CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee., April 6 -- Chattanooga State Community College issued the following news release: Chattanooga State Community College is now offering Tennessee Reconnect Virtual Information Sessions. The Tennessee Reconnect Scholarship is a last-dollar scholarship that will allow all Tennessee adults who qualify to attend an eligible institution free of tuition and mandatory fees. Reservations for Tennessee Reconnect Virtual Information Sessions can be made at chattanoogastate.edu/tnr  more

JOHNSON CITY, Tennessee, April 7 [TNSbiologyresearch] -- East Tennessee State University issued the following news on April 2: The Gray Fossil Site in Gray, Tennessee, is famous for preserving the remains of a 5-million-year-old Appalachian ecosystem. Not only do these fossils include a variety of ancient animals like rhinos, mastodons and pandas, they also include a forest's worth of ancient plants. And that list of plants is now a bit longer thanks to a pair of recent studies identifying two   more

JOHNSON CITY, Tennessee, April 10 -- East Tennessee State University issued the following news: East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy is producing hand sanitizer to help ETSU Health clinics and first responders curb shortages and prevent the spread of COVID-19. With the local need identified, Dr. Charles Collins, professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, immediately went to work in the pharmacy school's compounding lab producing the hand sanitizer. "During this stressfu  more

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, April 9 -- The University of Tennessee's Institute of Agriculture issued the following news release on April 8: Researchers at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture's Amphibian Disease Laboratory are working to understand--and hopefully get ahead of--highly contagious pathogens affecting amphibians in Europe and Asia. One of the pathogens of interest is Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, or Bsal. Managed by Debra Miller and Matt Gray, professors in the Depa  more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, April 7 [TNSgrants] -- Lipscomb University issued the following news: * * * - Project to preserve and care for archives in "Athens of the South" * * * Lipscomb University's collaboration with Meharry Medical College and Fisk University to "Preserve Archives in the 'Athens of the South'" has been awarded a planning grant by the National Archives' National Historical Publications & Records Commission. Elizabeth Rivera, special collections librarian in Lipscomb's Beaman L  more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, April 8 -- Lipscomb University issued the following news: * * * - As families around the world continue to be at home to help combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus Lipscomb's Justin Briggs shares tips for navigating this unusual time. * * * As the nation adjusts to working remotely and schools moving online, feelings of fear, anxiety and hopelessness are becoming prevalent among individuals and families who are trying to adapt to their new reality. Justin Briggs, ass  more

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, April 7 -- The University of Tennessee's Institute of Agriculture issued the following news release on April 6: The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture has named professor Christopher Clark as head of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Clark joined UTIA in 2002, bringing with him nearly a decade of teaching experience and successfully led the department as interim head in 2016-2017. Clark holds a Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt Universi  more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, April 7 -- Gov. Bill Lee, R-Tennessee, issued the following news on April 6: * * * - Grants to ease financial burden during COVID-19 fight * * * Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced the State of Tennessee will allocate $10 million in Small and Rural Hospital Readiness Grants to support hospitals that are facing financial strain due to the ongoing response to COVID-19. "Small and rural hospitals are critical to fighting COVID-19 and these grants will help complement fe  more

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, April 8 -- The University of Tennessee Health Science Center issued the following news: The University of Tennessee Health Science Center's College of Medicine has produced a training video detailing the proper protocol for collecting nasopharyngeal samples to test for coronavirus infection. The video is intended for distribution to hospitals, clinical care providers, and testing sites as a guide to ensure proper procedure is used at the various sites in the city and across  more

MARTIN, Tennessee, April 7 -- The University of Tennessee's Martin Campus issued the following news release: Dr. Ahmad Tootoonchi has been selected as the dean of the College of Business and Global Affairs, effective June 20. Tootoonchi is the current dean of the College of Business at Eastern Washington University. He earned his doctorate in leadership and human behavior, and a master's degree in management and organizational development from U.S. International University. "Dr. Tootoonchi br  more

MARTIN, Tennessee, April 9 -- The University of Tennessee's Martin Campus issued the following news release: John, Paul, George and Ringo have discreetly lived on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Martin without drawing much attention from the public through the devoted care of Hannah Trimble, a senior criminal justice major with a focus in forensics science from Greenfield, and Dr. Jack Grubaugh, professor of biological sciences. While these cleverly named beetles aren't the beloved  more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, April 8 -- Vanderbilt University issued the following news: When the first cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in Tennessee, Natalie Robbins, a staff researcher with the Vanderbilt Initiative for Interdisciplinary Geospatial Research (VIIGR), was curious to see where the cases were across the state--and how they would spread. "I was able to find maps that told you how many cases there were per state, such as Johns Hopkins' global coronavirus map, but there was nothing out th  more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, April 9 -- Vanderbilt University issued the following news on April 8: Having trouble sleeping? With COVID-19 disrupting schedules and ramping up stress levels, it's only natural that our sleep patterns would be affected. "Sleep is important all the time, but especially now because of all the added stress we are experiencing," says physician Beth Malow, professor of neurology and pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Not sleeping well can interfere with our  more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, April 8 [TNSscientificresearch] -- Vanderbilt University issued the following news: Runners could soon keep up with cyclists, thanks to a new invention from a team of mechanical engineers at Vanderbilt. The invention, an exoskeleton worn on the legs, would bring cycling mechanics to the human body and enable people to run nearly 1.5 times as fast -- approaching top cycling speeds. The study with the device, "How to run 50 percent faster without external energy," appears   more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, April 10 -- Vanderbilt University issued the following news: As universities across the country pool resources to tackle pressing challenges brought on by COVID-19, individuals in the Chemistry department at Vanderbilt are currently underway on the development of one resource in high demand: hand sanitizer. Brought together by Chemistry department chair John McLean and assistant professor Janet Macdonald, a team of Chemistry faculty and staff are currently developing the   more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, April 9 [TNSgrants] -- Vanderbilt University issued the following news: Vanderbilt University will play a leading role in advancing underrepresented minority astrophysics scholars to secure faculty appointments through elite postdoctoral fellowships, thanks to a $900,000 grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation. Brittany Kamai and Samaiyah Farid are the first graduates of the model Fisk-Vanderbilt Master's to Ph.D. Bridge Program to be awarded postdoctoral research fellow  more