AgSci provided $100K match to help facilitate water heating capability at the Fryer Salmon Disease Lab, which will enable scientists to study climate change impacts on diseases of aquatic species.
MSI, a new model created to address critical issues facing Oregon and the globe, is strengthened by long-term, highly interdisciplinary research conducted by three AES research units: the Seafood Laboratory in Astoria (established in 1940), the Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station, and the Marine Mammal Institute.
http://oregonprogress.oregonstate.edu/winter-2015/osu%E2%80%99s-marine-studies-initiative
Hatfield Student Organization works to expand educational experiences and increase professional development through fundraising and research activities. They raised over $3,600 for the Samaritan Foundation Patient Support Fund.
Provost Hiring Initiative funding provided the College with 5 new faculty positions in addition to 7 new positions funded by AgSci to strengthen programs across the state. Among the new hires are:
- Leigh Torres, studying geospatial ecology of marine megafauna, directed toward improving conservation management of protected species. (COMES)
- Sergio Arispe, studying rangeland plant communities, directed toward how grazing affects revegetation following wildfire. (Malheur)
- Valtcho Jeliazkov, the new Director of the Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center, focusing on improving the sustainability of winter wheat production in the region.
Bruce Mate is leading a new U.S. Navy-funded research project investigating the movements of whales and how marine life will be affected by current El Nino conditions.
http://mmi.oregonstate.edu/bruce-mate
http://oregonprogress.oregonstate.edu/summer-2014/marine-mammal-institute
Christina DeWitt, director of the Seafood Lab at OSU’s Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station (COMES), mediated a dispute between federal regulators and fishermen over handling procedures of freshly caught tuna. DeWitt traveled to Washington, D.C. and met with the FDA’s Office of Seafood Safety, ultimately drafting a set of handling guidelines that satisfied safety concerns, without being economically burdensome on fishermen.
http://oregonprogress.oregonstate.edu/summer-2015/ensuring-safety-fast-paced-fishery
Chris Langdon, a shellfish biologist at the Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station, continues his research to help protect Oregon’s $70 million oyster industry by genetically improving oysters, making them larger, tastier, and more resistant to increasingly acidic oceans. Since 1996, his work has led to growths in commercial yields of up to 35%, injecting an estimated additional $4.5 million per year into the Northwest’s seafood economy.
http://oregonprogress.oregonstate.edu/summer-2015/build-better-oyster