31 OSU Faculty are Promoted to Associate Professor
As Oregon's land grant university, Oregon State University is committed to educating, both on and off-campus, the citizens of Oregon, the nation, and the international community, and in expanding and applying knowledge. Candidates for promotion are evaluated objectively for evidence of distinction in their performance of assigned duties and in their scholarship or creative activity. The excellence of our faculty is paramount and we are very proud of the faculty recently promoted to the rank of associate professor.
Andrew J. Annalora Associate Professor, Senior Research | Environmental and Molecular Toxicology
Hailing from Gallup, New Mexico, Dr. Annalora's upbringing near the Navajo Nation instilled in him a profound appreciation for cultural diversity. His journey in science began at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where he studied vitamin D hormone biochemistry, and earned a PhD in the Biomedical Sciences delving into the protein structures of important therapeutic targets for cancer and chronic kidney disease. Postdoctoral achievements at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, led him to Oregon State University, where he conduct research on xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes, mentor students, and am deeply committed to toxicology, addressing pivotal environmental health issues.
Gerrad Jones Associate Professor | Biological and Ecological Engineering
Dr. Gerrad Jones has experience in biology, ecology, hydrology and hydraulics, environmental chemistry and engineering, and inorganic geochemistry. While seemingly disparate, many environmental problems are complex and cannot be solved with the tools from a single discipline. His interests focus on understanding how ecosystem health is driven by complex interactions between biological, chemical, and physical processes. Often, synergistic/antagonistic interactions among variables can mask true patterns. Without understanding these complex interactions, we can misinterpret our data, which can lead to poor management decisions or designs. By embracing environmental complexity, we can build resilient systems that work with nature instead of against it.
Josh Stewart Associate Professor | Agricultural Education and Agricultural Sciences
Josh Stewart is an Associate Professor of Agricultural Education in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University. He primarily teaches graduate courses in the Agricultural Education program, where he also serves as the program Director. Among other duties, Josh oversees agriculture teacher candidate placement, supervision, and licensure. Josh’s research interests include pedagogical content knowledge development in early career teachers, experiential learning in agriculture teacher preparation, and attrition and retention in agricultural education. Josh enjoys running, cycling, hiking, and golf, as well as time with his wife and two daughters.
Roberto Valdivia Associate Professor, Senior Research | Applied Economics
Roberto Valdivia is an Associate Professor, Senior Researcher in the Department of Applied Economics at Oregon State University. He holds a Ph.D. in development and environmental economics from Wageningen University in Netherlands. He co-leads the regional economics team of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) and is co-developer of the Tradeoff Analysis Model for Multi-Dimensional Impact Assessment (TOA-MD). Roberto’s research focuses on Africa, Asia, Latin America and the US. His research includes analysis of agricultural systems and impact assessment: assessing socio-economic and environmental impacts of policy and technologies, tradeoff analysis, foresight, and climate change, adaptation and mitigation impacts.
Karthik Murali Associate Professor | Management, Entrepreneurship, and Supply Chain
Karthik Murali is an Associate Professor of Supply Chain and Logistics Management at Oregon State University. He teaches quantitative courses at the undergraduate and MBA levels including Operations Management, Supply Chain Modeling and Decision Analysis, and the Supply Chain Capstone. Karthik's research interests are in the areas of environmental sustainability and social justice in the contexts of food systems, consumer goods supply chains, and renewable energy technologies. His work has been published in the leading field journals Management Science, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management and Production and Operations Management. In his spare time, he is most likely to be found birdwatching, hiking with his dog, or on the squash courts.
Dina Ribbink Associate Professor | Management, Entrepreneurship, and Supply Chain
Dina Ribbink is an Associate Professor of Operations Management in the College of Business at Oregon State University – Cascades. She received her Ph.D. from the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland in 2010. Dina earned her MS in Business Administration from Maastricht University, the Netherlands in 2003. Before joining the faculty at OSU-Cascades, Dina was at the Ivey Business School at Western University, Canada. Dina's primary focus in research is on contractual buyer-supplier relationships, with a focus on international relationships and a special emphasis on behavioral experiments. In addition, she researches in the related fields of food supply chains as well as supply chains of emergency relief aid. Dina’s research has been published in top tier journals in the field like the Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Operation and Production Management and Transportation Journal, as well as the Journal of Service Management, the Journal of Transportation Research Forum, and Managing Service Quality.
