Inspiration Dissemination

The American chestnut was a widespread North American native tree that covered nearly 200,000 miles of Appalachian forest. In 1904, the American chestnut trees in the Bronx Zoo were dying from a then unknown disease, Chestnut Blight. In the next forty years, Chestnut Blight spread across the estimated 4 billion American chestnut trees. Now American Chestnut trees are seen only as giant stumps, juv...

Our guest this week, Becca Maher a PhD student in the Department of Microbiology, is interested in the effect of environmental stressors on the coral microbiome. Corals are in decline globally and with them are the high diversity of marine species that gain shelter and substrate from the coral reef. The information gained from Becca’s research may be informative for policy makers concerned with ag...

Juan has developed a climate model using data gathered from sediment cores, which are samples from the ocean floor that provide researchers with a glimpse into the elemental and organic composition of the ocean at different points in time. Scientists can acquire insight into the characteristics of the Earth’s past climate by analyzing the geologic record spanning thousands of years. Modeling the c...

Working under the advisership of Dr. Shawn Rowe in OSU’s College of Education, Nicolette Canzoneri is passionately pursing a Master of Science degree in Environmental Sciences with research centered around the idea of free-choice learning – or, the education that happens outside of a formal school environment. The menagerie of animals that zoos and aquariums have historically been known for has tr...

Once at Oregon State, Emily McLemore met with Professor Tara Williams, who recommended that she read the Second Nun’s Tale, one of the lesser-known Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Emily began to consider how women, gender, and sexuality studies might be a lens through which to read this tale. Along with another Canterbury Tale, the Knight’s Tale, she formed an argument around how the women i...

Zoe Alley, a 1st year PhD student, is specifically exploring how the first impression of someone’s face can be a predictor, or possibly a driver, of their future life-outcomes. Please find us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/kbvrID facebook: www.facebook.com/InspirationDissemination/ Blog: blogs.oregonstate.edu/inspiration/ Radio Station: www.orangemedianetwork.com/kbvr_fm Host University: or...

Although hummingbirds universally love nectar, they have diverged into a few distinct functional groups that are characterized by behavior: traplining hummingbirds repeatedly and circuitously visit flowers, often traveling long distances, while territorial hummingbirds are aggressively possessive of flowers in a home range. It turns out that Heliconia tortuosa is picky about which of these groups...

The motor protein that Andrew studies could be important in helping researchers understand cancer growth. This could have implications for drug treatment therapy, potentially guiding the creation of motor protein-based molecular devices for more controlled drug delivery in cancer treatments. Please find us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/kbvrID facebook: www.facebook.com/InspirationDissemina...

Richard Deyhle, a Masters student studying Radiation Health Physics, believes we may have found a way to treat these cancers while also increasing our bone strength to previous levels of functionality. This work is in the proof-of-concept phase so it’s still early in the framework of medical application to the public but there is little doubt this can provide miraculous benefits to cancer patients...

Unfortunately there is sleeping giant that is gaining momentum, slowly turning Oregon’s forests from green to yellow with an eventual needle fall of the iconic state tree. This color change is from a microscopic fungus that all Douglas-fir trees have around the world, but for some reason it’s only harming the trees along the Oregon coast range. Our guest, a 4th year PhD student Patrick Bennett, is...

Proteins are the workhorse molecules of the cell, contributing to diverse processes such as eyesight, food breakdown, and disabling of pathogens. PhD candidate Kelsey Kean uses a technique known as protein x-ray crystallography to study the relationship between protein structure and function. Please find us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/kbvrID facebook: www.facebook.com/InspirationDissemin...

Antonio is also particularly interested in the morphological diversity and evolution of clivinine beetle sperm. Antonio wants to know: What is the evolutionary history of clivinine beetles? What is the pattern of morphological diversity of sperm in clivinine beetles, and how are sperm traits evolving? The objective is to collect beetles, study their form, sequence their DNA, and understand their d...

