In the latest edition of UVM in the News, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company and The Boston Globe are among numerous national outlets focusing on scholarship and other accomplishments at the University of Vermont. From Rubenstein professor Carol Adair’s research published in Nature, demonstrating the potentially devastating consequences of biodiversity loss, to the Daily Beast’s commencement video (UVM was among their picks for best speech in the country), the publication highlights the broad range of expertise and activity that attracts media attention.
Following is a small sampling of recent stories in the national – and local – spotlight:
An Ultrasound 'Ballast Blaster'
The Wall Street Journal blog "Ideas Market" features an invention co-created by physics professor Junru Wu that, through the use of ultrasound, has been shown to kill virtually all E. coli and other bacteria in ballast water, as well as creatures that elude filters, including water fleas, plankton and zebra mussels. It works by causing gas bubbles within the organisms to violently vibrate, rupturing key structures. Ballast water from international cargo ships has been introducing invasive species into the Great Lakes and elsewhere, which the new method could manage without the use of chemicals. Read the post at WSJ.com...
Ingredients for Success in Vermont Wine
The Boston Globe profiles alumna Christina Castegren '01 and her Vermont winery, Fresh Tracks. Read the story at TheBostonGlobe.com...
The Real Wealth of Nations
The Economist cites the work of Taylor Ricketts, professor and director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, in its argument supporting a recent United Nations report that attempts to calculate physical, human and natural capital as part of a nation's wealth rather than settling for GDP alone. Rickets, by example, has been calculating the value of bee pollination, determining that one Costa Rican coffee grower benefited by $62,000 a year from feral honey bees in two nearby patches of forest. Read the story at Economist.com...
UVM Students Put Wetland Restoration Study to the Test
The Burlington Free Press follows Bill Keeton, associate professor in the Rubenstein School, and his Restoration Ecology service-learning class out to Charlotte where, with hoes, shovels, saws and axes they worked to return a low-lying meadow back to the wetland habitat it once was, planting along the way some 900 native trees and shrubs. Read the story at BurlingtonFreePress.com...
See past issues of UVM in the News.