POLITICAL SCIENCE - Assistant Professor Neil O’Brian is among 28 academics and researchers across the United States to be selected as a 2024 Andrew Carnegie Fellow, which comes with a $200,000 grant. O'Brian's newest book, “The Roots of Polarization: From the Racial Realignment to the Culture Wars,” will be released in August by the University of Chicago Press.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE, SPANISH - Leah Middlebrook, associate professor of comparative literature and Spanish for the College of Arts and Sciences, has been appointed as the new director of the Oregon Humanities Center. Her new position starts July 1, 2024. Middlebrook brings a rich humanities background to the position and she said the position is an honor she takes seriously.

BIOLOGY, NEUROSCIENCE - University of Oregon neuroscientist Judith Eisen has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences for her work on neuron development and how the enteric nervous system in the gut regulates and interacts with microbes in the intestine. Eisen is head of the Department of Biology and a member of the Institute of Neuroscience.

PHILOSOPHY - Cintia Martínez Velasco, an assistant professor of philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences, appears on an episode of UO Today, a production by the Oregon Humanities Center. Her research and teaching interests include feminist philosophy, gender theory, decolonial philosophy, and critical theory in Latin America.

INDIGENOUS, RACE, AND ETHNIC STUDIES - Laura Pulido will deliver this year's Oregon Humanities Center's Clark Lecture, "'Surplus' White Nationalism and GOP Climate Obstruction," 4 p.m. Thursday, April 4, in the Knight Library Browsing Room. Pulido will focus on three historical moments to analyze how the relationship between U.S. white nationalism and the Republican Party has contributed to climate denial and obstruction on climate progress. Pulido is the Collins Chair and professor of Indigenous, race and ethnic studies and geography.

HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY - Working with some of the world’s top marathon runners at Nike, human physiologist Brad Wilkins led the charge to break the 2-hour marathon barrier—an attempt that led to the National Geographic documentary Breaking2. Now head of the new Oregon Performance Research Laboratory, he’s using science to help athletes push past their perceived limitations and achieve new heights.