地点的力量

如何建设一个伟大的城市? “Create a great university,” said the late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, “and wait 200 years.” Moynihan did not attend bet8九州登录入口, 但他显然和我们的开国元勋们有着同样的信念，即一个地区的繁荣始于一流的高等教育机构.

我们通常认为大学的作用主要是培养人才:培养毕业后将为地区经济做出贡献的职业领袖. 我们当然在俄亥俄州这样做，尽管我们认为这只是我们区域承诺的一部分. 作为一个 Carnegie-designated R1 (very high research activity) University, 我们的研究工作——与市政当局和社区组织合作——是我们影响邻近社区成功的另一种有力方式.

更重要的是, 我们地区的需求经常激发我们的研究计划，并帮助我们发展和确定研究优势. Our place influences our work, and our work influences the place we call home. 与当地合作伙伴一起, 我们正在构建的解决方案已经成为世界各地其他社区的典范.

从边远地区到骑自行车

Moynihan’s 200 years of patience is not always required, but big ideas for regional progress do often take decades to come to full fruition. 30多年前, 在雅典，一群当地的娱乐爱好者推荐了一个在市中心建立山地自行车道系统的想法 韦恩国家森林就在城市的北边. 这个想法最终在2015年生根发芽，这在很大程度上要归功于俄亥俄州的校友和前雅典自行车的所有者, 彼得Kotses, AB ’92, 丹尼·特威利, MSRSS 06年, 博士的17, who was at the time teaching recreation and sport pedagogy at the University. 特威利带头起草了一份提案请求，要求一家公司开发这条道路的设计, and Kotses worked to generate the seed funding for project planning.

快进到今天，还有 贝利步道系统 is thriving with 58 miles of trail open for use and 30 more being constructed. In the years since Twilley and Kotses partnered to jumpstart the planning effort, many more partners have joined the project, 韦恩国家森林和 Outdoor Recreation Council of 阿巴拉契亚 (ORCA)处于领先地位.

多年来, the Baileys project has also fueled research opportunities for the University, including the first formal internship program with 韦恩国家森林. In 2018, 俄亥俄州的6名学生整个夏天都在对该系统的前36英里进行实地调查. 实习生们记录了动物, 植物和考古资源, along the way discovering two new populations of a state-endangered dragonfly, several sensitive plant species and two new archaeological sites.

最近，俄亥俄州视觉传达专业的艾米丽·塞布林(Emily Sebring)参加了一项奖励活动 August 2023 internship experience with ORCA, 这是一个由政府组成的委员会，旨在持续关注户外娱乐活动，将其作为社区的资产，并开发贝利小径系统.

她说:“能够看到我所做的工作对社区产生影响，这真的很好。. “The nice thing about working with social media and stuff like that is,
我看到人们参与其中.”

俄亥俄州还参与了一项社会经济影响研究，以便在trail系统开发之前设定基线. This sort of research not only is relevant to Baileys, but will help inform projects now underway in Vermont, 加州, Pennsylvania and Washington that are using the same development consultants.

When complete, the 贝利步道系统 will connect to the 霍克霍克阿德纳自行车道, 这是一条22英里长的自行车道，沿着霍金河沿着官方网站的樱桃树而行, 使项目圆满完成.

油漆污染

从昌西的贝利小径起点到米尔菲尔德和特林布尔镇骑自行车只需要很短的时间, where children might draw their rivers in vivid shades of yellow or orange.

It’s not because they’ve imagined a fanciful golden waterway, 而是因为这是他们在俄亥俄州东南部社区长大的现实，就像宾夕法尼亚州的其他社区一样, 西维吉尼亚州, Kentucky or Tennessee—where water drainage from abandoned coal mines, 用氧化铁包装, has leached from tunnels underground to color streams and damage habitats.

在俄亥俄，研究人员 约翰Sabraw, professor of painting + drawing in the College of Fine Arts, and 家伙Riefler, 俄罗斯工程技术学院土木与环境工程教授, have spent more than a decade designing a method to not only clean up local streams, but in fact transform the damaging waste into an artist-quality pigment for use in paint.

