Ohio making headlines

Russ College of Engineering and Technology Professor Dr. Guy Riefler and College of Fine Arts Professor John Sabraw (shown) have been working to clean up Ohio’s rust-colored rivers by turning the pollution in them, specifically acid mine drainage, into paint pigment. CNN featured the two professors’ work through multiple photos, highlighting their partnership with Rural Action to create artist-grade paints from the iron oxide extracted from the acid mine drainage. Photo by Ben Wirtz Siegel, BSVC ’02.

Ohio University Athletic Director Julie Cromer is transforming the NCAA and helping reshape the future of how the NCAA’s top division, Division I, looks and acts. Cromer was highlighted in Sports Business Journal for her role as co-chair of the Transformation Committee and for being at the center of important conversations in the NCAA that are changing the game for collegiate athletics. In addition to her role on the committee, Cromer was also named to Sports Business Journal’s Game Changers Class of 2022 and was named by Sports Illustrated as one of college football’s most intriguing people due to her work on the NCAA Transformation Committee.

Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service received a $195,736 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help expand the use of anaerobic digesters to divert food waste from landfills and reduce methane emissions, The Hill reported. This grant will allow for researchers in the Voinovich School, like principal investigator Sarah Davis, to work with a local restaurant and microbrewery to quantify the potential for waste diversion. They will estimate the biogas and fertilizer yield from an anaerobic digestion system with the goal of applying this model to other microbreweries. Researchers, including Jesus Pagan in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, are also collaborating on the project.