University of Arizona in the News

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy called the University of Arizona a "crown jewel" among U.S. universities doing space science research during a visit to campus Friday. Melroy's comments came after meetings Friday with students and faculty working on various NASA related programs, including the James Webb Space Telescope and the OSIRIS-REx mission. "Some of the most inspiring pictures that we have seen over the last few couple of years have very strong roots right here.

This story reports on possible restrictions on outdoor water use in Arizona if the Colorado River's flow continues to decline as expected this year. University of Arizona law professor Robert Glennon, a water policy expert, believes Phoenix and other cities should push conservation, whether by mandate or by rebate, and should consider paying people to trade in water-guzzling fixtures. "Water conservation remains the low-hanging fruit," Glennon said. "There are a lot of things we can do. Las Vegas has led the way."

In a pandemic marked by sharp divides between urban and rural vaccination rates nationwide, Arizona is the only state where rural vaccine rates outpaced more populated counties. University of Arizona Health Sciences-run mobile health units in border communities are a major reason for Santa Cruz County's extremely high 146% vaccination rate, a number boosted by large numbers of migrant workers and other seasonal arrivals.

A large-scale effort to track the COVID-19 pandemic in Arizona has resulted in the genomic sequencing of more than 100,000 samples of the virus. A coalition or researchers from the University of Arizona and other institutions compiled the data, which spells out the virus's RNA and helps highlight the thousands of mutations that changed the transmissibility and virulence of the virus's many variants.

University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins discusses the success of the university's "Test, Trace, Treat" COVID-19 mitigation strategy.

A committee within the American Bar Association recommended late last month that law schools eliminate the requirement of "a valid and reliable admission test" as part of their admission process. The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in 2016 began accepting applicants who had taken only the more general GRE graduate admissions exam instead of the LSAT.

High school senior Aseel Rawashdeh has worked to develop a eco-friendly, homemade larvicide from baker's yeast and essential oils that would kill the mosquito species known to transmit yellow fever, dengue and other viruses while sparing more beneficial varieties of the flying insects. In the summer of 2020, she received mosquito eggs from Michael A. Riehle's entomology Lab at the University of Arizona in support of her research.

The University of Arizona has several initiatives underway to recruit students from Mexico and then prepare those students to succeed. Currently, 138 students from Mexico are enrolled in UArizona. "We started a new enrollment option called Global Direct, which is the option for an international student to receive a UArizona degree fully online from their home country and they get a tuition discount based on where they're located," student recruiter Hope Noriega said.

The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft won't clock out after it drops off its samples from asteroid Bennu on Sept. 24, 2023. NASA extended the University of Arizona-led mission, which will be renamed OSIRIS-APEX as it heads to study asteroid Apophis during a close pass by Earth in 2029. Planetary sciences assistant professor and OSIRIS-REx deputy principal investigator Dani DellaGiustina will become principal investigator of OSIRIS-APEX.

A $5 million gift from Terry and Tina Lundgren will fuel innovative research and student opportunities in business, retail and consumer sciences at the University of Arizona. The funding will establish an endowed faculty chair in both the Eller College of Management and the Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences to help meet the retail sector's demand for graduates who embrace change and spark innovation in retailing companies of all sizes. It also will provide enhanced scholarship opportunities for community college transfer students.