OSU-Cascades takes an important step in research funding

OSU-Cascades research funding has just reached $ 3.4 million, the second highest total in campus history.

The growing Bend campus has received $ 9.3 million in the past three fiscal years, more than double that of the previous three fiscal years.

“The increased funding is proof of the productivity of our researchers and their teams, and their shared commitment to improving central Oregon, the state, the nation and our world,” said Andrew Ketsdever, Interim Vice-President of OSU-Cascades.

Oregon State University is the best comprehensive public research university in the state, thanks in large part to the work of OSU-Cascades. The university as a whole has received $ 380 million in funding for the fifth consecutive year.

“As OSU-Cascades grows, our research activity will also increase in its impact and benefit local and global communities,” said Ketsdever.

OSU-Cascades’ largest research project is led by Bahman Abbasi, Assistant Professor of Energy Systems Engineering. Abbasi is also the director of the Water and Energy Technology Laboratory – aka Wet lab – design systems to create usable fresh water from salt water, as well as recover usable water from wastewater through hydraulic fracturing.

Abbasi’s work has brought in more than $ 5 million in research grants from the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust and the US Department of Energy in recent years.

Other notable work includes that of Elizabeth Marino and Chris Wolsko in adapting COVID-19 public health messages to diverse audiences, as well as in resolving cultural and socio-economic conflicts involving fishing in marine reserves of Oregon. Marino also received funding to investigate problems facing coastal communities exposed to recurrent flooding and to examine the effectiveness of federal disaster response policies.

Together, Marino and Wolkso received $ 810,000 in funding from the Oregon Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and the National Science Foundation.

Other major work carried out at OSU-Cascades includes:

• Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences, Shannon Lipscomb, whose portfolio on early childhood education, risk and resilience has generated $ 2.3 million in funding to date.
• Also in the Human Development and Family Sciences program, Assistant Professor Brianne Kothari was awarded a $ 42,000 grant from PSU to study recommendations on how child welfare agencies can increase retention of social workers. .

• Associate Professor of Biology Matt Orr received a $ 39,000 grant from the Oregon Governor’s Watershed Improvement Council to study the benefits of analog beaver dams in restoring estuaries along the Crooked River.
• Professor Christine Pollard, who currently holds the position of Dean of Academic Affairs at OSU-Cascades, received the Research Activity and Fellowship Award in 2021 for her ten years of kinesiology research focused on undergraduate and undergraduate students. graduate students, community health partners and the public. Pollard helped create the FORCE Biomechanics Lab, which examines leg and foot injuries, the biomechanics of running shoes, and injury prevention and rehabilitation programs.