When: Monday, June 2, 4–5 p.m. with a short reception beforehand

Where: OSU Corvallis, Cordley Hall, Room 1316

Whether you're studying STEM, already immersed in the field, curious about AI, or passionate about the future of technology, this lecture offers a compelling look at the science and mathematical principles behind the algorithms—and the opportunities ahead.

How the College of Science prepared him to change the landscape of AI

When Clark arrived as a freshman at Oregon State in 2008, he met Rubin Landau, who ran the (since discontinued) computational physics program at the time. Clark became especially enthralled with Landau's work after checking out one of his books from OSU's Valley Library.

"It was everything that I loved, all put together," Clark said. "It was physics with math on computers. It was like, 'Here's how you teach a computer physics.'"

He convinced his advisor to let him take a 400-level class as a freshman. Although he started out as a math and computer science double major, he switched to a triple major in math, physics and computational physics halfway through his freshman year.

"One of the things I loved about Oregon State was that they let me explore as much as possible."

Oregon State has one of the best numerical analysis departments in the world with legendary professors such as Malgorzata Peszynska and Bob Higdon, he added.

"One of the things I loved about Oregon State was that they let me explore as much as possible," Clark said. "They never told me I wasn't allowed to take a class because I didn't have the prerequisite, or it was a 600-level class, and I was only a sophomore. They always let me try it, to jump into the deep end and see if I could swim."

Clark began expanding his work, pursuing summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) in biophysics at the University of California at Davis. He also worked at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, doing computational quantum mechanics work.

He and Malgorzata Peszynska spent a summer working on fluid dynamics problems.

"What I really loved was all this interdisciplinary work of how you fit these fields together and using computational simulations to push that forward," Clark said.

After graduating from Oregon State in 2012, he pursued graduate school at Cornell University in its applied mathematics department. "I could work on all these problems that would otherwise fall through the cracks," he said.

Clark soon received a fellowship from the U.S. Department of Energy, allowing him to work in computational science at various national laboratories, including Los Alamos and Lawrence Berkeley. The latter focuses on scientific discovery and solving large-scale problems in energy, health and the environment.

"A lot of these problems end up looking similar," Clark said. "They end up looking like difficult optimization problems where you build some big, complex machine, system or algorithm, and you want to make it work as well as possible."

Figuring out how to use computers to solve extremely hard optimization problems became his next passion, Companies often spent exorbitant amounts of money grappling to increase optimization. Clark saw an opportunity. "In as few attempts as possible, you want to get to the best possible answer," he said.

Toward the end of graduate school, he faced a choice -- heading to academia or industry. He decided it would be more interesting and fast-paced to at least try industry first.

An internship with Bloomberg in New York City working in finances helped finalize his decision. Clark recalled the thrill of working at a fast pace with highly intelligent people.

"Everyone had something to optimize."

He took the private-sector skills he acquired in New York City and began working for Yelp. The company needed help building a targeting system as it ventured into advertising. "This was like a really fun, hard math problem," Clark recalled. "There was enough scale to make it really interesting, but it was early enough that it was very greenfield, so I wasn't trying to make something slightly better. We were starting from scratch, basically."

It struck him other companies could benefit from what he was doing for Yelp. He created MOE -- the Metric Optimization Engine -- and presented it to companies like Google, Facebook and OpenAI.

"Everyone had something to optimize," Clark said. "I learned this was an extremely pervasive problem."

In 2014, Clark founded SigOpt to market the software he developed to use machine learning and complex algorithms to optimize user experiments for websites and applications. He improved data collection for everyone from federal intelligence agencies to hedge funds and big banks. Traveling the world, he built a team of 30 people and raised $17 million in seven years.

After selling the company to Intel in 2020, he became Intel's vice president of AI and High Performance Computing Software teams within the Supercomputing Group -- helping people build even bigger and better computers. However, after two years, a thought kept nagging him. Customers didn't necessarily want the best result. They wanted the most reliable result.

Thus was born Distributional Inc.

The company creates reliable AI by creating better testing, automating test creations and calibration -- allowing organizations to reduce risk by standardizing testing throughout the life of all their AI technology.

"It's all about how to test them and make sure they're behaving as we wish," Clark said.

A lifetime love of computers

Clark has been working with computers since he was 10 years old in the early 1990s, and his father brought discarded office computers home.

