Tag: University of Vermont

Residents and property owners are more likely to adopt some green stormwater infrastructure practices if they have experienced flooding or erosion on their property or in their neighborhoods, according to new research from the University of Vermont.

With the number of extreme precipitation events on the rise, the research, published in Landscape and Urban Planning, suggests more households will turn to ecologically friendly practices to manage and direct stormwater.

Importantly, successful adoption of these practices cannot depend on a one size fits all approach, said the study’s lead author Sarah Coleman. Rather, efforts to improve stormwater management should consider the specific needs and motivations of households in the context of their social, physical, and ecological landscape.

“We tend to think of stormwater management as a separate thing, when really it’s baked into our entire landscape. If our natural habitat is altered, it changes how the water moves and we necessarily have to manage that water,” said Coleman. “As we understand more about the impact of climate change on water quality, we need residents and landowners to steward water management practices to address different types of runoff, erosion, and flooding challenges.”

Coleman, who recently completed her PhD in ecological landscape design and environmental governance in the UVM Department of Plant and Soil Science, was interested in better understanding landowners’ likelihood to adopt solutions like green stormwater infrastructure across different landscapes using spatial analysis. While at UVM, she was a graduate fellow of UVM’s Gund Institute and her research was supported by Vermont EPSCoR with funds from the National Science Foundation.

Together with UVM co-authors Stephanie Hurley, Christopher Koliba and Asim Zia from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Donna Rizzo from the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, she conducted a statewide survey of Vermont residents to evaluate how different factors, including past experience with stormwater and flooding problems, location within different towns and watersheds, and perceived barriers to adoption, impacted their likelihood to implement specific stormwater management practices, such as rain gardens, infiltration trenches, or diverting roof runoff. 

Of the 577 survey respondents, 65 percent had either adopted or intended to adopt at least one of the seven green stormwater infrastructure practices identified in the survey. Residents and property owners’ motivation for adopting individual green stormwater infrastructure practices varied with their residence type and location, as well as household demographics, barriers, and social norms.

Households that had experienced stormwater and flooding problems and perceived stormwater to be a problem in their neighborhood were significantly more likely to have adopted or expressed the intention to adopt at least one green stormwater infrastructure practice. Additionally, living in a more densely populated or urban area increased the likelihood of adoption, or having the intent to adopt. 

Christopher Koliba, co-author of the study, added, “The research suggests that as extreme events like floods increase, more and more households will be interested in implementing stormwater management practices. We also hope it raises awareness about the role individual citizens can play in protecting our water resources – before a storm hits.” 

Koliba, Coleman and their co-authors conducted this research as part of a larger, interdisciplinary Vermont EPSCoR research team, including faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student researchers from both the social and natural sciences, who study complex questions surrounding adaptation to climate change in the Lake Champlain Basin.

Over the past century, heavy rainfall has increased in intensity and frequency across the U.S., with the largest observed changes occurring in the Northeast, according the Climate Science Special Report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In August 2011, Vermont was hit by Tropical Storm Irene, which caused historic flooding and destroyed or damaged more than 2,400 roads and 800 homes and businesses across the state.

“Understanding factors that influence residents’ motivations to adopt different stormwater management strategies is critical to help policymakers, municipalities and watershed organizations encourage and support effective stewardship of these practices,” said Coleman. “We need a flexible, adaptive approach to help tailor outreach and education strategies across diverse populations and landscapes.”

Source: UVM News

A newly released report by the University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center that measures how well public colleges and universities are serving African American students gives high marks to The University of Vermont. 

The report, “Black students at public colleges and universities: A 50-state report card” by Shaun R. Harper and Isaiah Simmons, assigns each school an A-F score based on four equity indicators:

• “Representation Equity”: The percentage of African American student enrollment relative to the 18-24 year-old African American population in the state.
• “Gender Equity”: How the percentage of female and male African American students compares to the national enrollment percentages across all racial/ethnic groups (56.3 percent women, 43.7 percent men).
• “Completion Equity”: Compares the graduation rates of African American students with those of the overall student population at the school they attend.
• “Black Student-to-Black Faculty Ratio”: Measures the ratio of full-time African American students to full-time African American faculty members.

