News

Upward Bound student learns the lab

On the cusp of her senior year at Edna Karr High School, Tulane Upward Bound student N’Dea Preatto hoped her summer internship would be a chance to apply her interest in forensic biology. In the end, the depth of exposure her lab time in the Tulane School of Science and Engineering provided would exceed her expectation.

Is lead making birds more aggressive? Tulane researchers investigate

Could mockingbirds, known for mimicking the sounds of other birds, also be mirroring the effects of lead exposure in humans?

Tulane University researchers have received a grant from the Morris Animal Foundation to continue their study on this and other possible results of lead exposure in wildlife.

Archaeological sciences course gears up for big year

Tulane chemistry professor Scott Grayson is downright giddy about one of the classes he will be teaching when the 2017-18 academic year opens in August – archaeological sciences.

“It will be the most fun course I’ve been involved with since I’ve been here at Tulane,” he said.

But Grayson is also concerned – concerned that it is so “off the beaten path” that no one will know about it. And the last thing he wants is an empty classroom.

Young Tulane scientists get national recognition, support for coastal research

Two Tulane University researchers are among nine scientists nationwide awarded Science Policy Fellowships through the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program.

Krista L. Jankowski, a doctoral candidate in earth and environmental sciences, will spend the next year at the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority in Baton Rouge, where she will study the challenges facing coastal Louisiana in light of the changing climate.

Pressure gauge

Megan Escott, a rising senior in biomedical engineering, adjusts a transducer used to measure the blood pressure in hypertension models. Her research, in the laboratory of assistant professor of biomedical engineering Carolyn Bayer, seeks to improve the diagnosis and treatment of preeclampsia, which affects between 2 and 8 percent of pregnancies worldwide.

Innovative engineering

A. Baldwin Wood, center, an 1899 Tulane engineering graduate, is pictured at the 1915 dedication of Station No. 1, which used his revolutionary new screw pump system. Wood invented the pump in the early 1900s, when he was fresh out of Tulane and employed by the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board. The pumps, more efficient than the centrifugal pumps they replaced, remain in use today, moving rainwater from the streets of New Orleans to Lake Pontchartrain. 

Tulane shares in $41.7 million grant to lower drug costs

Tulane and three other universities have received a $6.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study ways to lower the cost of drugs for illnesses such as Crohn’s, breast cancer and multiple sclerosis.

The four-year grant is among eight awards totaling $41.7 million announced Wednesday by the NSF’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, also known as EPSCor.

Rivers and coasts are the focus of new academic department at Tulane University

The Tulane University School of Science and Engineering has created a first-of-its-kind academic department dedicated to research and education in river-coastal issues.

“Improving our understanding of river-coastal systems is vital today in order to find protection and restoration solutions to the acute problems resulting from rising sea levels, climate change and the effects of destructive storms,” said Tulane Earth and Environmental Sciences professor Mead Allison.

Honors program encourages undergraduate research

Tulane University rising junior Hannah Kent is investigating the links between ancient Greek tragedy and modern combat veterans.

“The question is whether human experience is universal,” she said. “We live in a very different society from ancient Greece … But I think the classics do have a role in our lives. We can use these ancient texts to address stigmatized topics.”

Stamps scholarship offers cultural immersion experience

Tulane University senior Clare Lister didn’t spend much time in a typical classroom during her study abroad semester in Tanzania this spring. Instead, she went on safari to learn about wildlife conservation, to a homestay in a remote village to learn about Maasai culture and to a rainforest reserve to learn about ecology.