ANTHROPOLOGY - Humans may have arrived in North America earlier than once thought and encountered previously unrecognized challenges, according to new climate research from an interdisciplinary team that includes scientists from the University of Oregon.

BIOLOGY - Your average sunflower sea star can munch through almost five purple sea urchins in a week, and they don’t seem to be picky about the quality of their food. A team co-led by Aaron Galloway at the UO’s Oregon Institute of Marine Biology published the findings in Proceedings of the Royal Society B on Feb. 15.

MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS - The University of Oregon will host two STEM-forward events Feb. 25: the Eugene Youth Math Festival and the Central Western Oregon Science Expo, both spearheaded by College of Arts and Sciences faculty members.

Faculty members have until March 27 to submit letters of intent for the 2023 Incubating Interdisciplinary Initiatives award program, which funds new, multidisciplinary research projects. Past recipients of the award, known as I3, have successfully leveraged the funding to build foundations for long-term progress and new areas of research.

COMPUTER SCIENCE, ENGLISH, HISTORY - Six UO faculty members were selected for Fulbright Scholars awards, helping the University of Oregon earn recognition as a top Fulbright producing institution from the U.S. Department of State the 2022-23 academic year. Four of the six Fulbright Scholar recipients have accepted placements for the 2022-23 academic year.

ANTHROPOLOGY - Early human ancestors used small hand-held stone tools to butcher animals and crush plants. At an archaeological site in present-day Kenya, researchers have unearthed some of the oldest examples of such so-called Oldowan tools, dating to 2.6 million to 3 million years ago.

The College of Arts and Sciences faculty are engaged in a great number of research projects across our three divisions, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities. Across our college’s more than 50 departments and programs, over $75 million in grant dollars are at work uncovering answers to some of the world’s most pressing questions.

EARTH SCIENCES - A better way to predict explosive volcanoes that would produce an ash cloud, also known as a volcanic plume, is the focus of an a UO researcher who recently won a National Science Foundation award.

HISTORY, WOMEN'S, GENDER & SEXUALITY STUDIES - Princeton historian Margot Canaday will give the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics’ annual Margaret Hallock Lecture on Feb. 16. The talk will focus on her new book, “Queer Career: Sexuality and Work in Modern America,” which explores the experiences of sexual minorities in the American workforce during the second half of the 20th century.

BIOLOGY - UO scientists have uncovered new clues to the genetic basis for scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine.