Education (Colleges & Universities)
Here's a look at documents from public, private and community colleges in the U.S.
Featured Stories
Yale University: Brain Circuits, Bioturbation, and Physics Doc
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, Dec. 9 -- Yale University issued the following news:
* * *
Brain circuits, bioturbation, and a new physics doc
Yale researchers study a mass extinction from the distant past, uncover hidden brain networks, and share expertise at an international meeting on enhanced weathering.
*
This month's "Insights & Outcomes" celebrates some tiny scientific wonders, from subatomic particles and hidden brain networks to creatures that burrowed into the seafloor millions of years ago.
And we tell you about a pair of paleontologists honored for their innovative research and how Yale
... Show Full Article
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, Dec. 9 -- Yale University issued the following news:
* * *
Brain circuits, bioturbation, and a new physics doc
Yale researchers study a mass extinction from the distant past, uncover hidden brain networks, and share expertise at an international meeting on enhanced weathering.
*
This month's "Insights & Outcomes" celebrates some tiny scientific wonders, from subatomic particles and hidden brain networks to creatures that burrowed into the seafloor millions of years ago.
And we tell you about a pair of paleontologists honored for their innovative research and how Yalescientists are advancing a carbon dioxide removal process called enhanced weathering.
As always, you can find more science and medicine research news on Yale News' Science & Technology and Health & Medicine pages.
Following the tracks after a mass extinction
Earth has had multiple mass extinction events over its long history, but even among these the End-Permian mass extinction 252 million years ago stands apart. It was both severe -- up to 90% of species perished -- and long lasting.
A new Yale study in the journal Geobiology looks at one possible factor in the Permian Extinction's sluggish, million-year period of recovery.
Senior author Lidya Tarhan, an assistant professor of Earth and planetary sciences in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), and first author Brian Beaty, a former Ph.D. student in the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) who is now at Stanford, said it took time for "bioturbation" to get its grooves back.
Bioturbation is the process by which burrowing and tunneling animals churn up sediments and help shape ecosystems along the way. It plays a critical role in ocean ecosystems.
The researchers found that although some bioturbation resumed on the seafloor after the Permian mass extinction, the burrowing was sparse and horizontal -- delaying the recycling of nutrients in ocean floor sediments.
"Our study has relevance to the health of modern and future marine ecosystems, informing how nutrient cycling in the oceans may shift as a result of seafloor animals responding to ocean warming over the coming decades and centuries," Beaty said.
Yale co-authors of the study included Spencer Moller and Noah Planavsky.
Bringing the brain's hidden networks into focus
Getting a clear look at the intricate connections between cells and structures throughout the brain has been a challenge for researchers exploring neurological conditions, but a Yale team led by Joerg Bewersdorf and Aaron Kuan has now brought the breakthrough power of a new imaging technique to the effort.
The technique known as pan-expansion microscopy, which was developed by Bewersdorf's lab in 2020, lets scientists look inside tissue to see both where specific molecules are located and what the surrounding cellular structures look like in fine detail. The process involves expanding tissue samples with a special gel, labeling proteins and lipids to reveal tissue structure, and using antibodies to mark specific molecules.
In a new study, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, researchers updated this technique to work on brain tissue, providing a nanoscale view of both the structure and molecular makeup of brain circuits.
"This gets us closer to understanding cell biological mechanisms in the context of the tissue where the cells are embedded," said study co-author Bewersdorf, the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Cell Biology at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) who is also a professor of biomedical engineering and of physics, in FAS.
"It's a big step," Bewersdorf said. "It allows us to address the big question -- namely how is the brain connected?"
The team demonstrated how this new approach can reveal wiring and connectivity in brain circuits, creating comprehensive circuit maps known as "connectomes". These circuit-mapping efforts were spear-headed by co-lead author Allison Cairns, a GSAS student in the Department of Applied Physics at the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science.
"Pan-expansion is now making connectomics possible with light microscopy," said study co-author Kuan, an assistant professor of neuroscience at YSM, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and a Wu Tsai Institute investigator. "This adds a new molecular dimension and makes it more accessible to researchers."
