Marsha Lampi brings the discipline of a long-distance runner to her research in bioengineering as well as to OSU cross-country and track. (Photo: Jan Sonnenmair)

By Nick Houtman and Darryl Lai

Marsha Lampi runs for distance – 5,000 or 10,000 meters in track, 5,000 or 6,000 meters in cross-country. The former Lincoln High School student from Portland enjoys pacing herself but is always looking to improve. “I usually think, if only I had done this or that differently, I could have run a little bit faster,” she says.

This summer will take the Oregon State University athlete, a junior in bioengineering and the University Honors College, further than she has ever gone, at a pace that surprises even her. She is one of two-dozen students from around the world who have been accepted into an eight-week internship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (known as the EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Lampi will work in the Hubell Laboratory, which specializes in research on biomaterials, drug delivery and tissue engineering. It’s a great fit for a student who is setting her sights on med school or biomedical research.

Lampi’s laboratory experience at OSU has prepared her for the challenge. Last summer, she worked in OSU’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute undergraduate research program on a subject of great interest to runners: the fluid that lubricates knees, hips and other joints. Under guidance from Willie “Skip” Rochefort, associate professor of chemical engineering, Lampi looked at how proteins in this so-called synovial fluid affect its ability to help joints absorb shock.

She credits Rochefort and the College of Engineering for giving her the opportunities and academic support she needed to qualify for the Swiss program. “Dr. Skip has been there every step of the way to help me,” she says. “He made me think about the big picture.” As a result, she developed the confidence to apply to internship programs (Berkeley, Stanford, MIT and EPFL) that she didn’t think would accept her. No worries: She got into each one.

“I chose to do research at the EPFL because of the international opportunity of working with people from around the world,” she says. Although she speaks fluent Spanish, she is looking forward to learning new languages and the by-ways of an unfamiliar country.

Rochefort says that Lampi is one of the best students that he has mentored at OSU. “She has the talent to go a long way and the desires to make an impact on people’s lives, both with her research and as a role model in both her professional and personal lives. She is possibly the most disciplined and organized student, with a huge capacity for work, that I have met in my 17 years at OSU!”

Lampi has served as a mentor for other students in high school and at OSU. In her own family, she looks to her older brother (an engineer) and sister (in med school) for inspiration. “They showed me I can do whatever I want,” she says.

Despite her new surroundings, Lampi will continue to work on her running in preparation for the fall cross-country season. And she’ll have additional support through her coach, Kelly Sullivan, and the OSU Athletics Department, which has arranged for friends to meet her in Switzerland.

To support student scholarships and the University Honors College, contact the OSU Foundation.

(Illustration: Juliette Borda)

Dann Cutter has maintained a reactor on a nuclear submarine and, for the past 12 years, kept the computer networks running at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center. He serves on the Waldport, Oregon city council and two state advisory boards (rural health care and transportation). Why, then, would he return to college for more education?

The answer is personal, best answered by Cutter with a photograph that shows him curled up with his four-year-old daughter Kacey and their two cats. “When Kassandra was born in 2004, I decided it was time to do something serious about my life goals,” he says.

Today, the student in the College of Business and University Honors College is completing a bachelor’s degree in business finance with minors in resource economics and mathematical sciences. He has also accepted a Graduate Laurels Scholarship for OSU’s MBA program. In 2008, with sponsorship and support from OSU’s Austin Entrepreneurship Program, Cutter was one of 13 Americans accepted into an international fellowship program at Stanford University. The Roundtable on Entrepreneurship Education (REE) teamed him up with students from China, Thailand and Australia and charged the group with developing a proposal for a sustainable food product business.

Communicating through e-mail, Cutter and his peers shared their cultures and food specialties. They discussed hurdles for starting new businesses in their respective countries.

“Assumptions varied for each of us,” says Cutter. “We take food safety regulations for granted in the U.S., but in Thailand, they’re still developing their approach to food additives. Clean water is something else we take for granted, but you can’t assume it will be available in other parts of the world.”

Last October, 60 REE program participants representing nearly every continent met in a one-week workshop at Stanford. Cutter and his team created a business proposal combining a flair for international flavors (pad Thai, gyros, specialty pizza, bobotie and feijoada) with the requirement of locally produced foods and recipes. The group’s presentation has generated follow-up interest from a venture capital firm.

Other groups developed related proposals: social networking tools to recommend restaurants based on individual food preferences; methane generation from restaurant wastes to meet community energy needs; a food distribution network to serve local farmers, allowing them to compete with global food product companies.

During the workshop, Cutter introduced students to Oregon’s diverse food industry and explained its reliance on international markets. He reached out to Oregon processors for samples of crab and shrimp, pears, hazelnuts, wine and microbrews and took cases of these foods to share with the other participants.

“It’s easy to see markets that exist in your own local area,” says Cutter. “This experience showed me that all entrepreneurship happens in a global market. You need to look at a much larger picture. Business creation is a world-wide endeavor.”

Cutter maintains contact with the members of his group. “You come to understand that there are students around the world just like you who worry about paying their tuition and getting a job,” he says.

Cutter’s personal interest is the energy industry. His Honors College thesis focuses on the prospects for wave energy, but he has gained a broad understanding of how entrepreneurial behavior applies to many disciplines. “Entrepreneurship isn’t just for business students,” he says. “It’s for students in agriculture, science, engineering and all others. It’s as fundamental as math, reading and writing.”
— By Nick Houtman

For more information:

OSU Student Awarded Stanford REE Fellowship, 10-3-08

The Austin Entrepreneurship Program Hosts the Inaugural New Enterprise Challenge, 1-18-08

College of Business Hires New Director for Austin Entrepreneurship Program, 4-4-07

To support the Austin Entrepreneurship Program, contact the OSU Foundation