"I tinkered around with QBasic and stuff like that,” he said. “I was always interested in making machines do things that I found interesting, even if it was just printing my name over and over on one of those old terminals."

He built computers for people while he attended Central Catholic High School in Southeast Portland -- customizing early Dell and Gateway computers. "I was willing to value my time at $10 per hour so I could undercut someone who was just updating HTML."

Clark built several dozen computers for local businesses and friends and designed websites. Then his interests took a cosmic turn.

"I became interested in more than how computers work and became interested in how the world and the universe work," he said.

He was particularly interested in physics and began reading Richard Feynman's lectures on theoretical physics. This led to Clark taking advanced placement courses as well as classes at Portland Community College.

"I wanted to understand physics, because that's the way the world works, and I wanted to understand math because that's the language of physics," Clark said.

"I was never told anything was impossible, so I never stopped."

However, his fascination with computers remained. "I was always interested in how you can make computers much faster, how you can run simulations and things like that," he said. "I was enthralled by these very beautiful simulations of fluid dynamics and partial differential equations."

Clark, now 38, said everyone will be touched by AI -- even the engineers who create and service the machines

"I see a lot of companies now not hiring engineers just because it's so efficient to have a system that writes a lot of stuff too," he said. "Engineers are definitely going to be touched by AI. The pace of change is insane. Even working in the field, staying on top of AI is hard. It’s definitely exponential."

Clark's parents weren't engineers or scientists, but while they knew nothing about creating artificial intelligence, he said they knew a lot about nurturing it naturally.

"I'm definitely here as a product of the encouragement of my parents," said Clark, who was born in Salem and raised in Tigard.

"We were exploring together," he said. "I remember my parents were very quickly unable to help me with my math homework anymore, but they were always very encouraging. They'd let me take over the entire dining room table."

It was that kind of encouragement that made him the tech entrepreneur he is today, Clark said. It was the support he also found at Oregon State.

"I was never told anything was impossible, so I never stopped," he said.

Amin Hassan Zadeh

Amin Hassan Zadeh is presently a Professor of Practice at Oregon State University and an Adjunct Professor at Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences of Western University, Canada. He was previously a visiting associate professor at the Smeal’s Business School, Pennsylvania State University. From 2011 to 2019, he served as a faculty member at the National University of Iran's (now Shahid Beheshti University) Department of Actuarial Science. Amin has supervised more than 20 master's thesis and 4 Ph.D. actuarial science students. He has a strong background in the insurance industry in addition to his research and teaching. He is a Certified Appointed Actuary in Iran as well as an ASA and ACIA. Amin is interested in researching climate change, decentralized insurance, modelling and forecasting mortality rates, and quantitative finance in insurance.

Research Areas are in Climate Change, Decentralized Insurance, Quantitative finance in insurance and Modelling and forecasting mortality rates.

Serge Phanzu

Serge Phanzu is a new Instructor from the Democratic Republic of Congo. After completing his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from his home country, he received a scholarship and traveled to Italy for training in advanced courses in mathematics. Then he returned to Congo, and after a brief stay in Benin, he emigrated to the USA for Doctoral studies in mathematics.

His educational background is University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN), ICTP (International Center for Theoretical Physics), IMSP (Institut de Mathematiques et de Sciences Physiques), University of Alabama at Birmingham, Kent State University, Bowling Green State University. He held positions as an Assistant Professor at Kentucky State University and a Senior Instructor at Portland State University. His research interests lie in Operator theory. A notable publications is Every Pure Quasinormal Operator Has a Supercyclic Adjoint. HJM, Vol. 47, No. 2, 2021 Hobbies outside of work include Reading, watching a movie or news, and spending time with my family. He has been enjoying working with the department. He says the students are enthusiastic, and eager about their learning of mathematics.

Jane Shaw MacDonald

Jane Shaw MacDonald is a post-doctoral researcher at Oregon State University with the Mathematics Department. Before coming to OSU she earned her PhD in Mathematics at the University of Ottawa and was a Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences Post-doctoral Fellow working at Simon Fraser University. Combining computational mathematics and mathematical modelling she studies ecological phenomena, like population dynamics in climate-driven moving habitats, optimisation of pesticide treatment in space and time, and fluid-structure interaction like those related to kelp, which is a facilitator of eco-system services. She has a keen interest in outdoor play, like cross-country skiing, and has developed a numerical method in 3D to study how a cross-country skier moves along a track.

