CAS Connection - May

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Health without Home

CAS students are conducting interdisciplinary research with a social impact, all while finding their career and academic trajectory.

By Henry Houston

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 group of people hiking in a forest

Building Community

Making Sense of
Climate Change

Today’s students have been handed the bleakest future of any generation since World War II. Here’s how they’re dealing with it.

By Jenny Brooks

A student in lab wearing goggles illuminated by green laser

Research & Innovation

Green Chemistry for 
a Green Future

As the deadline to curb carbon emissions nears, CAS chemists are hard at work developing a new generation of sustainable tech.

By Nicole Krueger

An EPA official posing with a UO student

CAS Spotlights

Economics for a 
Healthier Planet

Econ graduate student Emmett Reynier uses economics research to inspire environmental policy changes.

By Henry Houston

A person atop of a tower installing equipment

CAS Spotlights

Building Hazard 
Resistance

Installing wildfire cameras and seismic sensors for OHAZ became a full-time gig for Earth sciences alum Sydney Whiting.

By Bailey Meyers

A collage of images representing a collisions of social values

Teaching Excellence

Eco-friendly or Ecofascist?

Students explore how environmentalist ideas can be weaponized in pursuit of a fascist political agenda.

By Jenny Brooks

CAS Spotlights

Building Resilience against Climate Change

Last spring, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide reached levels not seen in more than 14 million years. Dean Chris Poulsen explains how faculty and students in the College of Arts and Sciences are working across disciplines to address climate change.

CAS News

i voted stickers
Why Ballot Measures Are Booming in Some States
POLITICAL SCIENCE - Voters are in a way acting as lawmakers, as some states see an increase in ballot measures, spanning from county or city-level ordinances to state constitutional amendments, according to research by Madison Schroder, a political science PhD candidate at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences.
two graduates in cap and gowns pose for a selfie
Congratulations, 2025 Seniors!
Celebrate the class of 2025 with a slideshow featuring some of their favorite moments!
Stephen Wooten poses with a family in Mali
Home Is Where the Hearth Is
FOOD STUDIES, GLOBAL STUDIES - For more than 30 years, College of Arts and Sciences scholar Stephen Wooten's research has focused on Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa. His new book explores the role that women have in rural Mali.

All news »

From the Media

two people in Sudan posing
Supreme Court rules Trump can rapidly deport immigrants to Libya, South Sudan and other countries they aren’t from
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.
a person runs on a track
What it would take for Faith Kipyegon to become the first female sub four-minute miler?
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.
a profile shot of a researcher
The Scientific Research Lost Amid the Trump Administration’s NIH Cuts
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.”

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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