[{"id":1759,"date":"2026-09-23T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/?p=1759"},"modified":"2026-09-22T18:57:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T18:57:44","slug":"vcu-researchers-join-national-call-for-nih-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/09\/23\/vcu-researchers-join-national-call-for-nih-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"VCU researchers join national call for NIH funding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The annual Rally for Medical Research urges Congress to support biomedical innovation and the STEM workforce.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/contact\/mcneill.aspx\">Brian McNeill<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four Virginia Commonwealth University researchers traveled to Washington on Sept. 17 to join patients, families and advocates from across the nation at the 14th annual Rally for Medical Research, urging Congress to prioritize and increase funding for the National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The researchers met with five congressional offices and conveyed a message to lawmakers and congressional staffers about the importance of NIH funding for biomedical innovation and the country\u2019s future STEM workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cKeeping our lab open and fully functional requires constant, predictable support. NIH grants are the lifeblood that powers our daily operations \u2014 funding the staff, the specialized technology and the raw materials needed to run experiments. Without that baseline, years of carefully built momentum can disappear overnight,\u201d said&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/directory\/priscilla.hwang\/\">Priscilla Hwang<\/a>, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering. \u201cResearch funding isn\u2019t just about advancing technology or making scientific discoveries; it is a direct investment in human lives. It\u2019s the key that turns tragic realities into stories of hope and success\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to Hwang, the VCU delegation included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pt.chp.vcu.edu\/team\/kiefer-michael.html\">Michael Kiefer<\/a>, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy in the College of Health Professions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pharmacy.vcu.edu\/directory\/xu-qingguo.html\">Qingguo Xu<\/a>, D. Phil, a Blick Scholar, professor of pharmaceutics and co-director of the Pharmaceutical Engineering Program in the School of Pharmacy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/worldstudies.vcu.edu\/directory\/rector.html\">Amy Rector<\/a>, Ph.D., an anthropology professor in the School of World Studies and associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Humanities and Sciences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rector said she was excited to represent faculty from across the College of Humanities and Sciences who use federal funding, including from the NIH, to conduct impactful and lifesaving research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFrom chemistry, to physics, to life sciences and sustainably, federal funding leads to careers in science, therapeutic discoveries and patents for technologies that will cure cancers and improve health and quality of life,\u201d Rector said. \u201cThis funding also supports training of bright young VCU students who will be our future doctors and medical professionals. These faculty and their students contribute so much data to solve health problems faced by families across the commonwealth, and federal funding is the fuel for their careers in science and their lifesaving research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rector added that the VCU delegation was also advocating for students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNIH funding supports faculty who have undergrads and grads in their labs who will be better prepared for a variety of careers,\u201d she said. \u201cThis research also drives what they teach in their classes, so hundreds of students each year benefit from NIH-funded research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kiefer said NIH funding is vital to his work. &#8220;This was a valuable opportunity to meet with lawmakers and emphasize why consistent federal support and avoiding policy hurdles that delay funding decisions is so crucial. The research we do today builds on years of NIH-backed discoveries, and disruptions in funding lessen the impact of the foundational research that brought us to this point.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alyssa Button, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, also participated in the Rally for Medical Research, advocating on behalf of the Society for Behavioral Medicine, an organization in which she serves on its policy and advocacy committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The rally sought to highlight how federal investments in NIH have fueled breakthroughs in healthcare resulting in increased life expectancy and improved quality of life worldwide, strengthened America\u2019s economic competitiveness and national security, and secured U.S. leadership in science and innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to rally organizers, NIH-supported research generated nearly $95 billion in economic activity and sustained more than 390,000 jobs across the nation in fiscal year 2025. At VCU, researchers received approximately $111.9 million in NIH funding in fiscal 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carly Katz, VCU\u2019s assistant vice president of federal government relations in the Office of the President, said the goal of this year\u2019s rally was \u201cto bring the value of NIH-funded research to life by connecting congressional staffers directly with faculty members to learn about the scientific discovery process and human impacts of NIH-funded innovations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Originally posted on VCU News: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/vcu-researchers-join-national-call-for-nih-funding\">https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/vcu-researchers-join-national-call-for-nih-funding<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Four Virginia Commonwealth University researchers traveled to Washington on Sept. 17 to join patients, families and advocates from across the nation at the 14th annual Rally for Medical Research, urging Congress to prioritize and increase funding for the National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2033,"featured_media":1760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1151,762,139],"class_list":["post-1759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bme","tag-hm","tag-national-institute-of-health","tag-priscilla-hwang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2033"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1761,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759\/revisions\/1761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1767,"date":"2026-09-23T17:06:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/?p=1767"},"modified":"2026-09-23T17:06:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:06:43","slug":"vcu-college-of-engineering-climbs-10-ranks-in-u-s-news-and-world-report-undergraduate-program-ratings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/09\/23\/vcu-college-of-engineering-climbs-10-ranks-in-u-s-news-and-world-report-undergraduate-program-ratings\/","title":{"rendered":"VCU College of Engineering climbs 10 ranks in U.S. News and World Report undergraduate program ratings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rising 10 ranks in the <em>U.S. News and World Report<\/em> listing of top undergraduate engineering programs, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/best-colleges\/virginia-commonwealth-university-3735\">Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) College of Engineering now stands at 102 in the nation<\/a>. The university itself is among the nation\u2019s top 100 public schools and a top 100 best value school for in-state students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur rise in the <em>U.S. News and World Report<\/em> rankings reflect the growing strength, reputation and impact of VCU Engineering,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/directory\/azim.eskandarian\/\"><strong>Azim Eskandarian, D.Sc.