The University of Vermont earned a “B” grade in the first three indicators and an “A” in the fourth. The grades resulted in a 3.25 “Equity Index” score for UVM, earning it a spot on the report’s list of 36 institutions with the highest “Equity Index” scores out of the 500 plus colleges and universities in the report.

UVM did particularly well in the “Completion Equity” indicator, registering a 70.5 percent graduation rate for its African American students compared to the university’s overall graduation rate of 75.6 percent. It also did well in the “Gender Equity” category, with a gender distribution among African American students of 52.5 percent female and 47.5 percent male, resulting in 3.8 percent variation from national figures. UVM earned its highest grade in the student-to-faculty ratio category with a ratio of 5 African American students per African American faculty member.

The report cautions that a campus that performs well in comparison to others is not necessarily a national model of excellence. 

That is a sentiment echoed by UVM’s Wanda Heading-Grant, vice president for human resources, diversity and multicultural affairs. “While it is important to recognize areas where we are doing well, it is even more important to keep working hard so that we can continue making progress toward providing greater diversity in a just, equitable and inclusive environment for our students,” Heading-Grant said. “We will review the report’s recommendations to see how we can improve on the steps we are already taking.”

Source: UVM News

If you know Professor Kevin McKenna, you know that he gave it his best effort, ardent and true. 1989, McKenna spearheaded a UVM-hosted national conference on Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s work. With the Nobel laureate author living just a two-hour drive away in Cavendish, Vermont, the professor of Russian extended an invitation to speak at Ira Allen Chapel.

McKenna knew the odds were long. A curt letter from Solzhenitsyn’s personal secretary sealed it: “Aleksandr Isaaevich no longer gives lectures on American college campuses. Yours will not be an exception.” 

Recounting the story nearly thirty years later, McKenna says, “I wasn’t at all surprised.” Widespread misunderstanding of comments the author made at a 1978 commencement address at Harvard had soured him on such campus appearances.

As December 18, 2018, marks the centennial of Solzhenitsyn’s birth, his life and legacy are reflected upon from Moscow to Cavendish. This summer, McKenna re-read his well-worn copy of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich for, perhaps, the thirtieth time, preparing to teach a fall semester world literature class focused exclusively on Solzhenitsyn.

Centennial events have also taken McKenna, and colleague Professor Wolfgang Mieder, to Russia to deliver lectures to the Russian Academy of Sciences and research future work. In Vermont, McKenna helped to organize an exhibit at the Vermont Historical Society and participated in a conference at Northern Vermont University on the topic of Solzhenitsyn’s fiction. He also recently received an invitation from the Academy of Science and Solzhenitsyn Archives in Moscow to deliver a lecture at their international conference in December celebrating the centennial of the author’s birth.

Living in exile in Switzerland in the mid-1970s, Solzhenitsyn found it too busy, too paparazzi-accessible. Friends in Ontario told him about this place to the south. McKenna lists the aspects of Vermont that appealed to the writer—climate and landscape that felt like home; isolation but not too far from the libraries and archives at Harvard and Dartmouth; a solid place to raise his and his wife’s three children; and, most importantly, neighbors who would respect, even protect, his privacy.

With his bearded and brooding looks, a writer at work in the woods, it’s tempting to label Solzhenitsyn a hermit during his Vermont years, 1976 to 1993. McKenna says no. “He was an unbelievably dedicated writer and researcher, regularly working eighteen hours a day,” McKenna says. “Yes, he wasn’t the kind of person who would attend numerous barbecues, go bowling and things like that, not an overly social kind of person, but definitely not a hermit. He was an avid tennis-player, for example.”

