Dear colleagues,

In the last two years, our community has engaged extensively in discussions and collective decision-making to ensure that new plans for the College’s future align with our shared values. Your input informed the community-created Diversity Action Plan that launched in fall. And this year, your feedback is guiding the priorities and goals in the College’s next five-year strategic plan.

In evaluating your input during this time, it is resoundingly clear to me that, among other convictions, this community cares deeply about student success and transformative education that is accessible for all learners. I’m grateful that the values and commitments of our two incoming College of Science leaders – both with track records of advocating student-centered, inclusive education – align well with these values.

Jessica Siegel, associate dean of academic and student affairs as of January, is a community-minded leader who thinks strategically about holistic, student-centered education and issues of equity and wellbeing. I’m confident that her knowledge of evidence-based practices in teaching and learning will positively impact our students.

As of April 1, Jessica is now the first point of contact as associate dean as Henri Jansen transitions toward full retirement June 1. Jessica will continue working at 60% in this position as she finishes out her teaching and leadership responsibilities at University of St. Thomas, moving to a full-time basis at OSU June 1. Again, I offer my thanks to Henri for his devoted service. Stay tuned for news about his retirement party.

Kameron Kadooka also steps into his new role this month as the College of Science’s first director of Equity, Access and Inclusion. Kameron has been a constant advocate for students as LSAMP coordinator at OSU and recently as our interim EAI director. I know the College will be well served by his experience and commitment to embed, integrate and advance inclusive excellence within all aspects of the College of Science.

As interim director (on a part-time basis), Kameron oversaw the development of the College’s new EAI website, served as chair of the EAI leadership council, and worked with the members of EAI subcommittees to identify barriers to recruitment, retention and success of faculty and students from underrepresented communities. I want to thank Andy Karplus, University Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, for working alongside Kameron during the last six months to those ends.

Moving forward, Kameron will continue laying the groundwork to advance goals and actions in the Diversity Action Plan in collaboration with the EAI leadership council, and senior and academic leadership. Watch for an upcoming Impact story in which Kameron will share his vision for the role and future EAI initiatives.

As we think deeply about our research and teaching mission in planning for the future, I want to encourage all of you to participate in two upcoming events involving the Collaborative Innovation Complex (CIC) that Provost Ed Feser announced in November. This state-of-the-art, multidisciplinary facility on the Corvallis campus will host OSU’s most advanced research infrastructure with the goal of supporting team-based interdisciplinary research and education. Please join the University Forum on April 7 at 3:30 p.m. and the Ideation Session on April 15 at 4 p.m. Read more details here or at the bottom of this newsletter. If you are part of a collaborative team with faculty from at least one other college working on one of the CIC themes, please consider giving a brief presentation at the Ideation Session.

Thank you to the many of you who participated in our recent strategic planning engagement activities. The committee is synthesizing your feedback and drafting a plan that will be consistent with the OSU strategic plan SP4.0, incorporate our Diversity Action Plan, and encompass our mission in research, teaching, outreach, engagement and inclusive excellence. We anticipate the formal unveiling of the plan next fall.

Roy Haggerty
Dean, College of Science

Research Funding

Congratulations to the 2022 awardees of the Science Research and Innovation Seed – Individual Investigator awards. These awards, ranging in amounts from $10K to $20K, providing funding to establish partnerships, accelerate project development, generate data and manuscripts and foster proposal submissions to external funders.

• Radu Dascaliuc, associate professor of mathematics: “Stochastic Cascades and Energy Transfer in Equations of Fluid Dynamics”
• Yanming Di, associate professor of statistics: “Innovating Seed Sampling Devices and Protocols”
• Colin Johnson, associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics: “Establishing a Zebrafish model for the study of the Ferlin gene Fer1L6”
• Chong Fang, associate professor of chemistry: “Elucidating primary events of engineered photoswitchable fluorescent proteins with a powerful ultrafast spectroscopy toolset”
• Clay Petsche, associate professor of mathematics: “Exceptional maps in arithmetic dynamical systems”
• Axel Saenz Rodriguez, assistant professor of mathematics: “Probability law for 1D quantum electrons”

As part of the SciRIS program, the College of Science offers other donor-funded awards to bolster research and innovation. The Disease Mechanism and Prevention Fund (DMPF) supports research into the mechanism, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of human disease by the College of Science faculty.

• Swati Patel, assistant professor of mathematics, received one DMPF grant for a project entitled “Mathematical modeling of Anthelmintic resistance in soil-transmitted Helminths.”
• Adrian Gombart, professor of biochemistry and biophysics, also received a DMPF grant for an ongoing project entitled “The role of the Cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.” 

Congratulations to this year’s awardees.

Research Proposal Support

You can find funding opportunities on ECOS. To access a suite of tools and resources available to faculty, visit the College of Science Proposal Support webpage.

