September 2024 Media Highlights

Associated Press (also FORTUNE, ABC News, AOL, Breitbart) - Federal workers around Washington D.C. stress over Trump's plans to send 100,000 of them elsewhere - Karen Hult, a political science professor at Virginia Tech, said the move could harm Trump’s chances in Virginia.

Nature - Breastfeeding has long-term impacts on the brain and body, but where do we go from here? - Commentary on ‘Breastfeeding duration and brain-body development in 9–10-year-olds: modulating effect of socioeconomic levels’ written by Brittany Howell

Axios - Acceptance rates drop at Virginia's top public universities - In Virginia, first-year applicants seem to be focused on three of the state's four most selective schools — UVA, JMU and Virginia Tech — all of which have reported record-breaking application numbers every year since the pandemic. Virginia Tech had just over 52,000 prospective freshman apply, including more than 19,000 in-state students.

New York Times - End-of-Day Meltdowns Are Not Just for Kids - After-school restraint collapse isn’t a formal diagnosis, but it’s a “common phenomenon,” said Rosanna Breaux, an assistant professor of psychology at Virginia Tech….Do you go from one task to another without pausing? To avoid an implosion, make a point of taking “microbreaks,” or brief pauses where you change location, even just to get a drink of water, during the day, Dr. Breaux said.

New York Times - 10,000 Feet Up, Scientists Found Hundreds of Airborne Germs - “I am surprised by the number of human pathogens that they revealed,” said David Schmale, an aerobiologist at Virginia Tech who was not involved in the study. He suggested that they might actually be harmless relatives of disease-causing germs. The best way to pin down their true nature, he said, would be to infect human cells or lab animals.

Wall Street Journal - Can 3-D Printing Revolutionize Real Estate? Walmart Put That Question to the Test ​- ​The homes are equipped with monitoring systems installed by researchers at Virginia Tech. The 3-D printed homes are performing better than traditionally built structures in terms of indoor environmental quality, humidity and gases, said Janet V. Green, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg.

ABC News - How Taylor Swift's endorsement could shape the 2024 election - "She knows that she's speaking to a number of people who will be voting either for the first time ever or for the first time for a president," Megan Duncan, an associate professor at Virginia Tech specializing in political communication, told ABC News. "And she knows that getting that bit of education about how to register and that you can vote early in many states is the stuff that celebrities are effective at."

CBS News (via WBZ Boston) - Keller: How important are endorsements from Taylor Swift and other celebrities? - Celebrity endorsement expert Megan Duncan, a communications professor at Virginia Tech University, notes how Swift steered her fans toward specific action, "pointing out that especially first-time voters need to make sure that they're registered and reminding people that in many states, early voting is an option."

Forbes (also Extreme Tech) - Northern Lights Forecast: Aurora May Be Visible In U.S. For Two Years, Scientists Say - “One reason we study geomagnetic storms is to try and build models to predict their impacts,” said Scott England, a co-author of one of two new papers published in Geophysical Research Letters and associate professor at Virginia Tech. “Based on the solar cycle, we’d expect the conditions we’re seeing this year to be around for about the next two years.”

Business Insider (also New York Post) - Apple's new iPhone camera button is a big Gen Z bet - "In regards to whether the new Camera Control feature was designed with the Gen Z generation in mind, I think the simple one-word answer to that is 'absolutely,'" said Monica Hillison, a marketing professor from Virginia Tech….Abdul Al Jumaily, also a marketing professor from Virginia Tech, said, "I believe the new camera feature will allow for a simpler, quicker and more controllable photo making experience."

Daily Beast (also Daily Mail) - ‘Was Jesus a Wizard?’ Is Actually a Serious Scholarly Question - Even if the artistic evidence doesn’t hold up it’s clear that there were those outside of Christianity who also viewed Jesus as a magician. Celsus, a Roman philosopher and critic of Christianity, said that Jesus was a magician who had learned his trade in Egypt. Dr. Shaily Patel, a professor of early Christianity at Virginia Tech and specialist in ancient magic, told the Daily Beast that Christians spent a lot of time defending themselves against these claims. Origen, the third century head of a kind of Christian university in Alexandria, “spilled a lot of ink talking about how Jesus’ wondrous deeds weren’t magic because they were aimed at things like moral reformation and salvation instead of the sorts of parlor trickery displayed by marketplace sorcerers.”

Scripps - Salmonella outbreak linked to recalled eggs sickens 65 people across several states - But this outbreak may be difficult to treat with commonly recommended antibiotics after lab tests showed the bacteria is resistant to nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin, the CDC said. Katheryn Parraga-Estrada, food safety specialist at Virginia Tech, said scientists are now working on treating the mutating bacteria, including with vaccines to limit its spread. "That is something that science is trying to work with, and as you know with other pathogens, not just food pathogens, they keep mutating ... so they can get more resistant to those things," said Parraga-Estrada.

