OPLSS 2026 Info | University of Oregon

I'm not sure how the Pacific Northwest looks to people from other regions of the US and other countries.

Eugene is very low in terms of interpersonal crime, but higher in property crime. So, while none of my friends have ever been mugged, bikes left in the open on campus after 6PM are not safe.

In the West Coast states (Oregon, Washington and California) there is no separate minimum wage for some workers. Thus, a tip is never required. If you receive good service, you should tip however much you feel is comensurate with the service you received. In certain other, backward states, there is a separate minimum wage for certain workers to accomodate continued slavery after the Civil War. In those states, tipping is expected in order for the workers to make a living wage.

The State of Oregon does not collect a sales tax on most things. Therefore, the price listed is the price you will pay. Certain non-tangible things, like hotel stays, are subject to a local tax.

Because of the mountainous nature of the Pacific Northwest, the rivers are well controlled by dams. The almost constant rain in winter can cause the ground to become unstable and trees to fall. Although there have been spectacular mudslides in the Pacific Northwest, they have generally been hundreds of miles from Eugene during the winter. We do not have hurricanes, but the wind can combine with the rain to cause trees to fall and knock out power lines. This really doesn't happen in summer, though. With global climate change, any sense of "normal" weather is a myth, but prior to 2000, it didn't rain in Oregon from June 21 to September 1. During OPLSS in 2009, this trend was broken when it rained at 8PM for about 30 seconds. Since then, it has rained several times during OPLSS, one year lasting all through the night.

Being mostly evergreen forest, the Pacific Northwest is subject to forest fires in the summer. In 2017, teenagers started a fire in the Columbia River Gorge (near Mount Hood by Portland) by setting off illegal fireworks. The fire was declared "contained" after three months, but wasn't fully extenguished until the next summer. About 150 hikers were trapped in the smoke overnight. The old Highway (a tourism experience you shouldn't miss) was closed for a year. A section of the Pacific Crest Trail (the western-most section of the Great Western Loop) was closed for a year. The air quality in Eugene, 150 miles away, was severely affected with residents advised to stay indoors for several weeks. The kid who started the fire was sentenced to 12 months of community service and a $36.6 million fine. In 2020, the Holiday Farm fire caused a shelter in place order for Eugene residents, followed by several weeks of stay indoors advisories. (The first morning, I woke at 4am thinking I had left the stove on and the house was on fire.) In general, OPLSS occurs too early in the summer to be affected by forest fire air quality issues.

Occasionally, we have very small earthquakes. They're so small that I usually don't notice until it's reported in the news. However, western Oregon is in the Cascadia Subduction Zone , which runs from Vancouver Island to Mendocino California , and makes up our local participation in the Ring of Fire . Each year, North America moves about 1 ½ inches to the left. This causes the Juan de Fuca Plate, which holds up the local bit of the Pacific Ocean, to be subducted under the North American Plate. Actually, it does not so much subduct as lock together and build up pressure. Then about every 500 years, a massive earthquake (about 9.0 magnitude with resulting North American/Asian tsunami) occurs and the plates slip past each other really fast only to lock up again. The last Cascadia earthquake happened on Jan 26, 1700 at 9PM, (we know the time even though there were no Europeans living here, because we know when the tsumani created devastation in Japan the next day) so your trip to Oregon will probably miss the destruction of the Pacific Northwest by about 30 years. I appologize for the lost tourism opportunity, but the next cascadia subduction event will be glorius when Vancouver, Portland and Seattle are destroyed in a massive fiery cataclysm.

In case you're worried about war, the last time Oregon was involved in local fighting was 1942 in World War II, when a Japanese submarine fired on the military base at the mouth of the Columbia River, but missed and destroyed a local sports field instead. The kids were not playing there at the time. The same submarine then launched a plane which dropped two incendiary bombs into the forest, igniting fires that were quickly extinguished. In 2025, when President Trump declared that Portland was in a state of war lead by people in chicken costumes, federal judges found this not credible, but hilarious.

