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Campaign finance data is publicly available, but not everyone is an expert data analyst -- and, if you're looking to gain meaningful information, there's quite a lot of data to slog through. That's what inspired senior journalism student Danielle Keeton-Olsen and Abdalah El-Barrad, a junior dual majoring in applied mathematics and economics, to work with three other undergraduates to create an algorithm called ConnectWatch, which analyzes accessible databases to monitor how money influences elected officials and reveal questionable connections.
"This data exists, but no one's really digging into it or unlocking the potential that it holds," Keeton-Olsen said.
Keeton-Olsen and El-Barrad work together as Undergraduate Research Scholars at the Voinovich School. Through their work, Keeton-Olsen became familiar with El-Barrad's skills and decided early in the course of the project to invite El-Barrad to join her team.
"We were looking for someone who could work on mechanizing the project and making the process faster," Keeton-Olsen said. "Abdalah is a lot better at the programming side than I am, and I'm better at thinking about the stories that the data can tell, because that's what I'm trained to do."
Accordingly, over the course of the project, Keeton-Olsen worked primarily on the journalism and communications side while Abdalah wrote scripts to map questionable connections and worked on data crunching.
"The more I learned about it, the more into I got," El-Barrad said. "It quickly became a cool project for me."
The group of five students entered their idea in the fourth annual Scripps Innovation Challenge, a University-wide student competition to create innovative solutions to real-world media and communication problems. The competition was open to all Ohio University students, regardless of major. Winners were selected after presenting their ideas on Pitch Day to a group of media industry professionals.
The team, named "The Honey Badgers," also included Logan Leland, a junior majoring in computer science, and journalism seniors Will Drabold and Sam Howard. In the end, the group won second place and took home $5,000.
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The Office of Environmental Management (EM) recently awarded grants to Ohio University (OHIO) and the University of Kentucky (UK) to develop publicly available information related to the cleanup of the Portsmouth and Paducah gaseous diffusion plant sites in Ohio and Kentucky.
The five-year, $2.5-million-dollar grants will also continue public outreach initiated under previous Department of Energy (DOE) grants, including informing stakeholders on cleanup activities and future use of the DOE sites. This work involves OHIO's Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs and its PORTSfuture project, and UK's Kentucky Research Consortium for Energy and the Environment (KRCEE).
"The Department of Energy values these university partnerships that provide important research and outreach supporting the cleanup of our gaseous diffusion plants," Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Acting Manager Robert Edwards said. "These institutions of higher learning play an important role in helping DOE and communities address challenges and identify opportunities associated with these historic sites."
With the new funding, OHIO will continue assisting the local community reuse organization and other site stakeholders to inform site cleanup and property transfer efforts while identifying viable opportunities for future use of the Portsmouth Site.
"A major goal of this project is to provide support to the local community reuse organization in their efforts to realize the citizens' articulated preferences to reindustrialize the site," Stephanie Howe, PORTSfuture program director, said. "This will support stable, good-paying jobs that contribute to the regional economy and improve the quality of life for many families in the surrounding counties."
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More than 175 people turned out on March 29 to celebrate innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in southeast Ohio at TechGROWTH Ohio's fourth annual Innovation Celebration. The evening highlighted companies that are significantly impacting the region's economy and turned the spotlight on four up-and-coming startup ventures that are gaining traction.
"The new multi-media, multi-stage, fast-paced networking format really hit a nerve with the audience," Lynn Gellermann, executive director for TechGROWTH Ohio and the Ohio University Center for Entrepreneurship, said. "All of the positive feedback we've received indicates the attendees really enjoyed the experience."
Four "Rising Startup Stars" took the stage to pitch their ventures, including:
- Ben Lachman, Co-Founder of Sense Labs, LLC, a company that has developed an intelligent energy tracker to help users reduce electricity usage and carbon footprint;
- Greg Merril, CEO of YOST Labs, one of the fastest growing tech companies in Ohio specializing in patented sensor technologies enabling motion and position tracking in many upcoming products;
- David Carter, Co-Founder of Jersey Watch, a company that helps youth sports organizations creatively use digital technology to impact their players, followers and fans through free custom-built websites; and,
- Rich Sloan, CEO of FWD:Energy, Inc., a renewable energy business focused on converting waste to energy through renewable energy plants and other commercially valuable products.
"It is through these stars that our university and our region will continue to achieve great things," Ohio University President Roderick McDavis said as he welcomed attendees to the Innovation Celebration. "I am truly proud of all that we have accomplished, and I am inspired by the potential of the future."
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Jasper Wirtshafter, a senior economics student at Ohio University, found his niche at the intersection of social enterprise work, nonprofit work and economics during his time as a Voinovich Undergraduate Research Scholar.
 Wirtshafter works primarily with TechGROWTH Ohio, a public-private partnership composed of the Voinovich School as well as other public institutions and members of the private investment community, which supports startup technology companies to generate jobs and build the economy of Southeastern Ohio. Wirtshafter was first interested in working for the program because of TechGROWTH's unique employment of ideas from Wirtshafter's own field of economics.
