At Bates College, STEM-interested Black Students Now 50% More Likely to Earn a STEM degree

Typically there is a gap nationally in higher education between the percentages of students who arrive at college expressing a desire to study science, technology, engineering, and math fields and those who stick with them. Statistics show that the fall-off is even higher among Black and Hispanic students. Bates College in Maine set out to change that.

Why Ventilators can be Tough on Preemie Lungs

Many premature infants need mechanical ventilation to breathe. However, prolonged ventilation can lead to problems like respiratory diseases or ventilation-induced injury.Jonas Naumann and Mareike Zink study the physics of mechanical stress from ventilation at Leipzig University, in Leipzig, Germany and discovered some of the mechanisms that explain why premature lungs are especially sensitive to stress.

Using Ion Beams to Improve Brain Microscopy

Improving the way scientists can see the microscopic structures of the brain can improve our understanding of a host of brain diseases, like Alzheimer’s or multiple sclerosis. Studying these diseases is challenging and has been limited by accuracy of available models.To see the smallest parts of cells, scientists often use a technique called electron microscopy.

3D Ice Printing can Create Artificial Blood Vessels in Engineered Tissue

Over 100,000 individuals in the United States are currently in need of organ transplants. The demand for organs, such as hearts, kidneys, and livers, far exceeds the available supply and people sometimes wait years to receive a donated organ.

How Ancient Sea Creatures can Inform Soft Robotics

Soft robotics is the study of creating robots from soft materials, which has the advantage of flexibility and safety in human interactions. These robots are well-suited for applications ranging from medical devices to enhancing efficiency in various tasks.

WVU to help STEM graduates invest in Mountain State’s environmental health

To foster a continuing interest in STEM fields, West Virginia University is collaborating with other state universities to establish One Health West Virginia, a network connecting research mentors with postbaccalaureate mentees who will acquire training and experience to pursue STEM-based careers and address environmental health issues in the state.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California State University, Bakersfield and Livermore Lab Foundation sign MOU to advance clean energy

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) and the Livermore Lab Foundation (LLF) have signed an agreement to collaborate on advanced and clean-energy technologies, research opportunities and community partnerships that have the potential to shape the future of energy in the state and bring high-quality jobs to the region.

U.S. Department of Energy Announces $37 Million to Build Research Capacity at Historically Underrepresented Institutions

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $37 million in funding for 52 projects to 44 institutions to build research capacity, infrastructure, and expertise at institutions historically underrepresented in DOE’s Office of Science portfolio, including Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and Emerging Research Institutions (ERIs).

Kids Day returns to Sandia post pandemic with record attendance

Nearly 2,000 kids filled Sandia National Laboratories’ Albuquerque site, and another 200 filled the Livermore, California site, to see the cool things their parents and relatives do as part of Kids Day, the highest attendance ever recorded. It’s the first time Sandia has opened its gates like this since the pandemic hit, allowing a day of learning and exploration for kids invited by Sandia employees.

UAH team takes first in 2023 NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge

A team from The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) placed first in the 2023 NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) this year. The competition, held April 20-22 at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (USSRC) Aviation Challenge area, tasks college and high school teams from around the nation and the world to design, develop, build and test human-powered rovers capable of negotiating difficult terrain, as well as a task tool for completion of various mission tasks.

In support of coming Artemis missions to the moon and beyond, HERC encourages research and development of new technology for future mission planning and crewed space missions to other worlds. The UAH rover is nicknamed ‘HERCules,’ and was guided by a two-person crew, competing with 49 teams from 20 states and eight countries.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville breaks ground on new 80,000-square-foot Raymond B. Jones Engineering Building

The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) held a groundbreaking ceremony today for a new 80,000-square-foot engineering facility that will be named in memory of Raymond B. Jones, long-time business and community leader and past chairman of the UAH Foundation. The facility, which received initial approval by The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees in April 2022, will provide cutting-edge resources to support the largest college at UAH, comprising more than 2,850 students, as well as 90 faculty and staff.

The Great Outdoor Classroom

Whitewater rafting down a river, trekking through the jungle, spotting wildlife in its natural habitat. While field studies courses offer students these kinds of adventurous experiences, they also give students a taste of life working in the field and hands-on learning that ensures they are job-ready for a career in research.

UAH-led statewide effort to apply plasma technologies reaches out to broad coalition

A statewide University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH)-led effort to fund, develop and commercialize plasma research and the high-tech workforce it requires is reaching out to a broad coalition of researchers, students, businesspeople and the public with a goal of stimulating thousands of high-paying jobs in Alabama and the Southeast.

How CSU Empowers Women in STEM

UN Women has declared the theme for International Women’s Day on March 8, 2023 “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equity” to celebrate women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education.

VUMC’s Aspirnaut program to install science lab at Wynne High School in Arkansas

A chemical biology research lab fit for an academic medical center is being installed at Wynne High School (WHS) in Wynne, Arkansas, as part of a pilot project of Aspirnaut STEM pipeline at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Aspirnaut, a K-20 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Pipeline for Diversity and Wellness, celebrated its 15th year in 2022.

How a Record-Breaking Copper Catalyst Converts CO2 Into Liquid Fuels

Since the 1970s, scientists have known that copper has a special ability to transform carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals and fuels. But for many years, scientists have struggled to understand how this common metal works as an electrocatalyst, a mechanism that uses energy from electrons to chemically transform molecules into different products.

FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute Opens Heralding a New Era in Neuroscience and Education

FAU celebrated the opening of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute in Jupiter with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The official launch of the institute heralds a new era in neuroscience research, education and community engagement. The multimillion-dollar, 58,000-square-foot facility will serve as a “beacon of hope” for the study and amelioration of numerous brain and behavioral disorders.

TEAM-UP Together Awards 31 Scholarships to African American Students in Physics, Astronomy

TEAM-UP Together is pleased to announce its first cohort of scholars, 31 African American students who will each receive $10,000 for the 2022-23 academic year. The scholarship program aims to reduce financial barriers that prevent many Black students from completing their undergraduate education in physics and astronomy. A collective action initiative, TEAM-UP Together is a partnership between the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Astronomical Society, the American Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, and the Society of Physics Students. TEAM-UP Together is sponsored by the Simons Foundation International.

Bringing the field to students with ‘Virtual Field Geology’

The Virtual Field Geology project has many goals: to make geology field experiences accessible to more people; to document geological field sites that may be at risk from erosion or development, to offer virtual “dry run” experiences and to allow scientific collaborators to do virtual visits to a field site together. While the pandemic brought new urgency to the project, its developers believe it’s part of a “new normal” for geology research and education.

FAU Receives $1 Million NSF Grant to Empower Women in STEM Faculty

The three-year NSF ADVANCE ADAPTATION grant will help transform faculty diversity and ensure appropriate representation of women in STEM. This grant continues the work of the late Emmanuelle Tognoli, Ph.D., who served as a research professor in FAU’s Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences within the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and a member of the FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute.

Making science more accessible to people with disabilities

The pandemic prompted workplace changes that proved beneficial to people with disabilities in science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (STEMM), but there’s fear that these accommodations will be rolled back. With International Day of Persons with Disabilities taking place on Dec. 3, a research team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York is calling for ways to make work in STEMM more accessible.

Hertz Foundation Announces $5 Million Fellowship Gift Honoring Inventor and Entrepreneur Dr. Nathan Myhrvold

The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to building a stronger nation through science and technology leadership, today announced a new fellowship honoring Dr. Nathan Myhrvold, a Hertz Fellow and one of the most visionary technology and business leaders of our time.

Study: Live Chat Boosts College Women’s Class Participation

Women much more enthusiastically embraced the live chat function during pandemic Zoom classes than men, according to a new UNLV study. Researchers hope the data could be a key to broadening underrepresented groups’ access to STEM disciplines as colleges incorporate technology into hybrid and even in-person courses.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR SAN JOAQUIN ‘EXPANDING YOUR HORIZONS’ CONFERENCE

The San Joaquin Expanding Your Horizons (SJEYH) Conference has extended the deadline to register to Wednesday, Oct. 26. This is the first time since 2019 that SJEYH will be held in person and organizers are hoping to reach pre-pandemic registration numbers. This year marks the 30-year anniversary of SJEYH, an annual conference geared toward young women in grades 6-12, designed to increase interest in and foster awareness of careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).