News
Miami's Public Health program publishes results and recommendations from its contact tracing partnership with Butler County
May 27, 2021
Miami’s program in Public Health, which over the past year has trained over 130 students to work as contact tracers to help manage the COVID-19 pandemic, has published results of its collaborative efforts with the Butler County Health District in the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice …
Clinical Health Sciences and Wellness facility will enhance the collaborations that define Miami
April 7, 2021
The new Clinical Health Sciences and Wellness facility will be part of Miami University's first "corridor of excellence," said Steve Large, assistant vice president for health and wellness and a member of the planning committee for the facility. Located on Campus Avenue, its proximity to Miami's Recreational Sports Center, Phillips Hall, and the Goggin Ice Arena creates a corridor that will naturally promote cross-divisional partnerships in order to advance holistic wellness efforts for our campus and local communities, Large said …
Jumping genes: a Q-and-A with geneticist Meixia Zhao
February 10, 2021
Geneticist and computational biologist, Meixia Zhao studies transposable elements — also known as "jumping genes" — using maize as a model system. She joined Miami University in fall 2018 as assistant professor of biology …
Stats+Stories podcast honored with national award for mathematics communications
October 28, 2020
Miami University's John Bailer, Richard Campbell and Rosemary Pennington have been honored with the 2021 Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (JPBM) Communications Award for their "engaging, entertaining and enlightening" Stats + Stories podcast. The annual award is designed to reward and encourage communicators who, on a sustained basis, bring mathematical ideas and information to non-mathematical audiences …
Miami's public health program engineers a new contact tracing program for Butler County to fight COVID-19
October 7, 2020
Early this summer, after the COVID-19 pandemic had already swept across the country and shut down college campuses and businesses around the world, Miami's public health program began to put together a plan to help track the virus's rampant spread throughout the local community. …
Miami commits to carbon neutrality and climate resilience: Virtual PCLC signing ceremony
September 15, 2020
Join Miami University President Greg Crawford as he signs the Second Nature's Presidents' Climate Leadership Commitments (PCLC) Climate Commitment in a virtual ceremony at noon Tuesday, September 22. Second Nature president Tim Carter, members of Miami's new Climate Action Task Force executive steering committee, the office of sustainability, and Oxford Mayor Mike Smith will give brief remarks during the ceremony …
Carolyn S. Craig joins CAS as director of diversity, equity, inclusion & belonging
September 8, 2020
The College of Arts and Science is excited to welcome Carolyn S. Craig to the dean's staff as their new director of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. Craig has worked at Miami University since 2015 and is credentialed as both a certified diversity professional (CDP) and an advanced certified cultural intelligence professional (ACCQP) …
Miami's Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation honored with STEM award
August 17, 2020
Miami University's Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) has been named a recipient of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine's 2020 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award. The Inspiring Programs in STEM Award honors colleges and universities that encourage and assist students from underrepresented groups to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) …
Opening Minds through Art masks feature designs made by elders with dementia
August 5, 2020
Since May, Opening Minds through Art (OMA) has been selling cloth masks featuring 29 different artistic designs created by participants in Miami University's award-winning intergenerational art program for people with dementia. "This is how we honor the creativity of people living with dementia. We happily and with pride wear their artwork on our faces," said Elizabeth 'Like' Lokon, director and founder of OMA, which is based in the Scripps Gerontology Center …
President Crawford to sign Second Nature's PCLC: Climate Commitment
July 21, 2020
President Greg Crawford will sign Second Nature's Climate Commitment, the most comprehensive of its Presidents' Climate Leadership Commitments (PCLC). Miami's Oxford campus will join more than 350 other colleges and universities committing to achieving carbon neutrality and addressing climate change resilience …
Miami chemists' breakthrough technique enables design at the interface of chemistry and biology
July 20, 2020
A technique developed by Miami University associate professors of chemistry and biochemistry Dominik Konkolewicz and Rick Page may help enable more rapid and efficient development of new materials for use in pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and other applications. Konkolewicz and Page's technique uses nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology to illuminate how proteins and synthetic polymers interact in chemical substances known as bioconjugates …
Lei Kerr is inventor on Miami's newest patent
June 3, 2020
A respiratory simulation device, complete with an artificial nose made from a 3D printer, is the subject of Miami University's newest patent and a potential breakthrough in researching, diagnosing and treating breathing disorders. Lei Kerr, professor of chemical, paper and biomedical engineering, is the inventor on the patent along with co-inventors at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base …
Miami receives 5th Beckman Institutional Award for undergraduate research
June 3, 2020
Camaryn Bennett and Hope Kirby are 2020-2021 Beckman Scholars. Miami University is one of 12 institutions nationwide to receive the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation's 2020 -2023 Beckman Scholars Program Institutional Award. The award supports undergraduate research and faculty mentoring for select students in chemistry, biochemistry and the biological sciences …
