CYBERSECURITY | PEACE CORPS MEMORIES | TEENY CARNIVORES SPRING 2022 NEW BEE-GINNINGS A UO field project aims to introduce pollinators to fire-ravaged land T H E M A G A Z I N E O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F O R E G O N Stay the Course We’ve all learned how to do this now. Call on our ability to adapt, shift perspectives or change direction—all while moving forward with intention and positivity. We’ve become pretty good at making the most of every moment, while still planning for what’s next. Thoughtful strategies for the long-term have always guided us as we’ve helped our clients consider and plan for their best future. Our goal? To always show up with compassion, share insights, and continue to make you our top priority. You can count on us to be here for the long haul. Give us a call today! Serving the Pacific Northwest asiwealthmanagement.com 800.377.1449 HONORING OUR TEAM MEMBERS The Duck Store is proud to be a part of our team members’ University of Oregon experience, championing their potential both now as students and into their futures. Join us in congratulating these and other student team members and board members at UODuckStore.com/gradspotlight The Duck Store graduates, clockwise from top: • Imani, board member since May 2021 Be more. • Annie, team member since Sept 2021 • Elvia, team member since Jun 2021 • Hayden, team member since Jan 2022 • Gilberto, team member since Jul 2021 • Olivia, team member since Sept 2021 • Anna, team member since Oct 2019 • Jillian, team member since Jun 2019 • Aidan, board member since May 2019 UODuckStore.com HONORING OUR TEAM MEMBERS The Duck Store is proud to be a part of our team members’ University of Oregon experience, championing their potential both now as students and into their futures. Join us in congratulating these and other student team members and board members at UODuckStore.com/gradspotlight The Duck Store graduates, clockwise from top: • Imani, board member since May 2021 Be more. • Annie, team member since Sept 2021 • Elvia, team member since Jun 2021 • Hayden, team member since Jan 2022 • Gilberto, team member since Jul 2021 • Olivia, team member since Sept 2021 • Anna, team member since Oct 2019 • Jillian, team member since Jun 2019 • Aidan, board member since May 2019 UODuckStore.com dialogue FROM THE PRESIDENT Stepping Up for Children in Crisis with Resolve and Creativity It is a rare and special thing to conceive of something that will will be offered this summer. And the institute is taking steps to transform lives. And rarer still to bring such a concept to life. develop and seek approval of a new undergraduate degree program. That’s what the University of Oregon has done with the creation To help ensure our ability to build a new workforce, $100 million of of The Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health. Thanks to the gift is an endowment that will provide scholarships for students a gift of more than $425 million from Connie and Steve Ballmer, the entering the behavioral and mental health care field. UO will establish a new approach to addressing the behavioral and In short: help is on the way. This undertaking will begin providing mental health crisis facing youth today. solutions and relief in months, not decades, and will create lasting The Portland-based Ballmer Institute will train a new workforce impact, helping generations of young people and families. of behavioral health practitioners and will create and deliver While the Ballmer Institute concept is new, our faculty and prevention and intervention strategies directly to children and students have been creating this kind of meaningful impact through families. By joining forces with public schools, the state of Oregon, education, research, and service since the university’s inception and community organizations, we will create a national model for almost 150 years ago. It is our mission, as a public research delivering care directly to K-12 youth. university, to improve the world. The idea for the Ballmer Institute emerged from an urgent need to As you read this, our university is stepping forward to fulfill address the children’s behavioral wellness crisis, the UO’s ability and its mission for the greater public good. Our students, faculty, desire to find solutions, and the visionary generosity of the Ballmers. and public partners are applying their brilliant, curious minds Last December, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared the to solutions. And our generous friends, like the Ballmers, are state of our children’s mental health a public health crisis, beyond providing precious resources to make action possible. Together, even the damaging effects of the pandemic. Given the UO’s world- through The Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health, renowned expertise in psychology and education, our faculty we are creating a brighter, healthier future for our state—and members knew they could help in an immediate and lasting way. We ultimately, society as a whole. just needed the means. Fortunately, our alumna and former trustee Success is imperative. Nothing less than the well-being of our Connie Ballmer, BS ’84 (journalism), and Steve Ballmer, well-known children and families is at stake. for their generous support of children’s causes, stepped up with a gift that allows us to get right to work. Since the announcement of the Ballmer Institute in March, the Board of Trustees has approved our purchase of the former Concordia University campus in northeast Portland, which will be home to the program. The institute has already begun signing on Michael H. Schill faculty members. A certificate program for midcareer professionals President and Professor of Law 6 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 CHARLIE LITCHFIELD, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS Legendary Location. Modern Convenience. A favorite among Duck alumni, parents, and fans, we’re Eugene’s new modern hotel overlooking Matt Knight Arena, Hayward Field, and the University of Oregon. Make your own history at Hayward Inn. 1759 Franklin Blvd • HaywardInnEugene.com • (541) 485-2727 dialogue CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS DIALOGUE 6 6 From the President 10 Letters INTRO 13 14 Campus News 16 Bala Ambati and Eye Disease 18 Revenge of the Ciliated Blobs 20 Duck Days in the Peace Corps 22 Back to the Hip-Hop Jam 24 Hannah Thomas, School of Music and Dance 25 Bookmarks OLD OREGON 35 36 Charity Woodrum, Time Traveler 38 Heart of a Filmmaker 40 Class Notes 24 40 Class Notable: Folake Owodunni 42 Class Notable: Steve Bence 48 Ducks Afield 50 Duck Tale: Finding Nefertiti 22 FEATURES 26 NEW ROOTS FOR POLLINATORS In a land burned and ravaged by wildfire, Lauren Ponisio saw an opportunity for beneficial bees. Students and alumni are working to put the plan into action. BY TIM CHRISTIE 30 SECURITY BEHIND THE SCENES UO computer science experts are quietly working to safeguard cybersecurity before threats occur. BY ROSEMARY HOWE CAMOZZI ON THE COVER A mining bee rests on a leaf after gathering golden pollen from a dandelion. PHOTO BY JOHN KIMBLER 38 8 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 SARAH NORTHROP, BS ‘20, JOURNALISM (TOP); DUSTIN WHITAKER, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS (INSET); COURTESY SKYE FITZGERALD Making major business decisions without consulting your CPA? Maybe it’s time for a change. . The complexity of business today means you need an accounting partner that considers all facets of your business, from hiring strategies, to retirement plans, to succession planning, and beyond. Our Kernutt Stokes team across Oregon has that experience and expertise. Let us put it to work for your business. Expect more from your CPA. Get more with Kernutt Stokes. Bend | Corvallis | Eugene | Lake Oswego 2021 kernuttstokes.com | (541) 687-1170 DUCKS. DAWGS. YOU. VS. Book your exclusive travel package to see Oregon play Georgia in Atlanta on September 3 at the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game. Packages now available at DucksFanTravel.com Travel packages do not include game tickets. All travel based on CDC as well as state travel regulations and guidelines. THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 9 dialogue LETTERS THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON SPRING 2022 • VOLUME 101 NUMBER 3 PUBLISHER George Evano gevano@uoregon.edu MANAGING EDITOR Matt Cooper mattc@uoregon.edu CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Alice Tallmadge CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION Oregon Media info@oregonmedia.com PUBLISHING ADMINISTRATOR Shelly Cooper scooper@uoregon.edu PROOFREADERS Jennifer Archer, Sharleen Nelson INTERN Malena Saadeh WEBSITE OregonQuarterly.com MAILING ADDRESS 5228 University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-5228 EMAIL quarterly@uoregon.edu PHONE 541-346-5045 Singing Raphe’s Praises ADVERTISING SALES Ross Johnson, Oregon Media ross@oregonmedia.com Even though University of Oregon statues of the Pioneer Mother and Pioneer have been removed, along with the original name of Deady OREGON QUARTERLY is published by the UO in January, April, July, and October and distributed free to members of the alumni association and cost- Hall, I’m glad to hear that “Mighty Oregon” is still being sung (“No sharing schools and departments. Printed in the USA. © 2022 University of Ducking the Fight Song,” Winter 2022). Thanks, Raphe, for helping to Oregon. All rights reserved. Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of keep this spirited tradition alive! the UO administration. Vicki Smith Ross, BA ’71 (Spanish) CHANGE OF ADDRESS Alumni Records, 1204 University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-1204; Anchorage, Alaska 541-302-0336, alumrec@uofoundation.org Loved the Raphe Beck article, “No Ducking the Fight Song,” in the ADMINISTRATION winter Oregon Quarterly. Very clever writing. In a songbook we picked President Michael H. Schill, Provost and Senior Vice President Patrick up years ago at an estate sale, we noticed that there are two verses to Phillips, Vice President for University Advancement Michael Andreasen, Vice President for University Communications Richie Hunter, Vice President “Mighty Oregon,” and that the lick we all love to sing—or at least clap for Student Services and Enrollment Management Roger Thompson, Vice to—is actually the chorus only (“Oregon our alma mater, we will guard President and General Counsel Kevin Reed, Vice President for Finance and thee on and on . . . ”). Who knew? This songbook, published in 1919, Administration Jamie Moffitt, Interim Vice President for Research and hails from the days of glee clubs and fraternity serenades, with each Innovation Cass Moseley, Vice President for Student Life Kevin Marbury, song relating to the U of O in some way. A few even allude to the call of Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Rob Mullens, Executive Director UO Alumni duty in World War I. Call us up sometime and we’ll sing you a few. Association Raphe Beck Anne Kolibaba Larkin, BA ’78 (English) HONORING NATIVE PEOPLES AND LANDS Jerome Patrick Larkin, MA ’78 (journalism) The University of Oregon is located on Kalapuya Ilihi, the traditional Portland, Oregon homelands of the Kalapuya people. Following treaties between 1851 and 1855, Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the United States government and forcibly removed to the Coast CORRECTIONS: Nichole Kelly is an Evergreen Professor in the Reservation in Western Oregon. Today, their descendants are citizens of College of Education and Trygve Faste is head of the Department of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Product Design; articles in the winter issue misstated their titles. Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians of Oregon, and continue to make important contributions in their communities, at the UO, and across the land now referred to as Oregon. We want to hear from you. Submit your letters by email to The University of Oregon is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action quarterly@uoregon.edu, at OregonQuarterly.com, or by mail to Editor, institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Oregon Quarterly, 5228 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-5228. Americans with Disabilities Act. This publication will be made available in Published letters may be edited for brevity, clarity, and style. accessible formats upon request. 