<\/strong><\/a>, the Alice T. and William H. Goodwin Jr. Dean of the VCU College of Engineering. \u201cThis recognition is a direct result of our students\u2019 dedication, our faculty\u2019s excellence and the staff\u2019s commitment to our mission. It also underscores the value of our strong partnerships with private industry and the public sector, which expand opportunities for students through experiential learning, including internships and co-ops. Together, these efforts strengthen our ability to prepare engineers for today\u2019s workforce and the emerging technologies that will shape the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than 90% of VCU engineers find job placements upon graduation with 65% working directly in their chosen field of study, according to the college\u2019s own First Destination Survey.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur students receive a strong return on their investment, with recent graduates receiving a median income of $82,150 after graduation,\u201d said Eskandarian. \u201cThis is comparable to the best engineering schools in the nation, made possible by our award-winning Career Services department.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To reinforce the continued growth of the VCU College of Engineering, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/08\/18\/ten-new-faculty-join-vcu-college-of-engineering-for-the-2026-fall-semester\/\">11 new faculty members recently joined the university<\/a>. Their research and teaching specialties cross a number of existing VCU Engineering programs, some also support the college\u2019s new <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/05\/19\/new-bachelor-of-science-in-robotics-and-autonomous-systems-engineering-launches-at-vcu-college-of-engineering-in-fall-of-2026\/\">Bachelor of Science in Robotics and Autonomous Systems<\/a>, which <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/09\/17\/robotics-and-autonomous-systems-program-at-vcu-college-of-engineering-receives-1-million-of-community-project-funding\/\">received $1 million of Community Project Funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By collecting graduate school data annually, U.S. News is able to present the most current figures on enrollment, job placement, faculty and other critical quality indicators that help prospective students make informed decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VCU College of Engineering offers innovative <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/future-students\/first-year\/undergraduate-degrees\/\">undergraduate<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/future-students\/graduate\/graduate-degrees\/\">graduate<\/a> degree programs tailored to meet the demands of the rapidly evolving engineering field. As part of a premier research university, students are given the opportunity to <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/research\/\">perform real-world research<\/a> in our state-of-the-art facilities as soon as they enroll. Browse videos and recent news to discover how the <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/explore\/\">College of Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University<\/a> prepares the next generation of scientists and engineers for the challenges of the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rising 10 ranks in the U.S. News and World Report listing of top undergraduate engineering programs, the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) College of Engineering now stands at 102 in the nation. The university itself is among the nation\u2019s top 100 public schools and a top 100 best value school for in-state students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1829,"featured_media":1273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1111,1110],"class_list":["post-1767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-college","tag-rankings","tag-u-s-news-world-report"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1829"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1768,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767\/revisions\/1768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1762,"date":"2026-09-23T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/?p=1762"},"modified":"2026-09-22T19:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T19:07:16","slug":"two-vcu-born-startups-win-state-grants-to-move-healthcare-innovations-toward-human-trials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/09\/23\/two-vcu-born-startups-win-state-grants-to-move-healthcare-innovations-toward-human-trials\/","title":{"rendered":"Two VCU-born startups win state grants to move healthcare innovations toward human trials"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Barbara Boyan, Ph.D., of the College of Engineering, and Martin Mangino, M.D., of the School of Medicine. (File photos)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pascal Medical and Perfusion Medical each received $800,000 from Virginia Catalyst to fund critical studies.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">By John Battiston<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two companies built on Virginia Commonwealth University research have each received $800,000 from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.virginiacatalyst.org\/\">Virginia Catalyst<\/a>, and the grants could advance a surgical hydrogel and a trauma resuscitation drug on the path toward testing in humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pascalmed.com\/\">Pascal Medical Corp.