News
DSI Experts on Tap for Global Science Event
UD is hosting a public watch party (6.23.25) to get a first look at images of the universe taken by the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which has the planet’s largest digital camera. DSI resident faculty member Federica Bianco, Rubin Deputy Project Scientist and Interim Head of Science, will participate from the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., where she will serve on a media panel. DSI fellows Siddharth (Sid) Chaini and Easton Honaker will serve as the event hosts and introduce the program. A panel of UD experts also will present, moderated by DSI faculty council member Tom Powers, director of the Center for Science, Ethics and Public Policy. Participants will include DSI Associate Director John Gizis from the Department of Physics and Astronomy and DSI resident faculty member David Hong from the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering, as well as UD students who have contributed to the realization of the project including DSI fellows Shar Daniels, Riley Clarke, and Willow Fox Fortino.
Creating a Global Minerals Trust
Demand for critical minerals like lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements continues to increase worldwide. To ensure that these critical elements are shared by all for the good of humanity, DSI faculty council member Saleem Ali has proposed the creation of a global minerals trust that would include independent audit mechanisms — like those used by the International Atomic Energy Agency — to ensure environmental and social safeguards.
For the Record
DSI faculty council member Jennifer Horney, director of UD’s public health program, edited a new book published by Johns Hopkins Press. The Conversation on Extreme Weather focuses on the impacts of climate change on the environment, health, housing and employment.
For the Record
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.
Providing Closure
DSI affiliated faculty member Mark Moline (left) was the co-lead of a mission to Papua New Guinea in 2017 that located Heaven Can Wait, a B-24D Liberator plane from the United States Army Air Forces that was shot down over Hansa Bay in Papua New Guinea on March 11, 1944.
For the Record
DSI affiliated faculty member Anjana Bhat, professor of physical therapy in the College of Health Sciences, has been named a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).
Carbon Credit Quality
In a new review, DSI faculty council member Rodrigo Vargas is among a group of leading forest scientists around the U.S. arguing that forest carbon market protocols are flawed and don’t ensure that issued carbon credits accurately account for reduced and removed carbon dioxide emissions.
Global Crop Data
DSI Resident Faculty member, Assistant Professor Kyle Davis (right) co-authored a paper focused on the Monthly Irrigated and Rainfed Cropped Areas Open Source (MIRCA-OS). MIRCA-OS offers high-resolution data on 23 crop classes and helps researchers, students and farmers examine irrigation, rainfall and croplands and how they interact with global water systems.
For the Record
DSI Faculty Council member Jennifer Horney, professor, founding director of the Department of Epidemiology, and core faculty at UD’s Disaster Research Center, has been named to the Board of the Delaware Academy of Medicine within the Delaware Public Health Association.
The Power of Play
A recent study by DSI affiliated faculty member Anjana Bhat found cognitive benefits to whole-body movement in children with autism.