10 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 BRIDGETTE COYNE TACKLING Connie Ballmer, Co-Founder, Ballmer Group Philanthropy CHILDREN’S Steve Ballmer, Co-Founder, Ballmer Group Philanthropy BEHAVIORAL Kate Brown, Oregon Governor HEALTH The Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health at the University of Oregon is a bold, Michael H. Schill, President, University of Oregon partnership-driven endeavor to address the behavioral and mental health care needs of Oregon’s children. Mike Andreasen, Vice President, UO Advancement Made possible by a gift of more than $425 million from Connie and Steve Ballmer, the Laura Lee McIntyre, Castle- McIntosh-Knight Professor institute brings together the UO’s top-ranked research programs, Oregon public schools and families, and community groups to support our most important resource—our children. Jennifer Pfeifer, Professor, The Ballmer Institute will create a new Department of Psychology level of behavioral health professionals while also accelerating development and Randy Kamphaus, Acting delivery of leading-edge interventions. This Executive Director, the Ballmer Institute transformational effort provides a $100 million Guadalupe Guerrero, endowment for scholarships, aiming to infuse Superintendent, Portland Public Schools public schools with 200 graduates a year— diverse practitioners for diverse populations— ready to deliver science-based early detection, prevention, and treatment strategies directly into the lives of children and families. Patrick Phillips, Provost and Senior Vice President To learn more, visit CHILDRENSBEHAVIORALHEALTH.UOREGON.EDU Toya Fick, Oregon Executive Director of Stand for Children, UO Trustee EO/AA/ADA institution committed to cultural diversity. UO_Ballmer_OQ_rv.indd 1 3/23/22 2:55 PM 541.213.8062 NATIONALSOLARUSA.COM TODAY, TOMORROW, TOGETHER Your Oregon Based Solar Solutions Provider for 12 Years START SOLAR LOANS SAVING STARTING AT 2.99% ON APPROVED CREDIT WITH SOLAR! • Lower Your Electricity Bills • Environmentally Friendly • Increase Appraised Property Value LEARN MORE AT: NATIONALSOLARUSA.COM SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS! Stop by our new location in Bend: 2709 NW Crossing Drive Oregon CCB License: 186224 16 New Approach to Eye Disease 18 Tiny Carnivores 22 Hip-Hop Jam 24 Hannah Thomas Profile DAWN PATROL Rowing is a year-round sport at the University of Oregon, with women’s and men’s clubs that have been competing against the best in the nation for more than 50 years. The teams train south of Eugene at Dexter Lake, which provided the backdrop for this image of the varsity men. The men return to Dexter May 15 for the Pac-12 championships; the women row there May 14 in the Women’s Invitational. Visit uorowing.org for more information. THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 1 3 DILLON VIBES PHOTOGRAPHY intro CAMPUS NEWS ARE PEOPLE WHO THEY “POST” TO BE? Some say lying is rampant in the digital world—in texts, posts and tweets, email, and video chats.Not true, says David Markowitz, an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Communication who studies computer-mediated communication. Last summer, he recorded a week’s worth of interactions of 250 people, including face-to-face and through social media, phone, text, video chat, and email. The results, he says, echoed those from a 2004 study, well before the spread of the new technologies: people tend to lie when the give-and-take is fast and fluid or isn’t recorded, and when distance separates the parties—phone calls, for example. Markowitz found few differences in lying rates across the new technologies. The bigger factor was one’s tendency to lie. But the real surprise? There was a low rate of lying across the board. “Most people were honest. That’s consistent with theories that suggest most people are honest most of the time and there are only a few prolific liars in a population,” Markowitz says. “The belief that lying is rampant in the digital age just doesn’t match the data.” HAPPY 150TH, YELLOWSTONE Fans of Yellowstone National Park—the first national park in the US—celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding March 1. Those fans include University of Oregon geography experts who, concurrent with the park’s big birthday, have published their second edition of the Atlas of Yellowstone. The book is filled with more than 1,000 maps, photographs, and personal essays that tell the story of Yellowstone in terms of park management, conservation, and American culture. It’s the work of a team that includes Andrew Marcus, senior editor; James Meacham, cartographic editor; Alethea Steingisser, cartographic production; and Justin Menke, graduate researcher THE CAT’S MEOW and cartographer, all affiliated with the eet some of the world’s most charismatic—and endangered— Department of Geography. Manimals in Photo Ark, a National Geographic exhibit at the The second edition introduces issues such as who Museum of Natural and Cultural History. The exhibit features visits national parks, as well as stories and data portraits from photographer Joel Sartore, who is inspiring conservation that represent and include indigenous populations efforts by documenting 20,000 species living in the world’s zoos and throughout the book. The team worked with 130 wildlife sanctuaries, including this federally endangered Florida panther, experts to piece together the diverse subjects and Puma concolor coryi, at ZooTampa at Lowry Park. stories surrounding Yellowstone. Visit oregonquarterly.page.link/yellowstone Visit natgeophotoark.org for information about the project, and mnch.uoregon.edu/visit for more information. for museum hours. The exhibit is on view at the museum through May 29. 14 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 © JOEL SARTORE/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK HOW TO BE A CLOSER Anna Mueller, a junior in public relations, excels in mock trial—court simulations pitting schools against each other in a contest of critical thinking, public speaking, and knowledge of legal practice. In March, she guided the University of Oregon team to the preliminary competition Hannah Tavalire (right) oversees for the national championship; Mueller is also ranked 15th testing at McArthur Court by students, nationally as an individual performer. She’s a closer—she including Marley Gilman summarizes the team’s case during final arguments—and for Oregon Quarterly she laid down the law on how to win over judges and juries: BY THE NUMBERS: 1. NO “I” IN TEAM: “When I close, it’s a summary of RESPONDING TO all the cool things my teammates did during the trial— COVID-19 without their good performances, I have nothing to talk about. Beyond that, especially with Zoom mock trial, while regon reported the first suspected case of coronavirus I’m talking they’re behind the camera giving me pieces of OFebruary 28, 2020. Last month, almost exactly two years evidence, coaching, key points to hit. It’s very collaborative.” later, the University of Oregon celebrated a critical turning point: the end of campus mask mandates, which allowed students, 2. A NO-DOZE ZONE: “I have to be focused on everything faculty, and staff to return for spring term with optimism. Over the for 2.5 hours—I can’t check out ever. Every comment, every last two years, the UO has met the challenge of the pandemic with a bit of evidence, every objection—I have to formulate an spirit of service: argument based on that. If I give a memorized speech, it won’t match what happened. We generally get five minutes to prepare closing arguments but sometimes we just go right 220,000+ Free tests administered by UO Monitoring to them.” and Assessment Program 3. ASSERTIVE, NOT AGGRESSIVE: “Any attorney who is too aggressive in their argumentation can damage 14 Campus vaccine events and supported Lane County clinics at their credibility. But there’s a double standard for women Autzen Stadium, Lane Community College, and Lane Events Center particularly. I’ve been told I’m too loud ‘for a woman,’ I’ve been told to smile more. I’ve received one too many 153,000 Free face coverings distributed to UO community unnecessary comments on my appearance. I can’t be as loud or forceful as my male teammates.” 50,240 Saliva tests collected from Oregon K-12 students 4. BE A SHOWSTOPPER: “At the same time, I’m a wake-up call to a judge who has perhaps mentally dozed off. I need to be very entertaining—our coach calls it ‘sauce.’ I’ve knocked 168 Students who have worked for Corona Corps, tracing contacts and assisting students who tested positive over buckets being used as props, I’ve ripped up documents. At the University of Washington, I tore down a poster they had placed over our presentation. It’s very fun to walk across a $27.4 million Federal COVID-19-related aid courtroom, strut up to something, and yank it down.” disbursed to UO students THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 1 5 CHARLIE LITCHFIELD, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS (MUELLER); CHRIS LARSEN, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS intro SIGHTS SET ON A CURE Ambati, who earned distinction as “world’s youngest doctor,” lectures April 14 Clear Vision In his investigation of potential remedies for Fuchs’ disease, Ambati and his team tested an innovative approach to treat the condition in which infusions modify cells by repairing or Knight Campus researchers develop gene reconstructing defective genetic material. Fuchs’ dystrophy involves cells in the corneal layer called the therapy for eye disease endothelium; these cells normally pump fluid from the cornea to keep it clear. When they die, fluid builds up and stressed cells BY LEWIS TAYLOR produce structures known as guttae. Ambati’s team used a revolutionary approach called CRISPR- Cas9, which is a genome-editing technique that knocks out a Fuchs’ dystrophy is a genetic eye disease affecting roughly mutant form of a protein that is associated with the disease.one in 2,000 people globally. It involves a die-off of cells in “We were able to stop this toxic protein expression and study it the cornea, resulting in cloudy vision. The only treatment in a mouse model,” says Hiro Uehara, a senior research associate in is corneal transplant, which is complicated and expensive. Ambati’s lab and a coauthor on the paper. “Our treatment was able to But Balamurali Ambati has his sights set on an alternative to rescue loss of corneal endothelial cells, reduce guttata-like structures, eye surgery. and preserve the corneal endothelial cell pump function.” Ambati, a research professor in the Phil and Penny Knight Corneal cells don’t reproduce, meaning you’re born with all Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact, is leading a team that of those you will ever have. Uehara developed an approach that is developing a gene therapy that could eventually treat Fuchs’ could eventually lead to treatments for other conditions involving endothelial corneal dystrophy. His group recently published the nonreproducing cells, including some neurologic and immune results of an eight-year study that was supported by the National diseases, and certain genetic disorders affecting the joints. Institutes of Health and the National Eye Institute. The research team included Xiaohui Zhang, Sangeetha Ravi “If you had a medical treatment that did not require surgery, Kumar, and Bonnie Archer from the Ambati lab and investigators that would be great,” Ambati says. “Not only could it help from the University of Virginia, the University of Utah, the patients who need a transplant, but it could also help a lot of University of Massachusetts, and Johns Hopkins University. other people who could have used that corneal tissue.” Future research will examine the therapy in human donor Ambati, a corneal surgeon known for his work in drug corneas from eye banks and other animal models, with an eye delivery and ocular angiogenesis—the formation of blood toward eventual clinical testing in humans. vessels in the eyes—has performed thousands of cataract “The mission of the Knight Campus, at the end of the day, is to help surgeries and other vision correction procedures. His expertise people, by bringing scientific advances and by translating projects includes advanced lens implants, laser cataract surgery, cornea into products,” Ambati says. “Translational life science research transplants, iris repair, and other cornea procedures. projects like this one have clear value to modifying disease.” Even before his research successes, Ambati was known for his academic prowess. He graduated from New York University Lewis Taylor is director of communications for the Phil and Penny Knight at age 13, and at 17 he completed his medical degree from Mount Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact. Sinai School of Medicine, earning him distinction from the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s youngest doctor. He Knight Campus research professor Balamurali Ambati discusses corneal was cited in 2015 as the No. 1 eye surgeon in a “top 40 under 40” transplantation during Science Knight Out, a public lecture at 4:00 p.m. global competition and joined the Knight Campus in 2020. Thursday, April 14. Visit accelerate.uoregon.edu/science-knight-out for details. 16 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 CHRIS LARSEN, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 17 intro HEARTY APPETITES Some marine worm larvae are hunters, catching and devouring prey as seen in this time-lapse image Little Critters, Big Bite Marine biologists discover larval worms that are meat eaters BY LAUREL HAMERS Some marine worm larvae are pint-sized predators. DNA sequencing experiments suggested the larvae might be The small, blobby babies, less than a millimeter long, carnivorous, but the scientists hadn’t seen it in action. ensnare and devour microscopic crustaceans and other prey One March afternoon three years ago, von Dassow was living in plankton, University of Oregon marine biologists report. examining a bowl containing a variety of plankton-dwelling Their observations suggest a new lifestyle option for larval-stage larvae when he spotted a larval-stage ribbon worm sucking invertebrates in the ocean. Scientists usually think of plankton- vigorously on the armpit of a larger crustacean. As adults, these dwelling larvae growing either by grazing on nanoplankton or worms are often top predators in seafloor food webs; they look relying on remnants of the egg’s yolk to become full-fledged adults. like ruffly ribbons or chunky tubes. Instead, it appears there’s a third strategy: carnivory. Their larvae are small blobs covered in hairs called cilia. They “One of the big surprises is that these nondescript wormlets seem to lack many features biologists usually associate with a are very efficiently taking down some of the fastest prey out plankton-feeding lifestyle—for example, elaborate ciliated arms there,” says George von Dassow, of the Department of Biology. or lobes. Instead, as von Dassow watched, this unassuming He and his colleagues, including Svetlana Maslakova, also in the creature extracted and ingested every bit of meat from its victim, biology department, and visiting graduate student Cecili Mendes, leaving an empty shell. describe their findings in the March issue of the research journal When the researchers looked further, they found many species Invertebrate Biology. of marine worm larvae engaged in hunting. (A major benefit to The discovery began the way so many do: via a combination of being based at this field station near the Pacific Ocean: scientists procrastination and curiosity. Von Dassow, based at the Oregon have front-row access to the marine organisms they study.) Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston, works just a short walk The researchers studied mostly ribbon worm larvae and flatworm from the ocean. Sometimes, when he needs a break, he walks larvae. They ran observational tests, giving the worms different prey down to the marina to collect a sample of seawater and then takes to assess their preferences and whether the animals could grow to it back to the lab. adulthood on a carnivorous diet. And they sequenced DNA to match If you peer into a bowl of plankton-filled seawater long enough, the wild-caught larvae to known species of adult worms. you’re bound to see something interesting, he says. The team observed hundreds of feeding events, capturing many Von Dassow had a hunch of what to look for. Maslakova, his with a video camera or a series of photos. Their images revealed a wife, is an expert on the development of ribbon worms, a diverse variety of hunting strategies. Lacking the most rudimentary sensory group of slim, often colorful marine predators. She had long organs, the pelagic predators don’t seem to pursue prey through suspected that their seemingly simple larvae were feeding on plankton. Instead, some worm larvae act like marine spiders, something in plankton, but they didn’t seem interested in algae. secreting strands of gooey mucus that ensnare prey in web-like nets. 1 8 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 GEORGE VON DASSOW (LARVAE); CHRISTINA ELLISON, BS ’18, MARINE BIOLOGY (VON DASSOW) Some larvae use a long proboscis to strike and stun prey. Others grab onto prey, find a crack, and then scoop out and swallow the flesh within. Harvesting algae, as many marine larvae do, is a lot of work to get adequate nutrition. And larvae fed via egg yolk are a big energy investment for parents and are especially tasty to predators, making them vulnerable to attack. So, for some marine invertebrates, snagging nutrient-dense meals via hunting could be a better alternative. “Rather than building specialized body parts for catching lots of tiny meals, why not just eat someone else who went to the trouble to do so?” von Dassow asks. Marine worm larvae may seem inconsequential, but they’re a key part of ocean food webs, von Dassow says. “When people think about how plankton works, and how it connects to life cycles and food webs more generally, it’s important to know how things are making a living there.” The work also has close-to-home implications for Oregonians. One of the worm species studied is a parasite of the Dungeness crab, a pillar of the state’s fishing industry. The adult worms live on crabs and prey upon their eggs; the worms lay their own eggs among the crab’s brood. Hatchling larvae disperse, and then come back to crab hosts as adults. The study helps illuminate a previously unknown link in the George von Dassow life cycle of that parasite: knowing what the larvae eat during the taking samples dispersal stage could help researchers better understand possible on the docks threats to the crab population. in Charleston Laurel Hamers is a staff writer for University Communications. In 1932, this Richard Neuberger 19-year-old became one of the iconoclast most consequential was named Oregonians of the editor of 20th Century. the Oregon Read about his life in Daily Emerald Eminent Oregonians. Eminent Oregonians Three Who Matter: Abigail Scott Duniway • Richard Neuberger • Jesse Applegate Order online at: AVAILABLE AT www.eomediagroup.com/books/eminent_oregonians THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 1 9 intro DUCKS IN THE CORPS Changing Lives, Including Their Own In recognition of the Peace Corps’ 60th birthday last year, alumni who served revisit their experiences BY MATT COOPER The toughest job you’ll ever love. That motto followed the creation of the Peace Corps in March 1961, two months after President John F. Kennedy had called for establishing the US service program in words just as familiar: “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” Over 60 years, more than 230,000 volunteers have served in 140 countries, providing social and economic development assistance. A lot of those volunteers came from the University of Oregon. In fact, the UO is a national leader for the corps, ranking in the Susan Ordonez, BA ’09 (psychology), MNM ’18 (nonprofit top 20 among colleges and universities with more than 1,300 alumni management), at right in photo, served in South Africa, providing having served. “Peace Corps service exemplifies so much about the HIV outreach to youth and inspiring empowerment among girls. quality and purpose of a UO education,” says Dennis Galvan, dean and “One of the most important skills I learned in Peace Corps is vice provost of the Division of Global Engagement. “For generations, flexibility,” Ordonez says. “Being able to be adaptable in your work is our students and alumni have been inspired to think beyond an important skill, since few jobs are exactly what you expect them themselves, appreciate and deeply understand the wider world, and to be. There will always be uncertainty and change, and the ability to make a meaningful contribution to global challenges.” adapt and work within that uncertainty has always served me well.” “You don’t need all the answers. You only need to know to find those who can help you find the path forward.” Assigned to help create an academic institution to serve economic needs in post-Communist Poland, Michele Tarnow, BA ’89 (journalism: advertising, international studies), relied on guidance from two UO professors: Jonathan Brand, a visiting faculty member and then head of creative at J. Walter Thompson advertising, New York, and David Boush, a marketing professor. “Many of the skills that I apply on a day-to-day basis are ones “So much of your environment in the Peace Corps is new and uncharted that I learned during my time [in the Peace Corps]: patience, territory that you have to be able to adapt to, and in order to be effective determination, and creativity.” at adapting, you have to listen and be able to ‘read the room.’” Erik English, BA ’09 (English), taught English in Klouékanmè, Ken Gulick, MBA ’98 (general business), MA ’98 (international Benin, and today works in international development for the studies), served two years in Fiji, where he led a school program on United Nations. the sciences for 200 students. 2 0 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 IMAGES COURTESY PEACE CORPS ALUMNI “Be flexible, recognize that everyone is going through their own personal struggles, and be kind to yourself.” Scarlett Sanudo, BA ’13 (psychology), in 2019–20 worked with child laborers in Quito, Ecuador, many of them traumatized and prone to violent behavior. She coordinated self-care workshops for a foundation that supported the children, helping teachers, psychologists, and social workers reduce their own stress. “I taught them Following his graduation in 1963 with a history degree, Victor English and in turn, Tomseth taught at an all-boys school in Nepal. they taught me about He doubted that his service made much of an impact. But when human connection.” he returned to the area 17 years later, he found that the students of Lee Grant, MS ’67 corps volunteers, including some of his own, had gained positions in (journalism), served in the Nepali government and had become “leading change agents.” retirement, teaching Says Tomseth: “Seeing that growth was amazing and cemented, kids in a village on the for me, the impact the Peace Corps can have on the lives of the South Pacific Island individuals that they serve.” of Vanuatu. He shared in their joys and sorrows—acing a reading assignment, losing a loved one. Now he volunteers in San Diego, helping youth who are homeless. “I bring the skills I learned in the corps,” Grant says, “and fulfill one of their core goals—to bring our experiences back home and share them.” Bao Le, BA ’01 (history), educated a West African village about dangerous parasites and diseases and later taught English to 400 students a day in Chad. “Serving in the Peace Corps,” Le says, “is like executing diplomacy at the grassroots level, but without a hidden agenda.” As she neared the end of her education, Sarah Wardwell, BS ’05 (biology), hadn’t found an inspiring career path so she Working through Peace Corp China, Boarder “Teddy” Tsai followed her heart and became a (foreground, right), BA ’18 (Clark Honors College, art), taught English Peace Corps volunteer. to art students in 2019–20. In Papua New Guinea, she Inspired by his own teachers’ assertions that art can be a means of taught middle school science and problem-solving, Tsai used the medium to connect with his students. helped implement a first-ever He recalled an evening he spent in his apartment with students, training program for teachers. during which the group completed five-minute portraits of one another. One memorable moment: during a “It was a great icebreaker and was a fantastic opportunity for lesson for students on how circuits cultural exchange,” Tsai says. “While people argued that our efforts work in a flashlight, she asked for questions. Everyone had the same were ill-spent in a ‘developed’ nation like China, with the number of one: “What is a wire?” misconceptions our nations have for each other, the human-to-human “The students in my village had never seen wires because they had interactions that Peace Corps provided were more than necessary.” no electricity,” she says. ”Communication isn’t just about getting the Matt Cooper is managing editor for Oregon Quarterly. right words, it’s making sure we’re starting with the same basis of understanding.” Visit career.uoregon.edu/peacecorps for more information. THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 21 intro FRESH TRACKS Let’s Get This Party (Re)started After going virtual for a year, the UO Hip-Hop Jam returned to celebrate diverse communities and hip-hop culture—while teaching first-year students the business of event planning BY JASON STONE, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS PHOTOS BY SARAH NORTHROP, BS ’20 (JOURNALISM) 2 2 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 Not even the coronavirus can keep a good party down. Near the end of fall term in December, hundreds of University of Oregon students, community members, and music fans of all ages converged safely in Global Scholars Hall to celebrate the art and culture of hip-hop. The crowd came not just to sing along, try out their best dance moves, and show off ’80s-inspired fashions—but also to renew and reenergize an important bond of campus community. When the first UO Hip-Hop Jam went off in 2014, it was launched with the idea that a group of first- year students would learn about race, society, and community building not by attending a rap concert—but by putting one on. “It was an incredibly grassroots event,” recalls event founder André Sirois, PhD ’11 (communication and society), a senior instructor with the Department of Cinema Studies and the School of Music and Dance. “It was manifested to meet a need for more community building and more diverse Ducks basketballer Sedona Prince perspectives in the curriculum at the and André “DJ food stamp” Sirois UO. In a very authentic way, these (top) kept the beat bumping events are incredibly inclusive.” for rappers Mic Capes (left) and Jordan Fletcher, while many At the inaugural Jam, Sirois—who showcased their best moves performs professionally as DJ food stamp—appeared as part of the lineup. Spin forward almost a decade: Sirois, now a member of the faculty, teaches Hip Hop instruction, the event was held live in the “I hope they walk away with a greater and Politics of Race, a program in which context of a “new normal” nationwide that sense of agency, feeling more confident first-year students put on the event. included masks, vaccination protocols, in themselves not only as students, but “From the beginning, it’s been about and a broader awareness of issues of race, as members of the community,” she says. bringing together all the hip-hop arts: MCs, security, and policing. “They really see the impact they can make DJs, beat makers, bgirls and bboys, and As always, students in their first term in just one term at the university.” live graffiti painting,” Sirois says. “Alumni of college helped in every stage of concert According to Sirois, this experience are regular participants now, and we’ve planning, from selecting and booking provides some of the most valuable had some really important regional and artists to marketing. outcomes he can offer as an instructor— national acts. Most years, we’re drawing Victoria Ginzburg, a journalism and especially for first-year students. 