From the Departments

Catch up on the latest news from our academic departments.

June 8, 2020 Christy Sadler 2-min. read

The NC State Belltower against a blue sky, with flowering trees in the foreground

Biological Sciences

Through a spring internship with diagnostics company BioMedomics, recent microbiology graduate and Goodnight Scholar Alex Rojas put his leadership skills to work to get rapid COVID-19 tests to those who need them.

New research from Michael Bereman and colleagues has found that blood plasma analysis could help in the search for biomarkers of the terminal disease ALS.

Chemistry

Organic chemistry virtual reality labs created by Maria Gallardo-Williams with the help of NC State DELTA have been adopted by instructors across the U.S. and beyond.

Researchers have created a free database of known macrolactones — large molecules used in drug development — that could serve as a useful tool for future drug discovery.

Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences

A team led by Lian Xie predicts this hurricane season will be an active one, with 18 to 22 named storms forming in the Atlantic basin.

Graduate student Corbin Kling has been using his own home 3D printer to create protective face shields for health care workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis.

Corbin Kling wears a face shield that he 3D printed in his home — Kling talks more about his 3D-printing project

Mathematics

Alun Lloyd has been featured in several national and local news outlets, including PBS NewsHour and The News & Observer, to talk about mathematical models for infectious disease transmission.

Staff members Andrea Pennix and Kirk Main received the college’s 2020 Awards for Excellence and will be considered for universitywide awards.

Physics

Astrophysicist Steve Reynolds shared interesting facts about the Sun with NC State’s Audio Abstract podcast and talked about what the solar minimum means for our favorite star.

Record-setting NASA astronaut and alumnus Christina Koch talked to several popular media outlets, including The Daily Show; NPR’s Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me; Gimlet’s Every Little Thing podcast; and Spotify about her experiences on the International Space Station.

Split screen shot of Trevor Noah and Christina Koch on The Daily Show — Koch talks with Daily Show host Trevor Noah.

Statistics

Michael DeWitt, a 2019 graduate of the Master of Statistics online program, has been working since the beginning of the outbreak to forecast the spread of the pandemic in some North Carolina counties for Greensboro-based Cone Health.

Justin Post, Arnab Maity and Tom Reiland received 2019-20 faculty awards from the department for their outstanding contributions.