U.S. Public and Private Higher Education
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from public, private and community colleges in the U.S.
Featured Stories
William & Mary Wins Gold 2024 Circle of Excellence Award for Externship Program
WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia, July 26 -- William and Mary issued the following news:
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The award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education celebrates outstanding achievements in educational advancement.
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By Claire De Lisle
William & Mary's Office of Career Development and Professional Engagement (OCDPE) won a Gold 2024 Circle of Excellence Award for its externship program, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) announced on June 26.
OCDPE partners with alumni across the country to provide externship experiences for students. Externships are typically
... Show Full Article
WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia, July 26 -- William and Mary issued the following news:
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The award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education celebrates outstanding achievements in educational advancement.
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By Claire De Lisle
William & Mary's Office of Career Development and Professional Engagement (OCDPE) won a Gold 2024 Circle of Excellence Award for its externship program, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) announced on June 26.
OCDPE partners with alumni across the country to provide externship experiences for students. Externships are typicallyone- or two-day shadowing experiences of working professionals, allowing students an opportunity to attend meetings with senior leaders within the organization, participate in staff meetings, observe client interactions, discuss trends in the industry and more. Externships can be invaluable opportunities for students to network and gain exposure to a variety of career pathways.
The career team leveraged partnerships with W&M's Parent & Family Council and the newly launched One Network platform to recruit alumni and friends to serve as externship hosts.
Due to these collaborations, the externship program for 2023-24 showed significant growth. For example, 498 total externship applications were submitted by students, a 39% increase from the 2022-23 academic year. In addition, 97 students participated in 122 experiences, which was the highest participation in the last five years. This year's program also saw record participation by employer sites, with 37 host sites providing 42 externship experience options, a 31% increase in the number of experiences compared to the last academic year.
"At William & Mary, we don't just educate students; we empower them to thrive professionally and tackle the challenges of an ever-evolving world," said W&M Chief Career Officer Kathleen Powell. "Externships are a key part of our Vision 2026 commitment to provide funding for unpaid and underfunded internships and applied learning experiences for every undergraduate. Through the support of our alumni partners, we are preparing our students for not only their first jobs but their career journeys."
According to a 2022 survey of four-year college students by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), hands-on experiences such as internships and applied learning opportunities contribute to successful career outcomes and achievements post-graduation.
Approximately 61% of W&M's Class of 2022 participated in experiential learning opportunities -- such as applied research, internships, externships, field experience and study abroad -- across their four years at the university.
CASE's Circle of Excellence Awards are the premier recognition program for educational advancement. These peer-selected and adjudicated awards celebrate colleges, universities, and schools worldwide whose talented staff have advanced their institutions with resourcefulness and ingenuity.
This year volunteer judges from CASE's membership selected 486 exemplary entries from more than 4,200 submissions for bronze, silver, gold, and Grand Gold recognition. Winners are chosen for overall quality, innovation, use of resources, and the impact on the institution or its communities, such as alumni, parents, students, faculty and staff.
This award comes on the heels of national praise for W&M's career preparation programs. Earlier this spring, the university received Congressional funding to expand its internship program and W&M President Katherine Rowe was honored by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) with their 2024 Career Services Champion Award. Read more from W&M News.
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Original text here: https://news.wm.edu/2024/07/25/william-mary-wins-gold-2024-circle-of-excellence-award-for-externship-program/
Unprecedented Emission Line Detected in the Brightest Gamma-Ray Burst Ever Recorded
NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands, July 26 (TNSres) -- Radboud University issued the following news:
A team of international scientists, led by Maria Edvige Ravasio of Radboud University, has identified an unprecedented emission line in the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever recorded. The study, published 26 July in Science, marks a significant advancement in the understanding of GRBs, shedding light on the elusive properties of their jets.
The discovery focuses on GRB 221009A, the most luminous GRB ever observed. "A few minutes after the GRB started, Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor recorded an unusual
... Show Full Article
NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands, July 26 (TNSres) -- Radboud University issued the following news:
A team of international scientists, led by Maria Edvige Ravasio of Radboud University, has identified an unprecedented emission line in the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever recorded. The study, published 26 July in Science, marks a significant advancement in the understanding of GRBs, shedding light on the elusive properties of their jets.