Solzhenitsyn and his wife, Natalia, did attend Town Meeting in Cavendish in 1993 to thank the town and friends there for the welcoming safe harbor of their Vermont years. A sign in the Cavendish general store had long read, “No directions to Solzhenitsyn’s home.”

As McKenna guides students through Solzhenitsyn’s oeuvre this semester, he reflects on what we can learn about twenty-first century Russia from this giant of twentieth-century literature. From outside the country’s borders, McKenna says there is an abiding message to be wary of the Kremlin. Within Russia, Solzhenitsyn’s once-banned books are now seen as mandatory reading by Vladimir Putin’s government. McKenna says, “In the same way as Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy, he is viewed as a Russian prophet, a writer who has something essential to say to and about the Russian people.”

Source: UVM News

Over the years, the Billings Library, the University of Vermont’s most architecturally important building, has been home to a variety of university functions, some more suited to the cathedral-like grandeur of its interior than others.  

Designed by H. H. Richardson, the great 19th American architect, the building began life in 1885 as the university’s library.

In 1961, with demand for its services far exceeding Billings’ capacity, the university built a large new library and, in 1963, converted Billings’ somber interior space to an unlikely – and as time went on, lightly used – student center.

In 2007 a much-needed modern student center opened on the UVM campus, and Billings became a sublime setting for a series of mostly everyday lectures, meetings and campus events.

Thanks to a recently completed $11.4 million renovation, Billings will again house university departments whose academic import match its majestic design.

UVM Libraries’ Special Collections department took up residence in August, returning the building to its roots as a library. In September the Miller Center for Holocaust Studies, the UVM Humanities Center and the Center for Research on Vermont moved into their new offices on the fourth floor of the building.

 “The co-location of these important areas of scholarship will make Billings one of the most vital academic and intellectual centers on the UVM campus, as it once was,” said UVM president Tom Sullivan. “It is heartening to see this architectural masterpiece returned  to it its former glory.” 

Philanthopy key to original Billings – and to the renovation

The original Billings Library was financed through a philanthropic gift from railroad magnate and UVM alumnus Frederick Billings.

The renovation, launched in June 2017 and completed this past summer, has also been made possible by philanthropy.

Among the most important gifts was the first, in 2006, a $5 million gift  from the late Leonard (’51) and Carolyn Miller to establish a holocaust studies center at UVM to honor and expand the legacy of Raul Hilberg, the late UVM political science professor and renowned holocaust scholar.

Of the total, $3 million went toward the Billings renovation, where the center – called the Carolyn and Leonard Miller Center for Holocaust Studies – would  be permanently located. The remainder was set aside for endowed professorships in holocaust studies.

“The Miller family’s gift puts valuable endowment funds into place for  UVM’s  Holocaust Studies Center. The Miller Center, which has a worldwide reputation, is one of the most significant scholarly enterprises at the university. The gift also sparked the Billings renovation,” Sullivan said. “For both reasons, we are eternally grateful to the family for its generosity.”

A $3 million gift from Jack (’64) and Shirley Silver was also critical to the Billings Library renovation, giving considerable  momentum to the project.   

“Jack and Shirley were far sighted in their inspiring support of this important campaign priority. We are deeply appreciative to them for so significantly enhancing this vital part of the university.”

Jack Silver quote.

In honor of the Silvers, the collection has been named the Jack and Shirley Silver Special Collections Library.

A gift of $1 million was made to the renovation by Richard [’63] and Pamela Ader, who appreciated the architectural significance of the building and the many purposes the renovated Billings Library would serve. Additional gifts totaling $1.5 million from approximately 200 donors rounded out the $8.5 million in private support for the project.

Tens of thousands of items

This has been a busy summer for Special Collections staff.

From mid-July to mid-August, staff oversaw the transport of tens of thousands of rare books, manuscripts, maps, photographs and documents, moved via truck in carefully packed boxes and foam-lined carts from Special Collections’ former location in the basement of Bailey-Howe Library to the second floor of Billings, where temperature- and humidity-controlled stacks had been built in an area formerly occupied by a dining hall.

