I really do love my job.

Things are really picking up at my job.  I am starting to get a hang of what I should be doing.  It’s great when things make sense and I am able to answer the questions asked of me without looking dumb.

I have met some really wonderful faculty members who are doing very interesting research.  Some of it I can understand, but a lot of it goes over my pretty little head.  Part of my job is to put what I learn into lay terms so that we can tell donors what it is exactly that their money supports.  I can’t just say, “Your donation helps to support really cool stuff with lasers.”  Hee hee hee...did anyone do the Dr. Evil voice and finger quotes just now? 

So far I have met with a brilliant chemist, a globetrotting geoscientist, personable physicist (Oxymoron?), fascinating microbiologist and two groundbreaking Science and Math education professors.  I am proud of the work that Oregon State University’s College of Science Professors are doing. 

Dr. Wei Kong’s work in chemistry is beyond my mental understanding.  I did a lot of smiling and nodding.  My notes make no sense.  I will need to do more research on what she’s doing and talk with a few of the other professors with which she is collaborating. 

Dr. Anne Nolin just came back from a sabbatical in Switzerland where she was studying glaciers as the Landolt Chair for a Sustainable Future at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.  It’s quite an honor.  She studies hydroclimatology with the focus on Environmental impact and economic impact of snow and glaciers and how they integrate with water sources.  It’s fascinating and really pertains to this area of Oregon.  Those running ski lodges are highly impacted by the snow obviously.  Also, commercial and recreational fisherman are interested in knowing more about her work with how the snow and glacier run off affects the bodies of water in the region.  I’m sure the salmon and trout care too. 

Dr. Oksana Ostroverkhova is so awesome.  I want to be her friend because she cracks me up.  She is from the Ukraine and is doing work nano particles.  When I walked into her office and told her I was with the College of Science and the Foundation, she says to me, “You are here for me to be part of dog and pony show?”  (Sounds much better with her accent.)  And yes, we want her to be part of our “dog and pony” show.  She’s brilliant and personable, thus she would be perfect to parade in front of donors. 

Sign at the Salmon Disease Lab.

Dr. Jerri Bartholomew runs the Salmon Disease Laboratory.  I had a great time visiting the lab and seeing all the fishies.  She is a microbiologist and the field has always fascinated me.  I believe this is why I understood her work better, not that it was less complicated, but because I was more intrigued.  I would love to be able to arrange an event where we could have potential donors tour the lab.  Not only do the trout and salmon care about Dr. Nolin’s work, but keeping them healthy by studying a pathogen that is making them sick is probably high on their lists of important things to know….if their fish brains can understand all that. 


Dr. Falk and Dr. Dierking are in Science and Math Ed.  They are working on various projects involving STEM education.  Having worked for a STEM education consortium, I was very excited to hear more about what they are doing.  It was a great meeting where I helped them bounce around ideas of potential partners in Portland where their study of free choice learning asset mapping will take place.  I am excited to become more engaged with their work. 

I have more meetings lined up with zoologists, chemists, biologists and statisticians.  I am looking forward to what I will learn.  I want to take some science classes now.  If I audit, I don’t really have to take tests that I would inevitably fail….but it would be fun. 

I also got to mingle with much of the science faulty as well as staff while at the College of Science Awards Day.   This is where the College of Science acknowledges the hard work of faculty and staff.  I helped to organize the event….I was in charge of catering!  YAY!  The student quotes about honorees were my favorite.  They had some really wonderful things to say about their professors.  They were also quite hilarious.  The whole event was great and I had a blast!   You would think science and math nerds wouldn’t be so funny, but they are quite entertaining.  I keep hoping I run into someone who is like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory.

The Dean of the College of Science, My Boss, Speaking at the CoS Awards Day.

The students are back to class and the hallways are alive again.  I have spent the last two months quietly learning my duties.  Now I must fight through the hoards of students stampeding toward class.  I have learned to time my bathroom breaks around class schedules. 

My commute is more annoying too as there are more bicyclists on the roads….and you all know how I love the inconsiderate cyclists here.  They are rude to me as a motorist and rude to me as a pedestrian.  If they are not out on the roads disobeying street signs, they are riding on the sidewalks (when perfectly good bike lanes are available) and almost running me over as I walk to my building.  This will be a long struggle and I will be sure to complain more as time progresses.