Faculty Research News

In “The Child Code,” VCU professor Danielle Dick explains how each child is uniquely coded with predispositions that affect their fearfulness, impulsivity, happiness, propensity for throwing tantrums and all other aspects of their personality.

How understanding your child’s unique nature can make you a more effective parent

Sept. 9, 2021

VCU professor Danielle Dick’s new book, ‘The Child Code,’ helps parents adapt their parenting strategies to fit how their child is wired.

In "Finding Her Voice," authors Faye Belgrave, Angela Ivy Belgrave and Angela Patton aim to help Black girls find the strength and confidence to speak up, be heard and assert themselves. (Getty Images)

New book aims to help Black girls navigate predominantly white spaces, microaggressions

Sept. 2, 2021

The book, “Finding Her Voice: How Black Girls in White Spaces Can Speak Up and Live Their Truth,” is co-authored by VCU professor Faye Belgrave.

African Americans have the highest rates of tobacco-related cancer of any racial or ethnic group in the country. (Getty Images)

Massey researchers awarded $1.3M to examine impacts of e-cigarette flavor regulations on African American menthol smokers

Aug. 31, 2021

The research aims to find out whether having e-cigarette flavors available — particularly menthol — increases uptake of e-cigarettes and reduces menthol cigarette use.

Human genome. Concept art. (Getty Images)

Study identifies 579 genetic locations linked to anti-social behavior, alcohol use, opioid addiction and more

Aug. 26, 2021

The study, published today in the journal Nature Neuroscience, is one of the largest genome-wide association studies ever conducted.

VCU professor is named recipient of Virginia Museum of History & Culture’s William M.E. Rachal Award

Aug. 19, 2021

The award to Brian Daugherity is in recognition of an article documenting African American activism in Goochland County in the Jim Crow era.

Biology professor Chris Gough, Ph.D., stands in Monroe Park while holding a piece of art produced by one of his students. (Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing)

Forest ecology, illustrations and jam sessions: How arts and science mix in Chris Gough’s lab

Aug. 17, 2021

Gough, a biology professor — and a trained singer and musician — hosts art students in his lab to better ensure important data is conveyed through imagery.

The chemistry of zinc can be fundamentally changed, making it trivalent — or a valence of three — with the proper reagent, according to a new paper by VCU researcher Puru Jena, Ph.D.

Study shows zinc’s oxidation state can be made +3, fundamentally changing the element’s chemistry

Aug. 16, 2021

A new paper by VCU researcher Puru Jena “shows that fundamental chemical properties of an atom can be changed” and could lead to the synthesis of new materials with applications to many industries.

In a new study to be published in the journal Motivation Science, 1,500 participants across six experiments were given the opportunity to repeatedly choose between a small amount of immediate retaliatory aggression or a larger amount of delayed revenge. Across the experiments, the researchers found a clear and consistent preference for immediate revenge. (Getty Images)

Is revenge a dish best served cold? For most, ‘hot and ready’ is preferable, VCU study finds

Aug. 5, 2021

Across six experiments involving 1,500 participants, researchers found a clear and consistent preference for immediate revenge.

Students at the Indian Industrial Boarding School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. (Photo courtesy of the Cumberland County Historical Society, Carlisle, Pa.)

‘A painful chapter in our nation’s history’: New class to shed light on Indigenous boarding schools

Aug. 3, 2021

The course will examine the traumatic histories at the schools in the United States and Canada, where thousands of Native children lost connections with their cultures, languages and families.

Page from “The Day the Klan Came to Town,” a new graphic novel featuring art by VCU advertising professor Bizhan Khodabandeh. (Courtesy of Bizhan Khodabandeh)

Graphic novel illustrated by VCU professor tells the story of ‘The Day the Klan Came to Town’

Aug. 2, 2021

The comic is a fictionalized retelling of a community’s resistance to a violent march of thousands of Ku Klux Klan members in Carnegie, Pennsylvania.