The discovery focuses on GRB 221009A, the most luminous GRB ever observed. "A few minutes after the GRB started, Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor recorded an unusualfeature that caught our attention," said Maria Edvige Ravasio, a researcher at Radboud University in Nijmegen and affiliated with INAF - Brera Observatory in Merate, who led the team. This unusual feature is in the form of an excess of gamma-ray light at around 10 megaelectronvolts (MeV). "Our analysis shows that this peak is the first high-confidence emission line ever seen in 50 years of studying GRBs."
Energetic events
Gamma-ray bursts are among the most energetic events in the universe, capable of releasing more energy in a few seconds than the Sun will emit in its entire lifetime. Events like GRB 221009A occur when the core of a massive star exhausts its fuel, collapses, and forms a rapidly spinning black hole, which launches two oppositely directed jets. We detect GRBs when one of these jets points almost directly toward Earth. Despite their discovery over 50 years ago, the exact mechanisms driving GRBs and the composition of their jets have remained shrouded in mystery.
Scientists have speculated about the presence of emission lines in GRBs for over half a century but have never confirmed their existence with high confidence. "Previous studies hinted at possible emission lines in GRBs, but they were dismissed as statistical fluctuations. What we see in this GRB is different," said coauthor Om Sharan Salafia at INAF - Brera Observatory in Milan, Italy. "We've determined that the odds this feature is just a noise fluctuation are less than one chance in half a billion."
GRB Jets
This finding offers a new window into the composition and dynamics of GRB jets, an area that has remained poorly understood despite decades of research. The team proposes three potential explanations for this emission line, with the leading hypothesis being the annihilation of electron-positron pairs within the GRB jet. "When an electron and a positron collide, they annihilate, producing a pair of gamma rays with an energy of 0.511 MeV," said coauthor Gor Oganesyan at Gran Sasso Science Institute and Gran Sasso National Laboratory in L'Aquila, Italy. "Because we're looking into the jet, where matter is moving at near light speed, this emission becomes greatly blue-shifted and pushed toward much higher energies."
If this interpretation is correct, to produce an emission line peaking at 12 MeV, the annihilating particles had to have been moving toward us at about 99.9% the speed of light.
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Literature reference
A mega-electron volt emission line in the spectrum of a gamma-ray burst. Door: Maria Edvige Ravasio, Om Sharan Salafia, Gor Oganesyan, Alessio Mei, Giancarlo Ghirlanda, Stefano Ascenzi, Biswajit Banerjee, Samanta Macera, Marica Branchesi, Peter G. Jonker, Andrew J. Levan, Daniele B. Malesani, Katharine B. Mulrey, Andrea Giuliani, Annalisa Celotti, & Gabriele Ghisellini. In: Science, 26 juli 2024. [origineel
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Original text here: https://www.ru.nl/en/research/research-news/unprecedented-emission-line-detected-in-the-brightest-gamma-ray-burst-ever-recorded
UChicago Mentors Help Students From Small, Rural Towns Connect With Colleges
CHICAGO, Illinois, July 26 -- The University of Chicago issued the following news:
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Through the STARS College Network, students provided with resources and support
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By Katelyn Yoshimoto
Nevaeh Scott graduated from high school in rural Kansas with a class of 42 students. As a first-generation student and the oldest of three kids, she said there was "a lot to navigate" when looking at colleges.
"I remember going to a college info session in Kansas City, and feeling really out of place," said Scott, now a rising fourth-year student at the University of Chicago. "Our guidance counselor
... Show Full Article
CHICAGO, Illinois, July 26 -- The University of Chicago issued the following news:
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Through the STARS College Network, students provided with resources and support
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By Katelyn Yoshimoto
Nevaeh Scott graduated from high school in rural Kansas with a class of 42 students. As a first-generation student and the oldest of three kids, she said there was "a lot to navigate" when looking at colleges.
