Tuba Özkan-Haller is the Associate Vice President for Research Administration and Development at Oregon State University as well as Professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and the College of Engineering. She previously also served as Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Advancement in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.
As Associate Vice President for Research Administration and Development Özkan-Haller is responsible for leading the Office of Sponsored Research and Awards Administration as well building the research development capacity and providing the strategy to meet the needs of OSU’s growing research enterprise. As a faculty member, she focuses on the use of numerical, field, laboratory, and analytical approaches to arrive at a predictive understanding of waves, circulation, and beach change in the nearshore ocean, including the continental shelf, the surf zone, inlets, and estuaries. The results of this work are being applied to navigational planning, for the development and design of wave energy conversion devices, and for forecasting of beach-goer hazards.
She has previously served as a member of the Ocean Studies Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, has participated in various Academies committee on marine hydrokinetic energy and long-term coastal change. Özkan-Haller is passionate about communicating science to the public and has appeared in numerous documentaries produced by the History Channel, the National Geographic Channel, and Oregon Public Broadcasting, and was quoted in various news segments and newspaper articles, most recently about sneaker wave fatalities along the Pacific Northwest Coastline of the US. Özkan-Haller is the recipient of the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the Outstanding Faculty Member Award at the University of Michigan as well as the Pattullo Award for Excellence in Teaching Award and Woman of Excellence Award at OSU. She holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey, and a M.C.E. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Delaware.
