Students in the News

Carissa Stinson, a criminal justice and psychology double major from Perry, Ohio, has been chosen to take part in the prestigious Violent Crime Behavior training seminar in Manassas, Va., from June 8-19.

The seminar is presented by the Academy Group Inc., a forensic behavioral science company that helps local and federal agencies with consulting, training, research and investigation. Former FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood, whose work in behavior profiling helped to establish the FBI Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) at Quantico, Va., will conduct the seminar.

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Patient Counseling Competition was held in ONU's pharmacy building on Friday, Jan. 9. A large number of pharmacy students counseled mock patients in 15-minute increments throughout the day, competing for the grand prize of an all-expenses-paid trip to the National APhA-ASP meeting in San Antonio, Texas, in April.

Catherine Taylor, a fifth-year pharmacy student from Powell, Ohio, took part in the competition, and said she thought the experience would have been beneficial to pharmacy students in all years.

Eunice Ayele Assiongbon-Foly, born Jan. 1 at 1:43 a.m., is the daughter of ONU engineering student Raymond Assiongbon-Foly and his wife, Catherine.

Raymond, a junior in electrical engineering from Lima, Ohio, said he is happy with the honor, but glad that he doesn't "have to wear any sashes for it," since he describes himself as a "reserved person."

Ohio Northern University student Michalena Grosshans, a senior biology major from Idaho Falls, Idaho, won third place at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science 2008 Science and Energy Research Challenge.

Grosshans garnered third place for her bioforensic methods of detecting Brucella abortus, a bacterium that causes Brucellosis in wildlife and can be used as a biowarfare agent. The prize includes a $1,000 scholarship. She participated in the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship program at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

On Dec. 11, 2008, 29 ONU students from two sections of the Introduction to GIS (Geographic Information Systems) class attended the 2008 GIS Day at Rhodes State University in Lima, Ohio.

GIS Day is an event held annually in more than 80 countries around the world, with the hope of demonstrating to students and professionals the real-world applications of geographic information systems.

James C. Gallagher, a senior in physics from Medina, Ohio, is a collaborator on a research paper to be published in Physical Review, the flagship journal of the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics.

On Nov. 12, 2008, Dr. Russ Crawford's Football in American Culture class (HIST 462) visited the Wilson Football Factory in Ada, Ohio.

The students had the opportunity to see how the footballs are made, and learned that all of the NFL's balls, as well as 50 percent of Division I and 70-80 percent of Division III balls, are made here in Ada.

The first CEO (Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization) Elevator Pitch Competition involved 11 student competitors from pharmacy, engineering, arts and sciences, and business administration in idea presentations lasting 90 seconds.

The ONU Astronomy Club, with Dr. Jason Pinkney as faculty advisor, held a viewing of the Orionid Meteor shower in October. A meteor, also called "shooting star" or "falling star," is a streak of light in the atmosphere caused when space debris pierces the Earth's atmosphere at speeds in excess of 30 miles per second. Several meteors were spotted by the more than 20 people who attended.

ONU physics students and faculty presented posters at the 2008 Fall Meeting of the Ohio Section of American Physical Society (OSAPS) at Wright State University on Oct. 10 and 11, 2008.

Andrew Mayger, a senior mathematics major from Saint Clairsville, Ohio, presented research on the National Science Foundation-funded research he did this summer at Lehigh University involving defects in semiconductors.

Senior Craig Koontz, from Ottawa, Ohio, gave a presentation on substructures in clusters of galaxies.