CAS Connection - November 2026 Issue

A Publication for the College of Arts and Sciences Community November 2026

Mt. Hood, Oregon

What is El Niño?

Geographers explain the weather phenomenon and its potential impacts for this winter.

By Henry Houston

Learn More about El Niño

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

neuroscience alum presenting about experience in the prison education program

21st Century Liberal Arts

Why STEM students need more than science

In a liberal arts college, STEM students balance their technical expertise with skills like creativity and critical thinking.

By Jenny Brooks

person in lab coat walking through research lab with chalkboard walls

Research & Innovation

Solving hard problems takes a crew

CAS centers and institutes have diverse research areas, and they represent the power of collaboration and teamwork.

By Henry Houston

alum scott mongold studies fitness and launched an app called umo

CAS Spotlights

Where CrossFit and science work together

Human physiology alum Scott Mongold launched an app to improve metrics fitness fiends can use to measure performance.

By Maria Soto Cuesta

university of oregon campus in the winter with no leaves on the trees

Good Vibes

Top 5 ways to make the most of winter break

Follow these five tips before the end of fall term so you can make the most of your winter break with rest and relaxation.

By Jenny Brooks

CAS Spotlight

Celebrate STEM Day

STEM Day was November 8. Celebrate with this visit to the Aging and Vascular Physiology Lab. Eleanor Wilson ’26 (human physiology) talks about how pursuing work in the lab has led her to places she never would have dreamed of. Wilson graduates in December and will attend graduate school to become a physician assistant.

Video by Hannah Heckart

STUDENT VOICE

What is something that surprised you about college?

“I was surprised that the UO provides such a warm, communal learning atmosphere. Professors are excited about what they teach, students are happy to share what they learn, and advisors are eager to guide students towards their future. There are opportunities for academic and financial support everywhere. I knew that the UO provides an education but was surprised that it also generates an environment that intensifies the motivation to learn.”

 

—Hiram Hsu ’28, majoring in geography, spatial data science and Japanese 

Hiking student Student with microscope

From the Media

an illustration of animals above colorized liquid
The Bloody Palette of the Animal Kingdom Goes Far Beyond Red
Humans are used to seeing red in blood — but red blood isn't universal in the animal kingdom. For some creatures, this vital fluid is purple; in others it’s yellow, green or even white. Smithsonian Magazine spoke with John Postlethwait, a developmental geneticist in the Department of Biology about Antarctic blackfin icefish of the family Channichthyida, the only known vertebrates that don’t make hemoglobin and do not have red blood cells. Their blood is a milky, translucent white. “They really are kind of ghostly," he said.
a group of people stand outside a school
Bend’s Silver Rail Shooter Was Chronically Absent. Then He Disappeared.
Nearly two weeks after the Oct. 15 shooting at a Bend-La Pine school, the shooter's absentee status from school raises questions about who should step in when kids don’t go to school and whether there are enough tools to pull them back to class. “There’s pretty strong evidence that rather than serving a deterring effect for these kids, justice system involvement is actually a promoter of delinquency,” CAS sociologist Stephanie Wiley told Bend Source Weekly.
people in orange shirts stand in a greenway
In a post-CAHOOTS Eugene, peer navigators connect vulnerable people to services
Eugene’s long-running mobile crisis service, CAHOOTS, shut down in the city more than a year-and-a-half ago. KLCC spoke with Rori Rohlfs, CAS data scientist and co-author of recent research about CAHOOTS. The nature of calls for welfare response changed and law enforcement responses changed, Rohlfs said. “After CAHOOTS stopped service, the arrest rate for those calls has doubled,” Rohlfs said.

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