STATE UNIVERSITIES
EMU gets $1.8M to help veterans, first-generation students
Low-income, first-generation freshman students and student veterans at Eastern Michigan University will benefit under a pair of five-year grants totaling more than $1.8 million from the U.S. Department of Education. The Student Support Services grants awarded in August will serve 80 student veterans and 140 entering freshmen. The programs will last for five years, and will provide assistance in advising, academic support and access to campus resources, along with help on financial aid and veterans’ benefits issues.
Grand Valley State celebrates new Hall of Science
The Grand Valley State University community celebrated the formal dedication of the new P. Douglas Kindschi Hall of Science Aug. 28 on the Allendale Campus. President Thomas J. Haas said the facility addition significantly expands space for students to conduct research with faculty. The 151,720 square-foot, four-story building includes nine classrooms, 15 teaching laboratories, 14 faculty-student research laboratories, a computational research lab, study spaces, offices and conference rooms.
PEER INSTITUTIONS
MIT researchers explore blocking pathway to post-traumatic stress disorder
Blocking a newly identified memory pathway could prevent post-traumatic stress disorder, from which about 8 million Americans suffer through nightmares and flashbacks to a traumatic event. This condition is particularly common among soldiers who have been in combat. Studies have shown that trauma victims are more likely to develop PTSD if they have experienced chronic stress previously. MIT researchers found that animals who underwent chronic stress prior to a traumatic experience engaged a distinctive brain pathway that encodes traumatic memories more strongly than in unstressed animals. Blocking this type of memory formation without making people amnesic may offer a new way to prevent PTSD.
Purdue University initiative seeks to advance hybrid electronics
Researchers at Purdue University and Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI) are partnering with global industry leaders in the Midwest and Indiana as part of a $171 million federal initiative to advance research and manufacturing in the field of flexible hybrid electronics. Researchers at Purdue will lead a $13 million component of the five-year U.S. Department of Defense effort to launch the Flexible Hybrid Electronics Manufacturing Innovation Institute. It will focus on the design, manufacturing and integration of electronics and sensors and examine assembly and test automation for using flexible hybrid electronics on bendable, stretchable and foldable substrates.
Wisconsin nanotechnology center lands new $20M contract
The Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, a multi-institutional research center based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has inked a new contract with the National Science Foundation that will provide nearly $20 million in support over the next five years. The center focuses on the molecular mechanisms by which nanoparticles interact with biological systems. Nanotechnology involves the use of materials at the smallest scale, including the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules. Products that use nanoscale materials range from beer bottles and car wax to solar cells and electric and hybrid car batteries. The purpose of the center is to explore how nanotechnologies can come to fruition with little or no environmental impact.
