Dr. John Warner, a pioneer of green chemistry, will visit The University of Toledo this week to help the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry celebrate its 100th anniversary.

The two-day centennial celebration will feature Warner’s presentation and a banquet at the Toledo Museum of Art.

Warner’s free, public presentation, “Green Chemistry: The Missing Elements,” will take place Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 4 p.m. in Doermann Theater.

As president and chief technology officer of Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, Warner is one of the fathers of the green chemistry field — a relatively new area of study focusing on the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the generation of hazardous substances. With Paul Anastas, he co-authoredGreen Chemistry: Theory and Practice.

Warner has published more than 200 patents, papers and books, and has numerous awards. His honors include being elected a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and being named one of 25 Visionaries Changing the World by Utne Reader in 2011.

He and Anastas also will give remarks at the Centennial Banquet on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 5:30 p.m. in the Toledo Museum of Art’s GlasSalon. The cost for attendees is $30 and $15 for students.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Sept. 30, 2015)
The Blade (Oct. 1, 2015)
The Independent Collegian (Oct. 7, 2015)

A super-moon lunar eclipse hasn’t occurred in 32 years, but you have a chance to see one Sunday, Sept. 27.

To celebrate the rare occurrence, The University of Toledo’s Ritter Planetarium will hold a free special viewing party from 9 to 11:30 p.m., weather permitting.

The partial phase of the eclipse will begin at 9:07 p.m., according to Dr. Michael Cushing, UT associate professor of astronomy and director of the planetarium.

“From 10:11 p.m. until 11:23 p.m., the moon will be completely eclipsed,” he said. “At 11:23 p.m., the moon will begin to emerge from the Earth’s shadow, and by 12:27 a.m., the eclipse will be over.”

And if you miss it, you’ll have to wait 18 years for the alignment of the Earth between the full super moon and the sun to occur again.

Because the moon’s orbit isn’t perfectly circular, the moon is sometimes closer and sometimes farther from the Earth. On Sunday, it will be slightly closer to the Earth and it will appear about 14 percent larger, hence the “super” name, Cushing explained.

“The combination of a super moon and a lunar eclipse is uncommon; there have only been five since 1900,” Cushing said.

Earth’s satellite is often referred to as the blood moon during a total lunar eclipse.

“As the moon passes into the shadow of the Earth, red light from the sun is filtered and bent, or refracted, through the Earth’s atmosphere and onto the moon’s surface,” Cushing said.

Starting at 9 p.m., a 10-minute program explaining the total lunar eclipse will run continuously at Ritter Planetarium until 11:30 p.m.

“Even though you can see the eclipse from anywhere in the area without any special equipment, we’d like to invite you to experience the event with us,” Cushing said. “We will have several small telescopes pointed at the moon on the planetarium’s south lawn.”

Media Coverage
The Blade (Sept. 24, 2015)
The Blade (Sept. 26, 2015)
13 ABC (Sept. 28, 2015)

A talk this week will focus on a Toledo hot-button issue: water quality.

The University of Toledo’s Esteemed Speaker Series will feature Ohio State University Professor Brent Sohngen Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 4 p.m. in Bowman-Oddy Laboratories Room 1045.

The free, public talk, “Do Agricultural Conservation Programs Reduce Nutrients in Watersheds?” will focus on the efficiency, or lack thereof, of current management practices on reducing phosphorus run-off from agriculture into Lake Erie, said Dr. Scott Heckathorn, UT professor of environmental science.

“High levels of phosphorous in Lake Erie are the main cause of algal blooms, which can affect drinking water quality for cities like Toledo that obtain their water from the lake, and the biggest source of excess phosphorous in Lake Erie derives from agricultural run-off,” he said.

Sohngen is a professor of environmental economics at Ohio State. His research focuses on land use and climate change, carbon trading, and water quality trading. He wrote sections of the 2001 and 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports on the impacts of climate change on forests and agriculture, and on the potential for carbon sequestration in forests.

For more information, contact Heckathorn at scott.heckathorn@utoledo.edu.

NASA revealed the most detailed photo yet of Pluto, transmitted by the New Horizons spacecraft that was launched in January 2006.

“With this mission, Pluto becomes a real place,” said Mike Cushing, University of Toledo astronomy professor and director of the Ritter Planetarium. “Before, our best telescopes could only see it as a blotchy disk. But now we can see that it has surface features like craters, cliffs and chasms.”

The New Horizons mission completes our initial reconnaissance of the solar system, Cushing said, which is a journey that began with the exploration of Venus by the Mariner 2 spacecraft in 1962.

“Over the course of 53 years we have now seen, up close, all of the major bodies in our solar system,” Cushing said.

