Associate professor plans dive into Pompeii trash heap
An ancient Roman’s trash is treasure to Associate Professor Kevin Dicus, who has spent the past 20 years digging in the ashes of Pompeii.
News
Sociology major helps fellow students find career paths
After spending decades in the professional world, this sociology major has finally found his path—and he’s helping other students find theirs.
Creative writing professor publishes new speculative fiction book
Bestselling author Karen Thompson Walker has found success as a writer—and as a teacher—by asking 'what if?'
Bad bacteria can trigger gut pain, new research shows how
BIOLOGY, PHYSICS - A new study published in the journal mBio shows how one kind of bacteria, Vibrio cholerae, triggers those painful contractions by activating the immune system. The research also finds a more general explanation for how the gut rids itself of unwanted intruders, which could also help scientists better understand chronic conditions like inflammatory bowel disease. The research was led by Julia Ngo, a now-graduated doctoral student in Karen Guillemin and Raghu Parthasarathy’s labs.
Study links popular herbicide to problems with infant health
ECONOMICS - Increased exposure to glyphosate, one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States and much of the world, harms infant health in agricultural counties, according to a new study by two University of Oregon economists Emmett Reynier and Edward Rubin. The two published the findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
UO physicist receives nation’s highest honor for early-career scientists
PHYSICS - Professor Tien-Tien Yu is one of nearly 400 scientists and engineers awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the US government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers.
UO's earthquake scientists help prep for the next ‘Big One’
EARTH SCIENCES - Any moment, the "Big One" could hit the Pacific Northwest. It's been more than 300 years since the last 9.0+ Cascadia earthquake. At the University of Oregon, researchers are working from many angles to make sure people across the region are as prepared as possible.
Atop the Oregon Cascades, UO team finds a huge buried aquifer
EARTH SCIENCES - Oregon’s Cascade Range mountains might not hold gold, but they store another precious resource in abundance: water. Scientists from the University of Oregon and their partners have mapped the amount of water stored beneath volcanic rocks at the crest of the central Oregon Cascades and found an aquifer many times larger than previously estimated — at least 81 cubic kilometers.
Illustrating a World of Existence
WOMEN'S, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY STUDIES - Isabel Millán, an assistant professor at the University of Oregon, has worked to explore how children’s literature can be used as a tool to introduce different identities to kids at a young age. Millán has recently received numerous award for her 2023 publication Coloring into Existence: Queer of Color Worldmaking in Children’s Literature.
Serenade for La La Land
CINEMA STUDIES - It was a cinema studies major’s dream come true: Four CAS undergrads traveled to Los Angeles to work on the set of Professor Ernesto Javier Martínez’s upcoming feature film. From dressing a background set to operating a boom mic in the trunk of a car, they share what it’s really like behind the scenes of a movie. Read more in the January 2025 issue of CAS Connection.