The Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact is an ambitious initiative to fast-track scientific discoveries into innovations that improve the quality of life for people in Oregon, the nation, and the world. The campus creates the intellectual infrastructure to establish Oregon as a center for both research and development, making Oregon a place where companies can start-up, grow, and stay.
Mission: Science advancing society
Vision: Dramatically shorten the timeline between discovery and societal impact through world-class research, training and entrepreneurship in a nimble scientific enterprise.
Goals:
- Redefine the modern research university by fostering world-changing research unfettered by traditional academic boundaries
- Serve as the educational engine driving the new economy of Oregon
- Transform student education through discovery-driven learning
- Engage the public in the excitement and creativity of scientific research
- Foster diverse perspectives and participation in scientific research
- Improve the health and wellbeing of the citizens of Oregon, the nation, and the world
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: When does Building 2 open?
A: Spring 2026. Stay tune to our Building 2 page for updates. Building 2 will put the “Campus” in Knight Campus, creating the space for engineering with an emphasis on meeting the dynamic needs of engineering students, as well as faculty, research staff, entrepreneurs, and other users of the space.
Q: Why Bioengineering?
A: It offers a means to integrate engineering technology and data science with business acumen to accelerate research translation into social impact.
Q. Is the Knight Campus Building 1 open to the public?
A: Yes! It is not just open but we encourage people to visit and make use of the facilities. Three of our five floors have significant space available to the public, including our lovely covered terrace on the second floor, during regular business hours Monday – Friday 7am to 5pm. And yes, the bridge is available to the public to cross Franklin Boulevard during those same hours. The Knight Campus space is intentionally designed to foster collisions of people and ideas and that is often how new ideas take root and grow into new opportunities and innovations.
Q: What are the Knight Campus research focus areas?
A: The Department of Bioengineering is currently composed of 12 independent faculty-led labs with research programs in biomaterials, medical sensors and devices, protein engineering and synthetic biology, neural engineering, biomedical artificial intelligence, regenerative rehabilitation and human performance, and other areas.
Q: What academic programs are offered by the Knight Campus?
A: The Knight Campus houses UO’s first-ever engineering department, the Department of Bioengineering. It offers a joint Ph.D. program with Oregon State University (launched fall 2020) and an undergraduate minor (launched fall 2021). The Knight Campus Graduate Internship Program is a nationally recognized, applied master’s program with five different program tracks that have a focus on industry-relevant technical and professional skills. Program tracks span the fields of engineering, physics, chemistry, and biology. Knight Campus Undergraduate Scholars program pairs promising undergraduates in their second or third year with research mentors and immerses them in a 12-month comprehensive research experience in Knight Campus-affiliated labs. It also offers a Brewing Innovation Minor that leverages science and engineering, history, innovation, and storytelling to teach the craft and science of brewing.
Q: How is the Knight Campus training future innovators?
A: Starting from the moment they arrive on campus, our early-career trainees begin an intensive, five-day series of workshops and applied sessions known as Impact Week. During this week and throughout their time at the Knight Campus, our students receive comprehensive, hands-on professional development training and unprecedented access to opportunities and innovators with real world relevance. Going back to the Restor3D example, two of the Ph.D. students involved in the original research have since graduated and are serving as the chief technology officer and chief operating officer. The strategy of training our Ph.D. students to have business skills is something we have embraced in the Knight Campus by partnering with the UO Lundquist College of Business, and together we have developed a required course on innovation and entrepreneurship. There are other opportunities to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship, including through our Entrepreneurship Speaker Series and with our Papé Family Innovation Center tenants who are eager to hire local talent. Additionally, Building 2 will feature plenty of maker’s spaces for students to learn, prototype and test their inventions.
Q: How does the Knight Campus promote the translation of research discoveries into societal impact?
A: Collaboration is key to our effectiveness in catalyzing convergent scientific research. What is convergent science? It is an approach that recognizes solving tough problems requires combining different skills and technologies to enable transformative impact. It’s a simple concept but one not easy to implement effectively. The initial focus of the Knight Campus is on the convergence of biosciences, bioengineering, and data science to impact human health, but you can imagine this same playbook being applied to other grand challenge areas in the future. exciting advancements that can happen through the convergence of people, technology and science from different areas.
Q: How is the Knight Campus training future innovators?
A: Starting from the moment they arrive on campus, our early-career trainees begin an intensive, five-day series of workshops and applied sessions known as Impact Week. During this week and throughout their time at the Knight Campus, our students receive comprehensive, hands-on professional development training and unprecedented access to opportunities and innovators with real world relevance. The strategy of training our Ph.D. students to have business skills is something we have embraced in the Knight Campus by partnering with the UO Lundquist College of Business, and together we have developed a required course on innovation and entrepreneurship. There are other opportunities to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship, including through our Entrepreneurship Speaker Series and with our Papé Family Innovation Center tenants who are eager to hire local talent. Additionally, Building 2 will feature plenty of maker’s spaces for students to learn, prototype and test their inventions.