Sergio Zamora

Sergio Zamora earned his PhD in Mathematics at Penn State University in 2022. Prior to joining OSU, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics at Bonn. His research focuses on the interaction between curvature and symmetry in metric spaces, and the stability of topological features under Gromov-Hausdorff convergence. Outside mathematics, his interests include football, 3D-animation, drawing, video games, and nature.

Murat Kol

Murat Kol, visiting Professor from 2022-2024 (New Hires 2022-2023), joined our instructor ranks for the 2024-2025 academic year and beyond. Welcome back, Murat!

Graduate students at the College of Science are conducting crucial research that addresses critical challenges and benefits both local communities and the broader world.

To celebrate their accomplishments, the College will be hosting the inaugural Graduate Science Research Showcase from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Friday, May 16, 2025 in the Memorial Union Horizon Room.

Click here to RSVP!

This event offers a glimpse into the future of science featuring graduate research presentations, a poster session and a keynote address from renowned alumnus Jonathan Gallion, vice president of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for OmniScience.

Gallion, recipient of the College's 2024 Early Career Award, earned dual Honors bachelor's degrees in biochemistry and biophysics, and microbiology in 2012. His career began with an internship at SIGA Technologies, where he programmed robots to screen chemical compounds for antiviral medicines. At OmniScience, Gallion and his team utilize large language models to enhance clinical trial outcomes and improve human health. Their work accelerates decision-making and transforms data analysis in biotech, medtech, pharmaceutical and preclinical innovation. Rather than replace human expertise, their AI tools are designed to compliment it.

Schedule of Events

12 p.m.

Lunch

12:20 p.m.

Welcome from Executive Associate Dean Vrushali Bokil and Dean's Remarks from College of Science Dean Eleanor Feingold.

12:30 p.m.

Keynote speech from alumnus Jonathan Gallion, V.P. of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for OmniScience.

Keynote Talk Title - Beyond Automation: Agentic AI and the New Frontier of Life Science Innovation

Abstract: Artificial intelligence in the life sciences is moving beyond automation into a new frontier defined by agentic systems—AI tools capable of reasoning, planning, and autonomous action. As these AI agents continue to evolve from tools to collaborators, life scientists will need to rethink how we generate hypotheses, design experiments, interpret data, and generate insights. This keynote will examine how agentic AI is already transforming decision-making and accelerating innovation within clinical trial development and offer a perspective on how domain experts can adapt and lead at the intersection of scientific expertise and intelligent automation through AI.

1 - 2:30 p.m.

Five minute research presentations and dessert, followed by a poster session, showcasing the diverse research conducted across the seven departments in the College of Science. The session will highlight how Science graduate students are participating and contributing to this valuable research.

Presenters include:

Oluwasen Adu (Integrative Biology)
Advisor: Michael Blouin
Talk title: Genome Wide Association Study of Biomphalaria glabrata snail and its Schistosome Parasite

Vera Alenicheva (Chemistry)
Advisor: Vincent Remcho
Talk title: A Microfluidic Paper-Based Assay for the Quantification of CBD and THC

Lucas Allan (Chemistry)
Advisor: Tim Zuehlsdorff
Talk title: FC2DES: Modeling 2D Electronic Spectroscopy for Harmonic Hamiltonians

Hallee Boyd (Chemistry)
Advisor: May Nyman
Talk title: Characterization of Trivalent Lanthanide Keggin Phosphomolybdate Sandwich Clusters

Daniel Malone Buoy (Statistics)
Advisor: Claudio Fuentes / Sarah Emerson
Talk title: Representative Sampling Methods for K-Fold Cross Validation

Olivia Burleigh (Integrative Biology)
Advisor: Virginia Weis
Talk title: Transcription Factor-targeted ChIP-Seq for Smad3-mediated TGF-β Signaling in Heat-stressed Aiptasia

Jun Cai (Integrative Biology)
Advisor: Virginia Weis
Talk title: Effect of Sphingolipid Metabolic Pathway Inhibition and Knockdown on Cnidarian-Algal Symbiosis

Giovanni Crestani (Integrative Biology, Ph.D.)
Advisor: Molly Burke
Talk title: Genomics of experimentally-evolved postponed reproduction in Drosophila melanogaster

Ushasi Datta (Chemistry)
Advisor: Marilyn Mackiewicz
Talk title: Unveiling the Hidden Properties: How Nanomaterial Surface Chemistry and Biomimetic Systems Shape Reflectance and Contrast

