Tristan Perry, left, found inspiration from Kipp Shearman, and is now his research assistant. (photo: Jim Folts)

He was doing what he wanted, but with just a bachelor’s degree in science, “I saw a glass ceiling for those who didn’t have higher degrees,” Peery says. “And I wanted to see what research had to offer for career opportunities.”

Even in Florida, OSU’s oceanography program has an excellent reputation. And when Peery came here, he met Kipp Shearman and learned about gliders.

“Kipp’s a great guy all around. He’s excited about the research he’s doing. He’s taking water quality monitoring to a completely different level. It seemed like a good fit,” Peery says.

Shearman was impressed with Peery’s experience with instrumentation as well as his determination. Peery took a class in differential equations to bolster his math background before he was accepted to OSU’s graduate program in the summer of 2006.

Shearman brought Peery into his research using robotic, rocket-like autonomous gliders, which cruise through the ocean off the Oregon coast and measure temperature, salinity, optical properties, chlorophyll and — one of the major focuses of the research — oxygen levels in the water. “Gliders are a newer technology, and I think that was one of the selling points of the job for Tristan,” Shearman says.

Shearman and his lab are breaking new ground by maintaining a small fleet of gliders sampling Oregon’s coastal ocean 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The gliders are programmed to surface every 6 hours, call Shearman’s lab and provide reams of data to be analyzed.

There’s so much data that Shearman likens it to taking a drink of water from a fire hose. That’s where Peery comes in. His job was to devise a way to integrate all the information the gliders provide, as well as work on the team operating the gliders, which cost about $100,000 each.
This autonomy is one of the reasons Peery — who graduated in 2007 and now works as a full-time faculty research assistant — admires Shearman as a mentor.

“Students look at Kipp as someone who’s approachable and who’s easy to talk to,” says Peery. “He’s one of those people who tries to help you along your own way. And that’s huge.”

For Shearman, mentoring students is important because they can provide energy and focus to the research that colleagues cannot. “Tristan’s research will be beneficial to all groups operating gliders, and I wouldn’t be able to do that on my own,” Shearman says. “Being a professor, you want to make impacts, to do things that make a difference. Students are an effective way to do that.”

~ Celine Carillo

Chelsea Byrd now works in biodefense, but has maintained close ties with her OSU mentor, Dennis Hruby, throughout the years. He continues to be a role model. (photo: Jim Folts)

As an undergrad, Byrd was persistent in looking for research opportunities, and while she heard Hruby had a tough reputation, she wanted “someone who could push me,” she says.

And he would. As with all students, Hruby laid out his high expectations as well as the demands of biomedical science. Still, Byrd had the enthusiasm and motivation Hruby looks for. When asked what she wanted to be, Byrd responded, “I want to be you. And I’m not leaving until you say yes.”

Hruby has built mentoring into the structure of his research labs. Any incoming student or employee works with someone more experienced, who works with a more senior scientist, who reports to Hruby. That gives the new person the advantage of working with somebody familiar with the day-to-day science, Hruby says. And at each step up the hierarchy, the scientists get the experience of mentoring the people working under them.

Like most mentors, Hruby gains satisfaction from seeing students like Byrd grow and succeed in their chosen careers. He also knows the value of having a mentor from his own experience; he had them as an undergrad, but not in graduate school and wishes he had.

“Anybody in complex science and academia shouldn’t have to learn everything from scratch,” Hruby says. “It’s good to have someone older guide you in the right direction.”

As a mentor, Hruby tells his incoming graduate students his role is to be a resource, providing a laboratory, funding, a great project and fine-tuning. “They’ll have to do everything else,” he says. “That’s the skill set they need to learn to be successful.”

Which Chelsea Byrd has done and is.

~ Gary Dulude

Advisor Louie Bottaro thinks mentoring is not just about graduation requirements, but how to get students where they want to go. Student Neha George realized that meant switching majors. (photo: Jim Folts)

“I want to talk about your life and help you figure out how to get to where you want to go,” he says.

For Neha George, getting there meant making a major switch from biochemistry and biophysics to political science. George felt that by migrating to the College of Liberal Arts, she would be challenging herself.

After taking an international relations course, George discovered a new perspective through which she could view the globe and learned, in part, “what it means to be a citizen of the world,” she says.

“Making the move to the College of Liberal Arts has been a humbling experience.” George says. “Not only did it get me out of labs, but I’ve found that political science helps you to realize that the world doesn’t revolve around you.”

Especially motivated by the status of women in varying regions around the globe, George has found a position that not only matches her course of study but also her central interests within political science by working at the Women’s Center on campus as an outreach and activism coordinator.

Bottaro has also challenged her, providing advice on potential internships and, as graduation approached, her job search.

“I definitely seek his opinion on what I can excel in or what not might be a good fit for me,” George says. “I value his ability to not just relate, but his willingness to speak his mind.”

~ Tara Pistorese

Mike O’Malley of the College of Education helped student Genevieve Menino learn how to make connections between herself, her subject and her students. (photo: Jim Folts)

“If you don’t make that personal connection, students won’t connect with the subject matter,” he says. “I’m energized by connecting with the students.”

