FEATURED INFORMATION
Public Comment Period for Draft Vision Hampton Roads
You are invited to review Vision Hampton Roads and make comments by responding to their public comment survey. Your input is needed to promote democracy and civic engagement, build public trust in government and improve the quality and effectiveness of our region's plans and decisions.
MODSIM World Brings Leaders in M&S Field to Hampton Roads
From Oct. 14 through 16 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, Old Dominion University's Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) will be one of the major contributors to the third annual MODSIM World Conference & Expo, which is designed to attract military, government, business and education leaders. Modeling and simulation has become a major economic driver in Hampton Roads, contributing nearly $1 billion to the region's economy, and directly employing more than 4,000 people. For more information, go here or here.
NASA's Version of a Star Trek-Like Replicator
NASA engineers are working on a novel manufacturing technique at Langley Research Center in Hampton. Known as Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication, or EBF3, the computer-driven process requires a vacuum chamber, where an electron beam focuses on a feeder metal source. Molten metal is then applied one layer at a time on top of a rotating surface until the part is complete. Reduced production and material costs and improved performance are among the advantages, with promise in the fields of aviation, spaceflight and medical technology. More detail is available here.
Helping the Environment with Fuel-Producing Algae
The College of William and Mary and its Virginia Institute of Marine Science have formed a collaborative research initiative to investigate a promising new technology to produce biofuel from the algae growing naturally in rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. The enterprise, called ChAP – the Chesapeake Algae Project – is an integrated research approach to algae-based energy production and environmental remediation. It includes a number of corporate partners, notably StatoilHydro, a Norwegian energy company that has invested $3 million in seed capital. Learn more here.
American-Made SRF Cavity Makes the Grade
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility marked a step forward in the field of advanced particle-accelerator technology with a successful test of the first U.S.-built superconducting radiofrequency niobium cavity to meet the exacting specifications of the proposed International Linear Collider (ILC). If built, the ILC would be an electron-positron collider that would enable scientists to explore matter at higher levels of energy. The ILC would require about 16,000 niobium cavities; vendors worldwide are vying to produce test cavities to meet stringent performance goals. Click here for more detail.
EVMS Breaks Ground for New Building
With help from Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine and several members of the Virginia General Assembly, Eastern Virginia Medical School has broken ground “virtually” on its new education and research building. The new structure will provide additional research space, allowing the school to expand its medical-doctor and physician-assistant programs to meet growing demand for services. Go here for more.
Research Partnership Colleague Organizations are Still One Click Away
Interested in what our parent organization, the Hampton Roads Partnership, is up to? Want to catch up with the Hampton Roads Technology Council or the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance? Behind on the latest concerning Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology? Visiting the websites of our colleague organizations is a simple click away. Just go to the Links pulldown section on the top of this page. Or you can just doubleclick here.
Discovery May Point Way to New Treatments for Diabetes and Heart Disease
Eastern Virginia Medical School scientists studying fat cells have discovered what may be a vital step in the progression of diabetes and heart disease, a finding that could lead to the development of groundbreaking new treatments. Their research, reported in the June 11, 2009 issue of Obesity, is the first to prove this link. To learn more, go here.
NASA Announces Green Aircraft Challenge
NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program and the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation have established the Green Flight Challenge. The contest aims to spur development of aircraft that can average at least 100 miles per hour on a 200-mile flight while achieving greater than 200 passenger miles per gallon of consumed fuel. The prize for the best performance is $1.5 million. To learn more, click here.
Taller Reefs Key to Oyster Restoration
A five-year Virginia Institute of Marine Science study of oyster-restoration techniques in the Chesapeake Bay has revealed that taller reefs in an extensive network of large sanctuaries are critical to the re-establishment of self-sustaining populations of native oysters. The VIMS research team compared oyster abundance and growth on reefs built to stand 10 to 18 inches above the seafloor with reefs that rise only three to five inches. Oyster densities on the taller reefs were four times those found on the smaller: 1,000 vs. 250 per square meter. For additional detail, follow this link.
