Established in 2005, the L.L. Stewart Faculty Scholars Program recognizes an outstanding faculty member at Oregon State University and provides resources to stimulate creative advancements in teaching, research, and extended education.

Stacey Harper studies the environmental, health and safety impacts of nanotechnology.

Each year, a Stewart Faculty Scholar will be selected by the OSU President from a pool of applicants who have been nominated for this prestigious award. The theme of the award is to support creativity and innovation among the university’s top scholars.

The L.L. Stewart Faculty Scholars Program is supported by an endowment established by L.L. Stewart and provides $30,000 in financial support for faculty selected as a Stewart Scholar. Ten thousand of this amount will be awarded as a stipend to the faculty member, and $20,000 may be used for any allowable teaching, research, or extended education expenses, including faculty release time. Recipients will have up to two years to spend the funds.

As a signature research scientist with the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), Harper’s research utilizes a novel, multidisciplinary approach and state-of-the-art technology to address important questions arising from human exposures to nanomaterials as potential causes of human environmental diseases. In 2011, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) awarded Harper the Outstanding New Environmental Scientist Award to advance her work in nanotoxicity.

With funding from the LL Stewart Faculty Scholars award, Harper is proposing to develop a “Nanotechnology Environmental Health and Safety (NanoEHS) Personnel Certification Program” at OSU. The development of this certificate will provide dynamic workforce training to serve a rapidly growing field and be the first of its kind in the U.S.

~Angela Yeager

Gov. John Kitzhaber toured ONAMI last Wednesday. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Gov. John Kitzhaber, along with Oregon State University President Ed Ray and other OSU community members, toured the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI) on May 25, to examine how innovative ideas are adding to Oregon’s economic recovery.

“It’s important to look at how Oregon is producing a new economy,” Kitzaber said. “We saw some of the technologies here, if we can figure out how to grow and commercialize those. Those are fundamental changes in our approach to energy management that weren’t even imaginable 10 years ago.”

ONAMI, Oregon’s first signature research center, has been attracting private sector investment and creating both new companies and high-wage jobs in Oregon since its establishment in 2003. The institute is a collaboration of OSU, Portland State University, the University of Oregon, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the state of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest business community.

OSU President Ed Ray, Skip Rung, Executive Director of ONAMI, and Gov. John Kitzhaber talk to researchers at ONAMI. Date: May 25, 2011 (Photo: Theresa Hogue).

Research efforts vary in new technologies at the small nano- and micro-scale including sustainable solar cell manufacturing and development in advanced microfluidic systems. The institute is housed in Corvallis on Hewlett-Packard’s campus, and has provided countless research and employment opportunities for OSU students and graduates.

During the tour, Kitzhaber listened and discussed with members of ONAMI what the companies have been researching and implementing, including technologies in soil, biofuel, water, and home kidney dialysis.

Bill Byers, Vice President of CH2M Hill, showed the governor a new way to use electric fields to remove salt from water and discussed the development of approaches to provide affordable water for Oregon.

“This research creates jobs for engineers and scientists, and it uses the high-tech technologies to make the world a better place,” he said.

Gov. John Kitzhaber talks with OSU professor Richard Peterson in an ONAMI lab. Date: May 25, 2011 (Photo: Theresa Hogue).

Companies working with ONAMI have raised more than $70 million for research projects to help dramatically grow research revenue in Oregon and accelerate commercialization of resulting technology.

Senior Program Manager of Pacific Northwest’s National Laboratory’s (PNNL) Energy and Efficiency Division Terry Hendricks shared how PNNL can commercialize new technology for healthcare, military security and reduce effects of generating energy.

“I’m proud to be a part of statewide job growth and economic development. Over time we have doubled our own staff because of all our activity,” Hendricks said.

Kitzhaber asked questions regarding when developments would be released for commercial production, and discussed the importance of finding ways to export the expertise and technology to the rest of the world.

For students who are looking to graduate and enter Oregon’s hard-hit economy, Kitzhaber said it was important to look to new opportunities, in particular employment created in clean energy and green jobs. Kitzhaber said he hopes Oregon can improve its energy efficiency, thereby lowering energy costs and freeing up money so that businesses can invest in hiring and the development of new jobs. The McCall lecture Kitzhaber delivered Wednesday night following his tour of ONAMI focused on those issues more in depth.

~ Makenzie Marineau