TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE: UVA RESEARCH TEAM CREATES ONE-OF-A-KIND DATABASE

UVA Today | January 3, 2018

UVA team led by Dr. Scott Heysell builds a database that tracks Russian and Eastern European HIV research by time, location and medical field to help Russian and Eastern European researchers and policymakers get a handle on their growing HIV epidemic. The project, part of the U.S. Department of State’s “Diplomacy Lab” program, was conducted at the request of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and funded, in part, by UVA’s Center for Global Health and Center for Global Inquiry and Innovation.

FROM HALF A WORLD AWAY, ENGINEERING STUDENT TACKLES HOUSING PROBLEM IN ARMENIA

UVA Today | January 2, 2018

An ethnic Armenian majoring in civil and environmental engineering, Yacoubian and some of his fellow students are seeking to develop housing for Armenians still suffering from a 1988 earthquake. He launched the “Tuff Armenia Project” in the fall of 2014 with the goal to design and engineer small houses made out of tuff, a local volcanic ash that he hoped could be formed into building blocks. A 2017 Center for Global Health Scholar Award supported one Tuff Armenia team as they gathered material for research and analyzed the data.

Q&A: STEM GRAD STUDENTS SEEKING TO PUSH KNOWLEDGE BEYOND ACADEMIA

UVA Today | January 2, 2018

Michaela Rikard and Courtney Hill – doctoral students in biomedical and civil engineering, respectively – have spent the past year working together to help make the University of Virginia a hub for graduate students seeking training and experiences in science policy. Last month, they held a science policy symposium that drew more than 100 attendees from across Grounds and elsewhere, representing 31 UVA departments and centers and more than 10 universities and corporations. The student-organized event brought in science policy experts from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and more. Courtney has received multi-year support to sustain collaborative research in Limpopo, South Africa with CGH affiliated faculty.