Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) campus is the product of a joint venture between OIT and the Agricultural Experiment Station at Oregon State University (OSU) . The cooperative project was developed after the 1975 Oregon Legislature directed that funds from the Station at OSU be used to research the use of geothermal energy for heating greenhouses. Members of the two faculties realized that owners of commercial greenhouses are more professional at producing market crops than an academician so are concentrating on the construction, engineering and efficiency of the structure itself