Dear colleagues,

One of the steps our College is taking to fulfill our commitment to becoming an antiracist community is growing our understanding. We have been actively listening to Black students, faculty and staff in our College and the OSU community and gaining knowledge from the nation’s leading scholars on racism.

Boston University Professor Ibram X. Kendi, author of the bestselling books, How to Be an Antiracist and Stamped from the Beginning, has been a helpful resource by clarifying concepts of racism and offering proposals for anti-racist actions and systemic changes.

I am excited to announce that on April 14, 2021, Kendi will present a lecture to the OSU community, co-sponsored by the College of Science. The lecture is part of this year’s Provost’s Lecture Series that, together with the OSU Foundation, brings renowned leaders to OSU to engage the community on topics of global significance.

Kendi and other antiracist voices are helping to shape our response to racist outcomes in the College of Science. We understand that policies that negatively affect Black students can have a racist outcome, even if that was never the intent.

As discussed at the listening session on October 8, the College of Science needs to take action to help generate better outcomes for all historically underrepresented students.  A working group consisting of faculty, staff and students (see the same link) will deliver an action plan by March 31, 2021, which the College will begin implementing next spring. The working group has been charged to ensure the action plan is consistent with free scientific inquiry and to make it evidence-based, as well as making the action plan consistent with the OSU strategic plan and the Office of Institutional Diversity’s strategic plan.  I have asked the working group to assume an implementation budget of $150,000 per year beginning in FY22.

Along with Kendi’s lecture this year, I am looking forward to Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s lecture on November 9 and Dr. Mae Jemison’s lecture on February 4.  Make sure to register!

Roy Haggerty
Dean, College of Science

Research Highlights

Microbiologist Rebecca Vega Thurber and Ph.D. student Adriana Messyaz have found a critical link between bacteria and coral health under changing climate conditions. The study was published in Environmental Microbiology and adds fresh insight to the fight to save the earth’s embattled coral reefs.

Microbiologist Steve Giovannoni and postdoctoral fellow Veronika Kivenson have found that a type of common gut bacteria sometimes associated with inflammation, abscesses, bowel disease and cancer seems to help prevent cardiovascular disease. The findings suggest the possibility of probiotic treatments for atherosclerosis: the dangerous buildup of fats, cholesterol and other substances in arteries that cause strokes and heart attacks and is linked to smoking, diet, age and a range of genetic causes.

TRACE-COVID-19 continues testing as many as 1,000 students, staff and faculty per week at campuses in Corvallis and Bend and at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. On the Corvallis campus, there have been 146 cumulative total cases since July 1, with 13 new cases the week of Oct. 28. The team will bring the public health project to Eugene next weekend at the request of Lane County Public Health. As many as 600 Eugene residents will be invited to participate in nasal swab sampling for SARS-CoV-2.

Please consider enrolling in TRACE OSU COVID-19 testing if you haven’t already.

Research Funding

Biologist Michael Blouin received $125 from the DOE’s Bonneville Power Administration for a project entitled “Evaluate the Relative Reproductive Success of Hatchery-Origin and Wild-Origin Steelhead Spawning Naturally in the Hood River.”

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.

Nominations Wanted

Now is the time to nominate faculty and staff for the combined Faculty & Staff and Teaching & Advising Awards, which will be held in a joint ceremony in the spring. Nominations for ALL College of Science awards are due Feb 1, 2021.

Learn more about the awards and submit a nomination!

National Honors

Congratulations! The College is delighted that Korvis Professor of Statistics Javier Rojo received the 2020 SACNAS Advancing Hispanics/Chicanos & Native Americans in Science Distinguished Scientist Award. The award honors his significant contributions to statistics and long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion in STEM.

Rebecca Vega-Thurber and Ph.D. student Adriana Messyasz’s work investigating the role of viral infections in coral bleaching was covered in Science Daily and BBC News. Their work has demonstrated that viral infection breaks down the symbiotic relationship between corals and the algae they rely on for energy.

Mathematician Vrushali Bokil was appointed the new associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Science. A professor in the Department of Mathematics, Dr. Bokil has been at Oregon State since 2006.

The October 8 Town Hall gave the College of Science community an opportunity to center the experiences of Black science students. The event laid the groundwork for the development of an anti-racist action plan that aims to ensure the College is a more inclusive and equitable learning environment for Black and other underrepresented students, faculty and staff.

With the input of students, the College has implemented a process to better address incidences of bias and experienced discrimination, recently launching a bias report form and process. The goal of the feedback form is to provide all students, faculty, staff, alumni and guests with a mechanism to provide both positive and negative feedback to the College of Science related their experiences in the College. It also provides the College information to create meaningful change.

Undergraduate students in the College of Science continue to engage in substantial research activities during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to their determination, its as well as the efforts of engaged, supportive mentors and professors.

Biochemistry alumnus Andres Cardenas (’10, M.S. ’12, Ph.D. ’15) was recently awarded the Outstanding New Environmental Scientist grant by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Cardenas, who also holds a Master’s and Ph.D. in Public Health from OSU, is currently an assistant professor in environmental health sciences at U.C.-Berkeley.

Carrie Manore (Ph.D. ’11) is a mathematical epidemiologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory working as part of the COVID-19 modeling team. The LANL COVID-19 forecasts are part of the modeling New Mexico Department of Health officials have been using since April to prepare for and tackle the COVID-19 outbreak.

Sierra Hansen, OSU Chemstores storekeeper, was featured as an OSU Unsung Hero for her above-and-beyond efforts to create and distribute sanitizer and expanding the Chemistry Store’s role during the COVID-19 pandemic, including distributing PPE and receiving mail when the Printing & Mailing office was closed, among other activities. Thank you for all your work, Sierra!

Upcoming

Please join us for a virtual talk by Peabody Award-winning literary scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on Nov. 9 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. as part of the Provost’s Lecture Series. A Harvard professor of literature and African-American studies, Gates will discuss “The Collapse of Reconstruction and the Roots of White Supremacy.” Advance registration required.

Recent Events

On October 8, the College of Science hosted a virtual town hall listening session to give the community an opportunity to learn about challenges Black science students face.

On Oct. 21 & 23, two College of Science alumni were recognized as OSU Alumni Association Alumni Fellows. Dr. SreyRam Kuy (’00, Microbiology) spoke on her experiences as a healthcare leader during crises, from Hurricane Harvey to COVID-19. Eva Galvez (’99, Biology) addressed the disproportionate impact of the virus on Latino communities. If you missed their lectures, you can still view the recordings. 

The Little Gallery in Kidder Hall hosted the NSF-funded art-science collaboration “In a Time of Change: Microbial Worlds,” which brought together microbiologists and artists from Alaska and other places to magnify the hidden world of microorganisms. There is still time to take the virtual tour.