Tours & Workshops

This full‑day agronomy and soil science tour offers undergraduate students an immersive look into the research, production systems, and industry infrastructure that define agriculture in the Willamette Valley. The tour begins at the OSU Vegetable & Specialty Seed Research Program, located at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora. Here, students explore active research in dry beans, vegetable seed crops, brassicas, pollination biology, and soil fertility. Faculty and staff regularly host student groups, providing an inside look at breeding trials, irrigation studies, and the unique agronomic challenges of specialty seed production. This stop establishes a strong scientific foundation for the rest of the day.The second stop highlights the region’s globally significant grass seed industry. Students visit a commercial grass seed farm or a seed cleaning and conditioning facility such as Bailey Seed & Grain, Smith Seed Services, or Allied Seed. This portion of the tour emphasizes the applied, industry‑driven side of agronomy. Students observe seed cleaning equipment, purity and germination testing, storage systems, and certification processes. They also gain insight into crop rotation, residue management, and the economic importance of grass seed to Oregon agriculture. This stops academic research with real‑world production and processing. The final stop takes place at the Hyslop Crop Science Field Research Laboratory in Corvallis, OSU’s premier agronomic research farm. Over the course of two hours, students engage with ongoing work in cereal grain breeding, grass seed production, soil fertility, herbicide efficacy, and precision agriculture. Hyslop provides a comprehensive view of field‑scale experimentation and the scientific methods that drive modern crop management.

Lace up some hiking shoes and be ready for some conifers! Join us as we hike through Portland's living tree museum, the Hoyt Arboretum. From Abies to Zelkova, the Hoyt Arboretum curates a collection of over 2300 tree and shrub species from around the world across 190 acres and 12 miles of trails. As a group, we will take the MAX light rail from the Oregon Convention Center to the Arboretum. Once there, we will guide ourselves through a list of 20 to 30 highlighted species representing the collection. Entrance to the Arboretum is free, but participants will be responsible for paying their MAX fares ($5.60 round trip, with multiple payment options available). Meals and snacks will not be provided, but on our return we will stop at Pioneer Courthouse Square where multiple food vendors are available. This tour is organized within C08 Plant Genetic Resources, but all are welcome!  Come prepared to be outdoors on your feet for several hours, and bring a sense of adventure.

The workshop will cover the steps of a SR from question development and search strategies to data extraction/meta-analysis. The course is collaboratively taught by a team of experts in agricultural sciences, information studies and statistics. The focus will be on questions concerning management, technology, and agricultural impacts on ecosystem services. Course materials are open access. Participants will use an array of tools to synthesize literature. Workshop participants will be introduced to the underpinnings of meta-analysis. Hands-on exercises include developing search strategies, extracting data from the primary literature, and conducting and interpreting meta-analyses using various R packages.

The Women in Science (WIS) committee’s 2026 theme, “Stepping into Your Power,” will be explored through webinars and a CANVAS workshop. Career transitions are common in science—across graduate, academic, industry, and government roles—and demand adaptability, leadership, and quick decision-making. Women often face additional challenges balancing professional growth with personal and workplace responsibilities. This workshop focuses on emotional intelligence, self-advocacy, assertiveness, and leadership development. Through reflection, shared experiences, and practical strategies, participants will build confidence and skills to navigate career transitions across all stages.

Rigorous experimental design is the foundation of credible science — yet it remains one of the most underserved skills in graduate education. This intensive all-day workshop brings together an internationally acclaimed faculty to close that gap. Whether you are planning your first study or re-evaluating established methods, you will leave with the frameworks, vocabulary, and confidence to design experiments that hold up to scrutiny. This all-day workshop offers a deep dive into modern experimental design — from initial planning through data acquisition, analysis, and interpretation.

Once your article has been published, it is essential to ensure that your work receives the attention it deserves. To achieve this, you need to actively position yourself to be discovered by your target audience. This workshop will guide you through various strategies to enhance your article's visibility and impact. Including Understanding and applying Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to drive traffic to your work, creating effective social media to get you noticed, and introducing additional visibility strategies to maximize the reach and influence of your published work.