Emily Eidam Associate Professor | Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
Dr. Emily Eidam is a coastal oceanographer and marine geologist who studies the transport and deposition of sediments in fluvial, coastal, and continental shelf systems. Originally from Alaska, she holds BS degrees in Civil Engineering and Geology (from UAA) and MS and PhD degrees in Oceanography (from UW). Presently much of her research is based in the Arctic, and includes studies of sediment transport during the summer and freezeup seasons. She is also actively involved in service projects aimed at training new oceanographers in best practices for managing research surveys on polar vessels.
Maria Kavanaugh Associate Professor | Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
Maria Kavanaugh is a seascape ecologist who focuses on the intersection of marine biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and climate-ocean dynamics. She utilizes a multi-pronged approach that includes lab and field-based studies, satellite remote sensing, and data science. She collaborates broadly across disciplines and sectors to codevelop indicators and observation systems to assess and track changes in ecosystem health. Kavanaugh also is a student-centered educator and mentor who aims to provide a diverse population with tools and support to critically observe natural phenomena and communicate findings to scientists and the general public.
Nicholas Siler Associate Professor | Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
Nicholas Siler is an Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science at OSU and the Associate State Climatologist for Oregon. He teaches courses in climate science, meteorology, mathematical methods, and data analysis. His research focuses on understanding the water cycle and its response to climate change across a wide range of spatial scales, from small watersheds to the entire globe. He holds an AB in Physics from Harvard College and a PhD in Atmospheric Science from the University of Washington. He is a veteran of the US Air Force.
Abraham Cazares-Cervantes Associate Professor, Clinical | Counselor, Adult, and Higher Education
Abraham Cazares-Cervantes is a licensed school counselor in the state of Oregon. Abraham earned a BA in psychology & Spanish and an MS in Mental Health & School Counseling from Central Washington University and a doctorate in Counseling from Oregon State University. He is an experienced bilingual/bicultural (English/ Spanish) counselor originally from Mexico. He worked for eight years as a mental health counselor and school counselor in Washington State before becoming a university faculty. Prior to joining OSU, he was an Assistant Professor at Northwest Christian University where he served as a faculty and later as the Program Director for the College of Education. He is currently an Associate Clinical Professor of Counseling at Oregon State University, teaching, and supervising counselors in training from all tracks, the clinical mental health, school counseling and the Ph.D. counseling program. Outside teaching and supervising, Abraham enjoys spending time with family, gardening and doing DIY home projects.
Melisa DeMeyer Associate Professor, Clinical | Counselor, Adult, and Higher Education
Dr. Melisa DeMeyer has been a faculty member at OSU-Cascades since 2019. She is a licensed professional counselor and a national certified counselor. DeMeyer's professional experiences include providing services to children, adolescents, couples, and families. She was previously the department chair of an integrative mental health program in Portland, Oregon. She is the owner of a private practice in Bend, Oregon where she specializes in couples counseling. Dr. DeMeyer's areas of interest and wonder include: reflectivity and reflexivity, systems-based counseling and supervision practices, the importance and impact of mentorship, couple and family counseling, feminism, and social constructionism.
April LaGue Associate Professor, Clinical | Counselor, Adult, and Higher Education
Dr. April LaGue (she/her) has been a faculty member in Oregon State University’s Counseling Program since 2018. April serves as both the current Chair of the program and the Clinical Coordinator. She has been a part of Oregon State University as an alumni since 2014 when she graduated from the Counseling program with her Ph.D. Dr. LaGue’s areas of interest include student leadership and advocacy in the areas of school counseling and clinical mental health. She is passionate about collaborating with her students in the COUN program to support their growth and development around research, advocacy, and leadership.
Lucy L. Purgason Associate Professor | Counselor, Adult, and Higher Education
Dr. Lucy L. Purgason, is an associate professor of Counseling at Oregon State University-Cascades. A licensed school counselor, she brings five years of service in schools, including work with newcomer immigrant and refugee students. Her research centers on recognizing and incorporating the cultural strengths of students and their families. In addition, she pursues scholarship on counseling mentoring and supervision. She is a recipient of research awards from practitioner and academic outlets. As co-director of the Department of Education grant-funded program PATH-SC, she endeavors to enhance the number and diversity of school counselors in high-needs, rural schools in Central Oregon.