400 or 500 people.” ethnic studies major from Marin, California, “While this class specifically engages The pandemic presented obstacles. The found the hip-hop program so inspiring she with the artistic practices and social 2020 concert was held in a livestream returned during her junior and senior years. history of hip-hop,” he says, “it teaches a format with virtual workshops on dance, As a student-employee assistant for first- concrete set of skills they can later apply beat making, and aerosol art. Last fall, with year programs such as this one, she helps in producing and promoting all sorts of UO students returning to mostly in-person other students adjust to college. community, arts, and cultural events.” THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 2 3 intro PROFILE Hannah Thomas ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF DANCE BY JOSH GREN, COMMUNICATIONS, SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND DANCE PHOTO BY DUSTIN WHITAKER, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS Wandering the halls of the University of Oregon’s Gerlinger Annex, absorbing the kinetic energy produced by a building full of dancers, is a visceral experience—enough to make one dream of a life in the performing arts. Among the School of Music and Dance faculty members guiding these dancers to their dreams is Hannah Thomas, a new assistant professor of dance. Her dynamic personality and unique performance experience made her the right person to join the faculty and launch a bachelor of fine arts in dance degree program last fall. It’s the first dance BFA in Oregon and the first in the nation with equal emphasis on dance rooted in Eurocentric forms and those of the African diaspora, the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans. Thomas specializes in hip-hop and choreography, incorporating still moments, theatrical expressions of the body, large ensembles, solos, and music that directs the movement. “I have two goals for inspiration when creating work,” Thomas says. “The first is that the dancers are inspired to build trust and community with each other and themselves. The second is that the audience is moved. Every person may not feel the same thing, but my hope is they are engaged and along for the ride.” A MOVING INVITATION Thomas created Duck Jam, a showcase of student hip-hop dancers open to the public (7 p.m., June 1, Gerlinger Annex, 1484 University Street). “I curated the event for students to be seen by each other, the UO community, and Eugene at-large, and to experience a more authentic reflection of hip-hop culture,” Thomas says. She invites everyone to engage in the creative process, no matter what side of the curtain they’re on: “Be present, converse on the topic, and support the work.” 2 4 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 BOOKMARKS Latest titles of interest from alumni and faculty authors. Visit oregonquarterly.com/bookmarks for more, or to submit a book for consideration. BIG MOMENT WITH BIG BOI Growing up in Atlanta, Thomas began in the performing arts as a kindergartner and by age 12, she was teaching and choreographing at the church where her mother, Charlotte Dudley, ran the dance ministry. A pivotal moment arrived when Thomas was 15: she performed with the Atlanta Ballet and Big Boi, of the progressive hip-hop duo OutKast, in the production, big. “I remember very vividly being given a compliment from choreographer Lauri Stallings on the height of my jumps and commitment to the movement,” Thomas says. “Dancing onstage with that vibrant and whimsical set as a young dancer catalyzed my desire to be a professional dance artist.” DANCING FOR JOY Thomas was featured in this winter’s faculty dance concert, which offered a hip-hop fusion work and explored human resilience, endurance, and finding strength in community. Thanks to a research grant for X Solid Ivory: A Memoir by James X The Sound of Exclusion: NPR and new faculty, Thomas is developing Ivory, BA ’51 (fine and applied arts) the Latinx Public by Christopher a film project about Black joy, a Chávez, associate professor, School cultural movement based on the X Manywhere: Stories by Morgan of Journalism and Communication premise of choosing pleasure to Thomas, MFA ’16 (creative writing) combat the traumas of racism. X Medieval Badges: Their Wearers She’s had award-winning success X Unforgiving Savage: A Peter Savage and Their Worlds by Ann Marie as the creative director of two Novel by Dave Edlund, PhD ’87 Rasmussen, BA ’76 (German) dance films: Strange Realities and (chemistry) This Must Be the Place. X Oregon’s Ancient Forests: A Hiking “I am very inspired by putting Guide by Chandra LeGue, MS ’01 movement on film,” Thomas says, (environmental studies) “and allowing the camera to be one of the dancers.” THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 2 5 U EEN OeFe THE QUEEN OF THE BEES Biologist Lauren Ponisio has a plan to help the pivotal pollinators in the Pacific Northwest BY TIM CHRISTIE | PHOTOS BY NIC WALCOTT On a brilliant, balmy, late winter’s afternoon, entomologist Lauren Ponisio walks along a ridge above the McKenzie River, through a landscape transformed by fire from a forest of Douglas fir into a blackened moonscape. She stops to inspect the remnants of a slash pile strewn with blackened stumps and snags. White flags mark the spots where she and her students had sown native plant seeds the previous fall. Amid the rubble, she spots a few green leaves poking through the ashy soil. The plot doesn’t look like much right now. But Ponisio, an assistant biology professor at the University of Oregon, has high hopes that this pilot study could change how forestlands in the Northwest are managed, particularly post-harvest and post-fire, to the benefit of the humble, and troubled, wild bee. “Look at them!” she says of the tiny emerging plants. “This will be full of bees. It’s going to be great.” The idea is that reintroducing native plant species into what was a monoculture of fir trees will attract pollinators, such as Bombus occidentalis, a.k.a. the western bumblebee, which was once abundant across the West but whose numbers have crashed over the last quarter-century. These patches of native plants could help native bee populations recover and keep them from being listed as threatened or endangered species, Ponisio says, thus Bees are threatened by habitat “avoiding another spotted owl situation” that could degradation but a pilot project could result in new domain among trigger new restrictions on logging in Northwest forests. fire-ravaged land 2 6 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 Research Bee-ginnings Ponisio joined the Department of Biology in 2020 and is also part of the UO Institute of Ecology and Evolution. QUEEN She studies bees and their roles as pollinators, both in managed and natural-plant communities.Her research has examined ways to persuade California almond growers to adopt more bee-friendly agricultural OF THE practices; discovered how native bee species may be best equipped to survive intensive agricultural practices and BEES climate change; and analyzed how forest fires can help maintain pollinator biodiversity.Growing up in California’s fertile San Joaquin Valley, Ponisio lived in a community that was immersed in agriculture and the buzzing creatures that make it possible. “The thing about growing up in Fresno is, you’re just integrated into agriculture,” she says. “You can’t escape it.” Bees, Ponisio adds, were central to everything. “I grew up with this core understanding that bees are incredibly important for agricultural systems,” she says. “Even the newspaper was called the Fresno Bee.” In high school, Ponisio loved environmental science and biology, but she knew of few biology-based career paths. Ashy soil around blackened stumps “I was thinking, ‘I love biology, so I’ll be a doctor,’” and snags can be fertile ground for Ponisio says. “It took me a while to realize, ‘Oh, you can plants that bring bees have a career, you can conduct research and you can just study ecology and that’s a job.’” Butterflies and a be a professor today. I remember that fact Transformation whenever undergraduate students express As an undergraduate at Stanford interest in working with me. I want to University, Ponisio was taking premed provide opportunities for them to classes but the courses that excited experience research and fieldwork.” her were environment- and ecology- Boggs, now at the University of focused. During her freshman year, South Carolina, says fieldwork can she heard about an opportunity to Lauren often be transformative for students. work on a summer research project Ponisio “It broadens their horizons with biology professor Carol Boggs, who of understanding landscapes and was conducting a long-term study of high- understanding ecologies,” she says. “They get elevation butterflies at a research station in immersed in a field situation where they have the Colorado Rockies. to pay attention to various aspects of the natural “I just thought I’ll try this out and see what it’s like,” world around them.” Ponisio says. Boggs called Ponisio “one of the best undergrads I They would catch butterflies, gently write numbers on ever worked with, in terms of her smarts and stick-to-it- their wings, release them, and track them through the iveness, self-motivation, organization. It was very clear summer, which allowed the scientists to approximate the to me if she wanted to go into academia, there would be insects’ population size. no problem whatsoever.” After that experience, Ponisio knew her path had changed. When Ponisio got back to campus, she says, she Boggs, she says, “was really instrumental in my career.” stopped taking premed classes and started taking lots of “I had zero research experience, I had no knowledge ecology courses. of anything related to butterfly populations, and she gave “I secretly changed my major,” she says. “I didn’t tell me a shot,” Ponisio says. “Without that shot, I would not my family. They really wanted me to be a doctor.” THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 27 White flags (below right) mark spots sown with native plant seeds. As seedlings start to break through ashy soil, Ponisio demonstrates how to catch pollinators with a net. Bees on the Brink Ponisio gravitated to the study of bees because of their role as pollinators. “I wanted to focus my research on how to make agriculture better for wildlife and for people,” she says. More than 20,000 bee species exist in the world, including at least 630 distinct species in Oregon, according to the Oregon Bee Atlas. Bees play a critical role in pollinating a wide variety of plants, trees, and flowers, including about 85 percent of cultivated crops worldwide. But bees are in trouble, with habitat degradation, Promise of New Life viruses, pesticides, and climate change among the culprits. That’s why Ponisio hopes her pollinator project up the Beekeepers in the United States lost 45 percent McKenzie River Valley can make a difference. of managed honey bee colonies from April 2020 to After the Holiday Farm Fire burned more than 170,000 April 2021, according to the nonprofit Bee Informed acres along the river corridor east of Eugene in 2020, Partnership, which supports the health and long-term Ponisio wondered whether landowners could be persuaded sustainability of honey bees and other plant pollinators. to leave room for wildlife habitat, instead of just replanting Native bees are suffering as well. Of the more than Douglas fir, especially in areas where the soil is thin or the 4,000 native bee species in North America, more than slopes are steep. half are in decline and one in four is imperiled and at She connected with Jim Russell, BS ’85 (management), increasing risk for extinction, according to a 2017 survey and Jane Haake, BS ’84 (finance), a married couple who conducted by the Center for Biological Diversity, a own Whitewater Ranch, a 1,700-acre spread along the river nonprofit organization that protects endangered species east of Leaburg that dates to the 1890s. through legal action and other means. The fire tore through the ranch, sparing the couple’s Just last year, Franklin’s bumblebee, found only in home and 86 acres of organic blueberries, but burning an southern Oregon and northern California, was listed as outbuilding, a 100-year-old dairy barn, nine antique farm endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Three vehicles, and 1,000 acres of Douglas fir. other species are on the verge of being listed, Amid the devastation, Ponisio saw opportunity. Ponisio says. “I said, ‘It’s going to be such a great place for bees now,’” 2 8 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 Alumnus Jim Russell (above) opened his property to the project because he sees value in supporting native bees Ponisio says. “‘Do you mind if we plant more flowers?’ And they’ve just been super supportive.” Russell says he supports the project because he knows how important pollinators are for his blueberries. He prefers native bees to commercial colonies because the latter are COMMITTED TO A LIVABLE FUTURE expensive to hire and are vectors for disease. “If we can use native pollinators,” Russell says, “we can The work that entomologist Lauren Ponisio conducts reduce costs and reduce the spread of disease.” on bees fits into the deep and rich history of Last fall, Ponisio and a few graduate students went to the environment-related research at the University ranch about a week after workers burned 200 slash piles on of Oregon, one of the university’s core academic the ridge to clean up after the fire. Ponisio and the students strengths. sowed native plant seeds into 20 piles, picking 23 species The Environment Initiative, one of five academic that thrive in early successional forests. initiatives established by the Office of the Provost, “We picked the flowering plants we thought bees would represents a campus-wide effort to create an visit, the ones with nice big flowers, and we got the seeds intellectual and active hub focused on higher and we planted these little plots,” Ponisio says. “Our goal is education’s role and contribution to a just and to understand which plants do well in these environments.” livable future. The Douglas fir saplings planted after the fire will grow The initiative aims to leverage the intellectual with the flowers around them, so the researchers can energy and work of faculty members, students, and determine which species can coexist with the young trees. community partners toward societal contribution There’s already interest in the timber industry for through transdisciplinary research, teaching, and experiential learning. supporting native bee populations, in part to forestall new “Professor Ponisio’s research is a powerful regulations on forestry practices, Ponisio says. If her project example of the applied and responsive work that can show it’s not hard to get these patches of native plants the Environment Initiative aims to support,” says established, then maybe the timber industry will adopt the Adell Amos, executive director of the initiative. “UO practice, she says. faculty have much to contribute to natural climate “I like to hope change is coming,” Ponisio says. “Imagine solutions research, such as promoting the health of driving down the road and instead of seeing the usual clear- pollinator populations.” cuts, you see meadows of wildflowers with all these happy bees. There would be so much bee habitat!” Visit environment.uoregon.edu for more information. Writer Tim Christie and photographer Nic Walcott are staff members of University Communications. THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 2 9 SECURING THE SYSTEM Cybersecurity is the lifeblood of the internet—and a growth area in the computer science department BY ROSEMARY HOWE CAMOZZI PHOTOS BY DUSTIN WHITAKER Lei Jiao 3 0 OREGON QUARTERLY S| PSRP RINI NGG 2 200222 DUSTIN WHITAKER, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS he internet is the backbone of our lives, supporting everything from conducting business to communicating with loved ones to managing home appliances. Cars, medical devices, farm equipment, and security systems all depend on it. Even currency, once known as “cold, hard cash,” is now traded in purely virtual form by more than 100 million people globally. It’s easy to assume this connectivity is safe and reliable, but the online world is subject to numerous threats. The growing field of cybersecurity aims to protect the system—and us— from cybercriminals: modern miscreants ranging from state entities to small groups of saboteurs to lone wolves who can wreak havoc from their living rooms. Cybersecurity is a growing emphasis in the University of SECURING Oregon Department of Computer and Information Science. Faculty in the department’s Center for Cyber Security and Privacy collaborate with colleagues from philosophy, law, business, and other areas to research—and help thwart— threats to internet traffic, cryptocurrency, social media networks, infrastructure security, and more. THE SYSTEM DENYING THE DENIERS Lei Jiao, an assistant professor in the computer science department, focuses on how to deny the deniers—those who Cybersecurity is the lifeblood of the internet—and try to incapacitate others’ computers by launching Distributed a growth area in the computer science department Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that can paralyze a computer, a group of computers, or an entire multinational company. Jiao was recently awarded a fellowship as part of a university BY ROSEMARY HOWE CAMOZZI research initiative by Ripple Labs, a US-based developer of cryptocurrency platforms. PHOTOS BY DUSTIN WHITAKER In a DDoS attack, hackers launch a large amount of data traffic toward a victim, overwhelming the recipient’s computer bandwidth. The receipt or transmission of legitimate information becomes impossible for the victim. Internet service providers such as AT&T and Comcast try to thwart these incursions by operating “scrubbing centers”— data centers with many computers that are programmed to detect and defeat the intruders. Malicious traffic is filtered out in the scrubbing centers and the rest is routed to customers. These centers are located across the nation, and it’s up to each service provider to determine which one to use, which traffic flow to divert, and how many computers in the center to allocate for each suspicious incident. Jiao is developing “smart algorithms”—instructions computers can follow—that will make these decisions. “My algorithms will automatically and efficiently tell the internet service providers exactly what the best decisions are for handling every attack,” he says, “so they don’t need to address each one manually.” THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 31 Yingjiu “Joe” Li CRACKING DOWN opportunities for cybercriminals. and identify flash loan attacks after the ON CRYPTO- Individual “coin” ownership is stored fact, but losses may not be recoverable. CRIMINALS in a digital database called blockchain, Says Li: “A better strategy is to improve comprising chunks of information shared protocol designs in these decentralized Ripple Professor Yingjiu “Joe” Li and PhD equally among the entire network of exchanges to prevent flash loan student Sanidhay Arora are focusing users. “The practical operations of the attacks—or to detect and block them on flash loan attacks that happen on blockchain exchanges are way ahead before they cause any economic loss. cryptocurrency exchanges. of security measures,” Li says. “It is This is the topic we are working on.” Cryptocurrency—currency that imperative to enhance their security to exists only in digital form—is traded on protect users from economic losses.” MASTER OF decentralized platforms that don’t rely In 2021, criminals netted about $14 DISASTER on the oversight of institutions such as billion from digital currency exchanges, banks or governments. “Cryptocurrency investors, and users, according to the With the help of more than $3 million is very convenient and cost-effective for Chainalysis 2022 Crypto Crime Report. in grants from the National Science users,” Li says. “Because participants A flash loan attack happens when Foundation and others, Ram Durairajan is have full control of their files, they feel someone borrows cryptocurrency assets making networks smarter and more robust. safe. Plus, anyone can interact with potentially worth millions or billions Durairajan, an assistant professor these financial services without being of dollars, uses them to purchase in the department, is working censored or blocked by a third party.” currency, illegally manipulates the price with PhD student Matthew Hall on The cryptocurrency market had a through a vulnerability in the computer stopping denial of service threats by record year in 2021, briefly surpassing coding, and then pays back the loan, reconfiguring the paths of wavelengths $3 trillion in November. Recent research making a massive profit in as little as that transmit data. by the Pew Research Center found 30 seconds. In February, for example, He uses the idea of a museum thief that 16 percent of Americans say hackers stole more than $320 million as a metaphor for an attacker. “Imagine they have invested in, traded, or used in cryptocurrency from Wormhole, someone is trying to steal a painting cryptocurrency. “This is a very fast- a decentralized finance platform, by that hangs in a museum,” Durairajan growing platform,” Li says. exploiting a vulnerability. says. “The museum is the network. While cryptocurrency reduces the Li and Arora are studying how to The painting is the service the attacker hacking risk facing centralized exchanges enhance the security of the protocols is trying to steal. We can change the such as the New York Stock Exchange, that govern exchanges. Some existing floor plan of the museum—that is, the the decentralized system offers plenty of defenses monitor the exchange system configuration of the wavelengths that 32 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 The Department of Computer and Ram Durairajan Information Science is establishing a multidisciplinary cybersecurity degree for undergraduate majors. carry data—every so often so the thief ShakeNet, data could be sent via longer Students will develop expertise in will not know where to go.” but less susceptible routes during an cybersecurity threats and solutions Durairajan also studies how we can earthquake. For example, data transfers in areas including computer and safeguard our ability to stay connected between Seattle and Portland could be information security, network despite earthquakes, tsunamis, and rising routed through Kennewick and Boise, security, applied cryptography, and seas. The West Coast, and especially the avoiding the I-5 corridor, which may secure software development. Oregon Coast, is the landing point for be affected by strong shaking. “There The degree will emphasize numerous underwater fiber cables that is this tension between what internet experiential learning. Students will connect our continent to Asia. It is also service providers do and what Mother spend at least two terms at the UO the site of the Cascadia subduction zone, Nature does,” Durairajan says. “Our aim Cybersecurity Operation Center a fault line that separates two major is to relieve that tension, so you won’t to engage in real-world problem tectonic plates and that is overdue for a get the shortest path, but you will get a solving and will also participate in devastating earthquake. robust path.” research projects and internships. Durairajan, with the help of Durairajan has also studied dangers The degree also features courses undergraduate Juno Mayer, developed posed by climate change. He recently in cyber law developed and taught an assessment tool called ShakeNet discovered that thousands of miles of by Bryce Newell, an assistant to analyze the risk that earthquake- fiberoptic cable in the US—primarily professor of media law and policy induced shaking poses to wired and in areas around New York, Miami, and in the School of Journalism and wireless infrastructure in the Northwest. Seattle—will be severely affected by Communication; and courses in He collaborated with colleagues in rising sea levels. the ethics of privacy and data the Department of Earth Sciences He acknowledges that his focus on ownership developed and taught who helped develop ShakeAlert, an unpleasant scenarios can lead some to by Ramón Alvarado and Colin earthquake early warning system. tease him about having a bad outlook. Koopman, professors in the Durairajan combined a map of “I’m seriously not a fun person,” Department of Philosophy. earthquake impact areas with one of Durairajan says. “But I’m happy to be “This program leverages our fiberoptic infrastructure and found the negative guy as long as people are core competency in networking, that about 65 percent of the fiber safe and the internet works better.” systems, and data science, and infrastructure and cell towers on the Rosemary Howe Camozzi, BA ’96 (magazine), will address the acute shortage of West Coast will be damaged during a is a freelance writer and editor in Eugene. skilled cybersecurity workers in violent earthquake. Dustin Whitaker is a staff photographer for Oregon and across the US,” says Using the route planner capability of University Communications. Reza Rejaie, department head. THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 3 3 RECEIVE UP TO A $2,000 REBATE WITH PURCHASE OF QUALIFYING CAFÉ APPLIANCES B E S T S E R V I C E . B E S T S E L E C T I O N . B E S T P E O P L E . WWW . S T A N D A R D T V A N D A P P L I A N C E . C O M BEND 63736 PARAMOUNT DRIVE | 541 .388.0088 36 Time Traveler 38 Heart of a Filmmaker 40 Class Notes 50 Finding Nefertiti THE MOTHERWELL OF MYSTERIES Robert Motherwell taught in the University of Oregon art department from 1939 to 1940. Within four years of leaving for New York, he became one of the world’s leading painters. Students defended his increasingly radical views on painting and, following his departure from the UO, mounted a campaign for his return in the Eugene Register-Guard. Just this landscape painting dates from his time at the UO and the scene has never been identified—it’s unclear, in fact, whether the site is real or imaginary. An inscription to English professor Valborg Anderson suggests the location was frequented by faculty, but otherwise the inspirational spot remains a mystery—any guesses? Visit oregonquarterly.com for more on Motherwell from Richard Taylor, a UO physicist and art expert. THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 3 5 ROBERT MOTHERWELL, OREGON LANDSCAPE, 1940. WATERCOLOR AND INK ON PAPER, 9 X 9 INCHES. © 2022 DEDALUS FOUNDATION, INC./ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NY Old Oregon STELLAR STUDENT Time Traveler Physics alumna uses NASA telescope to Woodrum will look across galaxies and eons use data from the telescope (left) to better understand the BY JIM MUREZ first galaxies Now that the NASA James Webb Space Telescope has reached The tragedy could have derailed Woodrum’s dreams.its destination a million miles from Earth and begins “When it first happened, I didn’t know what I was going to do beaming back images of the deepest parts of space this anymore,” Woodrum says. “I decided I wanted to make them proud, summer, Charity Woodrum, a 2018 University of Oregon alumna, will which the reason I got into astrophysics in the first place was to make be among the first to pore over them, looking for clues to how our my son proud. And I wanted him to be proud of me when he grew up. galaxy came to be. I wanted to show him what it looks like to follow your biggest dreams. The journey to her current role—pursuing a PhD at the University of And I think I accomplished that, and he was proud of me. And so