Dear Colleagues,

As most of you know, Oregon State recently announced planning for the gradual and phased resumption of on-site education, research and Extension programming in late summer and fall. These plans are welcome information while we await guidelines for higher education institutions from the Governor’s Office and state health authorities. Like many of you, I am eager to return to more familiar ways of fulfilling our educational and research mission.

This transition will involve a great deal of complexity, of course. The university has chosen to provide general principles and guidelines for reopening while giving final responsibility for implementation to each college dean. I am now working closely with our associate deans and department heads to gather the information needed to inform a thorough decision-making process for the College of Science. Our aim is to enable as many effective on-campus activities as possible while maintaining a safe environment.

When it comes to on-campus instruction, it is clear that decisions will need to be made on a case-by-case basis, informed by input from the departments and especially instructors. The idea of having in-person instruction delivery for small sections of fewer than 50 holds wide appeal, but we still have many questions and concerns related to the feasibility of this. Our implementation of the university’s guidelines will depend strongly on the size and nature of each course – and particularly on the labs and recitations – and will vary from subject to subject. We are actively working with the department heads to figure out what is possible, and practical and best for teaching and student success. Please continue to share your thoughts and advice with the heads and me.

Resuming research activities is also multifaceted. The Research Office indicates that the initial stage of research resumption will begin on June 15. The Research Office and Irem Tumer, interim vice president for research, have shared guidance and a template for Principle Investigator (PI) resumption plans. These plans will direct the gradual and staged return of on-site and field-based research. All PIs should become familiar with the information and documents at these links.

Each College of Science department has formed a working group to coordinate planning and assist PIs in drafting individual or group resumption plans. The working groups will reach out to PIs for information needed to complete the Research Office’s template. Working group chairs include:

Biochemistry & Biophysics – Michael Freitag
Chemistry – May Nyman
Integrative Biology – Andy Blaustein
Mathematics – Vrushali Bokil
Microbiology – Kim Halsey & Jerri Barthlolomew
Physics – Janet Tate

I request that all PIs work with their respective department working groups, so that they can submit plans to the College by June 5. In this way, we can review and submit them to the Research Office during the week of June 8 for approval prior to the June 15 opening date. If you have questions about the plan or the process, please contact your working group chair or Doug Keszler. 

Unfortunately, the certainty of a significantly reduced budget has forced hard choices. With deep regret, I want to inform you that the Integrated Professional Development program will close in early FY21. The program was created under the leadership of Chris Larson with input and hard work by others in the college and, most recently, Tamara Mitchell and Katy Dumelle. Prior to the team’s departure from the Dean’s Office Sept. 26, 2020, we will come together to celebrate their accomplishments in the College.

Finally, I invite you to join me in honoring our wonderful 2020 Science graduates by perusing the senior profiles on the College’s “Celebrating the Class of 2020” website – and please encourage seniors you know to add their profiles! We look forward to celebrating our graduates on campus in fall, but until then, we are congratulating them on our website and in social media, and through departmental videos sent by email to each senior, and with small graduation keepsakes mailed to graduates who share current addresses. I hope you also will join me on June 13 at 10:30 a.m. to honor them at the University’s virtual celebration.

Roy Haggerty
Dean, College of Science

National Honors

Two Ph.D. students in the College of Science – Grace Deitzler in microbiology and John Stepanek in integrative biology – are among three OSU students to receive the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program awards in 2020. Six College of Science alumni were also selected for the award this year.

Isabella Karabinas, a senior honors biochemistry & biophysics and psychology double major, is one of three OSU students to receive the 2020 Fulbright Award. Karabinas, who won a Goldwater Scholarship last year, will study neuroscience at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Chemistry Ph.D. candidate Ian Colliard is one of 62 honorees nationwide to be selected for the  Department of Energy’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research program. He will study nuclear chemistry and radiochemical separations at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

University Honors

Statistics faculty Charlotte Wickham received the Oregon State University Ecampus 2020 Excellence in Online Teaching and Student Engagement Award. The ‘student choice’ award recognized Wickham’s abilities to engage students in discussions, provide extensive feedback and the thorough organization and development of her online courses.

