HIGHLIGHTS:

BUGGING OUT: TICK AND MITE EXPERTS SWARM TO OHIO STATE--June 19-July 7. Acarologists from around the globe are here to immerse students in the complex world of ticks and mites at the 50th Mite & Tick Workshop. Ohio State Entomology Professor Glen Needham, co-director of the workshop, says "the workshop is like a mite and tick buffet - for three weeks, students and experts eat, sleep and breathe mites and ticks." About 40 students from 12 countries, everyone from entomology students to U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors, are participating in the program, which has trained some 1,200 acarologists since it began. They are here to learn about Acari or Arachnids--cousins to spiders. Ticks - which are simply big mites, are bloodsuckers. They latch on to the skin of a human or other animal and can transmit the bacteria that cause Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease. Certain mites - such as the spider and rust mites - can cause extensive damage to crops, and dust mites are infamous for causing allergies. Special lectures open to the public will be presented between June 27-30 at 12:30p.m. in 107 Parks Hall, 500 W. 12th Avenue. Willy Burgdorfer, discoverer of the Lyme Disease organism, will present "Lyme Disease: Twenty Years After the Discovery" on Tuesday (6/27). Maurice Sabelis, University of Amsterdam, is a world authority on mite behavior, ecology and biology control. He will present three lectures: "Plant-Predator Mutualisms" (6/28); "Learning Behavior in Mites," (6/29); and "Recent Advances in the Biological Control of and by Mites" (6/30).Contact: Glen Needham, Entomology, 688-3026.

CAUTION! ROAD CONSTRUCTION TRAINING AHEAD--Orange barrels, the telltale signs of construction work zones, have sprouted along Ohio roads like dandelions on a vacant lot. Before they place a barrel or pick up a flag, construction workers can attend a class at Ohio State University that offers expert advice on how to warn drivers of upcoming work zones. The Ohio Local Technical Assistance Program Center (LTAP), housed at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science, offers free classes through the Circuit Rider program. Since 1997, more than 4,600 workers have taken the classes, learning how to best place warning signs on roads approaching a work zone, correct placement of traffic cones, and proper procedures for flaggers. Mike Fitch, an engineer at LTAP, says construction zones are dangerous places. More than 10,000 people, both motorists and construction workers, were killed nationwide in work zone traffic accidents in the last 15 years. He says the most important things drivers can do to be safer are slow down, obey the warning signs, and follow the instructions of flaggers directing work zone traffic. Contact: Mike Fitch, LTAP, 292-4988; or Dana Stone, College of Engineering, 292-4064.

The person listed as Contact will have the best information about the story. Call on our media relations staff for help with any Ohio State story--Reggie Anglen, 292-8423; Elizabeth Conlisk, 292-3040; Amy Murray, 292-8385; Lesley Deaderick, 292-0569; Melinda Sadar, 292-8298; and Karissa Shivley, 292-8295.

Compiled by Amy Murray, University Relations, (Murray-Goedde.1@osu.edu)