A UVA Engineering researcher is using AI to develop computational tools that improve infectious disease forecasting, guide public health decisions and strengthen disease surveillance.

New Jersey Institute of Technology forensic scientist Sara C. Zapico has been named the 2026 Senator John Cornyn III National Higher Education Forensic Science Educator of the Year by the Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations, recognizing her contributions to forensic science education.

For solid-state batteries, moving lithium ions efficiently is only part of the challenge — how the material behaves mechanically can matter too. Rice University researchers in the departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Chemistry and Materials Science and Nanoengineering and at the Rice Advanced Materials Institute have developed a relatively soft, flexible material that can selectively transport lithium ions — offering a new approach to porous solid electrolytes that combine efficient ion movement with better mechanical adaptability inside a battery. The research was published in Chemical Science.

UC San Diego chemical and nano engineering professor Liangfang Zhang has been named a 2026 MacArthur Fellow for his pioneering approach in creating cell-mimicking nanoparticles to treat disease. His invention is a kind of cellular disguise. He takes membranes from human cells and uses them to cloak tiny, biodegradable particles about one-thousandth the width of a human hair. Armed with these disguises, the nanosized particles can deliver drugs where they are needed, as well as act as "nanosponges" that absorb and remove disease-causing molecules.

Satellites that navigate by talking to each other slowly lose their sense of direction, because nothing in a purely Earth-orbiting network provides a fixed reference in space.