"I heard about TechGROWTH Ohio trying to use business ideas in social enterprises and nonprofits," Wirtshafter said. "That really appealed to me as a way of applying what I'm learning in my classes to something I'm interested in and care about."
Through TechGROWTH Ohio, Wirtshafter works primarily with UpGrade Athens County, an environmental nonprofit focused on energy efficiency and projects such as the distribution of LED light bulbs and the placement of solar panels on public buildings.
Wirtshafter serves two primary roles to support the organization: identifying grants that UpGrade Athens County may apply for and helping the organization as it shifts its status from a governmental organization to an independent nonprofit.
This often means that Wirtshafter's primary, day-to-day focus is paperwork -- however, Wirtshafter said that, for him, this work is meaningful.
"I feel like I'm doing a very small part of something that matters," Wirtshafter said.
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 Join the Voinovich School Alumni Society for an end of the year reception this Thursday, April 28 at Della Zona from 6 to 8 p.m. All faculty, professional staff and students are invited!
Please note that this is a separate event from the graduation reception that will be at The Ridges Friday afternoon following the commencement ceremony.
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 Before completing his undergraduate degree in political science at Ohio University in 2014, Michael Stecz knew he wanted to enroll in graduate school. However, Stecz didn't want to spend too much more of his time just sitting in classrooms.
"I wanted something that was more applied, where I could use my problem-solving skills to really work with people on interesting projects," Stecz said.
That desire ultimately led Stecz to the Voinovich School.
Upon enrolling, Stecz quickly became involved in two major projects that would help define his Voinovich School experience: a research project aimed at developing tools to measure the social impact of various initiatives and a project through his graduate recruitment scholarship (GRS), aimed at creating student groups to promote public health education.
"Projects like the student group and the social impact measurement research are really hands-on," Stecz, now a second-year Master of Public Administration student, said. "You're working with real people - it's not just a case-study based academic exercise."
Stecz's social impact measurement research could help others develop better tools for institutions like the Voinovich School to assess the social value their various initiatives provide. In his research, Stecz examined existing social impact measurement tools and identified areas for improvement and further study. Stecz also completed a substantial literature review. For his final deliverable, Stecz aims to share his findings with Voinovich School Founding Dean Mark Weinberg and publish an article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
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Location: Summit County, OH
Description: Defines and implements the direction, goals, and objectives of the agency, holding fundamental responsibility for the successful operations of the agency. Establishes and promotes the vision and direction of the agency consistent with local, state and federal mandates, and the Board's strategic plan
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Ohio University is partnering with the City of Athens and local nonprofits to provide on- and off-campus students with opportunities to donate and recycle items rather than trash them during Move Out Week from Monday, April 25 through Sunday, May 1.
More than 40 campus donation and recycling sites will be available for students to donate items. Every residence hall will have an indoor area to donate sealed and non-perishable food items, as well as outside areas designated for carpet/rugs, furniture and smaller donation items - all items that should not be thrown into dumpsters.
"We are proud to partner with committed community volunteers to divert literally tons of still useable items and see that they are redistributed to area individuals and families," Andrew Ladd, manager of campus recycling and refuse at Ohio University, said.
In a cooperative effort facilitated by Rural Action and the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, community partners including Second Harvest Southeast Ohio Foodbank, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Reuse Industries, Goodwill, Mother Earth Community Thrift Store, New-to-You Shoppe, Athens County Fair Board, Golden Gate 4-H Club, Friends and Neighbors, Lutheran Social Services, and Kleinpenny Rentals are organizing Move Out efforts to keep usable items out of landfills. Several local thrift stores are providing on-demand pickup services of high quality reusable items before, during and after Move Out Week. Visit www.ohio.edu/recycle and click on the Move Out page for the contact information of these thrift stores.
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Graduate Commencement Ceremony
April 29, 9:30 a.m.Convocation CenterVoinovich School Commencement ReceptionApril 29Immediately following the ceremony The Ridges Grounds
*Rain location is Bldg. 21
Fifth Annual Appalachian Ohio State of the Region Conference
May 17, 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Baker Center
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"We're one of the fastest growing technology companies in Ohio. The support from TechGROWTH and the state of Ohio has been paramount, both in terms of providing capital and in helping connect our business with the marketing resources we've needed." |
Impact & Innovation is a newsletter for the students, faculty and professionals of the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs.
Have an article idea? Contact Laura Alloway, Voinovich School Director of Marketing and Communications.
Impact & Innovation is written and created by undergraduate students Diana Wiebe, M.C. Tilton, Jasmine Grillmeier and Daniel Kington.
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Ohio University's Voinovich School is now offering central Ohio's only Executive MPA program by moving to OHIO's new Dublin Center with classes starting this summer 2016.