Bewersdorf and the study's co-lead author Ons M'Saad, a former Yale biomedical engineering graduate student, co-founded the New Haven-based startup Panluminate, which is commercializing the use of pan-expansion microscopy.
Lights, cameras -- physics!
A new film documentary about faraway physics experiments includes a Yale-affiliated project in the South Pole.
"Messengers," directed by Jeffrey Zablotny, profiles three underground neutrino detector experiments around the world: SNO+ in Canada, Super-Kamiokande in Japan, and IceCube in Antarctica. The 45-minute movie, which premiered earlier this year at the Visions du Reel film festival in Switzerland, continues to make the rounds at festivals around the world.
The film's final segment, on IceCube, features Reina Maruyama, a professor of physics and astronomy in Yale's FAS and a member of the IceCube collaboration.
IceCube, buried below the surface in the Antarctic ice shield, detects an average 275 atmospheric neutrinos daily. A neutrino is a subatomic particle that contains almost no mass and travels through the universe almost completely undisturbed by other matter. Studying neutrinos, physicists say, offers insight into high-energy astrophysical phenomena such as exploding stars and black holes.
Manafzadeh wins young investigator award for paleontology research
Armita Manafzadeh, a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, the Department of Earth & Planetary Science, and the Yale Peabody Museum, has won the 2026 Carl Gans Young Investigator Award from the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB).
The award honors young researchers for distinguished contributions to the field of comparative biomechanics. Winners are invited to deliver a featured lecture at the SICB annual meeting.
Manafzadeh's work combined high-speed X-ray imaging with comparative anatomy to reveal how joints move and evolve across vertebrates. Her research bridges biomechanics, evolution, and development to explain the diversity of motion in animals.
The SICB commended Manafzadeh's "creativity and originality in comparative biomechanics research as well as her strong mentoring contributions."
In 2024, she was first author of two paleontology papers: one on the evolutionary significance of leg joints in bird species, and the other on a new approach for visualizing how long-extinct animals moved.
Next fall, Manafzadeh will open her own lab as an assistant professor at Georgia Tech.
Weathering heights
Yale researchers figured prominently at a recent scientific meeting at The Royal Society in London on enhanced weathering with agriculture for atmospheric carbon dioxide removal.
Enhanced weathering -- a carbon dioxide removal process that speeds up natural rock weathering to capture atmospheric carbon -- is a focus area of the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture (YCNCC), which was founded in 2021 to explore fundamental and applied science relating to how natural processes can be enhanced to create effective, safe, and scalable methods to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to address the threat of climate change.
Noah Planavsky, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences in the (FAS) and scientific leadership team member of YCNCC, co-convened the meeting, chaired a session on social acceptance of enhanced weathering implementation, moderated a panel at the meeting, and closed the program. YCNCC co-director Peter Raymond, the Oastler Professor of Biogeochemistry at Yale School of the Environment (YSE), gave a talk on "rivers, enhanced weathering, and carbon cycling."
"The YCNCC continues to lead on enhanced weathering," Raymond said. "Collaboration and coordination on research objectives are essential at this moment as we seek to move from field trials and initial commercial projects to scaled deployments."
In addition, Tim Jesper Suhrhoff, a YCNCC postdoctoral fellow, gave a presentation on river catchments as "natural monitors of enhanced weathering" based on his work on the Mississippi River watershed, and Samuel Tsao, a member of Raymond's lab, presented a poster on how flow and temperature variation influence calcite saturation in river systems with possible implications for enhanced weathering.
Two Yale researchers, one centennial honor
A renowned Yale paleontologist has been honored with an award named after another renowned Yale paleontologist.
Derek Briggs, the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in FAS and former director of the Yale Peabody Museum, is the inaugural winner of the Seilacher Medal --named for the late Adolf Seilacher, who taught at Yale from 1987 to 2009.
The Seilacher Medal, awarded by the Gottingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Germany, honors those whose work has enriched palaeontological and geobiological research across disciplinary boundaries and who are expected to continue advancing the field.
