OGI was chartered in 1963 by the Oregon Legislature to provide graduate-level training and expertise to the state's rapidly expanding high-tech industry, including Silicon Forest companies.

In 1968, the school purchased 74 acres (300,000 m2) on Walker Road near 185th Avenue in an unincorporated section of Washington County for a new campus.

[2] During the 1990s the school awarded over one thousand graduate degrees, offered hundreds of continuing education seminars and workshops, and secured more than $100 million in largely federally funded research.

[6] Since OGI's merger with OHSU, research conducted at the School has increasingly focused on applying technology to complex problems of human and ecosystem health.

[7] Other areas of faculty research included cell and tissue engineering, neuroengineering, and materials microanalysis and micro-fabrication.