In this opinion piece, Jon Porter, the director of the University of Vermont Health and Wellness Center, argues that legalizing cannabis directly undermines the mission of higher education to engage students deeply in their learning. Read this piece.
Source: UVM News
A UVM-led study on elephant poaching attracted strong media interest in the US and around the world. The research–published in Nature Communications, and co-led by UVM economist Brendan Fisher and others from UVM’s Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, in collaboration with a team from the World Wildlife Fund, Cambridge University and other institutions–shows that the elephant poaching crisis is costing African nations about $25 million each year in lost tourist revenue and makes the case for the positive economic return from elephant conservation in many regions of the continent. The research was covered by Voice of America, Vice, Tourism+Leisure, UPI, Pacific Standard, The Guardian, Cosmos and many other outlets.
Source: UVM News
Over 150 media around the world covered the innovative teaching approach being implemented by UVM’s Larner College of Medicine, made possible by a $66 million gift, the largest in the univerisity’s history. The New York Times, ABC News, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post and Inside Higher Ed were among the media covering the gift and the new curriculum, which will eliminate all lectures, replacing them with active learning classrooms that research shows improve learning. The gift came from UVM dual-degree alum and Vermont native Robert Larner ’39, M.D.’42, and his wife, Helen. Read the story in the Washington Post.
Source: UVM News
A new study by Lance Smith, associate professor in counseling, shows that patients seeking mental health services may be at risk of racial bias. Smith analyzed the callback rates and responses of counselors and psychologists to voicemail messages left by an actor using the name “Allison” or the name “Lakisha,” which, data shows, are names with high correlation in the U.S. to white and black individuals, respectively. Allison received responses promoting mental health services at a 12 percent higher rate than Lakisha.
The study was highlighted in a trend story in Prevention Magazine and was picked up a by the United Kingdom’s second biggest-selling daily newspaper, the Daily Mail, as well as a number of science news sites, including ScienceDaily, MedicalExpress and PsychCentral.
Source: UVM News
A University of Vermont class called Birding to Change the World was featured on the homepage of NBC News.com. In the class, environmental studies students at UVM act as “bird buddies” and mentors for fifth graders at a local elementary school, visiting a local wildlife refuge as group once a week. The class is funded through a special grant program at the university that encourages faculty to develop courses using “high impact practices” to engage students and help them learn deeply. The story is here.
Source: UVM News
A team of scientists led by UVM chemist Matthew Liptak have discovered a new way that some molecules can make a luminescent glow — a strange, bright green—that may have applications for new LEDs and biomedical diagnostics. The story got picked up a number of science news sites, including Futurism, and the reseach was featured as the top headline on the National Science Foundation’s news feed, Science360. See here.
Source: UVM News
UVM scientist Christine Vatovec does boundary-bending research on human and ecological health–and how they’re connected. Her recent studies of how pharmaceuticals flow into wastewater and into lakes and rivers were featured in Quartz, a digital global news magazine published by Atlantic Media, publisher of The Atlantic. Read the story here.
Source: UVM News
Work by Professor Chris Danforth in collaboration with Harvard researcher Andrew Reece suggests that Instagram photos — both the filters used and the subjects portrayed — can offer insight into our mental health. Read the Washington Post story…
Source: UVM News
A new study led by mathematical biologist Sam Scarpino, who heads UVM’s Emergent Epidemics Lab, made a startling discovery: replacing substitute teachers and other key workers–including nurses and firefighters–may accelerate the spread of epidemics like the flu. The team’s research caught the attention of several media outlets including Fox News.
Source: UVM News
Inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s idea that stories share basic “shapes,” UVM researchers have analyzed more than 1,700 texts, discovering six narrative trajectories — the building blocks for storytelling. Read The Guardian’s coverage…
Source: UVM News
