Oregon State Engineering Alumni Magazine

Researchers at Oregon State University, with colleagues at North Carolina
State University, are working to better understand the decision-making processes of hospital systems before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paul Cull, emeritus professor of computer science at Oregon State University, died at home at age 76 of pancreatic cancer on Dec. 17, 2019. Cull was one of the first two members of the computer science faculty at Oregon State, where he dedicated himself to excellence in research and teaching for his entire career.

Alan Robinson, former head of Oregon State University’s Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics, died April 23. Robinson was a groundbreaking researcher whose colleagues remember him as a devoted teacher and an early advocate for the university’s nuclear science programs.

It would be a challenge to name anyone who embodied the spirit of the Oregon State Engineer more than Peter E. Johnson, who died in June at age 86.

Nancy Squires, senior instructor of mechanical engineering, died June 19, leaving an incredible legacy in the lives and careers of the hundreds of engineering students she influenced.

Friends, colleagues, and former students mourn the loss of Shoichi “Sho” Kimura, professor emeritus of chemical engineering, who died in June at age 75.

When Don Fuller (’72 B.S., Electrical Engineering) looks back over a long, successful career to his days at the College of Engineering, they blur together in misty nostalgia. But even now, nearly 50 years after graduating, one course remains unforgettable: Communications for Engineers.

Even before he graduated from high school, Bill Nicholson (’80 B.S., Nuclear Engineering) knew he wanted to make a difference for future generations. The Portland native had always been interested in the clean energy field, and, at the time, solar and nuclear power were the two most promising technologies.

Tadesse Meskele (’13 Ph.D., Civil Engineering) puts his problem-solving skills to use as a project engineer at GRI, a Beaverton-based engineering firm that focuses on geotechnical, geological, pavement, and environmental projects.

Bahman Abbasi is leading a team to develop systems to decontaminate water with $5 million of funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.