Before the 1940's, war with Britain almost broke out in 1846 over the border. Prior to that time, the word "Oregon" was claimed by Europeans to be a Native American word referring to a large, fresh water lake in what is now southern British Columbia. Linguists find no credible word in the 300+ Native American dialects spoken here, and there is no such lake, but when no lake was found, the word came to refer to the area from what is now southern British Columbia down to what is now the California-Oregon border. Although most European occupants of that territory were French fur trappers who worked for the Hudson Bay Company, which labeled the area of what is now all of British Columbia down to what is now Eugene, Oregon as the Columbia Department of the Hudson Bay Company, eventually the word Oregon referred the United States loyalists who wanted to extend America to the Pacific Ocean. The Oregonians had the slogan "54-40 or Fight!". Setting the border at the 54.4^th parallel would have given Oregon most of what is now Canadian British Columbia. The purchase of Seward's Folly from Russia, along with extending Oregon up to the 54.4^th paralell would have given Britain only 200 miles of Pacfic coastline. The British wanted to extend British Columbia down to the 42^nd parallel, the top of what is now California, which was owned by Mexico at the time, thus denying the United States any Pacific coastline. The Treaty of Oregon set the border at the 49^th parallel the current border, and nobody fought. In 1871, the border was clarified by Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, an impartial observer, after the Pig War, a war between the US and Britain.
When the US invaded Iraq in 2003, the only UO Peace Studies major camped outside the University President's office in protest, thus closing the Peace Studies program due to war.

Here, I will be posting updates on registration deadlines, when you should expect to be notified, how to get here, what to bring, etc.

Febuary 17, 2026

The Month of Ramadan probably begins Today.

The Month of Ramadan is the Muslim month of daytime fasting and increased vigilance of Jihad, the eternal struggle that humans experience between the weaknesses of the flesh and spiritual purity. Although Iftar, the meal with friends and family after sunset to break the day's fast, is a joyous celebration, the month is meant to be spent in religious contemplation. In muslim tradition, Ramadan is the time when Allah gave the Torah to Moses, Allah gave the Psalms to King David, Allah gave the Gospel to Jesus, and Allah gave the Quran to Muhammad.

The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, so it is eleven days shorter than the Gregorian solar calendar. This causes the Islamic months to come earlier each year on the Western calendar. In particular, a month begins when the first quarter moon "appears in the sky." Some Muslims take this to be the calculated day of the first quarter moon, either based on their position on the Earth or Saudi Arabia, some take this to be the day that they personally see the first quarter moon, and some take this to be the day that a committee in Saudi Arabia reports they were able to see the first quarter moon. Even scheduled first quarter moons happen on different days in different locations because of the position of the sun and moon in the sky as it passes over that location. Thus, the beginning of Ramamdan (or any other lunar month) may vary by as much as a day depending on the meaning of when a month begins, and celestial and weather conditions.

To be clear: Housing on campus is arranged through me. When I tell you that you have been accepted to OPLSS, I will tell you I have reserved housing in the dorm for you, and ask you to tell me if you do not want it before May 18, 2026. Some people will pay through the credit card website, some people will pay through wire transfers, and some people will obtain a fellowship that pays for housing, so the credit card website is in no way linked to obtaining housing. Going to the credit card website and paying for housing does not guarantee housing is available. You have housing reserved for you when I tell you I have reserved housing for you, and send you an invoice with housing listed. Similarly, not paying for housing does not cancel the housing I have reserved for you. Telling me to cancel your housing will cancel your housing, and if you cancel housing, I will send you an invoice that shows you do not have to pay for housing.

Happy Mardi Gras

Today is knows as various names in various languages and regions. Mardi Gras is a French phrase meaning "Fat Tuesday". In German, they call today "Fasching". In spanish they call today "Carnaval", a phrase meaning "meat is still valued". The Christian tradition is to celebrate today with lavish feasts, because tomorrow begins 40 days of denial of pleasure to focus on spiritual purity.

