Dr. Julie Risien serves as the Associate Vice President for Research Advancement within the Division of Research and Innovation. She leads key initiatives including building faculty research excellence through targeted fellowships, professional development, incentive and seed funding programs; and advancing transdisciplinary and engaged research practices through cross-sector collaboration and strategic partnership to support faculty teams pursuing large extramural awards. Risien works to scale research impacts by participating in national efforts that strengthen universities' capacity to deliver societal benefits and innovative solutions.

Dr. Risien has a broad disciplinary foundation in marine ecology, natural resource management, and a doctorate in environmental sciences with a focus on social sciences. Her career began in the non-profit sector working in conservation, international development, and philanthropy as a program officer for a family foundation. Since joining OSU in 2006 with Oregon Sea Grant, she has served in key leadership roles including a decade as Associate Director and operational lead of the STEM Research Center (2012-2022) and held dual roles as OSU Director of Transdisciplinary Research and founding Director of Polar STEAM (2022-2025). Since 2014 Risien has served on the leadership team of the NSF-funded Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS), where she currently co-leads the Research Impacts Institutional Innovation (RI3) initiative.

Julie serves on the graduate faculty for the OSU College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences and the Environmental Sciences program. Her research and practice is focused on scientists' professional development and inter-institutional partnerships to enhance “Broader Impacts,” the transformative power of learning networks, organizational structures, and partnerships to improve connection at the interface of science and society.

Current Projects:

• Polar STEAM: Where Curiosity Thrives (2022-)
• Authentic Research through Collaborative Learning (ARC-Learn): Undergraduate Research Experiences in Data Rich Arctic Science (2021-2024)
• PTIE: Promotion and Tenure - Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2019-2023)
• STEM Ambassadors (2019-2023)
• ARIS (2018-2023)
• Revealing Progress toward Promotion and Tenure Reform in the Academy (2018-2022)

Past Projects:

• BID: Grounding Institutional Partnerships in Structures for Broader Impacts Design (2017-2022)
• InclusiveExcellence@OSU (2018-2021)
• Broader Impacts: Towards a Strategic Approach for OSU (2012) and Building a Campus-wide Network (2015)
• CAISE: Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (2016-2021)
• A Landscape of University Systems and People: Supporting Scientists in Public Engagement (2017-2018)
• ESTEME@OSU: Enhancing STEM Education at OSU (2014-2018)
• Learning Network: Case Study of the National Alliance for Broader Impacts (2018)
• Oregon State University Research Impacts Network (ORIN)
• Undergraduate Success Initiative (2012-2014)

Education

Ph.D. Environmental Sciences (Social Science)

M.S. Marine Resource Management

B.A. Environmental Sciences (Marine Ecology)

Research areas