The new location will significantly enhance Special Collections’ contribution to the academic life of the university, said Jeff Marshall, director of the Silver Special Collections Library.

“Housing these materials in one of UVM’s premier buildings at the center of campus demonstrates the value the university places on Special Collections and will raise awareness of our holdings among faculty, students and the outside community,” he said.

There are practical benefits, as well, he said. “We have improved security and climate control, as well as work spaces that are much more inviting and comfortable for both visitors and staff.”

The renovation also fits the moment in higher education: special collections are playing an increasingly large role in undergraduate education nationally.

To facilitate the use of special collections materials in teaching, the renovated Billings will feature two dedicated, technology-enabled classrooms, a large one in the Marsh Room on the third floor and a smaller one on the second, both major improvements over the former space, where classes were held in the middle of the reading room.

“Collaborating with faculty to give students access to primary source materials – from manuscripts to maps to blueprints – has become a central strategy for engaging students in disciplines ranging from the humanities, social science and the arts to science, math and engineering,” said Prudence Doherty, special collections librarian. “The new classrooms will greatly enhance our ability to deliver this kind of teaching.”   

The classrooms will also be used for public events and presentations sponsored by the Silver Special Collections Library.

Also following national trends, the Billings renovation contains two dedicated display areas – in the apse on the third floor and in an area outside the central reading room on the second – to draw in students and the university community and engage them in Special Collections’ holdings. 

Billing’s North Lounge will also see a return to its past. The space will become a reading/study room, as it was in the original library, with long tables, comfortable chairs and nooks for private study along the walls.

The co-location of the Miller Center for Holocaust Studies, the Center for Research on Vermont and the Humanities Center in Billings, makes the building a “powerful nexus for the humanities on the UVM campus,” Sullivan said.

“The centers have a vital role to play in and of themselves,” he said. “In addition, we expect that the co-location with the Silver Special Collections Library will amplify their impact by enabling closer collaboration and synergy, both among the centers and with Special Collections.”

Source: UVM News

Thomas Payeur, a mathematics teacher at Winooski High School who earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees at UVM, has been named the 2019 Vermont Teacher of the Year by the Vermont Agency of Education.

Payeur, a math and economics major, earned a masters in Secondary Education from UVM’s College of Education and Social Services in 2012. He was honored October 1 at the Outstanding Teachers Day ceremony in UVM’s Davis Center. The event is hosted annually by UVM and the College of Education and Social Services.  

He will begin his tenure as Vermont Teacher of the Year on January 1, 2019.

Payeur has been teaching mathematics for six years, all at Winooski High School. He is an innovator in the field of proficiency-based education, leading school change efforts to develop best practices in teaching 21st century skills. His mathematics instruction is grounded in research-based methods. His students come from all around the world and constantly challenge him to rethink his assumptions and explore new ways of problem-solving. He strongly believes that all people are math people.

“Tom is both a leader and an innovator in proficiency-based education at Winooski and one of those teachers who is able to connect with and inspire students on a person-to-person level,” said Secretary of Education Daniel M. French. “Both qualities are perfect examples of the excellence and quality of Vermont educators. We need teachers like Tom who are stepping up and leading innovation and practice development if we are to build a world class, integrated 21st century education system.”

“This honor is an absolute validation of the struggle to reform education with a focus on 21st century skills, across the state of Vermont and the nation as a whole,” said Payeur. “When communities are given time and space to come to consensus on the skills their future generations will need to master, hope, possibility, and success bloom in tangible results. The work requires relentless persistence, artful communication, flexible problem solving, imaginative creativity, cultural competence and a focus on the well-being of all involved. The students, staff and larger community of Winooski regularly embody these skills, and as such, I dedicate this honor to them.”

As the 2019 Vermont Teacher of the Year, Payeur will travel statewide visiting schools and working with teachers. He is also Vermont’s candidate for the National Teacher of the Year award, sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers. Payeur will represent Vermont in Washington, D.C. next spring for the National Teacher of the Year program.