O’Malley has passed that energy along to Genevieve Menino, who graduated last year with a double degree in Education and Family and Consumer Sciences. Even when the day’s subject matter might be a bit dry, she says O’Malley would find a way to make it interesting.

“You can tell when a professor has a passion for what they’re doing,” she says. “O’Malley brings his passion for education into the classroom.”

During her student teaching at an Oregon City high school, Menino saw the value of connections from the teacher’s perspective.

“When you connect with the subject and your students, they’re more likely to remember and understand it,” she says. “It makes them feel important and want to put out better work.”

Like most mentoring relationships, the one between O’Malley and Menino developed naturally as she took more of his classes. At one point, she was stressing out over the 18-credit load she was taking so she could graduate on time.

“It’s hard to learn when you’re stressed,” she says. “He was always very nice about working with me and helping me not to worry.”

For O’Malley, being a mentor also means being a role model. He always brings a copy of the New York Times and a current book he’s reading to class, encouraging students to explore, stretch their minds and “become who they are,” he says.

“If you can be a role model and make connections with your students, then you’ve done your job.”

As an added bonus, mentoring is fun.

“It’s burnout prevention,” O’Malley says. “Being a mentor produces more energy than you have to put into it.”

~ Gary Dulude

Vanahn Nguyen needed an outlet for her research interest, and Wanda Cranell knew where to send her, and how to support her work. (photo: Jim Folts)

Nguyen had developed an interest in research, and Crannell helped Nguyen match that interest to a new major — bioresource research — that offered hands-on learning opportunities. Crannell continued to guide Nguyen on her career path by helping her to find an undergraduate research project, working with Arup Indra in the College of Pharmacy to study skin cancer protection using antioxidants. It was an unusual research opportunity for an undergraduate.

Through this research project, Nguyen was specifically hoping to better understand the AhR receptor for melanin production to further the medical understanding of how ultraviolet light damages DNA.

“We are looking at things like why some people respond differently, how the DNA responds to UV rays, as well as searching for more methods of prevention,” Nguyen says.

Beyond helping Nguyen find a research outlet for her interests, Crannell also encouraged
Nguyen to get involved in Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS), where she was recently elected regional vice president.

“Vananh is absolutely fearless,” Crannell says. “She is willing to try new things, and she is always willing to jump in with both feet in order to get involved.”

“Helping Vananh find her leadership ability has been my pleasure,” Crannell continues. “She has great leadership skills, maintains a stellar GPA and balances that with her research — to do all that is not an easy task for anyone. She got involved on campus and found herself.”

~ Tara Pistorese

“You can be a mom, you can be a wife, you can be a professional,” Brigham says. “You don’t have to, but you can.”
Similar learning styles encouraged the connection between Baltzer and Brigham. “We have the same curiosity,” Baltzer says. “We want to be able to follow a case all the way through and solve the mystery. That’s how we function.”
Curiosity isn’t the only quality that Brigham and Baltzer share; they have stayed focused and determined in order to compete in a profession that is currently dominated by men.
“I think we are probably two of the most strong-willed people on earth,” Brigham says. “But, I think that is what it takes if you want to be a woman in this profession.”
Baltzer has supported Brigham on the road to board certification in small animal internal medicine, reminding her that the hard work and the long journey ahead—which will be filled with internships, additional schooling and board examinations—will be worth it in the end.
“It makes it easier to think that my kids and my husband will get to watch me graduate from vet school,” Brigham says. “People told me that I would fail out, but I’m at the top of my class—Dr. Baltzer was one of the only people who believed in me.”
~ by Tara Pistorese
Editor’s note: The Mentors feature series looks at faculty and staff who guide the academic and professional development of students and junior staffers through exemplary personal engagement.

Having fun, Un-Ku Moon (left) found the student he was mentoring, Peter Kurahashi, not only an excellent student but a fine mentor himself. (photo: Jim Folts)

Moon’s teaching style helped spur Kurahashi’s interest in electronics. “The way he pictures circuits is the same as the approach I take to engineering problems,” Kurahashi says. “We’re a good fit. His style is less methodical and more intuitive of how things work. When I went into circuit design, it really fit my way of thinking.”

Like most engineering students, Kurahashi completed internships through the Multiple Engineering Cooperative Program (MECOP). At Planar Systems, he tested liquid-crystal displays and helped develop an optical touch screen.

He spent another internship at Hewlett-Packard working on molecular memory, feedback-controlled electromigration and nano break-junctions.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 2004, Kurahashi went straight into the Ph.D. program, focusing on integrated circuit design and low-voltage analog circuits. He expects to complete his degree next year.

Kurahashi also has mentored undergraduate students, helping them see beyond the technical side of engineering. “I like to think I’m a good influence on how to go about being a good engineer, doing well,” he says.

“By mentoring people and encouraging them to mentor others, it cascades — everybody helps each other as much as they can.”
For Moon, working with a student like Kurahashi has been very rewarding “because he does things so well,” he says. At the same time, Moon believes there is “always a reward in mentoring, always a positive result in the end.”

“Mentoring is teaching people to mentor others,” Moon says. “It’s not just about engineering; it’s about thinking bigger.”

