Simon Jowitt (Geoscience) was featured in an Ars Technica article on the rare earth elements, covering demand for these elements that are critical for modern technology, green energy, and defense. The article highlights recent UNLV geoscience research on the geology and potential recycling of the rare earth elements, and how developments in this…

Mary Blankenship (Chemistry and Economics) recently co-authored "From the George Floyd Moment to a Black Lives Matter Movement, in Tweets" with Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution. They analyzed protest-related tweets between May 27 and June 4 to display the development of the Black Lives Matter movement. Blankenship is pursuing…

Mary Blankenship (Chemistry and Economics) co-authored "How Misinformation Spreads on Twitter" with Carol Graham, Brookings Institution Leo Pasvolsky Senior Fellow. The pair discuss that while social media has many advantages, information pollution is prevalent and in some cases "generate[s] more engagement than factually reliable…

Zhaohuan Zhu (Physic & Astronomy) has been selected as the editor for the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ). The first term is two years and began July 1.  Established in 1949,  PASJ is an international journal that publishes the results of original research in all aspects of astronomy,…

Cory Rusinek (Chemistry) has received an award from the U.S. Department of Energy in response to the 2020 Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research Program: Understanding the Structure and Speciation of Molten Salt at the Atomic and Molecular Scale. His proposal, titled "Single- and Polycrystalline Diamond Electrodes for Spectroelectrochemical…

Paula Cordero (Chemistry and Biochemistry) received a 2020 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program award from Nevada INBRE to complete a fall research project at UNLV. She will be doing her research in the lab of assistant professor Cory Rusinek.

Satish C. Bhatnagar (Math) earlier this month gave an invited webinar on ‘The Metamorphosis of Classroom Teaching in the Post Pandemic World: National and International Perspectives." It was organized by Mentorx and KR College of Education (Faridabad), which is affiliated with Chaudhary Ranbir Singh University (India). He is the author of Plums,…

Jesse Barnes (Public Policy & Leadership) and Michael Nicholl (Geoscience) recently had their article "Mildly hydrophobic biobased mulch: A sustainable approach to controlling bare soil evaporation" published in Vadose Zone Journal. This article was adapted from Barnes's thesis project from his master's degree in UNLV's water…

Vanessa Booth (Political Science),  Peter Grema (Economics), and Mary Blankenship (Chemistry and Economics) each received the Office of Undergraduate Research Summer Undergraduate Research Funding Scholarship for Summer 2020. With this funding, these students can continue their research on important public policy issues and…

Mary Blankenship (Chemistry and Economics) recently had an Op-Ed published in the Las Vegas Sun titled, "In an age of misinformation, fact-checking must be encouraged." In her piece, Blankenship discusses how "the pervasiveness of misinformation on social media makes it one of the great challenges of the 21st century." Blankenship is pursuing a…

James Louis-Jean (Chemistry) recently was awarded first place in the 2020 Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards - Materials and Recovery Section sponsored by the Department of Energy's office of nuclear energy. His winning paper, "Preparation and Characterization of Benzotriazolium Perrhenate," was published in Inorganica Chimica Acta…

Farhad Shokoohi (Math) has been awarded a COBRE pilot grant of $25,000 for the proposed project titled "Differentially Methylated Cytosine Identification via Functional Regression Model" from The National Institute of General Medical Sciences / National Institute of Health for the period of June 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021.