<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/perfusionmedical.com\/\">Perfusion Medical<\/a>&nbsp;were among three companies awarded in Virginia Catalyst\u2019s latest, $2.4 million funding round, announced in July by Gov. Abigail Spanberger. Founded in 2013, Virginia Catalyst invests in life sciences throughout the state, and it is funded by the General Assembly and five member institutions: VCU, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, George Mason University and Old Dominion University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Virginia Catalyst requires substantive collaboration between at least two member institutions, and both Pascal and Perfusion are connected to VCU and UVA. Both companies have advanced with commercialization support from VCU&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/techtransfer.research.vcu.edu\/\">TechTransfer and Ventures<\/a>, part of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/research.vcu.edu\/\">Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation<\/a>. The awards are nondilutive, requiring no equity in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pascal\u2019s surgical gel<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pascal Medical\u2019s ClickGel is an injectable biomaterial that forms a stable matrix inside the body, sealing surgical wounds and delivering therapeutics precisely where they are placed. Because it is regulated as a premarket approval product, it faces an especially demanding review before it can enter humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSecuring this grant from Virginia Catalyst is a pivotal validation of our work. It signals to investors that we have moved beyond theoretical research and are effectively derisking our technology for clinical application,\u201d said&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/directory\/barbara.boyan\/\">Barbara D. Boyan<\/a>, Ph.D., co-founder and chief scientific officer of Pascal. She is also executive director of VCU\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/iem.vcu.edu\/\">Institute for Engineering and Medicine<\/a>&nbsp;and is the Alice T. and William H. Goodwin Jr. Professor in the College of Engineering\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/biomedical-engineering\/\">Department of Biomedical Engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Virginia Catalyst award will fund a large-animal study assessing ClickGel\u2019s safety and effectiveness, plus manufacturing the gel and its applicator exactly as they would be produced for people \u2013 a prerequisite for the Food and Drug Administration submission that would authorize a human trial. Pascal is working with Justin S. Smith, M.D., Ph.D., a neurosurgeon and chief of the spine division at UVA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The latest award marks Pascal\u2019s third Virginia Catalyst grant, following a $375,000 award in 2022 and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/2025\/04\/vcu-startup-wins-800k-grant-to-propel-its-infection-fighting-surgical-gel\">an $800,000 award in 2024<\/a>. On its own, the most recent award has helped Pascal raise an additional $3 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Catalyst funding is a major milestone for Pascal,\u201d CEO Thomas Gardner said in a statement. \u201cIt allows us to move ClickGel into critical surgical testing and accelerate our timeline toward FDA submission, bringing a new standard of care much closer to patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Perfusion\u2019s resuscitation drug<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perfusion Medical\u2019s PM-208, invented by VCU School of Medicine professor&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/medschool.vcu.edu\/about\/portfolio\/details\/mjmangino\/\">Martin J. Mangino<\/a>, Ph.D., is a first-in-class intravenous therapy for shock and ischemia. It aims to reduce how much donated blood a trauma patient requires, and it has already&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/2024\/08\/air-force-awards-18m-to-vcu-startup-development-of-drug-treating-massive-blood-loss\">received substantial federal funding<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Where blood is critical or scarce, such as on the battlefield or in rural areas, the innovation could have an enormous impact.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/image\/df4aa790-baa0-4578-ae8d-b6c932a81d0d\" alt=\"A photo of a man from th chest up. \" style=\"width:200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gerard Eldering, CEO of Perfusion and entrepreneur-in-residence at VCU TechTransfer and Ventures. (File photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI heard about a physician manning a small hospital in a rural area over the Fourth of July weekend,\u201d said&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/techtransfer.research.vcu.edu\/news\/featuredstories\/featured-story-archive\/supporting-vcu-startups-gerard-eldering-steers-innovation-gateway-to-venture-success\/\">Gerard Eldering<\/a>, CEO of Perfusion and entrepreneur-in-residence at TechTransfer and Ventures. \u201cHe said, \u2018I\u2019ve got two units of O-positive blood. If we get a major car accident, I\u2019m in trouble.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A drug that stretches a limited blood supply could change that assessment. If PM-208 can stabilize a patient on fewer transfused units, those units go further \u2013 and a remote hospital has a better chance of sustaining the patient until transport to the nearest trauma center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Virginia Catalyst grant will fund animal studies at UVA quantifying the drug\u2019s blood-sparing effect, conducted alongside Andrew E. Muck, M.D., an emergency physician and former Air Force doctor. Perfusion filed its investigational new drug application in June and expects to open it this fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Eldering, the motivation comes from the clinicians who have seen the data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve heard from multiple physicians about patients they had who bled out \u2013 who wouldn\u2019t have died if they had PM-208,\u201d he said. \u201cIf that doesn\u2019t motivate you, nothing will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>VCU\u2019s real-world impact<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pascal and Perfusion are based in Virginia and funded substantially by Virginia sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAt VCU, research isn\u2019t meant to stay on the bench; it\u2019s meant to transform human lives,\u201d said P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D., vice president for research and innovation. \u201cSecuring Virginia Catalyst awards is a major milestone for our startups because it provides the rigorous, nondilutive capital needed to complete advanced preclinical studies and reach the clinic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis level of investment signals to the broader market that VCU-born innovations are both scientifically sound and commercially scalable, driving economic growth across the commonwealth while accelerating treatments that directly address critical healthcare gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Pascal\u2019s Boyan, whose lab continues to generate new applications for ClickGel, the reward reflects not just the hard work of researchers but of VCU\u2019s youngest minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy students are co-inventors on the ClickGel patents,\u201d she said. \u201cI am incredibly proud of their intellectual contributions, which underscore the vital role academic environments play in fostering groundbreaking solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two companies built on Virginia Commonwealth University research have each received $800,000 from\u00a0Virginia Catalyst, and the grants could advance a surgical hydrogel and a trauma resuscitation drug on the path toward testing in