Lent, which begins tomorrow, consists of 40 days of denial of pleasure to commemorate Jesus spending 40 days in the desert fasting and praying. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, when certain Chritians go to church to get a cross of ashes placed on their foreheads. These ashes are from the burning of palm leaves after the previous year's Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday happens the week before Easter Sunday, 40 days after Ash Wednesday, to commemorate when Jesus entered Jerusalem amid the crowds of people lining the streets with palm leaves as a sign of respect, before he celebrated Pesach with his apostles and was subsequently tried, convicted and executed by the authorities.

The historic sacrifice during Lent is giving up eating meat, but any sacrifice will serve. Thus, vegetarians might give up alcohol. Teetotalers might give up smoking. Non-smokers might give up swearing. Etc. Some Catholics in my church just give up meat on Fridays, which is historic and why, for example, geese are considered fish, because bird flesh is classified as meat by the church, but fish flesh is not. Rather than eat fish every Friday, as is the long-standing Catholic custom, my friends eat pizza or macaroni and cheese, which begs the question of what is actually a sacrifice and what is just satisfying Pascal's Wager.

If I tell you I have reserved housing for you, please let me know by May 18, 2026 if you do not want housing. On May 18, I must tell the housing authority how many rooms OPLSS will be occupying, and the housing authority will charge OPLSS for the number of rooms I say, regardless of whether they are occupied. In particular, if you accept a fellowship from one of our sponsors, you must cancel the fellowship by May 18, if you do not want to use it. Sponsors will not pay for empty rooms; although, housing will charge us for empty rooms. Thus paradoxically, you must pay for an empty room not cancelled by May 18, even if the room is free to you if you occupy it.

February 15, 2026

Happy Maha Shivaratri

Maha Shivaratri is the annual Hindu festival to honor Shiva, and commemorate Shiva performing the Divine Dance. It is a celebration of overcoming darkness and ignorance, and is usually spent in all-night meditation on ethics.

In Catholic School, we were taught that the four major gods in Hinduism were Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and Kali, and we had to learn the aspects of each. In brief, Shiva is the God of Death, Dance, Destruction and Rebirth. Since Hinduism has the transmigration of souls as a foundation, death and rebirth are seen as the same thing, as are destruction and rebuilding. Thus, when Grandma dies, if she led a good life, she is reborn as something better. On the other hand, if she led a bad life, she must be reborn at a lower level and work her way back up. "Pay attention to your dharma or be subject to your karma" is what we were taught. Shiva, who oversees this process, is thus very powerful.

In US popular culture, however, the main deity in Hinduism is generally portrayed as Ganesh, the son of Shiva, shown as a four-armed elphant-headed being. The worship of Ganesh, is very widespread in Hinduism, as well as Jainism and Buddhism, religions we also studied in Catholic schools, but with no mention of Ganesha. Ganesh is largely worshipped because of his apsects as the remover of obstacles, and imbuer of intellegence.

Some random points of trivia from my head:

Hindu culture arose when the Europeans who had settled in Iran and formed the basis of Aryan culture there migrated into the Indian subcontinent and mixed with the Dravidians about 3500 years ago.
To include the Vedic and Persian languages, is why European languages and culture are called Indo-European.
Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, was from a group of more recent migrants of Zoroastrians from Iran to India called the Parsi, who migrated for religious freedom after the islamic conquest of Persia in the 7^th century.
The Roma, called Gypsies due to the mistaken belief that they were migrants from Egypt, represent the migration of Vedic speaking peoples from the Indian subcontinent back to the European pennisula.
We think that Indo-European culture originated in Ukraine, and spread west to the European pennisula. From the European pennisula, it spread southeast to Iran and further east to India. In the process, Estonia, Finland, and Hungary were left out, and are part of the Uralic culture. Türkiye stopped being Indo-European when the central asian Turks migrated there 1000 years ago, long after a thousand ships were launched by a particularly winsome face. Before that, Türkiye was called "Asia Minor" to distinguish it from India which is southwest Asian.