was Arizona—is a big step toward fulfilling a dream Woodrum has had since my husband. And I just decided I wanted to continue making them she first began at the UO. Her undergraduate research as a Duck led to a proud and keep pursuing the dreams that I had thought of when they prized NASA internship that helped serve as a launchpad for her stellar were with me.” career, but she’s had to overcome heartbreaking tragedy along the way. Woodrum graduated with a degree in physics and headed Growing up in rural Douglas County, Woodrum was the first in to Arizona, where she has earned a master’s in astronomy and her family to graduate high school and went on to become a nurse. astrophysics as she works toward her doctorate. But the emotional hardships of the job took a toll, and Woodrum She’s building on the research she tackled with Fisher. “Having that eventually decided to change careers and pursue a simmering basic foundation in physics from the U of O really helped,” she says. interest in science. “The biggest thing was getting involved in research as an undergrad, She enrolled at the UO in 2014 and began studying space. She took and that wouldn’t have happened without professor Fisher.” advantage of research opportunities with her advisor, astrophysicist Woodrum will have access to 900 hours of observations from the Scott Fisher, studying galaxy formation, how to sift through data, telescope through her advisor, astronomy professor Marcia Rieke, and working alongside him at the UO’s Pine Mountain Observatory who developed the Webb telescope’s main camera and has helped outside Bend. Woodrum was part of a team that captured one of the drive the project for nearly 30 years. Woodrum will incorporate the first images of an exploding dying star in a galaxy 35 million light information—“the best data that humanity has ever seen,” she says— years away, and ultimately earned the NASA internship. into her thesis on galaxy formation. But in 2017, while Woodrum and her husband, Jayson Thomas, “We don’t know what the first galaxies look like,” Woodrum were walking with their three-year-old son, Woody, on the Oregon says. “That’s one of the biggest mysteries in astrophysics right now. Coast, a sneaker wave hit and swept the father and son to sea, where Another question I’m hoping to answer with JWST is why some they both drowned. galaxies stop forming stars.” 3 6 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 NASA GSFC/CIL/ADRIANA MANRIQUE GUTIERREZ (ARTIST’S CONCEPTION); COURTESY CHARITY WOODRUM; NASA/STScI (OPPOSITE PAGE) An image taken by the telescope during its alignment process shows galaxies and Thanks to instruments onboard the Webb, Woodrum will study stars in the background data and images of previously unseen galaxies in the farthest reaches of space. Analysis will tell her the elements in those galaxies’ stars, precisely how far away they are, and even how they are spinning. Working with her advisor, other faculty, and grad students, Woodrum will string together images from these oldest galaxies with those from the youngest to illustrate galaxy evolution. “When you look far away,” Woodrum says, “you’re seeing into the past.” She hopes to finish her PhD in 2023 and to continue working with the telescope as a postdoctoral scholar at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. She also has thoughts of returning to the UO someday and joining the physics faculty. But first up is her work with the Webb telescope. “We have all of these ideas of what we’re going to see, but one of the most exciting parts is the things we don’t even know to ask yet,” Woodrum says. “As my advisor always points out, there are going to be surprises.” Jim Murez is a staff writer for University Communications. Reach for the Stars, a documentary about Charity Woodrum’s life, is scheduled for release in 2023. Visit documentary.org/project/reach- stars for more information or to make a donation. THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 37 Old Oregon MOVING PICTURES Lifeboat, a 2019 Academy Award nominee, followed harrowing search- and-rescue operations off the coast of Libya as refugees fled their country Heart of a directly to the clinic and the families and children who need it most.” Fitzgerald’s compassion for humanity Filmmaker took root during childhood. Growing up outside Monument, in eastern Oregon, BY SHARLEEN NELSON without running water, electricity, or access to television or movies, he developed a keen appreciation for the fundamental things in life. Six years in the making, three powerful After earning his undergraduate degree He was hired as a production assistant. films by University of Oregon theater arts in theater arts at Eastern Oregon University, A chance conversation with director alumnus and award-winning documentary Fitzgerald enrolled in the UO theater arts Deborah Del Prete over their shared theater filmmaker Skye Fitzgerald raise awareness graduate program. background resulted in the opportunity to and shine stark light on the plight of In the late 1990s the theater department help direct a second unit of stunt extras—a their subjects. He calls the projects his produced a talented cohort, including Kaitlin crew apart from that which included the “humanitarian trilogy.” Olson, BS ’97 (speech: theater arts), who principal actors for the main shots. 50 Feet from Syria (2015) focuses on the starred in the comedy sitcom It’s Always “She handed me a napkin with a shot list, struggles of a Syrian American surgeon who Sunny in Philadelphia; actor-producer Eoin literally a napkin with scribbles,” Fitzgerald operated on victims of the Syrian civil war. O’Shea, class of 1998; and Michael Govier, says. He was credited in the film as a second Lifeboat, a 2019 Academy Award nominee, BS ’00 (speech: theater arts), who won an unit director. follows search-and-rescue operations off the Oscar last year for his animated short film, Fitzgerald eventually left the film coast of Libya for refugees fleeing the dangers If Anything Happens I Love You. Fitzgerald industry to teach high school but decided of their country aboard substandard boats on directed Olson and O’Shea in the one-act that documentary filmmaking was his true treacherous seas. Hunger Ward, nominated farce Black Comedy. calling. In 2005, he started Spin Film, a for an Oscar in 2020, documents the impact “I had the best cast ever,” Fitzgerald says. “It broadcasting and media production company of war and famine on children, families, and was the most fun I’ve ever had directing actors. in Portland focused on global human rights health care workers in a clinic in Yemen. We were just bent over laughing every day.” and social justice issues. Can storytelling change the world? But a television directing class altered his Fitzgerald’s next project is a short film that Fitzgerald believes it can. career plans. “I fell in love with it,” he says. will place the viewer in the center of a hate After a group of Canadians saw 50 Feet from “I wanted to do that more than I wanted to crime from different points of view. He calls it Syria, they formed a nonprofit program to do theater.” a “cinematic intervention.” receive Syrian refugees. A doctor who saw Shortly after Fitzgerald graduated in 1997, a “I am by nature a storyteller and it’s my the film was inspired to volunteer with the crew came to Eugene to shoot Ricochet River, passion and it’s how I’m built,” Fitzgerald Syrian American Medical Society. Kate Hudson’s debut film about teenagers says. “And most vital to me as a filmmaker In making Hunger Ward, Fitzgerald, MFA planning an escape from their small town. is when I see something that I’ve done has ’97 (speech: theater arts), intended to raise a Fitzgerald seized the opportunity to shadow influenced the real world.” few thousand dollars to support the Yemeni the camera team. “I was right there watching Sharleen Nelson, BS ’06 (journalism: magazine, physician and nurse in the film. “We raised what the cinematographer was doing every news/editorial), is a staff writer for University over $240,000,” Fitzgerald says, “which goes day,” he says, “and learning from it.” Communications. 3 8 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 ©2016 SPIN FILM (LIFEBOAT); COURTESY SKYE FITZGERALD THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 3 9 Old Oregon CLASS NOTES Indicates UOAA Member KEVIN McCAREY, Class Notes 1970s MA ’80 (speech: telecommunication 1950s SANDRA and film), Do you ever wish we printed more notes from your class? Your classmates McDONOUGH, published his third feel that way, too. Submit a note online at OregonQuarterly.com, email BA ’76 (German, book, Moonglow it to quarterly@uoregon.edu, or mail it to Editor, Oregon Quarterly, 5228 JAMES IVORY, University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403-5228. BA ’51 (fine and journalism), who Bay, a collection applied arts), most recently served of fictional tales released Solid as president and inspired by the Ivory, a collection CEO of Oregon filmmaker’s of memories, Business & Industry, journeys from the portraits, and an organization ruins of Machu reflections on his of small and large Picchu to the islands life and career businesses that of the Spanish as an influential works to improve Caribbean, and filmmaker. the economy beyond. through policy BOB BASICH, development, was MIKE NIEHUSER, MS ’56 (general elected to the board BS ’81 (finance), studies), who died of directors of was hired as in 2000, received a Portland-based NW managing director posthumous 2022 Natural Holding and senior research Distinguished Company. analyst at Roth CLASS NOTABLE Alumni award Capital Partners, an Help Is on the Way from Saint Martin’s JOHN C. investment bank for University in MITCHELL, BS emerging growth When Folake Owodunni came to the University of Oregon Washington for ’77 (journalism), companies based from Nigeria in 2005 to study premed, she knew she a life of public released his first in Newport Beach, wanted to help people. Today, her international health service that memoir, Bird California. technology company is poised to help people across Africa. included six terms of Paradox: The It’s difficult for many people on the continent to get emergency health care, says Owodunni, BS ’08 (biology). in the state House Seasoning of Birdie THOMAS JAYNE, “People drive themselves to hospital or they get a taxi to take them of Representatives. McInnes, in October. BA ’82 (art history), and then might actually be turned away because [the hospitals] don’t was featured in have space, staff, or the right equipment,” Owodunni says. “This Homes & Gardens happens every single day.” Owodunni cofounded Emergency Response Africa, which is 1960s 1980s magazine for building a network of first responders, emergency vehicles, and his expertise hospitals to serve people experiencing medical emergencies. TRESA BEAR JAMES M. as a decorator Building the infrastructure is a massive undertaking. But the EYRES, BA ’67 FORD, BS ’80 in preserving company has received help from the Google for Startups Black traditional Founders Fund, which supports Black-led businesses, and other (elementary (management), most development partners and investors. education), recently president principles while The company, which launched in March 2021, is operating in three published her and CEO of Central invigorating houses major Nigerian cities: Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, with plans to first fiction Valley Bancorp for modern life. expand services to four more cities over the next few months. “Our hope is that within a few years we’ll be in Ghana as well as several book, Mollificent: and Central Valley other African countries,” Owodunni says. A Fairy Tale Community Bank WENDI Owodunni completed her master’s degree in global health Adventure for of California, WILLIAMS, and development at University College London but credits her Modern Girls, which announced his BS ’87 (speech: undergraduate biology and chemistry professors for laying the she described as retirement after 41 telecommunication important framework of learning she received at the UO. and film), a longtime “I love what I’m doing,” Owodunni says. “I feel incredibly an antidote to the years in the banking employee of the privileged to have this opportunity, and grateful to every single often-depicted industry, and plans person who has been on our path to getting to where the company is message of female to move near the city Roman Catholic now and where we are going.” dependence. of Palm Desert. Archdiocese —Sharleen Nelson, BS ’06 (journalism: magazine, of Washington news/editorial), University Communications 40 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 CHIDI NWANKWO, CHYDER5 STUDIOS HNW_NRG_C_Inset_NoMask the arends realty Group discover the difference. As a father/son team, we understand the importance of “home.” When Proud to serve you and our communities it comes to our business, it’s quite simple: the client always comes first. Portland Branch 805 SW Broadway, Suite 1800 | Portland, OR 97205 Our exceptional level of service has (503) 223-7711 | tom.meagher@rbc.com given us the reputation as Central us.rbcwealthmanagement.com/portlandor Oregon’s real estate team to call. Bend Branch 1133 NW Wall Street, Building 2 | Bend, OR 97703 (541) 385-5026 | pamela.j.carty@rbc.com us.rbcwealthmanagement.com/bend Eugene Branch 975 Oak Street, Suite 450 | Eugene, OR 97401 (541) 685-2015 | brooke.johnsen@rbc.com Phil Arends, Principal Broker us.rbcwealthmanagement.com/eugene 541.420.9997 phil.arends@cascadesir.com Thomas Arends, Broker Investment and insurance products: • Not insured by the 541.285.1535 FDIC or any other federal government agency • Not a thomas.arends@cascadesir.com deposit of, or guaranteed by, the bank or an affiliate of the bank • May lose value arendsrealtygroup.com 290 E Cascade Ave, Sisters, OR 97759 © 2020 RBC Wealth Management, a division of RBC Capital Markets, LLC, EACH OFFICE IS INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED. Member NYSE/FINRA/SIPC. All rights reserved. 