In his FPS career, Vlosky has been a member of the International Nominating Committee (2018), member of the Executive Committee (2018), member of the Strategic Planning Committee (2018), Plenary Session Committee Member (2018), and Session Chair, Program Committee Member, and Conference Planning Committee Member for the 72nd Forest Products Society International Convention (2018). In 2016, he was the Awards Chair for the 70th Forest Products Society International Convention and in 2015, he coordinated the Technical Session Program. He also chaired the 2013 67th International Convention Coordinating Committee.

Shortly after the 2012 International Convention in Washington, DC, Vlosky developed and executed an evaluation survey to all FPS members focusing on those that attended as a tool to improve the convention in 2013.

His additional current and past contributions to the Society are:

• 2011-present: Chair of the Internationalization Task Group in which he took the initiative to bring to the Board for approval to create
• 1998-present: Membership Chair of Mid-South Section
• 2009: Member of the National Research Needs Assessment Committee, jointly sponsored by US Forest Service, Forest Products Society and Society of Wood Science & Technology
• 2008: Member of the International Nominating Committee
• 2007: Chair of Website Development & Improvement Committee and continues to be a member
• 2006: Member of the Membership Recruitment/Branding Committee
• 2005: Member of the Student-Full Member Conversion Committee
• 2002: At the request of the FPS Board of Directors, Rich coordinated and analyzed a Membership needs assessment survey. He developed the survey, executed it for all FPS members, analyzed the results and disseminated the assessment report to FPS members and the Board
• 2002: Key member of the International Cooperation Committee
• 2001-2003: Chair of the Marketing Technical Interest Group and Vice-Chair of this TIG from 1998-2000
• 1997-1998: Member of the National Membership Committee and Chair of the ad-hoc Electronic Publication Task ForceGroup
• 1995-1998: Co-Chair of the Electronic Information Technology Sub-Committee
• 1995-present: Reviewer for the Forest Products Journal

Congress established the Barry Goldwater Scholarship in 1986 to honor Senator Barry Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years in the U.S. Senate. The scholarship was designed to alleviate a critical, current and future shortage of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers.

The Ogden Honors College, established in 1992, is a vibrant, diverse and prestigious community located at the heart of LSU. The Ogden Honors College provides students with a curriculum of rigorous seminar classes, as well as opportunities for undergraduate research, culminating in the Honors Thesis. Its focus on community service, study abroad, internships and independent research helps today’s high-achieving students become tomorrow’s leaders.

LSU News: PERMALINK

In addition to being a full-time LSU professor and researcher, Stouffer served as the editor-in-chief of the scientific journal, The Condor: Ornithological Applications, from 2013 to 2019. During the journal’s transition from general ornithology to applied ornithology, Stouffer helped guide the transition, raising the impact factor to first place among ornithology journals worldwide in the process. He also served as associate editor of the scientific journal, The Auk, from 2002 to 2013. In addition to serving as an editor for AOS journals over the past decade, he also served as the Scientific Program Chair for the North American Ornithological Congress in New Orleans in 2002 and has been a judge for the Cooper Ornithological Society Student Presentation Awards and AOS Student Presentation Awards.

Every year, AOS presents a range of awards honoring members for stellar contributions to science and impactful service to the organization. The award recipients’ work spans the full breadth of avian science, including contributions to evolution, conservation, systematics and genetics as well as to the profession of ornithology. Awardees represent the broad diversity of AOS members, who are making major contributions to ornithology and to the society.

“Honoring the achievements of our colleagues is an annual highlight for AOS leadership,” said AOS President Kathy Martin. “Under the northern lights of Anchorage, AOS will recognize a stellar array of ornithologists who will receive these prestigious awards for 2019.”

Additional Link: 2019 AOS Award Winners Announced

04/16/19) BATON ROUGE, La. — The LSU AgCenter has awarded the first cannabis-related research funds from an agreement with GB Sciences Louisiana, the company working with the AgCenter to produce therapeutic cannabis, said Ashley Mullens, AgCenter coordinator of external and governmental affairs.

In 2015, the Louisiana Legislature passed the Alison Neustrom Act, which paved the way for the production, recommendation and use of therapeutic cannabis. The AgCenter is currently operating its Therapeutic Cannabis Program in partnership with GB Sciences Louisiana under one of the two licenses in Louisiana. Under the terms of the agreement with GB Sciences, the AgCenter will receive $3.4 million or 10 percent of gross revenue, whichever is greater, over five years and as well as annual research investment.

“GB Sciences provides $500,000 per year as part of our agreement to fund cannabis-related studies,” Mullens said.

Chris Green, an AgCenter researcher (School of Renewable Nattural Resources), is using tiny zebrafish in his quest to develop treatments for people suffering from epileptic seizures. Green has spent the past two years developing the zebrafish model.

Through this award, Green will look at the possibility of using various components of the cannabis plant — including cannabidiol, or CBD, oil — to treat epilepsy.

Cannabidiol is a substance extracted from the flowers and buds of marijuana or hemp plants. It does not produce intoxication like a marijuana “high,” which is caused by the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

Green’s background is in the field of applied reproductive fish physiology and endocrinology, with a focus on freshwater and estuarine aquaculture species.

He and graduate student Courtney Murr feel they are making progress in developing the model needed to advance this research to the next level.

Part of Murr’s work involves videoing the fish to track their behavior as they experience the induced seizures.

“The software that we use tells us the total distance the fish move and the speed at which they move,” she said.

The results are used to determine when the fish are having seizures, and the researches can look at the different treatments to tell which has a greater effect.

“I started trying to do some pilot studies just with developing the seizure model itself,” Green said. “I think that using a biomedical model like a fish was a good way to start.”

Green said because of his background in fish physiology and fish biology, it fit nicely. “I’ve worked with zebrafish for a couple of years now to develop a baseline for what seizures are in these animals,” he said.

Recently, Green has been able to take small compounds like CBD and apply them to his seizure model and see possible beneficial results.

“Epilepsy is a very complex disorder, and it doesn’t affect every patient the same,” he said. “And it’s the same with the different medicines currently available. They don’t work the same for everybody.”

In addition to the cannabinoids, other compounds, such as terpenoids, will be considered for seizure behavior.

“A recent paper that also looked at zebrafish found that a small amount of CBD in the presence of a larger amount of THC actually made that THC more absorbed in the body,” Green said.

Because these fish are so small, it only takes very small amounts of THC and CBD to test in their bloodstreams.

“The amounts of the product needed for the research would amount to the analytical standards used for calibrating lab equipment,” he said.

Several things make zebrafish work better than traditional lab animals.

“These fish are very small, but they have a large number of babies. They are inexpensive, and they have some of the same receptors in their brains that we do,” Green said.

Research as far back as the 1970s and 1980s show components of cannabis used to treat epilepsy in rats, Green said.

Green hopes to use the zebrafish to conduct other types of research using CBD, such as for treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mullens is excited about the research potential these funds will provide to the LSU AgCenter.

“We hope that this is the first of many projects that researchers at the LSU AgCenter will conduct to further the understanding of the cannabis plant and its efficacy for treating certain medical conditions,” she said.

Johnny Morgan | 4/16/2019 6:48:50 PM | permalink