In The News

Officials at the University of Virginia say they are also keeping an eye on data. “At this time, scientists here at UVA and around the world simply don’t have enough data about this new variant to make informed decisions about how to respond to it,” wrote Liz Magill, the University of Virginia’s provost, and J.J. Davis, the University’s chief operating officer, in a recent message to the campus.  

Three properties owned by the University of Virginia or the UVA Foundation have been selected for a new housing development initiative.  The sites include UVA’s Piedmont Housing off Fontaine Avenue, the corner of Wertland and 10th streets, and portions of North Fork, a UVA discovery park, on 29 North. UVA President Jim Ryan says his goal is to add 1,500 new affordable housing units for those in need in the community.  

Mr. and Mrs. Claus visited families in UVA Health’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit on Wednesday. They greeted families and snapped a holiday photo with newborns and children. Robert Sinkin, head of the Neonatalogy Division, says he’s been dressing up as Santa for 37 years.  

For decades, [UVA alumna] Sharon Y. Bowen has paid her dues not only in the private sector of the American economy, but has served her nation with pride and passion and has come out with outstanding reviews.  

The release still leaves more than 10,000 documents either partially redacted or withheld entirely, prolonging the bitter debate between the federal government and JFK researchers, who argue that the CIA, the FBI and other national security agencies have continually stonewalled a congressionally mandated release. “It’s always ‘the next time,’” said UVA’s Larry Sabato, a leading scholar of the assassination.  

Virginia tight end Jelani Woods has declared for the NFL Draft, as announced by Woods in a social media post on Tuesday morning. Woods, who came to Virginia this season as a graduate transfer from Oklahoma State, finished the regular season with 44 receptions for 598 yards and eight touchdowns. He became the first Cavalier tight end since John Phillips in 2008 to be named to the All-ACC First Team.  

In one of the most high-profile deals in NWSL history, San Diego Wave Fútbol Club announced the signing of the world-class forward Alex Morgan from Orlando Pride. The prolific goal scorer and inventive playmaker makes the move back to Southern California, where she grew up and began her trailblazing career, and will make an immediate impact for the franchise both on and off the field. She made her NWSL debut after leaving the University of Virginia (2012-15) as the Cavaliers’ all-time leader in goals (64) and points (164).  

Glimmr co-founder and CEO Jefferson Griscavage believes it’s important to help others achieve their greatest potential. “Don’t be afraid to chase your passion in life. I feel like so many people give up what they really enjoy,” he said. “I believe if people believe in themselves, they can do it.”  Griscavage is a fourth-year student studying medicine and business at the University of Virginia, whose own dream of empowering others to live their best life has so far resulted in the creation of two startups to help achieve that goal.  

(By Kristan McCullum, doctoral student in the social foundations of education program at School of Education and Human Development) Spaces tell stories. Structures of the mundane bear witness to the history lived and made within their walls. The narrative of our national landscape contains the ghosts of slavery and Jim Crow that linger and haunt places and people who would rather forget. But within this narrative exists a will to remember through spaces that hold the memories of those who once moved and breathed and lived within them – Black Americans who found community in structures designed...

The IT branch of Virginia’s legislature has been hit by a ransomware attack. Ransomware is malicious content that locks you out of your computer. The hackers will demand payment for a key to unlock the computer system. Angela Orebaugh, a UVA computer science professor, says targets like government bodies provide more value to hackers. “The attackers are often choosing targets that are critical to our daily operation, critical to society such as, as we’ve seen, hospitals, gas pipelines, and government operations,” she said.  

(Commentary) Pulling out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative by executive action is an unprecedented overstep of power by the governor-elect. Cale Jaffe, UVA associate law professor and a Virginia Conservation Network board member, shared, “the (State Air Pollution Control) Board has promulgated regulation to join RGGI. No governor can issue an executive order to just undo a duly promulgated regulation.”  

“To start, your caregiver should meet some basic criteria including having a caregiver certification, which requires a certain number of hours of training and other prerequisites which vary state to state,” says Dr. Terrell Smith, resident physician at UVA and the director of clinical health at Spora Health, a telehealth platform specifically designed to address the needs of people of color.  

Medicine so far has nothing to offer that clearly prevents Alzheimer’s disease, although keeping your weight down, exercising regularly, and inheriting certain protective genes can lower your risk. Now, a study has identified another, unexpected source of protection: clonal hematopoiesis, a blood cell imbalance best known as a risk factor for cancer and heart disease. “Clonal hematopoiesis has been associated with so many bad outcomes that it is surprising that it is protective in this situation,” says cardiovascular biologist Kenneth Walsh of the University of Virginia, who wasn’t connected t...

(Subscription required) In his end-of-year blog post, Bill Gates predicted that, within two or three years, most Zoom meetings will migrate to the metaverse, a 3D space one accesses with an augmented reality headset – and a digital avatar. According to Roshni Raveendhran, assistant professor at UVA’s Darden School of Business, and Cathy Hackl, a futurist and metaverse expert, Gates’ timeline may be a bit ambitious; they put the metaverse potentially becoming the dominant virtual meeting site at around 10 years out.  

Howard Epstein, a vegetation ecologist at the University of Virginia, said increased plant productivity in the Arctic has some positive climate effects through the increased uptake of carbon dioxide. However, he said, the change in vegetation is also a contributor to the disappearance of permafrost, which in turn contributes to the release of stored soil carbon. “The general thought is that we’re more likely to see more carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere than taken out of the atmosphere due to the increase in vegetation,” Epstein said.  

(Commentary) Threat assessment originated as a strategy of the U.S. Secret Service to assess and respond to threats made against public officials in public spaces. The first school-based program was developed by University of Virginia professor Dewey Cornell and adopted in Virginia schools. Cornell positioned threat assessment as an answer to the criticisms of the zero-tolerance policies developed during the Reagan-era “war on drugs.”  

(Commentary) No doubt Zuckerberg and company didn’t knowingly set out to contribute to a human-rights disaster that led to a rampage of rape and murder, with nearly 7,000 Rohingyas killed and 750,000 forced out of the country. Yet this tragedy was the inevitable consequence of the way Facebook works, and of its top executives’ obsession with growth over safety. As University of Virginia media studies professor and author Siva Vaidhyanathan has put it: “The problem with Facebook is Facebook.”  

(Commentary by Barbara Perry, Presidential Studies director and Gerald L. Baliles Professor at UVA’s Miller Center) Former Sen. Bob Dole’s passing and the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor brought to mind lessons his generation bequeathed to those of us who knew them. Like Dole, my father served as an Army officer in Italy during World War II. Fortunately, as an ordnance specialist, he drew duty in an operations base near Naples and avoided the bloody combat that wounded Dole for life. The stories that my dad and mother told of those frightening days bolster me in these uncertain times. &nbs...

(Co-written by Fiona Greenland, assistant professor of sociology) How can you know that science done quickly during a crisis is good science? This question has taken on new relevance with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Researchers developed vaccines in under a year – easily breaking the previous record of four years. But that pace of development may be part of the reason about 1 in 7 unvaccinated adults in the U.S. say they will never get the COVID-19 shot.  

Hospitalizations are on the rise. Infectious disease specialists at UVA Health say it's mainly people who aren't fully vaccinated, but there have been incidents where people did everything right and vaccines still weren't effective for them.