{"id":1109,"date":"2020-09-09T02:43:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T02:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/science\/?p=1109"},"modified":"2024-02-27T21:50:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T21:50:53","slug":"september-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/science\/newsletter\/september-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"September 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"College<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n

Research<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Honors<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Visibility<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

News<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Events<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
<\/span>\"\"
\n
\n
\n

Words from the Dean<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

September 2020<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Dear Colleagues,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Careful readers may notice that we’ve changed date of the monthly Dean’s newsletter to reflect the upcoming month rather than the previous month, a practice that is more in line with other publications. Consequently, you are receiving the “September” newsletter at the beginning of the month rather than at the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This month, I want to update you on the FY21 College of Science budget. We received our initial education and general (“E&G”) budget on August 14, with a total of about $43.2M. This represents a decrease of about $3.5M from the initial FY20 budget adjusted for actual Ecampus revenue, or about 7.2%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of this decrease has been expected for several months and is due to a combination of decreased revenue to OSU in various forms \u2013 a decrease in state support, and a planned ramp-down of strategic investments from the Provost. In fact, the reduction in these OSU revenues alone would have resulted in an overall reduction in budget of about 9.3%.  Fortunately, Science’ Ecampus revenues surged this year, in large part because of significant growth in several departments and our Zoology degree now being offered via Ecampus. Together, your efforts (enabled in part by the Provost’s investment referenced above) increased our Ecampus by $1.4M, or roughly 25% over last year. This growth is expected to continue this year and is of great help to our budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will manage most of the remaining gap through a combination of OSU-wide pay cuts (which begin in September for most academic and professional faculty and administrators), reductions in expenditures across the College (fewer GTAs, fewer or canceled hires backfilled by increased teaching loads or by decreasing services, expenditure reductions in the Dean’s office, etc.), and using our accumulated savings from the previous two years. It will also be important to continue to limit our expenditures wherever possible. By the way, all departments ended FY20 “in the black” for the year, which puts us in a stronger position to begin FY21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the next several weeks, we will assemble detailed departmental and unit budgets. All units should expect very constrained budgets for FY21 that will require careful fiscal management. However, I am confident that with the measures in place so far and as long as the fiscal picture does not worsen in the fall (watch enrollments), that FY21 will be OK. FY22 could be another story, depending on the progression of the pandemic, election results and fallout, the state of the economy in the next calendar year, enrollment trends and the state budget and funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, thank you for your hard work and sacrifices and for all that you do to advance knowledge, teach our students, and work for equity, justice and inclusivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roy Haggerty<\/strong>
Dean, College of Science<\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

All the news that’s fit to print.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Please submit news, honors and awards, discoveries, events, research funding, student news, alumni updates and more. Just send us a quick email<\/a><\/strong> by the end of the month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
<\/span>\"\"
\n
\n
\n

Research updates<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Research Highlights<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A new study led by biochemist Tory Hagen<\/strong> shows a loss in body weight and body fat<\/a> in people taking lipoic acid supplements. Additional properties of the supplement include the stimulation of glucose metabolism, antioxidant defenses and anti-inflammatory responses \u2013 making it a possible complementary treatment for people with diabetes, heart disease and age-related cognitive decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biochemist Adrian Gombart<\/strong> published new research suggesting that people may benefit from higher levels of vitamins<\/a> and supplements than were previously federally recommended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In findings published in Nature<\/a>, scientists report that policy reforms and technological improvements could drive seafood production upward by as much as 75% over the next three decades to feed an estimated 9.8 billion humans. Jane Lubchenco<\/strong>, <\/strong>Wayne and Gladys Valley Chair in Marine Biology at OSU, and international collaborators from the United States, China, Chile, Mexico, Japan, South Africa, Spain, Norway, Argentina and Malaysia contributed to the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TRACE-COVID-19’s second round of door-to-door sampling in Newport<\/a> on July 11-12 found an estimated community prevalence of six in 1,000, compared to the initial sampling on June 20-21 that found a prevalence of 34 in 1,000.  The TRACE-COVID-19 study was expanded to Hermiston, Oregon<\/a>. Preliminary results conducted the weekend of July 25-26 suggest that 17% of the Hermiston community had the novel coronavirus during that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Microbiologist Andrew Thurber<\/strong> and his graduate students have discovered the first active methane seep in Antarctica<\/a> during expeditions. Methane is the second-most effective gas at warming our atmosphere, and the Antarctic has vast reservoirs that are likely to open up as ice sheets retreat due to climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research Funding<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mathematician Mary Beisiegel<\/strong> received funding from the National Science Foundation for three projects:<\/p>\n\n\n\n