Words from the Dean
February 2023

Dear College of Science Community,

The new term is off to a great start. I’m enjoying the opportunity to meet more faculty, staff and students, and get immersed in many of the amazing things the College is doing. Our strategic planning town hall in January drew over 50 people eager to chat over lunch and strategize about important tactics for achieving our goals next year. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations, which covered a broad range of topics encompassing research, translation, engagement, student success, and planning new programs and enrollment growth. The breadth and thoughtfulness of the conversations were energizing for me, and I believe for many others as well.

One of the most popular topics at the town hall was the desire for more events and mechanisms to build connections across the College and the university. Watch for some fresh ideas and events along those lines coming soon. Meanwhile, there are two great events on the docket already for this month. TOMORROW (2/15) marks the College’s second annual Inclusive Excellence Lecture, featuring marine ecologist Kirsten Grorud-Colvert, who will give the talk, “Gathering community for dialogue and action.” The lecture begins at 5:30 at the LaSells Stewart Center, with appetizers starting at 5 p.m. I hope you will join us to gain insights from her and exchange ideas over appetizers around this topic that is at the core of our mission. 

Then at the end of the month (Feb. 29, 4:30 p.m.), we will celebrate faculty and staff award winners at the College of Science Combined Awards Ceremony. RSVP here. Please join me in honoring our colleagues and celebrating the incredible ways our community advances science and prepares future leaders. 

I look forward to these and more opportunities to strengthen our community and foster greater collaboration College-wide.

Eleanor Feingold
Dean, College of Science

Research Highlights

Chemist Wei Kong was awarded nearly $2M for four years by the National Institutes of Health. Her goal is to create a groundbreaking new tool with the potential to revolutionize drug development and enhance our understanding of disease mechanisms. Visit Impact to read a breakdown of serial single molecule electron diffraction imaging.

Kyriakos Stylianou is a member of a cross-disciplinary team who received an award focused on advancing the science needed to make scalable technology that could capture and utilize greenhouse gasses. Stylianou’s research is entitled, “Understanding, Quantifying and Mitigating Adsorbent Degradation: From Fundamental Understanding to Techno-economic Analysis.” He will be working with researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University. Read the full announcement.

May Nyman, undergraduate Taylor Linsday and graduate students Eduard Garrido Ribó, Zhiwei Mao, Jacob S. Hirschi and Karlie Bach were all authors on an exciting carbon capture project. The team demonstrated the ability of vanadium peroxide molecules to react with and bind carbon dioxide. While Nyman agrees prevention is the best solution, carbon capture technology can make a difference “at the source” and remove legacy CO2. Read the Impact article announcing this news.

From left: Jeff Hazboun, Tyler Fara and Louis Wojcinski

National Honors

When physicist Jeff Hazboun isn’t conquering raging rapids, you can find him playing the banjo or exploring the biggest questions in physics. In 2023, he was a member of a multi-university team whose​ research went viral, and he recently received a coveted NSF​ Faculty Early Career Development award. Congratulations, Jeff! Learn what book convinced him to switch to physics and where he sees the field heading in the future.

Mathematics Ph.D. student Tyler Fara was selected to attend and present at two workshops that are part of the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics semester program. The program covers “Numerical PDEs: Analysis, Algorithms, and Data Challenges.” Graduate student Praveeni Mathanagdeera will also attend one of the workshops, with full support from the Association for Women in Mathematics-Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics scholarship.

Oregon State University is ranked in the top 10 for online education for the 10th consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report. No other school in the country can make that claim. Cheers to our science and mathematics faculty for their contributions to stellar online STEM curricula. Read more about this year’s #4 national ranking.

University Honors

Chemistry instructor Lou Wojcinski was named one of the Oregon State Men’s Basketball’s Most Valuable Professors! He and the other winners were honored on the court at the Feb. 8 game vs. Washington State. Congratulations, Lou!

Microbiologists Christopher Suffridge and Kelly Shannon received attention from the press for their work in discovering vitamin B1 in rivers where B1-deficient salmon populations span. Findings were published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Visit each outlet to learn more: Oregon Public Broadcasting, Jefferson Public Radio and KTVZ News.

Biochemist Colin Johnson was quoted in an Financial Press article showcasing a new gene therapy trial in China that aims to help deafness. Johnson has extensive experience working with mutations in otoferlin that causes severe congenital hearing loss. Johnson told the outlet the result of the studies is a “dramatic development.”