Briggs is a leading authority on fossils from the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, a 508-million-year-old deposit containing a trove of fossils from the Cambrian explosion of animal diversity on Earth. His research has focused on the preservation and evolutionary significance of exceptionally preserved fossil biotas. He also taught classes with Seilacher from 2003 to 2009.
Seilacher, who died in 2014, would have turned 100 this year. As a researcher, he made fundamental contributions to the understanding of the evolution of form, trace fossils, and the unusual creatures of the Ediacaran Period.
- Karen Guzman and Jim Shelton contributed to this report.
* * *
Original text here: https://news.yale.edu/2025/12/08/brain-circuits-bioturbation-and-new-physics-doc
Virginia Tech: 'Curious Conversations' Podcast - Ariana Wyatt Talks About the History of Christmas Music
BLACKSBURG, Virginia, Dec. 9 -- Virginia Tech issued the following news:
* * *
'Curious Conversations' podcast: Ariana Wyatt talks about the history of Christmas music
By Travis Williams
Ariana Wyatt joined Virginia Tech's "Curious Conversations" to talk about the history of Christmas music, from its origins in early Christian hymns to its transformation into a commercialized genre in the 20th century. She shared the cultural impact of Christmas music, the distinction between church hymns and secular songs, and the nostalgia that these tunes evoke during the holiday season.
"Curious Conversations"
... Show Full Article
BLACKSBURG, Virginia, Dec. 9 -- Virginia Tech issued the following news:
* * *
'Curious Conversations' podcast: Ariana Wyatt talks about the history of Christmas music
By Travis Williams
Ariana Wyatt joined Virginia Tech's "Curious Conversations" to talk about the history of Christmas music, from its origins in early Christian hymns to its transformation into a commercialized genre in the 20th century. She shared the cultural impact of Christmas music, the distinction between church hymns and secular songs, and the nostalgia that these tunes evoke during the holiday season.
"Curious Conversations"is available on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.
Takeaways
"Angel's Hymn" was created in 129 A.D. and is typically regarded as the first Christmas song. The blending of church and secular Christmas and winter-themed songs was very common in the centuries that followed.
The 20th century saw a significant rise in secular Christmas music, with the commercialization of the genre gaining much traction during and after World War II.
Songs like "Jingle Bells" might not have a direct connection to Christmas, but are generally considered in the genre because of the thematic combination of winter weather, family and friends, and magic.
About Wyatt
Wyatt is associate dean for outreach and engagement and associate professor of voice in Virginia Tech's College of Architecture, Arts, and Design. A graduate of Juilliard Opera Center, she has performed in operas and concert halls throughout the country and her research focuses on vocal diction and acting as well as opera research and production.
* * *
Learn more
2025 Academy Award front-runners: Experts provide context, dissect controversies (https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/02/2025-Oscars-Academy-Awards-movie-experts.html)
Music expert expounds on Taylor Swift's unmatched cultural impact (https://news.vt.edu/articles/2023/12/Taylor_Swift_POTY_expert.html)
Arts and technology blend for OPERAcraft, the world's first video game opera (https://news.vt.edu/articles/2015/11/111715-cfa-operacraft.html)
* * *
About the podcast
"Curious Conversations" is a series of free-flowing conversations with Virginia Tech researchers that take place at the intersection of world-class research and everyday life. Produced and hosted by Travis Williams, assistant director of marketing and communications for the Office of Research and Innovation, university researchers share their expertise and motivations as well as the practical applications of their work in a format that more closely resembles chats at a cookout than classroom lectures. New episodes are shared each Tuesday.
* * *
View link to podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@virginiatech/podcasts
* * *
Original text here: https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/12/research-curiousconversations-wyatt.html
University of Connecticut: Brain Scans May Signal Which Therapy Tactics Work Best for Youths
STORRS, Connecticut, Dec. 9 -- The University of Connecticut issued the following news:
* * *
Brain Scans May Signal Which Therapy Tactics Work Best for Youths
Connecticut and Texas researchers working together to advance testing of the effectiveness of group motivational interviewing for youths struggling with addiction.
