October 2024 Media Highlights

Technical.ly - Sen. Mark Warner says the world needs a ‘Geneva Convention’ for using AI in warfare - Warner highlighted bipartisan AI bills, as well as foreign interference as the upcoming election looms and the strain from Data Center Alley, on Friday morning at an AI-focused summit hosted by Virginia Tech. During that convening, AI leaders throughout the public and private sectors discussed workforce needs and building trust in panels and keynotes.

Earth - Hurricane Helene: Aging infrastructure in a dangerous climate - According to Manoochehr Shirzaei, an associate professor of geophysics at Virginia Tech: “The tragic flood event in the southeast U.S. is a poignant example of the confluence of multiple factors, including development in floodplains, inadequate infrastructure maintenance and management, and the specter of climate change, whose compounding effect can amplify the disaster.”

Axios - Thousands without water, 1 week on from hurricane hitting Florida - Floodwaters pose risks like gastrointestinal illness, dehydration and carbon monoxide poisoning from improper generator use, per a statement from Julia Gohlke an associate professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

The Hill - Helene’s health risks include contaminated water and mold: Doctors - “Symptoms from infection with waterborne pathogens can include gastrointestinal upset, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, fever, and headache,” said Alasdair Cohen, an assistant professor of environmental epidemiology with the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

Times Higher Education - Using Sustainable Development Goals to foster innovation - Written by Tripp Shealy. Academic institutions talk a good game about educating the next generation of leaders for climate resilience, conservation and adaptive infrastructure, but my worry is that we are making only minor changes – incremental adjustments. Instead, measurable change is needed to adapt, mitigate and resist the negative effects of ever-rising carbon emissions. Worse, at times, we’re simply repackaging what we already offer to make it seem as if we’re making meaningful advancements.

Today - Hoda Kotb jokes her mom ‘will be fine’ after TODAY announcement — what to know about Sameha - Hoda was a college student at Virginia Tech when she lost her father, Abdel Kotb, who died of a heart attack in his 50s. Through the years, her mother has always been right by her side.

Today - A look back at Hoda Kotb’s most memorable TODAY moments - Born in Oklahoma, Hoda attended college at Virginia Tech, receiving her degree in broadcast journalism. The rising star worked at several TV stations before bringing her skills to NBC in April 1998. Hired as a "Dateline" correspondent and reporter, Hoda covered Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts and other high-profile events around the world, nabbing a 2006 Peabody Award and 2008 Alfred I. duPont Award along the way for her story "The Education of Ms. Groves."

Forbes -  The Complete List Of Early Decision Schools For 2024-25 - Complete List Of Colleges With Early Decision: Virginia Tech.

Deutsche Welle (Germany - Also picked up by FOCUS) - Israel, Iran und die Wirtschaft - (Translation: Israel, Iran and the Economy) - For the middle class, the economic situation has noticeably worsened over the past two decades. "Because of the sanctions, the standard of living is back to where it was 20 years ago," said Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, economics professor at the US university Virginia Tech, in an interview with DW.

El Debate - Verduras de colores: el secreto para proteger nuestra materia gris - Google translation: Virginia Tech's research not only highlights the benefits of carotenoids in preventing brain diseases, but also suggests that a diet rich in these antioxidants could keep our brain in optimal condition throughout life. In addition, these compounds have been found to have protective effects even in the early stages of cognitive decline, which could delay the progression of diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Wired - El aumento del mar en las islas del Pacífico es irreversible, confirma la NASA - Google translation: The work, in which researchers from the University of Hawaii, the University of Colorado and Virginia Tech collaborated, predicts that almost all Pacific island nations will be dealing with constant and larger floods in the next 30 years. “Areas in Tuvalu, which currently experience fewer than five days of high tide flooding per year, could see an average of 25 days annually in the 2050s. Regions in Kiribati that will be exposed to an average of 65 days,” predicts the report.

CBS Sports - Guardian Caps, helmet add-ons could reduce concussions by nearly 50%, so why isn't everybody wearing one? The Virginia Tech Helmet Lab is the leader in the industry. It annually tests helmets on the market and rates them. The lab tested both the Guardian caps and SAFR add-ons. It found "average decreases in concussion risk" by 15% to 34%. The lab said there are "notable differences" between Guardian and SAFR. The effectiveness of add-ons can vary from helmet to helmet. The lab also concluded add-ons "can enhance" helmet safety but there are "a lot of variables to consider."

The Hill - Breaking Iran’s Axis of Resistance, one proxy at a time - Ariel I. Ahram is professor in the Virginia Tech School of Public and International Affairs and author of “War and Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa” (Polity, 2020). From 2017 to 2020 he was the primary investigator for the Proxy Wars Initiative, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The Hill - Furious officials say misinformation is harming hurricane response - Cayce Myers, the director of graduate studies at Virginia Tech’s School of Communication, said misinformation can create “noise” that drowns out the accurate information for storm victims.

