IMPACT

What can universities learn from the experiences of first-generation college students, and how can those insights help more students succeed? Join senior instructor of chemistry and 2026 Inclusive Excellence Award winner Lou Wojcinski for his talk titled “First-Generation Voices: Stories, Perspectives and Possibilities," and hear from a panel of current first-generation students. Explore how we can create learning environments where all students have the opportunity to thrive.

A collaboration led by chemist Kyriakos Stylianou, created a photocatalyst that enables the high-speed, high-efficiency production of hydrogen.

Scientists spend hours wrangling data, rebuilding experiments, troubleshooting code and keeping track of each step. Alumnus and entrepreneur Scott Clark (’08) believes that artificial intelligence can take on much of that work, freeing researchers to pursue the questions that drive discovery.

Using a laser-based technique they developed, one so sensitive it can spot a single missing oxygen atom, the group has opened a new window into how next-generation memory materials behave. The work, funded by Samsung Electronics, centers on transistors used in DRAM, the memory chips found in most computers.

Published in Angewandte Chemie, the findings show that the new MOF, dubbed BVR-X, essentially directs water and carbon dioxide to different regions inside its pores, preventing water from blocking the places where carbon dioxide is captured.

Before starting her Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in fall 2026, alumna Hannah Dempsey spent four weeks participating in a rigorous mathematics residency program.

Madagascar provides a unique window into extinct ecosystems and the roles humans play in biodiversity loss, said study co-leader Sean Hixon, a postdoctoral researcher in associate professor Rebecca Terry’s integrative biology lab.

Vrushali Bokil is one of eight mathematicians nationally named a 2027 Association for Women in Mathematics Fellow, recognizing nearly two decades of leadership to expand access and opportunity in mathematics at Oregon State and beyond.

The research team used a water-based solution rather than a toxic organic solvent to separate zirconium, vital in nuclear power generation, from hafnium, which is crucial for both nuclear energy and semiconductor manufacturing.