Energy Daily, KATU and KTVZ covered material scientist May Nyman’s role in her discovery of a chemical element that shows strong potential as a carbon scrubbing tool. This study is part of a $24 million federal effort to develop new methods for direct air capture.

Marine ecologist Kirsten Grorud-Colvert believes that achieving equity in science requires openness to challenging conversations and acknowledging that all disciplines have a history of exclusionary behavior. But how do you change decades of behavior in science? In the Inclusive Excellence Lecture on Feb. 15, Grorud-Colvert will highlight practical ways to promote inclusivity in science, drawing from recent community initiatives in the Integrative Biology Department. She will also share her research on ocean systems and how it’s evolving personally and internationally, including lessons she has learned along the way. Read why she believes community is the backbone of inclusive science.

Materials scientist Xiulei “David” Ji will present at Technology Networks’ Advances in Battery Research online symposium on February 21 and 22. His talk is entitled, “Opportunities and Challenges of Aqueous Metal Batteries.” Register here.

Lugging around an expensive textbook is no student’s dream. With the free, online “Anatomy and Physiology” textbook developed by Devon Quick, Lindsay Biga and Staci Bronson, that burden has been lifted not just for 800 OSU students each year, but also for students from around the world. Released last fall, the book has garnered 2.7 million views and rocketed to the second-most-viewed textbook on publishing platform Pressbooks. Read the Impact article to learn more about the journey from idea to reality.

Statistician Sharmodeep Bhattacharyya wants to share the power of statistics. He shared his current research pursuits with Impact. Bhattacharyya is working with a collaborator at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, looking at data collected from placing electrodes on the brains of lab rats. Bhattacharyya advocates for the mindful use of statistics to avoid misrepresentation and encourages interdisciplinary research practices.

From helping wolves to confronting AIDs, microbiology donors Matthew Bacho, Deb Bellinghausen, Paul Kenis and Mary Ann Matzke have made an impact. Now they want to help College of Science students. Check out this Impact article highlighting these alumni turned microbiology department donors.

Seize the chance to participate in the annual February food drive

You are invited to contribute your canned goods in the donation boxes in the Dean’s Office and the Student Success Center. You can also head to 153 Gilbert Hall, where the Department of Chemistry invites participants to guess the number of chocolates in the 5000 ml Boiling Flask for a chance to win. Guesses are $1 each and all proceeds go to the Linn Benton Food Share.

Additionally, the Department of Integrative Biology is hosting a silent auction from February 14-22 and trivia night on Feb. 22 at the Corvallis Community Center to raise funds. Contact Tresa Bowlin (tresa.bowlin@oregonstate.edu) for more information regarding the auction.

Upcoming Events

Inclusive Excellence Lecture
Thursday, February 15, 5:30–7 p.m.
The LaSells Stewart Center, Construction & Engineering Hall

Kristen Grorud-Colvert will present the College’s annual Inclusive Excellence Lecture. In her nine years at Oregon State, she has demonstrated leadership in fostering a culture of inclusion in the College of Science. In 2020-21, Grorud-Colvert led a department-wide effort to develop an Equity, Justice and Inclusion Community Values statement to guide the department’s future goals and actions. In the summer of 2022, Grorud-Colvert co-organized a Decolonizing Biology workshop.

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COS Combined Awards Ceremony
Thursday, February 29 4:30–6 p.m.
Memorial Union, Horizon Room

The College will gather for the annual awards ceremony celebrating instructional and research faculty and administrative staff. We are excited to recognize the incredible work done by our colleagues! RSVP today.

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Dam Proud Day

April 24

Dam Proud Day is fast approaching! This annual 24-hour giving period provides an opportunity to help make a difference for our students through multiple funds. Keep your eyes peeled for the 2024 College of Science Dam Proud Day website for more information on how to make an impact.

Recent Events

Moving Science Forward
January 29, 2024

The College heard updates on our Strategic Plan, ‘Extending the reach and impact of science,’ highlighting progress since its October 2022 launch. Participants engaged in an interactive brainstorming session on future priorities. And finally, speakers shared how our plan aligns with the university’s vision in the new strategic plan, ‘Prosperity Widely Shared,’ ensuring a cohesive strategy.