Epoch Times - With Debate Over, Focus Shifts to Its Impact on Undecided Voters - “Typically, debates do not seem to have much of a lasting effect on vote choice,” Karen Hult, a political science professor at Virginia Tech, told The Epoch Times.

The Age (Australia) - How scientists got wind of airborne germs at 3km altitude - “I am surprised by the number of human pathogens that they revealed,” said David Schmale, an aerobiologist at Virginia Tech who was not involved in the study. He suggested that they might actually be harmless relatives of disease-causing germs. The best way to pin down their true nature, he said, would be to infect human cells or lab animals.

NBC News - Multiple concussions like Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa’s increase chances of long-term health issues - “We know that repetitive concussions have been shown to be associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment later in life,” said Steve Rowson, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Virginia Tech and the director of the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab.

CBS News - New COVID variant XEC now in half of states. Here's what to know. - Some of the earliest U.S. cases were reported by scientists at a lab in Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, sampled from patients in July. "We do not see a particular trend. We should keep an eye on the samples coming and continue genomic screening more broadly," said Carla Finkielstein, head of the institute's molecular diagnostics lab, in an email.

Forbes - College Admission: An AI Revolution - Juan Espinoza, vice provost of enrollment management at Virginia Tech explains, “I believe that the missed opportunity for AI in college admission is on the student search side.” He says, “From a student's perspective, every college has a different process, deadline dates, and scholarship availability which can lead to confusion. I believe the potential is there, especially for first-generation and lower-income students to utilize AI to help differentiate colleges they might not be considering due to a variety of reasons (costs, size, majors).”

Forbes - 8 Top Landscape Design Trends For 2024 - This is good news for homeowners’ well-being, their properties, and the environment. Garden Media Group’s 2025 Garden Trends Report – dubbed “Nature’s Renaissance” – goes into even greater detail. The report also noted, ““According to recent research from Virginia Tech, a well-landscaped home an enjoy up to a 12.7% increase in property value,” which can enhance your financial well-being as well!

Newsweek - Harris, Trump Visit 9/11 Memorials After Debate Amid Taylor Swift Mania - Cayce Myers, a campaign communications and public relations expert from Virginia Tech, said Taylor Swift's endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris may have an impact by encouraging younger Gen Z fans to vote. "Celebrity endorsements do not necessarily translate into meaningful turnout," Myers said. "Swift's endorsement is different in some ways than a typical endorsement."

The Hill - Swift surge for Harris? Political world weighs impact of star’s endorsement - Political endorsements from most famous names don’t tend to sway voters at the ballot box, even those who are on the fence. But Swift “is different” than your typical celebrity, said Cayce Myers, a professor of public relations and director of graduate studies at Virginia Tech’s school of communication.

The Guardian - Taylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris for president in post signed ‘childless cat lady’ - Cayce Myers, a professor of public relations at Virginia Tech, said Swift’s endorsement may have an impact on the election because it may encourage younger Gen Z fans to vote. Myers added that while celebrity endorsements do not necessarily translate into meaningful turnout, Swift’s endorsement was going out to a particularly large fanbase, and was focused on women’s rights, an issue that favours Democrats.

The Hill - How Taylor Swift’s AI callout could bring attention to misinformation - “Taylor Swift does have a very large platform, and I do think that awareness can be powerful here, at least as a starting point,” Virginia Tech digital literacy expert Julia Feerrar told The Hill.

Scripps News - What impact will the Taylor Swift endorsement have? - Megan Duncan, an associate professor of journalism at Virginia Tech said Swift likely knows her followers might not be active voters. "The people who are part of a Taylor Swift fandom are more likely to be a part of a demographic voting bloc that's not as engaged, least likely to vote," Duncan said.

The Guardian - Harris warns of ‘what’s at stake’ for US as vice-president appears to win debate with Trump – as it happened - Cayce Myers, a professor of public relations at Virginia Tech said, Swift’s endorsement “may have an impact on the election because it may encourage younger Gen. Z fans to vote.” While Celebrity endorsements do not necessarily translate into meaningful turnout,” he said, Swift’s endorsement was going out to particularly large fan base, was focussed on women’s rights, an issue that favours Democrats, and that the post, “has the potential to raise awareness among younger voters who might be paying less attention to the presidential election.”

Wired - Palmer Luckey Is Bringing Anduril Smarts to Microsoft’s Military Headset - “There’s a lot of interest in using augmented reality in tactical contexts,” says Douglas Bowman, a professor at Virginia Tech who has developed virtual and augmented reality for the military. Bowman says that the trade-offs between weight and power consumption of wearable devices and their utility remains unclear. He adds that the user experience needs to be refined to reduce distraction and ensure that important information is surfaced. “It’s still in the early days, and there’s going to be some learning to do before those devices are ready to be deployed.”