Ryan Mehl and the new GCE4All genetic code expansion center were featured in an interview on KVAL. The new center is the first of its kind in the world and made possible through a $6M grant from the NIH.

Coral eco-physiologist and microbiology postdoc Rowan McLachlan is the lead author on a two-year study that suggests some Hawaiian corals may tolerate warming and ocean acidification more than previously thought. Her research was featured in Forbes magazine.

Integrative biology Ph.D. candidate Rebecca Mostow was featured in an article in the Statesman Journal about the new hybrid beachgrass that was only recently discovered along the Oregon Coast. The grass could play a big role in the dunes of the future.

Zoology alumnus and disease ecologist with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies Barbara Han was featured in the New York Times earlier this month, discussing how the coronavirus spreads to animals.

The chemistry department’s Ecampus virtual lab platform has received Online Learning Consortium Innovative award for their work to bring chemistry labs to the virtual learning space. 

If you have not yet read the College’s 2021-22 financial report, you can find it and previous reports on the College’s internal website and Dean Roy Haggerty’s overview and commentary in the March newsletter. It includes an overview of the College of Science revenues, expenditures, budget, investments and outcomes from the last fiscal year, as well as some of the challenges and opportunities facing the College of Science in the coming years.

Kameron Kadooka is now director of Equity, Access and Inclusion (EAI) for the College of Science. This position is a step forward for the College, driven by the Diversity Action Plan, which Kadooka will oversee over the coming years. “Equity work is culture change work,” he said, “and I hope to see the culture of the College of Science move towards one that is welcoming of all.”

Third-year student Breanna Repp found that the BioHealth Sciences major was a great fit to pursue her interests and form a cohort of peers. “Most people I meet, we all know we went on this track to get a really comprehensive look at healthcare,” she said. In considering her options after graduation, she’d like to pursue a master’s in public health in addition to medical school so she can one day help to change policy and make a difference on a systems level.

Jerri Bartholomew has a new art exhibit up in The Little Gallery in Kidder Hall. “Abstracted: Where Science Meets Art and Music,” contrasts the scientific abstract with the artistic concept of abstraction. The exhibit runs through April 8.

Science Pro

April 5, Noon – 2 p.m.

Students are invited to join a panel discussion with alumni and other professionals from Pfizer, Intel, academia and more. Please encourage students to register for this networking and career preparation event.

Collaborative Innovation Complex (CIC) University Forum

April 7, 3:30 p.m.

Join Ed Feser and other OSU leadership to learn more about progress on siting the new CIC building and imagining the research infrastructure it will house. This session is also a time to provide feedback and address questions about the new center.

CIC Ideation Session

April 15, 4 – 5 p.m., Reception to follow, MU Horizon Room

In order to best plan for the types of innovative research that may take place in the new CIC, join this ideation session on how OSU research can contribute to solutions to the world’s pressing problems. Individuals or teams of researchers are invited to give short presentations on ongoing collaborative research at OSU that involves research from multiple colleges or institutes with results that can be brought to bear in solving some of humanity’s greatest challenges. To indicate interest in presenting your ideas, reply here.

Health Professions Fair

April 19, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Memorial Union Ballroom

This Health Professions Fair is an opportunity for students to connect with professional schools and programs to learn about graduate education and careers in health care.

Dam Proud Day

April 27

Join the College of Science community on April 27 in supporting three different funds: SURE Science scholarships, the Biochemistry & Biophysics Excellence Fund, and Science for All, a new fund supporting non-traditional students in the College. More details to come soon!

Gilfillan Memorial Lecture

May 3, 2022, 5:30 – 7 p.m., LaSells Student Center

Join faculty, alumni, friends and family as we celebrate the career achievements of Distinguished Professor Michael Freitag, this year’s Gilfillan Award recipient. He will give a lecture on his area of research entitled “Our lives among the peaks: Tales of ChIPs, enrichment, and decay.” Register here.

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Recent Events

Future of Science Thought Leaders Forum
March 7, 2022

The College of Science community gathered to hear from four guest speakers and exchange ideas to inform the College’s next strategic plan. Speaker topics ranged from how to improve scientific collaborations nationally and internationally to revamping the National Science Foundation’s funding mechanisms that shape how science is done. Read more about the forum.

International Women’s Day Changemakers in Science featuring Dr. Laura Greene
March 8, 2022

Dr. Laura Green, physics professor at Florida State University spoke to a group on International Women’s Day about her journey from a folk-rock girl from Ohio to becoming the director of the National Magnetic Field Laboratory. A panel discussion on negotiation skills featuring College of Science female faculty members followed Greene’s talk.

Orange and Black Days
March 26, April 1 & 2, 2022Orange and Black Day is an on-campus program for admitted students. College of Science advisors and faculty met incoming first year students, presented on the College’s departments and its majors and helped answer new students’ questions. The next Orange and Black Days are on April 8. Read more about this and other prospective student events here.