GEOGRAPHY - Cartographers at the University of Oregon’s InfoGraphics Lab were a key partner on a new report on migrations of deer and elk that highlights the challenges the animals face and offers solutions and tools for conservation.

RELIGIOUS STUDIES - A new award is shining a spotlight on the hard work of department leaders at the University of Oregon. The Office of the Provost is recognizing Mark Unno and Gretchen Soderlund as the Outstanding Department Heads of 2022. Both winners will receive a $5,000 award.

ANTHROPOLOGY - Ever since the first human-controlled spacecraft escaped Earth’s gravity, people have been pushing toward permanent human life inhabiting planets beyond Earth. Some might say it's brand-new territory, but UO professor and Museum of Natural and Cultural History associate director Scott Fitzpatrick argues that humans have already faced similar great unknowns.

BIOLOGY - Gut microbes encourage specialized cells to prune back extra connections in brain circuits that control social behavior, new UO research in zebrafish shows. The pruning is essential for the development of normal social behavior.

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY - A University of Oregon chemist who is studying RNA structures that carry specific biological functions hopes to translate the findings into advances that will impact all of humanity, such as the COVID vaccine.

BIOLOGY - A new gene editing technique developed by UO researchers compresses what previously would have been years of work into just a few days, making new kinds of research possible in animal models.

The University of Oregon continued its multiyear streak of increasing grant funding in fiscal year 2021-22 (FY22). Numerous faculty members received recognition for their contributions to research, as well as the number of research awards with direct positive effects on local and regional communities.

THEATRE ARTS - Before “Stranger Things,” there was “She Kills Monsters,” a 2011 coming-of-age drama-comedy brimming with Mind Flayers and Bulettes, also known as landsharks, and an array of other monsters and heroes drawn from the popular role-play game Dungeons & Dragons.

A $4.2 million National Science Foundation grant will boost the UO’s efforts to build a support community for STEM teachers across 14 Western states through the agency’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program.

PSYCHOLOGY - A new discipline in psychology at the University of Oregon is broadening the department’s inclusivity with three new dedicated faculty hires.