
Science receives record-breaking 11 awards at University Day
College of Science faculty, staff, and graduate students have earned a record-breaking number of honors at University Day, a celebratory launch to the academic year featuring an annual awards ceremony. Science winners amassed an impressive 11 awards, beating the previous record of seven and garnering the most of any college across Oregon State.

Science graduate students receive prestigious National Science Foundation fellowship
Four College of Science graduate students were selected for the prestigious NSF Graduate Student Research Fellowship Program in the 2022-23 school year. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in STEM who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in the U.S.

Breaking down barriers to a future in science
This past summer, Ph.D. student Savanah Leidholt set out to create a summer “bootcamp” for area high school students to draw more students from BIPOC, LGBTQ+, low-income and other diverse backgrounds to the study of microbiology.

Grant Awarded to Study Low Oxygen Environments in Oregon Coastal Waters
Drs. Stephen Giovannoni and Francis Chan were awarded a SciRIS Phase II grant for their proposal, “Hypoxic Barrier: Oxygenase Enzyme Kinetics and Ocean Health”. They are excited about receiving College of Science support to extend their research, which started with a SciRIS Phase I proposal.

Outstanding incoming graduate students received ARCS Oregon scholarships
Five incoming graduate students were awarded 2021-2022 ARCS Foundation Oregon Chapter scholarships. This year, ARCS Oregon is supporting a record number of 79 scholars: 25 at OHSU, 44 at OSU and 10 at UO.

Martin-O’Neill fellow Christine Tataru uses computers to decode our guts
Christine Tataru receives the 2021-22 Larry W. Martin & Joyce B. O’Neill Endowed Fellowship for her work in computational modeling that seeks to understand how gut microbiomes impact their human hosts’ health. She develops tools and frameworks to advance microbiome research, then uses these tools to explore gut-brain axis phenomenon.

Coral researchers find link between bacterial genus and disease susceptibility
Corals that appear healthy are more prone to getting sick when they’re home to too many parasitic bacteria, new research at Oregon State University shows. “The clear relationship we’ve discovered between this kind of bacteria and disease resistance in Caribbean staghorn coral is a crucial piece of the puzzle for coral restoration efforts in that region,” said study co-author Becca Maher, a Ph.D. candidate at Oregon State.

Oregon State University scientists shed new light on viruses' role in coral bleaching
Scientists at Oregon State University have shown that viral infection is involved in coral bleaching – the breakdown of the symbiotic relationship between corals and the algae they rely on for energy.

Scientists recognized for research, service and mentoring excellence at 2020 University Day
Five faculty and scholars from the College of Science are among this year’s award recipients at University Day, OSU’s most prestigious annual awards for research mentoring, scholarship, teamwork, teaching and service.

2020 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships awarded to alumni and students
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 prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) awards in 2020.

Researchers identify type of parasitic bacteria that saps corals of energy
Microbiologists Rebecca Vega Thurber and Grace Klinges have proposed a new genus of bacteria that flourishes when coral reefs become polluted, making them more susceptible to disease.