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Knights commit $1 billion to establish a college of engineering at the UO

Phil and Penny Knight have committed $1 billion—the largest gift ever given to a comprehensive public university—to the University of Oregon, with the intention to establish a college of engineering located at the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact.The new college would educate engineers and applied scientists in bioengineering and other high-demand disciplines, attract faculty and researchers to a growing campus and accelerate the university’s ability to move discoveries out of the laboratory and into products, therapies, technologies and companies.

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Portrait of Marian Hettiaratchi with announcement of new investigator award
Hettiaratchi One of Four Scientists to be Honored by Medical Research Foundation of Oregon
Marian Hettiaratchi, Lary Simpson Professor and Associate Professor in the Knight Campus Department of Bioengineering, will receive the Richard T. Jones New Investigator Award during an Oct. 1, 2026 ceremony at the OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
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Peak Oregon

The University of Oregon announces Peak Oregon, a Partnership to Supercharge Sports with Science. The $5 million lead gift will unite scientists, engineers, clinicians, and performance experts in translating research into real-world results starting with Oregon's student-athletes and expanding to athletes at all skills and ages.

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Ambati Featured in Eugene Weekly
Knight Campus Research Professor Bala Ambati was profiled in the Aug. 27 edition of the Eugene Weekly. Among other things, Ambati discussed becoming a Guinness World Record holder for being the world’s youngest doctor, and his move to Eugene to pursue his research at the Knight Campus.
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Knight Campus Researchers Engineer Molecules That Stagger the Release of Regenerative Cues

By engineering highly targeted molecules, called affibodies, and controlling when they release regenerative cues, researchers from the Marian Hettiaratchi Lab, are developing ways to help muscle, bone, and spinal cord injuries heal better and faster.

black and white portrait with text overlay and underlay of his name, reading "Bala" on top and "Ambati" on bottom
Ambati's TEDxPortland Talk Now Streaming
Knight Campus research professor Bala Ambati's April 11, 2026, TEDxPortland talk, "The Ticking Time Bomb of Childhood Nearsightedness," is now streaming on the TEDx YouTube page
Semiconductor students in lab
Knight Campus to Benefit from New NSF Semiconductor Funding

The Knight Campus will benefit directly and indirectly from recently announced funding from a new National Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Innovation Engine award. As part of FAST (Frontiers of Advanced Semiconductor Technology), the UO and its statewide collaborators represent one of 12 nationwide partners in the program.

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Knight Campus Department of Bioengineering to Welcome Two New Faculty Members

Neuroscientists Colin Bredenberg and Zoé Christenson Wick will join the department in September 2026, bringing research with the potential to deepen understanding of the neural basis of learning and neurodegenerative aging.

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Plesa Receives Tenure, Promoted to Associate Professor of Bioengineering
Calin Plesa, Ph.D., was recently promoted to associate professor with indefinite tenure in the Department of Bioengineering. Plesa joined the Knight Campus in June 2019 and has since built a research program that is reshaping how scientists design and test genetic sequences at scale.
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CBDS Hosts Inaugural Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Workshop
The Center for Biomedical Data Science (CBDS) hosted its inaugural workshop, designed to equip experimental scientists with the data science skills needed to advance their research.
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Knight Campus Celebrates 145 Graduates at Second Annual Commencement
On June 15, 2026, the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact hosted its second annual commencement ceremony, honoring 145 graduates across academic programs.

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