Miami community helps make 2020 holiday season a little brighter: Food drives, meals swipe donations and more

December 16, 2020

Although many holiday season donation campaigns were cancelled on campus this year due to the pandemic, Miami University community members came together to help those in need. Some of the projects this year were modified or scaled back from previous years, but they still made an impact …

Miami University geology research has far reach, local implications

November 6, 2020

For most faculty, getting their research published in peer-reviewed journals is career gold. It's safe to say in 2020 alone, Miami University Regionals Associate Professor of Geology Dr. Mark Krekeler has the golden touch. Working alongside his students and colleagues from Miami University's Oxford campus, Krekeler had 8 papers published or accepted into noted environmental journals in 2020 …

Stats+Stories podcast honored with national award for mathematics communications

October 28, 2020

Miami University's John Bailer, Richard Campbell and Rosemary Pennington have been honored with the 2021 Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (JPBM) Communications Award for their "engaging, entertaining and enlightening" Stats + Stories podcast. The annual award is designed to reward and encourage communicators who, on a sustained basis, bring mathematical ideas and information to non-mathematical audiences …

Miami is a Top 100 Sierra Club Cool School and a Princeton Review Green College

October 22, 2020

Miami University ranked 71st among the Sierra Club's "Coolest Schools" 2020 for the greenest colleges. Miami is the top Ohio public university on the list of 312 schools ranked based on food, energy, waste, research, transportation and curriculum. Miami is also again listed in The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2021 Edition, one of 416 schools selected for being environmentally responsible …

The 2020 Hefner Lecture presents "How Your Observations Can Lead to Amazing Discoveries" with ecologists from the online nature app iNaturalist

October 16, 2020

Miami's Hefner Museum of Natural History will hold its 46th Annual Hefner Lecture online on Wednesday, October 21 at 6:30 pm. It will feature ecologists Michael P. Moore and Carrie Seltzer, who will address the topic, "From Evolving Dragonflies to Invading Lanternflies: How Your Observations Can Lead to Amazing Discoveries" …

Miami fire scientist: "Zombie fires" one of new features driving Arctic fires

October 6, 2020

"Zombie fires" and burning of fire-resistant vegetation are new features driving Arctic fires—with strong consequences for the global climate—warn international fire scientists in a commentary published last week in Nature Geoscience. Fire scientist Jessica McCarty, assistant professor of geography at Miami University, and her team found that "Arctic fires are burning earlier and farther north, in landscapes previously thought to be fire resistant" …

Miami commits to carbon neutrality and climate resilience: Virtual PCLC signing ceremony

September 15, 2020

Join Miami University President Greg Crawford as he signs the Second Nature's Presidents' Climate Leadership Commitments (PCLC) Climate Commitment in a virtual ceremony at noon Tuesday, September 22. Second Nature president Tim Carter, members of Miami's new Climate Action Task Force executive steering committee, the office of sustainability, and Oxford Mayor Mike Smith will give brief remarks during the ceremony …

Carolyn S. Craig joins CAS as director of diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging

September 8, 2020

The College of Arts and Science is excited to welcome Carolyn S. Craig to the dean's staff as their new director of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. Craig has worked at Miami University since 2015 and is credentialed as both a certified diversity professional (CDP) and an advanced certified cultural intelligence professional (ACCQP) …

Instituting a healthier perspective on food: Miami's community supported agriculture program swings into fall

September 2, 2020

Food options in Oxford, Ohio aren't just limited to Bagel and Deli, campus dining halls, or Mac & Joe's. The Institute for Food, founded in 2015, engages the Miami University community around issues of food, health, and sustainable agriculture …

Miami's Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation honored with STEM award

August 17, 2020

Miami University's Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) has been named a recipient of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine's 2020 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award. The Inspiring Programs in STEM Award honors colleges and universities that encourage and assist students from underrepresented groups to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) …

Miami chemists' breakthrough technique enables design at the interface of chemistry and biology

