Faculty Research News

VCU professor Gregory Smithers' new book, “The Water Carriers,” is a history of Indigenous stewardship of rivers and riparian ecosystems. (Contributed photo)

VCU historian’s new book navigates a pillar of Cherokee history: Water in southern Appalachia

Nov. 4, 2026

In ‘The Water Carriers,’ history professor Gregory D. Smithers explores an overlooked but enduring element of Indigenous culture.

NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk spoke with VCU professor and environmental researcher Stephen S. Fong about the impact of data centers on the environment and community health. (NBC News)

NBC News and ‘Today’ feature VCU’s Stephen Fong in report on data centers and public health

Oct. 29, 2026

The environmental researcher highlights concern about air pollution in a Northern Virginia community.

Beginning this month, the yearlong Ecopoetics of Infrastructure project will develop new ways of translating climate research into public knowledge through poetry, visual art, music and community engagement. (Getty Images)

VCU to translate climate research in unique ways through Ecopoetics of Infrastructure

Oct. 20, 2026

Led by the Humanities Research Center, the multidisciplinary project in Richmond will feature poetry, visual art, music and community engagement.

VCU professor Caddie Alford, whose research looks at tech giants and their influence on culture, information, sociality and democratic civic discourse, offers insight into the state of the AI conversation. (Getty Images)

'Doomsday cults' and the Silicon Valley debate over AI’s threat to humanity

Oct. 8, 2026

VCU professor Caddie Alford clarifies the voices that seem to conflict but often overlap on the future of AI and explains how the discussion’s roots can be traced to the 1940s.

Kate Sicchio (facing the camera) and her fellow researchers are holding a series of practical workshops with local dance professionals to observe different movement methods and how to apply them to algorithmic development. (Dean Hoffmeyer, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

Dance lessons for AI? VCU’s Kate Sicchio links choreography and computers

Oct. 6, 2026

The VCUarts professor and two partners are using a Convergence Team Planning Grant to explore how bodily movement can be expressed in algorithms that drive technology.

Patients at a new eating disorder clinic on VCU’s Monroe Park campus are treated by supervised psychology graduate students. (Dean Hoffmeyer, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

VCU clinic expands eating disorder treatment and training in Virginia

Sept. 29, 2026

The new research-based clinic, led by psychologists Ann Haynos and Bek Urban, accepts adolescents and adults statewide while developing a new generation of practitioners.

The nostalgic allure of pumpkin spice draws on some interesting neuroscience, according to VCU VCU biology professo Catherine Franssen, Ph.D. (Getty Images)

Why do we love pumpkin spice so much? We ‘fall’ for it.

Sept. 22, 2026

VCU neuroscientist Catherine Franssen explains our seasonal addiction to the flavor and why we can’t wait for autumn every year.

VCU’s Catherine Wall surveyed transgender and gender-diverse adults throughout the United States to assess the psychological distress caused by anti-transgender legislation. (Getty Images)

Anti-transgender legislation causes psychological distress even in states with trans-friendly laws, according to VCU research

Sept. 18, 2026

Transgender study participants viewed the more than 2,000 laws proposed in the U.S. since 2020 ‘as an existential threat’ to their lives and the lives of other transgender people.

VCU researchers Qingguo Xu, Michael Kiefer, Priscilla Hwang and Amy Rector took part in the 14th annual Rally for Medical Research on Thursday. (Photo contributed by Denver Supinger, VCU Office of Government Relations)

VCU researchers join national call for NIH funding

Sept. 18, 2026

The annual Rally for Medical Research urges Congress to support biomedical innovation and the STEM workforce.

VCU researcher Aliza Ehrlich will study the primary cilium, a little-understood neuron structure that often hosts opioid receptors. (Getty Images)

VCU’s Aliza Ehrlich receives $3 million to study link between opioids and unexplored neuron structure

Sept. 14, 2026

Ehrlich hopes to learn how the antenna-like compartment influences our response to opioids, including its role in building dependence or tolerance.