Academic Report of College of Agricultural Sciences

Funded by the OSU Superfund Research Program and led by environmental chemist Staci Simonich, a recent study discovered that emission control systems added to a Portland General Electric plant in 2011—which targeted mercury—inadvertently lowered dangerous airborne PAHs.

http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/superfund/2015/07/08/mercury-scrubbers-at-oregon-power-plant-lower-other-pollution-too/

BUDS (Bolstering Undergraduate Development and Success), created by graduate students in Botany and Plant Pathology to mentor undergraduates and strengthen academic excellence.

Zhian Kamvar and Javier Tabima (Botany and Plant Pathology) were featured in PeerJ for their novel statistical software to analyze data on clonal populations of microbes, fungi, and oomcyetes.

http://bpp.oregonstate.edu/content/one-top-bioinformatics-articles-peerj

With NSF funding and international co-investigators, Pankaj Jaiswal is developing a common semantic framework for the ever-expanding array of sequenced plant genomes and phenotype data, called the Planteome Project.

http://bpp.oregonstate.edu/jaiswal

The e-book was produced for the National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative, with 60 digital pages and links to more than 70 videos, tools, and publications to improve the sustainability of U.S. strawberry production.

http://bee.oregonstate.edu/ganti-s-murthy

John Selker is working with Dutch partners to install hydro-meteorological sensing stations across Africa to provide critical data for farmers accessible by cell phone.

http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/heatosu/case-studies/trans-african-hydro-meteorological-observatory/

BEE seniors spent a year designing a system for small-scale aquaculture in developing countries. Ganti Murthy will help two students implement successful designs in Africa, with support OSU’s AquaFish Innovation Lab.

http://www.dailybarometer.com/news/group-balances-engineering-with-nature/article_56edaaa2-fddf-11e4-8ddd-7f517d418f66.html

Hong Liu collaborated with Widmer Brewing to use fuel cells to clean wastewater and produce electricity. Her research, which began as a BEST award, is being extended with an NSF grant.

http://bee.oregonstate.edu/hong-liu

Researchers in Applied Economics published a study that assesses the impact of water scarcity and climate on irrigation decisions for producers of specialty crops, wheat, and forage crops.

http://appliedecon.oregonstate.edu/irrigation-decisions-and-water-scarcity

Four new online degree programs––Fisheries & Wildlife, Agricultural Sciences, Horticulture, and Environmental Economics & Policy—expand the college’s ability to serve non-traditional students globally.

http://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/online-degrees/undergraduate/