Sabraw and Riefler partnered with local community agency 农村的行动 将这个想法商业化 社会企业 公司 真正的颜料. 俄亥俄州自然资源部矿产资源管理司提供了3美元.5 million in pilot funding to construct a full-scale acid mine drainage water treatment plant that will help source materials for 真正的颜料. 这种植物 破土动工 last June at the Truetown Discharge site in Millfield, Ohio, the largest single acid mine drainage discharge site 在这个州.

对当地的影响是有形的:True色素和新的水处理厂将为当地提供就业机会，同时帮助修复周日溪的破坏, just a few miles north of OHIO’s residential campus.

“我们很感谢像农村行动这样的合作伙伴以及州和联邦一级的办事处帮助这个项目成为现实,萨布鲁说. “这个新设施是恢复俄亥俄州东南部地区清洁水的关键一步, and in demonstrating how art plays a vital role in creating a vibrant community.”

更重要的是, 这个项目有可能改变Sunday Creek银行以外的社区. There are more than 45,000 abandoned coal mines across the country, as mapped by the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. 集中在落基山脉以东和阿巴拉契亚山脉沿线, abandoned mines are located in more than half of all U.S. 州. They also wreak havoc in South Africa, Northeast India and across Europe. 这是一个全球性的问题, with researchers at countless universities working on potential remediation. 但俄亥俄州的油漆解决方案是完全独特的，为世界各地的社区创造了一个潜在的模式.

可持续装饰的黑钻石

同时，俄亥俄州的研究人员 Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment 一直在努力寻找另一种方式，将该地区过去的采掘经济转变为一种新的经济, more sustainable industry for the region.

在…的领导下 杰森发抖的, BSCHE 03, MS ’05, 07年博士, professor of mechanical engineering in the Russ College and director of the ISEE, a team of OHIO faculty and students have successfully converted 煤矿开采产生的废物, in combination with disposed plastic bottles, into 新的，负担得起的装饰材料 对于建筑行业. 这个项目是 资助 通过一个 美国政府拨款500万美元.S. 能源部.

“The carbon dioxide emissions are 60 to 80% less than your typical wood-based product,” Trembly told state leaders on a recent tour of his lab. “它使我们能够清理遗留矿区，那里有数十亿吨可用的材料.”

类似于True色素的计划, Trembly对这种新型地板产品的未来愿景是发展合作伙伴关系，支持在该地区建造制造工厂，并在那里生产用于商业销售, 促进了俄亥俄州东南部的就业和增长，并支持了整个州的建筑业. 随着时间的推移, 产量的增长可能会带来在整个地区乃至整个地区重新利用煤矸石的机会.

触及表面

除了这几个闪亮的例子, 俄亥俄州拥有丰富的研究理念和项目，具有推动区域增长和成功的潜力。

In the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, the 糖尿病研究所 是一个 national leader in diabetes research in rural communities, working to solve care inequities in 阿巴拉契亚 and improve local diabetes education.

在斯克里普斯传媒学院, 教师们与雅典警察局和雅典县治安官办公室合作开发虚拟的 现实执法培训 现在全州都在使用.

In the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for Intervention 研究 in Schools 涉及俄亥俄的教师和学生在整个地区的学校发展和评估青少年注意力缺陷/多动障碍的干预措施.

In early April, the University hosted its third annual Place-Based Teaching and Learning Symposium. 这个免费的活动包括一个基于地点的教学研讨会，并庆祝地点如何促进社区的教学, building connection with and pride in them.

这样的例子不胜枚举. 工作本身当然会. bet8九州登录入口成立已有220年，两年前，bet8九州登录入口进入了美国R1研究机构的候选名单. Imagine the impact OHIO can—and will—have in our next 200 years.

Robin Oliver is the vice president for University Communications and Marketing.

Featured photo courtesy of 访问 雅典县