Samuel Briggs Associate Professor | Nuclear Science and Engineering
Samuel Briggs’ research revolves around addressing materials challenges for next-generation nuclear reactor designs, including degradation in liquid metal and molten salt coolants and high-temperature, high-radiation conditions. He is particularly interested in the combined effect of simultaneous corrosion and mechanical stress on the accelerated breakdown of metal alloys in extreme energy environments. His research group employs unique experimental facilities and advanced characterization techniques to develop a robust understanding of phenomena affecting long-term materials performance in advanced nuclear systems. Dr. Briggs received his B.S. from Oregon State University, and his Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Yue Cao Associate Professor | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Yue Cao joined OSU in 2018. Before that, he has worked at Amazon Prime Air, Apple, Halliburton, and Oak Ridge National Lab. His research interests include power electronics, motor drives, and energy storage with applications in renewable energy integration and transportation electrification. He has been a PI or co-PI of projects sponsored by NSF, DOE, Navy, Portland General Electric, Amazon Prime Air, and Grainger Foundation. He received 2023 OSU Promising Scholar award, 2022 NSF CAREER award, 2022 NAE FOE fellowship, and 2020 OSU Learning Innovation Grant. He is an IEEE Senior Member and an associate editor of two IEEE Transactions.
Joseph Davidson Associate Professor | Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering
Dr. Davidson received his B.S. from the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY in 2004. After serving in the Army for five years, Dr. Davidson worked as a project manager for the CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company at Hanford, WA from 2009 to 2012. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. from Washington State University and was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2016 to 2018. Dr. Davidson's group performs fundamental and applied research at the intersection of mechanics, machine learning, and controls. Current areas of emphasis include robotic manipulation and soft robotics.
Naomi Fitter Associate Professor | Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering
Dr. Fitter’s past degrees include a B.S. and B.A. in mechanical engineering and Spanish from the University of Cincinnati and an M.S.E. and Ph.D. in robotics and mechanical engineering and applied mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her doctoral work in the GRASP Laboratory’s Haptics Group and was a Postdoctoral Scholar in the University of Southern California Interaction Lab from 2017 to 2018. Her past experiences in industry include fluid modeling and simulation for the Procter & Gamble Oral Care Division and wearable health monitoring device development and evaluation for Microsoft Research. As a member of the Collaborative Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CoRIS) Institute, Dr. Fitter aims to equip robots with the ability to engage and empower people in interactions from playful high-fives to challenging physical therapy routines.
Meagan Wengrove Associate Professor | Civil and Construction Engineering
Dr. Meagan Wengrove is a coastal engineer and scientist who leads the Coastal Boundary Dynamics Research Group at Oregon State University. Their research focus is on the physics of natural and engineered coastal systems. Including creating engineering guidance for the use of coastal dunes and dynamic cobble revetments for coastal protection, quantifying mechanisms of ice-ocean boundary layer interaction that contribute to melting of tidewater glaciers and icebergs, and exploring the technology of distributed fiber optic sensing as an ocean sensing technology. Wengrove also enjoys teaching both graduate and undergraduate classes at Oregon State focused on coastal dynamics, programming and sensors, and fluid mechanics.
Matthew Powers Associate Professor | Forest Engineering, Resources and Management
Dr. Matthew Powers, a leading researcher in silviculture, holds a Ph.D. in Forest Science (2008) from Michigan Technological University. Specializing in sustainable wood and biomass production, biodiversity conservation, and climate change adaptation, his work evaluates tradeoffs among diverse management objectives. With an extensive academic background, including an MS in Forest Ecology and Management and a BS in Biology, Matthew focuses on understanding how silvicultural practices impact forest structure and function. His dedication extends to unraveling the intricate processes driving stand development and spatial complexity following management activities, providing valuable insights into the dynamics of forest ecosystems.
Marit Bovbjerg Associate Professor | Nutrition and Public Health
Marit Bovbjerg’s research focuses on US maternity care, particularly midwifery and community birth for low-risk women. Marit is also interested in physical activity during pregnancy and the postpartum period, and potential effects on maternal outcomes.
Ana Milena Ribero Associate Professor | Writing, Literature, and Film
Ana Milena Ribero joined the School of Writing, Literature, and Film in 2016 after receiving her PhD from the University of Arizona. Her research and teaching focuses on rhetorics of im/migration, rhetorics of race, critical literacies and pedagogies, and Women of Color feminisms. She is the author of Dreamer Nation: Immigration, Activism, and Neoliberalism (University of Alabama Press, 2023), which tells the rhetorical story of Dreamers and the activism in which they engaged during the Obama years. Her award-winning scholarship can be found in Rhetoric Review, Peitho, Performance Research, and Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society.
