October 20, 5-6:30 p.m. 
Learning Innovation Center (LInC), 2nd floor Forum space

Open Access Week is an annual celebration of open access publishing and the drive to make knowledge freely available. The OSU Libraries and Press is hosting an event on Tuesday, October 20, 5-6:30 p.m. in the Forum space on the second floor of the Learning Innovation Center. If you’re considering an academic or research career, come and hear what you should know about open access. OSU faculty and a graduate student will discuss why they choose to make their research available open access and how open access contributes to their success as researchers. The panel will be followed by a Q and A and hors d'oeuvres.

Panelists:

Kevin Ahern, Senior Instructor in the department of Biochemistry and Biophysics

Dr. Kevin Ahern holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Oregon State University and is currently the Director for Undergraduate Research and a Senior Instructor in the department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. Kevin’s immensely popular Biochemistry courses are well known at OSU, and his students clearly benefit from his passion for – and dedication to – the subject. It’s not only OSU students, though, who are benefitting from his passion and dedication. Kevin recorded his lectures, along with his more than 100 biochemistry-related songs set to popular music, and made them openly available to the world through his own YouTube channel. In addition, he co-authored, with Indira Rajagopal, the textbook, “Biochemistry Free and Easy,” which he also made open access.

Wanda Crannell, BioResource Research Interdisciplinary Sciences Program Advisor/Instructor

Wanda Crannell, MS, has over 20 years of experience in culturally-sensitive undergraduate STEM advising and instruction via the BioResource Research Interdisciplinary Program BS degree “the research major” and student events organization working with OSU undergraduate research students, OSU Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) Chapter, OSU Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Sciences (SACNAS) Chapter, as Co-PI for three USDA Multicultural Scholars Program grants, and CAS representative for OSU PNW-NSF LSAMP Board.

Austin Fox, Ph.D. candidate, Materials Science

Austin Fox is a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science working with the Multi-Functional Thin Films group on processing–structure–property relationships in lead-free thin films deposited by PVD methods. Austin became interested in open access while completing his undergraduate studies at Alfred University in upstate New York, where, being a small institution, most journal articles were not available. This interest led him to seek out opportunities to help promote open access in his own research and to others. Last year he was selected to go to the OpenCon 2014 international conference as a delegate for OSU. Since then, he has given two talks on open access and has been steering his research and career path toward open science.

George Poinar, Courtesy Faculty, Department of Integrative Biology

Dr. George Poinar is currently in the Department of Integrative Biology at OSU. He conducts research on insects, nematodes and fossils in amber, especially fossilized remains of parasites and pathogens. His studies on actual vectors of human diseases in Africa and the South Pacific were conducted while serving as a consultant for the World Health Organization and United Nations. He has published extensively on these topics and has written several books with his wife, Roberta, including “The Amber Forest,” “The Quest for Life in Amber,” and “What Bugged the Dinosaurs?”, based on their experiences collecting and studying amber around the world. George also studies insects living in the Pacific coast dunes.

Posted - October 16, 2015