20-PO-04228 (12/20) Will Power “ Scholarships are the primary reason I have this opportunity to pursue a college degree.” Semeredin Kundin (political science and planning, public policy and management) Is the UO in your Will? giftplan.uoregon.edu Gifts from alumni and friends like you make it possible for outstanding young leaders like Semeredin Kundin to pursue their educations at the UO. Contact us 541-346-1687 | 800-289-2354 | giftplan@uoregon.edu Old Oregon CLASS NOTES in Hyattsville, Lincoln’s Cottage, REMY EVARD, Maryland, was a historic site and MS ’92 (computer named executive museum located on and information director of the a 250-acre campus science), was diocese’s Office of in Washington, DC. appointed chief Cultural Diversity digital officer and and Outreach. head of technology 1990s at Memorial Sloan- SUSAN Kettering Cancer CUNNINGHAM, LYLLYE Center in New York BS ’88 (biology), REYNOLDS- City. became biological PARKER, BA ’91 resources and (sociology), was TIMOTHY LUKAS, land management featured in an article JD ’92, was named business group for Ms. magazine an administrative director for about equity in the partner at Holland Seattle-based housing market & Hart, a law firm in Environmental and a successful Reno, Nevada. Science Associates, community effort to an environmental LUANA ROSS, raise funds toward consulting, PhD ’92 (sociology), her purchase of a engineering, and was featured as house. planning firm. a top influential CLASS NOTABLE American MARNIE DEBORAH ALLEN, Pre and Me Indian scholar in HERRMANN, BA ’92 (radio and AcademicInfluence. BA ’88 (public television), was com, an In November 1974, University of Oregon distance runner Steve named executive vice Bence convinced the legendary Steve Prefontaine, his former relations), was organization that teammate and close friend, to run in an outlandish event: the elected to the board president of Jupiter provides rankings “Great Race.” The race was an annual UO-Oregon State University of trustees for Entertainment, a in higher education. fundraiser for muscular dystrophy during which students from each Sanford Health, a television production school ran a relay race from Eugene to Corvallis over two days. nonprofit health company based in COREY Bence promised the recently graduated Prefontaine the race New York City. would be a cakewalk, with “just a bunch of [OSU] frat guys” to beat care delivery system SCHLOSSER- in the final one-mile leg, which ended in Parker Stadium at halftime based in Sioux Falls, HALL, BS ’92 of the Ducks-Beavers football game. Instead, Pre found himself South Dakota. ROGER DeHOOG, (speech: rhetoric and chasing one of the Beavers’ top milers, who had a 15-second lead. JD ’92, an Oregon communication), Pre won by two seconds. MICHAEL Court of Appeals executive presbyter Such insider tales populate 1972: Pre, UO Track, Nike Shoes, and My Life with Them All, which first-time author Bence, BA ’75 ATWOOD judge, was appointed of Washington- (mathematics), MBA ’91 (general business), published in August. In MASON, BA ’89 to the Oregon based Northwest the book, he reminisces about his time as an All-American alongside (American studies), Supreme Court. Coast Presbytery Pre under coach Bill Bowerman. He also shares manufacturing became executive for 15 years, was stories from the early years at Nike, where Bence has worked for four director of President named director of decades in footwear sourcing. Once a nationally ranked 800-meter runner, Bence enlisted another coach to help him carry the book from concept to execution and across the finish line: author and friend Bob Welch, BS ’76 FL ASHBACK (journalism), who served as editor. The Oregon Daily Emerald reports “I knew I couldn’t be a writer without a good coach, and Bob was instrumental in helping me,” Bence says. “This was really 192 t hat Mathilda Mathisen is the sole hard—writing about Pre’s death, my own father’s death, all these student in Reign of Nero, a class in the Latin experiences at the UO and Nike, the emotions just came out. It was department. Professor Frederick Dunn says technically hard, physically hard, and emotionally hard. It’s almost like therapy.” Mathisen “devours everything in Latin with the —Matt Cooper, Oregon Quarterly same avidity with which others swallow chocolate sundaes.” To purchase, visit amazon.com and search the book title. 42 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 MARINA KOSLOW rebuilding and vision appointed a member with Glaser Weil FL ASHBACK implementation for of the policy board LLP in Los Angeles, University president Donald Erb the Presbyterian of the Atlanta- adding to the firm’s 194 approves the addition of a summer Mission Agency, based Center for capability in the term but notes a more extensive curriculum is the ministry and Transportation and retail sector. mission agency of the the Environment, necessary to serve male students “wishing to Presbyterian Church. which develops KEVIN BRIODY, BS obtain as much education as possible before clean, efficient, ’97 (history, business going into military service,” the Oregon Daily ERICKA WARREN, and sustainable administration), Emerald reports. BA ’92 (Asian transportation became chief studies), MBA ’19 technologies. marketing officer 2000s Indian scholar in chief financial officer (general business), of Edmentum, an AcademicInfluence. of Bob’s Red Mill, received an Oregon ROBERT online learning com, an organization a brand of whole- Women of Vision HOFFMAN, MArch program provider MATTHEW that provides grain foods marketed award from the ’94, was named based in Minnesota. WELLS, MA ’01 rankings in higher by Bob’s Red Mill Portland-based Daily managing principal (Asian studies), education. Natural Foods of Journal of Commerce of the Portland STEPHEN PhD ’06 (East Milwaukie. for being a leader office of Oculus GILLETT, BS ’98 Asian languages SHANNON in the construction Inc., which provides (political science), and literature), was EDDY, JD ’03, CHRISTIAN industry, shaping the architecture, interior was appointed to the selected as the new was appointed FRØKJÆR- industry and the city design, and planning board of directors of director of research deputy prosecutor JENSEN, MS with her technical services. Dutch Bros. Coffee, for the Elling Eide for Wahkiakum ’04 (biology), a skills, mentoring, the West Coast- Center, a research County in northern bioengineer at King and community JIM JOBES, based drive-through library and nature Washington. Abdullah University involvement. MArch ’94, joined beverage company. preserve in Florida of Science and the executive dedicated to the CHRIS FALK, BS Technology in Saudi TIM CLEVENGER, management team PAUL G. DIXON, study of classical ’03 (accounting), Arabia, was featured BS ’93 (journalism: at Lamar Johnson MArch ’99, Chinese literature was appointed chief in the journal Nature advertising), former Collaborative, was appointed and art. financial officer Methods, a forum executive director a design and state printer at at Shipt, an app- for the publication and board member architecture firm the California CHRISTINA L. based business that of significant of the UO Alumni based in Chicago. Department of NEWLAND, provides personal improvements to Association, was General Services, BS ’02 (business shopping and tried-and-tested basic hired as senior vice MARK C. Y. LEE, where he has administration), was delivery. research techniques president and chief BS ’94 (accounting), served as assistant hired by Kernutt in the life sciences. marketing officer MBA ’95 (general deputy director of Stokes, an Oregon- KIM GAMMOND, for Portland-based business), became operations at the based accounting BA ’03 (history), AMALIA MOHR, OnPoint Community a partner at San facility management and advisory firm, executive director BArch ’04, was Credit Union. Francisco-based division since 2018. as director of talent of the City Club of promoted to Rimon Law, where acquisition. Central Oregon, principal at LRS WENDY J. he advises celebrities DOUG PALMER, spoke to the Bend- Architects, an DIER, JD ’93, was and celebrity estates, MA ’99 (history), LEILANI based Source Weekly architecture and appointed judge studios, and high- president of SABZALIAN, podcast Bend interior design for Modoc County tech companies Missouri-based BA ’02 (education Don’t Break about firm with offices in Superior Court in copyright, Culver-Stockton studies), MEd her vision for Portland and Bend. in northeastern trademark, and right- College, announced ’03 (educational her organization, California. of-publicity matters. plans for a river leadership), its mission, and CHRISTINA KLINE, research center to PhD ’15 (critical, challenges faced BS ’05 (mathematics, KARMEN FORE, JASON increase students’ sociocultural studies during the pandemic. public relations), BA ’93 (political GRINNELL, JD awareness of the and education), was was named executive science), MA ’98 ’95, was hired as a importance of river featured as a top BRIAN GILL, BS ’03 director of the (public affairs), was real estate partner transportation. influential American (accounting), became Portland Community THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 43 Old Oregon CLASS NOTES FL ASHBACK MICHELLE TRACY WELCH, joined Samaritan 197 I n an Old Oregon feature on the KAUFMANN, JD ’12, former tribal Neuropsychology, resignation of football coach Jerry BA ’11 (cinema administrator for a medical group in Frei, editor Stan Bettis writes, “intercollegiate studies, public the Petersburg Albany, Oregon. football is a professional sport.” relations), became Indian Association vice president of in Alaska, was hired NATHAN HARRIS, communications at as executive director BA ’14 (English), College Foundation. MIRANDA NATALIE Stoller Wine Group, of United Fishermen author of the debut SUMMER, JD ’07, NOURIGAT, BA a family of wineries of Alaska, which novel The Sweetness of ANGELA SEARS, a municipal court ’10 (Clark Honors in Oregon. advocates for Water, was awarded BS ’06 (journalism: judge, was appointed College, Japanese), the industry and the 2021 Ernest J. advertising), was to Washington was featured in the JOSH WARDLE, commercial fishing Gaines Award for named director of County Circuit Court Oregonian for her MFA ’11 (digital groups from the Literary Excellence, the Spirit Mountain in Oregon. work as writer and arts), creator of Bering Sea to Seattle. presented annually Community director of the new the popular digital to an emerging Fund, the ELAINE SZETO, Disney animated word-guessing game AMBER African American philanthropic arm BA ’09 (Chinese), short film, Far from Wordle, announced WILMARTH, fiction writer to of the Confederated who earned a master the Tree. its purchase by the BA ’12 (electronic honor Gaines, Tribes of Grand of social work at New York Times. media production), whose stories gave Ronde Community Portland State MOORISHA a former television voice to African of Oregon. University, was BEY-TAYLOR, BEN DAVID, BA reporter, was Americans in rural featured in a PSU JD ’11, founding ’12 (Judaic studies), hired as media and areas. KAREN HOBSON, alumni spotlight partner of the Law was featured in the communications JD ’07, became about her career Office of Moorisha Jerusalem Post, an manager at Sentinel BRANDON a partner at in social work Bey-Taylor and Israeli English-news Resource Group, JOHNSON, JD ’14, Tonkon Torp and empowering an intellectual newspaper and a global risk was promoted to LLP, a business students and families property lawyer, website, regarding management and partner at Klarquist, and litigation in K-12 education. was recently named his business, intelligence firm a Portland-based law firm serving among Top Lawyers Kinamon catering. based in San Jose, intellectual property public companies, Under 40–Nation’s California. law firm. substantial private 2010s Best Advocates HENRY FIELDS, enterprises, by the National BA ’12 (Clark LOU MOULDER, BO LOKOMBO, and individuals Bar Association, Honors College, DAVID BA ’13 (dance), was BA ’14 (journalism), throughout the and received the political science), the HOFFENBERG featured by Eugene was named most , Northwest. Outstanding Recent Oregon Employment Weekly as founder of outstanding BS ’10 (business Alumni Award Department’s Rebelle Movement Canadian by the administration), was CRISTEN from the UO School workforce analyst studio, which offers Canadian Football included in Idaho HEMINGWAY of Law. and economist for a dance experience League, where he is Falls magazine’s JAYNES, JD ’07, Lane and Douglas with the adult a linebacker for the Distinguished wrote an article CLAIRE BOPP, counties, spoke at student in mind. BC Lions. Under 40 feature about Comet JD ’11, a litigation the City Club of for his work as Leonard, a comet attorney who Eugene in December MICHELLE FONG, BLAKE STANTON, chief operations discovered early represents clients regarding the local MS ’14, PhD ’19 BA ’14 (general officer at Eastern in 2021, for in federal and state labor shortage. (psychology), a social science), Idaho Regional EcoWatch, which trial and appellate neuropsychologist, was featured in Medical Center, provides science- courts, mediation, where he has led based content on and arbitration, was capital improvement environmental elected a partner at projects totaling FL ASHBACK issues, causes, Bond, Schoeneck & more than $25 The Pacific Northwest Resource Center and solutions for King, a firm based million. 