CAS Connection - Sep 2005

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Table and chairs in the room

Fascinated with Fractals

Physics Professor Richard Taylor blends art and science to create award-winning nature-inspired designs for indoor environments.

By Nicole Krueger

Experiential Learning  |  Research & Innovation  |  Community Impact  |  Career Preparation  |  Teaching Excellence  |  21st Century Liberal Arts  |  Building Community  |  Good Vibes  |  CAS Spotlights  |  All Stories  |  Past Issues
 

a bee with a qr code

Research & Innovation

AI Tracks Endangered Bees

Biologist Lauren Ponisio and collaborators are using the technology in place of lethal capture.

By Leila Okahata

i voted stickers

Research & Innovation

Ballot Measures Are Booming

Some states are seeing an increase in ballot measures as voters act, in a way, as lawmakers.

By Grace Connolly

The James Miller Theatre Complex on the University of Oregon campus

Experiential Learning

New Season Spotlights Humanity

University Theatre’s 2025-2026 season is full of human stories with emotion, energy, and imagination.

By Leo Brown

a white van in front of a simpsons mural

Community Impact

The Economics of Well-being

Study found crisis de-escalation program that started in Eugene saves cities money and reduces arrests.

By Henry Houston

Cinama Studies Alumni, Natalie Jacobsen and husband

CAS Spotlights

CAS Alum Merges Interests for a Career with Impact

For Natalie Jacobsen, the path from the University of Oregon to becoming director of marketing and communications at Airlink, a humanitarian aviation nonprofit, has been anything but linear. Still, it brings together a lifetime of passions, including writing, activism, and global service.

Get to Know Natalie

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UO College of Arts & Sciences (@uocas) • Instagram photos and videos

CAS News

PSYCHOLOGY - Adolescence isn’t a time of dysfunction; it’s a peak period of brain development, adaptability, and growth. Jennifer Pfeifer, a psychology professor at the College of Arts and Sciences, discusses at the 2025 TEDxPortland that it’s time to flip the script and recognize that young people are acting exactly as they’re wired to, and are capable of far more than we’ve been led to believe.
EARTH SCIENCES - The earthquake geology workforce is depleted, limiting data collection and slowing progress in our understanding of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Cores to Code addresses this gap by training the next generation of paleoseismologists through immersive, hands-on experiences. But through CRESCENT's Cor to Code program, students from around the US are getting a thorough scientific experience.
EARTH SCIENCES - An analysis of the Columbia River Gorge, which runs along the border between Oregon and Washington, shows that steep, rocky watersheds in that area have been prone to debris flows and rockfall for thousands of years. Those events didn’t measurably increase after the Eagle Creek Fire, which scorched 47,000 acres of the gorge over three months in 2017. CAS Earth scientist Josh Roering and members of his lab published their findings Aug. 8 in Science Advances.

All news »


From the Media

A new book co-written by a soon-to-be College of Arts and Sciences faculty member explores the political divide that has emerged between rural and urban geographies over the past 30 years. "We are certainly concerned, but we do not think we have reached a point of no return," said co-writer Trevor Brown, a postdoctoral associate at Johns Hopkins University who will join the University of Oregon's Department of Political Science in 2026. "Just as politics helped make the rural-urban divide, political activity can help bridge it."
In the latest episode of Deep Green, created in partnership with Momentum, Avi Rajagopal sits down with University of Oregon physicist Richard Taylor, whose research underpins our understanding of fractal patterns’ impact, and Anastasia and Martin Lesjak of 13&9, who apply this research in their designs—including a new wallcovering collection for Momentum called Renaturation.
Dr. Christopher Hendon, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon and co-author of the book Water for Coffee: Science Story Manual, talks with Serious Eats about coffee. He says that the specific compounds you lose over time depend on the coffee itself, but you're generally losing aromatics (the things that make coffee smell good): "If you like the smell of the coffee when you grind it, that's what you're losing [when you allow it to cool]."

All media news »

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