One College of Science alumna and one Ph.D. student have been named 2025-2026 Fulbright U.S. Student Program recipients, meaning they'll be funded to travel and conduct research abroad for a year.
Audrey Bivens is an Oregon State University student majoring in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. She participated in the IE3 Global Internship STEM Research in Spain during the spring of 2024, where she received hands-on lab experience working in crystallography. Bivens was also able to improve her Spanish-speaking abilities while living in Madrid.
Today, there’s nothing particularly unusual about taking a college class online. What is less common, though, is becoming a respected scientist after learning remotely from anywhere in the world.
Jacob Van of Beaverton International School is one of Oregon's 2025 National Merit Scholars. He plans to stay in the Pacific Northwest to attend Oregon State University’s Honors College and study biology on the pre-medicine track. The winners of the highly competitive $2,500 scholarship are judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success of all National Merit Scholars, according to the scholarship organization.
When she returned to college, senior zoology student Cierra Freese never expected she would feed a nocturnal kiwi chick in New Zealand or a barred owl in northern Michigan.
After growing up in Fairbanks, Alaska, Ella Bailey answered a calling that made others smile: training to be a dentist. But after her mother received a breast cancer diagnosis, Bailey wanted to drop out.
There’s the store, the gas station and fields that stretch to the hills. Describing his home in Scio, Oregon, physics senior Kyle Gourlie emphasizes its small-town lifestyle. Getting access to science in his rural community, however, proved to be a challenge.
With a meaningful summer abroad and years of undergraduate research under his belt, chemistry senior Mitchell Kenny is heading into his Ph.D. with a strong foundation from Oregon State.
At Oregon State, Roan Luikart was able to bring his passion for math to life. He studied abroad in England, conducted two undergraduate research projects, served as a resident assistant and helped grow the Math Club.
Wine science changed Emily Kaneshiro’s life. From riding bikes in the Netherlands to landing a summer internship at a small, family-owned winery in France’s Loire Valley, she fell in love with fermentation science
