Twenty outstanding faculty members, the most since 2007, have been selected for the sought-after Fund for Faculty Excellence Awards for the 2021-22 academic year. The fund is designed to reward, recognize and retain world-class teaching and research at the UO.

EARTH SCIENCES - Just three years after reporting the first-ever dinosaur fossil in Oregon, a team of excavators led by a UO geologist has uncovered a second bone, this one 103 million years old, at a quarry on public lands near Mitchell in Eastern Oregon.

EARTH SCIENCES - Two UO graduates let the cat out of the bag this month, identifying a new saber-toothed cat species that roamed North America 9 to 5 million years ago. Weighing in at 600 to 900 pounds, the animal emerges as one of the largest cats in Earth’s history.

COMPUTER SCIENCE, EARTH SCIENCES - University of Oregon research inspired by an undergraduate has uncovered a communications hazard that could accompany earthquakes along the Cascadia subduction zone: Internet traffic and cell signaling facilities could be crippled.

In a state known for its inspiring landscapes — its beauty, how its residents both embrace and rely on it for sustenance — University of Oregon faculty, staff and students bring that same passion and fervor toward studying our environment and tackling the biggest challenges facing it.

EARTH SCIENCES - As the newly appointed Ann and Lew Williams Chair of Earth Sciences, Diego Melgar studies big earthquakes and tsunamis—when and where they’re happening, and how to warn us as early as possible.

Four interdisciplinary teams have been awarded seed funding through the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation to pursue interdisciplinary research projects. The Incubating Interdisciplinary Initiatives awards, known as I3 awards, will provide up to $50,000.