In The News

Dr. Lou Bloomfield, fellow physicist and professor at the University of Virginia, has made a video on the physics of uneven bars.

The rate of COVID cases relative to population is higher in Florida, where 61% of the population is now vaccinated, than anywhere else in the country. Gov. Ron DeSantis has said “no to restrictions, no to mandates.” Dr. Taison Bell, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia and director of UVA’s medical intensive care unit, said he sees a connection between “high tourism, a lax approach to public health mitigation measures and low vaccination rates.” He said Florida fits into that category.

The article includes a Q&A with Malo A. Hutson, the new dean of UVA’s School of Architecture.

Amber McBride is the author of “Me (Moth),” a Summer/Fall 2021 Indies Introduce young adult selection and a July/August 2021 Kids’ Next List pick. McBride is currently a professor of English at the University of Virginia. Kelsy April of Bank Square Books and Title IX Books in Mystic, Connecticut, and Savoy Bookshop in Westerly, Rhode Island, served on the panel that selected McBride’s book for Indies Introduce. April called the book “incredible. Poetic. Jaw dropping,” and said, “It’s hard to find the words to describe how amazing this book is. Two lost souls finding each other and themselves, ...

Virginia Tech’s Feed the Future IPM Innovation Lab is celebrating the work of 27 students funded by one of its projects. The IPM Innovation Lab collaborates with Tribhuvan University and the University of Virginia’s Biocomplexity Institute to assess the spread of invasive weeds over the last 30 years — based on elevation and under different climate scenarios — in central Nepal. The project has found that as climate change events continue to occur, invasive weeds are spreading faster and higher than ever before.

People with Huntington’s disease who have had more formal education tend to be diagnosed earlier and have milder symptoms than those with less formal education, a new study indicates. In the study, researchers at the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University analyzed data from a global patient registry, called Enroll-HD, to better understand how education affects the disease’s course.

Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine say they’ve found the body’s natural blood-pressure barometers — a feat that has escaped scientists for more than 60 years.

COVID-19 modeling from the University of Virginia predicts a potential spike in cases in Virginia in September. “What the model is trying to tell us is that if we don’t change things, this is the potential path we could be on,” said Bryan Lewis, an associate research professor at UVA’s Biocomplexity Institute.

The Delta variant could drive Virginia’s coronavirus case count past levels seen during January’s peak, but more than 60,000 cases could be prevented if vaccinations rise, the University of Virginia’s COVID-19 model projects.

UVA spokesperson Brian Coy says school officials are constantly checking data and are fully aware of the school recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Virginia Department of Health. “I don’t have anything to announce today, but if they decide there’s another step we need to take policy-wise, in order to keep this semester and this year safer for people at UVA, I think we certainly will,” Coy said. Coy adds 90% of students and 90% of staff are fully vaccinated.

Each university set a different cutoff for students to submit proof of vaccination. For the University of Virginia, the deadline was in July. As of Monday, a UVA spokesperson said 90% of students and staff are vaccinated. They said a handful of students that got exempt will be required to get tested weekly. The University said they are in contact with the remaining students to set up a plan to get the shot.

Companies developing plans for remote and hybrid work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic may see some value in tracking their workers’ activity on company computer systems to measure their productivity. But it also poses the danger of upsetting employees who resent being tracked and fear the consequences. A new study from researchers at UVA and the University of Southern California found that employees are more willing to accept tracking, and may even welcome it, if the data that’s gathered is analyzed by technology instead of humans.

After a year of isolation, Zoom calls, and masks, this year may bring much more anxiety for students, parents and teachers. Dr. Claudia Allen, a psychologist with UVA Health who has been tracking anxiety in children throughout the course of the pandemic, says this school year will have its unique challenges. “For most kids, this August is going to be the first time in a year and a half. If you’re a 7-, or 8- or 9-year-old, a year and a half is a big chunk of your life, so it feels even longer to them than it does to us,” Allen said.

Experts said that while businesses typically can require vaccines, offering other options could help limit pushback. “I think that it would be legal [to require vaccinations] even if employers didn’t offer that opt-out, but offering it certainly makes things easier because then they don’t have to deal with individual requests for disability accommodations and religious accommodations and so forth that they would have had to otherwise,” says Kevin Cope, an associate professor at the UVA School of Law.

The next night at the University of Virginia we saw this happen again, and it was just as delightful. This time it was the UVA swim and dive team cheering on their teammates Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass.

The New Orleans Pelicans will add University of Virginia guard Trey Murphy III to the roster this season. Murphy was drafted in the first round of the 2021 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies, but that pick will be sent to New Orleans as part of a larger trade agreed to earlier this week.

Londoner Susanne Grainger and the rest of Canada’s women’s eight rowing crew won its first Olympic gold medal since 1992 Friday morning in Tokyo, splashing through an aggressive run that saw them beat pursuing runners-up New Zealand (silver) and China (bronze). Grainger, 30, attended the University of Virginia [as did teammate Christine Roper] and is a graduate of Central secondary school in downtown London.

Canadian rowers took home gold in the women’s eight competition, ending a 13-year reign held by the United States in the event. Former University of Virginia rowers Susanne Grainger (’13) and Christine Roper (’11) helped power the Canadian boat, finishing with a time of 5:59.13. 

Jenny Boucek helps round out the Pacers’ coaching staff after spending the past few years with Rick Carlisle in Dallas. Boucek and Carlisle became acquainted through the University of Virginia, where they were both standouts. 

A 19-year-old from Alexandria, Virginia, Frances Montevilla is a second-year student at the University of Virginia. She is planning on majoring in American studies with a minor in Indigenous studies. This summer, she is interning for First American Art Magazine through UVA’s Mellon Indigenous Arts Program. Frances is a bright mind with many perspectives to contribute to UVA, FAAM, and the many other spaces she will take part in in the professional future that stretches before her.