Competing against students from some of the top university journalism programs in the country, a pair of graduating students won UVA’s first student Emmy prize for a media studies course project.

The initiative’s newest labs will examine social media’s effects on democracy and research best practices for confronting authoritarianism through American foreign policy.

“It’s wonderful that we have finally found direct evidence for the basic effect predicted by Einstein and others over a century ago,” UVA astronomy professor Craig Sarazin said.

The Washington Papers will celebrate its 50th anniversary with two events on Grounds: an open house in its editorial offices and an exhibit of Washington-related materials and original manuscripts, both Friday from 9 a.m. to noon.

UVA’s College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and International Studies Office are teaming with iXperience, a global education company, to offer undergrads a unique combination of education and practical experience in South Africa, Germany and Portugal.

The scholars gathered on Grounds last week for an international conference examining how big data and the new frontiers of media technology introduced by Facebook, Google and other global companies have penetrated our daily lives.

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education has given its Campus Sustainability Research Award to UVA and other members of a network seeking to measure and reduce their outputs of reactive nitrogen.

The Kenneth G. Elzinga Professorship in Economics and the Law honors a professor who has taught – and inspired – more students than anyone in UVA history.

UVA researchers are focusing on a little-understood villain in the Alzheimer’s progression: extracellular tau oligomers, which appear to influence events within brain cells.

The hirings of Scott C. Doney and Lawrence E. Band will boost the new UVA Environmental Resilience Institute, a cross-disciplinary initiative to study the scientific and policy implications of various environmental issues.