ear Colleagues,

These are the final days of summer, and many of you are enjoying a few days of relaxation or working hard to get a paper out before the excitement of students and classes start. Consequently, I’m going to write about a lighter topic this month. Earlier this year, on LinkedIn, I published a post about how broad and applicable the second law of thermodynamics is to everyday life, problems, and things that happen to all of us. I’ve expanded on it slightly, given this is the College of Science, after all. Let me know what you think. Connect with me on LinkedIn and connect with the College of Science on LinkedIn, too.

One of my favorite lines in literature is Tolstoy’s opening of Anna Karenina, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Tolstoy’s observation applies, with minor modification, to so many problems in our work and personal lives. Have you ever noticed any of the following?

• Your office gets messy easily, but it doesn’t clean easily. There are many ways for it to get messy – tracked leaves on the floor, notes from your last few meetings on the desk, your lunch, dust on everything, but there is only one way for it to be tidy – everything in its place and the banana peel in the garbage can.
• When you owned that old car, there was always something new that broke. There is really only one way for the car to work – all of its parts must be functional. But there are many ways for it to break down.
• A problem is difficult to solve. There are many (often an infinite number) unique and unsuccessful ways to try to solve a thorny problem, but maybe only one or two ways to truly solve it. Israeli diplomat Abba Eban said, “Nations do act wisely when they have exhausted all the other possibilities.” Closer to home, my friend and Dean of Engineering Scott Ashford once said about solving a problem that “We can’t just wish the solution into existence.” What I think he means is that important problems are usually challenging to solve. It not only takes goodwill – wishing – on the part of the problem solver(s) and the first idea that comes to mind, but it also involves finding a solution that addresses the myriad ways that things can go wrong.

Tolstoy’s observation and all of the other examples are the results of the second law of thermodynamics – entropy always increases in a closed system. I won’t give a detailed description of entropy – there are many available at your fingertips or you know it better than me – but it is essentially the amount of disorder in a system. In a closed system (not affected by outside influences), it always increases. That is why things always break down, rooms get messy, problems are hard to solve, and bad explanations abound while good explanations are hard to discover. The second law of thermodynamics is one of the most powerful laws in science. Its quantitative form, S = k log(W), was described by Ludwig Boltzmann, who interestingly developed the entropy equation in the mid-1870s at nearly the same time as Tolstoy published Anna Karenina (1877).

What does any of this have to do with running a college or a lab, or publishing a paper? When I propose a solution, I (try to) look forward to the criticism of the idea. It is the criticism – that innately scientific approach coming from the enlightenment – that can improve the chance of finding a good solution and one that can make all of our lives a little better. For that reason, I try not to take any criticism – even that of the infamous “third reviewer” – as a personal attack, but as an opportunity to find the solution that truly solves the problem. Criticism is the equivalent of adding energy, from an external source, into the system. At its best, criticism and our acceptance of it can increase order and make it more likely that we find that good solution. In any case, the dirty dog, the lawnmower that doesn’t start, and the hard quest for good solutions and explanations all share a common scientific explanation.

I hope you find a few thoughts to reflect on and even pass them along to our incoming students as they work to find their way in science this fall. Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Roy Haggerty
Dean, College of Science

Research Highlights

Read more of the most recent research happening on our iMPACT blog site.

Ecologist Sally Hacker helped lead a team of scientists who developed a mathematical model, known as Windsurf, that predicts the evolution of the beach profile.

Biochemist Maco Franco and undergraduates recently uncovered protein modifications that may lead to potential new cancer therapies that spare healthy cells.

Microbiologist Rebecca Vega Thurber and graduate student Grace Klinges have proposed a new genus of bacteria that flourishes when coral reefs become polluted, making them more susceptible to disease.

Research Funding

Congratulations are in order:  College of Science research funding surged in fiscal year 2019, increasing 46% from $11.3 million last year to $16.46 million in new grants and awards! Even better, research expenditures for the year totaled $11.05 million with six faculty expending more than $500K: Douglas Keszler (chemistry), Wei Kong (chemistry), Ryan Mehl (biochemistry and biophysics), Bruce Menge (integrative biology), May Nyman (chemistry) and Virginia Weis (integrative biology). The median and average expenditures for the year were $156K and $187K, respectively, for the 59 faculty with grants exceeding $25K.

