Paul has been recognized for achieving extraordinarily high impact innovations through research collaborations with industry.

The award recognizes excellence by Oregon State research faculty, and will be  announced during each University Day at the start of the academic year.

Please view the on-line “Prezi” presentation with more details about Dr. Paul’s contributions and career.

Note: The Faculty Senate posts information about nominations and criteria for this award and and the Faculty Innovator Award

The Faculty Innovator Award celebrates impact through engagement in commercialization partnerships, recognizing a faculty member whose extraordinarily high impact innovations from research are translated into transformative results that help promote economic development and social progress.

This year it was awarded posthumously to Richard Peterson, who passed away in February.

Dr. Peterson was arominent national expert in heat transfer, thermodynamics and combustion, and a leading researcher in miniature and microscale energy systems. He was a professor of mechanical engineering.

“Rich was a prolific inventor whose research will have a profound impact on lives well into the future. He submitted 34 invention disclosures in the past 15 years. Rich really believed in the potential impact his discoveries could have on millions of lives.”

Brian Wall
Director of the Office for Commercialization and Corporate Development

A resolution by the Board of Directors of the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI) noted Dr. Peterson’s leadership as one of the core founders and as co-director of the Microproducts Breakthrough Institute, and President, CTO, and co-founder of ONAMI Gap Company Applied Exergy. His  many creative contributions to development of technology, included advances in grid energy storage.

Please view an on-line presentation with more details about Dr. Peterson’s career and about the criteria for the annual award.

“Rich was fiercely independent but passionate about his research making a positive impact.  He also cared deeply about teaching and leaves behind a legacy of engineers who will continue making impact. He will be sorely missed.”

Brian Paul
Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering,
Director of the Microproducts Breakthrough Institute

It doesn’t take long before some challenging questions emerge from individual curriculum vitae:

• How much effort should be focused on hypothesis-driven research, versus more service-oriented productivity?
• What constitutes a legitimate proportion of attention to “high-impact” journals?
• How should one represent one’s contribution to publication activity (e.g. first authorship)?
• Is there a best balance of students and post-docs?
• How do we weigh the respective merits of intellectual property development (e.g. patent disclosures) to peer-reviewed publication?
• What is the “community ” standard for rates of publication within a given discipline?

As an oceanographer, I bring my own “community” biases to the discussion of research impact.  For example, I’ll look at a publication in Nature (with its high impact factor) much differently from one in, say, Journal of Geophysical Research.  I also know what it means to have served as a Chief Scientist on a major research cruise, but I may not know what an equivalent activity might be in another field.  Those are metrics that may not be part of the culture in, say, plant pathology.  You should know the culture of your field.  If you don’t, speak with your mentors, ask your peers.  It is to your benefit to understand early in your career how you will be judged within your field so that you can reach your aspirations.

This year, alone, the P&T Committee read through nearly 10,000 pages of dossiers, and spent hundreds of cumulative hours in review, discussion and consideration.  And that doesn’t count the time and effort put in by the candidates, faculty committees, administrators and staff!  The time-honored traditions of P&T merit this investment, an investment that pays off to guide the careers of our university’s educators, researchers, administrators and service providers.

So, as we close out another academic year, let me be one of the first to congratulate those who’ve been promoted and/or attained tenure.  Your accomplishments are noteworthy and significant.  It’s a pleasure to recognize your success!

Now each year through a special program, more than 70,000 Oregonians of all ages - in all 36 counties and in 3 tribal lands – are educated to make nutritious food choices, engage in physical activity, handle food safely, and manage their resources so they have food at the end of the month.

Please join me in thanks and hearty congratulations to Sally Bowman, Core Director of the Parenting and Family Life Core of the Hallie E. Ford Center, who oversees the Oregon Nutrition Education Program, and the 130 OSU Extension Service faculty and staff who provide nutrition education around the state.

With a recent grant of almost $7Million from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service and a contract with Oregon Department of Human Services, they are reaching those who are receiving benefits or who are eligible for The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Education program

Sally is the Program Leader for Extension 4-H Youth Development and Family and Community Health. She has made many significant contributions over the years to address the needs of rural and vulnerable populations, on issues ranging from hunger to parenting. She received the L.L. Stewart Faculty Scholar award in 2009, and the Extended Education Faculty Achievement Award in 2004.

SNAP was formally known as Food Stamps. According to Sally, this program is now regulated by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which will transform the SNAP-Ed program into a nutrition education and obesity prevention grant program.”

In 2011, the Oregon program had about 698,000 direct educational contacts with adults, families and youth, in series or single events. In addition, it reached 250,000 participants through demonstrations, displays, or newsletters.

Again, please join me in celebrating Sally’s past and ongoing accomplishments.

-Rick Spinrad
VP for Research