CAS Connection - JAN - 2025

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Timothy Chadwick

Serenade for La La Land

Cinema studies students gain show business experience working behind the scenes in
LA on the set of a CAS professor’s upcoming feature film, La Serenata.

By Henry Houston

 

In Focus  |  Around CAS  |  Liberal Arts at Large  |  Q&A  |  In the News  | Student Spotlight  |  Faculty Spotlight  |  Alumni Spotlight |  Page Turners  |  Past Issues

College of Arts and Sciences alum Devan Chandler on set of show ‘Ghosts.’

Around CAS

Get Your
Winter Binge On

Need something to watch? Check out our list of movies and TV shows featuring CAS faculty and alumni.

By Nicole Krueger

Kaley McCarty

Alumni Spotlight

Growing Global
Connections

Environmental studies alumna Kaley McCarty attends the world’s biggest climate change conference.

By Grace Connolly

Newspaper clipping of an old article

Faculty Spotlight

Fueling Cultural
Debates

Professor Mark Whalan explores how media coverage of a 1920s criminal trial sparked a national debate.

By Grace Connolly

headshot of Brice Kuhl standing in front of a brick building

Faculty Spotlight

Unlocking
Memory

Brice Kuhl receives the Posner Professorship for his investigation of how our brains encode memories. 

By Leo Brown

An exoplanet orbiting a sun with stars and galaxy in the background

In Focus

Strange New Worlds

Could life exist elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy? A group of undergraduate planet hunters are helping NASA discover unknown worlds beyond our solar system. 

By Nicole Krueger

Around CAS

Learn Today, Change Tomorrow

Research and scholarship in the College of Arts and Sciences are so forward-thinking at times, they almost feel like science fiction. That’s what real innovation looks like—and our undergraduate students are getting in on the action through experiential learning opportunities that prepare them for cutting-edge careers.

Discover what Dean Chris Poulsen has to say about how experiential learning propelled him toward a career as a climate scientist.

CAS News

two people talking
Back at the UO, Geri Richmond reflects on her federal service
CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY - After serving four years as undersecretary for science and innovation at the U.S. Department of Energy, College of Arts and Sciences chemistry professor Geraldine “Geri” Richmond is back at the University of Oregon. Richmond was one of the top science officers in the federal government, overseeing billions of dollars in research spending on some of the nation’s highest science priorities, including quantum computing, clean energy and national security.
chinese newspapers
New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China
SOCIOLOGY - Hannah Waight, an assistant professor of sociology in CAS, and her collaborators found that the use of state-planted propaganda is on the rise in China. And it’s not just a tool for spreading ideological content. It’s also used to control and constrain other kinds of information beyond political ideals, including natural disaster and public health reporting in China.
a headshot collage of two people
UO chemist, paleoanthropologist named AAAS fellows
CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY, ANTHROPOLOGY - Two University of Oregon faculty members have been named 2024 fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), joining 471 other newly elected members whose work has distinguished them in the science community and beyond. This year’s fellows and their areas of research are Darren Johnson, chemistry and biochemistry, and Stephen Frost, anthropology.

All news »

From the Media

a stock image of a medical professional getting blood pressure measure
Political views affect patients' trust in their own doctors, UO study finds
New research from the University of Oregon reveals that a person’s political beliefs affect the trust they have in their own doctors and healthcare providers. Reporting by KLCC, an NPR affiliate, highlights the work of CAS political scientist Neil O'Brian. During the COVID-19 pandemic, O’Brian started thinking about health and politics. Witnessing the partisan response to masking and vaccines, he wondered just how far distrust in medicine might extend.
a person working in a steel mill
Cleanest steel ever? US scientists achieve coal-free ironmaking at lesser cost
Interesting Engineering publication highlights work by University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences chemist Paul Kempler and his team. They are developing an electrochemical process that transforms iron oxide and saltwater into pure iron metal—while also producing chlorine, a commercially valuable byproduct.
a person dropping a ballot in the mail
Trump executive order will make Oregon elections ‘less safe,’ Secretary of State says
After President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday that would reshape elections, the Oregon secretary of state is warning those policies would make Oregon elections “less safe.” Political scientist Chandler James—from CAS—said, “There are some things that will definitely be challenged in courts... The Constitution is pretty clear that U.S. elections should be run by the states and state law.

All media news »

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CAS Connection is produced by the CAS Communications Department and edited by Nicole Krueger.

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