"I remember going to a college info session in Kansas City, and feeling really out of place," said Scott, now a rising fourth-year student at the University of Chicago. "Our guidance counselorreally pushed the in-state option, but I wanted to look at schools in big cities. "
"I think it's important to let students know that there are people at big schools from rural environments, not everyone has the same education or background, and they belong."
Scott, who is majoring in global studies and economics with a specialization in business, has taken her experiences coming from a small town to help a new generation of students find the colleges right for them. She is one of four UChicago students serving as mentors for the STARS College Network. STARS (short for Small Town and Rural Students) works to empower students from small-town and rural America to enroll in and graduate from undergraduate programs across the country. UChicago is a founding member and serves as the headquarters for the network, which recently doubled in size to 32 schools.
Students from rural America often face unique obstacles to attending college. While students in small towns and rural communities graduate high school at roughly the same rate as students in metro areas, they are only half as likely to graduate from a selective college or university. Because of distance and cost, college admissions offices may bypass small towns and rural communities, and students in those areas are less likely to encounter college-related ads or attend events on campuses.
Harper Schwab was born in a small town in Northern California--where, according to his parents, there were more cows than people. The rising UChicago fourth-year, who is double majoring in data science and human rights, moved to a mountain town in western North Carolina when he was 10.
"I feel like I would have really benefited from a STARS mentor when I was applying to schools or transitioning into UChicago," said Schwab. "The students I'm talking to are on the right track, they know what they want to do. What they need is encouragement and support--you can, and you should do this. It's reminding them that they're not any less qualified than any other student applying to these schools."
The mentor program is just one component of the STARS College Network. Launched in 2023 with 16 institutions, members directly engaged with more than 700,000 students in its first year. Collectively, STARS institutions visited 1,100 rural high schools in 49 states to provide information about a wider variety of institutions directly to students and educators. They held virtual panels to help students navigate the college application process, hosted free college visits, connected students to financial aid and more.
With its recent expansion, the network now has a goal of directing an estimated $7.4 billion in programmatic support and financial aid into small-town and rural communities over the next decade. By combining resources, STARS member institutions help a wide variety of students at every step of their journey, whether they ultimately attend a STARS institution or not.
The work of STARS builds upon UChicago's presence as a national leader in recruiting and supporting talented students from rural and small-town backgrounds. Enrollment of students from small towns and rural communities in the College has grown more than 80 percent since 2018.
"STARS is all about meeting students where they are and giving them the tools to find the school that is right for them," said Marjorie Betley, AB'09, AM'12, executive director of the STARS College Network and deputy director of admissions at UChicago. "In year one, more than 11,000 high school seniors were accepted into a STARS institution--which is outstanding. We can't wait to see the difference this network will continue to make for students across the country in the years to come."
The work of STARS is made possible in large part through the generosity of Byron D. Trott, AB'81, MBA'82. Over the next 10 years, Trott Family Philanthropies will build on its initial $20 million gift that served to launch STARS with an additional, collective investment of more than $150 million in programs that prepare, recruit and support rural students.
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Original text here: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/uchicago-mentors-help-students-small-rural-towns-connect-colleges
Probiotic Research for Infant Anaemia Receives Major Funding Boost
OLD ELVET, England, July 26 (TNSres) -- Durham University issued the following news:
A new research project to better understand how gut microbiota can help infants with iron deficiencies has secured a major funding boost from UK Research and Innovation.
Dr Peter Chivers, from our Department of Biosciences, is working with Professor Lindsay Hall, from the University of Birmingham, on new research to improve understanding of how the 'good' bacteria in our gut acquires and uses iron.
Beneficial bacterial therapies
The research team hope to find innovative bacterial therapies that can be used
... Show Full Article
OLD ELVET, England, July 26 (TNSres) -- Durham University issued the following news:
A new research project to better understand how gut microbiota can help infants with iron deficiencies has secured a major funding boost from UK Research and Innovation.
Dr Peter Chivers, from our Department of Biosciences, is working with Professor Lindsay Hall, from the University of Birmingham, on new research to improve understanding of how the 'good' bacteria in our gut acquires and uses iron.
