Engineering Out Loud Oregon State University College of Engineering

The removal of four dams from the Klamath River was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to capture the interplay of science, engineering, and culture. Desirée Tullos, professor of water resources engineering at Oregon State University assembled a collaborative team that unites Western science and traditional ecological knowledge of Indigenous people.  
BONUS CONTENT: 

What it Takes to Take Down a Dam (podcast) Unrestricted Flow (video about River Engineering field trip on the Klamath) 
 

This is a historic year on the Klamath River, where the biggest dam removal in the U.S. is underway. The hope for the monumental engineering project is that it will restore some balance to a damaged ecological system. We hear from Mark Bransom, who is overseeing the demolition and restoration, about why and how it’s happening and some of the challenges of the project.
Bonus content:
Video: Mark Bransom heads the historic dam removals 
Clean Water Showcase: 
May 21-22, 2024.  
Join us at the 2024 Clean Water Showcase hosted by Oregon State University to learn more about innovative and leading work to protect this precious resource through talks by keynote speakers, panel discussions, student presentations, and professional development activities. 
Video: Sowing Seeds Series: Episode 4 with Brook Thompson 

Will swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles be able to aid humans in wildland firefighting or package delivery? Research summarized in a new paper in Field Robotics represents a big step towards realizing such a future. In this interview, Professor Julie A. Adams describes the research showing that one person can supervise more than 100 autonomous ground and aerial robots. 

The final episode of the season occupies a time of transition, as spinoff company Espiku ramps up. We get an update on two systems that received patents and a third that could provide an environmentally benign technology for extracting lithium. We also hear from four graduating students who reflect on their experiences.
Bonus content: 
Tapping technology to ensure the world has enough clean water  OSU-Cascades spinout is semifinalist in $4 million federal lithium extraction contest

The pandemic didn’t stop Bahman Abbasi’s desalination research. In this third episode, we learn about the successful lab-scale demonstration of his team’s technology and the next steps toward its commercialization. Plus, the team takes on a new project to clean up wastewater from oil and gas production.
Bonus content: 

Espiku, OSU spin-off company  Turning freshwater into saltwater, Bend Source article 

In the second episode of this four-part season, we travel to Bend, Oregon to visit the Water and Energy Technologies Laboratory and meet the team that is inventing a new technology to desalinate water. Bahman Abbassi, associate professor of mechanical engineering, talks about building the lab from the ground up, and graduate student Mohammed Elhashimi demonstrates their system to desalinate water. 
Bonus content: 

Quest for Clean Water (story, video)  Water and Energy Technologies Laboratory