Also recognized were the 2019 Vermont Alternate Teacher of the Year, Beth Fraser, a mathematics teacher at Blue Mountain Union School in Wells River and Distinguished Finalist Shane Heath, a science teacher at Northfield Middle High School

Since 1964, the Agency of Education has recognized outstanding Vermont teachers. Now in its 38th Year, Outstanding Teacher Day recognizes outstanding teachers throughout the state through a ceremonial event that takes place in October. Each participating supervisory union or school district may nominate one teacher at the elementary/middle school level, one teacher at the secondary level and one technical center teacher.

Source: UVM News

Expanding its relationship with the University of Vermont’s (UVM) Complex Systems Center, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) announced today that it is providing $5 million in funding to further advance study and research in the field of data science and analytics.

The funding, to be provided over five years beginning in 2019, will include the establishment of the MassMutual Center of Excellence for Complex Systems and Data Science, which will initiate research projects and programs aimed at better understanding human wellness through data analytics, as well as programming to cultivate a strong pipeline of data science talent.

“This new center will provide students with the opportunity to gain deeper insights into data assets, publish their findings, and ultimately identify trends in health and wellness to help people live healthier lives,” said Roger Crandall, MassMutual’s Chairman, President and CEO. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with UVM to foster greater talent in the data science field and working together to find new ways to harness the power of data to make a positive impact on our world.”

In addition to the establishment of the center, the expanded partnership between MassMutual and UVM includes the creation of a paid MassMutual fellowship for Ph.D. students, a visualization data artist-in-residence program for early career data scientists, and funding for research and mentorship programs for undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D. students.

The initial research projects that will be conducted at the MassMutual Center of Excellence include study in the following areas:   

• Longevity and wellness, including the link between physical and financial health and environmental impacts on wellness.
• Algorithmic fairness, accountability and transparency, which will encompass alternative underwriting data, methods for controlling bias and data ethics.
• Measurement methodologies for large scale social systems, covering such topics as macroeconomic events, mortality risk and social cohesion, among others.

“We are extremely excited to be entering into this next phase of our partnership with the Vermont Complex Systems Center. This is a world class lab at the forefront of improving our understanding of fundamental socio-economic issues through modern, data-driven research,” said Sears Merritt, MassMutual’s Chief Data Scientist, Head of Data Science and Advanced Analytics.

“Our collective efforts here will improve understanding of the physical and financial determinants of wellness in the United States, and create actionable results that advance our industry and society at large. At the same time, we aim to drive talent development through research and publication.” 

The Vermont Complex Systems Center supports data science and complex systems education through interdisciplinary learning, and the Center’s master’s and doctorate level graduates have gone on to work for leading data science teams in the private sector at major U.S. and international companies. Negotiated with assistance from the UVM Foundation’s Corporate & Foundation Relations office, the data science initiative with MassMutual represents the largest single corporate collaboration with the Center since its inception in 2009. 

“This significant investment in UVM represents a milestone for us,” said UVM President Tom Sullivan. “Our distinguished faculty and programs are capable of dynamic, large scale partnerships that permit the University to create this Center of Excellence with MassMutual, a company named one of the top fifty most ethical companies in the world. We couldn’t have a better partner to share UVM’s passion for wellness in this exciting endeavor.” 

“We are incredibly excited to partner with MassMutual for our new Center of Excellence in Complex Systems and Data Science,” said Peter Dodds, Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at UVM and director of the university’s Complex Systems Center. “The MassMutual Center will be a wellspring of research into people-centric systems, guided by our core ethos to make the world a better place: healthier, happier, fairer, and more productive and creative. The Center will also boost our established educational programs to help students at all levels become the ethical, powerful data scientists that the world needs.”