Beneficial bacterial therapies
The research team hope to find innovative bacterial therapies that can be usedtogether with iron supplement strategies to treat iron deficient anaemia in infants.
This groundbreaking research aims to develop probiotic treatments that can reduce the side effects commonly associated with iron supplements.
The outcomes could revolutionise how we treat iron deficiency in young children, making treatments safer, more effective, and kinder to the gut.
Understanding 'good' bacteria
The focus of the research is on harnessing the power of 'good' bacteria, such as Bifidobacterium.
By using probiotic supplements to boost 'good' bacteria, researchers believe they can outcompete harmful bacteria for iron in the gut. This could lead to gentler treatments for anaemia, making it easier on babies and young children.
Iron plays a crucial role in bacterial function, but its limited availability in the gastrointestinal tract presents challenges. Bacteria use various molecular mechanisms to acquire iron, but little is known about these systems in beneficial members of the gut microbiota.
Alongside this new grant, PhD student Ayuki Shimpo, funded by a Durham alum in support of research in public health and microbiology, will generate further insights into essential metal nutrients and the gut microbiota.
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Find out more:
* Discover more about Dr Peter Chivers.
* Our Department of Biosciences is ranked fifth in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2025.
* Visit our Biosciences webpages for more information on our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
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Original text and links presented by source here: https://www.dur.ac.uk/news-events/latest-news/2024/07/probiotic-research-funding-announcement/
Penn Researchers Reveal How a Bacterium Supports Healing of Chronic Diabetic Wounds
UNIVERSITY CITY, Pennsylvania, July 26 (TNSres) -- The University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine issued the following news release:
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The findings could be used to develop topical or bacterial-based treatments for patients with wounds that do not heal well on their own.
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There are many important reasons for keeping cuts and sores clean, but new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows that a certain bug, Alcaligenes faecalis (A. faecalis), can facilitate healing of hard-to-treat wounds among people with diabetes. While there
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UNIVERSITY CITY, Pennsylvania, July 26 (TNSres) -- The University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine issued the following news release:
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The findings could be used to develop topical or bacterial-based treatments for patients with wounds that do not heal well on their own.
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There are many important reasons for keeping cuts and sores clean, but new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows that a certain bug, Alcaligenes faecalis (A. faecalis), can facilitate healing of hard-to-treat wounds among people with diabetes. While thereare many studies done on potentially harmful bacteria in wounds, the researchers discovered that A. faecalis, a bacterium found in many types of chronic wounds, actually boosts healing of diabetic wounds. The researchers found that the beneficial bacterium can promote skin cell movements that are essential for wound closure by inhibiting enzymes that are over-produced in people with diabetes. The findings are published in Science Advances, led by Penn's Elizabeth Grice, PhD, the Sandra J. Lazarus Professor in Dermatology, and Ellen K. White, an MD-PhD student at Penn.
The team says that uncovering the mechanisms behind how A. faecalis boosts healing could help scientists find new treatments for diabetic wounds.
"This research builds heavily on our previous research where we profiled the bacteria found in diabetic foot ulcers over time and studied how these bacteria influence healing outcomes," said Dr. Grice. "We did not expect to find that a bacterium would be able to promote healing, but this surprising finding motivated further studies of A. faecalis."
Chronic wounds, categorized by sores, ulcers, or lacerations that fail to heal or heal very slowly, are common in patients with diabetes. They can be painful, make individuals susceptible to further infection, and are linked to higher rates of morbidity and mortality. New therapies are needed to treat these debilitating wounds, but there have not been many new treatment developments which include surgical removal of dead tissue and bandaging.
To understand how A. faecalis influenced diabetic healing, the researchers did several types of tests with diabetic mice, their skin cells, and human diabetic skin samples. First, they found that using A. faecalis to inoculate diabetic mice, which have wound healing defects, led to accelerated wound healing with no signs of infection. Next, they learned introducing A. faecalis to wounds caused keratinocytes, the dominant wound healing cell type in the epidermis, to proliferate and migrate to close the wound more than the untreated cells. Additionally, skin samples taken from individuals who have diabetes were cultured with A. faecalis, and after 10 days, the samples with the bacterium had a statistically significant greater outgrowth of keratinocytes.
