Dear Colleagues,

I have often shared my conviction that science is the single greatest force for good in human history. As I have watched the news about COVID-19 unfold over the past few weeks, my appreciation for the capacity of scientists to benefit society is reaffirmed.

Not surprisingly, the news I have been paying closest attention to about COVID-19—the zoonotic infection caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2—is from the scientific research community. Scientists from all parts of our diverse international community have been sharing findings with each other in near real-time in what I suspect is one of the most rapid advances in scientific knowledge ever. One site, medRxiv shows 209 preprint papers dealing with COVID-19 (or the name used earlier, 2019-nCoV) uploaded in the last four weeks alone. A Google Scholar search returns more than 5,000 publications for “COVID-19,” a name that has existed for only 18 days.

The scientific community, including mathematicians, microbiologists, biochemists, chemists, statisticians, zoologists, biophysicists, epidemiologists, physicians and many others are making discoveries that are critical in the fight against COVID-19 and creating the new knowledge that will defeat this disease. It will take some time, but scientific research will, once again, bring uncountable benefit to human society.

Other scientists, including some in our College, are working to educate the public about COVID-19 and researching techniques for controlling the spread of disease. Ecologist Ben Dalziel explained some of how pandemics work in a recent edition of IMPACT. Mathematician Vrushali Bokil is working on optimal control of stochastic epidemics, funded by the College of Science SciRIS-ii program.

In this month’s edition of the newsletter, you will read about these and other promising contributions to science, including the research of individual investigators receiving awards in the latest round of funding for SciRIS-ii. In addition to Vrushali Bokil’s work, new SciRIS awards will fund microbiologist Kim Halsey’s work on toxic harmful algal blooms, statistician Katherine McLaughlin’s work on drug abuse in collaboration with the CDC, and physicist David Roundy’s work on materials discovery for clean energy. The College of Science is also contributing funds toward the purchase of a microwave reactor in Chemistry, along with matching funds for a number of other strategic proposals and projects.

I hope you are inspired by this month’s newsletter’s accounts of research successes, highlights and honors that are building momentum in Science. As always, I encourage you to check ECOS for funding and research news. Also, please to let me know if you are working on things related to COVID-19.

Thank you again for the work you are doing to advance knowledge and build future science leaders. I am honored to be a part of this mission and extremely proud of the work you all do.

Roy Haggerty
Dean, College of Science

Research Highlights

OSU emeritus biology professor George Poinar Jr. discovered a mid-Cretaceous fossil from Myanmar that provides the first record of a primitive bee with pollen and of clinging beetle parasites, which continue to show up on modern bees today. The findings shed new light on the early days of bees, a key component in evolutionary history and the diversification of flowering plants.

Research Funding

Four faculty members received funding awards under the College of Science SciRIS-II program:

• Mathematician Vrushali Bokil received $12,500 for her project “Optimal Control of Stochastic Epidemics.”
• Microbiologist Kimberly Halsey received $10,000 for her project “Predicting the trajectory of toxic harmful algal blooms using multi-omics data integration.”
• Statistician Katherine McLaughlin received $10,000 for her project “Estimating the Number of People Who Inject Drugs in Metropolitan Areas of the United States: A Collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” This project is funded out of the Disease Prevention Fund within the SciRIS program.
• Physicist David Roundy received $10,000 for his project “Developing new molecular simulation techniques to discover materials for clean energy applications.”

To learn about SciRIS awards given in November, visit IMPACT.

Chemists Kyriakos Stylianou and May Nyman, along with Todd Miller from ATAMI, received $30,000 from the Betty Wang Discovery Fund to purchase a microwave reactor to integrate on the continuous flow reactor to accelerate the discovery and production of MOFs and POMs.

Microbiologist Sascha Hallett received $75,026 from the University of California at Santa Cruz for her project “Monitoring and Modeling Pathogen Exposure in Salmon Migrating to the Delta.”

Biologist Benjamin Dalziel received a grant of $60,000 from Kinsa, Inc. for his project to “Enhance Kinsa Illness Signals Using Local Population and Environmental Features.”

Biophysicist Elisar Barbar received $18,000 from the National Science Foundation for her project entitled “Structural basis of phosphorylation and alternative splicing in Dynein Regulation.

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.

Global Honors

COS alum Kent Thornburg (MS ’70, PhD ’72) was awarded the David Barker Medal by the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. Thornburg is the director of the OHSU Moore Institute for Nutrition & Wellness. The medal is the Society’s highest honor.

National Honors

The Fulbright Foundation announced that Oregon State University tied at No. 4 among universities nationally for “top-producing” Faculty Fulbright scholars this academic year. Kudos to mathematics professor Elise Lockwood and emeritus biochemistry professor Kevin Ahern for being two of eight OSU Fulbright Scholars for 2019-20! Only 21 universities in the research institution category received that recognition.

College Honors

The College of Science celebrated our 2020 Winter Teaching and Advising Awards to recognize several of our exceptional staff and faculty who go above and beyond to ensure the success of our students. Congratulations to the award winners!

• BioHealth Sciences Advisor Alex Beck won the Olaf Boedtker Award for Excellence in Academic Advising 
• Biology Instructor Devon Quick won the Loyd Carter Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching
• Statistics Assistant Professor Katherine McLaughlin won the Loyd Carter Award for outstanding graduate teaching
• Biology Instructor Lesley Blair won the Frederick H. Horne Award for sustained excellence in teaching science

Integrated Biology Department head Virginia Weis was named the new Dr. Russ and Dolores Gorman Faculty Scholar. The three-year award recognizes faculty who bring distinction to the College of Science, connect with industry and have a strong record of innovative research with practical impact. Congratulations, Virginia!

Hakai magazine wrote a feature article on marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco.  A highlight: “Lubchenco sees her career as the result of her training as an ecologist who went from studying internal connections within nature’s ecosystems to the larger network that connects nature with people, as though nature and people were all one ecosystem. ‘Ecologists,’ she says, ‘see connections.’”

Renovations to Cordley Hall will begin this summer and continue through 2024. The project will result in a learning and research space for the 21st century.

The College of Science is excited to offer two new endowments that will provide scholarships to our students: The Ken and Lise Hedberg Science Scholarship, established August 22, 2019, will support students in the College of Science. The Skach Family Science Scholarship Endowment will be used to support high-achieving first-year COS students with a cumulative high school GPA of 3.5 or greater, with demonstrated financial need. This endowment was made by Bill and Milly Skach. Bill is a ’79 Biochemistry and Biophysics grad, and their daughter Clair graduated in 2015 with a degree in biology.

Ecologist Ben Dalziel, an expert on flu outbreak trends in the U.S. and Ebola transmission, explained how the COVID-19 compares to other modern-day epidemics and the factors that drive its spread in this IMPACT blog post.

OSU’s Science and Policy Club hosted a panel discussion to discuss how scientists can engage effectively with the media and the public. The panelists included OSU Distinguished Professor Jane Lubchenco, integrative biology courtesy faculty Karen McLeod and science writer Steve Lundeberg.

Nearly 10,000 Oregonians have purchased gray whale license plates since they went on sale a year ago, providing critical support for OSU researchers studying gray whales that frequent Oregon’s waters. Approximately $35 of each $40 sale goes to OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute based at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.

In memoriam

A fond farewell to Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Jim White, who died Feb. 12. Jim was educated at Cambridge and MIT, and first joined the OSU faculty in 1971. During his illustrious academic career, he was honored as a distinguished professor in 1992. He was a valued colleague, a mentor and a friend to so many of us, and he will be greatly missed. Jim’s faculty webpage lists some of the numerous awards and honors he received.

Student excellence: Learning assistants program

Thanks to a $200,000 gift from science alumni and friends David Vernier (General Science ’76), Christine Vernier and Ron Schoenheit (Mathematics ’65), the Learning Assistants Program, established by biology faculty Devon Quick and Lori Kayes, will continue to support innovative learning and student success. Overall, courses transformed with the help of learning assistants, and a greater number of students passed the LA-supported introductory biology and physics courses in 2017 and 2018 than at any other time.

Upcoming events

March 5, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Memorial Union
OSU is hosting the third annual Undergraduate Student Success Summit, which is designed to bring together thought leaders and innovators across campus to address ways to enhance the student experience and outcomes at OSU. Register online to attend.

April 23, 6:30 to 8 p.m., Horizon Room, Memorial Union,
Professor Michael Blouin, Department of Integrative Biology, will present the 2020 F.A. Gilfillan Memorial Lecture. More details coming soon.

Recent Events

February 11
Ed Ray gave his final State of the University address, calling for greater access and affordability of college for all students. Biology junior Rhea Sellitto, chemistry junior Madeline Bloom, and BioHealth Science seniors Ido Almog and Serena Mashal represented the College of Science at the event in Portland.

February 13
The College celebrated its 2019 Teaching and Advising Awards with faculty, advisors and students to recognize exceptional teaching and advising. Dean Roy Haggerty served as emcee for the event, and the Learning Assistants Program offered an interactive session to demonstrate the approach and value the learning assistants offer in large-enrollment science classrooms.

February 25
5 Under 5, hosted by the OSU Alumni Association, provided an opportunity for College of Science students to connect with five science alumni who are all within five years of graduation and learn about their career paths and lives after OSU.

February 26
OSU’s Black Cultural Center and the Department of Chemistry co-hosted a talk on “How Grants are Reviewed at the NIH,” by Dr. Vonda Smith of the NIH Center for Scientific Review.