The College of Science is proud to congratulate the following faculty for receiving promotions and/or tenure this spring. A well deserved pat on the back for their excellent work!

Tremendous consideration goes into each promotion and tenure decision. The dean’s office, department chairs, promotions and tenure committee members, faculty, external reviewers, students who offer letters of support, and of course the individual faculty member spends many hours preparing, processing and reviewing the documentation. The process is extremely rigorous in order to award the best candidates for promotion and/or tenure.

Special thanks to our College of Science Promotions and Tenure Committee for devoting a significant time this spring engaged in the review process. Also, thanks to the provost and the University Promotions and Tenure Committee for their hard work in evaluating and supporting the outstanding accomplishments of our faculty.

Biochemistry & Biophysics Department

Lanelle Connolly has been promoted to Senior Faculty Research Assistant I of Biochemistry and Biophysics, effective July 1, 2015.

Dr. Indira Rajagopal has been promoted to Senior Instructor II of Biochemistry and Biophysics, effective July 1, 2015.

Chemistry Department

Dr. Christopher M. Beaudry has been promoted to Associate Professor of Chemistry and granted indefinite tenure, effective September 16, 2015.

Dr. Ha Yeon (Paul) Cheong has been promoted to Associate Professor of Chemistry and granted indefinite tenure, effective September 16, 2015.

Dr. Jeff Walker has been promoted to Senior Instructor II of Chemistry, effective July 1, 2015.

Paula Joy Edwards Weiss has been promoted to Senior Instructor I of Chemistry, effective July 1, 2015.

Integrative Biology Department

Dr. Lesley Mae Blair has been promoted to Senior Instructor II of Integrative Biology, effective July 1, 2015.

Dr. Francis Chan has been promoted to Associate Professor, Senior Research of Integrative Biology, effective July 1, 2015.

Eileen Shin Yeu Chow has been promoted to Senior Faculty Research Assistant I of Integrative Biology, effective July 1, 2015.

Mark Lavery has been promoted to Senior Instructor II of Integrative Biology, effective July 1, 2015.

Dr. David Lytle has been promoted to Professor of Integrative Biology, effective September 16, 2015.

Mathematics Department

Dr. Christine Escher has been promoted to Professor of Mathematics, effective September 16, 2015.

Dr. Filix Maisch has been promoted to Senior Instructor I of Mathematics, effective September 16, 2015.

Microbiology Department

Dr. Linda Diane Bruslind has been promoted to Senior Instructor II of Microbiology, effective July 1, 2015.

Dr. Katharine Field has been promoted to Professor of Microbiology, effective July 1, 2015.

Statistics Department

Dr. Yanming Di has been promoted to Associate Professor in Statistics and granted indefinite tenure, effective September 16, 2015.

Dr. Alix Gitelman has been promoted to Professor of Statistics, effective September 16, 2015.

Keep up the excellent work!

Science was well represented at the 2015 Celebrating Undergraduate Excellence event May 14, with more than 30 science students presenting their work. Big congratulations goes to microbiology senior Matt Kaiser who was named OSU Undergraduate Research Student of the Year! Matt's research focused on "An Epigenetic Perspective: The Anticancer Potential of High-Dose Vitamin C." Kudos also goes to microbiology student Marcus Weinman won best poster for the College of Science on "GnRH potentiates the expression of RANK and RANKL in canine osteosarcoma cell lines." We are proud of your extraordinary work in research and of all of our students who participated!

Presenting academic and creative work in a formal setting is a hallmark of true accomplishment in undergraduate studies. This presentation is valuable to include on resumes and on graduate school and scholarship applications.

Thanks to all students in the College of Science who participated!

Amberlie Barnard (Chemistry major)
Development of Affordable Field Test Kit to Determine Onion Pungency

Ellie Bohrer (Zoology/Pre-Veterinary Medicine major)
Histologic and morphometric evaluation of testes of feral tom kittens and cats

Jacob Busche (Physics major)
Optical tweezers-based probe of charge transfer in organic semiconductors at microscopic scales

Teresa Chase (Zoology major)
Does Temperature Preference Change in Aging Flies?

Elia deJesus (Zoology major)
A high-resolution detrital and oxygen isotope record from Flemish Pass, Labrador Sea

Jesse Edwards (Microbiology major)
Vibrio cholerae Response to Environmental Factors Including pH and Salt Content in the Absence of Specific Antiporters

Mariah Estill (Psychology and Biology major)
Look Beyond: Raising Awareness on Facial and Expressive Differences

Eric Fritz (Microbiology major)
Biowaste utilization with anaerobic digesters assessment and documentation for feasible energy production at OSU

Aden Hassan (Biology major)
Using Skin Phototype to Assess Risk of Vitamin D Insufficiency in Young Women of Color

Anita Jong (Microbiology major)
Expression of Phospholipase C-beta Isoenzymes in Embryonic Mice