July 20, 2020

A technique developed by Miami University associate professors of chemistry and biochemistry Dominik Konkolewicz and Rick Page may help enable more rapid and efficient development of new materials for use in pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and other applications. Konkolewicz and Page's technique uses nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology to illuminate how proteins and synthetic polymers interact in chemical substances known as bioconjugates …

New Social Justice Studies study away program delivers service and experiential learning for students

July 5, 2020

Department of Sociology and Gerontology chair Stephen Lippmann and visiting instructor of sociology, social justice studies, and journalism Mark Curnutte have created a service-based experiential learning program designed to give students an in-depth experience to build on the course content they learn during class …

Miamians help local landowner in the fight against emerald ash borer

June 25, 2020

Miamians are helping with a program that hopes to greatly reduce the number of emerald ash borer beetles, which have killed hundreds of millions of ash trees in North America since its detection in 2002. The biological control program involves releasing Asian wasps — parasitoids — on ash trees …

Miami receives 5th Beckman Institutional Award for undergraduate research

June 3, 2020

Camaryn Bennett and Hope Kirby are 2020-2021 Beckman Scholars. Miami University is one of 12 institutions nationwide to receive the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation's 2020 -2023 Beckman Scholars Program Institutional Award. The award supports undergraduate research and faculty mentoring for select students in chemistry, biochemistry and the biological sciences …

First online Undergraduate Research Forum feedback: "Fantastic"

May 28, 2020

Miami University's annual Undergraduate Research Forum (URF) was held April 29, in an online event format for the first time in its 26 years. The traditional poster sessions and oral presentations were hosted on Webex, allowing for attendees join in remotely from across the country. Students appreciated the effort to transform the forum to an online event, according to feedback collected by Joyce Fernandes, director of undergraduate research and professor of biology …

Miami U. research provides new foundation for future environmental studies

May 27, 2020

A 5-year research project driven by students at Miami University is the first of its kind in the Midwest, providing a new foundation for environmental studies throughout the region and serving as a vital resource for future environmental pollution studies in Butler County and beyond …

Miami and 300 other schools saved 48.6 million pounds from the landfill

May 20, 2020

Miami University was one of nearly 300 schools nationwide that participated in the RecycleMania 2020 competition, helping to recycle, donate or compost more than 48 million pounds of waste during the tournament. The 8-week tournament was cut short this year — its 20th anniversary — due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the National Wildlife Federation, which manages RecycleMania …

Two Miami University researchers receive NSF RAPID grant to develop coronavirus-attacking materials

May 6, 2020

Two Miami University researchers in protein, polymer and materials chemistry received a Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a project that will address the spread of the novel coronavirus. They received $181,849 to develop materials that can be used to prevent indirect contact transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 …

Miamians serve with the Ohio National Guard at area food banks

April 23, 2020

Miamians Kristin Cupido and Amanda Ramey were among those who volunteered when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine authorized the activation of the Ohio National Guard to support a humanitarian mission in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cupido, assistant cross country/track and field coach, and Ramey, a junior urban and regional planning major who is in the Army ROTC, volunteered to support Operation Steady Resolve. Both are helping with their units at area food banks …

Lexie Adams and Hope Kirby named Goldwater Scholars

April 22, 2020

Miami University juniors Alexandra (Lexie) Adams and Hope Kirby have each received a Goldwater Scholarship for 2020-2021. They are among 396 students nationwide to receive the scholarship, the premier undergraduate award of its type in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. Adams is a chemical engineering major and Spanish minor from Liberty Township. Kirby is a microbiology major and geology and bioinformatics double minor from Glendale, Arizona. They are two of 13 students from an Ohio public university to receive the award …

Faculty and students research the return of beavers to the Midwest and Miami's campus

March 17, 2020

Bartosz Grudzinski, professor of geography and fluvial geomorphologist, has been collaborating with graduate and undergraduate students to research the return of beavers to Ohio and their impact on the environment and local water quality …

Senior John Fink describes his experiences as one of six selected worldwide for geology research experience in Japan

March 16, 2020

John Fink is preparing to graduate from Miami this spring. Last summer, he was granted the opportunity to participate in the International Internship Program through the Institute For Planetary Materials, Okayama University in Misasa, Japan …