The entirety of the data from New Horizons will take more than a year to reach Earth. To collect photos of Pluto, New Horizons had to turn its antenna away from our planet. Late last night, New Horizons turned its antenna back to Earth and “phoned home,” letting NASA scientists know the spacecraft survived its trip through the Pluto system, Cushing explained.

Throughout July, UT’s Ritter Planetarium is featuring “Pluto-Live!” a program celebrating the New Horizons mission, at 8:30 p.m. on Fridays. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for children, seniors and UT community members. For more information, visit ritter.utoledo.edu.

To schedule an interview with Cushing about the importance of the New Horizons mission and learning more about Pluto, contact Aimee Portala at 419.530.4279 or aimee.portala@utoledo.edu.

https://youtu.be/KAm8FYc-ieE

Media Coverage
The Blade (July 17, 2015)
NBC 24 (July 21, 2015)

The University of Toledo’s new research vessel with state-of-the-art technology will advance the Lake Erie Center’s environmental research into water quality, harmful algal blooms, invasive species and other issues impacting the Great Lakes region.

The dedication ceremony for the new 28-foot research vessel will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, July 16 at the National Museum of the Great Lakes, 1701 Front St. UT President Sharon Gaber and Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor John Carey will join faculty and students from the Lake Erie Center at the event.

“The UT Lake Erie Center is a national leader in water quality research. The addition of this research vessel will afford our dedicated faculty members the opportunity to advance their work to address issues such as the harmful algae that impact regions like ours that depend on the health of the Great Lakes,” Gaber said. “Given our location on the shores of Lake Erie and the depth of our expertise, it is vital for the University to make this investment to further our knowledge and provide sustainable solutions for our community.”

The new research vessel was custom-made by North River Boats/Almar Boats in Roseburg, Ore., to meet the research needs of the Lake Erie Center faculty and staff. The new boat is constructed of aluminum and is larger and sturdier than the existing 25-foot fiberglass boat the center named the Mayflier, which had been UT’s primary research vessel for more than 15 years and will continue to be used on the Maumee River and Lake Erie.

“We are excited to add this wonderful new boat as an instrumental tool in the research efforts of our Lake Erie Center faculty and students,” said Dr. Carol Stepien, director of the Lake Erie Center and Distinguished University Professor of Ecology. “As the community has become more aware of the water quality issues that impact the Maumee Bay region, it is increasingly important for their public university to be able to maintain and build upon its leadership in addressing those issues. The new research vessel will help us do that.”

With this vessel, the researchers will no longer be restricted to field research only on calm waters allowing them to collect data in differing kinds of weather conditions for a more comprehensive understanding of the ecology of the lake, said Dr. Tom Bridgeman, associate professor of ecology in the Department of Environmental Sciences.

The research vessel also is equipped with more advanced equipment and instrumentation that will allow the researchers to deploy buoys, bottom dredges, and fish trawling gear to expand the kinds of studies they can conduct, he said.

“We’ve used the new boat to launch a buoy in Maumee Bay about seven miles from Toledo’s water intake to monitor the blue green algae in western Lake Erie, which we wouldn’t have been able to do with the Mayflier,” Bridgeman said. “We are already using that technology to track the harmful algal blooms this summer and to collect water samples so that we can provide some of the first data on the blooms as they grow and expand eastward.”

UT is working with the city of Toledo, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others to monitor the health of Lake Erie and provide timely communications to residents who rely on it for their drinking water.

Real-time data from The University of Toledo’s buoy and other instruments monitoring western Lake Erie are available at habs.glos.us with additional information on the UT buoy at wqdatalive.com/public/515. The city has an online Toledo water quality dashboard to communicate the quality of the drinking water at toledo.oh.gov/services/public-utilities/water-treatment/water-quality.

The UT Lake Erie Center’s new vessel also has an enclosed cabin to protect the crew from the elements and additional enhanced safety gear such as radar and a spotlight and power anchor windlass, which will allow for a longer research season and evening sampling if needed.

For more information on the UT Lake Erie Center, visit utoledo.edu/nsm/lec.

Click on the image or this link to download photo of the research vessel.

Media Coverage
The Blade (July 16, 2015)
WTOL 11 (July 16, 2015)
WTOL 11, 13 ABC and NBC 24 (July 16, 2015)
WTOL 11 (July 17, 2015)
The Blade (July 17, 2015)
Times Leader (July 17, 2015)

The Brooks Observatory at The University of Toledo is receiving a new telescope, replacing one that is more than 100 years old.

The Brooks Observatory hosts an array of small telescopes, including the six-inch Brashear refracting telescope, has been on UT’s campus since 1931. The observatory is used primarily for public viewing and undergraduate instruction.

