Campaign supports sustainability innovation

Jason Ideker (right) with student This April and May, the university's #OSUHealthyPlanet initiative celebrated Oregon State leadership in sustainability innovation and stewardship. Among many other examples, OSU researchers are developing building materials that incorporate recycled materials.

This important work in the College of Engineering received a major boost this spring through a gift inspired by the Provost's Faculty Match Program.

The Provost's Faculty Match Program aims to build endowments for faculty positions that help expand OSU's international leadership in programs that advance the science of sustainable Earth ecosystems, improve human health and wellness, and promote economic growth and social progress.

Ten new endowed faculty positions have been created through the program over the last year. The first two were created in the School of Civil and Construction Engineering by Lee and Connie Kearney.

The first Kearney Faculty Scholar, Jason Ideker (pictured with one of his students), specializes in concrete: the most used building material in the world. His lab is developing new recipes for concrete that include recycled fly ash, offering the potential of significantly reducing carbon emissions while keeping millions of tons of waste material out of landfills.

A cement research project Ideker is conducting with David Trejo—holder of the Hal Pritchett Chair in Construction Engineering Management, which also leveraged the Provost's Faculty Match—has been chosen as one of the first two projects funded through a new consortium associated with the Oregon Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center (Oregon BEST).

In this Powered by Orange video, Ideker talks about his research and his Green Building Materials class, one of the only classes of its kind in the nation.

Since the beginning of the campaign, donor commitments have increased the number of endowed faculty positions at OSU by 85 percent. Each endowment generates perpetual support for faculty in key programs like Ideker and Trejo, ensuring a sustainable future for the university.

The Provost's Faculty Match Program is scheduled to expire on August 31, 2011. To learn more, contact Todd Bastian.

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