Lexie Adams awarded Astronaut Scholarship
May 28, 2020
Miami University junior, Alexandra "Lexie" Adams, has been awarded a scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF). She is one of 56 students from 41 universities to receive the award for the 2020-2021 academic year. The Astronaut Scholarship is among the most significant merit-based monetary scholarships awarded to undergraduate STEM juniors and seniors who intend to pursue research or advance their field upon completion of their final degree …
First online Undergraduate Research Forum feedback: "Fantastic"
May 28, 2020
Miami University's annual Undergraduate Research Forum (URF) was held April 29, in an online event format for the first time in its 26 years. The traditional poster sessions and oral presentations were hosted on Webex, allowing for attendees join in remotely from across the country. Students appreciated the effort to transform the forum to an online event, according to feedback collected by Joyce Fernandes, director of undergraduate research and professor of biology …
The Humanities Center presents Laptop Lectures
May 21, 2020
Pepper Stetler, associate professor of art history and associate director of the Humanities Center at Miami University, recently organized the Laptop Lectures series to keep people engaged in the humanities during this pandemic …
Miami University researchers collaborate with PsyBio Therapeutics
May 21, 2020
Miami University and PsyBio Therapeutics Inc. are collaborating to develop a new and exciting class of molecules to treat mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance dependency. PsyBio has agreed to a research sponsorship with Miami University over the next two years to further develop a platform technology that enables the biosynthesis of psilocybin and other psychoactive molecules that occur naturally in certain plants and fungi …
Students make accessible masks for disability studies action project
May 20, 2020
In Miami University's Introduction to Disability Studies (DST 272) course, students are required to develop an action project to improve accessibility, and some students were able to help in a way they couldn't have imagined. The students are making and donating accessible masks to help during the COVID-19 pandemic …
Miami making hundreds of face shields to help health care workers
May 14, 2020
Miami University's department of mechanical and manufacturing engineering (MME) is making at least 500 face shields for health care workers using an injection molding process it developed. Meanwhile, at the Regionals, the department of engineering technology (ENT) is utilizing 3D printing technology to make face shields …
Students, staff from Miami University's public health program help Butler County during pandemic
May 14, 2020
Students and staff in Miami University's public health program are helping Butler County during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are developing alternative housing plans for vulnerable populations affected by the outbreak and conducting contact tracing. Kendall Leser, director of the public health program within the department of kinesiology and health, said nearly 100 hours were donated to the Butler County General Health District for the project from late March through late April …
Miami University's Center for Chemistry Education helps create Coronavirus Learning Companion
May 13, 2020
Miami University's Center for Chemistry Education was part of a collaboration that created the Coronavirus Learning Companion. The goal of the web-based resource, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is to help community members better understand the purpose and science behind the COVID-19 public health recommendations …
Greg Phillips and Heeyoung Tai receive Excellence in Advising Award
May 13, 2020
Excellence in Academic Advising awards were presented to Greg Phillips in music and Heeyoung Tai in chemistry and biochemistry. Both are chief departmental advisers. Phillips, associate professor of music, has been at Miami for nearly 30 years and has been a chief departmental adviser for more than 10 years. In addition to being the chief departmental adviser for chemistry and biochemistry, Tai is also a senior lecturer, faculty adviser for the pre-med academic scholars program, faculty adviser to the Korean Student Association, and faculty associate for the Mallory-Wilson Center for Healthcare Education …
Miami research team helps search for possible treatments for antibiotic-resistant secondary infections common with COVID-19
May 6, 2020
Three Miami University professors are leading a research team to find potential drug compounds to fight antibiotic-resistant secondary infections common with COVID-19. One of their key tools? Machine learning, an application of artificial intelligence. Researchers and graduate and undergraduate students in the department of chemistry and biochemistry have joined forces with Farmer School of Business information systems and analytics faculty and interns in the Center for Analytics and Data Science (CADS) …
Two Miami University researchers receive NSF RAPID grant to develop coronavirus-attacking materials
May 6, 2020
Two Miami University researchers in protein, polymer and materials chemistry received a Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a project that will address the spread of the novel coronavirus. They received $181,849 to develop materials that can be used to prevent indirect contact transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 …
Lexie Adams and Hope Kirby named Goldwater Scholars
April 22, 2020
Miami University juniors Alexandra (Lexie) Adams and Hope Kirby have each received a Goldwater Scholarship for 2020-2021. They are among 396 students nationwide to receive the scholarship, the premier undergraduate award of its type in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. Adams is a chemical engineering major and Spanish minor from Liberty Township. Kirby is a microbiology major and geology and bioinformatics double minor from Glendale, Arizona. They are two of 13 students from an Ohio public university to receive the award …