Konstantin Drallios (Chemistry)
Advisor: Thomas Osborn Popp
Talk title: 3D Printable Radiofrequency Coils

Rudranil Dutta (Chemistry)
Advisor: Claudia Maier
Talk title: Identification and Quantitation of Bioactive Alkaloids in Withania Somnifera

Arpa Ebrahimi (Chemistry)
Advisor: Claudia Maier
Talk title: Characterizing the Lipidomic and Proteomic Profile of the 5xFAD Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Model: A Comparative Study Using MALDI Imaging Mass Spectrometry

Jessica Etter (Chemistry)
Advisor: Claudia Maier
Talk title: LC-QTOF and LC-TIMS-qQTOF MS Analysis of Fecal Inoculum Biotransformation Products and LC-MRM-MS Analysis of Human Withanolide Pharmacokinetics of an Ashwagandha Supplement

Caroline Hernandez (Microbiology)
Advisor: Maude David
Talk title: Whole-Cell Crosslinking Reveals Direct Lactobacillaceae and Rhizobiaceae Interactions with Host Duodenal Neuropods

Esteban Hernandez (Chemistry)
Advisor: Jennifer Field
Talk title: Experimental pKa Values of Substituted and Unsubstituted Perfluoroalkyl Sulfonamides via 19F NMR

Lucas Kolanz (Physics)
Advisor: Davide Lazzati
Talk title: Cosmic dust bunnies

Weiqi ‘Grace’ Li (Statistics)
Advisor: Yuan Jiang
Talk title: Reframing spatial transcriptomics prediction: From regression to classification

Sarah Louie (Biochemistry & Biophysics)
Advisor: Richard Cooley / Ryan Mehl
Talk title: Optimizing genetic code expansion technology to access post-translationally modified proteins

Praveeni Mathangadeera (Mathematics)
Advisor: Małgorzata Peszyńska
Talk title: Computational Modeling of the Nonlinear Heat Equation in Frozen Soil and Snow

Anshika Nagar (Chemistry)
Advisor: Marilyn Mackiewicz
Talk title: Shielded Nanoparticles: Advancing X-Ray Fluorescence Microscopy with Oxidant-Resistant Nickel and Cobalt

Luke Nearhood (Physics)
Advisor: Patti Hamerski
Talk title: Computing the Tension

Joline Nguyen (Biochemistry & Biophysics)
Advisor: Sarah Clark
Talk title: Isolation of Scarce Membrane Protein Complexes from C. elegans

Victory Chiamaka Obieke (Mathematics)
Advisor: Vrushali Bokil
Talk title: Compatible Energy Preserving Discretizations for Nonlinear Optical Wave Propagation: The Maxwell-Duffing Approach

Emily Palmer (Statistics)
Advisor: Yuan Jiang
Talk title: A Group Penalization Framework for Detecting Time-Lagged Microbiota-Host Associations

Madison Phelps (Mathematics)
Advisor: Małgorzata Peszyńska
Talk title: Nonlinear Solvers in Permafrost applications

Kevin Rice (Microbiology)
Advisor: Maude David / Kenton Hokanson
Talk title: Electrical Characterization of Primary Enteroendocrine Cells: Developing Tools to Screen Novel Microbial Neuroactive Compounds

Casey Rummelhart (Chemistry)
Advisor: Addison Desnoyer
Talk title: Frustrated Lewis Pairs Ligand for the Transformation of Carbon Dioxide to Chemical Feedstocks

Pavel Sengupta (Chemistry)
Advisor: Dipankar Koley
Talk title: Quantifying Dissolved Oxygen in Biofilms with Non-invasive Flexible Amperometric Oxygen Sensors

Michael Sieler (Microbiology)
Advisor: Thomas Sharpton
Talk title: Modeling the zebrafish gut microbiome’s resistance and sensitivity to climate change and parasite infection

Gavin Tovar (Statistics)
Advisor: Robert Trangucci / Sarah Emerson
Talk title: Sequential Approach to K-Fold Cross-validation---Computational Reduction Technique

Hao Yue (Chemistry)
Advisor: Marilyn Mackiewicz
Talk title: Targeted X-ray Imaging Agents for Visualizing Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Sima Ziyaee (Chemistry)
Advisor: Claudia Maier
Talk title: Exploring Cellular Heterogeneity through Single-cell Proteomics

Join us to celebrate the future of science — and the graduate students who are making it happen.