Forbes - Basic Research Matters: Meet The Winners Of 2024’s Golden Goose Awards - Jeff Walters, the Harold Bailey Professor of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech University, for a research program that began in the 1980s and ultimately helped remove the rare red-cockaded woodpecker from the endangered species list.

Business Insider - Hurricane Milton morphed into a Category 5 in 2 days. Take a look at the storm's rapid evolution from space. - "This intensification rate is third for the Atlantic basin, behind Hurricane Wilma (2005) and Hurricane Felix (2007), which intensified by 105 mph and 100 mph, respectively," Stephanie Zick, an associate professor for Virginia Tech's Department of Geology, told Business Insider in an email.

Money - Awarded one of America’s Best Colleges - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, or Virginia Tech, is a leader in using technology to teach — and have fun.

Health - EPA Says Some 9 Million Lines of Lead Pipes Must Be Removed—What This Could Mean For You - The danger associated with lead pipes can vary dramatically between cities or even individual homes, explained Marc Edwards, PhD, distinguished professor of environmental and water resources engineering at Virginia Tech. The amount of lead that seeps into water depends on how corrosive that local water is to the pipes themselves, among other factors, he told Health.

Diverse: Issues in Higher Education - A Decade Later: The Flint Water Crisis - “We have a problem in America, in that each city gets the water they can afford,” says Dr. Marc A. Edwards, a professor of engineering and water resources engineering at Virginia Tech University, and lead investigator that first confirmed the high lead count in Flint’s water. “Short of bankruptcy, there’s no mechanism by which state or federal money can be mobilized to help.”

Inside Higher Ed - Changing How Higher Ed and Industry Drive Innovation - In the U.S., innovation districts, epitomized by coastal hot spots in Silicon Valley and Cambridge, Mass., are popping up in unexpected regions. One of Siemens’s four research ecosystems in the United States, for example, is located in Atlanta, and includes partnerships with the Georgia Institute of Technology, Virginia Tech, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and North Carolina A&T State University.

Journal of Blacks in Higher Education - Five Black Leaders Appointed to Administrative Roles at Colleges and Universities - Jennifer Wiggins has been named the inaugural director of the Office of Sexual Violence and Prevention and Education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Previously, she served as associate dean of students and the inaugural director for gender violence prevention at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She is also a licensed professional counselor.

Technical.ly - This Week in Jobs: A wealth of opportunity in these 24 open tech roles - Virginia Senator Mark Warner calls for more protections around AI and technology during a Virginia Tech AI summit.

Discover - Octopus Suckers Inspire New Grippy Material to Help Grab Objects - Michael Bartlett, the lead investigator in the study and engineering professor at Virginia Tech, remembers one key scene from the film: an octopus sits at the bottom of the ocean but remains hidden under a pile of rocks and shells stuck to its suckers. When a diver approaches, the animal instantly releases those items and flees.

Interesting Engineering - New octopus-inspired adhesive’s gripping power holds anything underwater - “I am fascinated with how an octopus in one moment can hold something strongly, then release it instantly. It does this underwater, on objects that are rough, curved, and irregular – that is quite a feat,” said Michael Bartlett from Virginia Tech who led the development.

CNN (Romania) - Interviu exclusiv cu Ariel Ahram, expert în afaceri guvernamentale: „Pacea e posibilă în Orientul Mijlociu” - Google translate: Ariel Ahram, Prof. Univ. Virginia Tech: “A regional conflict seems more likely now than a month ago, and more likely a month ago than a year or a year and a half ago. However, I think it is important to remember that neither side in the conflict wants a regional war, let alone a world war. There are, however, some substantial miscalculation and perception issues that could lead to accidental escalation."

CBS News - Bogus videos from the hurricanes are going viral. Here's how to spot old and fabricated footage online. - Cayce Myers, a professor of public relations at Virginia Tech, said viral AI-generated images during Hurricane Helene showcase the challenges with AI and social media. "AI technology is providing greater ability to create realistic images that are deceptive," Myers said, adding, "The problem is these fake images influence peoples' perception of reality, and social media fuels the spread of this disinformation."

Forbes - More Americans Are Afraid To Travel Now. Here's What To Do About It. - Adrienne Means-Christensen, who teaches psychology at Virginia Tech, says thinking about your trip before you leave can be helpful. "The key is to try to understand what the thought is that leads to the feelings," she says.

Associated Press (also VOA, ABC News, Time, PBS, and more) - Indigenous Peoples Day celebrated with an eye on the election - From a voting rally in Minneapolis featuring food, games and raffles to a public talk about the Native vote at Virginia Tech, the holiday, which comes about three weeks before Election Day, will feature a wide array of events geared toward Native voter mobilization and outreach amid a strong recognition of the power of their votes.

