Research Highlights

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

Marine ecologist Sarah Henkel glued acoustic tags onto several Dungeness crabs at the Columbia River and Cape Falcon to learn more about their movements. As a bonus, the acoustic receivers also detected signals from great white sharks for the first time very close to shore on the Oregon coast. 

A compound with potential as a treatment for Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) has shown further promise in a new study by biochemist Joe Beckman that showed it improved the condition of mice whose motor neurons had been damaged by an environmental toxin known to cause features of ALS.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by postdoc Allie Graham and biologist Felipe Barreto shows that a tidepool crustacean’s ability to survive oxygen deprivation may mean that certain animals can adapt to hypoxic environments.

Research led by Ph.D. student Courtney Armour and microbiologist Thomas Sharpton involved a metagenomic metanalysis of studies encompassing seven different diseases from colorectal cancer to rheumatoid arthritis.

Biochemist Joe Beckman has found a new molecule fragmentation technology for mass spectrometry that enables scientists to conduct research in new ways and across many fields. The technology, trademarked as ExD Cell Technologies, will be available for mass spectrometers as an upgradeable accessory as part of an agreement between OSU startup e-Msion and Agilent Technologies in Santa Clara, California.

Research Funding

Physicist Bo Sun was awarded $300K as part of a five-year National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award for his project, “Understand the multiplexing and communication in multicellular sensory response.” The total award is $740K.

Biologist Jaga Giebultowicz and co-PI biochemist David Hendrix have received a one-year $378K NIH grant for their project “Links Between Age-related Changes in Energy Metabolism and Alzheimer’s Disease.”

Physicist Davide Lazzati received a three-year $337K NSF grant for his project, “Combining Theory with Observations to Unlock the Multi-messenger Physics of Compact Binary Mergers.”

Microbiologist Steve Giovannoni was awarded $261K by the Simons Foundation for his project, “Genetic Code Expansion Enables Metabolic Augmentation and Protein Evolution in Marine Microbial Ecosystems.”

Biologist Michael Blouin received a $180K award for his project “Collaborative Research, Education and Outreach at the Oregon Hatchery Research Center” from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Marine Ecologist Jane Lubchenco was awarded $169K by the Kingfisher Foundation for her project, “Clarity and transparency to enable true ocean protection.”

Mathematician Elise Lockwood is co-PI on a $141K grant from Google for her collaborative project, “Integrating CS Education into Teacher Education and K-12 Mathematics.”

Biochemist Michael Freitag was awarded $129K by the University of Georgia for his project “Mechanisms of Gene Silencing by the Polycomb Group Chromatin.”

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

Biologist Dee Denver was awarded $102K by the University of Idaho for his project, “Risk Assessment and Eradication of Globodera spp. in U.S. Production of Potato.”

Dee Denver is also co-PI on a USDA-funded project “Development of Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita (Nematoda) as a biological control agent of invasive gastropods in Oregon.”

Physicist Matthew Graham was awarded $33K by ThermaWatts, LLC for his project “SBIR Phase 1: Validation of Ambient Thermal Electric Converter.”

Biologist Molly Burke was awarded $30K by the Collins Medical Trust for her project, “Evolving Long-lived Yeast: Developing Model Populations with Postponed Aging to Identify Candidate Genes for Improving Human Healthspan.”

Physicist Janet Tate received $25K from the Alliance for Sustainable Research – National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for her project, “Center for Next Generation Materials by Design – OSU.”

Mathematician Vrushali Bokil was awarded $19K by the NSF for her project, “A Virtual Element Method for Linear and NonLinear Problems in Magnetohydrodynamics.”

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 College is immensely proud to announce that two physics graduate students have won the prestigious NASA FINESST (Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology) fellowship that begins this fall. Congratulations to Robert Jacobs and Tyler Parsotan! Jacobs’ research focuses on improving understanding of latitudinal circulation and El Nino events. Parsotan, a fourth-year graduate student, is working with Davide Lazzati on understanding the most powerful explosions in the universe known as Gamma Ray Bursts.

Oregon Honors

Congratulations to physicist Bo Sun on winning this year’s Medical Research Foundation of Oregon 2019 Richard T. Jones New Investigator Award. The award recognizes a new investigator who shows exceptional promise early in a career in biomedical research. It includes a cash award of $3,000, a commemorative award and a ceremony at OHSU this fall.

University Honors

Congratulations to biology Ph.D. student Claire Couch, the 2019 MacVicar Animal Health Scholar! She presented her award seminar, “Microbiomes and megafauna: Understanding the relationships between the microbiome, nutrition and disease in wild herbivores” on May 31. Claire is working with Professor of Biology Anna Jolles.
 