*
UConn School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry and The University of Texas at Dallas' Center for BrainHealth are researching together how therapy can be enhanced to be more successful for teenagers battling addiction such as with alcohol.
Co-principal investigators
... Show Full Article
STORRS, Connecticut, Dec. 9 -- The University of Connecticut issued the following news:
* * *
Brain Scans May Signal Which Therapy Tactics Work Best for Youths
Connecticut and Texas researchers working together to advance testing of the effectiveness of group motivational interviewing for youths struggling with addiction.
*
UConn School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry and The University of Texas at Dallas' Center for BrainHealth are researching together how therapy can be enhanced to be more successful for teenagers battling addiction such as with alcohol.
Co-principal investigatorsare Francesca Filbey, Ph.D., the Bert Moore Chair in BrainHealth and professor of psychology in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at UT Dallas and frequent collaborator, Sarah Feldstein Ewing, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, vice chair for research, and Health Net Inc. Chair in Alcohol and Substance Abuse at UConn School of Medicine.
The research team is performing simultaneous brain scans on pairs of young adult subjects to examine activity patterns for signs that indicate strong social interactions during group intervention. The collaboration pairs Filbey's neuroimaging expertise in Texas with Feldstein Ewing's expertise in clinical behavioral interventions with young people in Connecticut.
The project will analyze the effectiveness of a therapy called group motivational interviewing (group MI) for youths struggling with alcohol use to help bolster and support behavior change, reducing their alcohol use. The research is supported by a five-year, $1.17 million grant (5R01AA030678) from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health.
Filbey and her team will take advantage of the resources of the Sammons BrainHealth Imaging Center to conduct the hyperscanning experiments, which allow researchers to collect simultaneously the neurological activity of two people while they interact.
"When our imaging center was mapped out, hyperscanning capability was one purpose they had in mind, placing a control room in the middle of two bays for scanners," Filbey said. "This novel project will use functional MRI (fMRI) to examine group therapy in ways that can teach us what therapeutic tactics work best and why."
Hyperscanning has in the past been used primarily to study social cooperation or team effectiveness using electroencephalography, which measures electrical activity in the brain, or functional near-infrared spectroscopy, which monitors blood oxygenation in the brain. Filbey said that only a few facilities in the nation can perform hyperscanning, and combining it with fMRI is a rare approach.
"Hyperscanning is a great tool for looking at real-time, dynamic interactions between individuals," she said. "I think we can learn a great deal by applying it in this manner and asking the right questions."
Group Therapy Benefits
UConn's Feldstein Ewing said that group therapy is the most widely used format in alcohol- and other substance-use settings for teens because of both the cost-effectiveness of the group-based format and how it mirrors other group settings that teens find themselves in, like school and sports.
"Group MI recognizes that there are real-world reasons why people are drinking. Through it, we try to help young people identify both why they might be drinking and what role drinking might be playing in their lives, and also how drinking might get in the way or cost them opportunities," Feldstein Ewing said. "Given that teens might be a resource for one another, the group MI session is designed to encourage teens to say positive things to help support each other by talking about why the other teen might want to change and how the other teen could change if they wanted to."
Feldstein Ewing's mentor, Dr. William Miller, emeritus distinguished professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of New Mexico, was the originator of group MI.
"With drinking, knowledge doesn't change behavior. People know drinking is bad; it does not matter," Feldstein Ewing said. "With group MI, the therapist is there in a supportive role; group MI therapists don't tell people what to do. It all comes from the group MI teens themselves."
Behavioral Predictors
The UT Dallas team will seek predictors of changes in behavior from tandem brain responses from fMRI hyperscanning measuring both positive, prosocial and negative exchanges between 124 pairs of 18- and 19-year-old peers. This longitudinal project will check in on participants at three months, six months and one year after imaging to gauge effectiveness and the degree of behavioral change.
Rising drinking rates among this age group greatly affect both physical safety and neurodevelopment.
