Barry Silverstein is stepping down as the senior director of optics and display research at Meta Reality Labs Research to lead the University of Rochester's Center for Extended Reality (CXR), a transdisciplinary center focused on artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, and everything in between.

University of Tennessee, Knoville researcher Wenjun Zhou developed an error-controlled correlation (ECC) method to improve early detection of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). ECC enhances postmarket monitoring by reducing false positives, enabling faster, accurate identification of drug-ADR correlations. This innovation safeguards public health and highlights the growing impact of data analysis in pharmaceutical safety.

The Context-Guided Segmentation Network (CGS-Net) developed by University of Maine researchers introduces a deep learning architecture designed to interpret microscopic images of tissue with greater precision than conventional AI models. Powered by a dual-encoder model that mirrors the workflow of a pathologist examining a slide, one branch of the network processes a high-resolution image patch to capture cell-level details, while the other examines a lower-resolution patch encompassing the surrounding tissue. A system of interconnected encoders and decoders uses data from both the high and low resolution images for a complete analysis. 

A team of Iowa State researchers is establishing a year-long program to recruit and train students for the semiconductor industry. It's all about giving students a head start on a semiconductor career and building a U.S. chip workforce.

With powerful new colliders crashing particles at ever-increasing energies, even more daughter particles are produced. The innovative Celeritas project, led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, provides a software tool that makes sure simulations used to analyze particles can run on the fastest supercomputers, accelerating answers about the nature of the universe.

University of Bath (UK) climbs into top 100 international leaders for sustainability in higher education

The Fraunhofer Industrial Quantum Computing Consulting and Testing Center INQUBATOR is implementing innovative, easy access offerings to help industrial users get started with quantum computing. The aim is to identify and evaluate new application-related use cases where the use of quantum computers promises a foreseeable advantage. Close cooperation with industry will enable the development of innovative solutions that will secure the competitiveness of the German economy. The institutes Fraunhofer IAF, IAO, ITWM, and IPA are jointly conducting the four-year project.

Three innovations developed by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and its startups have achieved remarkable success at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Innovation Awards 2026, garnering three prestigious Innovation Awards for their cutting-edge research and development achievements. Among the award-winning projects, the Smart Firefighting Robots received the highest score in the “Products in Support of Human Security for All” category, earning the coveted “Best of Innovation Award”, the best result PolyU has achieved since first participating in the event. PolyU is committed to nurturing startups through its unique PolyVentures innovation ecosystem. These outstanding results are a testament to the University’s dedication to world-leading research and innovation, as well as its efforts to translate research excellence into impactful solutions that benefit society.