Husker-developed surgical robot readies for space station test
A miniaturized robot invented by Nebraska's Shane Farritor is on schedule to blast off into space to showcase its skills. NASA recently awarded the University of Nebraska-Lincoln $100,000 through the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) to ready the surgical robot for a 2024 test mission aboard the International Space Station.
Griffis competes for Team USA at international soil judging contest
University of Nebraska–Lincoln student Kennadi Griffis, a third-year environmental science major, with a concentration in soil science and a water science minor, will compete in the International Soil Judging Competition July 26-31 in Stirling, Scotland. Griffis, of Lincoln, Nebraska, will be a member of Team USA, along with students from Virginia Tech, North Carolina State University and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and two coaches from Virginia Tech. She is the first student from Nebraska to earn a spot on the national team.
Desert climate overtaking more of Central Asia
Rising annual temperatures and dwindling yearly precipitation across the mid-latitudes of Central Asia have extended its desert climate 60 miles northward since the 1980s, says a recent study led by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. An analysis of the region's climate has revealed that what was once a zone of semi-arid climate, featuring at least some summer precipitation, has since transitioned to a drier and hotter clime offering little rainfall during the growing season.
UNL welcomes Mandela Washington Fellowship to Lincoln
For the first time since 2019, 17 African countries sent 25 of their brightest young leaders to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s campus. Together, they are a part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, a six-week program dedicated to leadership and civic engagement. The Fellows were brought to UNL after an extensive selection process. UNL is one of 35 institutions from across the nation that has the Mandela Washington Program. It’s been held on the campus for five years, except for when COVID-19 cancelled it in 2020.
Visit to Nebraska results in water management partnership with Brazil
As a result of a visit to Nebraska in May, the government of Mato Grosso, Brazil, will sign a collaboration agreement with the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute and the University of Nebraska to map its water resources. The agreement, signed through Brazil's Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Innovation, aims to identify, monitor and define any present and planned future use of water.
Drought center kicks off $1 million defense project to predict unrest
Weather and climate can contribute to civil unrest, especially in countries with little to no social safety nets, where people depend on subsistence farming to feed themselves and their families. The question is, can civil unrest be predicted along with the weather? To begin answering that question, researchers at the National Drought Mitigation Center, based in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's School of Natural Resources, received $1 million in funding from U.S. Air Force Weather this spring for the first phase of a bigger project.
Project earns funding to study book distribution in Africa
The African Poetry Book Fund at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln has earned a $343,750 grant from the Poetry Foundation to study poetry book distribution in Africa. The African Poetry Book Distribution Project, led by Kwame Dawes, George W. Holmes University Professor of English, will improve the understanding of poetry book distribution — examining bookseller networks, international trade, literary venues and programming and more — on a continent made up of multiple nations. The three-year project began this summer.
Reeves leads Nebraska teachers on Fulbright to Korea
Having been delayed two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Fulbright Hays Group Projects Abroad project is in its third week of travel study in South Korea. Jenelle Reeves, professor of teaching, learning and teacher education, was awarded the grant in 2019 for the project, "Education Fever: Lessons for Nebraskan K-12 Teachers in Korea's Education System," and the travel study portion of the trip started June 10 and continues through July 8.
Vu to lead research project in fight against African swine fever
As a teenager decades ago on his family's swine farm in Vietnam, Hiep Vu saw firsthand the benefits of vaccinating livestock. His parents had gradually increased the size of their operation, and when they inoculated their animals, the positive results struck Vu. He earned a degree in Vietnam to become a veterinarian, but his scientific interests broadened into animal-focused immunology. Now, Vu is embarking on a collaborative, federally funded project to fill in a major knowledge gap that has hindered development of a vaccine for African swine fever.
Nebraska U hosts international Fulbright scholars for degree prep
This summer, Nebraska’s Programs in English as a Second Language will host up to 25 international scholars as they prepare to begin their academic degree programs through the Fulbright English for Graduate Studies Program. The pre-academic program, administered by the Institute of International Education, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs as part of its flagship Fulbright Program.