"Adolescents are unlikely to seek, receive or complete help with hazardous alcohol use," Feldstein Ewing said. "Existing interventions, which were almost all designed for adults, are about 30% effective for teens, who are very different, even at a neurodevelopmental level. We need to rework how we're measuring addiction in teens, then find a brief, effective intervention for this vulnerable age group in which peer feedback holds great influence."
Filbey is seeking to locate and quantify social connectedness in a group setting -- the degree to which a participant is vibing with others. She hopes her team can find the first evidence of what connectedness looks like in the brain both in terms of location of activity and temporal synchronization.
"If there is a brain circuit that appears synchronized in terms of fluctuations in brain response, should we expect a greater chance of behavior change and treatment success?" Filbey said. "When two brains are in harmony, does that represent connectedness that we can then learn to maximize? What individual factors make some pairings more connected than others? These are the questions we're taking on as we hope to determine both who is most responsive to group MI and how to maximize its efficacy."
Filbey said that how language is used is as critical as who that language comes from, especially in adolescent peers, who are highly influential.
"Across all types of MI, client language in favor of change -- 'I can,' 'I want to' or 'I will' -- and in this study of group MI -- 'You can,' 'You want to' or 'You will' -- is the best driver of behavioral change," Filbey said. "Using natural language processing, we're examining what kinds of language -- tone and word choices -- make people more connected. If we can isolate fundamental ingredients of effective language, maybe we can help providers and interventionists working with young people be more impactful in any setting."
* * *
Original text here: https://today.uconn.edu/2025/12/brain-scans-may-signal-which-therapy-tactics-work-best-for-youths/
URI's Use of Artificial Intelligence in Research, Teaching, and Innovation on Display at 'Discovering AI @ URI Day'
KINGSTON, Rhode Island, Dec. 9 -- The University of Rhode Island issued the following news:
* * *
URI's use of artificial intelligence in research, teaching, and innovation on display at 'Discovering AI @ URI Day'
Students, faculty, and staff at URI share experiences using AI in academics
*
Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay and students, faculty, and staff at the University of Rhode Island have been using the evolving technology for research, teaching, and innovation purposes.
The effective and creative ways AI has been applied across the University will be discussed and displayed
... Show Full Article
KINGSTON, Rhode Island, Dec. 9 -- The University of Rhode Island issued the following news:
* * *
URI's use of artificial intelligence in research, teaching, and innovation on display at 'Discovering AI @ URI Day'
Students, faculty, and staff at URI share experiences using AI in academics
*
Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay and students, faculty, and staff at the University of Rhode Island have been using the evolving technology for research, teaching, and innovation purposes.
The effective and creative ways AI has been applied across the University will be discussed and displayedat "Discovering AI @ URI Day," on Dec. 10 from 4-7:30 p.m., in rooms 040 and 045 of URI's Fascitelli Center for Advanced Engineering, 45 Upper College Road, on the Kingston Campus.
The free event will feature guest speakers, panel discussions, and poster presentations. Refreshments will be provided. The URI community is welcome to share their AI success stories. Those interested in attending the event are encouraged to RSVP.
"As Rhode Island's flagship R1 research university, URI has the responsibility to lead in the development and thoughtful application of AI across higher education," said URI Assistant Vice President for Research Computing Gaurav Khanna. "By leveraging advances in AI, URI will expand discovery, prepare students for an AI-shaped workforce, and drive innovations that benefit Rhode Island and beyond."
Khanna is also the director of URI's Institute for AI and Computational Research. The institute supports and promotes high-level interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary computational research, including AI-related research.
Guest speakers at Discovering AI @ URI Day will include:
* Victoria Gu, chair of the Rhode Island Senate Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology and representative of District 38 in the Rhode Island Senate
* URI Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Barbara Wolfe
* URI Chief Information Officer and Associate Vice President for Information Technology Gabriele Fariello
* Yan (Lindsay) Sun, certified AI strategist and co-director of URI's Center for Cyber-Physical Intelligence and Security (CYPHER), which she founded
"Artificial intelligence touches nearly every aspect of higher education," said Sun. "What makes the Discovering AI @ URI event special is that it reflects this full ecosystem. We'll hear not only from faculty and students, who always showcase remarkable innovation, but also from staff whose work keeps the University running behind the scenes."
