Dear colleagues,

This week is an important milestone for the College. We finally have made it to the last week of the term, and I hope you take heart in all we’ve accomplished together. I deeply appreciate the work you’ve put in to sustain the College and each other during this challenging time. Thank you for your improvisation, responsiveness, reinvention and grace offered in support of our students.  

We all know that this year has been hard on many Science students, especially those taking a full load of rigorous courses while dealing with extra stress, isolation and financial hardship. If you are seeking further ways to support our students, I invite you to give to Beavers Care. Your gifts designated to the College of Science reach our students through the Equity Promise Scholarship program.

This scholarship program was established last year – with the help of Head Advisor Heather Arbuckle and Associate Dean of Science Henri Jansen’s leadership – to provide emergency aid to students experiencing sudden, extreme circumstances that may create roadblocks on their path to graduation. The Equity Promise framework allowed our College to move quickly when the pandemic hit and many of our students lost their jobs.

The College of Science community has been exceptionally generous this year, pledging more than $35K in gifts to the scholarship through Beavers Care so far. With your help, we can further alleviate Science students’ hardships and provide more aid during this critical time. Gifts of any size will help.

Thanks to scientific research, some close to home, the end of this pandemic is in sight. We still have a way to go, but there is great encouragement in working alongside colleagues who are deeply dedicated to enhancing student experiences and moving science forward. I appreciate you all.

With warmest wishes for this holiday season.

Roy Haggerty
Dean, College of Science

Research Highlights

Biologist Dee Denver and Rory Mc Donnell, associate professor in Crop and Soil Science in the College of Agricultural Sciences, discovered a microscopic nematode that could be an important biological control against invasive slugs that cause billions of dollars a year in agricultural damage worldwide.

Microbiologist Steve Giovannoni and post-doctoral fellow Veronika Kivenson have found that a type of common gut bacteria sometimes associated with inflammation, abscesses, bowel disease and cancer has a major silver lining: It seems to help prevent cardiovascular disease.

Research Funding

Epidemiologist Ben Dalziel received $2M from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for the project “Scaling the TRACE Project with a Coordinating Center.” The grant will help in the creation of a national TRACE Center that will expand the OSU’s COVID-19 public health project to other states.

A pivotal $3 million National Science Foundation award will enable Oregon State scientists to investigate how the microbiome can help ecosystems and biodiverse habitats withstand disruptive environmental changes. The award was made in the category of Understanding the Rules of Life, one of NSF’s 10 big ideas to advance pioneering research that serves the nation’s future. The project will be led by microbiologists Rebecca Vega Thurber, Thomas Sharpton, Maude David, biochemist Ryan Mueller and computer scientist Xiaoli Fern.

Chemist Vincent Remcho received $50,000 from Voxtel, Inc. for a project entitled “Deposition and Curing of Thermoset Resin Mixtures for Thermal Protection.”

Microbiologist Michael Kent received $86K from partner SUNY – ESF Syracuse for a project entitled “Control and Impacts of Disease of Zebrafish in Research Facilities.”

Chemist Walter Loveland received $175K from the U.S. Department of Energy for a project entitled “Large Scale Nuclear Collective Motion: Fission, Fusion and Multi-Nucleon Transfer.”

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.

Nominations Wanted

Consider taking some time over the winter break to nominate your colleagues for a College of Science award. This has been a tough year, and many of you have gone above and beyond. The College will celebrate its Faculty and Staff Awards and Teaching and Advising Awards at one combined ceremony in the spring. All nominations are due February 1, 2021. Learn more about the awards and submit a nomination!

Global Honors

Chemist May Nyman received a Humboldt Award for her pioneering work in inorganic chemistry. Starting next May, she will study at three leading institutions in Germany: the University of Ulm, the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing and Bessy II, the Berlin Synchrotron. Nyman’s work in Germany will allow her to develop some new techniques that will help her and her students continue to push forward their research in metal-oxo clusters. Congratulations, May!

Chemist David Ji has been identified as one of the most influential researchers in the world by Clarivate Web of Science due to his multiple highly-cited papers that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and year in the Web of Science.

National Honors

Mathematician Malgorzata Peszynska is one of three OSU professors to be selected as American Association for the Advancement of Science fellows. Peszynska was selected “for outstanding contributions to multidisciplinary mathematical and computational modeling of flow and transport in porous media.” Peszynska becomes the 18th member of the OSU College of Science to earn the rank of AAAS fellow and the fifth in the last three years. Congratulations, Malgo!

Biochemist Maria Franco was elected to the Council for The Society for Redox Biology and Medicine.

Chemist Mas Subramanian and YInMn blue are featured in an article in the December 2020 issue of National Geographic magazine all about color pigments.

Persevering through a pandemic

Oregon State University and University of Oregon teamed up to bring TRACE COVID-19 sampling to 30 neighborhoods in Lane County on November 7 and 8.

All OSU students in Corvallis, Bend and Newport were invited to be tested for COVID-19 by TRACE OSU prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.

OSU Chemstores manager Sierra Hansen was profiled by OSU News as an Unsung Hero for her efforts to produce sanitizer and adapting chemstores to be a central distribution point for the College of Science during the COVID-19 shutdown. Thanks for your great work, Sierra!

Global ocean sustainability

Leaders of 14 major maritime nations announced today their commitment to achieve 100% sustainable ocean management of their national waters by 2025, acting on recommendations of a group of global experts co-chaired by Oregon State University marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco.

Ecampus accolades

The Department of Chemistry’s pioneering and innovative Ecampus course series provides learning experiences on par with on-campus courses and makes chemistry accessible to students across the world.

Statistician Charlotte Wickham, winner of an Ecampus online teaching and student engagement award, was featured in a faculty spotlight in Ecampus News for her work leveraging open-source materials for her online students.

Engaging undergraduates

Biochemist Maria Franca served on a panel of exemplary mentors at the faculty professional development session, Engaging Undergraduates in Research. Forty-two faculty mentors from colleges and units across OSU attended this virtual event, which was hosted by the Office of URSA, LSAMP, and the College of Agricultural Sciences. This panel helps other faculty mentors understand how to better support their undergraduate researchers both personally and professionally.

Upcoming

Ignite Research Colloquium
Friday, January 22, 2021, 2 – 6 p.m.

Enjoy a fun, informal afternoon with colleagues from across the University. The afternoon will consists of 4 sessions (45 minutes each) with two-minute presentations covering four themes. The concise, rapid-fire presentations are designed to “ignite” the audience about research ideas, stimulate thought and promote collaborations. This is a forum for faculty to meet each other in an informal venue. A virtual reception will follow.

A COS community discussion with President Alexander
Thursday, February 4, 1:30 – 2:15 p.m.

Mark your calendars for a special College of Science session with OSU President King Alexander and Provost Ed Feser. In the meeting, you will hear President Alexander’s vision and plans for the College and OSU over the coming years. Q&A session to follow.