who work in polluting industries that have been targeted for relocation.

As reported in this week's onCampus, Bryan Mark, (State Climatologist), has been awarded a 2016 Connect and Collaborate grant from OSU Extension, the Office of Energy and Environment, Office of Research and Office of Outreach and Engagement for his proposal, "Connecting Climate and People to Improve Outcomes for Ohio and Beyond." With this grant, Bryan hopes to improve agricultural forecasting and the ability to identify and mobilize resources to address climate change in Ohio. Also helping out on this proposal were Aaron Wilson and Jason Cervenec.

Robert “Bob” Max Thomas (1923-2007).
As many will know, we are in the process of recruiting a new colleague to be named the Robert Max Thomas Professor. A few have asked for more details about Mr. Bob Thomas. The department has had a very long standing relationship with Mr. Thomas. Prior to graduation from OSU in 1949, Mr. Thomas was a grader for A.J. Wright who was an influential professor in our department. Wright was the adviser of Henry Hunker. In his career, Mr. Thomas developed manufacturing processes here in Ohio, especially Coshocton where he manufactured gloves and related specialized products.

Mr. Thomas first (under John Rayner as chair and later with excellent stewardship by Larry Brown) began to indicate his great regard for Geography and his recognition of influential early courses in industrial and economic geography. I recall having lunch with Randy Jackson and Mr. Thomas in 1994 when we discussed industrial development. This aspect of his career is recognized with a departmental graduate fellowship recognizing economic development as a theme. To quote the official source:

Established September 21, 2007, with gifts from the estate of Robert “Bob” Max Thomas to memorialize Professor Alfred J. Wright; used to recognize a distinguished graduate student in the Department of Geography or to attract such students to that department who demonstrate professional promise with special consideration given to students expressing an interest in economic geography or the impact of geography on economic development.

His estate settled later upon the death of his wife and we were delighted to receive an additional exceptionally generous gift. With supplementary funds from our dean and the department, this gift is sufficient to support a professorship. We are glad to name our position in his memory. A vote of the faculty agreed that the funds and name chair could be best deployed at this time to add to our strength in Atmospheric Science and Climatology. This is truly a valued resource and we plan to use it wisely!

I am very pleased to name the following awards to our senior undergraduates: and a big vote of THANKS to Mat Coleman for collecting the nominating materials.

Huntington

Matthew Schneider, nominated by Becky Mansfield

Maria Sanchez-Luna, nominated by Kendra McSweeney

Taaffe

Matthew Campbell, nominated by Jay Hobgood and Alvaro Montenegro

Emily Sambuco, nominated by Ellen Mosley-Thompson

Mary Grace Thibault, nominated by Bryan Mark, Jim DeGrand, and Rachel Mauk

Robinson

Ruoran Cheng, nominated by Dan Sui

Mohamed Ahmed, nominated by Ningchuan Xiao

Nathan On, nominated by Harvey Miller