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2008 Archive

Plaudits for Developer of Next-Generation Thin Films
William & Mary postdoctoral research assistant César Clavero is being recognized by the American Vacuum Society (AVS) for groundbreaking work on thin-film materials that could usher in a new generation of biosensors and ultra-small devices. Clavero was slated to receive the 2008 Outstanding Young Researcher Award during the AVS annual meeting in Boston the week of Oct. 19. To read more, go to http://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2008/Clavero-thin-film-award-1432.php

NASA Langley Hits Milestone with Spacecraft Mockup
NASA's Langley Research Center has completed construction of a mockup of the Orion crew module that will be used to test the spacecraft’s launch-abort system. Orion is part of NASA’s new family of Constellation space vehicles, which includes a line of Ares launch rockets and the Altair lunar lander. For more information, click http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/releases/08-063.html

Major Upgrade Approved for Jefferson Laboratory
The Department of Energy has approved a $310 million upgrade for Jefferson Laboratory. JLab will double the energy of its electron accelerator from 6 billion electron volts (GeV) to 12 GeV, construct a fourth experimental hall, and install new equipment in the Lab’s three existing experimental halls. For additional details, see http://www.jlab.org/news/releases/2008/CD-3Approval.html

Largest Grant in School History Made to EVMS
The philanthropic organization run by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has given $100 million to Eastern Virginia Medical School’s CONRAD (Contraceptive Research and Development) program for continued development of microbicides to prevent sexual transmission of the virus that causes AIDS, as well as other sexually transmitted infections. Microbicides will eventually be available in a variety of forms, including topical gels, creams, tablets, films and pills. Go to http://www.evms.edu/about/news/2008-09-08-conrad-grant.html to find out more.

Interest in Cold-Plasma Pencil Heating Up
Interest in a pencil-size device that shoots out a two-inch-long plume of cold plasma is heating up. Developed by Mounir Laroussi, director of Old Dominion University’s Laser and Plasma Engineering Institute, the “plume pencil” can kill bacteria that cause infections or illness, disinfect wounds and promote wound healing, with no hazard to human health. To learn more, visit http://www.odu.edu/ao/news/index.php?todo=details&todo=details&id=12427

NSU Goes Mobile with iTunes U
Norfolk State University is now on Apple iTunes U, which allows NSU students, faculty and staff to access the latest news and events, lectures and student productions on the iTunes U store front. NSU is thought to be the first Virginia institution to be listed in the universities and colleges directory on the main iTunes U site. See http://www.nsu.edu/news/press/2008/101708.html for additional information.

Bioscience Young but Maturing
Bioscience Cluster leader Dr. William Wasilenko outlined the region’s bioscience status, growth and potential at the cluster’s first networking luncheon on Oct. 1. To read his full presentation, click here.

Survey Affirms Economic Importance of Bioscience Cluster
A just-published survey affirms that bioscience organizations are important contributors to the Hampton Roads economy. The 28 organizational survey respondents employ more than 1,200 workers whose salaries average 65% more than regional norms. Most of the members of this emerging sector expect their employment to grow over 20 percent annually during the next five years.

To see the full report, click here.

Oceanic “Dead Zones” Increasing
A global study led by Virginia Institute of Marine Science Professor Robert Diaz shows that the number of “dead zones”— areas of seafloor with too little oxygen for most marine life — has increased by a third between 1995 and 2007. Diaz and collaborator Rutger Rosenberg of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden say that dead zones are now “the key stressor on marine ecosystems” and “rank with over-fishing, habitat loss, and harmful algal blooms as global environmental problems.” To learn more, visit http://www.vims.edu/deadzone/index.html To listen to a related National Public Radio story, go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93619388

Grant Will Support Planning for Proton Radiotherapy
The Daily Press newspaper has reported that the Hampton University physics department received a nearly half-million-dollar grant from the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology's Commonwealth Technology Research Fund to develop a planning system for proton radiotherapy cancer treatment. The money will be used by HU and Eastern Virginia Medical School to work on system development. The effort will be part of the HU Proton Therapy Institute, a $200 million building set to open in 2010 and projected to annually treat about 2,000 patients for prostate, breast, lung, pediatric and other cancers. To read more go to http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/hampton/dp-local_hugrant_0819aug19,0,4038213.story and http://www.hampton.gov/ed/releases/hu_breaks_ground.html