National Geographic - Invasive spotted lanternflies have a taste for grapes—what does that mean for wine? - One promising new avenue in the effort to prevent the spotted insects from popping up somewhere new? Lanternfly-sniffing dogs. Just as canines have been trained to sniff out explosives, drugs, and even viruses, such as COVID-19, the animals may also be a critical tool in the fight against invasive species. (Learn how dogs put their noses to work sniffing out wildlife.) “Pretty much everything has a smell,” says Sally Dickinson, a doctoral candidate at Virginia Tech.

Times Higher Education - Leveraging international collaborations to tackle global health challenges - Written by Eli Vlaisavljevich: At Virginia Tech, I teach and run the Therapeutic Ultrasound and Non-Invasive Therapies Laboratory, where we develop histotripsy, a novel focused ultrasound technology, for the treatment of liver cancer and other clinical applications. For histotripsy to reach its full potential, we need to leverage transdisciplinary research teams that expand beyond the boundaries of any single institution.

IFL Science - Microplastics Detected in Wild Dolphin Breath For The First Time - “To analyze our samples, we used a microscope in our colleague’s laboratory at The Citadel to look for particles that looked like plastic based on color, surface texture, and shape. To confirm that they were plastic, our colleague at Virginia Tech examined them using Raman spectroscopy.”

Popular Science - China races to unlock one of the biggest mysteries in particle physics - “If it turns out that JUNO shows our understanding is wrong, then that would be a revolution,” Patrick Huber, director of American University Virginia Tech’s Center for Neutrino Physics, said on October 17th.

NBC News -  China and U.S. race to solve the mystery of neutrinos, 'ghost particles' of the universe - “From the U.S. side, it becomes more difficult to obtain funding for collaboration with Chinese colleagues and it has become rather difficult for our Chinese colleagues to obtain U.S. visa,” Patrick Huber, director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Neutrino Physics, said in an email.

BNN Bloomberg (Canada) - Hurricane Milton’s Floodwaters Are Hiding a Dirty Secret - Disease isn’t the only concern. Some affected areas still had debris piled up from Hurricane Helene’s strike a few weeks prior, adding another danger to standing floodwaters. People often don’t account for the dangers of detritus hidden below the surface, but it “can really cause some serious injuries,” says Julia Gohlke, an environmental health professor at Virginia Tech who has researched post-hurricane emergency room visits.

NBC News (aired on local NBC affiliates) - Presidential race battleground states - Transcription: “Because, of course, the election is decided in the electoral college, not in terms of the popular vote. One really has to see how to get the number of supports up in those blue wall states, so the party that wins them gets those electoral college votes”

Marketplace/NPR - The keys to GM’s Q3 success: Cheaper cars, lower rates and EV sales - “I’m not fully convinced that this data addresses any concerns that one might have for the longer horizon,” said David Bieri, a professor of public policy at Virginia Tech.

Business Insider - The best senior dog food in 2024, with advice from veterinarians - Wet dog food has a higher moisture content, typically 75% to 78%, whereas dry dog food contains only about 10% to 12% moisture. This is a perk for pups prone to dehydration or ones with reduced kidney function, which is common in older dogs, says Dr. Mark Freeman, a veterinarian and assistant professor of community practice at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.

Epoch Health - Top Fruits and Vegetables for Preventing Major Chronic Diseases: Harvard Study - People with carotenoid-rich diets, higher levels of lutein and zeaxanthin in their blood, or greater accumulation of these carotenoids as macular pigment in their retinas, had a significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, Kathleen Dorey, the lead author of the study and a professor in the Department of Basic Science Education at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, stated in a press release.

Times Higher Education - Equipping university students to be leaders in addressing climate change - Written by Tripp Shealy: Are the students studying to become civil engineers today considering how their designs will function in hotter conditions? As an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, I spend a lot of time thinking about this question. Here are the tools, knowledge and leadership skills that I believe university students need to ensure they are equipped to adapt to the realities of a warming planet.

Technical.ly - Why tech and startups flourish in the Washington DMV region - Fairfax is home to George Mason University, which operates a Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and is known for both business and technology education. Though delayed by supply chain issues, the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus is slated to open in Alexandria, in the same complex as a branch of Amazon’s HQ2.

Entrepreneur - AI Boom Fuels Demand for Dominion Energy Stock - While Northern Virginia stands out as a primary AI hub within Dominion Energy's service area, other regions are beginning to cultivate their own AI ecosystems. Richmond, Virginia, home to Dominion's headquarters, benefits from a growing tech scene, a lower cost of living compared to Northern Virginia, and a pipeline of AI talent from universities like Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Tech.