A faculty panel discussion, moderated by Karen Lokey, associate director of URI's ITS Innovation Services, will include:
* Travess Smalley, assistant professor in the Department of Art and Art History
* Ying Zhang, professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology
* Megan Chiovaro, part-time teaching professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering
* Peter Cornillon, emeritus professor in the Graduate School of Oceanography
* Abdeltawab Hendawi, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Statistics
Sun will moderate the staff panel discussion, which will feature:
* Ryan Gardiner, chief business officer for the College of Engineering
* Chelsie Sullivan, CYPHER Research Center coordinator
* Lisa Chen, teaching and learning support for Information Technology Services
* Brian Blanchette, director of Systems and Technology for the URI Foundation
Jim McGwin, adjunct professor in the College of Business, will facilitate a panel discussion of undergraduate and graduate students representing a diverse range of majors and interests.
There is plenty of support and technology available at URI for students to gain hands-on experience with AI. The Library Innovation Labs, led by Keith Ranaldi, director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, is considered a collaborative hub, connecting people ideas, and resources across disciplines. Ranaldi and his staff were largely responsible for coordinating the Discovering AI @ URI event.
"We helped coordinate efforts among departments and colleges, ensuring that the hard work being done in AI research and application was visible to the entire campus community," said Ranaldi.
The application of AI by faculty, students, and staff at URI will be on full display at the Discovering AI @ URI event.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.uri.edu/news/2025/12/uris-use-of-artificial-intelligence-in-research-teaching-and-innovation-on-display-at-discovering-ai-uri-day/
KLB Grant Keeps Louisiana - and Louisiana Tech - Beautiful
RUSTON, Louisiana, Dec. 9 -- Louisiana Tech University issued the following news:
* * *
KLB grant keeps Louisiana - and Louisiana Tech - beautiful
Louisiana Tech received a grant from Keep Louisiana Beautiful (KLB) to purchase branded reusable water bottles for use on campus, one part of a statewide initiative to engage college students in environmental stewardship and sustainability practices and further the goal of keeping Louisiana beautiful.
By joining the KLB University Affiliate Network, Tech is one of 13 universities in the program, the largest and most successful program of its kind
... Show Full Article
RUSTON, Louisiana, Dec. 9 -- Louisiana Tech University issued the following news:
* * *
KLB grant keeps Louisiana - and Louisiana Tech - beautiful
Louisiana Tech received a grant from Keep Louisiana Beautiful (KLB) to purchase branded reusable water bottles for use on campus, one part of a statewide initiative to engage college students in environmental stewardship and sustainability practices and further the goal of keeping Louisiana beautiful.
By joining the KLB University Affiliate Network, Tech is one of 13 universities in the program, the largest and most successful program of its kindin the country.
Tech's Student Activities and Student Programs Director Wes Cavin spearheaded the year-long on-campus project to secure the $4,500 grant. To become an affiliate, Tech was required to conduct a waste audit, litter survey and assessment, participate in Love the Boot Week, form an affiliate leadership committee, design an affiliate logo, and create a work plan.
Various recycling projects encountered roadblocks until sustained efforts gained traction through the idea of reusable aluminum water bottles branded with Tech icons like the Lady of the Mist, Keeny Hall, and the classic State-and-T logo.
"We observed that people were using the bottles multiple times and determined that purchasing more could aid in the reduction of plastic water bottles and other disposables across campus," Cavin said. "Securing the grant could also assist the University in bringing awareness to the campus for all of our recycling and sustainability efforts."
After production, the bottles will be distributed through various campus events. The grant covered the purchase of more than 3,000 bottles, which also feature the KLB logo as a reminder of this effort to reduce single-use disposables and the efforts to Keep Louisiana -- and Louisiana Tech -- beautiful.