Live Science - 'Mountain of God' volcano in Tanzania is bulging, study finds - "The approach that Daud used in this paper provided important steps forward in our understanding of the dynamic magma plumbing system of Ol Doinyo Lengai," study co-author Sarah Stamps, an associate professor of geophysics at Virginia Tech, said in the statement.

Daily Kos - Above Appalachian Coalfields Is Wealth of Forest Botanicals Now Being Farmed and Conserved by Locals - “Many different Appalachian people, stretching from pre-colonization to today, have tended, harvested, sold, and used a vast number of forest botanicals like American ginseng, ramps, black cohosh, and goldenseal,” said Shannon Bell, Virginia Tech professor in the Dept. of Sociology. “These plants have long been integral to many Appalachians’ livelihoods and traditions.”

The Conversation - Growing number of war-weary Ukrainians would reluctantly give up territory to save lives, suggests recent survey - One of the authors is Gerard Toal, Professor of Government and International Affairs at Virginia Tech.

Gizmodo Brazil - Cientistas detectam inchaço na “Montanha de Deus” na Tanzânia - Google translation: Graduate student Ntambila Daud, who works with Professor D. Sarah Stamps at the Virginia Tech Geodesy and Tectonophysics Laboratory, said the research “could help Tanzanian authorities get a better idea of ​​what is happening with the volcano.”

Wall Street Journal - It Took an Army of Internet Sleuths to Find ‘Celebrity Number Six’ - “It’s being done in a way that wouldn’t have been possible even a few years ago,” said Kurt Luther, the director of Virginia Tech’s Crowd Intelligence Lab, which researches the techniques of online sleuths. “Here, the crowd was able to piece together many different clues over a number of years…and they were able to leverage cutting-edge technology to do so.”

NPR/National Public Radio - Extracting rare earth elements from plants - Doherty is collaborating with a team from Virginia Tech to research a new way to extract rare earth elements from plants that doesn’t negatively affect the environment.

BBC - 'A warmer, sicker world': Mosquitoes carrying deadly diseases are on an unstoppable march across the US - "What we're seeing more and more is people infected with multiple mosquito-borne diseases at the same time," says Chloé Lahondère, a biologist who studies blood-sucking insects at Virginia Tech.

Journal of Blacks in Higher Education - Eight African Americans Appointed to Administrative Roles in Higher Education - Iris Jenkins has been appointed director of the research integrity and consultation program in the division of scholarly integrity and research compliance at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She comes to Virginia Tech from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she worked with the human research protection program and the institutional animal care and use committee.

Times Higher Education - Childcare for students and academics needs resources and relationships - To address both sides of this challenge, Virginia Tech launched the Early Childhood Education Initiative (ECEI) in 2021. ECEI has two aims: first, to serve the university’s parents; and second, to forge relationships with community organisations to both advocate for childcare stabilisation and increase the workforce. To accomplish the latter, we offer information and opportunities to future childcare providers to show them the pathway to becoming an early care and education professional. The key pillars for ECEI – quality, accessible, affordable and flexible – drive our programmes and strategies surrounding childcare.

Times Higher Education - Balancing books and babies: empowering graduate-student parents - Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia-based graduate programmes are located on the outskirts of Washington, DC, rather than on the main campus in Blacksburg. Many, if not most, of our graduate students are working professionals in their twenties and thirties – exactly when “life” happens. Weddings are being planned and babies are arriving. Adding parenting duties to students’ responsibilities can complicate their academic pursuits, so programme flexibility is crucial. Parents’ primary concerns are generally about their children, and we can only be effective in our work as teaching faculty and administrators if we are mindful of parenting students’ priorities and needs.

Interesting Engineering - Boeing’s military seaplane boasts 50,000-pound cargo capacity, 213-foot wings - The program’s Phase 1B, which is now underway, consists of testing operations and ends with a preliminary design assessment. At Virginia Tech and Stevens Institute of Technology, tow tank testing up to Sea State 4 has been finished in order to develop and validate hydrodynamic models and seakeeping performance.

Education Week - Billions of Dollars for School Buildings Are on the Ballot This November - For instance, bond elections that take place at the same time as presidential elections tend to have higher turnout, which could be a boon for school districts in supportive communities. But bond elections intersecting with national elections also draw a larger number of voters who don’t know much about the local school system, said Karin Kitchens, a professor of political science and education at Virginia Tech who has published several papers examining election results for local school districts, including for bonds, tax increases, and school board seats.

ABC News Australia - Sea level rise inevitable for Pacific Islands despite future greenhouse gas emissions reduction, NASA finds - Researchers at several universities including the University of Hawaii and Virginia Tech, started with flood maps of Kiribati, Tuvalu, Fiji, Nauru and Niue. They plan to build high-resolution maps for other Pacific Island nations in the near future, aimed at supporting mitigation efforts.