humans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2033,"featured_media":1763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,165,15],"tags":[11,1151,1158,1166],"class_list":["post-1762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bme","category-faculty-awards","category-grants","tag-barbara-d-boyan","tag-hm","tag-institute-for-engineering-and-medicine","tag-vcu-techtransfer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2033"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1762"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1765,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762\/revisions\/1765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1755,"date":"2026-09-17T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/?p=1755"},"modified":"2026-09-16T19:11:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T19:11:03","slug":"robotics-and-autonomous-systems-program-at-vcu-college-of-engineering-receives-1-million-of-community-project-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/09\/17\/robotics-and-autonomous-systems-program-at-vcu-college-of-engineering-receives-1-million-of-community-project-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Robotics and autonomous systems program at VCU College of Engineering receives $1 million of Community Project Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">From left to right: Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan; VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D.; Azim Eskandarian, D.Sc., the Alice T. and William H. Goodwin Jr. Dean of the VCU College of Engineering; Srirama Rao, Ph.D., Vice President for Research and Innovation at VCU. (Photo credit: Jonathtan Haff, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The support will help establish a lab for the Commonwealth of Virginia\u2019s first Bachelor of Science in Robotics and Autonomous Systems Engineering<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In support of a new robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) engineering research program, the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) College of Engineering received $1 million of Community Project Funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The announcement was made by Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, who led the effort with support from U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, and recently presented a check to the college. Remarks by <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/directory\/azim.eskandarian\/\"><strong>Azim Eskandarian, D.Sc.<\/strong><\/a>, the Alice T. and William H. Goodwin Jr. Dean of the VCU College of Engineering, VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., and Representative McClellan preceded a tour of VCU Engineering facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWith this funding, the VCU College of Engineering will be able to conduct cutting-edge research in robotics and autonomous systems,\u201d said Eskandarian. \u201cThis is work that spans aerial drones, autonomous vehicles, collaborative and rehabilitation robots and the AI systems that control them. Our new labs will bring together articulated robots, mobile robots, drones, humanoid robots, exoskeletons and the AI computing resources needed to push this field forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/05\/19\/new-bachelor-of-science-in-robotics-and-autonomous-systems-engineering-launches-at-vcu-college-of-engineering-in-fall-of-2026\/\">The VCU College of Engineering\u2019s Bachelor of Science in Robotics and Autonomous Systems is the first of its kind in the Commonwealth of Virginia<\/a>. It is designed to prepare students for emerging careers in industries like manufacturing, healthcare, defense and transportation. This funding will help purchase equipment, so engineering students can engage in research on the same caliber of equipment as industry professionals. Hands-on training is already an integral part of instruction at the VCU College of Engineering, and the RAS program\u2019s focus on project-based experiential learning will give students proximity to the same research that faculty are using to push the industry forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLiving in the Fan District, I\u2019ve \u200awatched VCU grow as part of the Richmond community,\u201d said Representative McClellan. \u201cAnd, as a member of Congress sitting on the Energy and Commerce Committee and spending two years on the Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee, I see VCU in those industries doing cutting-edge research. Whether it&#8217;s health care or manufacturing, trade or communications and technology, cybersecurity or biomedical research, VCU is really at the forefront of helping people and solving problems. I&#8217;m very excited to be able to bring one million dollars to VCU for robotics and autonomous systems research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The global robotics market is projected to grow from $11.5 billion to $78.8 billion by 2033. Virginia alone is forecasted to add more than 10,000 jobs in aerospace and unmanned systems over the next decade. To support the RAS engineering program, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/08\/18\/ten-new-faculty-join-vcu-college-of-engineering-for-the-2026-fall-semester\/\">VCU has hired 11 new faculty members to augment existing expertise at the VCU College of Engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We are very grateful to Congresswoman McClellan for championing VCU&#8217;s mission, and for her partnership in securing this vital investment,&#8221; said VCU President, Michael Rao, Ph.D. &#8220;This support expands our capacity to advance robotics and autonomous systems engineering by creating transportable models for the nation, by preparing a highly skilled workforce, and by delivering research and innovation that improves human lives. This is a seed for discovery that can grow across the country to serve communities everywhere.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VCU College of Engineering offers innovative <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/future-students\/first-year\/undergraduate-degrees\/\">undergraduate<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/future-students\/graduate\/graduate-degrees\/\">graduate<\/a> degree programs tailored to meet the demands of the rapidly evolving engineering field. As part of a premier research university, students are given the opportunity to <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/research\/\">perform real-world research<\/a> in our state-of-the-art facilities as soon as they enroll. Browse videos and recent news to discover how the <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/explore\/\">College of Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University<\/a> prepares the next generation of scientists and engineers for the challenges of the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan presented $1 million in Community Project Funding to the VCU College of Engineering to establish a new lab supporting Virginia\u2019s first B.S. in Robotics and Autonomous Systems Engineering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1829,"featured_media":1756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,30],"tags":[1150,25,1135,1215],"class_list":["post-1755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foundation","category-general-college","tag-aasc","tag-azim-eskandarian","tag-robotics","tag-robotics-and-autonomous-systems-research-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1829"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1755"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1758,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755\/revisions\/1758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1750,"date":"2026-09-17T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/?p=1750"},"modified":"2026-09-16T19:10:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T19:10:53","slug":"watermarking-ai-generated-text-for-transparency-provenance-and-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/09\/17\/watermarking-ai-generated-text-for-transparency-provenance-and-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Watermarking AI-generated text for transparency,\u00a0 provenance and safety"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A Q&amp;A with cybersecurity expert Hong-Sheng Zhou, Ph.D.