Preserving Foundations, Expanding Possibilities: Software Engineering in the Age of Generative AI
Instructor: Ramakrishnan Durairajan, associate professor of computer science
Funded Amount: $20,625
Generative AI tools are now widely used in industry to accelerate coding, debugging and design, but higher education lacks clear models for integrating these tools into foundational computing courses. As a result, courses risk either banning AI and becoming disconnected from contemporary practice or allowing unrestricted use that undermines deep conceptual learning. Durairajan will redesign CS 322, Introduction to Software Engineering, to develop a formal AI-integrated framework grounded in structured reflection, metacognition, and ethical reasoning. The model could be adapted beyond CS 322, enabling facultyacross disciplines to implement AI integration responsibly.
Founding an Experiential Education Datalab
Instructors: Emily Gade, assistant professor of political science
Funded Amount: $18,820
Rapid advances in generative AI are reshaping how students engage with research and writing, requiring universities to rethink approaches to critical thinking, methodological rigor, and ethical reasoning. Gade will establish a research lab to address these challenges through a structured research internship model that integrates undergraduate learning, faculty research, and graduate student training. Using a “train-the-trainer" model, a small group of undergraduates will receive intensive summer training and then mentor peers during the academic year, fostering collaborative problem-solving and judgment under uncertainty. The lab will also cultivate professional soft skills and prepare students for research careers at the intersection of academic scholarship and applied, career-relevant research experience.
The Kitchen Lab
Instructors: Lindsay Hinkle, associate teaching professor of chemistry, and Rebecca Altman, assistant teaching professor of natural sciences
Funded Amount: $10,320
Hinkle and Altman will create a new 300-level lab course exploring the chemical components of fats and proteins in food and the changes these molecules undergo during cooking. By connecting the molecular properties of ingredients to their tangible macroscopic changes in food products, students will learn real-world applications of classic chemistry principles. This new course address will use a kitchen space as a lab and address challenges of teaching labs. In the liberal arts-focused Clark Honors College.
Energy and Materials within Planetary Boundaries
Instructors: Sarah Klain, assistant professor of environmental studies, and Celeste Melamed, assistant professor of chemistry
Funded Amount: $14,170
Klain and Melamed will launch a 300-level course spanning the fundamentals of energy, materials science, and ecological economics. The course will help students gain interdisciplinary critical thinking and scientific analysis skills needed to understand how and why modern societies produce and consume energy and materials as well as the consequences of these choices. The course is intended to bridge the gap between how physical scientists and engineers understand energy and material systems and how social scientists and humanists understand the societal, ethical, and political dimensions of these systems.
Science Literacy for the Citizens of Earth
Instructor: Disha Okhai, assistant teaching professor of Earth Sciences
Funded Amount: $7,200
Okhai will launch a new 100-level course for non-science majors to fulfill general science credits that will equip students with the science literacy skills required to engage with science as informed citizens. Students will learn to evaluateg graphics and plots in media representations of science; examine topics such as climate change, natural hazards, and other geologic phenomena with a critical eye towards potential misrepresentations; and gain an understanding of the broad scientific consensus around these topics. Courses would be limited to 20 students to allow for deeper connections with the instructor, and so students can safely take part in field trips.
Making Maps: Field-based Learning in the Liberal Arts
Instructor: Kristen Rahilly, assistant teaching professor of natural science
Funded Amount: $4,812
Rahilly will teach a new 300-level course in Clark Honors College called Making Maps: Heat Islands. The course will use the UO campus as a field laboratory to measure the “urban heat island” effect, where vegetated land cover results in cooler temperatures compared to areas with significant paved surfaces. Students will make field-based measurements of surface temperature using infrared thermometers and portable weather sensors. The course will be taught over multiple years, so each class will contribute to a multi-season and multi-year dataset that can be used to study how land cover across different areas of campus affect surface temperature.
Community-based Applied Research Experiences: Establishing a Scalable Framework for Environmental Design Studio
Instructors: Kory Russel, assistant professor of landscape architecture and environmental studies, Kim Karlsrud, visiting assistant professor, and Peter Olson, pro tem instructor.
Funded Amount: $25,923
This project will embed a community-based research project into the course content and pedagogy of ENVD 289, a keystone and required studio course in the Environmental Design curriculum. Working with a community partner that provides transitional housing in underutilized parking lots, the first phase would develop low-tech gray water planter systems. Currently, gray water from sinks and showers must be collected and moved offsite at significant cost. The proposed planter-based system would use plant filtration and evapotranspiration strategies to treat and re-use the water on site, providing multiple benefits.
Building a Culture of Writing in the Age of Generative AI
Instructors: Michelle Stuckey, associate teaching professor of English, and Emily Simnett, teaching professor of English
Funded Amount: $13,654
This project was provided seed money to support cross-institutional discussions and develop recommendations on writing curriculum in the age of generative AI. The project will explore questions such as: How can genAI I be used to help students without replacing the critical thinking and communication skills students develop through writing? How can genAI support student research? How can AI literacy be scaffolded across the curriculum, so students build skills deliberately over time? Faculty members across disciplines who teach core education courses will be recruited to participate in these discussions.