Oregon State’s vice president for research, Rick Spinrad, has been tapped to chair a federal committee on ocean observing systems. The 13 marine scientists, conservationists and industry stakeholders will advise the Integrated Ocean Observation System, as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), on data collection, management and technological innovation. As a former [...]
Category » Service to Oregon
October 10, 2012
The Biscuit Fire 10 Years Later
What will the long-term data show?
The 2002 Biscuit Fire not only torched a half-million acres in Southern Oregon, it became a poster child for the debate over post-fire management and forest recovery. When the journal Science accepted a paper on the fire’s aftermath by then-graduate student Daniel Donato, it ignited a long-smoldering debate over what, if anything, should be done [...]
October 10, 2012
Contributing to the Mars Mission
NASA's quest for signs of life on Mars got a boost when Curiosity landed on the Red Planet
NASA’s quest for signs of life on Mars got a huge boost in August when Curiosity landed on the Red Planet.
October 9, 2012
Forms from the Sea
Oregon artists reveal hidden worlds in plankton science
During a Pacific Ocean research cruise, Angel White peers into her microscope. The ship rides gentle swells and sways side to side. In her field of view, organisms the size of dust motes rise and fall through their own watery world. “It can be disorienting and enthralling at the same time. The microbes are dying [...]
October 9, 2012
Drifters
Artist statement — Sara McCormick. My work is a form of digital art know as fractals: mathematical and natural forms that exhibit what’s known as self-similarity. Using a computer I render mathematical formulas into art of infinite depth and detail. More than anything else for me, my [...]
October 9, 2012
The Collection
Artist statement — Chi Meredith. I am a professional artist and also a retired oceanography research assistant. When asked to contribute to the da Vinci Days project, I anticipated making a two-dimensional oil painting of the beautiful photographs Dr. Angelicque White took of plankton gathered from the ocean. However, while in North Carolina last winter, [...]
October 9, 2012
Emiliania coccolithophore
Artist statement — Ella Rhoades. I went literal in my interpretation of Angelicque White’s photographs. The imagery of life beneath the microscope lends itself so beautifully to mosaic form. Optical filters are remnants from the oceanographic industry and generated the color palette for this piece [...]
October 9, 2012
Parum Aqua Flora
Artist statement — Sidnee Snell. I was originally attracted to the lacy quality of sections of Angelicque White’s photograph. However, as I began to work with it, a floral image began to appear. Although I have no idea whether the plankton should be considered flora or fauna, I decided to follow that theme. The [...]
October 9, 2012
Leviathan
Artist statement — Rakar West. All of Dr. White’s images of plankton are very beautiful and interesting to me. The one I chose as my main inspiration is the composite image of the cyanobacteria, protozoans and metazoans. My painting, Leviathan, refers to the food chain (or web), but is not a literal depiction. The word [...]
October 9, 2012
Tondos
Artist statement — Jenny Gray. My work Titled “Tondos” is based on looking at the Plankton rather than the Plankton itself, I just keep thinking of these scientists looking and looking through the microscope. My work is a mixed media piece, collage and paint and drawing. Eugene, Oregon 2012 For other works submitted to the [...]
October 9, 2012
Drifters 1
Artist statement — Leah Wilson. My paintings are created in the intersections of science, philosophy and art. Years ago, I created paintings in response to the natural river environment — the effect of light, movement and rhythms of its elements. The elements, especially water, provide a framework, a reference to return to in the [...]
October 9, 2012
Benthos
Artist statement — Jerri Bartholomew I am not a formally trained artist. Instead, my education is in science, having received degrees in fisheries and microbiology at Oregon State. This background informs and influences my art. I enjoy the anticipation of opening the kiln [...]
October 9, 2012
Blue Button
Artist statement – Sandra Schock-Houtman There are infinite possibilities when one uses the Earth and its progeny as sparks for creativity. I found Dr. White’s photographs of plankton engaging at first sight. The biggest problem I encountered in creating work for this show was choosing one photo to focus on! For several years, I have [...]
October 8, 2012
Robots Learn to Walk
An era of walking robots that can help people with physical disabilities, take on dangerous missions or aid in disaster response is about to begin. One of the leaders in this emerging field, Oregon State University engineer Jonathan Hurst, was recognized in October by Popular Mechanics with one of its “Breakthrough Innovator” awards of 2012. [...]
September 10, 2012
Under the Hood
Geologists reveal the steady personality of Oregon’s signature peak
Mount Hood last erupted more than 200 years ago, but at Crater Rock, not far from the summit, the signs of volcanic activity are unmistakable. Gas vents and hot springs emit sulfur fumes. Vapors rising from deep under the mountain carve snow caves, which can seem like sanctuaries for climbers but often hold deadly concentrations [...]
September 10, 2012
Behind the Screens
OSU-UO partnership aims at greening the flat-panel display industry
Some of today’s flat-panel TV and computer screens are nearly as big as a living room wall. They bring us unimaginably sharp detail, from the spots on butterfly wings to the grimace on a linebacker’s face. Whether hooked up to your cable feed, DVD player or wi-fi, this technology is becoming integral to daily life. However, our love of flashy high-res has a dark side.