UT’s Brashear telescope

The Brashear telescope will be replaced by a new Celestron 14 Edge HD, mounted on a Paramount MX+ mount and placed on top of a Pier-Tech 3 pedestal.

In order to accommodate the sightlines of the new telescope the observatory, located on top of McMaster Hall on UT’s Main Campus, will be significantly modified. The Brooks Observatory will be under construction for approximately four months.

“The current telescope in the dome is more than 100 years old and was originally housed on top of University Hall,” said Alexander Mak, associate director for UT’s Ritter Planetarium. “It is a historically significant telescope, having been manufactured by a very significant craftsman.”

Dr. John Alfred Brashear, a late American astronomer and instrument builder, dedicated his time to manufacturing astronomical and scientific instruments.

The Brashear telescope, which has been in McMaster Hall since 1987, will be placed in storage.

The project is funded through support from the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and an endowment established by the late Helen and Elgin Brooks.

The updated facility will be a state-of-the-art instructional observatory that will continue the mission of undergraduate education and public outreach. New undergraduate laboratory exercises will be developed, and more public observing opportunities will be scheduled once work is completed.

During the renovations the Ritter Observatory, adjacent to the Brooks Observatory, will be open to the public on the first Friday of each month, immediately following the regularly scheduled 8:30 p.m. planetarium program.

Media Coverage
The Blade (June 26, 2015)
WTOL 11 (June 26, 2015)
WFMJ (June 26, 2015)
The Herald-Dispatch (June 27, 2015)
WBNS 10 (June 29, 2015)
Space Watchtower (July 9, 2015)

There should be fewer days when Maumee Bay beaches are under a public health advisory this summer thanks to a wetland restoration project led by a University of Toledo professor.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Project includes the addition of a sedimentation pond in Wolf Creek and treatment wetland at Maumee Bay State Park that will filter out Escherichia coli bacteria and phosphorus pollutants before runoff water enters Lake Erie. 

“The goal is for better water quality at Maumee Bay State Park, which in recent years has had health advisories posted 20 percent of the time due to high levels of bacteria in the water and that has had a negative impact on attendance to the beaches,” said Dr. Daryl Dwyer, UT professor of environmental sciences, who led the restoration.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and UT Interim President Nagi Naganathan will join Dwyer to recognize the completion of the project at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 27, at the east entrance of Maumee Bay State Park on the corner of Cedar Point and North Curtice roads in Oregon.

The project was funded with two Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants totaling $1.8 million called “Passive Treatment Wetland to Improve Nearshore Health and Reduce Nonpoint Source Pollution” and “Reduction of Sediment and Bacteria Loadings to Public Beaches at Maumee Bay State Park via Enhanced Riparian Habitat.”

The two-stage treatment system begins with the sedimentation pond in Wolf Creek where rolling bed sediment and particles with attached bacteria and phosphorus would accumulate at the bottom of the pond. The design has the capacity to remove 20 years of sediment from the creek with the option to be dredged to extend the lifespan. The accumulated sediment would then be reused by farmers to fertilize their crops, Dwyer said.

The water would then traverse through a three-tiered wetland where additional bacteria, sediment and phosphorus are retained and the plants take up the extra phosphorus.

Early data observations show better than expected water quality improvements with a 94 percent reduction in E. coli bacteria and a 50 percent reduction in total phosphorus, Dwyer said.

Dwyer and his research team are investigating ways to scale up the project in the Maumee River watershed with other target locations for similar restoration projects to prevent the nonpoint source pollutants from entering Lake Erie in other areas.

Click here to download image.

Media Coverage
13 ABC, WTOL 11, NBC 24 and FOX Toledo (May 28, 2015)
The Blade (May 28, 2015)
Dredging News Online (May 29, 2015)

High school girls will be exposed to careers in the sciences through hands-on activities when they visit The University of Toledo for the fourth annual Women in STEMM Day of Meetings.

The event, which goes by the acronym WISDOM, will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. Thursday, May 14, on UT’s Main Campus and Health Science Campus. ** Click here for schedule of activities.**

The 160 girls will explore and perform experiments in physics and astronomy, chemistry, biology, engineering, pharmacy and medicine as they learn about science and technology.

The event is hosted by the Northwest Ohio Chapter of the Association for Women in Science, which organizes the exploration day to encourage young women to consider careers in one of the areas offered at the Women in STEMM Day.

“Girls are increasingly interested in science, but unfortunately few women pursue that interest in college or their careers,” said Dr. Isabel Escobar, professor of chemical and environmental engineering, interim assistant dean for research development and outreach for the College of Engineering, and past-president of the Association for Women in Science. “Events like Women in STEMM Day aim to inspire girls to embrace the fun of scientific discovery and encourage careers in the field.”

