The Rohm Professorship In Oceanographic Education

Alice Rohm was born in Chicago and moved to California at 17. After her husband's death and her own retirement as postmistress of Petrolia, California, she moved to Eugene. In the early 1980s she began a friendship with Oregon State University that lasted until her death in 1989.

Although Mrs. Rohm did not attend OSU, she was proud that her cousin Ken Teter did, and that he was the first member of the family to have attended college. Her interests included music, Native American culture, athletics, books and libraries, the education of young people, and oceanography. She visited the campus often, made a number of generous gifts, and derived great enjoyment from contact with members of the faculty and administration, as well as with students to whom she provided scholarship support.

In her will, Alice Rohm left the OSU Foundation funds for the Arnold and Alice Rohm memorial fund that became the basis for establishing the Rohm Professorship in Oceanographic Education in 1991.

Robert Duncan

Robert Duncan has been with the OSU faculty since 1978, serving as professor of oceanic and atmospheric sciences since 1987. He was awarded the Rohm Professorship in Oceanographic Education in 1998.

As an expert in volcanic activity related to plate tectonics, Professor Duncan has studied the timing and duration of catastrophic volcanic events in the Earth's past that may be linked with the extinction of large numbers of plants and animals. His current research concerns the geochronology of ocean floor and ocean island basalts, which he applies to modeling crustal movements and the evolution of ocean basins. On a regional scale, he is concerned with episodic volcanism in the Coast Ranges of Oregon and Washington, and its contribution to the formation of the continental border of the Pacific Northwest. In 2008, Duncan was elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, a recognition of research impact restricted to one-tenth of 1% of the international membership

Dr. Duncan is active in teaching undergraduate courses in the College of Oceanographic and Atmospheric Sciences. He has also aided in developing a number of extended education programs, such as a collaboration with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry for oceanographic exhibits, a public lecture series on marine science and policy to honor past OSU President John V. Byrne, and a series of interactive CDs for high school students on the achievements of the international Ocean Drilling Program.

Dr. Duncan earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, his master's from Stanford University, and his doctorate in geochemistry from the Australian National University in 1976.