The housing authority has not yet identified the residence hall we will be occupying, but the room layout for the dorm will be either "double" or "single" here. If you have a double room, there will be two beds, but you will be the only occupant. There is one communal bathroom for women and one for men. The showers have a small, private disrobing area next to the private shower, and the toilets are in individual metal privacy stalls.

If you need to stay an extra day, or arrive a day early, it would behoove you to tell me as soon as possible.

In the past, very few participants have chosen to stay elsewhere during OPLSS. The dorms are not deluxe accommodations, but there is usually lots of discussion that goes on in the dorm, and participants who stay off-campus have felt isolated from this. However, if you want a hotel room near campus, here are a few options that are within a couple of blocks of the lecture hall.

There are, of course, more housing options in Eugene including AirBnB, but the above hotels are within easy walking distance of OPLSS.

February 3, 2026 — For Foreign Participants:

It is never too early to work on obtaining travel papers to the US. The US President has proposed an additional $250 refundable bond for visitors, but if you complete the requirements before it is in place, you can avoid the extra expense. The following are the guidelines I have offered successfully in the past.

OPLSS is a Conference, not a Course of Study
You are coming here on business to attend a scientific conference. OPLSS does not grant academic credit. Although OPLSS takes place on a university campus, it is not a course of study. You need to be clear that you are looking for a B1 business visa. Do not under any circumstances say or agree that you need a student visa. Once you say that you want a student visa or that you want to "study in the US", or an official misinterprets your intentions, including US border guards, you will be turned away from the US until you have been accepted into a degree-granting program.

Neither electronic pre-approval nor a visa guarantee that you are actually allowed in the US. On the day you arrive, a US border guard will decide whether you are allowed in the US. For that interview, the invitation letter I send will be useful.

For non-citizens of the US, you will need the following:

Travel papers to leave your country
Most governments do not care if you leave their country, but you should check whether your government requires you to file any papers.
Travel papers to enter the United States
It is illegal for us to issue you an I-20 or any other SEVIS document, because you will receive no academic credit from the University of Oregon. These are only required for a student visa. If you are asked for these documents, be very clear that you want a B-1 visa. You will not be able to attend OPLSS on a student visa. If some other institution gave you a SEVIS document, and you will be using it to enter the US, please ask the entity that gave you the SEVIS document about your visa limitations. If necessary, direct them to this page for clarification. When you arrive, be careful which words you use at the border. One participant was interogated for hours at the border because she used the word "school."

I would suggest that you use "OPLSS" without saying what the individual letters are for, or say you are attending a conference on Types, Proofs, and Program Logics. The name "Summer School" is long entrenched as a name for a conference, but it is unfortunate for the government regulations about travelling to the US.

The US has a Visa Waiver Program with many countries. The Visa Waiver Program does not apply to all citizens of Visa Waiver Program countries.
- Travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program
  - A Passport from your country of citizenship
    To enter the US, your country of citizenship must issue you a passport. Also, you may need your passport as identification while here.
  - Electronic pre-approval from the US
    When you fill out the electronic pre-approval form, and when questioned at the border, be clear that you are coming here for a scientific conference. Even though you will have to say University of Oregon and OPLSS, you want to emphasize that it is a business purpose. Do not write school, study or student. Education purposes require a visa, even from visa waiver countries, and OPLSS cannot supply you with the required paperwork to obtain a student visa.
- Travel to the United States without the Visa Waiver Program
  - A Passport from your country of citizenship
    To enter the US, your country of citizenship must issue you a passport Also, you may need your passport as identification while here.
  - A business visa from the US State Department.
    The decision to grant a visa is left up to the US ambassador to your country and there is no appeal, so be prepared. Talk to others from your country who have attended conferences in the US. Different Ambassadors require different levels of evidence. The University of Oregon has no influence with the US ambassador to your country. If your interview goes badly, and you are asked to do another interview, plan to bring more evidence. If you have no more evidence, then there is no point in another interview.
    
