Ohio Northern University has received a $1.19 million Choose Ohio First (COF) grant from the Ohio Department of Education (ODHE) to support students in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM), and health professions.
Ohio Northern University students in nursing, biology, exercise physiology, pre-med, and other healthcare and science fields now have a new way of exploring and learning about the human body.
Editor's note: Karen Kier provides a weekly article published on the Icon on Thursdays.
Karen Kier, BSPh ’82, is the drug information expert in Ohio Northern University’s Raabe College of Pharmacy. She’s taught and mentored aspiring pharmacists for 39 years, and been widely-lauded for her service to her community and profession.
Dr. Lauren Logan has created an Ohio Northern geotechnical engineering class with an entrepreneurial twist: junior civil and environmental engineering students learn techniques from museum exhibit designers and then create their own soil study displays. In November, the exhibits were featured in a showcase that was evaluated by student and faculty judges from across campus.
Borrowing restaurant terminology, Logan notes that the course’s “soft open” was conducted last year and that she hopes to make this an ongoing opportunity for students. The course and showcase were developed during an Engineering Unleashed Fellowship. The award comes from the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN), which “focuses on developing an entrepreneurial mindset in undergraduate engineering students.”
Students were encouraged to find ways a general audience can relate to soil issues. Logan noted that museum displays are also becoming more interactive. KEEN funding gave groups up to $50 to create their displays.
Kathleen DeVault remembers being interested in Egypt even before she wrote a book report on the Pharoh Tutankhamun—popularly known as King Tut – when she was in fifth grade.