The College of Science has tied last year’s record with eight faculty and researchers winning University Day awards this year. The annual University Day awards event, held on September 10, 2019, this year, recognizes outstanding faculty and staff at OSU for exceptional contributions in various fields. Congratulations to these science faculty for their outstanding achievements!

The Student Learning and Success Teamwork Award recognizes departments or interdisciplinary groups at Oregon State University that have demonstrated exceptional teamwork in creating and sustaining an exemplary teaching and learning environment to advance the university’s strategic goal of student success and excellence. The 2019 award goes to the founders of the Learning Assistant Program: Lori Kayes and Devon Quick, both senior instructors in integrative biology, as well as Dennis Bennett, director of OSU’s Writing Center.

The Promising Scholar Award recognizes the scholarship of junior faculty. The 2019 recipient is Elise Lockwood, associate professor of mathematics.

The OSU Impact Award for Outstanding Scholarship recognizes OSU faculty who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship in a specific project or activity resulting in substantial impact beyond the university setting. The 2019 honor is given to Chong Fang, associate professor of chemistry.

The University Mentoring and Professional Development Award recognizes those who excel in supporting and encouraging OSU employees to participate in professional and/or educational development opportunities. The 2019 honoree is David Hendrix, assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics.

The Faculty Innovator Award recognizes a faculty member whose extraordinarily high-impact innovations from research are translated into transformative results that help promote economic development and social progress. The 2019 honoree is Douglas Keszler, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry.

The OSU Faculty Teaching Excellence Award honors unusually significant and meritorious achievement in teaching and scholarship which enhances effective instruction. The 2019 honor is given to Lori Kayes, senior instructor of biology.

The Richard M. Bressler Senior Faculty Teaching Award recognizes full professors who have been at OSU a minimum of 15 years and consistently provide direct instruction to undergraduate students. Andrew Blaustein, Distinguished Professor of Integrative Biology.

College Honors

Thanks to contributions from generous donors, this year the College was able to fund more than 50 science students — the highest number ever — with the college-wide SURE Science Awards. The financial support enables students to conduct summer research rather than work non-science jobs. Congratulations to our 2019 SURE Science scholars!

Distinguished Professor of Integrative Biology Jane Lubchenco co-authored a salient, timely and critical editorial in the journal Science calling for a new narrative for our oceans — “one that is grounded in knowledge about how central the ocean is to many global challenges — from food security to climate change.”

In an illuminating interview, biology Ph.D. student Caitlin Magel discusses what fascinates her about eelgrass and other things estuarine with the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Manitoba’s springtime attraction: tens of thousands of mating garter snakes writhing around in pits. The world’s foremost expert on garter snakes, our very own Professor of Integrative Biology Bob Mason, discusses one of the natural wonders of the world in The New York Times. He has travelled to the snake pits of Narcisse in Manitoba, frequently with his students, every spring since 1982.

YInMn blue continues to get coverage in premier scientific media. Chemist Mas Subramanian’s discovery of a new blue pigment was featured in a Science magazine podcast that explored the millennia-old search for blue pigments. Will there be a new red pigment? The Economist reports on ongoing efforts by chemist Mas Subramanian and his team on the obstacle-ridden quest to invent a non-toxic, chemically stable red pigment, a feat that has eluded scientists for centuries.

In January, millions of fish died in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin as the region experienced some of its driest and hottest weather on record. In a perspective piece in Nature, former postdoc Jonathan Tonkin and biologist David Lytle explore how to develop better forecasting tools that can project how key species, life stages and ecosystems might respond to environmental changes.

New graduates! The College of Science had 617 new graduates with baccalaureate degrees in June 2019. The College awarded 64 master’s degrees and 70 Ph.D.s; among them are 20 new chemistry and 16 new mathematics Ph.D.s. We are extremely proud of all of our graduates. Read about some of our graduates’ fascinating journeys, accomplishments and future plans.

Read these profiles of our outstanding 2019 Goldwater scholars: Honors biochemistry and molecular biology majors Isabella Karabinas and Kendra Jackson and Honors physics and mathematics student Ryan Tollefsen.

Kudos to biochemistry and biohealth sciences students who organized the first annual NW Collegiate Biomedical Ethics Conference in April 2019 on behalf of the OSU Bioethics Society. The conference, including presentations by ethicists and physicians from around Oregon, provided an opportunity for students to present their scholarly work and discuss pressing issues in the world of modern healthcare.