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1088\/2026\/09\/2cd235bb2c9fc82e466e380a10124f881479223334_l.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1753 lazyload\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/300;width:200px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1088\/2026\/09\/2cd235bb2c9fc82e466e380a10124f881479223334_l.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1088\/2026\/09\/2cd235bb2c9fc82e466e380a10124f881479223334_l-150x150.jpg 150w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hong-Sheng Zhou, Ph.D.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anthropic, the company behind the large language model Claude, is rolling out a new method of watermarking AI-generated text. It involves a pattern of favored word choices that can be recognized by software while remaining undetectable to human readers. <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/directory\/hongsheng.zhou\/\"><strong>Hong-Sheng Zhou, Ph.D.<\/strong><\/a>, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at the VCU College of Engineering, is a cryptography expert with insight into the process of watermarking techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What does watermarking AI text have to do with cryptography?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than 25 years ago, cryptographers started employing watermarking techniques to protect data. One example is copyright protection and digital rights management, where production houses would embed specific codes into the data on a DVD, for example. If that disk was illegally copied or its data extracted, the embedded watermark could provide evidence that helps identify where the copied content came from. It\u2019s kind of like a fingerprint in the code that tells you where something came from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why would you watermark AI text?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the primary drivers is the European Union with its Artificial Intelligence Act, which has goals that include more transparency of what is AI generated and disclosing when AI is employed for a task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But there is another side to this too \u2013 privacy, fairness and the appropriate use of detection. A watermark can provide evidence that an AI system may have been involved in producing content, but that evidence can easily be over-interpreted. Should we have the ability to use these tools without submitting to a verification test? What if the content is not AI generated, or employs a light use of AI, and the detection tool returns the wrong result?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consider a foreign language speaker who is seeking employment. If they use AI to help bridge the language barrier and compose their resume but the employer rejects their application because AI tools were detected, is that fair?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Industry discussions are centered around topics like these and finding a balance between the perspectives. We need better awareness of things like deepfakes, and tools to detect them, but also need to consider individual users looking to use tools with no ill intent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How do you go about watermarking text?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT and other large language models work by predicting what comes next in a response. Technically, the model predicts the next&nbsp; token \u2014 roughly speaking, a word or part of a word \u2014&nbsp; based on an input, or prompt. As the AI works, there are several plausible choices for what comes next,&nbsp; and the large language model assigns scores or probabilities to those choices.&nbsp; The higher the probability assigned to a token, the more likely it is to&nbsp; be selected as the next word in the AI\u2019s response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Watermarking this kind of output is difficult because it\u2019s dynamically generated. Static DVDs contain information that doesn\u2019t change, so encoding it with a recognizable fingerprint is relatively easy. Multimedia file types also have places where you can hide the watermark to make it unobtrusive, but text generated by AI can&#8217;t hide a watermark in that way because raw text doesn\u2019t have places to store additional information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What\u2019s being done to watermark text is biasing the AI\u2019s next word choice based on a secret key value. The goal is to introduce the watermark without noticeably changing the content or meaning of the generated text. If you analyze a sufficiently long sample of text, a detector can estimate whether a particular AI system, such as Claude, was involved in producing it.&nbsp; That does not mean the detector can identify every kind of AI-generated text or determine which AI system produced arbitrary content. Detecting the watermark relies on secret cryptographic information controlled by the model developer. That means the developer also controls who can use the detection tool by, for example, offering a detection service or API to authorized users.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are some challenges with this kind of technology?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First is that you need a sample of text. Generally, the more text you have, the more statistical evidence the detector has to work with. Very short passages can be difficult to assess. This is an issue if someone takes a piece of AI-generated text and edits it, leading to some part of the text not being recognized as AI-generated. It\u2019s also possible to muddle the watermark by translating the text into another language and translating it back.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because these tools are not perfect, a detection result should not be treated as definitive proof on its own. These kinds of detection tools might be used as one source of evidence in settings like assessing whether AI may have been involved in a student\u2019s essay.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is also a governance question. The company embedding the watermark may also control the tool used to verify it, so outside users have to rely on the provider\u2019s own detection system. An important question is whether trusted third parties should eventually have ways to independently verify these claims.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Where is AI watermarking going next?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Right now we\u2019re in the middle of a big social experiment. There are proponents for AI use, but also people pushing back against it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This reminds me of the internet\u2019s first years. File types on the early internet were simple, HTML code and text and images, but as things grew more data types came. Different image formats, multiple coding languages, videos with multiple encoding schemes, it\u2019s kind of polluted. Applying watermarks to content, however, may help reveal where some content came from or whether AI was involved in producing it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We don\u2019t know what the future holds, but one application of this technology may be to help distinguish content produced entirely by people from content generated or substantially modified by AI.