UNLV is recognized as one of the top research universities in the nation by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The university first reached the prestigious Carnegie “R1” or “Very High Research” classification in December 2018. 

Here is a compilation of some of the research students and faculty worked on in 2022.

Uncovering Volcanic Secrets of Lake Mead

Sunken boats and human remains aren’t the only surprises to be revealed by record-low water levels at Lake Mead. Sedimentary rocks that hadn’t been seen since the 1930s are now exposed along the receding shoreline. Many of these rocks contain ash that rained down on Southern Nevada from far away volcanoes as many as 12 million years ago, according to a new UNLV study.

“We can and will have ash from these volcanoes fall over Southern Nevada in the future,” said Eugene Smith, an emeritus geoscience professor. “Even a couple of millimeters of ash, when wet, is incredibly heavy and can take down power and telecommunications lines. It can block roadways. It is easily remobilized by wind and water. When inhaled, the incredibly tiny but sharp glass grains in the ash can cause significant, chronic lung conditions such as silicosis.”

UNLV’s Cryptotephra Laboratory for Archaeological and Geological Research used geologic mapping to locate and collect samples of multiple ash layers at Lake Mead. Using chemical analysis, researchers compared the samples to the distinctive ashes from known volcanic eruptions across the West. 

The most likely sources of the newly uncovered deposits are the Snake River Plain-Yellowstone; volcanoes of Walker Lane, more famous for producing large earthquakes in parts of Nevada and California; the Ancestral Cascades, which contains Mount St. Helens; and the Southwest Nevada volcanic field, located about 90 miles from Las Vegas and containing the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository site.

“Studying the past can help you plan for the future,” said Racheal Johnsen, a geologist and the lab manager “The ash layers we study come from volcanoes long extinct. However, studying them has helped us determine just how often the Las Vegas area was inundated with ash over time and may help us prepare for future events from active volcanoes far from us.” 

Live Chat Boosts College Women’s Class Participation

Women much more enthusiastically embraced the live chat function in their pandemic lectures than men did, according to a UNLV study published in the journal PLOS ONE. 

Researchers examined the anonymous chat summaries by 230 students in biology for non-major courses offered via remote video instruction. In a follow up survey, women rated the chat feature more highly for making the class fun, helping them feel comfortable participating in discussions, and facilitating their learning. Women were significantly more likely than men to say the wished in-person classes used a similar chat feature.

The UNLV research team noted that actively engaging with classmates, including through chat functions, improves performance and retention by deepening a sense of belonging — an outcome that’s especially valuable for students traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields.

A Rising Tide for Water Births

That stereotypical childbirth scene – bright hospital room with a bed at its center and an abundance of audible pain – might soon change. Another option is gaining traction overseas, and it’s one that UNLV School of Nursing maternal health researcher Jennifer Vanderlaan says healthcare settings in the United States should consider.

Water birth, which involves immersion in water during portions of labor and delivery, is proving to be safe and effective. In a new study, Vanderlaan and an international team of colleagues analyzed the risks and outcomes of more than 150,000 women who gave birth with and without immersion in water. They found a decrease in painkillers, less hemorrhaging, and fewer epidurals and episiotomies, as well as more satisfied new mothers.

The practice is more common in other countries and often employed by midwives. In the U.S., more than 98% of births happen in hospitals.

“Hospitals have hesitated to adopt water birth because the evidence about its benefits was inconsistent,” said Vanderlaan. “This study shows that when water immersion is used in hospitals, there are clear benefits for laboring women.”

Vanderlaan and her coauthors next plan to identify specific strategies that medical facilities could consider to increase rates of water birth in the U.S. 

Astronomers Unveil New Features of Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts

Unexpected new observations from a series of cosmic radio bursts are challenging the prevailing understanding of the physical nature and central engine of fast radio bursts (FRBs), according to a study published in the journal Nature. Each of these millisecond-long cosmic explosions produces the energy equivalent to the sun’s annual output.

Using the massive Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) in China, the international team observed 1,863 bursts in 82 hours over 54 days from an active fast radio burst source called FRB 20201124A. 

What makes their observations surprising to scientists is the irregular, short-time variations of the so-called “Faraday rotation measure,” essentially the strength of the magnetic field and density of particles in the vicinity of the FRB source. The variations went up and down during the first 36 days of observation and suddenly stopped during the last 18 days before the source quenched. 

“I equate it to filming a movie of the surroundings of an FRB source,” said team member Bing Zhang, a UNLV astrophysicist, “and our film revealed a complex, dynamically-evolving, magnetized environment that was never imagined before. Such an environment is not straightforwardly expected for an isolated magnetar. Something else might be in the vicinity of the FRB engine, possibly a binary companion.”