This latest initiative with the Vermont Complex Systems Center underscores MassMutual’s ongoing commitment to data science and cyber initiatives. This includes a $2 million, four-year program with Mount Holyoke College and Smith College to provide funding to hire five visiting faculty positions, support the development of a data science-focused curriculum and promote greater diversity in the field. MassMutual also opened a state-of-the-art 5,000-square-foot data science lab in Amherst, Mass. and the MassMutual Foundation has donated $15 million to UMass Amherst over 10 years to further strengthen the university’s data science and cybersecurity programs in Western Massachusetts.

Source: UVM News

“There’s probably no object in American sports that has as much ritual associated with it” as the baseball glove, says UVM’s Dave Jenemann.

The professor and lifelong fan of the game explores the cultural life of the mitt, and shares findings from his new book, The Baseball Glove: History, Material, Meaning, and Value.

Professor Jenemann teaches courses in film and television theory, critical theory, genre, and global cinema. He serves as co-director of the Vermont Humanities Center, and, in his free time, plays second baseman for the Burlington Cardinals.

 

About Faculty Feature:

What makes our faculty members tick? In this video series, get up close and personal with our professors. Hear them talk about their passions, their paths to UVM and why they love what they study, from the mysteries of Lake Champlain’s sculpin to the stories of homeless children in Pakistan. 

Source: UVM News

Cloudy skies and periodic drizzle couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of four speakers and a crowd of about 50 who gathered on Sunday morning to dedicate the Andrew Harris Crossroads on the University of Vermont campus, as the green surrounded by the Davis Center, Terrell Hall, Marsh Life Sciences and the Bailey-Howe Library will now be called, commemorating UVM’s first African-American graduate.

The commons, where the ceremony took place, is marked by a large plaque and five black marble monuments, one at each pathway that enters the green. Harris, one of the first African-Americans to attend college in the United States, graduated from UVM in 1838.

“Today we are here to recognize and honor the legacy of Andrew Harris by dedicating this new, special space, this commons, at the heart and center of our campus,” UVM president Tom Sullivan said in his remarks.

“The Andrew Harris Commons will be a welcoming space for all in our community and for guests to the university, in memory of a very courageous, determined and persuasive leader who started here at the University of Vermont,” he said.

After graduating from UVM, Harris was ordained as a Presbyterian minister and became a powerful voice of the abolitionist movement, Sullivan said. In May of 1839 he delivered a provocative speech to a crowd 5,000 at the annual meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society at the Broadway Tabernacle in New York City calling for an end to slavery. His influence continued to grow after he joined the ministry. He served as a pastor at the largest free African-American community in upstate New York and later at the black Presbyterian church on St. Mary Street in Philadelphia.

Harris died young at age 27, as his influence and fame were on the ascent.

Wanda Heading-Grant, UVM’s vice president for human resources, diversity and multicultural affairs, presided over the ceremony. In her remarks, she spoke to the commitment that went into creating the commons and to its unifying potential.

“This is been a journey of two years and, behind the scenes, people have worked very hard and thought very hard about what the commons would be,” she said. It is “a canvas, one that will grow in what you see and in what blossoms, one that will speak to diversity, equity, inclusion, reconciliation, to coming together and unity,” she said.

Beverly Colson, director of UVM’s Mosaic Center for Students of Color, spoke of the challenges Harris faced in attending UVM in the mid-1830s and of his inspiring success in persevering and graduating.  

“For Andrew, matriculating at UVM was no easy feat,” she said. “What must it have been like for a young African-American man to attend this institution in the mid-1830s? Can you imagine Burlington, Vermont at that time? A small bustling waterfront town surrounded by farms, deep woods, mill towns and a population that did not include many who looked like him. In the South, slavery held its savage sway, and men like Harris were killed for learning to read. Against this alienating and horrifying backdrop, bravery, desire and determination drove one visionary young free black man to take hold of what must have been a miraculous opportunity, the chance to have a college education here at the University of Vermont.

“His decision to be present and develop himself at this institution charted a path to accessibility and rendered our public university a benefit to a more whole community, a broader community than was previously imagined,” she said.

