OSU Professors Recognized For Ocean Work

By Molly Rosbach

Jack Barth

This year, Oregon State University recognized oceanographer Jack Barth and coastal engineer Dan Cox as University Distinguished Professors, highlighting the real-world impacts of their work from sea to shore and celebrating their long-term commitment to teaching.

Barth was an early adopter of using underwater gliders to take measurements at sea and uses the robots to study ocean phenomena like marine heat waves and hypoxia. Cox joined OSU as the director of the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory and now leads the lab’s National Science Foundation-funded Natural Hazards Engineering Research project, working on coastal risk and community resilience.

“Since 1988, the university has awarded the title of University Distinguished Professor to current OSU faculty members who have achieved national and international distinction for their contributions in research and creative work, teaching and mentoring, public engagement and service,” Provost Roy Haggerty said in his March 31 announcement. “The quality, depth and breadth of both Professor Barth’s and Cox’s work exemplify OSU’s highest academic honor.”

Jack Barth, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences 

Barth came to OSU as a postdoc in 1987 and loved it so much that he’s stayed ever since, rising through the ranks to become a professor, the associate dean for research in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, and executive director of the interdisciplinary Marine Studies Initiative over the years. In that time, he’s seen (and pushed for) the development of new tools to explore the ocean, and he’s using that data to help chart a more sustainable path forward. “I think the more we understand how the ocean works and how it’s changing, it’s going to give us a chance to carry on in a more hopeful way,” he said. Through it all, he never stopped teaching.

“It was really important for me to stay in touch with students and the research, so I came back to my professor position a couple years ago,” Barth said. “I work with young students and faculty research assistants and that’s an absolute blast.” His favorite part of teaching is bringing students to Newport and spending the day on the coastal research vessel in Yaquina Bay. Getting their hands on instruments and getting them in and out of the water really brings the science to life and helps students connect with the material, he said.

Dan Cox, College of Engineering

Dan Cox

The wave lab attracted Cox to OSU in 2002, and he served as director until 2009. He remembers that when he started, tsunami research was a niche area that very few people were doing — and then the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster struck and suddenly the general public was paying attention. In Oregon, that meant greater recognition of the eventuality of a Cascadia earthquake and tsunami, and greater urgency behind managing preparedness to make coastal communities more resilient.

“It helped make better decisions in how we deal with the risk on our coast,” Cox said.

The wave lab has helped improve education and awareness by prioritizing access for the general public and thousands of K-12 student visitors, who participate in projects like the Tsunami Structure Challenge, where they build miniature structures out of wooden kits and test them in the lab.

Cox has also continued teaching throughout his time at OSU and says mentoring students and seeing them be successful in their careers after OSU are his proudest achievements.

“The best part of my day is still when my grad students come to my door and we talk about something they’re doing,” he said. “Helping people get to where they want to go in their careers — I think that’s the heart of what we do at a university.”