Oregon State University's new marine studies building at its Hatfield Marine Science Center will not only increase the region's marine science education and research capacity, it will use state-of-the-art architectural and engineering techniques to serve as one of the first "vertical evacuation" tsunami sites in the United States.

This is when logjams are built and destroyed, boulders are tumbled, and the stream bed rearranged.

State and federal agencies including ODFW, NOAA, EPA, USDA and USFWS share the 49 acre campus and are engaged in cooperative marine and coastal research activities.