The College of Science Research and Innovation Seed (SciRIS) Program funds projects based on collaborative research within our community and beyond. The program's awards seed funding for high impact collaborative proposals that build teams, pursue fundamental discoveries and create societal impact. Individual investigators are also funded to establish partnerships, accelerate project development, generate data and manuscripts and foster proposal submissions.
Funded SciRIS projects
SciRIS supports diverse research across the College
Whether it's tackling disease at the molecular level or exploring the dynamics of river ecosystems, SciRIS seeds creative, high-impact research that crosses traditional boundaries and addresses real-world challenges. Keep scrolling to review previous projects below or read about them in IMPACT Newsroom:
SciRIS Stage 1
Provides up to $10K for team formation, research planning, and initial experiments.
Deciphering triple negative breast cancer cell population heterogeneity using single cell mass spectrometry (2024)
- Claudia Maier, Chemistry
- Yanming Di, Statistics
- Xiaoli Fern, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Chad Giusti, Mathematics
- Siva Kolluri, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology
Computational Discovery, Functional Characterization, and Structure Determination of microproteins (miPs) (2023)
- David Hendrix, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Colin Johnson, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Claudia Maier, Chemistry
- Patrick Reardon, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility
Bioinformatics for integrated river health (2023)
- David Lytle, Integrative Biology
- Justin Sanders, Microbiology
- Anna Jolles, Integrative Biology
- Claire Couch, College of Veterinarian Medicine
Harnesses longitudinal microbiome data to define the ecological roles of host-associated microbes (2022)
- Yuan Jiang, Statistics
- Anna Jolles, Integrative Biology
- Chenyang Duan, Statistics
- Caroline Glidden, Biology, Stanford University
Oysters, Vibrio and its bacteriophages: A model system for understanding population and coevolutionary host-pathogen-hyperpathogen dynamics (2022)
- Anna Jolles, Integrative Biology
- Claudia Hase, Microbiology
- Hayriye Gulbudak, Mathematics, University of Louisiana (Lafayette)
Engineering thermal electronic converters using ultralow bandgap semiconductors (2021)
- Matt Graham, Physics - College of Science Innovation Award (renamed the Industry Partnership Award in 2022, this award provides resources for projects that take a new direction, utilize a new technology or are in the proof-of-concept phase.)
Multi-scale approaches to understand the roles of dynamic protein complexes in biology (2021)
- Elisar Barbar, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Michael Blouin, Integrative Biology
- Afua Nyarko, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Maria Franco, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Patrick Reardon, Director of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility
A tropical reef experimental system at OSU's Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory (2021)
- Becky Vega Thurber, Microbiology
- Virginia Weis, Integrative Biology
- Jerri Bartholomew, Microbiology
- Ruth Milston-Clements, John L. Fryer Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory
- Denise Silva, Microbiology
Electron Diffraction Adds a New Dimension to Mass Spectrometry (2021)
- Wei Kong, Chemistry
- Lan Xue, Statistics
Performance optimization of transistors and solar photovoltaics by ultrabroadband photoconductance microscopy of trap-state density and lifetimes (2020)
- Matthew Graham, Physics
- Paul Cheong, Chemistry
Biochemical barriers on the path to ocean anoxia (2018)
- Francis Chan, Integrative Biology
- Stephen Giovannoni, Microbiology
Identifying new antinociceptive compounds for treating chronic pain and itch using in vivo assays (2018)
- James Strother, Integrative Biology
- Sandra Loesgen, Chemistry
Leveraging collaboration to establish the Microbiome Data Science Center (2018)
- David Koslicki, Mathematics
- Thomas Sharpton, Microbiology
An integrative investigation of the role of the gut-brain axis on anxiety in female murine models (2018)
- Maude David, Microbiology
- Kenton Hokanson, Microbiology
Integration of multiple approaches to understand IDPs (2017)
College of Science Impact Award – a precursor of the SciRIS program, providing $10,000 in philanthropic gifts to an early-stage research or innovation project, with a match from the Oregon State Provost office.
