University of Oregon faculty and staff are moving into the newest building at the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact.
The campus is a collection of buildings on UO’s main campus in Eugene. Building Two includes faculty research and instructional space, a makerspace where students can test new concepts, computational research space for theoretical and machine-based research, and labs where biotech startups can develop.
The building is 185,000 square feet and allows the university to further develop its Bioengineering Department, which announced a doctoral program in late 2020 and had its first graduate in early 2025.
“We’re really able to recruit people from across the world because of access to facilities and buildings like this,” said Rachel Bedford, Research Associate for Scientific Communication at the Knight Campus Communications Office. "That’s on a faculty level, but that trickles all the way down. We can recruit competitive Ph.D. students that are making really fantastic contributions to their lab and really help elevate the reputation of the University of Oregon."
Among the new faculty recruits is David Peeler, an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Washington and was doing post-doctoral work at University of Oxford before moving to Eugene a few months ago.
“At the science level, this is pretty much a best-case scenario for starting out as a new [principal investigator],” said Peeler, whose work is focused on RNA immunotherapies. “I didn’t have to be the first person to build the department. Basically, I get to walk in and enjoy the second phase, but still have a big role in influencing the direction the department takes.”
He said the new building is oriented around fostering collaboration between researchers.
The campus also includes two centers that allow biotech startup companies to lease space while working toward their next step.
“The different variety of spaces that are available really helps accommodate startups at a variety of different stages,” said Terra Hiebert, Lab Manager for the Papé Family Innovation Center. That center already has five tenants in its space in Building One.
She said companies that would become tenants in the spaces would likely have struggled to find space in Eugene, meaning they would possibly find a lab in makeshift warehouse space or relocate outside of the city.
Nike founder Phil Knight and his wife Penny donated $1 billion toward the campus. The money came in two donations: one in 2016 and another in 2021.
