Applied Plant Sciences (CAPS), Center for

The Ohio State University Center for Applied Plant Sciences (CAPS) is a partnership between Ohio State’s College of Arts and Sciences and College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. It supports building a strong connection between basic research and potential applications, and the creation of new bioproducts and enhanced crop performance are among CAPS' top priorities.

CAPS represents an alliance for the opportunity to bring together like-minded colleagues and help facilitate their research, make them more competitive, enhance their research and give them platforms on which to grow their programs.

{Jay Hollick, Director, CAPS} 

Mission

To serve the interests of Ohio State University colleagues that have a shared interest in basic and applied science.

Goals

• Advocate for education and outreach programs, related to plant science
• Make CAPS instrumental in recruiting plant biologists
• Create an interdisciplinary network of scientific researchers

History

CAPS was founded to create a center with a focus on specific scientific research teams that were addressing strategic areas. Through the years, CAPS has become more engaged in a variety of other programs and scientists. CAPS is focused on initiatives to increase research work across disciplines and colleges.

CAPS Seminar Series

Weekly scientific seminars cover topics related to each of CAPS strategic areas. These seminars develop interactions and spur synergistic connections among researchers in diverse fields. Seminars are from Ohio State faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students and distinguished external speakers, summarizing the highlights of their current work.  

Partnerships

To bridge the gap between basic and applied research, CAPS works with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center (OBIC), and the Office for Energy and the Environment (OEE).

Programming

CAPS sponsors/co-sponsors a variety of events and initiatives, including:

Greening of the Classroom Initiative

Introduces high school students to the use of plants to study and solve key global issues.

Tripartite Conference of the Americas on Biotechnology and Bioenergy

Unique research partnership of three major universities — Ohio State, Rutgers, and the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil — committed to intensive, collaborative research on Bioenergy and Biofuels.

Practical Summer Workshop in Functional Genomics

Lectures in genomics, RNA expression analysis and proteomics; hands-on laboratory experience; bioinformatics sessions, all aimed at solving cutting-edge problems in these areas. Open to graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, junior faculty members, qualified undergraduate students and high school teachers.

2.2016