Steve comes to OSU-Cascades with a varied background in facility management and construction management. He managed capital projects at Central Oregon Community College, and prior to that he served on active duty in the U.S. Navy, managing facilities, construction and leading expeditionary engineering units. His 21-year career in uniform included assignments at Navy and Marine Corps Bases in seven states and numerous overseas locations.

Ariel Méndez is an associated faculty member at OSU-Cascades. He regularly teaches the following political science courses:

• PS 206 Introduction to Political Thought
• PS 331 State and Local Politics
• PS 362 Modern Political Thought
• PS 383 Constitutional Law: Civil Rights

Ariel has served his community as an elected official since 2019 on the Bend Park and Recreation Board and currently on the Bend City Council.

After completion of his master's in chemistry, Silas began work at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as a research scientist. His work focused on membrane electrode assembly (MEA) production, operation and analysis of fuel cells, formulation of colloid solutions, battery diagnosis and structure, and polymer fiber modification with nanoparticles. His work at the lab included lab management as well as proposal, report and journal writing. This culminated in two first author journals, two patents and one outstanding performance award.

Ryan Scheirer is a senior instructor of physics. Before joining OSU-Cascades, he was an aviation enthusiast who enjoyed applying physics while working towards his commercial pilot’s license. Ryan’s current research interest lies at the boundary of natural language processing and physics education research. His goal is to use research to help identify how education changes students’ cognition, affect and behaviors. Ryan holds a Master of Science in Physics from OSU and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Kendra Coates is an award-winning education leader passionate about celebrating our unlimited potential (UP) and human-centered teaching and learning. In her twenty years of teaching and leadership, she has taught all ages, from preschool to professionals across a variety of settings including early childhood, after school, abroad, AmeriCorps, special education and intervention, PreK-12 leadership, and higher education.

Andrew Hawley teaches in the TRAL program with a focus on technical based courses. His passion for outdoor recreation and adventure leadership started at an early age from family camping trips around the Midwest and southern Canada.

Seth is an instructor in the natural resources program in the College of Forestry at OSU-Cascades. Before returning to Central Oregon, Seth was a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in the Department of Biological Sciences at Fordham University. Additionally, he spent 1.5 years in the biodiversity hotspot of the Atlantic forest in Bahia, Brazil researching habitat fragmentation.

Research areas: Human Resource Management; Organizational Behavior.

Research interests: Work-family dynamics; employment interviews; judgment and decision making at work; meta-analysis.