Chemist Claudia Maier received a one-year, equipment grant for $577K from NIH for her project Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatograph Tandem Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry System.

Physicist Weihong Qiu received a $287K NIH grant for his project “Mechanistic Analysis of grant from the Kinesin-14 Motility and Regulation for Bipolar Spindle Assembly.”

Biologist Jadwiga Giebultowicz received a one-year $378K NIH grant for her project “Links Between Age-related Changes in Energy Metabolism and Alzheimer’s Disease.”

Mathematician Malgo Peszynska was awarded a 3-year, $224K NSF grant for her project, “Modeling with constraints and phase transitions in porous media.” She will defer the project funding until she returns from her rotational appointment as a Program Manager with NSF’s Division of Mathematical Sciences.

Chemist David Ji received a two-year $101K grant from the Pacific Northwest National Labs for his project entitled “Integration of Radical Scavengers Inside Nanoporous Carbon-based Catalysts.”

Physicist Davide Lazzati was awarded a $237K grant from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee in support of his project “NANOGrav Physics Frontier Center.” He also received $45K from NASA in support of his project “Demystifying the Interplay between Explosion Dynamics and Electromagnetic Radiation in Gamma Ray Bursts.”

Microbiologist Rebecca Vega Thurber received a 3-year, $627K NSF grant for her project “Tracking the interacting roles of the environment, host genotype, and a novel Rickettsiales in coral disease.”

Biochemist Michael Freitag received $76K in funding for a 4-year collaborative project with the University of Georgia for his project “Mechanisms of Gene Silencing by the Polycomb Group Chromatin Network.” Total funding is $300K.

Statistician Debashis Mondal received a 3-year, $120K NSF award for his project entitled “Markov Random Fields, Geostatistics and Matrix-free Computation.”

Chemist May Nyman received a one-year grant of $20K from the National GEM Consortium to support GEM Fellowships for students.

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.

National Honors

The Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering (ASE) program has recognized chemist Mas Subramanian for 10 Years of Participation as a Mentor in the ASE Program! He mentors high school students by providing summer internships for them in his lab as part of Saturday Academy’s ASE program. The internships are part of outreach activities funded by NSF. Throughout the years, Mas has seen some of the students enroll at OSU and others go on to Ivy League schools. 

Biochemistry and molecular biology major Diego Rodriguez won the OSU Honors College Joe Hendricks Scholarship for Academic Excellence, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2019 Marion B. Sewer Distinguished Scholarship and was accepted into a highly competitive 2019 summer research program at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University. A first-generation college student, Diego had no laboratory experience prior to joining the Nyarko Lab where he has worked since 2017. Thanks to Nyarko’s guidance and mentorship, Diego is a co-author on Nyarko’s manuscript currently under review by the Journal of Biological Chemistry and is co-author on another manuscript in progress.

University Honors

Choah Shin, a Ph.D. student in mathematics, was awarded the 2019-20 Larry W. Martin and Joyce B. O’Neill Endowed Fellowship, which includes a stipend and tuition waiver for the entire academic year. The donor-supported Martin-O’Neill Fellowship is awarded to a graduate student in the College of Science who demonstrates high achievement and whose research involves computational modeling. Choah also received the prestigious NSF Mathematical Sciences Graduate Internship this past summer.

ASK (Arts and Science for Kids) magazine, a national publication geared for 6-9-year-old kids, will feature chemist Mas Subramanian’s YInMn blue pigment in its September issue. The magazine was the Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner in 2019, and has been recognized as the best magazine for children who like to ask lots of questions. #FutureScientists

OSU is ranked as the #10 best “Big Data” degrees—our own MS in Data Analytics degree—by College Choice. Our program was recognized for its emphasis on quantitative methods and its rigorous training that prepares students for any number of scenarios in statistics, computer science, mathematics, policy, and applied sciences. The completely online degree was launched by the Department of Statistics in 2016. Graduate students in the 45-credit master’s program are trained with advanced statistical and predictive modeling skills and strong computational and programming skills to manage and analyze large data sets. Kudos to the statistics faculty!

