Skip to main content
Two people stand in front of buildings.
Research

Immune systems for cities: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

Cities are like organisms — they need immune systems. Viruses can reproduce rapidly, taking over cells and turning them into viral factories within hours. Individuals' immune systems need to rise to the challenge, but what happens when they can't, and a whole population gets sick?

Photo of Kidder Hall from a low angle looking at a door with science written in the glass above the door, and Kidder Hall written in the stone above the glass. Blurred pink flowers appear in the foreground.
Graduate students

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.

Coral microbiologist Rebecca Vega Thurber snorkeling above a mass of coral in clear waters.
OSU Press Releases

College of Science postdoctoral scholar helps find hidden viral threats to coral reefs

Microscopic algae that corals need for survival harbor a common and possibly disease-causing virus in their genetic material, an international collaboration spearheaded by an Oregon State University researcher has found.

An aerial shot of the Valley Library during sunset.
Research

New grants to support breakthrough discoveries

Four-dimensional tissue self-assembly, integrated river health and ultra-tiny spectrometers: The 2022 College of Science Research and Innovation Seed (SciRIS) award recipients will use collaboration to fill critical knowledge gaps across numerous scientific disciplines to drive real-world impact.

A cell sits above a wreath on a blue background with glitter.
Events

Celebrating excellence in research: 2023 College of Science Awards

The College of Science gathered on Feb. 22 to recognize and celebrate our high achieving faculty and staff at the 2023 Combined Awards Ceremony. The evening celebrated the very best in the College, from teaching, advising and research to inclusive excellence, administration and service. During the research awards portion of the evening, the College saluted innovative discoveries made by faculty and staff who are breaking the boundaries of their respective fields.

Ben Dalziel
Research

Preparing for the next pandemic: $1M grant to create interdisciplinary research center

A team of Oregon State University researchers have received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to identify, model, predict, track and mitigate the effects of future pandemics.

Image of algal bloom
Research

Grants to address climate change impacts and biomedical challenges

Researchers in the College of Science know that curiosity is boundless. Answers are not stopping points but instead opportunities for deeper questions and discoveries. Continuing to ask questions culminated in three faculty groups receiving College of Science Research and Innovation Seed (SciRIS) awards in July.

Underwater coral reef landscape background in the blue sea with fish and marine life.
Research

Innovation grants to build model reef at OSU, catalyze biological and materials research

College of Science Research and Innovation Seed (SciRIS) awards fund projects based on collaborative research within the College of Science community and beyond.

students in masks sit on a bench on OSU's campus
News

Oregon State University receives $2 million Packard Foundation grant to expand TRACE-COVID-19 nationally

Team-based Rapid Assessment of Community-Level Coronavirus Epidemics, or TRACE-COVID-19, was launched by OSU in April 2020 with door-to-door sampling in Corvallis and expanded to other cities around the state while also adding a wastewater testing component. In December, OSU received a $2 million grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to create a national TRACE Center that will expand the OSU’s COVID-19 public health project to other states.

Sally Hacker and a graduate student study beach grasses along the Pacific Northwest coast
Faculty and Staff

Can a new super beach grass save our coastal dunes?

Integrative Biology Professor Sally Hacker is one of five Oregon Sea Grant omnibus funding recipients. She will study a new hybrid super beachgrass along coastal dunes in the Pacific Northwest.

Purple coral at bottom floor of shallow ocean
Marine Science

Funding for long-term studies promotes better science, environmental policy

The need for long-term research—which is highly valued by environmental scientists and policymakers—far outstrips the amount of funding awarded for it, according to a recent study.

A zoomed in shot of a fruit fly.
OSU Press Releases

Disruption of biological clocks causes neurodegeneration, early death

New research at Oregon State University provides evidence for the first time that disruption of circadian rhythms – the biological “clocks” found in many animals – can clearly cause accelerated neurodegeneration, loss of motor function and premature death.