OSU’s Team-based Rapid Assessment of Community-level coronavirus Epidemics, or TRACE-COVID-19 for short, which launched April 12 and is led by Ben Dalziel, an assistant professor of integrative biology, continues to be featured in several regional and national media outlets, including NPR, Science News, New York Times, and others. Read more news stories on the TRACE website.

OSU Biology Alumna Eva Galvez (’99) works as a family physician in northwestern Oregon on the frontlines of the Covid-19 epidemic. She is quoted in the article in the New York Times highlighting the chilling disparity in coronavirus cases among Latinos and other patients.

Marine ecologist Bruce Menge was quoted in an article in the Daily Astorian about sea stars and the small rebound their populations have made following the large-scale die-offs due to the mysterious disease that decimated their populations along the West Coast in 2013 and 2014.

The new pigment known “YInMn Blue” discovered in Mas Subramanian’s lab is now fully approved for use in commercial applications, including artist color materials. It was recently added to the U.S. EPA Toxic Substances Control Act registry. Shepherd Color is going to make the pigment available in a wide range of artist materials.

Congratulations Class of 2020

The College of Science launched the Celebrating the Class of 2020 homepage to honor our graduating seniors. The page features their stories, future plans, cherished campus memories and lessons learned from inspiring mentors. Check it out!

Unsung Heroes

Several College of Science faculty and staff were highlighted this month in OSU Today as unsung heroes for going above and beyond to assist and support their departments, colleagues and students during the COVID-19 shut down in their roles at OSU or in their communities from Corvallis. Featured faculty and staff included:

Biology professor Jamie Cornelius, who successfully began her first term at OSU during the shutdown, all while figuring out how to continue her songbird research, daycare for her two children, and a husband who had to quarantine away from her family after returning from an international research trip. 

Cindy Fisher, Nash Hall building manager, who is continuing to monitor the decades’ worth of samples and specimens housed in Nash Hall during the shutdown, ensuring no research is lost to freezer malfunctions or any other issue. Fisher also led the Department of Microbiology’s PPE drive collection in April.

Chemstores manager Rusty Root, who is managing all incoming package deliveries and mailings for the College of Science. His office was also an early leader in the pandemic by making hand and surface sanitizer for the College and other OSU units when Corvallis-area stores began to run out of these items.

Heather Arbuckle, College of Science head advisor, who is helping connect students with emergency funds to stay in school during the shutdown. Before the pandemic, she was a key champion for the creation of the Equity Promise Scholarship that began in the 2018-19 school year.

Making an Impact

Microbiology graduate student Katie McConnell was leading a group of U.S. students through the northern Chilean Patagonia in a wilderness-based field studies program when COVID-19 struck. In quarantine in Iquique, Chile, she began volunteering in a COVID-19 diagnostics lab utilizing the PCR techniques learned in an OSU marine science lab. Her story was featured on the Oregon ARCS Foundation website.

‘Ask Me Anything’ sessions for the Class of 2024

The College hosted two online “Ask Me Anything” sessions for incoming science students – the first on May 5 for biology students and the second on May 26 for chemistry students. Virginia Weis, Brock McLeod and a peer advisor, Allie Zinn, served as the expert panel for the biology Q&A. The second session featured Chris Pastorek, Margie Haak and two chemistry students, peer advisor Madeline Bloom and graduating senior Maylita Brougher.

Student Success

Presidential scholar and zoology major Svea Bruslind from Lebanon, Oregon, looks forward to her years ahead as an OSU student. A first-year student, she is enjoying OSU – even the online experiences – and is looking forward to herpetology and monster biology.

Mathematics and writing double major Megan Lynn Tucker received the Mickey Leland Fellowship in 2019, which gave her the opportunity to work on an interdisciplinary team at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Albany, Oregon, during the summer of 2019. After graduation in June, she is heading to Washington to begin a job with Amazon Web Services.

Diego Rodriguez, an Honors senior double majoring in biochemistry and psychology, spent last summer at the Broad Research Institute of MIT and Harvard summer research program. He will return this year for a two-year position advancing developments in drug therapy.