August 15, 2012
Proving Ground for Veterinary Practice
Oregon State’s small-animal clinic and hospital is a leading institution not only in minimally invasive surgery but also in therapeutic laser research and treatments for cancer, cardiovascular disease and other illnesses.
August 6, 2012
Space Dreams
Don Pettit talks about exploration, colonizing other planets and raising zucchini on the International Space Station
When he’s on Earth, Don Pettit dreams about space. But when he’s in space, he dreams about walking on Earth. “Dreams may have something to do with humans never being satisfied, which is why we go exploring in the first place,” he says. If there’s a gene for the urge to explore new worlds, Pettit [...]
July 25, 2012
Bug Problems? Call in the Chickens
Oregon State Extension experiments with pest control in organic apple orchard
“Aw, no bugs!” exclaims Betsey Miller after meticulously pouring over a wheelbarrow’s worth of decomposing leaf litter and manure. “The chickens are doing a great job, but it’s still fun for us entomologists to find insects once in a while!” A pen of praiseworthy red-ranger chickens peck away at the grass a few yards away, [...]
July 25, 2012
The Heart of Mass
Discovery of the Higgs opens a new chapter in the exploration of nature
The term “God particle” tends to rankle physicists. The flippant reference to the recently discovered particle believed to be the Higgs boson was coined by Leon Lederman, the former director of the Department of Energy’s Fermilab and Nobel Prize winning physicist. But, says Ken Krane, nuclear scientist and emeritus professor of physics at Oregon State [...]
July 11, 2012
Horns of Africa
Dylan McDowell studies endangered rhinos in Tanzanian reserves
In the place where Dylan McDowell grew up, wildlife meant sea lions, sandpipers, salmon and passing pods of spouting whales. Where he’s going this summer, wildlife means something else entirely, something reminiscent of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, exotic and fearsome: wildebeests, jackals, baboons, leopards, warthogs. And rhinos that have been poached nearly [...]
July 11, 2012
Sea Urchin
Caitlyn Clark takes her love of ecology to Ireland's first marine reserve
On her first-ever research trip, Caitlyn Clark trudged up and down hundreds of spongy hummocks spanning miles of arctic tundra, all the while swatting at giant mosquitoes and scanning for hungry polar bears. She was in Manitoba to collect data about the habitats of boreal frogs and stickleback fish for Earthwatch Institute Student Challenge Awards [...]
July 11, 2012
The Milky Way
Mais oui! Rachel Miller puts French ice cream to the taste and texture test.
When Rachel Miller was shadowing a pie scientist in her hometown of Spokane, Washington, no one — not her teachers, not her parents, and certainly not she herself — could have predicted that her high school job shadow would lead to possibly the coolest summer internship in the universe: tasting ice cream in France. OK, [...]
July 11, 2012
The Earth Burps and Burns
WeiLi Hong measures methane emissions in Korean ocean waters
When the Earth burps, WeiLi Hong listens. Whether Earth’s gaseous emissions bubble up from “mud volcanoes” on the planet’s surface or seep out of fissures on the ocean floor, the Oregon State University Ph.D. student has his monitoring gear to the ground. And sometimes, he’s actually in the ground. “I fell in twice,” Hong admits, [...]
July 11, 2012
Legacy of a Whale
Renee Albertson’s childhood encounter led her, decades later, to French Polynesia
Rain was pouring hard the day Renee Albertson first connected, face-to-face, with a marine mammal. She was a 7-year-old visiting British Columbia’s Sealand aquarium (Canada’s now-defunct answer to California’s SeaWorld) with her mom and dad. The daily show had been cancelled because of the downpour. The usual crowds were absent. As the soggy trio from [...]
July 3, 2012
Dolphin Defender
Rebecca Hamner boats New Zealand’s coastline collecting DNA from endangered dolphins
A dolphin’s dorsal fin can be as distinctive as a human fingerprint. As the fin slices through the sea, its unique pattern of pigments, nicks and scars relays the animal’s personal story to observers on the surface. Often, scientists can use these markings to ID individual dolphins. But for some species, fin IDs are not [...]
June 29, 2012
Science Without Borders
Want to do science today? Make sure your passport is up to date.
When land grant universities were created 150 years ago, science was already an international activity. Well before the signing of the Morrill Act in 1862, American scientists aboard six U.S. Navy vessels had circumnavigated the globe, collected thousands of plant and animal specimens and mapped parts of the Pacific Ocean from the Columbia River to [...]
June 27, 2012
Labor of Love
Master's student aims to solve health-care puzzle
The resilience of the women was surprising, as was their appreciation for just being heard. After all, they are at the bottom of the social hierarchy in one of the world’s poorest countries. No one had shown much interest in their stories until an Oregon State University student showed up last winter. Bonnie Ruder, a [...]
June 20, 2012
Relay for Wheat
If wheat breeding were a relay race, the land grant all-star team would include Foote, Kronstad, Peterson and now Zemetra
When he was a college student, Bob Zemetra found the perfect career. “I liked working with plants, and I realized that in plant breeding — in theory — I could be outside in the good part of the year and inside in the bad part of the year.” Things didn’t turn out that way, he [...]
June 20, 2012
Oregon State Goes to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Event celebrates the 150th anniversary of the "people's universities"
One of the nation’s most popular summer fairs, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., features hands-on exhibits created by Oregon State University.
