Dear Colleagues,

One of our highest priorities in the College of Science is creating and supporting a culture of inclusive excellence. This means putting the tools, people and resources in place to empower science students to set and reach their own academic and life goals. Our latest strategic plan asserts that “inclusive academic excellence is our north star.” We still have work to do, but I am very proud of the work the College has done in this area.

A degree from OSU, on average, is worth about $1M in lifetime earnings, and much more in personal fulfillment. We want that potential to hold true for all. The reality is that not everyone who attends college finishes. Roughly 10% of Americans have attended college but have no degree. To make matters worse, many of those fellow citizens have debt from college but no degree. This scenario represents the worst of the student loan crisis and is a primary reason why supporting student success is so important to us. Students in disciplines around the university are typically enrolled in science classes, and as the gap between the wealthiest and poorest members of our society grows, we want to commit more to helping every student who comes to OSU succeed in science.

In the last five years, Oregon State and the College of Science have spearheaded ambitious programs to increase retention and graduation rates of students. Among many efforts the College has made, I will highlight just a few here.

The College of Science played a leading role in developing the university-wide Faculty Student Mentor Program (FSMP) – one of several initiatives that have helped improve undergraduate student success of underrepresented, Pell-eligible and first-generation students. This program, which launched in fall 2018, has contributed to the highest ever first-year retention rate at Oregon State of 85.4%. FSMP participants had a 7.4% higher retention rate than similar students who did not participate. Thus far, FSMP has served more than 580 students across the university. In the wake of the pilot program’s success, OSU is looking at expanding FSMP to narrow the achievement gaps in the retention and graduation of these students with the aim of increasing the retention rate to 90% in the near future. 

The Learning Assistance Program helps address the challenge of how one professor can engage more than 500 students in a class. The LA program puts undergraduate upperclassmen into introductory classrooms to facilitate peer-to-peer learning. Originating in Integrative Biology, the program has spread to other units, including physics, mathematics and more inside and outside of the College. In fall 2017, the program had more than 100 LAs working with 19 different faculty – reaching more than 4,582 STEM students per term.

These initiatives have helped improve OSU’s graduation rate by 2.8% over the  past four years. And while 2.8% may seem like a small number, it means that about 100 more students are making it to graduation every year. If we can make the same progress over the next few years, we will achieve our goal of 70% graduation.

Vital to our aims, the College’s Science Success Center provides a wide range of academic and developmental support, including career planning, resource connection and opportunities to decompress with student-focused programming. The Center also runs the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program, which in Summer 2019 enabled 40 students to conduct paid research – the highest number ever due to our generous donors. Last year the Center had more than 2,500 visits. It also houses the Science Professional Pursuits Program (SP3), which helps science students gain essential professional skills to enter the workforce or graduate school. More than 200 students have now taken the three-term course.

Above all, the foundation for student success in the College of Science rests with dedicated faculty, instructors whose engagement with students is core to all efforts to bolster student success and transform lives. I hope you will join us at upcoming Teaching and Advising Awards Ceremony on Thursday, February 13 to recognize their exceptional teaching and advising, the hallmarks of faculty excellence and the foundation of student success. 

Roy Haggerty
Dean, College of Science

Research Highlights

Research led by microbiologists Thomas Sharpton and Keaton Stagaman is the first study of how the microbial communities of 5- to 7-year-old children are associated with behavior, socioeconomic stress and the quality of the parent-child relationship.

Biochemist Adrian Gombart and collaborators have led the development of a new model for studying vitamin D’s role in infection prevention. Tests using the model suggest that vitamin D treatment can dramatically reduce the number of disease-causing bacteria in skin wounds.

A new class of blue pigments with tunable hues (cobalt blue shown at far right for comparison).

Analyzing the crystal structure of pigments based on hibonite, a mineral found in meteorites, chemist Mas Subramanian has paved the way for designing more pigments that are stable, durable and non-toxic with vivid hues.

An international team co-led by chemist Kyriakos Stylianou has uncovered a better way to scrub carbon dioxide from smokestack emissions, which could be a key to mitigating global climate change. Their study was published in Nature.

Research Funding

Microbiologist Kimberly Halsey received a $20,283 grant from the Australian Research Council for her project “Reef Breath Testing: Exhaled volatile-gas biomarkers of coral health.”

Biologist Michael Blouin was awarded $50,880 by the Western University of Health Sciences for his project “Identifying schistosomiasis resistance genes of snail vectors in hotspot transmission zones — Translating from laboratory models to the field.” 

Physicist Janet Tate was awarded $50,000 by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for her project “Center for Next Generation Materials by Design.”

Biologist Rebecca Novak was awarded $16,620 by the Eppley Foundation for The Steens Mountain Resurvey Project.

Biologist Sarah Gravem was awarded $50,000 by The Nature Conservancy for her project “Pcynopodia Helianthoides Status Update: Baja California to Alaska.”

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

Robert Mason, professor of integrative biology, has become a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is among 443 scientists and engineers chosen for this prestigious honor by AAAS in 2019.

Mason was honored by AAAS “for distinguished contributions to the fields of behavioral endocrinology and chemical ecology, particularly for discovering how pheromones mediate reproductive behavior in reptiles.”

Jane Lubchenco, Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of Marine Biology, is the first recipient of the Mary Sears Medal awarded by The Oceanography Society. The award recognizes Lubchenco’s exceptional leadership and original contributions to research on biodiversity and rocky seashore ecology, and solutions to restore ocean health and sustainable fisheries.

Chemistry doctoral student Ian Colliard and mentor May Nyman

National Honors

Chemistry doctoral student Ian Colliard, who works in May Nyman’s lab, has been awarded a prestigious GEM Fellowship, which will take him to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to conduct research. GEM’s mission is to enhance the value of the nation’s human capital by increasing the participation of underrepresented groups at the master’s and doctoral levels in engineering and science.