- Elisar Barbar, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Afua Nyarko, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Weihong Qiu, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Peter Eschbach, OSU Electron Microscope Facility
SciRIS Stage 2
Provides up to $50K to support research toward a proof of concept.
Nanotracers to study the impact of nanoplastics on human health and the environment (2025)
- Marilyn Mackiewicz, Chemistry
- Stacey Harper, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology
Carbon-based artificial intelligence: From bit by bit to cell by cell (2025)
- Bo Sun, Physics
- Patrick Chappell, College of Veterinary Medicine
- Andrew Mugler, Physics, University of Pittsburgh
Single-pixel computational spectrometers (2025)
- Ethan Minot, Physics
- Xiao Fu, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Clotilde Pierson, School of Civil and Construction Engineering
- Francisco Calderon, College of Agricultural Sciences
- Vasili Perebeinos, Electrical Engineering
Modeling the genetic basis and evolution of insecticide resistance in spotted-winged drosophila (2024)
- Alysia Vrailas Mortimer, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Swati Patel, Mathematics
- Serhan Mermer, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology
Bioinformatics for integrated river health (2024)
- David A. Lytle, Integrative Biology
- Justin Sanders, Microbiology
- Anna Jolles, Integrative Biology
- Claire Couch, Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences
- USGS collaborators: Ted Kennedy, Kim Dibble, Charles Yackulic, Kate Behn, Jessica Anderson, Bridget Deemer
- NPS collaborators: Emily Omana, Brandon Holton
Analytical tools to understand the dynamics of complex ecological communities (2024)
- Yuan Jiang, Statistics
- Lan Xue, Statistics
- Anna Jolles, Integrative Biology
- Claire Couch, Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences
Unlocking the full potential of seaweed as a sustainable, multi-functional commodity (2024)
- James Fox, Microbiology
- Myriam Cotten, Biochemistry and Biophysics
- Ford Evans, Hatfield Marine Science Center
- Evan Forsythe, Integrative Biology
- Scott Geddes, Chemistry Program Coordinator OSU-Cascades
- Jung Jwon, Department of Food Science & Technology
- Christopher Suffridge, Microbiology
Polariton-controlled spin waves in quantum magnets for the next-generation spintronics (2023)
- Oksana Ostroverkhova, Physics
- Axel Saenz Rodriguez, Mathematics
- Chong Fang, Chemistry
- Tim Zuehlsdorff, Chemistry
- Pallavi Dhagat, Electical Engineering and Computer Science
- Ethan Minot, Physics
- Matthew Graham, Physics
The hypoxic barrier: Oxygenase enzyme kinetics and ocean health (2022)
- Stephen Giovannoni, Microbiology
- Francis Chan, Integrative Biology
Expanding a new toxic harmful algal bloom monitoring strategy to multiple Oregon lakes (2022)
- Kimberly Halsey, Microbiology
- James Fox, Microbiology
- Duo Jiang, Statistics
- David Donahue, City of Eugene
- Daniel Sobata, Oregon Department of Water Quality
- Bradin Hilbrandt, City of Salem
An integrative investigation of the role of the gut-brain axis on sex differences in anxiety (2020)
- Maude David, Microbiology
- Kenton Hokanson, Microbiology
- Kathy Magnusson, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine
Structurally Functionalized Nanobodies (2019)
- Ryan Mehl, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Richard Cooley, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Weihong Qiu, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Chris Cebra, College of Veterinary Medicine
- Shay Bracha, College of Veterinary Medicine
Homoharringtonine: Chemical synthesis and evaluation of designed analogs (2019)
- Christopher Beaudry, Chemistry
- Victor Hsu, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Siva Kolluri, College of Agricultural Sciences
SciRIS Stage 3
Contingent upon funding, provides up to $75K to accelerate work toward or commensurate with an external funding opportunity.
