continued 16 OregonStater.org N EwS S P O R T S BEAVER BRAGS MORE BRAGS 11th consecutive year, OSU is the largest university in the state. No. 4 Best Online Bachelor’s Program in the nation is what U.S. News & World Report ranked OSU’s Ecampus program — its tenth year in the top 10. 98% of OSU-Cascade’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program graduates passed their license exam on the first try in 2024, outstripping most of the nation’s top 10 programs, including USC and Duke. 85.158 MPH is the new land speed record set by a student engineering team with their modified Aprilia 50cc motorcycle (running on methanol) during Bonneville Speed Week at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats. The previous record stood for 21 years. For the compete at the highest levels.While plans for 2026 and beyond are still taking shape, there is so much to look forward to.” What’s uncertain: Who’s next, and when? Though the addition of Gonzaga University brings the Pac-12 one of the nation’s most successful and best-known men’s basketball programs of the past 25 years, Gonzaga does not have a football program. That means the rebuilt conference is one short of the eight football-playing members it needs — by, at latest, the summer of 2026 — to be eligible for a berth in the College Football Playoff. Likewise, though most women’s team sports — from soccer to softball — meet the NCAA’s minimum of six teams to earn an automatic berth in postseason competition, at press time the rebuilt conference had only five of the six baseball-playing members necessary and men’s soccer had only three. The path to postseason for other sports will be determined in the months ahead. In other words, more additions and alignments are certain to come. Plus, one twist: legal issues. When the Pac-12 signed a football scheduling agreement with the Mountain West Conference for this year, the agreement included “poaching penalties” should any of the MWC schools leave for the Pac-12. But on Sept. 25, the Pac-12 sued the MWC, asserting that this violated antitrust law. So while there’s been some movement toward a complete Pac-12 picture, there’s still more off-the-field action to come. “MORE ADDITIONS AND ALIGNMENTS ARE CERTAIN TO COME.” Oregon State University Professor Jonathan Hurst and spin-off company Agility Robotics were featured on the cover of Timemagazine’s “Best Inventions of 2024” issue this November. Hurst co-founded the company and serves as its chief robot officer. This was the second Time cover in three months related to Oregon State, highlighting the university’s excellence in robotics and artificial intelligence. In September, OSU alumnus Jensen Huang, ’84, ’09 (Hon. Ph.D.), founder and CEO of NVIDIA, was featured on the cover of the “Most Influential People in AI” issue. Time also included Huang and alumna Suzanne Simard, M.S. ’89, Ph.D. ’96, a forest ecology professor and author of Finding the Mother Tree, in its 2024 “Most Influential People” issue last spring.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==