Biochemistry and biophysics undergraduate student Isabella Karabinas won the Undergraduate Young Investigator Award at the 2019 Society for Redox Biology and Medicine Conference in Las Vegas.

Daniel Myles. Photo by Claire Nelson, Orange Media Network Photographer

University Honors

Daniel Myles in the Department of Chemistry was chosen as one of the two most admired professors in 2020 at Oregon State University. Students praise Myles for creating a welcoming and inclusive environment and for making organic chemistry exciting and accessible.

New research on the association between children’s gut microbiome and socioeconomic stress by Thomas Sharpton and Keaton Stagaman was featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud radio show.  

Zoologist Bob Mason was the subject of a profile in the Gazette Times, “The Story Next Door: OSU’s Bob Mason untangles secrets of snake sex.”

Research from an OSU chemistry lab was one of the top 10 NSF social media stories of 2019. At No. 6, was Crayola’s new Bluetiful crayon based on the brilliant YInMn blue compound discovered by chemist Mas Subramanian.

Mas Subramanian’s latest discovery of a second new blue in meteorite materials was featured on the NSF news website.

he new College of Science website went live earlier this month. The website is designed to be a mobile-first, student-centric website that gives the College of Science a stronger online identity similar to that of our peer institutions. The new Science website, which was designed and handcoded entirely in-house, is now a reality thanks to the hard work of the entire Marketing and Communications team and our CoSINe partners.

New scholarships!

We are increasing the amount of scholarships to students in need. The College of Science Equity Promise Scholarship (formerly known as Emergency Funds) is now available online for OSU academic advisors, faculty, staff and students to nominate COS students in need. Additionally, the College plans to award approximately $100,000 in scholarships to new students arriving fall 2020 who have financial need.

Faculty Accomplishments

Elisar Barbar is the new head of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, effective January 1. Barbar is a professor of biochemistry and biophysics as well as faculty director of Oregon State’s NMR Facility that provides NMR spectroscopy resources to researchers on campus and beyond.

Through the use of innovative and effective teaching strategies, integrative biology faculty have improved student learning and performance in the introductory Principles of Biology (BI21x) courses. Drop-fail-withdraw rates for the three BI 21 courses were reduced from a high of 33.6% to a low of 7% during a 10-year period from 2009 to 2019. Learn more about how Lori Kayes and her team have led this transformation.

The College celebrated its 2019 Faculty and Staff Awards on November 21. Check out the photos from the award ceremony.

Student Excellence

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology honors senior Tori Puoci loves making science accessible and hosts the science podcast At This Point, inspired by WNYC’s Radiolab and NPR’s This American Life. His podcast took off last year after he was awarded a donor-supported SURE Science Scholarship to support his project.

The Science Professional Pursuits Program (SP3) — a three-credit professional development course designed for College of Science students — is giving students the tools to be career-ready and broadening their career options. Biology and zoology graduates Jade Sentker and Taylor Robinson were inspired by their SP3 training to go after careers in genetic counseling and veterinary science.

Michael Kupperman, a senior double majoring in honors mathematics and biochemistry and biophysics, was among the 20 percent of applicants accepted for a Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory last summer.

Alumni making us proud

Math alumnus and American Express chief technologist Patrick Franklin (’89) has been at the forefront of major tech transformations during his three-decade career, from being the founding member of Pentium II at Intel, to co-inventing the hibernate mode at Microsoft, to helping design Amazon’s retail systems.

Joel Peterson (Microbiology ’69) is the founder of the world-famous Ravenswood Winery. Peterson generously supports discipline-related travel grants for undergraduates majoring in microbiology and biochemistry, enabling them to take advantage of professional opportunities including internships, workshops and conferences.

Upcoming events

February 3 – 28
LaSells Stewart Center, 875 SW 26th Street
Join us for the OSU Food Drive. Every February the university comes together and plans a wide variety of food and fundraising activities to help prevent student hunger.

February 11
Oregon Convention Center, Portland, 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
State of University Address 2020. Join President Edward J. Ray – as he approaches the close of his 17-year tenure – to celebrate the continuing momentum, leadership and impact of Oregon State University across the state and around the world.

February 13
Memorial Union, Horizon Room, 5 – 7 p.m. (RSVP)
2020 College of Science Teaching and Advising Awards Ceremony. We look forward to seeing everyone at this annual winter event followed by a reception of wine, beer, hors d’oeuvres and good cheer.

February 19
Austin Hall, 126, 4 p.m. (RSVP)
InnovationX Workshop Series: Intellectual Property. In this workshop, you’ll learn about trademarks, patents, copyright, and trade secrets from Karl Mundorff of the OSU Advantage Accelerator.

March 14
The Arts Center, Corvallis, 1 – 4 p.m.
Pi Day Arts and Crafts. OSU’s Math Department brings puzzling problems and dazzling displays of the magic of math. 

Recent Events

January 24
Kick-off meeting for the People of Color Community in the College of Science.
The kick-off meeting for the People of Color Community in the College of Science took place on January 24 at the Asian and Pacific Cultural Center. This is the first formally organized community for present and future students of color in the College.

January 27
The second annual Science Pro — a career exploration event for College of Science majors —brought together science professionals from the Institute of Applied Ecology, OMSI, Genentech, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Oregon Sea Grant, Intel and many other potential employers. Science Pro helps science students find internship and research opportunities and develop new connections in their future field.

January 29
How and Why Should Scientists Communicate with the Press. On January 29, the Student Science Policy Club hosted a panel discussion featuring leading science communication experts Jane Lubchenco, Karen McLeod, and OSU science reporter Steve Lundeberg.