IMPACT

College of Science students tap into a network of clubs to find their voice, grow professionally and serve the community. Groups underrepresented in STEM, including women, people of color and LGBTQ individuals, forge a more inclusive future together in these student clubs.

Peter Banwarth (M.S. ’12) is an epidemiologist and public health data scientist with the Benton County Health Department in Oregon. He has developed models to guide county health policies on testing, safety and health measures for employees and the public to minimize infections and deaths in Corvallis and nearby areas.

Research by an Integrative Biology Ph.D. candidate Anne Devan-Song in Oregon State University’s College of Science has upended the conventional wisdom that for a century has incorrectly guided the study of the eastern spadefoot toad, which is considered endangered in part of its range.

Christine Tataru receives the 2021-22 Larry W. Martin & Joyce B. O’Neill Endowed Fellowship for her work in computational modeling that seeks to understand how gut microbiomes impact their human hosts’ health. She develops tools and frameworks to advance microbiome research, then uses these tools to explore gut-brain axis phenomenon.

Integrative Biology Ph.D. candidate Bryan K. Lynn studies evolutionary game theory, advocates for LGBTQ+ equity, and excels at pastry creation. His work uses mathematical modeling to investigate the evolution of cooperation, using bacteria as his subjects.

Two species of sand-stabilizing beachgrasses introduced to the Pacific Northwest starting in the early 1900s are hybridizing, raising new questions about impacts to the coastal ecosystems the non-native plants have been engineering for more than a century.

Biochemists at Oregon State University have found a key new piece of the puzzle in the quest to use gene therapy to enable people born deaf to hear.

Two students from the College of Science at OSU are among the 22 receiving a Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award, presented annually by the Ecological Society of America.

With expertise spanning marine ecology, biofuel development, new modes of energy capture, evolutionary genetics and the microbiomes of coral reefs, OSU is committed to research that puts the environment first.

Biochemists have taken a key step toward new drugs and vaccines for combating COVID-19 with a deep dive into one protein’s interactions with SARS-CoV-2 genetic material.

Two Ph.D. students in the College of Science have been selected for the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

Heather Masson-Forsythe, a fifth-year graduate student in the College of Science, is a winner in the 13^th annual Dance Your Ph.D. contest organized by Science Magazine in the newly created COVID-19 category. "I think the arts in general are really, really valuable on their own but also to communicate science, and as someone who really loves dance, I think it’s one of the best ways to communicate," she said.