Virginia Wesleyan Receives Computer-Education Grant
Virginia Wesleyan College is one of four schools to receive a Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC)/Verizon Foundation “Digital Age Initiative” grant. The award is designed to help provide incoming freshman from challenged backgrounds with instruction and assistance in developing computer skills. Selectees will receive intensive technology training through a three-day pre-session offered prior to the fall 2009 semester and regular course offerings. Read more here.
Contest Challenges Young Students to Build Water Recyling System for the Moon
Can children in grade school or middle school create a water-recycling system that astronauts could use on the moon? To find out, NASA has established a national competition with just that challenge. Small teams of students from grades 5 through 8 will participate in the project, which is slated to begin in the fall and conclude with submission of potential designs by Feb. 1, 2010. The Virginia Space Grant Consortium, which includes Old Dominion University as a member, is promoting the contest to educators throughout Virginia. For more information, go to this page.
University Students Win NASA/NIA Lunar Design Competition
Students from Georgia Tech, North Carolina State University, and the University of Maryland took first-place honors in the 2009 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts Academic Linkage contest sponsored by NASA and the National Institute of Aerospace. They presented their work at a forum in Cocoa Beach, Fla. The winning teams competed against twelve other universities including teams from Arizona State University, Colorado School of Mines and Penn. State. Additional detail is here.
New Projects Feature Debuts on HRRP Website
We’re introducing Projects, a new feature on the Research Partnership homepage. To find out what current studies our members are conducting and details about the physical improvements they’re making to buildings and equipment, simply click the Projects button to the left of this posting, or go here.
Study Reveals Alarming Global Decline in Seagrass
VIMS marine science professor Dr. Robert Orth is among 14 researchers from the United States, Australia and Spain who have conducted the first comprehensive global assessment of seagrass. The team found accelerating losses: fully 58 percent of world's seagrass meadows are currently declining, at rates similar to coral reefs and tropical rainforests. Such a trend threatens the immediate health and long-term sustainability of coastal ecosystems. Orth and his 13 co-authors have published their assessment in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To learn more, click here.
Bringing Prosperity to Hampton Roads
In an Inside Business Magazine column, HRRP Executive Director Lee Beach examines the substantial progress being made in local technology-based economic development. Beach takes note of a growing number of partnerships that are concentrating on real products for the marketplace. The result: more jobs, increased revenue and spinoffs. Read more here.
Five-Year NSF Grant Awarded to Christopher Newport
Christopher Newport University will receive $2.6 million over the next five years from the National Science Foundation for a project to link urban water quality with scientific research and education in the Chesapeake Watershed. CNU students and Newport News high schoolers will create a neighborhoods database from ecological field studies that will determine the environmental health of regional watersheds. The database will allow the City of Newport News to monitor and manage pollutants entering the James River and Chesapeake Bay. Learn more here.
VIMS, Watermen Collaborate to Clean and Protect the Chesapeake Bay
Watermen and scientists are collaborating to rid the Chesapeake Bay of abandoned crab pots that can trap and kill aquatic wildlife. The program, overseen by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and funded by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, pays out-of-work crab dredgers to use side-imaging sonar units to detect and retrieve these “ghost pots” and other marine debris that litter the bottom of the Bay. To learn more, go here.
Car Exhaust Cleanup May be Leading to More Pollution
A research team that includes Old Dominion University oceanographer Peter Sedwick has found catalytic converters that remove smog from car exhaust may actually introduce a new pollutant into the biosphere. Trace amounts of the metal osmium, which can be very toxic under certain conditions, is increasingly prevalent globally in rain and snow, as well as in rivers and oceans. Fortunately, unlike lead, osmium concentrations are extremely small and may not adversely affect biology. For additional detail, click here.
Taking a NASA Plastic to Heart
A kind of superplastic developed at NASA Langley Research Center is helping to prevent heart failure. The material is part of an implantable device to resynchronize heartbeats and improve blood flow. The plastic is biologically inert, highly flexible, resistant to chemicals, and withstands extreme hot and cold temperatures. Go here for additional information.
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