"We are dedicated to fostering a culture of sustainability and environmental responsibility at Louisiana Tech," Cavin said. "Joining the Keep Louisiana Beautiful University Affiliate program marks a significant step in our commitment to reducing waste, promoting recycling, and engaging our campus community in meaningful environmental initiatives. We look forward to collaborating with fellow institutions across the state to create a cleaner, greener Louisiana for future generations."
Being a Keep Louisiana Beautiful University Affiliate is a special mark of distinction and represents a commitment by each school to continual improvement in sustainability and environmental issues, promoting student environmental stewardship and engagement, and rigorous outcome measurement. It offers state recognition and sends a strong message to university stakeholders, as well as city, state, and national leaders. It signifies that schools are part of a greater movement of over 600 National Affiliates and 44 Community Affiliates that have a proven track record of behavioral change and preserving the beauty of Louisiana.
Besides Tech, affiliates include Dillard University, Grambling State University, Loyola University New Orleans, Louisiana State University, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, Tulane University, University of Louisiana Monroe, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of New Orleans, and Xavier University of Louisiana.
The University Affiliate program was developed in 2021 in response to a growing interest in sustainability, waste reduction, and litter prevention at the university level.
"These 13 Louisiana universities are leading the way in sustainability and waste reduction in higher education," Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser said. "The future of our state is looking bright with these young changemakers at the helm. I can't wait to see the positive change they'll bring to Louisiana and the world."
"We're incredibly proud to see our network of University Affiliates continue to grow," Cabell Mouton, KLB Community Engagement and Affiliate Services Director, said. "This program is truly one-of-a-kind in the nation, and it's an honor to support these dedicated students and campuses as they lead the way in environmental stewardship and sustainability practices."
KLB is a state program under the Office of the Lieutenant Governor and the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism promoting personal, corporate, and community responsibility for a clean and beautiful Louisiana. KLB supports local communities through programs and resources for litter education, prevention, removal, enforcement, beautification, recycling, waste reduction, and sustainability initiatives. KLB is affiliated with the national organization, Keep America Beautiful, and is supported by a robust statewide network of Community Affiliates and University Affiliates.
More information is available at KeepLouisianaBeautiful.org.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.latech.edu/news/klb-grant-keeps-louisiana-and-louisiana-tech-beautiful.php
Beetle Believed to Be Extinct Rediscovered by UofM Researchers
MEMPHIS, Tennessee, Dec. 9 (TNSjou) -- The University of Memphis issued the following news:
* * *
Beetle Believed to be Extinct Rediscovered by UofM Researchers
University of Memphis Professor Dr. Duane McKenna and PhD candidate Michael Charles have announced the rediscovery of the greater chestnut weevil, a species of beetle that was believed to have gone extinct with the near extinction of the American chestnut tree due to introduced plant pathogens in the early 20th century. The last known observation of the weevil, according to Charles, was in 1997.
"For decades, the greater chestnut weevil
... Show Full Article
MEMPHIS, Tennessee, Dec. 9 (TNSjou) -- The University of Memphis issued the following news:
* * *
Beetle Believed to be Extinct Rediscovered by UofM Researchers
University of Memphis Professor Dr. Duane McKenna and PhD candidate Michael Charles have announced the rediscovery of the greater chestnut weevil, a species of beetle that was believed to have gone extinct with the near extinction of the American chestnut tree due to introduced plant pathogens in the early 20th century. The last known observation of the weevil, according to Charles, was in 1997.
"For decades, the greater chestnut weevilwas considered a classic example of coextinction--the loss of dependent species due to the decline of their hosts," said McKenna, Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Director of the University of Memphis Center for Biodiversity Research (CBio). "Its rediscovery is a rare piece of good news in the broader biodiversity crisis, and a reminder that we have only a brief window to find and protect species that are quietly slipping toward extinction."
