This award was endowed by G. Milton Harris, a Portland native who received his bachelor's degree in 1926 from OSU and his Ph.D. from Yale University. He was a pioneer in polymer, fiber and textile science and was the founder and for many years president of Harris Research Laboratories, which later became part of Gillette. As part of his distinguished career in chemistry, Dr. Harris served on the National Bureau of Standards and as the chair of the American Chemical Society for five years. Dr. Harris and his family were and are devoted supporters of higher education, supporting numerous scholarships, awards and faculty positions in science and engineering at OSU. Milton Harris held 35 patents for polymer-coated razor blades, permanent press treatment of wool and wrinkle-resistant cotton finishing, among others.

The purpose of the Harris award is to recognize exceptional achievement in basic research by honoring an outstanding faculty member in the College of Science. Special consideration is given to recent research that was carried out at OSU and that will have a significant impact on its field.

Award: $1,000

View previous award winners

Selection Criteria

Nominations will be reviewed based on the following areas:

• Exceptional achievement in basic research as evidenced by received numerous honors and awards; scholarship has been featured in important (to the field or Science) venues; growing numbers of high quality publications; increased funding impacting a growing research group; growing impact in innovations and discoveries; or similar examples.
• Impact on field while at OSU as evidenced by significant publications; significant grant funding record; significant number of patents & inventions; scholarship has strong standing in basic research in Science; or similar examples while at OSU.
• Outstanding faculty member in the College of Science as evidenced by having built an inclusive research community which includes mentoring of diverse students and postdocs; nominee has worked to reduce barriers to the recruitment & success of underrepresented (URM) groups in research; nominee has engaged in innovative pedagogies for transformative learning; nominee has developed workshops or courses or curriculum that are in cutting edge research areas; nominee has conducted extensive outreach and/or science communication to promote Science; other similar examples.
• Equity Impact as evidenced by examples of how the nominee promotes equity, inclusivity, and access. Provide examples.

Nomination Guidelines

• Nomination letter on letterhead (750 words or fewer)
• Biographical sketch (2 pages with content that supports award)
• List of Nominee’s most significant publications (12 maximum)
• Two support letters (less than 1.3 pages); writers must be external to OSU
• Submit one compiled pdf to research.development@science.oregonstate.edu

Nominations that do not meet the guidelines will be returned to the nominator without review.