From there, the researchers saw mice diabetic wounds treated with A. faecalis turned up genes linked to the activation of leukocytes including T cells which are vital in the immune system's defense. It also downregulated genes responsible for collagen breakdown, specifically enzymes called matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Importantly, there are too many MMPs in people with diabetes and have been shown to inhibit proper wound healing. The study focused particularly on MMP-10 which is expressed by keratinocytes, and was lowered in wounds treated with A. faecalis.
"MMPs are necessary enzymes that break down connections between cells to allow cells to move. But in patients with diabetes, MMPs are known to exist at much higher levels," White said. "Our findings show that A. faecalis rebalances the MMP expression in wounds, which allows faster wound closure. In future studies we hope to learn more about how the bacteria communicates with skin cells, and also how A. faecalis interacts with other bacteria in the wound."
This new research exposes areas where scientists can explore potential therapeutics. By not only focusing on the microbes involved in the chronic wound and healing process, but also on their specific interactions, scientists could try to develop more options for wound care.
"Bacterial-based wound therapies are an exciting new frontier," said Grice. "There are many different ways to take advantage of our findings and future work on the wound microbiome. It may be possible to isolate the pro-healing molecules secreted by A. faecalis or target the pathways that are downstream of the bacteria's effects. The better we understand the whole process, the more likely we can translate our findings to ultimately help patients with wound and skin repair problems."
This research was supported by the NIH Institute of Nursing Research (R01NR009448, R01NR015639), National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (P30AR069589, F31AR079852, T32AR007465, K99AR081404, F31AR079845), Prevent Cancer Foundation, Penn SBDRC Pilo and Feasibility Grant (P30AR069589), Penn Blavatnik Family Fellowship, NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (5T32AI141393), and the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R25GM071745-19).
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Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn's Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of "firsts" in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital--the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.
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JOURNAL: Science Advances https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adj2020#:~:text=Treatment%20of%20diabetic%20wounds%20with,but%20deficient%20in%20chronic%20wounds.
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Original text here: https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2024/july/how-a-bacterium-supports-healing-of-chronic-diabetic-wounds
Claremont McKenna College Professor Awarded Prestigious 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship
CLAREMONT, California, July 26 (TNSres) -- Claremont McKenna College issued the following news release:
Claremont McKenna College Emerita Professor Nita Kumar has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a highly competitive grant that invests in scholars, artists, scientists, writers, and cultural visionaries.
With her Guggenheim Fellowship, Kumar plans to research and write a social history of an urban upper middle class Kayastha family from 1911 to 2016 covering much of Uttar Pradesh. She will look at gender hierarchies, theorize change in 20th-century India, and present a contextualized discussion
... Show Full Article
CLAREMONT, California, July 26 (TNSres) -- Claremont McKenna College issued the following news release:
Claremont McKenna College Emerita Professor Nita Kumar has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a highly competitive grant that invests in scholars, artists, scientists, writers, and cultural visionaries.
With her Guggenheim Fellowship, Kumar plans to research and write a social history of an urban upper middle class Kayastha family from 1911 to 2016 covering much of Uttar Pradesh. She will look at gender hierarchies, theorize change in 20th-century India, and present a contextualized discussionof the historian's craft.
"The research will focus on the history of a woman known as Suniti and her upper middle class family at several levels, reflecting on how the story is impacted by the state of official and family archives, Indian notions of time and history, discourses of gender, caste and class," said Kumar. "Over five generations, the members of Suniti's family occupied the ranks of landowners, administrators, writers, judges, and advocates."
Chosen through a rigorous application and peer review process from a pool of almost 3,000 applicants, the Class of 2024 Guggenheim Fellows was selected on the basis of prior career achievement. A number of the Fellows' projects directly respond to issues of today such as democracy and politics, identity, disability activism, machine learning, incarceration, climate change, and community. Each fellow receives a monetary stipend to pursue independent work.
