News
Cosmic code
UD physicist and DSI affiliated faculty Marianna Safronova and postdoctoral researcher Charles Cheung are part of an international team that recently resolved one 40-year astrophysics puzzle where theory and data previously disagreed.
Neunuebel, Perilla named Mangone Young Scholars
Both DSI Affiliated Faculty, Juan Perilla, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Josh Neunuebel, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences, both have been named 2022 Mangone Young Scholars by the University of Delaware’s Francis Alison Society. The 27th annual awards recognize the promising and accomplished work of young researchers at the University.
Improving algorithms, fostering community
DSI affiliated faculty Hui Fang, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in UD’s College of Engineering , is conducting fundamental research to improve search engine technologies. With innovative research and inclusivity, Prof. Hui Fang exemplifies UD’s collaboration culture. Among other projects, Fang is working with DSI affiliated faculty Prof. Dionisios Vlachos, to mine the chemical scientific literature to identify existing research gaps and potentially discover new ways to upcycle plastics.
For The Record
Congratulations to DSI faculty council member Jennifer Horney, who has coauthored a recent report by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Health Security. The report, Post-Pandemic Recovery: From What, For Whom, and How? aims to look beyond the COVID-19 pandemic and critically think about what recovery from the largest public health crisis in our lifetime looks like.
For The Record
Congratulations to DSI faculty council member Xiao Fang, for being appointed associate editor of the INFORMS Journal on Data Science. Congratulations to DSI faculty council member Jennifer Horney, for publishing her third book, COVID-19, Frontline Responders and Mental Health: A Playbook for Delivering Resilient Public Health Systems Post-Pandemic.
Global land rush
Dr. Kyle Davis and Dr. Saleem Ali, both DSI Affiliated Faculty members, have co-authored a new paper that looks at how transnational agricultural large-scale land acquisitions pose a threat to biodiversity. These large scale land acquisitions have surged since the beginning of the century and have resulted in an area larger than South Africa being officially put under contract for agriculture, logging, and mining.
Changing the definition of autism
DSI affiliated faculty Anjana Bhat, associate professor of physical therapy in the University of Delaware’s College of Health Sciences, pushes to change autism definition to include motor difficulties.
Exploring Antarctica
UD researchers are among the scientists in Antarctica conducting fieldwork on penguins, ocean currents. DSI Affiliated Faculty are involved in the research including Mark Moline and Carlos Moffat. Mark Moline from the UD Marine Studies Department, is the principal investigator on a project examining the feeding habits and predator-prey interactions of Adélie and Gentoo penguins in the region using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Carlos Moffat, a coastal physical oceanographer who is in Antarctica serving as chief scientist of the NSF Palmer LTER program, which has been collecting long-term ecological data for over 30 years, is also conducting research as part of his NSF Career Award to understand the dynamics of melting glaciers and how that impacts the ocean circulation and properties, such as salinity and temperature of the coastal ocean.
The future of testing self-driving cars
Prof. Andreas Malikopoulos of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and DSI Affiliated Faculty, and built the Scaled Smart City to bridge the gap between driving simulations and real-world tests to try out the latest innovations for self-driving cars within the safe confines of a controlled setting.
Understanding where things happen, and why
In an effort to raise geography awareness throughout the state of Delaware, faculty members and staff engaged in outreach programs at local middle schools (such as those spearheaded by DSI Affiliated Faculty Tracy DeLiberty) and hosted competitions to raise awareness about the power of geography (such as the UD Student Competition for Geospatial Data Visualization/Map Design, created by DSI Resident Faculty Jung Goa) as well as possible career opportunities that could be attained through the field.
