Greetings Alumni, Now that I have been in Oregon for about 6 months, I wanted to take the time to introduce myself and provide opportunities where we would love for you to be involved with the department and engage with our students. I joined the department remotely when Dr. John Bolte stepped down in March of last year while in the UK on a Fulbright. The first few months were a tag-team effort with John until I got back to the US and moved my family to Corvallis, and I'm thrilled to report that Corvallis is feeling like home! This past year has definitely been a year of change for our students. Our first year students moved into a general engineering program starting Fall of 2021 - this is shared amongst all engineering programs to enable students to begin any major in the their second year, and to let them discover the right fit. This is a great opportunity to introduce Ecological Engineering to a wider audience, and we've got three faculty teaching in the sequence. We've adjusted our curriculum to accommodate this, and also took some action in response your input. Specifically, we removed the Biology series outside of the unit, replacing it with an in-house Ecology for Engineers course. This course builds community for our students in their first term in the major, gets them in the field, and has been well received. For those local to campus, we're looking for an instructor next year - let me know if you're interested! The unit is also growing! We've got more students than ever before, our first-ever full-time advisor, and a growing faculty. Long-time advisor Rachel Jones accepted a position in College of Ag Science as the Student Engagement Coordinator, where she still has the opportunity to work with EcoE students on a regular basis. We were lucky to find Khrystal Condon to take over that role, joining us from the College of Engineering's first-year team, and she has hit the ground running. Want to get more engaged with the unit? Awesome! We'd love to hear from you. There are a few ways you could connect with us: 1 - We'd like to invite you to attend any or all of the upcoming events: * Spring Awards Banquet: May 18, 5:30-8 in the MU Horizon room * Engineering Expo: June 9, 11:00-4:00 around Kelly and Johnson Hall, plus opportunities to network with students and faculty before and after the expo. * End of the Year Family BBQ - June 16, 12:30-2 outside Gilmore Hall RSVP for any of these events with Catherine.Mullins@oregonstate.edu<mailto:Catherine.Mullins@oregonstate.edu> to ensure we're communicating plans. 2 - We invite you to join our LinkedIn<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fcompany%2Foregon-state-bee%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cbee-alumni%40engr.orst.edu%7Cbbeb4a40a998436d7a5508db47717e39%7Cce6d05e13c5e4d6287a84c4a2713c113%7C0%7C0%7C638182324985290794%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=RyPQF3VJrc%2B2hQXk1qpS4M6cGgctLgJ94Db9hywvPHE%3D&reserved=0>, Twitter<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FOregonStateBEE&data=05%7C01%7Cbee-alumni%40engr.orst.edu%7Cbbeb4a40a998436d7a5508db47717e39%7Cce6d05e13c5e4d6287a84c4a2713c113%7C0%7C0%7C638182324985290794%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=1SlKLd169iNURFRRpIm0i2BjIYSwuvHANWuWbzIRR1w%3D&reserved=0> or Facebook<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FBEEOSU&data=05%7C01%7Cbee-alumni%40engr.orst.edu%7Cbbeb4a40a998436d7a5508db47717e39%7Cce6d05e13c5e4d6287a84c4a2713c113%7C0%7C0%7C638182324985290794%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=8aDU7xVKsRAPAyJB35kHcM3x3uaFOnslqSQ4X2foKCA%3D&reserved=0> page and continue to share opportunities with our students and us. 3 - In the coming six months we are planning to kick-off a new mentoring program that will connect our current students with alumni. We'll be reaching out toward the end of summer with more details. This might include a guest lecture for a course, sharing your story with us to highlight career paths for our current students, or engaging with a few students as a professional mentor to offer some career advice. Thanks for your continued support of and engagement with the unit! I'm looking forward to meeting you and learning about where our students go after graduation. My door is always open if you are in the area and we welcome you to stop by and offer your support, suggestions or just to see what we are doing. Adam Ward ---------------------------------------------------------------- Adam S. Ward, PhD, PE (PA) Dept. Head & Professor adam.ward@oregonstate.edu<mailto:adam.ward@oregonstate.edu> +1 541-737-2041 Dept. of Biological & Ecological Engineering Oregon State University 116 Gilmore Hall 125 SW 26th St. Corvallis, OR 97331 he/him/his Need to meet? Book my time using Calendly<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalendly.com%2Fadamsward&data=05%7C01%7Cbee-alumni%40engr.orst.edu%7Cbbeb4a40a998436d7a5508db47717e39%7Cce6d05e13c5e4d6287a84c4a2713c113%7C0%7C0%7C638182324985290794%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=yrfNFICgLDAnotn7MPGF7ju0aoEHkyEkzxmV6WZWUJA%3D&reserved=0> ----------------------------------------------------------------