Oregon State University has become a Peace Corps Master’s International partner, and will participate in an innovative program that allows a graduate student to get a master’s degree while also doing a full 27-month service project in the Peace Corps.

The program, the first of its type set up at a college or university in Oregon, will allow students to earn one of three graduate degrees in the OSU College of Forestry. The initial program should provide a model for other colleges at the university to develop participating degrees in the future, university officials say.

It was a frigid winter night on Chile’s central coast, and Christina Murphy was standing in the surf in her wet suit with a night vision monocular, getting pummeled by waves. She was counting her research subjects — nocturnal, carnivorous crabs of the species Acanthocyclus gayi that hide in algae or rock crevices — unaware that she would later regard the experience as one that cemented her love for her work.

It’s uncommon for undergraduates to get research grants. Robbie Lamb has done it twice.

Lamb proved himself early on, says Mark Hixon, a professor of zoology in the College of Science. If you were scuba qualified, you could work as a field assistant on one of Hixon’s summer research projects. So Lamb got qualified. Not only that, he developed his own research project, got it funded, gathered the data and is getting it published.

"Enthusiasm can be short lived," Hixon says. "What’s great about Robbie is he’s enthusiastic and so willing to work."

Ten undergraduates at Oregon State University have been selected to receive scholarships totaling $26,000 for international research and education abroad in 2008-09. The scholarship program includes six awards administered by the International Degree and Education Abroad (IDEA) office. A committee of OSU faculty and staff members selects students for the scholarships each year.