~ by Gary Dulude

Halstead’s fervor for Lawrence would soon turn out to shape her future.

Carmen Halstead found a lot of support from Neil Davison of OSU's English department. (photo: Jim Folts)

Halstead enrolled in one of Neil Davison’s upper-level modern literature classes after noticing Lawrence’s name on the syllabus. Not long after the class began, however, Davison announced he was dropping Lawrence due to time constraints.

“Carmen immediately came to my office,” Davison recalled. “She told me how disappointed she was and that the whole reason she took the course was to study Lawrence.”

Halstead’s zealous lobbying on Lawrence’s behalf worked. “Thankfully, it turned out we did study Lawrence,” Davison said.

Halstead took her interest in Lawrence beyond the classroom setting. For a class assignment, Halstead wrote an essay highlighting one of Lawrence’s best-known works, Women and Love. That essay evolved, with Davison’s encouragement, into a thesis that won a 2006 research award from the Valley Library.

“I camped out in the stacks for a month,” Halstead said. “I thought it was awesome that I could study [Lawrence] in such a specific way; looking at the female unconscious as it relates to men, especially in his erotic texts.”

In her thesis, Halstead analyzed Lawrence in relation to the “somewhat tumultuous foundation upon which his work rests” (Halstead, 2006). She stretched beyond character development to look at other factors of Lawrence’s appeal, including his “complexity of theory” and “[reflection] of the modernist mentality” and the way in which these aspects of his literature relate to the “major feminist misreading of [his work]” (Halstead, 2006).

“While pop culture history has labeled him scandalous and immoral, he remains for some truth seekers a brilliant, inspirational philosopher,” Halstead’s thesis concluded.

Through Davison’s class and his guidance on her thesis, Halstead was able to harness her literary research talents and discover the direction of her dreams.

“I had no idea there were people who devote their whole lives to studying Lawrence,” Halstead said. “Professor Davison told me ‘if this is what you really want, then this is how you get there’.”

After graduating in June, Halstead began applying for graduate programs. While she may become a professor of English literature, it may take some time before Halstead fully recognizes her professional path – but she believes she is on her way.

“Having someone there to constantly support me and who not only recognizes all of the hard work that I’ve done but really believes that I can go further is wonderful,” Halstead said. “It has done a lot for my education. You can’t always see that by looking at the transcript.”

For Davison, nurturing Halstead’s academic passion has been “the great reward of teaching. Every once in awhile, you get an undergraduate who is intently focused,” he said. “The greatest moment for a teacher is to see that his student has outshined them, and knowing that they contributed to that.”

Finally, Halstead has a piece of advice for other students: “If there’s something you’re really passionate about, don’t let the instructor pull it from the syllabus.”

~ by Tara Pistorese

“Mentors” is a regular feature of LIFE@OSU. Along with LIFE/Work, In the Classroom, OSU Around Oregon, and especially Commentary, we encourage submissions and suggestions of articles that would be of interest to the staff and faculty of Oregon State University. Send them to lifeatosu@oregonstate.edu. Also, comment on this and other stories already appearing in our web edition. Just click on the “comment” link at the end of each piece. Thank you. — Editor

Elizabeth Cuno gained real life skills from her mentor, Stephanie Bernell, College of Health and Human Sciences. (photo: Jim Folts)

Elizabeth Cuno has two excellent reasons for majoring in health management and policy: her kids.

Seven years ago, Cuno experienced complications 20 weeks into her pregnancy and had no insurance. At first, the hospital “just told me my daughter was going to die,” she says, “and I don’t think the hospital treated me as though I were a person.”

Although Cuno and her baby eventually received the necessary care, she decided she wanted others to receive better treatment than she experienced.

Last spring, Cuno took Stephanie Bernell’s class in health economics in the College of Health and Human Sciences. It’s a difficult class where students have to learn complex mathematical tools to analyze the healthcare system.

Cuno says she appreciates Bernell’s passion for the topic, her ability to look at it from several angles and how she goes beyond theories by giving students newspaper and peer-reviewed articles that coincided with the lecture topics.

Bernell also provides students with examples of how a theory is applied in a person’s life, like how to buy health insurance — something many students don’t have. In some cases, Bernell has gone with her students to examine their options and fill out the forms.

In class, she’ll download an insurance contract and show students how to read it, explaining deductibles, copayments, expenditure caps, formulary restrictions and other issues students can expect to confront over their lifetimes.

“I don’t just tell them what the concept is, I actually bring it to class,” Bernell says. “It’s not abstract anymore.”

Bernell finds inspiration from students like Cuno, who balances school, working an average of 30 hours a week and raising two kids on her own. “Elizabeth tries harder than almost any student I know,” Bernell says. “That she manages the other commitments in her life and takes school as seriously as she does is remarkable.”

Bernell also believes OSU serves an important purpose in making education accessible for students who have to work around real-life constraints.

“Oregon State is a great place because we can give students like Elizabeth really top educational opportunities at an affordable price. Set the bar high enough and students will reach it. Elizabeth is a student who does that.”

~ by Gary Dulude