From the Media

Trump’s public call for Tan’s resignation is similar to how he’s treated political rivals, according to Chandler James, an associate political science professor at the University of Oregon. Trump is taking a more aggressive approach to interacting with businesses — and most organizations — than is often seen from the highest office, James said. “This is not an isolated incident of Trump pressuring this one individual,” James said, “but a part of a pattern of activity that seeks to use the power of the presidency — and all the resources of the government to — bring pressure on individuals and businesses, and groups such as universities or law firms, to change their policies in a way that Trump sees fit.”

Early Wednesday morning, a powerful earthquake, one of the largest ever recorded, struck off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. Tsunami centers along the Pacific coastline quickly sprung into action, issuing warnings for the potential of colossal ocean waves that are often generated by big earthquakes. Why wasn't it a larger tsunami? “Not all earthquakes are created equal,” University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences geophysicist Diego Melgar told the New York Times. “We’re still untangling the details. It’s going to take weeks to months of research to figure out exactly what happened.”

For the past several months, the Trump administration has been trying to deport immigrants to countries they are not from – despite an April 2025 federal ruling that had blocked the White House from doing so. In a brief emergency order, a divided Supreme Court decided on June 23 that the Trump administration can, for now, legally deport immigrants to countries they were not born in. Eleanor Paynter, assistant professor of Italian, migration, and global media studies, explains the legal case in The Conversation.

Brad Wilkins, a human physiologist at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences, who led the Breaking2 “Science Team”, says they tested potential marathoners for VO2 max, running economy (how efficiently they use oxygen) and critical/sustainable speed, which is the highest pace that can be sustained for long periods without fatigue. They also looked for something more “squishy”, as Wilkins describes it — the capacity to show psychological resilience when suffering physically.

An investigative report by ProPublica about the loss of federal funding for research includes Lauren Forrest, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences. Last year, Forrest received a multi-year grant to focus on LGBTQ+ people who live in rural areas where access to specialized care may be more limited. She was planning to recruit dozens of participants. But on March 21, she received a notification from the NIH that her grant was terminated because it did not “effectuate” the agency’s priorities, citing its connection to “gender identity.”

A HuffPost article about the White House press secretary's response to a question about whether President Donald Trump plans to sign a proclamation in June included comment from Alison Gash, professor and head of the department of political science at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences. Gash told HuffPost that she doesn’t think it’s “surprising” that businesses have scaled back since “we have seen backlash among louder factions of anti-LGBTQ communities for a few years.”

A 2012 Google Earth photo captured a hill formation in Sudan that bears a striking resemblance to human lips. Not much is known about the unusual landmark, but researchers have guessed how it formed. LiveScience interviewed Josh Roering, a geomorphologist at the University of Oregon who specializes in landscape dynamics what he thinks. "I see a narrow unit of exposed rock running down the middle of this feature. It looks like there's a dike or narrow unit of resistant rock running through the middle of that ridgeline that erodes more slowly than the surrounding rock and thus sticks out."

Skateboarders are revitalizing a downtown plaza in San Francisco. The New York Times interviewed Ocean Howell, a history professor at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences, whose work focuses on how the built environment shapes social experience. In a 2005 paper, he described skateboarders as “shock troops of gentrification.” Dr. Howell is no hater: He’s a former professional skateboarder who skated for Birdhouse (Tony Hawk’s company) before his career in academia.

The life and work of comics artist Jack Kirby is the subject of the just-opened Jack Kirby: Heroes and Humanity, a comprehensive retrospective at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. “Kirby is one of the most important American artists of the last 100 years in any medium,” adds his co-curator Ben Saunders, a professor of English at the College of Arts and Sciences, and editor of the Penguin Classics Marvel Collection books series. “It would be difficult to name a 20th century artist who’s had an influence across so many fields now in the 21st century. His fame and his reputation are greater now than it has been at any point since his death.”

A story by Jefferson Public Radio, an NPR affiliate, reports that many homeless people are finding themselves in a sort of medical in-between: not sick enough for the hospital, but not well enough to take care of themselves on the streets. Medical respite programs are trying to fill this gap. Global studies associate professor Jo Weaver is included in the story, telling the story of an older woman in a wheelchair living in her car. "She has diabetes, and that's what led to the loss of her limb, and she isn't able to get to public toilets, which are generally port-a-potties, easily," she said.

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.

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.

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.

In a Forbes article about the state of the economy, CAS economist Jeremy Piger's work is cited that there was a 0.3% chance that the U.S. was in recession in January.

A therapy rut can feel disheartening, but it doesn’t have to end your pursuit of better mental health. The New York Times asked psychologists how to identify whether you’ve reached a sticking point and what to do about it. “It’s unfortunately not uncommon to occasionally have a therapy session that feels like a dud,” said Alayna Park, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences.