Jacquie Van Hoomissen

Can (COVID-era) Science Be Fun? Yes It Can!

August 21, 2020

As faculty prepare for online Fall 2020 classes, tales of ingenuity and perseverance abound. Biology professor Jacquie Van Hoomissen shares the following from her colleague, Ryan Kenton, biology:

“I hope you are all staying sane (and healthy) prepping like mad for the semester that no one has ever had before.

I am currently assembling take home kits for Micro Lab – something that I thought I would never do – but here we are. So, what is the best, most fun, ingenious, item in the kit?

Some may say the glitter/water mixture that can be streaked to obtain “isolated colonies” onto a homemade gelatin petri dish
Others will say the shipping box itself, which once punctured a few times will act as a “tube rack”
Most will agree it is the foldscopes (https://www.foldscope.com/), a paper microscope that once hooked to your phone can achieve 1000x magnification (I have attached my pictures of bakers yeast and sweater fuzz)
But no, the crown jewel was created last night by my genius wife. By using our kitchen microplane we shaved 40 different colors of crayons into a container. We then tixed in water and aliquoted into 1.5ml tubes. A circular piece of paper is then cut and placed inside of a petri dish. This mixture can then be poured over the plate by the student to create a diverse set of “colonies.” Students can then pick and patch these using the provided “sterile” toothpicks onto a 32 grid on another petri dish–something that is done in the lab to begin to find antibiotic producing bacteria.

For more information or to marvel over his genius wife, contact Kenton at 503.943.7694 or kenton@up.edu.

Science Night 2013: Thank You!

November 22, 2013

Jacqueline Van Hoomissen, biology, would like to send a special thank you to all students and faculty who participated in the annual Science Night on Tuesday, November 19, at Holy Redeemer Catholic School in North Portland. The event was a great success and there were more than 66 undergraduate student volunteers from biology, chemistry, physics, education, and engineering. Undergraduate science education outreach students and faculty from Portland State University, Portland Community College, and Reed College, as well as volunteers from Saturday Academy, also took part.

Science Night is a fun-filled education evening full of hands-on science learning activities created by undergraduate students. This is the fifth year of the University’s Science Night and organizers would love to hear from anyone who is interested in getting involved. The final Science Night for the 2013-2014 academic year will take place in April; please contact Van Hoomissen at vanhoomi@up.edu for more information or to sign up to participate.

An American Dream—an opera by librettist/Portland Magazine editor, Jessica Murphy Moo, and composer Jack Perla—was produced by OperaLab Japan in Tokyo (November 2024) and Manhattan School of Music (December 2024).

Larry Larsen, Performing and Fine Arts, designed the scenery for this year’s production of Nordic Fire for the Portland Revels that is playing at the Alberta Abbey from December 13 through December 22. He also is designing the lighting for Lakewood Theatre Company’s production of The Maltese Falcon based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett, which plays at the Lakewood Center in Lake Oswego from January 3 through February 9.

Lizhong Hao, Business, presented “The Impact of Auditor and Client Bargaining Power on Audit Pricing: A Two-Tier Stochastic Frontier Approach.” The 2024 Corporate Behavior and New Development of Financial Markets International Conference. Chongqing, China. November, 2024.

Simon Aihiokhai, Theology, was a discussant and participant at the International Congress on the Future of Theology ‘Legacy and Envisioning.’ Organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education. Vatican City. December 9–10, 2024. Aihiokhai was also a discussant and participant at the General Assembly of the International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology (INSeCT). Rome, Italy. December 8 – 13, 2024.

Dave Houglum, Director of Leadership Studies and Leadership Professor of Practice, Franz Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, completed the training requirements to be certified in the DiSC assessment on December 19, 2024. The DiSC assessment is a powerful tool that helps individuals and teams improve communication, collaboration, and workplace dynamics by providing insights into behavioral and communication styles. If you’d like to explore using the DiSC assessment for your individual or team’s leadership development, please contact Dave Houglum.

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