Natural Sciences News

PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, BIOCHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY — A new cutting-edge major in the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences prepares students to drive technological change through high-demand careers in fields such as semiconductor manufacturing, energy and sustainable materials development.

PHYSICS - A supermassive black hole with a case of cosmic indigestion has been burping out the remains of a shredded star for four years — and it’s still going strong, new research led by University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences astrophysicist Yvette Cendes. Cendes and her team published findings about this one-of-kind black hole in the Feb. 5 issue of Astrophysical Journal Astrophysicists.

BIOLOGY - Marine biologist Alan Shanks has a simple trap that allows him to predict the amount of Dungeness crab will be available for fisherfolk. For the past 25 years, Shanks has compared the yields of the winter commercial catch to the baby crabs his water-jug trap collects each summer.

PHYSICS - Fascinated by the unexplored corners of the universe since childhood, physicist Tien-Tien Yu has made dark matter the pillar of her research career. In her quest to understand, she’s co-founded a major experiment in collaboration with physicists at other institutions, all of whom are trying try to bring light to the dark.

PSYCHOLOGY - If you're a teenager, hitting the snooze this weekend might be good for your mental health according to College of Arts and Sciences psychologist Melynda Casement. Published in Journal of Affective Disorders, Casement found that people age 16 to 24 who caught up on sleep on the weekend had a 41% lower risk for symptoms of depression than a group who didn’t.

On the cusp of a new year, Tykeson Dean of Arts and Sciences Chris Poulsen took time to share what he is most excited about in the College of Arts and Sciences, now and into the future. "The success of this strategy doesn't depend on a few leaders. It depends on all of us," Poulsen said.

CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY - It's August, and the fall term is around the corner, but associate professor Carl Brozek is heading to Japan through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. None of them, including Brozek or the lab in Japan he'll be working in, know that he’ll be there when his research colleagues at Kyoto University get some epic news about their work on structures known as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs.

HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY - Shortly before Ducks football played Texas Tech University in the Orange Bowl, Oregon News spoke with Andrew Lovering, a specialist in cardiopulmonary and respiratory physiology in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Human Physiology who also earned undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Texas Tech.

PHYSICS - An assistant professor of physics at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences, Nguyen has been named the 2025 recipient of the American Physical Society’s (APS) Maria Goeppert Mayer Award. Named after a German American theoretical physicist who was co-awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics, this award honors exceptional achievement by a woman physicist in the early years of her career.

CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY - UO lab spaces are some of the most resource-intensive areas on campus, using two to three times more energy than typical offices and generating unique kinds of waste that aren’t collected through regular recycling streams. The recently launched Sustainable Labs program offers researchers a flexible framework to foster more sustainability in labs.

HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY - When he was still an undergraduate, Tucker Orman served in an uncommon role: as first author on a paper published Sept. 4 in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, looking at the factors that affect a scuba diver’s ability to maintain core body temperature. Now a College of Arts and Sciences alumnus, Orman reflects on how experiential learning as a human physiology student and love for scuba diving came together.

PHYSICS - On Nov. 14, Congresswoman Andrea Salinas (D-OR) visited the University of Oregon Eugene campus to meet with Presidential Chair in Science and Professor of Chemistry Geraldine Richmond, interim Vice President for Research and Innovation, and faculty from the Oregon Center for Optical, Molecular, and Quantum Science (OMQ). During her visit, the congresswoman learned more about College of Arts and Sciences faculty research and academic offerings in quantum science.

Researchers in the College of Arts and Sciences secured $83 million in sponsored grants to fund 199 research projects across the three divisions: Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences. This year’s annual report provides a glimpse into the curious minds of researchers and their work.

PHYSICS - Far from home, Eric Torrence, a physics professor at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences, will spend the next year and a half being the ATLAS Run Coordinator at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). After being elected to the position fall 2024, Torrence ensures the largest particle accelerator in the world continuously produces usable data from May 2025 to July 2026.

PHYSICS - University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences physicists Eric Corwin and Ben McMorran were awarded 2025 American Physical Society Fellowships. Corwin was recognized for his outstanding contributions to the physics of the glass and jamming transitions using simulations and experiments. McMorran was recognized for his contributions to electron matter wave physics.