    Be prepared for your visa interview. Do not have anything sent directly to the embassy. Bring all materials with you to the interview. If some piece of evidence is not in English or not in the interviewer's language (the locally spoken language of that embassy), it must be translated by a certified translator. This means, if you are studying in a country which speaks a language other than your native language, documents from your country of citizenship must be translated. Here are the things you may need at your interview at the US embassy:
    - DS-160 Visa Application Form (DS-160 FAQ) Complete the form online, but bring the confirmation page showing you completed the form and paid the $185 application fee.
    - A valid passport issued by your country of citizenship
    - A photo (a copy of the photo you uploaded as part of the DS-160 application
    - Be prepared to submit all details of social media that you use.
    - Bank statements or other evidence that you will be able to pay all the costs of the trip.
    - Letters or printed social media showing you will not overstay your visa. This is very important. The interviewer must be assured that you are not a "risk to emigrate to the US". Evidence of this type can be communications with local relatives and friends showing they are dependent on your return and\or communications from your employer or academic advisor showing it would be more advantageous for you to remain in your country/program than relocate to the US. All things being equal, the interviewer will believe that it is advantageous for you to remain in the US, So, you must bring evidence to the contrary.
      It is not useful to bring evidence of relatives or friends currently living in the US, as this indicates you may be a risk to emigrate to the US.
    - I will issue a letter of invitation which you may also take to your visa interview, but it is not requried. The letter of invitation is used when arrive in the US.
    - I will issue an invoice which may be useful to you in showing what your expenses will be along with evidence of how you will cover your expenses, including letters from your institution or other source of funds you will use. Since I encourage you to begin travel preparations early, your visa interview may occur before you receive an invoice from me; in that case, you should bring a copy of the rates page.
Travel papers to return to your country
Before you leave your country, make sure you have any papers necessary to return to your country, probably, a passport.

Address for Visa Documents

When you get here, the building you will be staying in is:

1410 Agate Street
Eugene OR  97403

The contact information for visa applications is

Zena Ariola
University of Oregon
Department of Computer Science
1477 E. 13th Avenue
Eugene OR  97403
541-346-4448
ariola@cs.uoregon.edu

January 25, 2025

If you apply (with a recommendation, if required) before March 16, you should hear back from us by April 6. If not, please send email to summerschool@cs.uoregon.edu asking what happened to your application.

What to expect when you apply

When you fill out the registration form and hit apply,

Your browser will look over the form and make sure you haven't left anything blank or included a Letter of Motivation that is longer than 1MB. It will prompt you to fix that, if necessary. If there are no blanks, clicking submit should result in your browser showing a webpage from our server.
- If our server is running normally, your browser will say you have successfully submitted your application.
- If there is a problem with our server, your browser will say there is a problem with our server and you should email the information to us.
You should immediately receive an automated email from apache@cs.uoregon.edu to the account you gave us.
- If you do not receive such an email, check your spam folder for a message from apache@cs.uoregon.edu. If you can't find a message, it probably means you mistyped your email address; so, you should immediately send an email to summerschool@cs.uoregon.edu telling us you submitted an application but did not receive a reply.
- An error encountered on our server will result in you receiving an email indicating an error occured. You should email summerschool@cs.uoregon.edu with the information about the error, so we can fix it.
In the reply email, it may indicate that your advisor must send a Letter of Recommendation. If so, please make sure your advisor sends this to summerschool@cs.uoregon.edu before the registration deadline.

You should not hear further from us until about two weeks after the application deadline. However, you can send email to me to inquire about your status or modify your application.

Oregon Programming Languages Summer School

Types, Proofs, and Program Logics

June 22-July 3, 2026

Jim's OPLSS Blog

Sponsors

Diamond

Platinum

Gold

Silver

Address for Visa Documents

What to expect when you apply