Undergraduate research, a longstanding natural element of a College of Science education at the University of Notre Dame, has accelerated in recent years with an increased commitment to make such opportunities available in a systematic way.

New and expanded programs, both during the academic year and during the summer, are bringing more students into research, with the goal that any science student who wants them can have access to research opportunities.

Read More

In commemoration of the International Year of Astronomy, the University of Notre Dame will unveil new mural-sized images from NASA’s great observatories Thursday (Nov. 19) during two shows in the Digital Visualization Theater in the Jordan Hall of Science.

The shows, which are free and open to the public, will begin at 7 and 8 p.m. Free tickets, which are required for the show, are available at the LaFortune Student Center box office.

The Digital Visualization Theater will take viewers on a journey to the center of our galaxy and unveil unprecedented mural-sized images of the Milky Way’s core as seen by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Read More

NASA announced Nov. 13 that its LCROSS lunar-impact probe mission found significant quantities of water in the plume of material the crash produced.

“We are ecstatic,” said Anthony Colaprete, project scientist for the LCROSS, a sentiment which is shared by Clive Neal, professor of civil engineering and geological sciences at the University of Notre Dame and a leading planetary geologist.

Read More

A paper by University of Notre Dame biologist Giles Duffield and a team of researchers offers new insights into a gene that plays a key role in modulating the body’s Circadian system and may also simultaneously modulate its metabolic system.

The relationship between circadian and metabolic systems the researchers describe could have important implications for understanding the higher incidence of cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes among shift workers.

Read More

Five individuals and five teams of high school students have been selected to compete Friday and Saturday (Nov. 13 and 14) at the University of Notre Dame in the regional round of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology, the nation’s premier science research competition for high school students.

The New Jersey-based non-profit Siemens Foundation created the competition to enhance science and mathematics education in America. It is open to individuals and teams of high school students who develop independent research projects in the physical or biological sciences or mathematics.

Read More

Sophomore physics and classical languages major Thomas Catanach has received a Minorities in Physics scholarship from the American Physical Society. This scholarship is aimed at fostering continued education in physics and undergraduate research. Catanach’s application included significant research he performed as a Notre Dame freshman in Project GRAND, Gamma Ray Astrophysics at Notre Dame, led by Physics professor John Poirier.…

Read More

To the naked eye, humans may not appear to have much in common with the zebrafish, a small tropical freshwater species belonging to the minnow family.

But a Notre Dame biologist is taking a much closer look at the two species and finding potential for treating a number of diseases and conditions.

Read More

A new study by a team of researchers led by Crislyn D’Souza-Schorey, associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame, sheds light on the molecular basis by which tumor cells modulate their surroundings to favor cancer progression.

The study elucidates mechanisms involved in the release of microvesicles –small membrane enclosed sacs – from tumor cells that facilitate creation of paths of least resistance allowing tumor cells to migrate. The research offers new insights into how tumor cells invade their surrounding environment and may eventually lead to improved methods for measuring the progression of cancers.…

Read More

Bruce A. Bunker, professor of physics, has been elected Vice Chair and Chair Elect of the International X-ray Absorption Society, an international group with some 800 members including 200 in the United States. Bunker is director of the Materials Research Collaborative Access Team, a consortium that develops and uses x-ray beamlines at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, one of the three most sophisticated x-ray synchrotron sources in the world.…

Read More

Mark Wacker, a fourth-year graduate student in the Eck Institute for Global Health, has won an award for Best Young Investigator Presentation at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Conference in Washington, D.C. Wacker, who is also a trainee on an NIH Chemistry Biochemistry Biology Interface (CBBI) training grant, is advised by Michael Ferdig. His research suggests the function of one of the main genes in a malarial parasite involved in the parasite’s drug resistance.…

Read More