Students from Toledo Public, Washington Local and Oregon Schools, as well as from the Toledo Islamic Academy and Wildwood Environmental Academy will participate in WISDOM at the University.

The students will spend the day performing activities developed by faculty members in the UT colleges of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Engineering, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Medicine and Life Sciences.

In addition to the Northwest Ohio Chapter of the Association for Women in Science, the event is sponsored by the Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women, Marathon Petroleum Corp., and the UT colleges of Engineering, Medicine and Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

Media Coverage
The Blade (May 14, 2015)
WTOL 11 (May 15, 2015)

Explore the mysteries of the universe at The University of Toledo’s fourth annual Astronomy Day.

The free, public event on Saturday, April 25 will feature shows in the Ritter Planetarium and UT astronomers sharing their latest research using the Discovery Channel Telescope.

“Astronomy Day is an opportunity for us to invite young people to campus to learn about our solar system and to thank the community for their support of our programs,” said Alex Mak, UT associate planetarium director.

Shows featured during Astronomy Day will be:

•  “The Case of the Disappearing Planet” at 1 p.m. Join Skye Watcher as he explores what happened to the ex-planet Pluto as she tracks down clues that stretch back hundreds of years.

•  “Black Holes, The Other Side of Infinity” at 2 p.m. Narrated by actor Liam Neeson, this production features high-resolution visualizations of cosmic phenomena, working with data generated by computer simulations, to bring the current science of black holes to the dome screen.

•  “Scanning the Skies” at 3 p.m. This documentary produced by the Discovery Channel looks at the rich history of the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. and their decision to build a new state-of-the-art observatory in the Coconino National Forest.

Following the final documentary show, UT astronomers will talk about their role using the Discovery Channel Telescope and will share a few images they have taken. The day will conclude with a live feed from the telescope.

Throughout Astronomy Day, guests also will have the opportunity to tour the Ritter Planetarium’s one-meter telescope and use it to view Venus, weather permitting. And members of the Toledo Astronomical Association will be available to answer questions about telescopes and provide solar observing, weather permitting.

For more information about Astronomy Day and the Ritter Planetarium, visit utoledo.edu/nsm/rpbo.

Media Coverage
The Blade (April 23, 2015)

A team of astronomers based at The University of Toledo has discovered an outburst from a star thought to be in the earliest phase of its development. The eruption reveals a sudden accumulation of gas and dust by an exceptionally young protostar known as HOPS 383.

Led by Dr. Tom Megeath, associate professor of physics and astronomy, the team used data from orbiting observatories, including NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, and ground-based facilities to research the formation of stars similar to the Sun.

HOPS 383 is located about 1,400 light-years away, near the well-known Orion nebula. The region constitutes the most active nearby “star factory” and is home to a multitude of young stellar objects.

Stars form within collapsing fragments of cold gas clouds contracting due to gravity. In the center of the cloud, a small protostar forms surrounded by a dusty orbiting disk. Astronomers call this a Class 0 protostar. The disk grows as gas from the cloud continues to fall, and the disk in turn “feeds” the protostar. Astronomers monitor protostars to see if the disk feeds the protostar in little bites or big gulps, because this can have big consequences for the formation of stars and planets. HOPS 383 appears to have just taken a big gulp.

“HOPS 383 is the first outburst we’ve ever seen from a Class 0 object, and it appears to be the youngest protostellar eruption ever recorded,” said William Fischer, a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Fischer attended UT as an undergraduate from 1997 to 2001 and returned as a postdoctoral fellow from 2008 to 2013.

The Class 0 phase lasts roughly 150,000 years, and means that most of the star-forming material is still in a dusty envelope surrounding the star, and has not yet been consumed by the star.

The eruption was first discovered in 2014 by astronomer Emily Safron, shortly after her graduation from UT. Under the supervision of Megeath and Fischer, she had just completed her senior thesis comparing the decade-old Spitzer Orion survey with 2010 observations from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite. She had already run through the data several times without finding anything new but with her senior thesis completed, she decided to take the extra time to compare the images by eye.

That’s when she noticed HOPS 383’s dramatic change.

“This beautiful outburst was lurking in our sample the whole time,” Safron said.

Megeath’s team also identified more than 300 protostars in the Orion complex using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. A follow-on project using the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory, called the Herschel Orion Protostar Survey (HOPS), studied many of these objects in greater detail.

Upon Safron’s discovery, the team gathered additional Spitzer data, Herschel observations and images from ground-based infrared telescopes at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment in northern Chile. Their findings were published in the Feb. 10 edition of the Astrophysical Journal.

“The immediate impact for star formation studies is that astronomers are going to have to revisit our theories to explain how such a young object can have this kind of outburst,” Fischer said.