University Events

Working at OSU has been a tradition in my family for generations! My mom, Jan Bressler (Controller's Division) always told me to leave a place better than I found it. I hope I made her proud.
 

Brian is the Director of the Klamath Basin Research & Extension Center. He also has research & Extension responsibilities for potato production systems in the PNW with primary emphasis in the Klamath Basin. He has worked in the area of potato variety development and cultural management alongside various colleagues in the Tri-state Potato Breeding and Variety Development Program the past 30 years. Impacts from this endeavor have been the release of 55 potato varieties with an estimated annual farm-gate value of 1.57 billion to the US industry.  He has held the endowed Klamath Basin Potato Faculty Scholar position since 2014. 

Lori is a Professor of Sociology and Assistant Director of Marine Studies. She specializes in Natural Resource/Environmental Sociology and Rural Sociology. Most of her teaching and research centers on how natural-resource based communities are affected by, adapt to, and demonstrate resilience when facing social and environmental challenges. She has been recognized by colleagues and students for excellence in mentoring and collaboration. Her current research includes a project funded by the PEW Lenfest Ocean Program to collaborate on developing coastal restoration plans centered on historical and contemporary Indigenous knowledge systems connected to ancestral Hawaiian seascapes and waterways.

Wanda is an instructor providing support for undergraduate research, science communications and USDA grants to improve access to research/internship, study abroad, service-learning, and leadership development. She received 2023 Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), Western Region Teaching and Student Engagement Award. She advises OSU MANRRS and SACNAS Chapters and works with federal agencies/partners. As PI/Co-PI she develops programming for MSP, WAMS, and REEU USDA NIFA grants. She directly impacts two special populations of students - undergraduate research students and those that have been historically underrepresented in sciences, reaching them early and providing a pathway to STEM education.

Valerian Dolja's research revealed gene functions of diverse plant viruses and pioneered visualization of virus infections by expressing reporter proteins. He identified the mechanism of cytoplasmic streaming in plants which was elusive for three centuries. His work on global virus diversity, origins and evolution led to an overhaul of evolutionary systematics of the entire virus world, transforming the field of virology. He published 164 peer-reviewed papers which were cited over 20,000 times. Valerian was elected a Fellow of American Academy of Microbiology and American Association for the Advancement of Science and received multiple national and international scientific awards.

Diane began her OSU career as an Office Specialist 1 in Animal Sciences (now Animal and Rangeland Sciences). For over ten years she has been an Accounting Technician in the Ag Sciences/Marine Sciences Business Center and now in Accounts Payable. She enjoys the type and variety of work she does. Diane works hard to have a satisfied customer whether an OSU employee or a vendor for OSU. In 2019-20 Diane was a co-awardee of the College of Ag Sciences Classified/Professional Faculty Employee Award. Diane takes great pride in the quality of her work and how she treats others.

Lisa teaches applied statistics and collaborates with her graduate students and faculty from across OSU on natural resources research. Her passion is fostering understanding and critical thinking in the context of data analysis. Lisa was on the faculty in College of Forestry for 25 years and most recently served as Department Head for the Statistics Department in College of Science. She has widely served as a statistical consultant outside of OSU, working with agencies such as the National Park Service, Washington Department of Natural Resources, the Nature Conservancy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon Department of Justice. 

Derek is a Professor and has worked for OSU's Extension Service in both program and administration positions. He specializes in helping farmers and local organizations implement conservation practices and monitoring to improve water quality and native salmonid (salmon and trout) fish habitat. 

My time at OSU has been spent teaching a variety of chemistry classes, many of which were taught using active learning pedagogies and hybrid formats, training and mentoring our graduate teaching assistants and advising undergraduate chemistry majors, mostly in the chemistry education option. Additionally, I have been active in science outreach to communities beyond Corvallis. Along with Skip Rochefort, my colleague in Chemical Engineering, we established, and have continued to run for over 20 years, the Family Science & Engineering Night program taking hands-on science and engineering activities out to schools that do not have easy access to OSU programming.

Mark completed his BS and MS at Oregon State University and has been with the Wheat Research group for his entire college and working career since. During the past 30 years, his responsibilities and duties have evolved a great deal. Early in his career, he was responsible for coordinating an extensive international program and project database management while being an active part of the field based breeding program. Since then his responsibilities have grown to include a supervisory role in all aspects of the program and a leadership role for club wheat development.

Ricardo M Letelier is a professor of ocean ecology and biogeochemistry in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. He started his career at Oregon State University in April 1994. Over the years his research has focused on the study of marine microbial assemblages and their role on the productivity and elemental cycles of the ocean. He has been fortunate to mentor outstanding students and work with great research assistants who have contributed significantly to the success of his research. Since April 2023, he is serving temporarily as a Program Director in Biological Oceanography at the National Science Foundation.  

Urmila Mali is an associate director of instruction and academic counselor for the Educational Opportunities Program. To help students reach their full potential in both their personal and academic lives, she is an avid supporter of creating an environment that is open, safe and welcoming. Many of these students are first-generation, students of color and many come from backgrounds where it has historically been challenging to get a post-secondary degree. Being a first-generation international student of color, she has the skills, and experience to effectively relate to and mentor students successfully.

Over the 30 years I have been at OSU, I feel my most significant accomplishment has been in mentoring young people into careers in science and engineering. I have had over 300 UG high school students participate in my research lab. My high school summer residential engineering camp has had over 1050 participants since 1997. I served for 12 years as the Director of OSU Precollege Programs and established many STEM Outreach and diversity programs. Working with young people in research projects of social significance is why I came to OSU and why I don’t plan to retire anytime soon!

A trailing spouse, Schmidt is very happy to be at OSU. His responsibilities include teaching introductory calculus to advanced graduate classes and research. Schmidt's research is in pure mathematics, at the border of number theory and dynamics. 

Mark joined the Beaver Club in 1993. This was a perfect fit as he loved both athletics and numbers. Mark enjoyed working with athletics staff, volunteers and donors who all loved supporting the Beavers. A wonderful memory from this period was the incredible rise of the football program culminating in a trip to the 2001 Fiesta Bowl. His position moved to the OSU Foundation in 2000 which led to his role as a supervisor. Being a part of OSU’s first and very successful capital campaign from start to finish was also an incredible experience. Mark will be retiring in 2024.

Darrin started in 1992 at OSU-CBARC, Pendleton, and is currently an associate professor in Crop and Soil Science based in La Grande, OR. His extension agronomy outreach and applied, on-farm research programs serve stakeholders in Union, Baker and Wallowa counties with focus on irrigated/dryland cropping systems, seed production, IPM, pesticide evaluation and pesticide applicator certification. Darrin enjoys helping the producers and other stakeholders in the region and collaborating with peers around the state/region to address production issues and integrate technology such as improving grass seed harvest efficiency with NIR technology and developing pest phenology models/alert systems.