Insecticide resistance in spotted-winged drosophila

Geneticist Alysia Vrailas-Mortimer's project addresses the significant agricultural threat posed by spotted-winged drosophila (SWD), an invasive pest species. The research aims to advance understanding of the genetic basis and evolution of insecticide resistance in these pest populations through experimental work, genetic techniques and mechanistic mathematical modeling. The project involves collaboration with experts from UC Davis and focuses on developing sustainable control methods. Directly connected to the needs of the Oregon agricultural community, this project is a prime example of OSU’s strong community engagement initiatives as a land grant institution. By learning more about the mechanisms of insecticide resistance in spotted-winged drosophila, growers will be better able to plan and prioritize their insecticide applications to mitigate resistance.

Oregon State Collaborators
Alysia Vrailas Mortimer, Biochemistry & Biophysics
Swati Patel, Mathematics
Serhan Mermer, Environmental and Molecular Toxicology (College of Agricultural Sciences)

Analytical Tools to Understand Ecological Communities

Statistician Yuan Jiang’s SciRIS project aims to create novel analytical tools for assessing how organisms in complex ecological communities like microbes and parasites interact and affect each other over time. The research will leverage long-term community datasets from wild vertebrate host populations with improved data techniques that allow these large complex data sets to be analyzed more efficiently and with environmental conditions factored in. In addition to improve our ecological understanding of these communities, Jiang's project seeks to extend the accessibility of these analytical tools to diverse scientific audiences through summer camps, workshops and online tutorials. The project will also involve collaboration with colleagues and students at the Universidad of San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador to build capacity in data analytics.

Oregon State Collaborators
Yuan Jiang, Statistics
Lan Xue, Statistics
Anna Jolles, Integrative Biology
Claire Couch, Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences (College of Agricultural Sciences)

Unlocking the potential of seaweed

Algal physiologist James Fox’s project explores the chemical composition and potential applications of Pacific Dulse, a protein-rich seaweed native to the Pacific coastline. The team will create a special growth chamber to cultivate seaweed on land under controlled conditions. This allows researchers to maximize the production of important compounds found in Pacific Dulse, which can be used in nutrition and medicine. The project also emphasizes community outreach and inclusive excellence by engaging diverse student populations and partnering with outreach programs. Additionally, the project will investigate the impact of different processing methods on the nutritional quality of seaweed extracts.

Oregon State Collaborators
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 (College of Agricultural Sciences)
Christopher Suffridge, Microbiology

These projects highlight the innovative and impactful research being conducted by the 2025 SciRIS awardees. Each project not only advances scientific knowledge by also emphasizes collaboration, community engagement and inclusive excellence.

College of Science Inclusive Excellence Award

Hannah Stuwe, graduate student in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, received the Inclusive Excellence Award.

Department Head Elisar Barbar, who nominated Stuwe, said she has engaged in a wide-ranging set of service, outreach and training that is truly impressive. First, Stuwe conducted a GFP protein purification activity for middle and high school students from the Chemawa Indian School, Jewell High School (Seaside), and visited groups of black and Latinx students from the Portland area.

She planned, wrote and edited a handbook of science experiments geared towards middle school aged students, their parents, and teachers to fill the void of not having a BB summer camp. This handbook now serves as a free and open access resource for community members.

Stuwe is the founder of the non-profit organization Corvallis Music Collective. They have engaged in community service and activism by providing live music for events and rallies. Recent events include the Basic Needs Center Fall Welcome Party, the Disabled Students Union Disability Justice Rally and Jackson Street Youth Services National Runaway Prevention Month “Skate Park After Dark” Show.

Gladys Valley Award for Exemplary Administrative Support

Amy Timshel, assistant head to the department head in the Department of Microbiology, received the Gladys Valley Award for Exemplary Administrative Support.

Her colleagues describe her as proactive, always seeking ways to improve processes and deeply committed to making the department a better place for everyone. She is highly regarded by students, faculty and staff for her professionalism, broad knowledge and ability to get things done. In fact, Department Head Anne Dunn noted that when she polled faculty on department strengths during strategic planning exercises, Timshel's critical role in the department was consistently highlighted.

She has a deep understanding of university policies and constantly looks for ways to improve them. She listens, advocates for students and colleagues, and takes initiative to make the department more inclusive and equitable. For example, her work on the Core Values Committee led to the addition of gender-neutral restrooms in Nash Hall and improvements to scholarship and travel fund policies.