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As AI-generated content becomes more common online, it will become increasingly important to know where training data came from. AI-generated data is not necessarily bad, but repeatedly training models on poorly understood or low-quality AI-generated material can reinforce errors or biases. Knowing the origin of training data can help developers make better decisions about what data to use.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Watermarking is only one way of protecting digital content in the age of AI. Other techniques are designed to make certain kinds of AI training more difficult or less effective. Those approaches are different from watermarking: a watermark is primarily intended to leave a detectable signal or provenance marker, while other forms of data protection are designed to affect the training process itself. Data poisoning is another, separate idea in which manipulated training data is intended to influence the behavior of a model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Department of Computer Science provides <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/computer-science\/academics\/undergraduate\/\">undergraduate<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/computer-science\/academics\/graduate\/\">graduate<\/a> students with the opportunity to <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/computer-science\/research\/\">perform real-world research<\/a> as soon as they enroll. From designing algorithms to solving complex computing problems to working with cutting-edge AI technology, students gain understanding of many important computing topics. Browse videos and recent news from the <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/computer-science\/\">Department of Computer Science<\/a> to discover how the College of Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University prepares the next generation of scientists and engineers for the challenges of the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a Q&amp;A on AI text watermarking, cybersecurity expert Dr. Hong-Sheng Zhou explores how Anthropic embeds cryptographic signals into Claude\u2019s output to improve transparency, AI provenance, and content safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1829,"featured_media":1751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1150,45],"class_list":["post-1750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cs","tag-aasc","tag-hong-sheng-zhou"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1829"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1750"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1754,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1750\/revisions\/1754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1747,"date":"2026-09-16T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/?p=1747"},"modified":"2026-09-15T18:02:48","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T18:02:48","slug":"little-ram-pantries-receive-upgraded-technology-to-help-address-student-food-insecurity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/09\/16\/little-ram-pantries-receive-upgraded-technology-to-help-address-student-food-insecurity\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Ram Pantries receive upgraded technology to help address student food insecurity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>New sensors can show the inventory of each location and help monitor usage while preserving privacy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">By&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/contact\/mcneill.aspx\">Brian McNeill<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sixteen&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/littlerampantries.com\/\">Little Ram Pantries<\/a>&nbsp;located across Virginia Commonwealth University\u2019s two campuses have received a technology upgrade, allowing students to view&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/littlerampantries.com\/pantries\">real-time photos<\/a>&nbsp;of the pantries\u2019 contents before visiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Launched in 2021, the Little Ram Pantries provide free food and essentials for any VCU student who needs it. Contents typically include shelf-stable snacks, grab-and-go items, canned goods and personal hygiene products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Inspired by the concept of Little Free Libraries, the Little Ram Pantries are a miniaturized extension of VCU\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/advocacy.vcu.edu\/resources\/ram-pantry\/\">Ram Pantry<\/a>, which has provided food and other items to VCU students in need since 2014. Both the Little Ram Pantries and the Ram Pantry aim to mitigate food insecurity, which is estimated to affect more than one-third of college students nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the summer, upgraded sensors were installed in Little Ram Pantries , including inward-facing cameras that show current inventory at each location, a \u201cheartbeat\u201d indicator that indicates the location is online, and improved overall stability. The new technology enhances the ability to monitor usage and gather useful data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI really hope students bookmark the website and use it to see what\u2019s [available in the Little Ram Pantries] and go grab what they need,\u201d said program creator&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/slss.vcu.edu\/directory\/jones.html\">John Jones<\/a>, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/slss.vcu.edu\/\">School of Life Sciences and Sustainability<\/a>&nbsp;in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/chs.vcu.edu\/\">College of Humanities and Sciences<\/a>. \u201cThe pictures are the current inventories of each of the locations. So, say you were looking for a box of pasta, for instance. You could visit the website and see, \u2018OK, well, Harris Hall has some macaroni and cheese.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Engineering students play key role<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sensor technology was developed by two cohorts of VCU College of Engineering students\u2019 capstone projects, along with Lauren Linkous, Ph.D., a VCU engineering research scientist who has worked on the project for more than six years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve been with the Little Ram Pantry project since the start of my graduate program, when I met John Jones through another project,\u201d Linkous said. \u201cI was brought on to build the initial prototype, just to see if we could quantify what we were working with. That first device was simple: It wrote to a spreadsheet whenever a pantry door opened and closed. But we got data, and the data was telling us a story. Students were using these pantries, and now we had a record of engagement to bring with us to secure more resources.