Our students’ work

Shawn Mehlenbacher is on an endless search for the perfect nut. He walks quickly past trees of all shapes and sizes. As he stops to explain their characteristics, he poses to show how they grow, lifting his arms out or stretching them wide. Mehlenbacher and his team at Oregon State University oversee 50 acres of

John Gardner’s work lives in charts and graphs, which the physicist once scoured for patterns that could reveal a breakthrough. Then an eye operation meant to treat his glaucoma took his sight instead. He could no longer see the patterns, and he couldn’t find technology that would allow him to continue his work. Gardner used

Four million empty cans tower over Dave Takush. Easy Squeezy, Pacific Pineapple, Made Marion: the fruits of his labor from the past nine years. 2 Towns Ciderhouse entered the cider industry at just the right time, launching in a two-car garage in 2010 and growing into Oregon’s largest producer of craft cider. The Corvallis cidery’s ascension

Shoes squeak and players hustle as Kylor Kelley roams the court at Gill Coliseum. But on this summer morning, the Oregon State University senior has no shots to block or rebounds to grab. Instead, Kelley is helping lead a basketball camp, running kids through dribbling and shooting drills while offering encouragement and advice. Oregon State

A plant that has had prison time attached to its name for decades has the potential to treat cancer and Parkinson’s disease. It could be used to build and insulate houses. It could replace hops to flavor beer. Many believe newly legalized hemp could be revolutionary, and Oregon scientists want to be at the forefront.

Tricia Salcido had a confession to make on a recent afternoon: She brought a single-use coffee cup to work. Salcido owns Softstar Shoes, a handmade leather shoemaker that is one of Oregon’s greenest footwear businesses. She said her 32 employees would never carry in a single-use cup. “No way,” she said. Softstar, located in Philomath,

Sydelle Harrison visits the Pendleton Woolen Mills almost every time she goes home. As a clothing designer, she is constantly looking for new blankets and patterns to make her sought-after jackets, cowls and bags. For Harrison, who is Yakama and grew up on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the mill isn’t just

On a Wednesday morning after an early shift at Starbucks, Connor Laurion spotted his bus pulling into the downtown Corvallis transit center. He walked aboard — and continued right past the fare box, which is covered with a black bag. Corvallis stopped collecting fares on buses in 2011, joining a small number of U.S. cities

Briley Knight‘s senior class donned caps and gowns at the Crescent Valley High School gym for graduation day in early June. Meanwhile, Knight wore a different kind of cap and uniform more than 300 miles away in Walla Walla, Washington, taking the field for the Corvallis Knights baseball team. Knight, 19, went on a five-game

Five men trekked through the forest on Marys Peak. They slipped on moist dirt and loose sticks. Dappled sunlight reflected off leaves on the ground, giving everything a green hue. When they heard water, they sought the source. They found their waterfall. They want to name the creek that feeds the waterfall after a tribe

A huge steel vat of churning curds and whey sits in the center of a stark white room. Tall cooling tanks hum quietly. Nearby, factory workers in long, white lab coats and hair nets slosh across the wet floor in tall boots. Elsewhere in the factory, another worker stands over a red strainer crumbling soft

Bumblebees buzz around a small garden at Oregon State University, landing on pink flowers and popping in and out of tiny holes drilled into logs. Andony Melathopoulos, a pollinator specialist at the university, stands smiling among his beloved bees. “They’re adorable,” Melathopoulos said. He’s worried that scenes like this could soon disappear from the Pacific