News & Updates

The Virgin Islands Coral Disease Advisory Committee (VI-CDAC) has released the much anticipated USVI Coral Disease Outbreak Response Plan. This document details the U.S. Virgin Islands’ collective resources, strategies and management of activities applied to the outbreak of the devastating Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD), a major threat to coral reefs territorywide since January 2019.

University of Rhode Island senior Naomi Pajarillo never imagined herself earning a doctorate when she first enrolled at the University three years ago. But thanks to some excellent mentors, hands-on research opportunities, and a new program designed to boost access to scientific research careers among under-represented populations, she is well on her way.

A researcher at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has received a $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study how physical activity improves bone health, with possible implications for bone loss from osteoporosis and aging.

With two National Science Foundation grants totaling nearly $1.5 million, Montana State University will invest in two new instruments that are likely to support hundreds of researchers in expanding the boundaries of engineering, chemistry, biology and more.

In the University of Maine animal and veterinary sciences capstone course AVS 401, students have the opportunity to combine their knowledge and skills with ongoing research of UMaine faculty. Some work in the laboratory or field, some assimilate decades of research literature into a review, and some fashion research into industry best practices or evidence-based white papers. All the students synthesize what they have learned and apply it to real-world situations.

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.