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The project grew from there, she said. Within a few years it included capstone teams, student collaborators and more people anchoring every aspect of the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFrom the technical side, the sensor systems give us a way to put numbers to need without ever identifying a student,\u201d Linkous said. \u201cThat data is how we justify the program, grow it and get more food where it\u2019s needed. It\u2019s been a major interdisciplinary effort, and I\u2019d love to see more problems solved that way, especially ones with this kind of immediate community benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Josh Hayes, who graduated in 2024 with a degree in computer science, helped develop the Little Ram Pantries technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cChoosing the Little Ram Pantries as my capstone project was one of the best decisions I made during my time at VCU,\u201d he said. \u201cDeveloping and iterating over this technology, first as a student among a group of peers and then for John with Lauren\u2019s mentorship, has not only taught me so much but has allowed me to give back to my community in a way I never initially imagined. I am grateful to have helped develop technology to solve a real problem and strengthen a program that provided me with assistance when I was a student in need. I hope that the upgraded technology inside the pantries allows for more people to have access to food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The technology at work<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sensors track usage, based on when the box\u2019s door opens and closes. The camera snaps a picture of the box\u2019s inventory a few seconds after the door closes. The camera never takes a photo of a person who is getting food from a Little Ram Pantry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The data feeds to an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/littlerampantries.com\/stats\">online dashboard<\/a>&nbsp;that provides a variety of insights into how the Little Ram Pantries are being used. For example, in the past three months, there have been 1,328 visits to the locations, with the busiest day occurring on Aug. 12. The Little Ram Pantry located at the School of Dentistry received the most visits, with 244 interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Little Ram Pantries are Jones\u2019 ongoing research initiative to reduce food insecurity for VCU students. Food found in the pantries flows through donations and purchasing by the main Ram Pantry on Grace Street, and Jones\u2019 undergraduate students distribute it across both campuses on a monthly basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Individual administrative units \u201cadopt\u201d a pantry near their space. Generally, on Wednesdays, adoptees will restock the pantries and check to ensure the pantry is functioning as intended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Little Ram Pantries project often seeks feedback from students. Several have told the team that they are reluctant to take food when only one or two items remain, as they believe someone else might need it more. In response, Jones encouraged students to take the food if they need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf they have that thought, they should just go ahead and take it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot in the last couple years to increase the supply of food coming onto campus to stock both the main Ram Pantry as well as the little pantries, and now that we have the cameras, we\u2019ll have a better sense of when they\u2019re empty so we can go refill them. If you feel you need it, it\u2019s for you. Take it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>\u2018This is an experiment\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jones\u2019 central research question behind the Little Ram Pantries is whether decentralized, anonymous food pantries can mitigate food insecurity among college students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is an experiment,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to see: Does this work? Is this an effective way of connecting food resources with food insecure students?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 2024 paper \u2013 \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/foodsystemsjournal.org\/index.php\/fsj\/article\/view\/1243\/1210\">Smart Little Campus Food Pantries: Addressing food insecurity at Virginia Commonwealth University<\/a>,\u201d published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development and led by Jones \u2013 found that users interacted with Little Ram Pantries roughly 7,700 times during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years. About 10% of users frequented the pantries in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For both technical and ethical reasons, data from the pantry sensors cannot identify unique users, but Jones believes the data pattern, as well as focus group data, suggests students are using the pantries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the past several years, the program has expanded to more locations on both campuses. And in fall 2024, Jones launched Ram Fridges \u2013 essentially refrigerated Little Ram Pantries \u2013 in response to student requests for more fresh food, including fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Supported by a three-year, nearly $500,000 grant from the USDA\u2019s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, the Ram Fridges mitigate food waste and help feed students by diverting unsold food from Shafer Court Dining Center to refrigerators in Cabell Library and the Cary Street Gym. Two additional Ram Fridges are planned: one on the sixth floor of the STEM Building and one in the College of Health Professions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Ram Fridges do not currently have the upgraded sensor technology. Additionally, the Little Ram Pantry in Cabell Library does not yet have the new sensor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What and how to donate<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyone is welcome to donate shelf-stable food items into the Little Ram Pantries. Anything that can be stored safely in a cupboard for a long period of time is acceptable. Examples include canned goods; dry boxed food like pasta, rice and beans; bags of dry cereal grains as well as easily consumable snacks like granola bars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Individuals or groups interested in making larger donations are encouraged to make a donation to the Ram Pantry. For more information about how to assist with Ram Pantry\u2019s operations, visit the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/advocacy.vcu.edu\/resources\/ram-pantry\/\">pantry webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Originally posted on VCU News: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/little-ram-pantries-receive-upgraded-technology-to-help-address-student-food-insecurity\">https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/little-ram-pantries-receive-upgraded-technology-to-help-address-student-food-insecurity<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New sensors can show the inventory of each location and help monitor usage while preserving privacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2033,"featured_media":1748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1152],"class_list":["post-1747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-college","tag-smee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2033"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1749,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1747\/revisions\/1749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1744,"date":"2026-09-16T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/?p=1744"},"modified":"2026-09-15T17:57:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T17:57:05","slug":"driven-to-close-the-gender-gap-in-heart-research-vcu-student-takes-next-step-toward-a-ph-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/09\/16\/driven-to-close-the-gender-gap-in-heart-research-vcu-student-takes-next-step-toward-a-ph-d\/","title":{"rendered":"Driven to close the gender gap in heart research, VCU student takes next step toward a Ph.D."