February is Black History Month, and many special events are planned on campus. A variety of film screenings include titles such as “Black Orpheus,” “Talking Black in America,” James Blue’s award-winning film “The March,” and Duck After Dark’s screening of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY - Even a simple movement like pushing a button sends ripples of activity throughout networks of neurons spanning across the brain, new University of Oregon research shows.

ENGLISH - Two University of Oregon faculty members received the 2022 Presidential Fellowship in Arts and Humanities. Each recipient will receive a $25,000 award to support their creative and scholarly work.

THEATRE ARTS - “It’s about soccer; there’s plenty of soccer in the play,” said director Tricia Rodley, an instructor in the Department of Theatre Arts, “but it’s also about the conversations these young women have.”

PSYCHOLOGY - Psychology researchers at the University of Oregon think they are getting closer to knowing whether personality and morality can be used to predict whether people adopt prejudicial beliefs.

CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY - There’s a new nanomaterial on the block. UO chemists have found a way to make carbon-based molecules with a unique structural feature: interlocking rings.

HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY - The world’s top free divers can hold their breath for minutes at a time, embarking on extended underwater adventures without the aid of scuba equipment.

BIOLOGY - Marine plankton exist as the base of most ocean food webs that support and sustain valuable fisheries. Planktonic organisms remain understudied: researchers find them difficult to sample given that their sizes span from less than one micron to meters.

ENGLISH - Helen Southworth was awarded a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada Insight Grant of $180,000 (2018-2023) and, more recently, another from the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (230,000 Pounds (2021-2024), which allows her to continue to work on her collaborative digital humanities project called the Modernist Archives Publishing Project (MAPP).

GEOGRAPHY - The Arctic’s melting glaciers and ice sheets directly cause a rise in sea levels, worsening the effects of storm surges and those associated with coastal erosion. This can have a drastic effect on low-lying coastal communities such as those in western Oregon.

LINGUISTICS - Across the United States, over 65 Native American communities are revitalizing their languages after a period of dormancy without speakers. This process of revitalization is of significant importance and benefit to these communities and the preservation of their cultures.

GEOGRAPHY - The Elliot State Research Forest is home to 93,000 acres of dense forest just north of Coos Bay, Oregon, and is a source of rich biodiversity, providing trees and streams that house endangered species and timber production to support employment in surrounding rural areas. Preserving this rich forest is a priority for the state.

COMPUTER SCIENCE - Earthquakes are often a back-of-the-mind threat for residents of the Pacific Northwest, but nevertheless a growing concern as the years go on. A better understanding of earthquake processes, including nucleation and shaking, and its associated risks to communities, would provide residents with more peace of mind.

ANTHROPOLOGY - Emerging studies suggest that transgender girls may be more likely than other youth to be HIV positive. It also appears that LGBTQIA+ youth and adolescents who may be affected by health inequities may lack resources for prevention and education regarding sexual health and safety.

BIOLOGY - A western wildflower known as the scarlet monkeyflower could demonstrate how key evolutionary traits can help native species adapt to a rapidly changing climate.