By Steve Frandzel
Brian Wood, professor of environmental engineering has been awarded a fellowship by the London Mathematical Society (LMS), the United Kingdom’s leading learned society for mathematics. As part of the fellowship, Wood will reside in Oxford and deliver a series of six lectures at prestigious universities including Oxford University, Cambridge University, Imperial College, and University College.
The fellowship and lectures represent a unique opportunity to bring visibility to Oregon State and help foster potential collaboration. Wood will also conduct collaborative research with Helen Byrne, University Lecturer in Computational Biology at the Mathematical Institute of Oxford. The topic of both the research and the lectures will be upscaling in complex, hierarchical biological systems, such as tissues and organs.
The primary aim of the visit is to establish new partnerships between Wood and members of the Mathematical Institute at Oxford who have common interests in the development and application of tissue homogenization in biology and medicine (creating tissue samples that are equal in composition).
Wood’s primary research interests include the description of mass, momentum, and energy transport in natural and engineered multiscale systems. He also specializes in subsurface hydrology; bioremediation and biochemical processes; water and wastewater treatment; and sustainable design and engineering.
The LMS publishes journals and books, provides grants to support mathematics, and organizes scientific meetings and lectures.
Jake Johnston, who will graduate with a degree in civil engineering, is primarily interested in transportation surveying, so he was excited about the opportunity to take part in the Student Steel Bridge competition for a second year. Sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction and the American Society of Civil Engineers, the national competition requires a team of juniors and seniors to design a steel bridge after receiving rules for the contest. Team members designed the project during fall term and built the model during winter term.
Eason said that the locks, which are owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are dilapidated and in need of funding since they no longer receive federal dollars. “Without the locks, which allow boats traveling up and downstream to pass the falls, water crafts would have to portage out and around with trucks,” Eason explained.