Designing Spin Waves in Quantum Magnets for Next-Generation Spintronics (2025)
- Oksana Ostroverkhova, Physics
- Axel Rodriguez, Mathematics
- Tim Zhuehlsdorff, Chemistry
- Chong Fang, Chemistry
- Pallavi Dhagat, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Accelerating neuroactive microbial compounds discovery with gut-brain chip technology (2022)
- Maude David, Microbiology
- Kenton Hokanson, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Kathy Magnusson, College of Veterinary Medicine
- Patrick Chappell, College of Veterinary Medicine
Homoharringtonine: Chemical Synthesis and Evaluation of Designed Analogs (2020)
- Christopher Beaudry, Chemistry
- Victor Hsu, Biochemistry & Biophysics
- Siva Kolluri, College of Agricultural Sciences
SciRIS-ii (individual awards)
Provides seed funding ranging from $10K to $20K to individual investigators to establish partnerships, accelerate project development, generate data and manuscripts and foster proposal submissions.
2025
- Mark Novak, Integrative Biology — Climate Change, Ecosystem Function, and the Fraction of Feeding Predators
- Adrian Gombart, Biochemistry & Biophysics — AMPing up Bone Health: Revealing Cathelicidin's Effect on Bone
2024
- Christine Escher, Mathematics — Curvature and Symmetry
- Xueying Yu, Mathematics — Nonlinear Dispersive Equations with Variable Coefficients
- Kyriakos Stylianou, Chemistry — Carborane-based Metal-organic Frameworks for Diagnosis and Therapy
2023
- Bo Sun, Physics — Mechanical programming of four-dimensional tissue self-assembly
- Ethan Minot, Physics — Ultra-miniaturized spectrometers
- Alysia Vrailas-Mortimer — Why is a fly a good model to study my grandmother’s tremors?
2022
- Clayton Petsche, Mathematics — Exceptional Maps in Arithmetic Dynamical Systems
- Radu Dascaliuc, Mathematics — Stochastic cascades and energy transfer in equations of fluid dynamics
- Yanming Di, Statistics — Innovating seed sampling devices and protocols
- Colin Johnson, Biochemistry and Biophysics — Establishing a zebrafish model for the study of the Ferlin gene Fer1L6
- Axel Saenz Rodriguez, Mathematics — Probability law for 1D quantum electrons
- Chong Fang, Chemistry — Elucidating primary events of engineered photo switchable fluorescent proteins with a powerful ultrafast spectroscopy toolset
- Swati Patel, Mathematics — Mathematical modeling of Anthelmintic resistance in soil-transmitted Helminths (Disease Mechanism and Prevention Fund)
- Adrian Gombart, Biochemistry and Biophysics — The role of the cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide in the development of Alzheimer’s disease (Disease Mechanism and Prevention Fund, 2020–22)
2021
- Chong Fang, Chemistry — Capturing molecular movies of chloride biosensors in action
- Kyriakos Stylianou, Chemistry — Selective, fast-response and regenerable metal-organic frameworks for sampling chemical contaminants in drinking water
- Oksana Ostroverkhova, Physics — Understanding properties of quantum materials for spintronics and magnon valleytronics
2020
- Marilyn Mackiewicz, Chemistry — Robust lipid-coated silver nanoparticles for diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer using x-ray computer tomography imaging (Disease Mechanism and Prevention Fund)
- Bo Sun, Physics — Understanding the migrational phenotype plasticity of metastatic tumor cells (2019–20)
2019
- Vrushali Bokil, Mathematics — Optimal control of stochastic epidemics
- Kimberly Halsey, Microbiology — Predicting the trajectory of toxic harmful algal blooms using multi-omics data integration
- David Roundy, Physics — Developing new molecular simulation techniques to discover materials for clean energy applications
- Katherine McLaughlin, Statistics — Estimating the number of people who inject drugs in metropolitan areas of the United States: A collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Disease Mechanism and Prevention Fund)