News

From surf, turf and sky, NASA and VCU’s Rice Rivers Center deliver an immersive summer experience for undergraduates

June 29, 2023

In its inaugural session on the East Coast, the environmental research program taps VCU expertise and facilities to give 22 students from across the nation a hands-on role in high-level work.

Image from the syllabus for Christopher Martiniano's Greetings From Hell summer class. (Contributed image)

Mixing the old and the new, Greetings from Hell puts a devilishly vivid spin on a VCU summer course

June 27, 2023

Through literature, art and even AI, students in Christopher Martiniano’s pandemic-era class dug into the underworld.

Tess Gunty’s novel, “The Rabbit Hutch,” is set in a dilapidated Midwestern apartment complex over the course of one formidably hot July week in Vacca Vale, Indiana. (Contributed photo)
Marco Aldi, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, leads students in a braiding activity. (Contributed photo)

Twisted in knots? That’s a good thing at VCU Geometry Camp for middle-schoolers

June 23, 2023

The weeklong summer day program uses hands-on learning to make math meaningful at an impressionable age.

What to watch: Get into the spirit of Juneteenth

June 15, 2023

Celebrate the holiday with these films, TV shows and more, as recommended by VCU faculty.

Nicholas Farrell, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Chemistry, is retiring from VCU after a decorated career. (Contributed photo)

Nicholas Farrell, VCU chemist with a major legacy in cancer treatment, retires after 30 years

June 15, 2023

Professor helped develop Triplatin, a drug with the potential to treat ‘some of the most aggressive cancer types’ – and helped develop countless student researchers.

Trisko Darden UNOCT: Jessica Trisko Darden, Ph.D., records an informational video for the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism during a visit to Doha, Qatar. (Contributed photo)

U.N. counterterrorism program features VCU’s Jessica Trisko Darden

June 14, 2023

At inaugural Behavioral Insights Academy, associate professor of political science shares expertise on women’s role in political violence.

Rima Franklin, Ph.D., who will serve as interim vice provost of VCU Life Sciences, conducts research in microbial ecology, wetland and soil biogeochemistry, nitrogen cycling, and environmental and public health microbiology. (File photo)

Rima Franklin named interim vice provost of VCU Life Sciences

June 12, 2023

Franklin, who will continue to serve as chair of the Department of Biology, joined the VCU faculty in 2007.

One of the seven small waterfowl bone aerophones discovered at the Final Natufian site of Eynan-Mallaha that can be described as a notched flute (Andean quena type). Detail of the play-holes (in green), the marks (in blue), the mouthpiece, the distal part and the red ochre residues that decorated the instrument. (Davin et al., 2023)

VCU forensic science professor Tal Simmons, team discover 12,000-year-old flutes made from bird bones

June 9, 2023

Found in northern Israel, they are the first prehistoric sound instruments identified from the Near East – and the oldest imitating a bird call from any ancient civilization.

Anh Minh, a rising sophomore at VCU, with her father, Nguyen Cuu Duc, Ph.D., a former research fellow at VCU. (Contributed photo)

Rising sophomore’s journey from Vietnam to VCU started when she was 3

June 9, 2023

Anh Minh’s father, Nguyen Cuu Duc, served as a research fellow at VCU in 2006-07. Even then, Duc had a feeling his daughter might return to study at VCU.