MARK CAREYRobert Donald Clark Honors College

An assistant professor of history, Mark Carey specializes in environmental history and the history of science. His integrative approach to climate-change research incorporates environmental history, Latin American history, social history, and glaciology. His book, In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers: Climate Change and Andean Society, examines the human costs of climate change in Peru and weighs the implications of glacier retreat.

“I’m not a traditional historian,” Carey says. “Most historians spend all their time in the archive reading, but I like to get out and go to the mountains. Analyzing scientists and engineers in the field and talking with the people who actually live near glaciers provides depth and understanding to issues that are happening now.”

MAJOR AWARDS

• National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development

• Elinor Melville Prize, Conference on Latin American History

• Faculty Excellence Award, Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence

DISCOVERING NEW CONNECTIONS

CREATING BRIGHTER FUTURES

LESLIE LEVECollege of Education

A professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Services, Leslie Leve specializes in translating basic research into successful intervention practices to support at-risk youth and families. In addition to her work with children in foster care and the juvenile justice system, Leve’s research includes interdisciplinary work exploring the genetic, psychological, and social influences on the development of adopted children living with new families.

“I initially became interested in helping at-risk youth when I was in graduate school, and later at an independent research institute,” says Leve. “I recently joined the University of Oregon to have the opportunity to work with students and faculty members across a variety of disciplines. I am interested in understanding why mental health and health problems run in families, and by forging collaborations with experts in neurobiology, genetics, and psychology, we can more fully understand how to help children develop to their fullest potential.”

MAJOR AWARDS

• External grants totaling more than $50 million

• Multiple competitively funded grants from the National Institutes of Health

• Prevention Science Award from the Society for Prevention Research

CRIS NIELLInstitute of Neuroscience

An assistant professor of biology, Cris Niell studies the neural circuitry of the visual system to explain the mechanisms behind visual perception. A former physicist, Niell turned to biology because he wanted to learn how the brain functions. He is currently working on a project examining the neural pathways and behavioral states in the mouse visual system as well as research studying the development of the visual system to understand how neurons establish appropriate circuits that perform specific computations.

“I’ve been really excited about how quickly our research has gotten going here at the UO,” Niell says. “We’re also expanding into a lot of new directions I wouldn’t have expected, including working with groups in psychology to use mouse vision to understand memory and attention, and working with a group in physics to design fractal electrodes that could be used for retinal prostheses.”

MAJOR AWARDS

• National Institutes of Health New Innovator Award

• Searle Scholar

• Sloan Research Fellowship

EXPLORING PATHWAYS