Plants are remarkably good at adjusting how they capture sunlight and produce food through photosynthesis. A new computer model helps scientists better understand these adjustments by looking at what happens at different heights within a plant canopy, from the sun-drenched leaves at the top to the shaded leaves near the ground. RCEI Affiliate Chi Chen, assistant professor in the Department …
At a reception hosted at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. on March 4, Professor and RCEI affiliate Siobain Duffy and her international research team were recognized with the Pioneering UK–US Breakthroughs (PUB) Award, a distinction honoring seven collaborative teams whose work is addressing some of the world’s most urgent challenges. Presented by His Majesty’s Ambassador to the United States, …
Scientists have identified a new way to distinguish healthy guts from diseased ones and track how some illnesses progress by measuring how gut bacteria interact with one another. According to a study published in Science, a Rutgers-led team of scientists found that healthy and diseased digestive systems behave …
New research finds that news stories about who is most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change can have very different effects — depending on whether they focus on race or income. Climate change doesn’t harm everyone equally. Flooding, heat waves, and other extreme weather events tend to hit lower-income communities and communities of color the hardest. But when news stories highlight those differences, do they actually help people understand …
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor and RCEI affiliate Qizhong (George) Guo, a leader in water resources engineering, is the director of the School of Engineering’s Urban and Coastal Water Systems Laboratory. Since 2018 the lab, according to Guo, has integrated and expanded on earlier laboratory and research activities he developed at Rutgers—including the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory and the …
This year’s Chancellor and Provost Awards for Faculty Excellence feature RCEI affiliate Eric Lam, who has received the Provost Award for Pioneering Research, a statement to his wealth of intellectual contributions to Rutgers University. Learn more about the award at the article published by Rutgers New Brunswick.
Natural disasters have shaped the course of history in more ways than people can imagine. In his new book, “Wicked Weather: Natural Disasters that Changed History,” Rutgers—Newark Distinguished Service Professor and RCEI affiliate Alexander Gates examines how catastrophic natural events have influenced major historical events. As a professor in Rutgers—Newark’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and former department chair, Gates …
Rutgers researchers replace motors with smart materials in an innovative approach to flight A bird banking in a crosswind doesn’t rely on spinning blades. Its wings flex, twist and respond instantly to its environment. Engineers at Rutgers University have taken a major step toward building bird-like drones that move the same way, flapping their wings like real birds, using electricity-driven …
A Rutgers researcher unravels an oceanographic mystery of how calcium carbonate dissolves in the shallow seas As any diver knows, oceans can be cloudy places. Even on sunny days, snow-like particles drift through the water column, obscuring the aquatic world below. Scientists have long known that this “marine snow” carries inorganic calcium carbonate – the building block of shells – …
An article from New York Times examines whether New York City should consider using controlled burns in its parks after an unusual series of wildfires burned sections of several urban forests, including areas of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park and Manhattan’s Inwood Hill Park. The fires, which were alarming to residents, created a rare opportunity for scientists to study how urban ecosystems …