Matthew Kaiser (Microbiology major)
An Epigenetic Perspective: The Anticancer Potential of High-Dose Vitamin C

Shan Lansing (Chemistry, Biohealth Sciences major)
Essential considerations for developing a reporter-probe biosensor

Arisa Larmay Barrientos (Bioengineering major)
Zebrafish Xenograft Model

Sang Lee (Biology major)
Model System for Computing Phosphorylation of Teicoplanin: Conformational Preference of Phospho-Imidazolium

Daniel Lin (Computer Science and Physics major)
A Novel Method of Detecting Lines on a Noisy Image

Larkin Loewenherz (Biology major)
Prey characterization and Feeding Activity of Juvenile Flatfish

Sophie Means (Biology major)
Zebrafish Xenograft Model

Alek Mendoza (Animal and Rangeland Sciences major)
Monitoring Transpiration Rates in Semiarid Ecosystems

Matthew Newman (Microbiology major)
Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Activation and the Prevention of Type I Diabetes

Jackie Nguyen (Pre-Chemical Engineering major)
Sintering of BNKT Ceramics: Effect of Na, K, and Bi Content on Densification Kinetics

Rachel Payne (Microbiology major)
Vibrio cholerae Response to Environmental Factors Including pH and Salt Content in the Absence of Specific Antiporters

Logan Pedersen (Psychology major)
Stimulus-Response Correspondence in a Visual Go-Nogo Task: Are Reactions Altered by the Presence of Salient Objects?

Samuel Petshow (Biology major)
Thermoregulation and sickness response: evidence of behavioral fever in red-sided garter snakes

Andrew Pham (Microbiolody major)
Chemical Screening and Antibacterial Testing of Fungal Endophytes

Yuriyah Reed-Harris (Biology, Bio Engineering major)
Zebrafish Xenograft Model

Julianne Robinson (Ecological engineering major)
Monitoring Transpiration Rates in Semiarid Ecosystems

Andrew Schlueter (Zoology major)
A Survey of Oregon Raptors for Chlamydia psittaci and the presence of a Rhabdochlamydia sp.

Charlie Ta (BioResource Research and Microbiology major)
Nitrobacter winogradskyi Responses to Fe Limitation

William Valiant (Microbiology major)
The broad spectrum antiviral compound ST-669 affects vesicular trafficking in Chlamydia-infected cells

Clara Weidman (Biology and BioResource Research major)
Using soil solarization to eradicate soil borne samples of Phytophthora species

Marcus Weinman (Microbiology major)
GnRH potentiates the expression of RANK and RANKL in canine osteosarcoma cell lines

The College of Science has partnered with ARCS Foundation Portland Chapter to recruit top applicants to PhD programs in the departments of biochemistry and biophysics, chemistry, mathematics, microbiology, statistics and integrative biology.

ARCS® Foundation (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) is a distinguished national non-profit volunteer women’s organization dedicated to advancing our nation’s competitiveness in scientific and technological innovation.

“These departments in the College of Science are recognized by ARCS Foundation as being among the top research programs in the country,” said Jean Josephson, president of the Portland Chapter of the ARCS Foundation.

The Portland Chapter will raise funds for ARCS Scholar Awards for the College of Science. This week two awards were earmarked for the College of Science to recruit top doctoral candidates entering one of the six programs in the 2014-2015 academic year. Each award is $18,000, payable over three years.

"I am thrilled for the College to partner with ARCS Foundation Portland Chapter,” said College of Science Dean Sastry G. Pantula.

“Their generous support for our departments will help us attract the best graduate students to OSU and help them realize their dreams. We will transform them into leaders in science to improve people’s lives in Oregon and around the world."

The College of Science joins the College of Engineering, College of Forestry and College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences as partners of the ARCS Foundation Portland Chapter.

Through partnerships with 55 of America’s most highly ranked universities, ARCS Foundation provides significant financial awards to U.S. graduate students who are most capable of innovative pursuits in science, engineering and medical research. ARCS Foundation employs a scholar award model that provides flexible and unrestricted funding that can be a game changer for these fledgling researchers.

Former Statistics Department Chair receives prestigious science honor

The American Association for the Advancement of Science announced former OSU Statistics Department Chair Robert Smythe as a 2013 fellow during their annual meeting in Chicago this past weekend. Smythe served as chair of the OSU Statistics Department from 1998 to 2008.

The College of Science is proud to recognize microbiology alumnus Joel Peterson ('69) with its first-ever Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. This award publicly recognizes alumni of the College for distinguished personal and career accomplishments and for exemplary contributions to society that bring credit to the College as well as to the University.

Immediately after graduating from OSU, Joel Peterson drove ambulances, traveled around Europe and then worked as a research immunologist at the Harold Brunn institute in San Francisco, then as a clinical lab scientist at Sonoma Valley Hospital. In his spare time, Peterson was a wine writer and wine consultant.