Our guest this week is using young zebrafish to investigate how environmental factors affect their behavior, and whether behavioral changes can be attributed to specific brain activity. The more we know about zebrafish, the more clues we may have into our own neurobiology. Please find us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/kbvrID facebook: www.facebook.com/InspirationDissemination/ Blog: blogs.o...

When plants get sick, they can’t be treated or cured in the same way as people who receive medicine for an illness. Plants require specialized care by scientists who are uniquely equipped to study and treat their diseases. As a graduate student in the lab of Dr. Jay Pscheidt in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Lauri Lutes is a plant doctor looking for viruses that infect sweet cherry...

The art of long form magazine articles, or any writing for that matter, involves much more intricacy than many readers realize. The research process must be done properly to effectively utilize the available sources of information. The result is history retold without the boring textbook dialogue, a change we can all appreciate. Please find us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/kbvrID facebook:...

Many are faced with the impossible hurdle of not having enough food to eat. To put it in perspective, 20% of Oregonians are participating in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps, as of 2015.Vesna saw this problem not through scientific journals or reading the newspaper, but through her own eyes and ears. While working at the DHS, she kept hearing the frus...

Madison defended her Master’s thesis this winter, through which she studied the risk of a biocontrol agent, the cinnabar moth, on a native plant, Senecio triangularis, or arrow-leaf groundsel. These biocontrol caterpillars, will chomp the European tansy ragwort, an invasive weed, to the ground and look pretty cute doing it, but in some parts of Oregon they have recently switched to feeding on the...

As one of the few tree species that grow at high elevations, whitebark pine acts as an ecosystem foundation species, making it possible for other plants, fungi, and animals to utilize higher elevation environments. Since the 1900s, white pine blister rust has dramatically reduced populations of whitebark pine and other 5-needle pines of North America. Please find us on social media! Twitter: twitt...

Celebrities are the center of modern pop culture in the U.S. and around the world. We look to these people for clues about what to wear, what music to listen to, where to spend our money, and even what to believe. What is it that captivates us about these characters and what is it like to live a life in the spotlight? Joe Donovan, a student in the creative writing program here at Oregon State Univ...

Corals face global existential threats from ocean warming and acidification, but some of them are able to withstand these stressors while others perish. Katherine Dziedzic, a PhD student in Integrative Biology, dives into their genomes to understand why this is, and how these findings could be put to use for in public policy and conservation efforts. To hear more from Katherine on her research and...

You might take soil for granted, but it feeds our civilization and provides a foundation for our cities. Vance Almquist, a PhD student from Crops and Soil Science, explains how soils develop and how we can read their layers to make sense of flooding cycles and prevent future natural disasters. Please find us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/kbvrID facebook: www.facebook.com/InspirationDissemi...

What controls biodiversity in forests used for logging? To answer this question, Thomas Stokely, a PhD student in Forest Ecosystems and Society, has constructed dozens of exclosures in Oregon Coast Range research forests to examine the effects of deer and elk grazing, which has implications for sustainable forest management. Please find us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/kbvrID facebook: www...

Cells in our microbiome that inhabit our bodies may outnumber our own cells, and they play roles in health and disease. Felipe Campos-Cerda, a PhD student in Ecology and Evolution at the University of Oregon, talks about his research on tropical bird microbiomes, which may affect host health in a way similar to humans. Please find us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/kbvrID facebook: www.faceb...

Aimee Massey, a PhD student in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, discusses her biodiversity research in Brazilian rainforests, where she captures biting flies and studies the DNA they obtain from the organisms they bite to examine patterns of biodiversity across forested and deforested areas. Please find us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/kbvrID facebook: www.facebook.com/Inspiration...

We apply pesticides to crops in inefficient ways that are sometimes hazardous to farm workers. Matt Slattery, a PhD student in Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, explains his research efforts on using nanoparticles that slowly release pesticides to be more effective on longer-term timescales. Please find us on social media! Twitter: twitter.com/kbvrID facebook: www.facebook.com/InspirationDis...