Jennifer Richter Associate Professor | Writing, Literature, and Film
Jennifer Richter teaches graduate and undergraduate creative writing, literature, and narrative medicine courses and arranges multigenre student collaborations between SWLF and other schools. Her first poetry collection, Threshold, was a national bestseller and was chosen by former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey for the Crab Orchard Series; her second collection, No Acute Distress, was a Crab Orchard Editor’s Selection; both were named Oregon Book Award Finalists. Richter’s new collection, Dear Future, won the Tenth Gate Prize for midcareer poets. Before arriving at OSU, Richter spent six years as a Wallace Stegner Fellow and Jones Lecturer in Poetry at Stanford University.
Shaozeng Zhang Associate Professor | Language, Culture, and Society
Shaozeng Zhang is an Anthropologist whose research strives to understand the development and use of scientific knowledge and technological tools in environmental and cultural change. He’s also committed to anthropological methodological innovation for academic and applied research. Dr. Zhang has been working largely in the fields of Science and Technology Studies (STS), environmental anthropology, and applied anthropology with geographic foci in Brazil and the U.S. Dr. Zhang received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, Irvine, and his M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Peking University in Beijing, China.
Molly Burke Associate Professor | Integrative Biology
Dr. Molly Burke was born and raised in the Los Angeles suburbs and earned her B.S. in biology from UCLA in 2004. She attended graduate school at UC Irvine, where she studied the evolutionary biology and genetics of aging. She earned her PhD in 2010, and her doctoral work was published in Nature and featured in the New York Times. She continued to broaden her perspective as an evolutionary geneticist through postdoctoral positions at UC Irvine and then UC San Diego. Dr. Burke established her lab in the Integrative Biology Department at Oregon State University in 2015. Since then, her lab has been doing experiments with yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) to test fundamental questions in evolutionary biology. Current projects include: searching for genetic mechanisms that may potentiate health and reproduction at old ages, studying how to traits relevant to human health and medicine evolve in real time, and predicting how populations will evolve in response to the stresses imposed by global climate change. This work is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health. In addition to running her lab, Dr. Burke teaches upper-division classes in genetics and evolution at OSU, and she helps coordinate IB's graduate program.
Jamie Cornelius Associate Professor | Integrative Biology
Jamie Cornelius studies the behavioral and physiological adaptations of birds to environmental challenges such as winter storms, wildfire smoke and food shortages. Her work has appeared in journals such as Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Biology Letters, TREE and Hormones and Behavior, and has been supported by the National Science Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and National Geographic. Jamie earned her B.S. from University of Washington and her Ph.D. from University of California-Davis, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology in Germany. She was a 2013 Fulbright Fellow in Russia and a 2022 National Geographic Society Explorer. Prior to her appointment in Integrative Biology, she was an Assistant Professor at Eastern Michigan University. Jamie is also a singer-songwriter and is active in the Art-Sci collaborative at Oregon State University.
Maude David Associate Professor | Microbiology and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Maude David is a faculty with a split appointment in the department of Microbiology and the department of Pharmaceutical Sciences since 2018. Dr. David’s research is focused on the gut-brain-microbiota axis, and in developing new analytical methods to integrate multi-omics data from of microbial community from a variety of ecosystems. She has worked on implementing a transdisciplinary program, with notably industry partners on autism spectrum disorder, and many interdisciplinary collaborations across microbiome fields. Dr. David is particularly invested in mentoring: in the last 5 years she has advised 7 graduate students, 14 undergraduates students who have received altogether over 30 awards, and she is the recipient of the Breaking Barriers in Education award – Oregon State University President’s Commission on the Status of Women – recognizes OSU member whose high impact teaching and mentoring has paved the way to advance gender equity in higher education.
Chad Giusti Associate Professor | Mathematics
Chad Giusti is a mathematician working in the area of topological data analysis, which characterizes mesoscale and qualitative structure in complex systems. His research involves both mathematical foundations and applications, principally in areas of neuroscience. This work appeared in journals such as PNAS, the Journal of Topology, and Crelle's, and has been supported by the NSF, AFOSR, and AFRL. He grew up in Oregon, and obtained his BS and PhD in mathematics at the University of Oregon in 2003 and 2010, respectively. Prior to his current appointment, he was an Assistant Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Delaware, a Warren Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, and held postdoctoral positions at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and Willamette University.
