Author: Nick Houtman

Nick Houtman is director of research communications at OSU and edits Terra, a world of research and creativity at Oregon State University. He has experience in weekly and daily print journalism and university science writing. A native Californian, he lived in Wisconsin and Maine before arriving in Corvallis in 2005.

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Healthy Economy

Planning for Resilience

The Klamath River at Keno Eddy in the upper portion of the basin. (Photo: Stephen Atkinson)

Threatened natural resources may impair local food, energy and water sectors

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A Modern Champion for the Newport Hydrographic Line

The NH Line’s Modern Champion Bill Peterson left a remarkable scientific legacy At the helm of sampling along the Newport Line for more than two decades was its ultimate champion: Bill Peterson. Peterson’s enthusiasm and dedication to the line drove him to work until only a few weeks before his death last summer. Colleagues recall his unbridled fascination with the ocean, his creative, system-level thinking and his dogged determination to take “just one more sample.” One of the most valuable aspects of the data collected for the past two decades on the Newport Line is that all of the zooplankton samples were examined by the same pair of eyes: Peterson’s. Even once he became ill, “He would meet the boat at the end of every cruise,” Jennifer Fisher marvels. “Even if we came in at 2 am, we’d call him from the jetty, and he’d get out of bed and come meet us every time, because he’d want to look at the samples and stay connected that way.” Peterson’s memorial service was held appropriately at the Hatfield Marine Science Center. Hundreds of colleagues, lab members and students paid their respects, in addition to friends and family. “Bill reminded me of my high school track coach, who taught us to ‘run through the tape,’” says OSU oceanographer Ted Strub, one of Peterson’s collaborators. “He meant that you do not run to the finish line. You look way beyond the finish line and run to some point beyond it. You’re still going full bore when you pass the finish line. I watched Bill run through the tape.” Others noted his playfulness. “He was really just a big kid with a planet to explore and all of us got to come along for the fun,” says OSU oceanographer Jack Barth. Peterson’s ashes were scattered on his beloved Newport Line, at sentinel station NH-5.

Bill Peterson left a remarkable scientific legacy.

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Healthy Planet homefeature Marine Studies Initiative Uncategorized

Towing the Line

The Pacific Ocean west of Newport is among the most well studied seas on the planet. It still has secrets to tell.

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Healthy Planet homestories

Bury It Deep

This 3D visualization captures CO2 blobs inside the pore geometry of rock. Color variations indicate the pressure state of the fluids. These kinds of images are used to quantify the amount of CO2 trapped for different injection scenarios (trapping efficiency) as well as the pressure conditions underground after the gas is trapped. (Image courtesy of Dorthe Wildenschild)

Storing carbon underground could buy time for a climate solution

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Healthy People homestories

Reclaiming Native Space

JKCKG9 USA, North Carolina, Cherokee, Cherokee Indian Reservation, street signs in Cherokee and English

Natchee Barnd documents a cultural resurgence

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Healthy Planet homestories

Energy Matters

Hilary Boudet explores our contentious relationship with the energy industry