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College of Science

Winter 2023

In the face of climate change, our scientists are hard at work

Artist's rendering of the Sun on the Earth's horizon as seen from space

In the face of a rapidly changing planet, faculty and students across every department in the College of Science are working together to better understand how our world is changing and find sustainable ways for nature and people to adapt.

Dear Friends,

I am honored to serve as interim dean of the College of Science this year as the search begins for a permanent dean. Roy Haggerty, dean of the College of Science since 2017, left in July to become executive vice president and provost at Louisiana State University.

I chose to serve in this role to advance the work our College has done together in the last two years in creating and implementing our diversity action plan and our new strategic plan.

I’m incredibly proud to be a part of the College of Science. Every day, I’m inspired by the remarkable, outward-looking people in our College who continually work for the greater good in their research, teaching and service.

After a year of community-wide engagement, I am delighted to share that we officially launched the College of Science Strategic Plan 2022-2027: Extending the Impact and Reach of Science in October. View the plan at science.oregonstate.edu/sp22.

This new plan will guide the College of Science over the next five years in our aims to lead in inclusive scientific research, education and engagement in Oregon and globally. It is a community plan that reflects the priorities and values of our College of Science community – undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, staff and alumni – and strategic partners, board members and alumni who deliberated over the 2021-22 academic year.

Importantly, the plan is integrated with our diversity action plan, “Embedding Equity, Access and Inclusion.” We set out to create a plan that extends the reach and impact of science knowing this can only be achieved by incorporating our core values around equity, access and inclusion.

In other important news, the OSU Foundation launched Believe It: The Campaign for Oregon State University in the fall. One priority for this fundraising and engagement campaign is the CollaborativeInnovation Complex (CIC), and we are already halfway to the campaign goal of $200 million. Learn more at OSUBelieveIt.org.

The CIC, which ties directly into our new strategic plan, will harness one of the nation’s most powerful supercomputers and team-based research in artificial intelligence, materials science and robotics to solve global challenges in areas such as climate science, oceanography, sustainability and water resources.

The College of Science has been heavily involved in the CIC, and this research and education center will be key in helping us realize our aims to be “an inclusive global leader in conducting research, creating knowledge and fostering innovations that address critical societal challenges.”

I am so thankful to work with fellow scientists as together we advance solutions that the world needs now – like addressing climate change through transdisciplinary research (p. 6). And I’m excited to work with passionate College of Science colleagues and friends this year to extend the reach and impact of science.

Vrushali Bokil
Interim Dean, College of Science