McKenna and Charles were prompted to conduct this research when they noticed a few photos on iNaturalist--an online platform where anyone can post photos of plants and animals--that closely resembled the greater chestnut weevil. The greater chestnut weevil has extraordinarily long mouthparts--longer than its body--which are used to drill into chestnuts for feeding and egg-laying. Charles would later conduct fieldwork in Virginia and Pennsylvania, where he collected larvae and sequenced their DNA for comparison to historical museum specimens of the long-lost species. He and McKenna would later use these and other data to confirm that the beetle was, in fact, not extinct.
"This rediscovery wouldn't have been possible without the observations of volunteers and the digital tools that connect their data to scientists," Charles said. "It shows how anyone with a smartphone can help us detect species at risk of extinction and make a real contribution to biodiversity research and conservation."
Charles, McKenna and others have reported the rediscovery and associated research in Current Biology, a leading life sciences journal. The project highlights the University of Memphis's expanding strengths in biodiversity science and genomics. Support from the Center for Biodiversity Research and the Department of Biological Sciences made the fieldwork and graduate training possible, with additional National Science Foundation funding to McKenna enabling the genomic analyses.
* * *
Original text here: https://blogs.memphis.edu/newsroom/2025/12/08/beetle-believed-to-be-extinct-rediscovered-by-uofm-researchers/
Ansys Grant Allows Trine Engineering Faculty to Expand Simulation-based Learning
ANGOLA, Indiana, Dec. 9 -- Trine University issued the following news:
* * *
Ansys grant allows Trine engineering faculty to expand simulation-based learning
Trine University has received grant funding from Ansys, an engineering simulation and 3D design software company, to expand simulation-based learning across key mechanical and aerospace engineering courses.
Led by principal investigators Gurudutt Chandrashekar, Ph.D., and Rizacan Sarikaya, Ph.D., both associate professors in the university's Wade Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the initiative integrates Ansys Fluent,
... Show Full Article
ANGOLA, Indiana, Dec. 9 -- Trine University issued the following news:
* * *
Ansys grant allows Trine engineering faculty to expand simulation-based learning
Trine University has received grant funding from Ansys, an engineering simulation and 3D design software company, to expand simulation-based learning across key mechanical and aerospace engineering courses.
Led by principal investigators Gurudutt Chandrashekar, Ph.D., and Rizacan Sarikaya, Ph.D., both associate professors in the university's Wade Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the initiative integrates Ansys Fluent,Workbench and Discovery into the curriculum to give students hands-on experience with the tools used by engineers in industry.
Ansys Fluent is a computational fluid dynamics application used to simulate physics phenomena such as fluid flow and heat transfer. Ansys Discovery is 3D-simulation software that combines physics simulation, high-fidelity simulation and interactive geometry modeling.
Ansys Workbench integrates multiple Ansys tools into a single environment.
The applications will be used in the following classes:
* Fluid Dynamics. Students will simulate combined Couette-Poiseuille flow to study velocity gradients and wall shear stress.
* Heat Transfer. Students will model the transient cooling of a quenched sphere.
* Mechanical Measurements: Students will compare experimental pipe-flow pressure-drop data with Ansys Fluent results, directly linking laboratory testing to computational modeling.
* Aero Materials: Fatigue testing will be performed using a rotating fatigue machine to generate S-N curves for steel, aluminum and brass. The data will then be imported into Ansys to conduct a fatigue analysis of an aircraft wing spar, allowing students to visualize fatigue-prone areas and understand how cyclic loading affects structural life.
* Mechanical Engineering Design I and II: Senior design students use Ansys Discovery and Workbench to optimize the AIAA Design-Build-Fly aircraft and Shell Eco-marathon vehicle, improving structural strength, aerodynamics and weight efficiency.
"These activities all help students bridge theory, experimentation, and simulation-based design," said Dr. Chandrashekar.
Trine University received a $4,250 grant for 2025-26 and a $4,500 grant for 2024-25.
Ansys allows educators to submit proposals to create innovative curricula or improve existing courses in undergraduate engineering departments by implementing Ansys simulation tools.
* * *
Original text here: https://www.trine.edu/news/2025/ansys.aspx