We are launching the nation’s first online BS degree in zoology this fall! You can earn your degree completely online while studying all aspects of animal biology – from genes to ecosystems! We are thrilled to make the study of zoology accessible to more people.  

Doctoral student Patrick Morar is the 2019-20 Christopher and Catherine Mathews Graduate Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. Morar was selected among many talented candidates on the basis of his academic merit, teaching acumen and research potential.

College of Science sub-brand: The College of Science recently rolled out its new sub-brand website with templates, messaging platform, guidelines and other resources for departments to use in their own marketing efforts.

Outreach

The third annual Juntos Chemistry Overnight Camp was held June 29-30, 2019, attracting 22 Oregon high school students. The camp is designed to introduce Latino high school students to STEM-related fields while providing a taste of college life at Oregon State.  The 2019 camp was organized by Chong Fang, an associate professor of chemistry, Juntos Statewide Coordinator José García, graduate students Taylor Krueger and Sean Boulanger and undergraduate students Travis Seevers and Jose Ceja. All of the students are members of the Fang Research Group.

From public talks on Pi and Greek astronomy to active learning classrooms, new mathematics alumnus Naveen Somasunderam (Ph.D. ’19) and mathematics graduate student Sarah Hagen have shown enormous individual leadership in adopting new forms of undergraduate teaching as well as initiating mathematics outreach activities.

In memoriam

Emeritus Professor Wilbert Gamble in 1992

Wilbert Gamble, emeritus professor of biochemistry and biophysics, passed away on April 16, 2019, at the age of 86. A generous mentor to generations of students, Gamble was the first black faculty member at OSU and the first to earn tenure here. A trailblazer in many ways, Gamble helped establish the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center on campus in 1975. Gamble was a professor at OSU for 35 years, from 1962-97.

Alumni accomplishments

Physics alumnus Brandon Brown (Ph.D. ’97) just published “The Apollo Chronicles” with Oxford University Press (OUP) to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first moonwalk by the astronauts of Apollo 11 in 1969. His first book, also with OUP, was on the life and work of Max Planck. Brown is professor and head of the physics department at the University of San Francisco.

Alumna Karen Nickel (Chemistry, ’61) is a STEM trailblazer who has generously supported science students. She created the Karen Nickel Scholarship for undergraduate students in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. Read about Karen’s inspiring journey and career as a clinical chemist.

Upcoming events

August 5-6, 2019
LaSells Stewart Center
You are invited to a reception and workshop on clean water Aug 5-6, presented by the Clean and Sustainable Water Technology Initiative, College of Engineering. The workshop will cover a broad range of topics related to clean and sustainable water technologies, from watershed management to treatment technologies for water reuse. Learn more about this event featuring presentations, breakout sessions and research poster displays. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

August 8
Multnomah Athletic Club, Portland, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
OSU and MAC Wellness present a talk by Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry Joe Beckman, one of the world’s top researchers of neurodegenerative diseases. In his talk “Unlocking secrets to brain health,” Dr. Beckman will give a behind-the-scenes look at how science helps us better understand ALS and other age-related diseases.

August 14-16
CH2M Hill Alumni Center
The Linus Pauling Institute’s 10th Annual International Conference will feature sessions on safety and regulation of botanical dietary supplements, updates on vitamins, and the redox biology of neurodegeneration and cancer. All OSU faculty and staff receive a discount of $100 from the registration fee. Register today! Conference attendees are invited to register for the conference dinner at the Vue in downtown Corvallis following Dr. Ignarro’s public lecture.

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 is sponsoring a public lecture by Nobel laureate Louis Ignarro. Dr. Ignarro, known as the “father of Viagra,” will present a talk entitled, “The Road to Stockholm – A Nobel Mission,” an American success story of how an eager young mind and a chance encounter with Linus Pauling, launched him towards one of society’s highest honors.

September 10
LaSells Stewart Center, Austin Auditorium, 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
University Day 2019 Faculty and Staff Awards Recognition and remarks by President Ed Ray. A free lunch will be served 12 to 2 p.m. at 26th Street in front of the CH2M Hill Alumni Center. See the full event schedule for University Day.

Recent Events

OSU Branding Workshop: The College of Science marketing team hosted two branding workshops on June 3 and July 9 led by two University Marketing and brand strategists. The workshop was open to College of Science faculty and staff and covered the use of the OSU brand, logo, fonts, colors, key messages, brand positioning, photography, the College of Science sub-brand and much more.

State of the College, June 6: Dean Roy Haggerty shared updates on the College’s budget, research, enrollment, capital campaign planning and his vision for the upcoming academic year. 

College of Science Graduation Reception, June 14.