COOS BAY, OR – Southwestern Oregon Community College invites the community to join us on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, at 6:00 pm, for “Arduinos, ROVs and Research Opportunities at Linn-Benton Community College” with Dr. Greg Mulder, Professor of Physical Sciences, Linn-Benton Community College. This is a free event; all ages are welcome.
Coos County residents can join us in-person in the Umpqua Hall lecture room (room 184) on the Coos Campus, 1988 Newmark Ave., Coos Bay.
Curry County residents can join us for a watch party on the Curry Campus, 96082 Lone Ranch Parkway, Brookings.
For those not able to attend in person the lecture will be streamed live on the College’s YouTube channel at: www.youtube.com/@southwesternOR/streams.
About the Lecture:
Dr. Mulder will discuss Arduinos (Arduino is an open-source electronics platform used for building digital devices) and Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) at Linn-Benton Community College. Over the past decade LBCC has had teams of students that have explored underwater volcanoes in Central Oregon; worked on the exploration vehicles Atlantis and Nautilus off the coast of the Pacific Northwest; put radiation detectors on high altitude balloons and rockets; looked for curvatures in spacetime during the solar eclipse in Texas; climbed mountains in Tanzania; and more. These adventures were all made possible by starting a 1-credit “for fun” class on Arduinos. Dr. Mulder will discuss how Arduinos and an undergraduate with dreams can lead to great experiences, and how he’s working with SWOCC’s Dr. Coyner to bring opportunities like these to students here at the Coos Campus.
About the Presenter:
Greg Mulder is a Professor in Physical Sciences at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon. Greg teaches classes such as Physics with Calculus of Scientists and Engineers, Astronomy, Energy and Society and History of Science. Greg is also mentor for the LBCC Remotely Operated Vehicle team with which he has spent several summers exploring underwater volcanic formations in Oregon’s Newberry Caldera and competes annually in the Maritime Advanced Technology Education Center’s international ROV competition. Greg’s academic interests include computational physics, physics education research, and using Arduino microcontrollers in undergraduate research and design classes. For fun Greg likes to travel, to climb mountains, visit ancient astronomical observatories, and explore underwater by ROV and by SCUBA tank. Greg also enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee in Corvallis and at pick-up games while traveling.
Greg grew up and completed high school in the coastal community of Reedsport, Oregon. After earning an undergraduate degree in Physics at Oregon State University and the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, he earned his Master’s degree in Physics at the University of California, Irvine. Greg completed his Ph.D. in Physics Education Research at Oregon State University, where he studied how physics majors combine their understanding of vector calculus with physics concepts.
For more information about the lecture series contact Dr. Aaron Coyner, Southwestern’s Associate Professor, Physics and Engineering at aaron.coyner@socc.edu or 541-888-7244. For more information on upcoming lectures contact Cassie Coyner, STEAM Pathways Coordinator, at 541-888-7416, or cassie.coyner@socc.edu .
To learn more about STEM degrees at Southwestern visit: https://www.socc.edu/programs-classes/stem/.