"I am honored to be one of this year's Guggenheim Fellowship recipients," said Kumar. "Throughout my career in writing and teaching, I have been interested in issues of how history is interpreted and written, and similarly as an anthropologist, I have focused on methodological issues. This grant is a culmination of my professional work to date and I look forward to delving deeper into the story of Suniti and her family."
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About Claremont McKenna College:
Claremont McKenna College is a private, 1,300-student residential liberal arts college located east of Los Angeles in Southern California. Since 1946, the College's mission has been to prepare students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in business, government, and the professions. Renowned for its Open Academy commitments to freedom of expression, viewpoint diversity, and constructive dialogue, as well as expertise in economics and government, Claremont McKenna also features an accomplished faculty of scholars and committed teachers in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Students are drawn to the College's unparalleled offerings, including: 11 research institutes and centers; the ability to conduct research one-on-one with faculty; and access to leaders, artists, and visionaries who engage with students at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. Claremont McKenna is a member of The Claremont Colleges. For more information, visit https://www.cmc.edu/.
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Original text here: https://www.cmc.edu/newsfeed/press-releases/claremont-mckenna-college-professor-awarded-prestigious-2024-guggenheim
Automated Vehicles: Social Factors Inform Pedestrians' Crossing Decisions
BRISBANE, Australia, July 26 (TNSres) -- The Queensland University of Technology issued the following news:
QUT researchers have found that pedestrians' crossing decisions involving automated vehicles (AVs) are most influenced by nearby pedestrians.
Former QUT PhD student Dr Xiaoyuan Zhao, who is currently a postdoctoral scholar at University of South Florida, teamed up with CARRS-Q researcher, Professor Andry Rakotonirainy (pictured above) and Senior Research Fellow, Dr Xiaomeng Li at the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q), and, and French researcher Professor
... Show Full Article
BRISBANE, Australia, July 26 (TNSres) -- The Queensland University of Technology issued the following news:
QUT researchers have found that pedestrians' crossing decisions involving automated vehicles (AVs) are most influenced by nearby pedestrians.
Former QUT PhD student Dr Xiaoyuan Zhao, who is currently a postdoctoral scholar at University of South Florida, teamed up with CARRS-Q researcher, Professor Andry Rakotonirainy (pictured above) and Senior Research Fellow, Dr Xiaomeng Li at the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q), and, and French researcher ProfessorDelhome (Gustave Eiffel University).
Dr Zhao said that when automated vehicles (AVs) enter public roads in coming years, pedestrians will acquire knowledge about these vehicles to interact with them safely and efficiently.
"An aspect that particularly demands learning is the novel concept of external Human-Machine Interface (eHMI), which transmits explicit information about the vehicle to pedestrians, such as the vehicle's state (e.g., automated driving mode), intentions (e.g., yielding), and instructions for other road users," Dr Zhao said.
"We designed a virtual reality study to investigate how pedestrians acquire, understand and adapt their behaviour toward AVs equipped with eHMIs."
"The study postulates that in the social environment, others can be viewed as role models and used as a source of information."
"Consequently, the behaviours of others can significantly influence how individuals react to new and unfamiliar situations" illustrates the concept of social mirroring, where people tend to unconsciously mirror or imitate the actions and reactions of those around them, especially in novel or uncertain environments.
"Appropriate behaviours of other pedestrians in front of AVs improve individual compliance to eHMIs.
"At the same time, misleading behaviours of others can also be learned and imitated, leading to greater difficulty and lower trust in understanding the eHMIs."
Dr Zhao said the impacts from others on pedestrian crossing decisions disappeared once participants became more familiar with eHMIs.
"This finding highlights the need to find solutions to facilitate the public acquiring knowledge about AVs and eHMIs," Dr Zhao said.
"Along with observing others, qualitative data revealed that participants acquired knowledge about AVs and eHMIs through direct experience and drawing from their past experiences."
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View paper: Crossing roads in a social context: How behaviors of others shape pedestrian interaction with automated vehicles (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2024.02.008).
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Original text here: https://www.qut.edu.au/news?id=195649
