Five College of Science faculty recognized at 2026 University Day

The impact of College of Science faculty extends far beyond the classroom and laboratory. At Oregon State University’s 2026 University Day celebration, five faculty members were recognized for work that has shaped international marine conservation, reduced the cost of a college education and more.

Impact Award for Outstanding Scholarship

Associate Professor Kirsten Grorud-Colvert received the Impact Award for Outstanding Scholarship for research that transformed how the world understands and governs marine protected areas (MPAs).

Grorud-Colvert led the team behind The MPA Guide, published in Science in 2021, which introduced a science-based framework classifying MPAs by their actual level of protection and the conditions needed for them to succeed. She and her collaborators then translated that framework for a general audience through the 2023 MPA User Guide and Video, hosted on a United Nations Environment Program website and used by policymakers, Indigenous communities, and coastal states worldwide.

The Guide’s influence reached the highest levels of international diplomacy: nominators credit it with resolving decades of confusion that had stalled negotiations over the UN’s High Seas Treaty, giving governments the clarity and confidence to finally sign and ratify the agreement, which became international law in January 2026. At least 19 countries have used the Guide to design or evaluate their own MPAs, the paper has been accessed more than 49,000 times, and major international conservation bodies have adopted its framework as a global standard. Grorud-Colvert was also invited to co-author a Science editorial marking the treaty’s passage, recognition her nominators call exceedingly rare for a single research program.

Associate Professor Kirsten Grorud-Colvert received the Impact Award for Outstanding Scholarship for research that transformed how the world understands and governs marine protected areas (MPAs).

Faculty Affordability Award

Associate Professor of Teaching Lindsay Biga received the Faculty Affordability Award for leading the team that adapted OpenStax’s Anatomy & Physiology into a free, openly licensed textbook now used by hundreds of OSU students each term, and by millions more worldwide.

Biga spearheaded the original adaptation of the 1,000-plus-page text, a multiyear project that has since grown into a second edition built with the university’s Open Educational Resources Unit. Students in the BI 231-233 anatomy and physiology series now pay $0 for their lecture textbook and student response system, down from a prior cost of roughly $150. The only required purchase is a $24 lab manual, on which Biga and her co-authors take no royalties. She is now writing a free OER lab manual as well, which would make the entire course sequence cost-free.

Beyond cost savings, nominators highlighted the quality and reach of the work: the text logged over a million page views on Pressbooks’ publishing network in 2025 alone, and it’s used by institutions across the country and internationally. Biga’s team also rebuilt the book’s images to represent gender and ethnic diversity and ensured the content meets accessibility standards. Since the OER was adopted in 2019, nominators estimate it has saved students nearly $500K, while student survey scores for “course materials were accessible to me” have held steady at 5.9-6 out of 6, and Drop, Fail, Withdraw rates in the course sequence have declined significantly.

Faculty Excellence in Online Teaching Award

Associate Professor of Teaching Meta Landys received the Faculty Excellence in Online Teaching Award for spending over a decade proving that online classes can be just as rigorous and personal as in-person ones. All three of her Ecampus courses, spanning writing-intensive coursework, genetics and environmental physiology, hold Quality Matters certification, a national benchmark for online course quality that she’s earned and renewed year after year.

What sets her apart, according to nominators, is how she treats teaching itself as something to study and improve. She built a “public exam” approach, releasing part of the exam content in advance, and published peer-reviewed research showing it eased student anxiety without sacrificing academic rigor. After she redesigned one of her courses using these findings, the drop rate fell from nearly 9%, while quiz scores and assignment completion rose sharply, providing concrete evidence that thoughtful design translates into real student success.

Beyond her own classroom, colleagues describe her as unusually responsive and caring for an online instructor. She’s mentored other faculty in online teaching, stepped in to finish a colleague’s course mid-term when needed, and become the person her department turns to first on questions about online learning. One student summed up the experience simply: it was “hands down the best online class I have ever taken.”

Dar Reese Excellence in Advising Award

Senior Instructor II Margie Haak received the Dar Reese Excellence in Advising Award after 33 years at Oregon State, most recently as head advisor for the Department of Chemistry. Nominators credit her with a dramatic rise in chemistry majors alongside her push to modernize advising practices and training for faculty advisors.

Colleagues describe her as someone who treats advising as more than logistics. She’s known for pairing students with research opportunities, TA positions and mentoring roles at exactly the moments they’re considering giving up. One student, a transfer and readmit who struggled to find footing at Oregon State, wrote that he wasn't sure he’d have graduated without her guidance, crediting her with steering him toward research, teaching and a sense of belonging in the department. Haak has been especially influential for students in the Chemistry Education track, many of whom now teach in high-need schools.

Her advising work is intertwined with a long record of teaching innovation: she developed courses like CH 101 and CH 199 to catch students struggling in first-year general chemistry, ran an early-warning system for at-risk students years before it became standard practice and helped grow the “Mole Hole” into a high-traffic chemistry help center. She also extends that commitment beyond campus through the Family Science & Engineering Nights program, which brings hands-on STEM activities to thousands of K-6 students in underserved Oregon communities.

Senior Instructor II Margie Haak received the Dar Reese Excellence in Advising Award after 33 years at Oregon State, most recently as head advisor for the Department of Chemistry.

D. Curtis Mumford Faculty Service Award

Bob Mason, professor of integrative biology and J.C. Braly Curator of Vertebrates, received the D. Curtis Mumford Faculty Service Award. This award recognizes exceptional, ongoing and dedicated interdepartmental, interdisciplinary and interinstitutional service to the faculty and Oregon State.

Mason has served the university at every level since arriving at OSU in the early 1990s, chairing the Biology Program for 12 years and the Animal Care and Use Committee for four. He spent more than two decades as a Faculty Senator, served as Faculty Senate President in 2017-2018, and was elected president of the Inter-Institutional Faculty Senate. His committee record includes 15 years on the College of Science Promotion and Tenure Committee, participation in numerous administrative search committees, service on the Honors College Council and involvement in diversity and inclusion initiatives such as ADVANCE and the Values-Based Academic Leadership Trajectories for Women in STEM program.

One faculty nominator in a high-ranking central position noted that in his eight years in that role, “not once has Bob declined a university-level request” for guidance or service, calling him "extraordinarily meritorious” of the award. Another nominator described Mason as a service “king” whose leadership has left “a lasting impact on OSU’s governance.” A former graduate student pointed to additional examples of Mason’s generosity, recalling how he loaned his lab’s only environmental chamber to a new faculty member and offered his lab truck to help with a departmental move. Alongside this record of service, Mason remains an internationally recognized researcher on snake pheromones and reproductive behavior, with an h-index of 49 and research that has been featured by National Geographic, the BBC and NPR.