Deutsche Welle (Germany) - Iran and the cost of a war with Israel - For Iran's middle class, the economic situation has noticeably deteriorated. "The standard of living has reverted to what it was 20 years ago due to the sanctions," Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an economics professor at Virginia Tech, told DW.  

ABC Nyheter (Norway) - De eldste dyrene på jorda er blitt funnet i Finnmark - Google translation: If the "animals" from before the snowball Earth survived, it must have taken place in small, ice-free pockets in certain places on the planet. A new study by researchers at the University of Virginia Tech in the USA concludes this.

New York Times - This Is Your Body on Sugar - Expert sources include Alexandra G. DiFeliceantonio, an assistant professor of human nutrition, foods and exercise at Virginia Tech.

BBC - The US island ruled by alien snakes and spiders - "It wasn't [exactly] a 400-pound (181kg) pig, but it was a pig for a big party," says [Haldre] Rogers, an associate professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech in the US, who has been studying Guam's ecology for the last 22 years.

Newsweek - NASA Images Reveal Eerie 'Ghost Forests' Spreading in North Carolina - "The sinking on the East Coast is driven by several factors from natural to anthropogenic processes. The major natural processes are glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) and natural sediment compaction. The major anthropogenic factor is fluid withdrawal from the ground. These factors contribute to the sinking of the coast," Leonard Ohenhen, previously a Ph.D. student at Virginia Tech, told Newsweek.

Business Insider - Beyoncé is rallying with Kamala Harris in Houston. Will it make a difference? - Cayce Myers, a public relations professor at Virginia Tech, told BI that celebrity endorsements tend to have "minimum impact." They can amplify attention and enthusiasm, but "it will not make you like a candidate that you already do not like."

FOX LiveNow - Less that 2 weeks remain until Election Day - Transcription: “The big pro for Trump is the issue of immigration, the issue of the economy, at the top of everybody’s list as the election concerns. He does really well on those issues, and has a lot of support around those talking points.” — Cayce Myers

NBC News (aired on local NBC stations) - Down Ballot Help - Karen Hult “Those down ballot races are important not only for broader support for the party and the general party’s candidate, but also for thinking about governing moving forward.” (transcription)

Epoch Times - With 1 Week Until Election Day, Candidates Make Closing Arguments - Karen Hult, a political science professor at Virginia Tech, suggested that while the strategy of stoking fear is disturbing, it may still motivate some voters.

AFP (France) (also Breitbart) - With podcasts, Trump and Harris play to changing US media landscape - "The US media ecosystem is ever-changing, and so the campaigns must change too," said Megan Duncan, an associate professor at Virginia Tech.

Epoch Times - How Some Parents Struggle With Realities of Modern Day Parenting - [Rosanna] Breaux, who leads Virginia Tech’s Child Study Center, said recent studies do give cause for alarm. “We have a mental health crisis that has been going on. The pandemic just exacerbated that,” she said.

U.S. News & World Report - How to Prepare for Your First Job Post-Graduation - During her summer internship, for instance, Alli Jones, a junior at Virginia Tech, made an effort to routinely eat lunch with other interns. “One thing in the workplace that I realized the importance of, was having lunch with your friends and making those connections in that space. That's a way to connect outside of work and make plans for the weekends."

ScienceAlert - We've Been Misreading a Major Law of Physics For 300 Years - Virginia Tech philosopher Daniel Hoek wanted to "set the record straight" after discovering what he describes as a "clumsy mistranslation" in the original 1729 English translation of Newton's Latin Principia.

IFL Science - The Millennium Prizes, And The Reclusive Math Genius Who Turned Down A Million Dollars - “Here is a guy who proved a world-famous theorem and didn’t even mention it,” Frank Quinn, a mathematician at Virginia Tech, told the New Yorker. “He stated some key points and special properties, and then answered questions.”

Journal of Blacks in Higher Education - Five Black Leaders Selected to Lead Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives in Higher Education - Janice Hall has been named head of the Office of Transformation – formerly the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging – in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. She first joined the Pamplin College staff in 2019 as the first director of diversity and inclusion. She previously led diversity initiatives in the business schools at Wake Forest University in North Carolina and the University of Tennessee.

Inside Higher Education - Survey: College Students Consider Health and Wellness Services Average - Stress can be overwhelming for the average college student, so having spaces or activities available for learners to decompress and refocus can benefit their academic experiences and overall well-being. A relaxation lounge or sensory room can be one solution that is embedded within academic buildings to promote tranquility among learners. Virginia Tech built a Brain Gym within its new Innovation Campus, which allows students to engage with stimulating activities or rest between classes.

CNN Brasil - Researchers create new method to make flexible, wearable electronics - Translation: This soft circuit has two distinct layers, a top layer with nine LEDs and a bottom layer with nine sensors connected together with 21 liquid metal connections between the layers. The total thickness is similar to a few sheets of paper.