University of Arizona in the News

When the just-launched James Webb Space Telescope finally peers into deep space later this year, it will be able to see clearly, thanks in part to technology developed by Tucson-based 4D Technology Corp. an optics company, co-founded by University of Arizona optics professor emeritus James Wyant. The firm developed entirely new optical instruments for NASA to measure the surfaces of mirrors and other critical components on the Webb, which was launched into space on Christmas Day after more than two decades of development.

The world surpasses 300 million COVID-19 cases as the spike in new infections in the U.S. fueled by the omicron variant shows no signs of slowing down. Dr. Shad Marvasti, an associate professor and the director of public health, prevention and health promotion at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, is interviewed.

Dr. Saskia Popescu, infectious disease epidemiologist and infection prevention expert at the University of Arizona, appears as a guest to discuss the severity of the omicron variant of COVID-19 and the toll it's taking on the health care system.

Prairie dogs live amid intricate social networks. Understanding their connections, interactions and surprisingly complex world could help wildlife conservationists more successfully relocate and reintroduce species into the wild, according to a study by University of Arizona behavioral ecologist Jennifer Verdolin.

This story profiles the University of Arizona’s School of Mining and Mineral Resources, which opened last fall. "The whole idea of the school came about because the University of Arizona is in a unique position to cross-pollinate mining knowledge with other critical fields. We're known for creating an interdisciplinary center for mining research and education," said Moe Momayez, University of Arizona associate professor of mining and geological engineering.

This story reporting on the cloud seeding technology as a solution to future droughts quotes University of Arizona chemical and environmental engineering professor Armin Sorooshian on how big data and machine learning are being used to better understand how to make clouds produce rain. "I’m currently leading this huge NASA mission called ACTIVATE, and the goal of this $ 30 million project is just to understand the science of aerosol-cloud interactions, because it's believed to be the biggest uncertainty. In our understanding of how the climate is changing," Sorooshian said.

When University of Arizona students return from holiday break, they'll be able to meet some of their health and wellness needs at the newly renovated Bear Down Gymnasium. The renovation, which is set for completion in January, is the final piece of an $81 million buildout at the UA called the Student Success District. Construction of the massive project, which aims to seamlessly connect students with all of the resources they need to succeed in college and beyond, got underway in early 2019.

This story reporting on an effort to bolster oyster populations in the Florida Panhandle using principles from the burgeoning field of conservation paleobiology, where fossil data informs conservation efforts, mentions the work of University of Arizona geologist Karl Flessa, who uses clam fossils to chart the decline of the Colorado River Delta, work that has helped restore pockets of riparian habitat to the riverbed.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the world’s largest and most powerful telescope built to date, successfully blasted into orbit Saturday. The launch marked the long-awaited start of the Webb telescope’s mission. "The more distant something is, the fainter it looks. So the larger the mirror, the fainter the thing you can see," said Marcia Rieke, an astronomer at the University of Arizona and principal investigator of one of Webb’s four main instruments. "The other thing is that the larger the mirror, the finer the detail you can see."

Experts say the James Webb Space Telescope will be the premier space observatory of the next decade. Webb will act as an infrared sleuth, detecting light that is invisible to us and revealing otherwise hidden regions of space. "We can currently see galaxies back to 500 million to 600 million years post-Big Bang, nearly 13 billion years ago," said Marcia Rieke, a Regents Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory and principal investigator for the Near Infrared Camera on the Webb telescope.