In 2024, the OSU Media Relations team wrote press releases about Oregon State research and reach that garnered international attention. Here are the first five of 10 of our most popular stories this year, selected based on importance to the university, media coverage and online and social media attention.
10: PRAx opening: Oregon State’s new creative arts center PRAx invites public for grand opening Saturday, April 6
April 1, 2024: Oregon State University’s new Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts held an open house in April to celebrate its inaugural season. “PRAx” stands for Patricia Reser Arts, with the “x” signifying the center’s intersections between the arts and other academic disciplines.
The center is named for Patricia Valian Reser, OSU alumna and volunteer leader, who has given $36 million to the OSU Foundation for the arts at Oregon State, including $25 million for PRAx. Construction on the $75 million center began in August 2021. PRAx boasts six venues suited for a range of indoor and outdoor shows.
PRAx is one of three major facility projects in the $1.75 billion Oregon State University Foundation’s Believe It fundraising and engagement campaign; the first was the renovation of Reser Stadium, dedicated last fall, and construction has begun on the Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex.
9: Shrinking whales: Pacific Coast gray whales have gotten 13% shorter in the past 20-30 years, Oregon State study finds
June 12, 2024: Gray whales that spend their summers feeding in the shallow waters off the Pacific Northwest coast have undergone a significant decline in body length since around the year 2000, an Oregon State University study found.
The smaller size could have major consequences for the health and reproductive success of the affected whales, and also raises alarm bells about the state of the food web in which they coexist, researchers say.
Recent studies from OSU have shown that whales in this subgroup are smaller and in overall worse body condition than their Eastern North Pacific counterparts. Whale calves that are smaller at weaning age may be unable to cope with the uncertainty that comes with being newly independent, which can affect survival rates. For adult gray whales, one of the biggest concerns is reproductive success.
8: Cooler weather, more fires: Cooler, wetter part of the Pacific Northwest are likely to see more fires, new simulations predict
Feb. 22, 2024: Forests in the coolest, wettest parts of the western Pacific Northwest are likely to see the biggest increases in burn probability, fire size and number of blazes as the climate continues to get warmer and drier, according to modeling led by an Oregon State University scientist.
Understanding how fire regimes may change under future climate scenarios is critical for developing adaptation strategies, said the study’s lead author, Alex Dye.
Simulations showed that by the 30-year period beginning in 2035, Washington’s North Cascades region, the Olympic Mountains, the Puget Lowlands and the western Oregon Cascades could see at least twice as much fire activity as was observed during the prior 30 years
7: OSU license plate: New Oregon State University specialty license plate unveiled
May 29, 2024: Oregonians can now purchase a new, specialty Oregon State University license plate that features the university’s beaver logo and tree rings in the background.
Of the $40 cost, approximately $35 will go to the university, with proceeds supporting OSU Athletics and strategic university marketing initiatives. The new plate was designed by a creative team at OSU. The plate incorporates black, orange and white to represent university colors.
It includes the words “THE BEAVER STATE” at the bottom, referencing the university’s mascot, the state’s nickname and state flag. The tree rings in the background are a design element used by OSU and provide a connection to the standard Oregon license plate with the Douglas-fir, Oregon’s official state tree, in the center.
6: Pac Wave: Cable installation set to begin for OSU-led wave energy testing facility off Oregon coast
July 11, 2024: Crews are installing the power and data cables that are essential to completing construction of a new wave energy testing facility off the Oregon Coast. The cables will support Oregon State University’s PacWave South, the first pre-permitted, utility-scale, grid-connected wave energy test site in the United States.
When the facility is completed, wave energy developers will be able to test different technologies for harnessing the power of ocean waves and transmitting that energy to the local electrical grid.
The cables will be anchored in an underground vault at Driftwood and will run through conduits from the shore under the beach, then come up out of the seafloor about 1 mile out. From there to the test site, the cable will be buried about three feet under the seafloor. Once the cables are installed, the open ocean test site will be marked with a series of buoys to alert mariners traveling in the area. The first wave energy developer is expected at PacWave South in 2025 and the first cable-connected test is expected in 2026.
Part two publishes Wednesday.
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