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The UO’s Environment Initiative, after three foundational and pathbreaking years of work, is transitioning to a new, sustainable model. This new endeavor, known as UO Environment, will leverage institutional expertise in education, research, and impact on the major environmental issues facing our world.

Through UO Environment, the College of Arts and Sciences will work with other colleges and schools to carry forward curricular and other work begun under the initiative to grow educational and research opportunities at UO. In addition, the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation is working with faculty leaders to explore the creation of a new center on climate change solutions policy, as well as a number of other areas of research. This web site will serve as a communications hub for news and events across the entire campus.

 

CURRICULUM

The College of Arts and Sciences will continue the transdisciplinary curricular work begun under the initiative in conjunction with other colleges and schools.

POLICY

The exploration of a new center under OVPRI is underway, intended to work with communities on climate solutions, policies, and research.

RESEARCH

Learn about the work UO faculty are conducting that is making an impact in the world.

NEWS & EVENTS

See the noteworthy environment-related updates and events happening on campus and in the community.

Events

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Book talk | ¡Juntes por la justicia climática! Together for Climate Justice!
Join SCR Associate Dr. Catalina De Onís this month when she will lecture on her SCR Small Grant Program funded bilingual children's book “¡Juntes por la justicia climática! Together for Climate Justice!". During her book talk and signing she will describe the role of her student coauthors and the importance of teaching climate justice to new generations.
be flier
BE Passionate with Steph Littlebird
Join the SAB Arts & Culture team as we welcome Steph Littlebird for her free dinner presentation BE Passionate in the EMU Ballroom on November 21st. Doors & Dinner: 5:00pm Presentation: 6pm-7:00pm followed by Q&A 7-7:30pm
hooopathon
Oregon Wildfire Resilience Hoopathon
Meet community fire organizations and local artisans, shoot free throws, and support wildfire resilience and Indigenous land management! Open to students, faculty, staff, community members, and more.

Faculty Excellence

See the work that University of Oregon faculty are producing to make an impact on the world »

A researcher working with students in virtual reality

Danny Pimentel

Pimentel's work in virtual reality seeks to make a global problem like climate change into something you can experience on a personal level.

greg dotson

Greg Dotson

Dotson will work towards situating the Environment Initiative in the community of researchers, policy advocates and policymakers who are focused on climate mitigation in the energy sector.

marsha weisiger

Marsha Weisiger

Weisiger will advance several projects focused on environmental history that analyze and interpret the ways humans and nonhuman nature have shaped each other over time.

 

News

fish tanks in the UO's zebrafish lab
UO team will use zebrafish in new study of aquatic symbioses
A UO-led team of researchers spanning physics, neuroscience, molecular biology, ecology and evolution will use a new $325,000 grant to examine aquatic symbioses — the interactions between different animal species living together. The project is funded by a 30-month award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and involves the study of zebrafish in controlled ecosystems.
Erin Moore's pipeline portal
Sustainable architecture as pipeline protest
Erin Moore, director of the School of Architecture & Environment, is using architecture as a form of protest against the construction of the Pacific Connector Pipeline, she recently told Metropolis, a magazine about sustainable architecture and design. The story explores Moore’s “Pipeline Portals,” three pavilions installed along proposed routes of the contested Pacific Connector Pipeline, a 229-mile gas line planned for construction across the Pacific Northwest.
ocean seafloor cables
Research probes repercussions of seafloor activity on society
A University of Oregon doctoral student is exploring how technological infrastructure located on the ocean floor, particularly submarine internet cables, has influenced people’s lives in the Pacific Northwest. Hayley Brazier is driven by two big questions: How and why have people come to depend so heavily on infrastructure scattered across the ocean floor? And how would a natural disaster affect coastal society?
air ducts inside building
UO's indoor research center takes aim at COVID-19 risks
Stringent social distancing measures and building cleaning efforts to protect occupants from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 are in line with research conducted in the University of Oregon’s Biology and the Built Environment Center.
Willamette River
The Year of Water opens the spigot on university research
The Year of Water is a joint effort by the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and Portland State University to highlight the role Oregon’s research universities play as leaders and partners trying to address water-related challenges in Oregon, the region and the world.
Center for Science Communication Research program assistant Ian Winbrock (right) explains the center's priorities to a student.
SOJC renames science communication research center
The UO School of Journalism and Communication’s center for advancing science communication research has launched a new name and two new interdisciplinary research programs.
dairy cow's nose
UO and Tillamook's symbiotic partnership
With the consumption of plant-based alternatives rising among these generations challenging the dairy industry, Paul Snyder sought a cohort of students that could think creatively and critically about how to capture these changes in Tillamook’s branding.
Christina Calvin MBA '19
Christina Calvin '19 and her lithium-powered startup
With a background in geology, mining, and the oil and gas industry, Christina Calvin’s success underlines the fact an MBA with a focus in sustainable business is increasingly relevant to students and professionals from diverse backgrounds and areas of interest—especially the sciences.
Greenland glacier Mark Carey
Approaching climate change in an integrated way
Three professors will co-teach "Arctic Icebergs" in Spring 2020, a course that comprehensively examines climate change with aspects of environmental research, literature, and natural science.
Elise Braun, right, and Thomas Cooper collect data from a weather station on the roof of Opsis Architecture, as a semitruck drives by on Interstate 405.
Design for health: Student projects explore the unseen
There was a belief that health could be improved through building design, but as the world experienced an oil crisis and saw the effects of climate change, design focus shifted to energy conservation.