Kyriakos Stylianou Associate Professor | Chemistry
Dr. Kyriakos C. Stylianou, originally from Larnaca, Cyprus, earned his Ph.D. in materials chemistry at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, under the guidance of Prof. Matthew J. Rosseinsky and co-supervision of Prof. Darren Bradshaw. His doctoral research focused on the rational design, synthesis and characterization of open porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for advanced applications. Following completion of his Ph.D., he was awarded the prestigious Marie Curie fellowship, enabling him to join the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and collaborate with Prof. Daniel Maspoch. During this period, Dr. Stylianou applied his expertise in synthetic chemistry to surface chemistry and the growth of porous materials on surfaces, utilizing nanolithography and inkjet printing methodologies. In 2015, he moved to École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne/Valais in Sion, Switzerland, as a team leader within the Laboratory of Molecular Simulations, and started his independent research career. He was awarded with the prestigious Ambizione Energy Grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation, to investigate the potential of MOFs in photocatalysis, specifically for water splitting and hydrogen production. His group also investigated the utilization of high-throughput methodologies to accelerate the discovery of novel nanoporous materials for energy- and optical-related applications. In 2019, Dr. Stylianou joined the Department of Chemistry at Oregon State University as an Assistant Professor and established the Materials Discovery Laboratory (MaD Lab). His research team is dedicated to designing and synthesizing functional MOFs for carbon capture and utilization, hydrogen generation and storage, the capture of hazardous molecules such as ammonia and iodine, and sensing applications. Throughout his career, Dr. Stylianou supervised six graduate students, co-supervised the Ph.D. thesis of two more graduate students, advised three master students, mentored over 30 undergraduate students, and published over 80 peer-reviewed journals (h-index 38) including in Nature, Science, JACS, Angew. Chem., Chem. Sci., and many others. Currently, he mentors one postdoctoral fellow, six graduate students and nine undergraduate students. Dr. Stylianou was awarded with several research and teaching awards from the Department of Chemistry, College of Science at Oregon State University, and Foundations, highlighting his dedication to education.
Haley Leeper Associate Professor, Clinical | Clinical Sciences
Haley Leeper is originally from Pendleton Oregon and received her Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from Oregon State University in 2007. While applying to veterinary school she gained hands on experience in the specialty of veterinary oncology at the University of California Davis Veterinary Teaching Hospital as a hired veterinary assistant. She attended veterinary school in Southern California at Western University of Health Sciences between 2008 and 2012. Upon graduation she completed a one-year small animal rotating internship at Oklahoma State University. She then returned to Oregon State in 2013 for an oncology internship followed by a three-year residency in medical oncology. Dr. Leeper joined the faculty as an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine in 20 I 7. Over the past six years, she has fo1mulated a teaching philosophy of creating lifelong learners and critical thinkers based on her experience with problem-based learning at Western University. In addition, she has expanded her clinical research to include numerous retrospective studies as well as prospective clinical trials. Dr. Leeper became the service head of oncology in 2020, and recently was hired into a part-time hospital role of Small Animal Chief of Staff May of 2023.
Fikru Nigussie Associate Professor, Clinical | Biomedical Sciences
Dr. Fikru Nigussie received his DVM in 1994 from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, then his PhD in Biomedical Science at Texas A&M University, where is also worked as a Post Doc studying adult hippocampal neurogenesis research and teaching both micro- and gross anatomy. He has been a Clinical Assistant Professor in Gross Anatomy, teaching both small and large animal veterinary anatomy, since 2015. He recently began coordinating a new Applied Anatomy course in 2022. His collaborative research at Dr. Kathy Magnusson’s laboratory here contributed to understanding the impact of early changes in NMDA receptor activity on development of Alzheimer’s disease in later stages of life.
William Whitler Associate Professor, Clinical | Clinical Sciences
Graduated from the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine in 1985. The next 7 years were spent in mixed practice in Pennsylvania, Florida and Oregon. After completing a one year large animal clinical fellowship at Oregon State University's College of Veterinary Medicine stayed on at OSU in the large animal ambulatory service, becoming ABVP certified in Equine practice in 1993. After 6 years on the faculty providing ambulatory and in house theriogenology services and teaching, started the process of becoming board certified via the alternative route. Family responsibilities took him back to Florida in 1999, passing the ACT boards while in a large animal ambulatory private practice in North Florida. After a couple of more years in mixed practice, purchased a large animal ambulatory practice in Sarasota, Florida where the next 11 years were spent. Returning to Oregon in 2016 began his current faculty position at Oregon State, teaching Theriogenology and providing clinical services to all species, small and large. Elected to the board of directors of the Society of Theriogenology in 2018 and continued on the board eventually becoming president in 2022. Professional passions include clinical teaching and infertility in horses and dogs. Personal passions include most things outdoors. Snow skiing and scuba diving have become less commonplace with age but have been replaced with fishing and crabbing along the Oregon coast and anywhere else with water.