198 closes its campus doors. Critics charged a healthier planet in Syracuse, New and life. York. that the center, which offered legal experience to law students, was biased in favor of environmentalists. 44 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 AfroTech, a tech, SARA GOODRUM, LaMICHEAL Photographers NATHAN STEIN, Theatre since 2017, investing, and BS ’15 (human JAMES, BA ’16 collective, an BA ’18 (history), was hired as interim wealth-building physiology), who (general social organization who has worked executive director. platform for the served as minor science), franchisee dedicated to in Montana state Black community, league hitting of Killer Burger, a displaying government and CASEY DAGGETT, as the founder of the coordinator for the Pacific Northwest the talents of grassroots advocacy JD ’19, joined Schulte Quiktract app, which Milwaukee Brewers, burger brand, Black women in Helena and Roth & Zabel, an helps entrepreneurs became director of announced the and nonbinary Butte, was hired international law and freelancers player development opening of a location photographers, as a development firm, as an associate connect, develop for the Houston in Lake Oswego. has partnered with assistant at in the firm’s mergers/ contracts, and secure Astros. Nikon on a $50,000 Bridgercare, acquisitions and payments. MORGAN grant to assist a nonprofit securities group MILON MANNIS, THOMAS, MFA ’16 creatives with their reproductive health in New York THOMAS “TJ” BA ’15 (international (creative writing), projects. care facility in City, focusing on FIORELLI, BS studies), a former released Manywhere: Bozeman. transactions involving ’15 (planning, executive at the Stories, a debut CAROLYN bankruptcy assets. public policy and Los Angeles- collection of stories NGUYEN, JESSICA RUTH management), based Creative that spotlight BArch ’18, joined BAKER, MNM MARIANA MPA ’17, Tillamook Artists Agency, queer, trans, and Portland-based FFA ’19 (nonprofit DOMINGUEZ, County housing joined Clubhouse genderqueer people. Architecture and management), BArch ’19, was coordinator, was Media Group, an Interiors, providing who has been hired by BCRA, featured in a story influencer-based POLLY IRUNGU, support for projects involved with the a Washington- by the Tillamook social media firm BA ’17 (journalism), including Forest community-based based design and County Pioneer. and digital talent founder of Grove City Hall. Eugene theater architecture firm, management agency. Black Women company Very Little and works in the IN MEMORIAM CORNELIS A. “KEES” de KLUYVER, 1950–2022 As dean of the Charles H. Lundquist College of Business from 2010 to 2015, Cornelis A. “Kees” de Kluyver, BA ’70, MBA ’71 (marketing), oversaw one of the most active periods in the college’s history. During his tenure, two wings of the Lillis Business Complex— Anstett and Chiles halls—were completely renovated; the Business Research Institute opened; the college launched a first-of-its- kind master of science in sport product management program in Portland and assumed sole oversight of the Portland-based Oregon Executive MBA program (formerly a joint venture between the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and Portland State University); and construction began on the facility at 109 NW Naito Parkway, which would become the college’s home in Portland. As a student, de Kluyver earned degrees from the UO as part of an innovative exchange program in the 1960s and ’70s between the university and Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands. He went on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees in operations research at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and then embarked on a career in academia and management consulting for more than 40 years. Known for his heart, smile, and vast collection of suspenders, de Kluyver enjoyed wood carving, playing banjo with West Coast traditional jazz bands, and redesigning backyard spaces. Through the years, his sons were delighted with the play structures, tree houses, bridges, gazebos, and carved wooden animals he created. THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 45 Old Oregon CLASS NOTES FL ASHBACK 200 N ovelist and American icon Ken Kesey, BS ’57 (speech), who died in November 2001, is remembered in Oregon Quarterly. “I’m not writing to reveal my soul to the reader,” one contributor recalls Kesey saying. “I’m writing to reveal the reader’s soul to the reader.” Tacoma office, LUKE ZAK, Present and Future supporting the MBA ’21 (general Veterans. residential market. business), joined the Washington County WILLIAM Visitors Association EDWARD WHERE YOU CAN... 2020s as sports destination FIEGENBAUM, BS RELAX, ENJOY, ESCAPE sales executive, ’69, (psychology), HARRISON KASS, charged with leading MS ’70 (special JD ’20, wrote an the destination education), died Discover the Oregon Coast. article that appeared group sales and June 2. He was a Discover the Overleaf Lodge. on Fansided, a service function school psychologist for the sports and for Portland Public YACHATS, OREGON network of sports 800-338-0507 • OVERLEAFLODGE.COM websites, about social, military, Schools, and his his experience as a educational, interests included COME EXPERIENCE OUR NEW WINE hockey player in the religious, and golf, tennis, world CELLAR AND TASTINGS! Federal Prospects fraternal group travel, wine, birds, Hockey League. markets. and UO athletics. JACK FORREST, DAVID C. BS ’21 (journalism, MAGINNIS, IN MEMORIAM political science), BS ’71 (general was hired as an social science), BRING YOUR FRIEND TO THE BEACH Discover the Oregon Coast. Discover the Fireside Motel. YACHATS, OREGON 800-336-3573 • FIRESIDEMOTEL.COM editorial intern at CAROLINE died February Politico, a political ELIZABETH 6. A member of journalism company “BEE” DePREZ, Alpha Tau Omega based in Virginia. BA ’42 (sociology), fraternity who met died December his wife, Barbara, REYN YOSHIOKA, 1. She was in college, he was PhD ’21 (biology), active in service a carpenter known was a coauthor on organizations, for kindness, love, the study, “Warming was a volunteer and spending Sea Surface coordinator for the satisfying hours Temperatures Fuel San Diego County sitting outside with Summer Epidemics Jail Release Aid a cat on his lap and of Eelgrass Wasting Program, and with a book in his hand. BRING YOUR FRIEND Disease,” published her husband, Dick, TO THE BEACH in the Marine Ecology pioneered the GERALD JAMES Progress Series, a specialty of assisting “GERRY” peer-reviewed transitioning STALEY, DEd ’71 Discover the Oregon Coast. scientific journal veterans by (educational policy Discover the Fireside Motel. that covers marine coauthoring the and management), ecology. Resume and Job- died January 15. A YACHATS, OREGON 800-336-3573 • FIRESIDEMOTEL.COM Hunting Guide for devout Christian who 46 OREGON QUARTERLY | S P R I N G 2022 enjoyed long-distance August 10. She She is survived by walks with his wife, was a therapist, her sisters, Katrin Betty, he worked in counselor, teacher, Back-Schück and education for the and author Irene Gräfin von Vancouver School who served as Schwerin, her Board of British lead faculty husband, Britton Columbia, Canada, and curriculum Reeser, and her where he served as a architect for daughters, Dora teacher, principal, and the Women in and Colette. superintendent before Transition program retiring in 1993. at Lane Community JAMES ROBERT College for nearly “BOB” HLADKY, JOEL PAUL 30 years. professor emeritus DeGRAND, MFA in the School of ’73 (visual design), Music and Dance, died January died January 21. 20. A lifetime FACULTY IN A World War MEMORIAM photographer, he II veteran and also taught high professional cellist, school and college SONJA BOOS, an he taught cello and photography, associate professor string bass for more including 20 years of German, died than 30 years in as an adjunct June 21. Author of what was then the professor at important books School of Music, Columbia College on Holocaust inspiring students of Chicago. He discourse in post- as a teacher, self-published World War II promoter, and role 17 books of his Germany and on model. He received photography and his the history of the the American work was acquired German novel in String Teachers for museums, connection with Association corporations, and neuroscience, she Citation for private collections. was a beloved Exceptional teacher, mentor, Leadership and CARA DiMARCO, colleague, and Merit and with BA ’80 (English), friend who will be his wife, Joan, ran MS ’86 (journalism), sorely missed by Hladky’s Tree Farm MS ’88 (counseling), many in the Eugene in Pleasant Hill. PhD ’92 (counseling community and psychology), died around the world. FL ASHBACK 201 D uring the US Olympic Team Trials—Track and Field at Hayward Field in June, 10 Ducks qualify for the London Summer Olympics: Ashton Eaton ’10, Cyrus Hostetler ’10, Matthew Centrowitz ’11, Rachel Yurkovich ’09, Andrew Wheating ’10, Keshia Baker ’10, Galen Rupp ’09, and Becky Holliday ’03, all representing the USA; Brianne Theisen ’11 (Canada); and Zoe Buckman ’11 (Australia). THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF OREGON 47 Old Oregon DUCKS AFIELD 1 2 3 4 5 6 We love Duck migrations! Send photos of you, Ducks Afiel 1 . Joey, a Ducks dog and traveling companion of LARA DUNN, MA ’96 classmates, family, (communication disorders and sciences), relaxes at Lake Como, Montana 2. The and friends showing DOMOGALLAS hiked in California’s San Jacinto Mountains (left to right): DAVID, BArch UO pride worldwide. Visit OregonQuarterly.com and submit ’86; LYNDA ANDERSON, BArch ’85; BRYAN, BS ’16 (economics, business a high-resolution JPEG image. administration); JORDYN, BS ’14 (human physiology); ALEC, BS ’14, MActg ’15 (accounting); and Bria—class of 2042! 3. DON WALLACE, BS ’96 (marketing), summited California’s Mount Whitney in August 4. MICHAEL McCABE, MS ’88 (curriculum and instruction), at Heaven Lake, a crater lake on the border between China and North Korea 5. The KLOTTERS—JANA, an accounting alumna, class of 1995, and DONALD, BA ’86 (Clark Honors College, German)—notched a bucket-list item with a trip to Egypt and the Giza Plateau 6. PATRICK BROWN, BS ’75 (real estate), in Hilo, Hawaii 4 8 OREGON QUARTERLY | AS PURTIUNMG N20 220219 Where ideas come to live. opb.org | Full Spectrum News ORQuarterly_slogans.indd 8 12/8/20 6:29 AM Old Oregon DUCK TALE Finding steep valley wall. Out of habit, I categorize the growth as we walk: mountain hemlock saplings, dark-leaved huckleberry, sword fern. Nefertiti After 20 minutes, abruptly, the trail ends. We stand on a hillside in a beautiful forest, dense with wet life, growing and rotting, but BY TOM BODE there are no giants here. It is silent in the falling snow. Luna sits down and looks at me. “Where do we go now?” Is tart the hike with false urgency, excited I sit under a tree to think. I can’t make after hours in the car. It is late fall and sense of the map and my GPS app isn’t snowing, which I am not expecting. I The author and his hiking companion, working. Maybe the dense trees are blocking Luna, at Crabtree Lake watch the flakes melt into my clothes. “Cotton the signal. Sitting in snow with no navigation kills,” they say, because it won’t keep you tools, I feel a swell of worry. warm when wet—but here I am, in jeans. I turn to backtrack on the path and Luna Crabtree Valley, deep in the foothills sprints down the hill with the speed of a cold, of the Cascades east of Albany, is a place wet dog going home. I forget myself for a where winding logging roads stitch together moment and joyfully run with her. We dodge call her back. Not this time, dog. patches of clear-cut. I’m on a quixotic trip; I bushes and hop onto the wide trunks of fallen Just past it, the landscape changes and have driven hours to see Douglas firs, which trees, highways above the thick undergrowth. we enter an ancient part of the forest. The grow in my backyard. But there’s a story of When we stop, the trail is gone. I’ve been lost undergrowth is gone and huge cedars, a giant tree here, called Nefertiti, surviving before, but never alone, and never in weather hemlocks, and firs rise from the flat ground. through the years by luck or fate. There are this bad. The snow is beautiful and cold. Are Luna and I are in the heart of Crabtree. Thick still magical places in Oregon. I’m hoping to the flurries a light prelude to winter or the nurse logs support new growth that is itself find one. opening salvo of a storm? My skin prickles as hundreds of years old. My dog, Luna, trots alongside. The my mind races. I realize I no longer need to find Nefertiti. unexpected flakes are a visual delight, I push down panic, and carefully walk The whole grove is itself a wonder. Luna may turning white the browns and greens of the toward an unexpected change in the pattern live 10 years. I may live 100 years. These trees dark forest. At the shore of Crabtree Lake, of the forest—the lake?—a quarter-mile away, may live 1,000 years. Of all the magical places fresh snow outlines dark firs and the still downhill. We emerge into a cliff-top clearing. in the world consumed by progress, this one water inverts the earth and sky. My map But this cliff is on my map. We are found. has been spared. I sit on a log and rest. Luna is shows an informal path to Nefertiti. We find Luna and I return to the lake, not giving too excited to eat from her bowl. Under the tall a faint trail leading into the forest. Luna runs up on finding Nefertiti. I see the same faint trees, I feed her like a puppy from my hand. up it, and I follow. trail leading into the forest that we’d followed Tom Bode, BS ’09 (Clark Honors College, The trail rises nearly straight up the earlier. Luna starts to run up it again, but I economics), lives in Milwaukie, Oregon. 5 0 OREGON QUARTERLY | SPRING 2022 TOM BODE