Students

CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY - Sylvia Kennerly, Marie Kerns, Natalie Lakanen, Keyan Li, Rohan Myers, and Dario Nunez have been named recipients of the 2025 Chemistry and Biochemistry Graduate Student Teaching Awards. The award recognizes graduate student educators that have greatly exceeded the normal expectations of a Teaching Assistant, and their important contributions to the instructional mission of the department.

CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY - UO Chemistry graduate student Audrey Klein has been selected to receive a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.  The fellowship provides three years of support for graduate students who have demonstrated their potential for significant research achievements in STEM or STEM education.

EARTH SCIENCES - Deposited in 2022 when the underwater Hunga volcano spewed a 37-mile plume into the atmosphere—the biggest eruption seen in the modern satellite era—the seafloor ash provided a unique opportunity to study the impact of sediment movement on deep-sea life. Marcus Chaknova, then a marine biology and geology major, discovered ash from the volcano, which will shape scientific research for years to come.

CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY - Undergraduates regularly participate in faculty research on green materials and technology, experiential learning happens early and often—and ultimately helps students launch careers in which they’re empowered to help create a more sustainable future.

CHEMISTRY AND BIOCHEMISTRY - Check out the latest in faculty, student and alumni news in our Winter 2025 Chemistry and Biochemistry Newsletter!

EARTH SCIENCES - Graduate student Annika Dechert at the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences and a team of researchers are working on studying the eruption history of South Sister volcano in the Oregon Cascades. The results of the study will inform the way the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory draws up hazards maps for Central Oregon and help shape the way scientists think about other similar volcanoes. The research team published their latest findings in August in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.

EARTH SCIENCES - When Clark Honors College senior Erin Morrison set out to witness the historic launch of NASA’s Europa Clipper mission in Florida in mid-October, she had no idea she’d also be facing a Category-5 hurricane. Europa Clipper was supposed to take off on Oct. 10, the same day Hurricane Milton was projected to make landfall over Kennedy Space Center.

PSYCHOLOGY - Lauren Lanning knew she wanted to study psychology when she came to the UO, but was surprised when she also developed a passion for communications during her second year. She now works for the Center of Science Communication Research on the Eugene campus, where she merges her interests to share the most recent scientific discoveries with the public.