Faculty Experts

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY - Chris Hendon heads a three-institution project to set formal guidelines for brewing the drink.

BIOLOGY - Climate change might be behind an unusual disease outbreak among Antarctic fish. For about a decade, UO biologists John Postlethwait and Thomas Desvignes have been visiting the West Antarctic Peninsula. They study a unique group of fish that has adapted to the harsh polar environment. The researchers worked with UO undergraduate Chloe DaMommio to create a short graphic novel about their research.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES - Opening the windows at night and pulling down shades during the sunniest part of the afternoon can keep homes from becoming dangerously hot during extreme heat waves. New research from the UO measures just how big of an impact these passive cooling strategies can have, especially in the Pacific Northwest.

POLITICAL SCIENCE, SOCIOLOGY - The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Friday striking down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade and 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey rulings, foreshadowed in a rare leak last month, is likely to have wide, but varying, effects nationally, several UO experts said.

ENGLISH - Ben Saunders, a UO professor of comic studies, is working with Marvel Comics on a new collaboration series with publisher Penguin Classics.

PSYCHOLOGY - The onslaught of gun violence in America seems never to end. This year alone, at least 247 mass shootings — in which at least four people are shot, including survivors and shooters — have occurred, most recently and most notoriously in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

PHILOSOPHY, DATA SCIENCE - Pigeons can quickly be trained to detect cancerous masses on x-ray scans. So can computer algorithms. But despite the potential efficiencies of outsourcing the task to birds or computers, it’s no excuse for getting rid of human radiologists, argues UO philosopher and data ethicist Ramón Alvarado.

In Glasgow, Scotland, 20,000 delegates from 196 nations have converged to hear the latest science, negotiate commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions, secure financing for developing nations, and debate progress on fulfilling climate pledges. UO faculty experts in law, geography, planning and politics weigh in.

ENGLISH - Ben Saunders, a UO professor of comic studies, is working with Marvel Comics on a new collaboration series with publisher Penguin Classics. The first three books published in the series will be “Black Panther,” “Captain America” and “The Amazing Spider-Man,” with Saunders serving as the series editor and author of the scholarly introductions for the latter two.