News

Tulane geologist wins national award for research and outreach

Nicole Gasparini, a geologist in the Tulane University School of Science and Engineering, has won numerous awards during her professional career, but the latest one might be the most satisfying.

Gasparini has been named the winner of the 2021 Marguerite T. Williams Award, given annually by the American Geophysical Union’s Earth and Planetary Surface Processes Section. The award is named for the nation’s first Black woman to earn a PhD in geology in 1942. She was 47 at the time, having returned to college mid-career.

Tulane researcher wins funding for major initiative to advance imaging technologies

Carolyn Bayer, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Tulane University School of Science and Engineering, is among 23 early career scientists to win funding for research to accelerate the development of the next generation of imaging technologies.

Tulane scientists develop ‘living nerve circuit’ to fight opioid epidemic

In 2019, nearly 50,000 people in the United States died from opioid overdoses, bringing the total of number of deaths from the opioid crisis to half a million over the past 10 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Tulane scientist leads study on faster charging energy storage

An award-winning Tulane University researcher has led a team in discoveries that could result in significantly faster charging electric vehicles and portable devices such as cell phones and laptops.  The team, led by Michael Naguib, the Ken & Ruth Arnold Early Career Professor in Science and Engineering, engineered novel materials at the nanoscale to achieve high power and energy densities.

The new material has the potential to reduce charging times from hours to a matter of minutes.

Second degree offers a second chance at Commencement speech

Dylan Lucia is one of the student Commencement speakers for 2021. His speech will be part of the Unified Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 22.

Last year, Dylan Lucia was preparing to graduate from the School of Science and Engineering (SSE) with a bachelor’s degree when the pandemic began. He had been thinking about applying for the student Commencement speaker, a dream he’d harbored for years, but instead Tulane students were sent home early, before the semester ended and no traditional Commencement ceremony was held.

Clay, not water, likely source of Mars ‘lakes’

A Tulane University planetary scientist is part of a team of North American scientists putting to rest a theory that water lies under the south polar cap of Mars.

Tulane spin-out company to develop new treatment for pelvic organ prolapse

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development has awarded a $256,000 grant to BioAesthetics Corp., a Tulane University spin-out company, to develop a new graft for treating pelvic organ prolapse (POP).

BioAesthetics, whose CEO and COO are both Tulane graduates, is collaborating with Tulane researcher Kristin Miller, an associate professor of biomedical engineering whose lab will conduct the testing of the graft.

Tulane professor to lead NIH group developing advances in brain science

Michael J. Moore, a professor of biomedical engineering at Tulane University, has been named chairperson of a National Institutes for Health study section.

Moore’s one-year appointment as chair of the Bioengineering of Neuroscience, Vision and Low Vision Technologies (BNVT) Study Section of the Center for Scientific Review runs through June 30, 2022.

Tulane scientist part of mission to Venus

A Tulane University planetary scientist is one of 30 scientists from across the United States and Europe who will be part of a NASA mission to Venus, Earth’s nearest neighbor.

Jennifer Whitten, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, will serve as associate deputy principal investigator on the VERITAS team as it circles the fiery planet.

Nationally renowned river ecologist named new director of ByWater Institute

John Sabo, a leading scholar on water resources and river ecology, has been hired as the new director of the Tulane ByWater Institute.

Sabo’s appointment is effective Aug. 1, 2021 when, in addition to leading the ByWater Institute, he will be a full professor in the Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering.