It’s one of the most powerful ways to learn: learning by doing.

That’s at the heart of undergraduate research, an area of rapid growth at the University of Oregon. And for the first time ever, Oregon Quarterly is showcasing student projects to create new knowledge. The autumn issue is available now.

Winners of the Peter O’Day Fellowship in Biological Sciences are exploring brain plasticity, estuary conservation, the relationship of histamines to blood pressure, and proprioception — the sense of one’s own body in space. Follow them around the lab, along the coastline and even into a virtual world as they dig into complex questions with real-world ramifications for Parkinson’s disease, climate change and more.

Another student traveled to Nepal and India to examine Tibetan culture and Western influence. Her work accompanies a feature on another Tibetan treasure — the snow leopard — and what could be a surprising ally in conservation (no spoilers here). Experiences in undergraduate research are as diverse as the students behind them, as evidenced in a young psychology student who has moved from the streets to a doctoral track and an English scholar who found intersections between department history and Japanese-American internment policies of World War II.

There’s more to this OQ than undergraduate research, however. The issue celebrates the 10th anniversary of PathwayOregon, expands on plans to improve student success with a new corps of advisors and explores the power of poetry, as practiced by alumnus Kim Stafford, the state’s new poet laureate.

It all ends with a Duck Tale on a much-misunderstood member of punctuation — yes, you’ll be delighted to learn what the comma can teach you about life.