New Research Pinpoints Vital Protein
Researchers from Eastern Virginia Medical School, the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute for Medical Research in London have become the first to describe in detail a key interaction in the function of a protein vital to muscle contraction and the health of virtually every tissue and cell in the body. A study detailing the work was published in the July 30 issue of the premier scientific journal Nature. Although the research is very basic, the findings have important implications for understanding the function and regulation of the protein and its role in human health and disease. For more information, visit http://www.evms.edu/about/news/2008-08-04-howard-white-muscle.html

Voters Prefer Tolls Over Taxes to Improve Hampton Roads Transportation
A regional survey on transportation jointly sponsored by the Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University and the Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement reveals that voters rank expanding the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and improving and expanding mass transit, including light rail, first and second on any potential transportation-upgrades list. However, most respondents are opposed to additional taxes to pay for improvements, preferring tolls instead. To read the complete story, go to http://universityrelations.cnu.edu/news/2008/04_30_08tunnel.html

Helping Hubble’s Successor
Jefferson Lab researchers are designing a new refrigeration plant for NASA Johnson Space Center that will be used in testing components of the next space telescope, tripling the capacity of the current refrigeration system. JLab staff will help NASA scientists cool the telescope’s components to temperatures its instruments will experience in space. Read more at http://www.jlab.org/news/articles/2008/A_Bigger_Chill.html

VMASC Takes M+S on the Road to Nation’s Capital
The Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) took its modeling and simulation expertise on the road in mid-July, to the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The task: to demonstrate a hurricane evacuation model of Hampton Roads. VMASC headed to the Washington expo having already put the model through its paces for Virginia state officials. Additional details can be found at
http://www.odu.edu/ao/news/index.php?todo=details&todo=details&id=10954

NASA Langley Scientists Share Prestigious Award
Researchers at NASA Langley Research Center will share in a 2008 trophy that has, in the past, been given to many ofAmerica's greatest aerospace pioneers, including Orville Wright and Neil Armstrong. This year’s award recognizes groundbreaking work in the revamping of the nation’s air transportation system. Read more at http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/jun/HQ_08148_Collier_Trophy.html

ODU Study on Coral Reef Health Gets Worldwide Attention
Climate change and environmental degradation are threatening a third of the world's reef-building corals with extinction, according to a new study led by Kent Carpenter, the Old Dominion University marine biologist who coordinates the Global Marine Species Assessment (GMSA). The GMSA, which is headquartered at ODU, worked with leading coral experts in producing this first-ever, comprehensive look at the planet’s coral reefs. For more information, visit http://www.odu.edu/ao/news/index.php?todo=details&todo=details&id=10926

Challenging Conventional Scientific Thinking
Researchers from the College of William and Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology and The Nature Conservancy have observed the record-setting migration of a shorebird from feeding grounds on the Delmarva Peninsula to breeding grounds on the McKenzie River near the Alaska-Canada border. The bird’s six-day flight is challenging conventional scientific thinking about long-distance migration routes.

To read more, go to http://www.wm.edu/news/index.php?id=8962

A Next-Generation Medical Imager
Jefferson Laboratory scientists are helping to adapt applied nuclear physics research to create a next-generation medical imager capable of spotting tumors half the size of the smallest now detectable with current devices.

To read a full account of their efforts, go to http://www.jlab.org/news/articles/2008/MedicalImager.html

Fifth Annual Research Expo
Describing Corporate Connections, Virginian-Pilot staff reporter Jennifer Jiggetts wrote that:

"The fifth annual research expo …for the first time offered a corporate networking session designed to bring entrepreneurs … together with university researchers to discuss potential partnerships.

Panel discussions focused on modeling and simulation, a concept that has grown in Hampton Roads. A report issued earlier this year indicated that the sector in 2007 contributed nearly $365 million and 4,420 jobs to the area."

For the complete story, click this link:
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/04/research-rise-expo-links-business-academia

Research Triangle Institute Reports
Hampton Roads Research Partnership Technology Commercialization Assessment. Phase 2: Identifying Opportunities -- March 2002. more

HRRP Selected For New EDA University Center
Through a grant to Norfolk State University, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce has established the Hampton Roads Research Partnership-University Center. (HRRP--UC)
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