News Archives: October, 2020

A new Clemson University lab that researchers are calling “a cutting-edge solution to help fight COVID-19” could be stocked with 13 sample-handling robots and have a staff of about 50 students fully trained as early as November.

David Freedman of Clemson University is testing coronavirus levels in wastewater on the University’s main campus and in the surrounding community to provide an early warning system that shows how fast the virus is spreading. Freedman likens the tests to the “canary in the coal mine” that can help administrators make informed decisions about what they need to do to protect the public’s health even before COVID-19 case counts start to rise. In addition to campus, his testing covers the city of Clemson and the Town of Pendleton, both home to many of the University’s students, faculty and staff.

A collaborative team of undergraduate students recently took first place in the Clemson COVID Challenge, a summer virtual research and design opportunity that involved 86 teams and more than 500 participants. The event provided an opportunity for undergraduates to work on problems related to the current COVID-19 situation as well as future possible pandemics.

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), together with the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) and seven other institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), provided funding to scientists across the country to expand their research on women’s health. This initiative, which supports trans-NIH efforts to address high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity, funded 19 administrative supplements in response to NOT-GM-20-017, Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Administrative Supplements for Research on Women’s Health in the IDeA States.

The layer of Earth where life exists, from the top of the tallest trees to the bottom of the groundwater table, is called the “critical zone.” What happens to this zone in the face of natural and human disturbance, and climate change, can greatly impact our ecosystems and natural resources, including water. University of Nevada, Reno’s Adrian Harpold is part of two five-year, multi-state, interdisciplinary research projects recently funded by the National Science Foundation to shed more light on water in the critical zone and its fate in mountain forests.

The struggle to breathe is well-documented symptom for those battling COVID-19, so how is the disease best treated for those with existing respiratory problems, such as asthma? A study to address that question, along with other research related to lung issues, is being supported by the American Lung Association and its research arm, the Airways Clinical Research Centers Network (ACRC). The University of Kansas Medical Center recently expanded its position in the ACRC from member to consortium hub, which gives KU Medical Center the responsibility to mentor and lead other universities in its group.

University of Maine researchers will develop a tool for predicting how biotoxins released by algal blooms that can cause public health issues travel through estuarine and coastal waters.

As the COVID-19 virus continues to spread around the globe, studying aerosol and droplet transport within different environments can help establish effective, physics-informed measures for virus mitigation. One of the most important environments to gain a rapid understanding about COVID-19's spread is inside the school classroom.

Design and construction of launch vehicles, spacecrafts, space stations, rovers, landers and planning mission operations, are potential careers offered in Earth and space exploration fields. To equip undergraduate students in the basic principles of space research and exploration, faculty at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa developed a new certificate in earth and planetary exploration technology (EPET).

An OU biomedical engineering professor is conducting a study to help develop a booster for a COVID-19 vaccine.