DSI affiliated faculty members Tarang Parekh and Daniel Harris recently published a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey. The findings, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, underscore the urgent need for disability-inclusive reforms as the nation looks beyond the pandemic.

A new study led by DSI resident faculty member Kyle Davis examined survey data from more than 9,000 rural communities comprising more than 70,000 households in 26 countries in the Global South, a designation given to 134 states from Central and South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. They then combined that data with global georeferenced datasets on irrigation infrastructure changes and found that dietary improvements vary depending on several factors, and the areas where irrigation expansion occurs do not automatically see an increase in food security simply because that area is growing more crops. This picture was taken during their dry season fieldwork in central Nigeria last March.

DSI affiliated faculty member Tarang Parekh, assistant professor of epidemiology, examined links between social determinants of health (SDOH) and firearm ownership and storage practices in a recently published analysis in JAMA Network Open.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory stands atop a mountain peak in Chile, from which its telescope and camera will capture extraordinary information about our universe over the next 10 years as part of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). University of Delaware researchers and students, including DSI Associate Director John Gizis and DSI resident faculty members Federica Bianco and David Hong, have had leading roles in this project and anticipate many discoveries as scientists from around the world analyze the images and enormous amounts of data that will be available.  The Rubin Observatory’s telescope is equipped with the world’s largest digital camera, about the size of a small car. In this February 2025 photo, a team member helps to position the camera after it was moved from the clean room and attached to the camera’s rotator for the first time.

DSI faculty council member Allison Karpyn, professor in the College of Education and Human Development’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences and co-director of its Center for Research in Education and Social Policy, has been appointed to Delaware’s Food is Medicine Committee.

With the launch of the First State AI Institute, UD will advance an open, human-centered vision of AI — one rooted in transparency, accountability and the public good. The institute will develop practical tools to help researchers analyze data and streamline complex tasks, while also exploring how AI can improve campus operations.  The First State AI Institute is under the direction of DSI faculty council member Sunita Chandrasekaran, David L. and Beverly J.C. Mills Career Development Chair in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, with DSI faculty council member Rudi Eigenmann (center), Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and DSI Infrastructure Working Group Co-Chair John Huffman, director of IT-Research Infrastructure.