A guidance counselor convinced to Melissa Velez that her life was worth turning around when seemed to have lost all direction: she just needed to believe in herself. It’s advice she carried with her as a student majoring in social work at Rutgers-Camden, where she has found support while also striving to help others – including organizing a service trip to Puerto Rico to assist with Hurricane Maria relief efforts.
In an amazing achievement akin to adding solar panels to your body, a Northeast sea slug sucks raw materials from algae to provide its lifetime supply of solar-powered energy, according to a study by Rutgers University-New Brunswick's Debashish Bhattacharya, distinguished professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, and other scientists.
A pilot study by Rutgers’ Equine Science Center monitored hormone levels in horses working with military veterans suffering from PTSD to find out if the animals were showing signs of stress. The results of the study, a first of its kind, suggest the horses suffered no stress, while the veterans reported a significant decrease in anxiety and depression.
Piyushimita (Vonu) Thakuriah is currently the Ch2m chair of Transport and professor of Urban Studies and an affiliated professor at the School of Engineering in the University of Glasgow, UK. Her research interests are on smart, socially just and sustainable transport. Thakuriah will begin her new role as Dean of Rutgers University-New Brunswick's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy Oct. 1.
Marianthi Ierapetritou was one of the few female students majoring in chemical engineering. The story repeated itself throughout her academic career. Now the Distinguished Professor and chair of Rutgers-New Brunswick’s Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering will begin a new position as associate vice president for the promotion of women in science, engineering and mathematics – known as SciWomen – a role that will enable her to inspire and support women in the STEM fields.
An estimated 106,000 people came to New Brunswick, Newark and Camden to celebrate all things Rutgers. The annual show-and-tell, which coincides with Alumni Weekend, offered festivalgoers more than 700 free performances, demonstrations and interactive activities.
Chenjerai Kumanyika, an assistant professor in Rutgers-New Brunswick’s School of Communication and Information and co-creator of the popular podcast Uncivil, was honored for an episode called “The Raid,” which recounts the real-life story of the planning and execution of a covert operation that led to the freeing of 750 enslaved men, women and children.
The Committee to Advance our Common Purposes recently presented the Leaders in Faculty Diversity Awards and the Clement A. Price Human Dignity Awards to honor Rutgers faculty, staff and organizations who demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equality, inclusion and access at Rutgers and in society. The awards were presented to universitywide honorees during a ceremony attended by more than 100 people.
A new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that one in 34 children in the state are affected by autism, a 19 percent increase from two years ago. That compares to one in 59 children nationwide, which represented a 15 percent increase. Walter Zahorodny, an associate professor of pediatrics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School who directed the New Jersey portion of the study, called the results “consistent, broad and startling.”
A study of a fungus that is harmful to rice – a grain that feeds roughly half the world's population – led by Rutgers-New Brunswick's Ning Zhang, an associate professor in the Department of Plant Biology and the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology – may help researchers discover ways to fight and prevent crop and plant diseases worldwide.
For A.J. Arnold, a first-year Rutgers-Camden student who served as the voice of the South Jersey March for Our Lives, this was personal. “As one of the survivors of the Parkland shooting said, it’s not an issue of gayness or whiteness or whatever. All young people are at risk,” Arnold said. But some are more at risk than others, he concedes, including himself in that category as a member of the transgender community.
Leslie Kantor, former vice president of education for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is known as a leader in sexual and reproductive health and an advocate for underserved and marginalized populations. Read our Q&A to learn more about Kantor’s plans for addressing inequality in her new role leading the Urban-Global Public Health program in the School of Public Health in Newark.