Theme: Biochemistry and Biophysics
Kevin Ahern Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Mike Dicianna.
June 29, 2015
Kevin Ahern (b. 1954) is an OSU Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics who is well-known
for his innovative approach to undergraduate instruction. For many years a Senior
Instructor, Ahern pioneered the use of unorthodox techniques - including limericks
and songs, which he calls "Metabolic Melodies" - to help students understand and retain
complex biochemical processes. Ahern was also on the forefront of the use of the internet
to enable scientific education, and has been posting notes and lecture recordings
online since 1995. The Director of Undergraduate Research at OSU, Ahern has also
co-authored multiple textbooks. Included among these are a collection that he wrote
with his wife, OSU Senior Instructor Indira Rajagopal, and made freely available online.
His interview focuses on his personal scientific evolution, his passion for teaching
and advising, and the innovations that he has applied to undergraduate instruction
at Oregon State.
Joe Beckman Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen.
September 15, 2015
Joe Beckman (b. 1953), a Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics, has
been a Principal Investigator at the Linus Pauling Institute and a member of the OSU
faculty since 2001. A leader in the study of neurodegeneration, Beckman has spent
more than twenty years investigating the cause of, and searching for a cure for, amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease). Since 2002, Beckman has also served
as Director of OSU's Environmental Health Sciences Center, an organization that works
to foster and promote research on the impact of the environment on human health.
His interview focuses on his scientific education and military service; his breakthroughs
researching neurodegenerative disease; promising new studies that may result in an
effective treatment for ALS; and the institutional evolution of the Linus Pauling
Institute, the Environmental Health Sciences Center, and OSU itself.
Mike Beilstein Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen.
July 7, 2016
Mike Beilstein (b. 1951) is an OSU alum who was a member of the university's first
undergraduate cohort in Biochemistry & Biophysics, completing his degree in 1973.
After a two-year stint in the Peace Corps and two additional years of work and political
engagement in the Washington, D.C. area, Beilstein returned to Corvallis and spent
the next two decades researching selenium deficiency in the laboratory of Philip Whanger,
an OSU professor of Agricultural Chemistry. In the early 1990s, Beilstein also returned
to political activism, helping to lead a successful living wage campaign and ultimately
serving for six terms as a member of the Corvallis city council. Retired from OSU
in 2007, Beilstein is heavily involved with a number of environmental and social justice
groups including, for a number of years, an annual trip to Cuba in protest of the
United States trade and travel ban. His interview details his OSU student experience
in the early 1970s; the influential two years that he spent as a Peace Corps volunteer
in Lesotho; his research career at Oregon State; and his years of political activism
and public service.
Balz Frei Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen.
January 10, 2014
Balz Frei (b. 1958) served as Director of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State
University from 1997 to 2016. A Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and
Biophysics, Frei's research has focused on the mechanisms causing chronic human disease,
in particular atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease, and the role that micronutrients,
phytochemicals and dietary supplements might play in ameliorating these diseases.
His interview provides an overview of his life experiences and career path, beginning
with his formative years in Switzerland and continuing on to his academic appointments
in the United States. The interview's primary emphasis is Frei's tenure at OSU, with
particular attention paid to the growth of the Linus Pauling Institute under his leadership.
Ann Kiessling Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen.
June 13, 2014
Ann Kiessling (b. 1942), a native Oregonian, attended Oregon State University as a
doctoral candidate from 1967-1971, ultimately obtaining her Ph.D. in Biochemistry
& Biophysics. In 1996, after stints at Oregon Health Sciences University and Harvard
Medical School, Kiessling founded the Bedford (Mass.) Stem Cell Research Foundation,
an independent biomedical research institute that conducts stem cell and related research
for diseases presently considered incurable. Kiessling is considered an international
leader in both reproductive biology and stem cell research. Her interview focuses
on her ties to the state of Oregon, including her upbringing in Baker City and Klamath
Falls, and her memories of life as a Ph.D. student at OSU.
An Oral History of the Linus Pauling Institute
Six interviews with Steve Lawson, conducted by Chris Petersen.
August - December 2011
The Linus Pauling Institute was founded in 1973 by Linus Pauling and two colleagues,
and was originally located near the campus of Stanford University. Primarily devoted
to exploring Pauling's controversial ideas on the health benefits of large doses of
vitamin C, the Institute gradually developed a broad and eclectic research agenda
that included work on superconductivity, molecular evolution, and metabolic profiling.
Consistently hamstrung by financial woes and further embattled by personnel disputes
that resulted in legal actions, the Institute was on the brink of closure by the time
of Pauling's death in 1994. Buoyed by a handful of timely donations and the administrative
acumen of Pauling's eldest son, Linus Pauling Jr., the Institute managed to stay afloat
and, in 1996, relocated to Oregon State University. Today the Linus Pauling Institute
is a thriving research enterprise that makes regular contributions to the fights against
cancer and cardiovascular disease, and to the promotion of healthy aging. Over the
course of six interviews, Steve Lawson, an Administrative Officer at LPI who has worked
for the Institute since 1977, relays his memories of the Institute's colorful history
and shares his impressions of Linus Pauling, whom Lawson knew as a colleague and as
a friend for nearly two decades.
Chris Mathews Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen.
September 2, 2011
Chris Mathews (b. 1937) is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and
Biophysics who worked at OSU from 1978 to his retirement in 2002, chairing the Department
of Biochemistry and Biophysics for the whole of that time. Internationally recognized
as a major contributor to the field of biochemistry with an emphasis on enzymology,
virology, and genetics, Mathews is also a co-author of a highly successful textbook,
Biochemistry, now in its third edition. Mathews was likewise involved with the creation of the
Center for Gene Research at OSU, as well as the establishment of the Linus Pauling
Institute on the OSU campus and the planning of the Agricultural and Life Sciences
Building. His interview focuses on his path through academia, the research that he
has pursued in biochemistry, and his memories of involvement with numerous initiatives
in the sciences over a twenty-four year career at OSU.
Maret Traber Oral History Interview
Life history interview conducted by Chris Petersen.
June 23, 2014
Maret Traber (b. 1950) is the Director of the Oxidative/Nitrative Stress Core Laboratory
at Oregon State University's Linus Pauling Institute. Traber joined the Institute
as a principal investigator in 1998 after twenty-two years spent working in support
of others' research efforts. The author of over 180 peer-reviewed papers, Traber is
now internationally recognized as a leading authority on Vitamin E, and has helped
to establish the recommended daily allowance for the vitamin. Her interview focuses
on her long journey to institutional stability, the research that she has conducted
in nutrition and biochemistry, and her reflections on change and growth at the Linus
Pauling Institute.