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CORVALLIS, Ore. - A 27-year-old Oregon State University master's degree student who grew up helping his parents raise cattle, pigs, and a few chickens on a small farm between Sweet Home and Lebanon is the lead researcher on a team that has developed the world's first completely transparent integrated circuit.

Rick Presley, who worked 18-hour days each summer on a grass seed farm to pay his tuition as an undergraduate at OSU, and before last year had never flown on an airplane, is the first author on a research article that will announce the electronics breakthrough in the journal Solid State Electronics.

Presley's research results may make it possible for windows, plastics and other transparent or flexible surfaces, such as maps, to contain electronic devices. He was also involved in OSU's development of the world's first transparent tin oxide transistor more than a year ago.

"To combine announcements about the world's first tin oxide transparent transistor and the world's first transparent integrated circuit in a single master's thesis is an extraordinary accomplishment for Rick," said John Wager, Presley's major professor at OSU and a member of the faculty team leading the transparent electronics research. "This is the kind of breakthrough that very seldom happens. And when it does, it's usually at the Ph.D. level. The fact it's happening at the master's level is very impressive. A lot of doctoral-level students or faculty would be envious."

Inspired by a high school electronics teacher in Lebanon, but limited financially, Presley attended Linn-Benton Community College near Albany before enrolling at Oregon State University to study computer engineering.

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2001, Presley wanted to go on to graduate school or find a job. But he couldn't afford the cost of graduate school, and he found the job market dismal due to the dot.com downturn. So Presley planned to pick up a second bachelor's degree at OSU, this one in electrical engineering.

That's when he met Wager, who was so impressed with Presley's undergraduate work he offered him a graduate research assistantship and the opportunity to pursue a master's degree, which he just completed this spring.

"I never thought I would go this far, have this type of an accomplishment," he said. "OSU gave me a very good opportunity to get involved in this work and to continue it." Presley plans to stay on Wager's team as a faculty research assistant.

"There's not any other place in the country where you can work on this type of cutting edge research," he said.