Khalil Munir (’74), a member of the board of directors of the UVM Alumni Association, spoke of the commons as part of a tradition of expanding social justice and of the inspiration it can serve moving forward. 

“I want to acknowledge our ancestors, mine and yours, who were freedom fighters for social justice and goodwill for all of humanity,” he said. “It is also appropriate and essential to appreciate that our first African-American alumnus, Mr. Andrew Harris, was guided by faith, perseverance and resolve and established a legacy of inspiration for all future demographics across this campus to emulate. To the students here today – especially to you – it is important to appreciate that your efforts can make a difference. It is also vital to appreciate that this commons represents an opportunity, a mechanism to pursue consensus building, reconciliation and collaboration. It is also a place where you scholars, you future professionals, will make this a better world.”

As one of the marble monuments was being unveiled, UVM junior Mansa Campaz, president of UVM’s Black Student Union, read a poem titled “Praise Song for the Day” by Elizabeth Alexander.

The poem concludes,

 In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,

any thing can be made, any sentence begun.

On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

The Andres Harris Crossroads is one of several ways in which the university has honored its first African-American graduate. A plaque dedicated to Harris is mounted on the wall in the hallway outside the president’s office in the Waterman Building. An academic chair in Memorial Lounge has been dedicated to him. The university has also established the Andrew Harris Scholarship to recruit talented students and the Andrew Harris Fellowship to help recruit faculty of color to the university.

To close the ceremony, Heading-Grant thanked historian Kevin Thornton, a former lecturer in the Department of History, for his research that brought to light many details of Harris’s life, both when he was at UVM and after he graduated.

Source: UVM News

Leaders at the University of Vermont and Larner College of Medicine today announced $12.3 million in funding for a new Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) called the “Translational Global Infectious Disease Research Center” (TGIR) that will join together two traditionally distinct groups of scientists to develop innovative approaches to prevent and control infectious disease.

The new research initiative will leverage UVM expertise in the College of Medicine, the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, and also the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to develop strategies for decreasing the burden of infectious diseases, particularly in low-income countries. This is the fifth COBRE grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that the College of Medicine has secured over the past 17 years.

The TGIR-COBRE aims to bridge the gap between the biologic and quantitative data fields of biomedical research by developing institutional strengths in global infectious disease research and supporting the research careers of outstanding junior faculty in this field.

“Effective responses to infectious disease burdens and threats must capitalize on new technologies and analytical tools,” says Beth Kirkpatrick, M.D., principal investigator of the TIGR-COBRE, director of the Vaccine Testing Center and chair of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. “Together our TGIR-COBRE team can harness the opportunities of our combined areas of expertise and that of “big data” to improve health of global populations.”

Co-principal investigators on the TGIR-COBRE are Jason Bates, Ph.D., Sc.D., professor of medicine, and Christopher Huston, M.D., professor of medicine.

Specifically, the TGIR-COBRE will incorporate existing research strengths in human Infectious Diseases including the research of Dr. Christopher Huston and the platforms of the UVM Vaccine Testing Center, which include human immunology laboratories, clinical trials capabilities, and collaborations with international investigators and field sites.

The TGIR center will also incorporate the substantial expertise in complex systems and mathematical/computational modeling of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. Four junior scientists – with mentorship from senior scientific advisors – will be supported by the grant, including: Benjamin Lee, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, who will research “Development of a B cell responses and serological immunity following rotavirus vaccination in infants:” Laurent Hebert-Dufresne, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science, who will study “Network epidemiology and the quantification of behavioral interventions;” Sean Diehl, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine, whose research project is titled “Next generation correlates of protection for dengue;” and C. Matthew Kinsey, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of medicine, who will research “Discriminating latent tuberculosis from lung cancer in high-risk populations.”

Research conducted as part of this grant is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the NIH under Award Number 1P20 GM125498-01.  The content is solely the responsibility of the grantee institutions and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.                                                              

Source: UVM News