This fall, Mathematics Professor Malgo Peszynska has been selected to serve as Program Director within the Division of Mathematical Sciences at the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC. She begins this one-year rotator assignment on September 16, 2019. We congratulate Malgo as she serves in this important leadership role and represents Oregon State Mathematics on a national level.

Professor of Chemistry and conference chair May Nyman and her team of graduate students organized and hosted the Frontiers in Metal Oxide Cluster Science VI conference on August 19-22, 2019, bringing more than 50 scientists from around the world to OSU’s Corvallis campus. Speakers ranged from early career to distinguished scientists from renowned institutions, including:
Australia: Monash University
Austria: University of Vienna
Belgium: KU Leuven
China: Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Northeast Normal University, Dalian University of Technology, Jilin University, Henan University
France: CEA, Marcoule, Institute Lavoisier UVSQ, Sorbonne Universite, University Strasbourg
Germany: University of Ulm, Jacobs University Bremen
Israel: Weizmann Institute, Ben Gurion University
Japan: Hiroshima University, University of Tokyo, Nihon University
Spain: ICIQ Tarragona, ICMol University Valencia
UK: University of Nottingham, University of Glasgow, Newcastle University
US: University of Notre Dame, University of Akron, University of Rochester, Emory University, Purdue University, Colorado State University

The event was sponsored by the College of Science; Department of Chemistry; School of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering, OSU Graduate School; OSU Office of Research; European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry; and industry partners.

Upcoming events

September 10
LaSells Stewart Center, Austin Auditorium, 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
University Day 2019 Faculty and Staff Awards Recognition with opening remarks by President Ed Ray. The keynote speaker is Dr. Diana Natalicio, president of University Texas El Paso (UTEP) from 1988 until August 2019. She has had a long and distinguished career at UTEP and was deeply committed to providing all residents of the Paso del Norte region access to outstanding higher education opportunities. Her efforts helped make UTEP a national success story and was featured in the June 22, 2019, issue of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. In 2017, Natalicio was named one of Fortune magazine’s Top 50 World Leaders and in 2016 she was included on the 2016 TIME 100 list of most influential people in the world.

All science faculty are encouraged to attend this annual university event. Enjoy a free lunch from 12 to 2 p.m. at 26th Street in front of the CH2M Hill Alumni Center. See the full event schedule for University Day.

September 10, 2019
LaSells Stewart Center, Austin Auditorium, 2-5 p.m.
Join us for a screening of feature documentary film called “UNLIKELY,” that explores the barriers students face in their pursuit of an education and meaningful career. Set in the cities of Akron, Atlanta, Boston and Los Angeles, five individuals navigate the college journey, fighting for a second chance at opportunity. Following the film, OSU is hosting a conversation about OSU’s initiatives to address student success. Watch the trailer.

September 24, 2019
Library Quad outside Kidder Hall, 1:30-3:00 p.m.
Joins us as we welcome all of new students to the College of Science at the 2019 Fall Ice Cream Social. Advisors, faculty and staff are urged to attend and show students what a strong welcoming science community we have at OSU.

October 10, 2019
LaSells Stewart Center, Construction and Engineering Hal; 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Registration opens at 5 p.m.
Join us for the College of Science 2019 Fall Distinguished Lecture, presented by science alumnus and climate science pioneer Warren Washington. His talk is entitled “The Historic Development of Climate Models and Geoengineering of the Earth’s Climate.” Dr. Washington is credited with writing the book on climate modeling. He collaborated on the construction of one of the first computer models of the Earth’s climate, and as technology advanced he expanded the model to incorporate oceans, sea ice and rising levels of carbon dioxide.

Recent Events

August 14-16
CH2M Hill Alumni Center
The Linus Pauling Institute hosted its 10th Annual International Conference which featured sessions on safety and regulation of botanical dietary supplements, updates on vitamins, and the redox biology of neurodegeneration and cancer.August 16
LaSells Stewart Center, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m., Open house and reception; 4:30 p.m., Lecture.
Together with the Linus Pauling Institute, the College of Science sponsored a public lecture by Nobel laureate Louis Ignarro. Dr. Ignarro, known as the “father of Viagra,” who present a talk entitled, “The Road to Stockholm – A Nobel Mission.”