Beyond her administrative role, Timshel actively fosters a sense of community within the department. She organizes fundraisers and charity events and regularly attends student events to show her support.

Distinguished Service Award

Elaine Cozzi, assistant head and associate professor in the Department of Mathematics, received the Distinguished Service Award for her impactful service to her department, the College and the broader mathematics community.

Cozzi served as interim associate dean of academic and student affairs for the College in Spring of 2024, managing various projects, including the university’s revision of its undergraduate advising system, assessing teaching resources and addressing countless student issues. She was overwhelmingly generous with her time in responding to the many challenges and the needs of her colleagues.

Before and after serving as associate dean, Cozzi served as assistant department head for mathematics, responsible for scheduling upper-level courses and ensuring adequate staffing for the Department’s teaching mission. This affects the hiring of instructors, graduate students, and undergraduate graders.

Jon Kujawa, Department of Mathematics head and Cozzi’s nominator, noted, “It is hard to overestimate the impact of Elaine’s planning on the smooth operation of the teaching side of the department. And she readily pivots when unexpected events disrupt the plans.” Additionally, Elaine led the assessment of the Mathematics undergraduate program for several years, playing a crucial role in student success, he shared.

Cozzi also contributes significantly to the mathematics profession as Associate Editor for the American Mathematical Monthly – the most widely read mathematics journal in the world. She is also an active member of SIAM, a professional society for applied mathematics, where she helps organize meetings and contributes to administrative efforts and regularly serves as a grant evaluator for the NSF and the Simons Foundation, helping to shape the future of mathematical research.

Virginia Lesser, Department of Statistics Head, received the Champion of Science award for her significant contributions to the field of statistics and to Oregon State University throughout her distinguished career. After earning her PhD in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she joined OSU’s Department of Statistics in 1992.

A year later, she became Director of the Survey Research Center, a role she held until her retirement in December 2024. Lesser's expertise in probability sampling, survey design, and data collection methods ensured that the center upheld the highest standards. Under her leadership, the center became a premier institution, offering expertise in survey methodology, sampling and data analysis – supporting projects that inform policy, environmental monitoring, economic studies and public opinion research. Its work has helped agencies such as the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Oregon State Marine Board, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife make data-driven decisions, not to mention numerous initiatives within the University.

Lesser's groundbreaking research in survey methodology, environmental statistics, applied statistics and ecological monitoring has advanced the field and influenced practice. She has authored over 55 journal articles and conference proceedings, earning national and international recognition – including being named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute.

Lesser's leadership also transformed the statistics department and elevated Oregon State University’s role in the field as department head from 2011 to 2018.

Lesser has also been a dedicated mentor and advocate for students and colleagues. Over the course of her career, she guided more than 220 graduate students and fostered a welcoming, supportive community within the department. Her colleagues regard her as an exceptional mentor and an inspiring leader, someone who consistently goes above and beyond – whether leading major academic initiatives or simply making sure the department potluck had a home-cooked turkey.

She is currently a co-editor in chief of the International Journal of Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education. She is also an academic staff member of the Center for Computing in Science Education at the University of Oslo, Norway.

From 2021 to 2024, Lockwood served as a program officer at the National Science Foundation in the Division of Undergraduate Education, where she was involved in overseeing and managing NSF-funded projects aimed at improving undergraduate STEM education. This role further informed her research on effective teaching practices, and she influenced broader policies and practices in STEM education.

In 2019, she was part of a $141K, one-year grant from Google to enhance and increase integration between computer science education and mathematics teacher education curriculum. The project was aimed at better equipping teachers to teach computational concepts and practices in Oregon high schools.

In 2017, Lockwood received a $800K five-year NSF CAREER Award to study how computational tools and activities, specifically introductory Python programming, can aid students in solving complex combinatorial problems. Her published research on using basic Python programming for undergraduate combinatorics problem solving paves the way for novel and creative methods of using computing to support students’ mathematical reasoning.

In addition to her PECASE award, Lockwood has received the John and Annie Selden Prize for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education, the Promising Scholar Award from Oregon State and a Fulbright award. Her work has already influenced the field of mathematics teaching and curriculum development, enabling students to gain a deeper, more intuitive grasp of combinatorial concepts — skills that are critical for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.