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>For Simone Chapman, a summer internship is about more than research \u2014 it&#8217;s a step toward improving heart health for women.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">By Sophie Tran<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Simone Chapman first became interested in cardiovascular research, they expected to learn how the heart works. What they didn&#8217;t expect was how often women&#8217;s hearts were missing from the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chapman, a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University, first became interested in women&#8217;s health during their freshman year, when they wrote a research paper about disparities in pregnancy and childbirth complications between Black and white women. An applied physiology course later sparked their interest in the cardiovascular system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs I learned more about the cardiovascular field, I realized even though the area is vast and has a lot of research, there is little research being done that specifically pertains to women,\u201d said Chapman, who is majoring in biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That interest has shaped Chapman&#8217;s plans for the future. They hope to pursue a Ph.D. focused on cardiovascular research, with an emphasis on women&#8217;s health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This summer, Chapman took a step toward that goal through the Cardio4U program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, where they conducted cardiovascular research in partnership with the American Heart Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The program gave Chapman a clearer picture of the questions they want to pursue in graduate school. One of those questions is how cardiovascular research can better account for differences in how heart disease affects women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis specific program is doing research in the cardiovascular area, which is the same topic that I want to pursue for my Ph.D. research,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cIt has been a very informative experience learning more about the different types of research being done in the cardiovascular area and has allowed me to narrow down my interest to cardiovascular research with an emphasis on women&#8217;s health.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the lab, Chapman helped researchers explore ways to keep blood vessels healthy and reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Their work focused on designing and 3D-printing a specialized system that mimics blood flow, allowing researchers to study how different materials interact with the cells lining blood vessels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although the lab initially expected her to leave behind only the foundation of a prototype during the 10-week program, Chapman and her team completed a fully functional, leak-proof system, allowing future implementations for research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey were fully expecting me not to have a ready-to-use system by the time I left,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cThey&#8217;re very surprised and very happy that we were able to get a full system running.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chapman will bring their research to the Biomedical Engineering Society&#8217;s annual conference in Orlando, where they will present a research poster at a national conference for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They also hope to connect with faculty and potential Ph.D. advisors as they prepare to apply to doctoral programs during their senior year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The opportunity almost didn&#8217;t happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unlike many summer research programs, Cardio4U covers most participant expenses but requires students to pay for their own housing. Chapman had already been accepted when they applied for VCU&#8217;s Internship Funding Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;My parents told me we&#8217;d find a way to make it work,&#8221; Chapman said. &#8220;But there would have been a lot of sacrifices. The Internship Funding Program made it possible for me to accept this opportunity without putting that kind of strain on my family.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Chapman, the internship represents more than one summer of research. It&#8217;s a chance to gain experience in the field they hope to dedicate their career to while building connections that will help shape the next chapter of her education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These programs are highly competitive, Chapman said, but persistence often pays off. They have applied to more than a dozen research programs over the past two years and have earned opportunities both summers. Some programs even remembered their previous application and encouraged them to apply again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chapman\u2019s advice to other students is simple: \u201cDon&#8217;t count yourself out before you&#8217;ve even applied.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEven if you get rejected, you&#8217;ve shown that you&#8217;re interested,\u201d they said. \u201cSometimes that&#8217;s enough to open the door the next time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>VCU\u2019s&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/careers.vcu.edu\/resources\/internshipfundingprogram\/\"><em>Internship Funding Program<\/em><\/a><em>&nbsp;is funded by a combination of VCU funds from the&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/semss.vcu.edu\/\"><em>Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success<\/em><\/a><em>&nbsp;and the<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/business.vcu.edu\/\"><em>&nbsp;School of Business<\/em><\/a><em>, donor funds from the&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/give.vcu.edu\/campaigns\/59591\/donations\/new?designation_id=88969cd920c44a199cc551fbfe2717b8\"><em>Student Life and Learning Fund<\/em><\/a><em>, and grant funds from the&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.schev.edu\/\"><em>State Council for Higher Education of Virginia<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Originally posted on VCU News: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/driven-to-close-the-gender-gap-in-heart-research-vcu-student-takes-next-step-toward-a-phd\">https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/driven-to-close-the-gender-gap-in-heart-research-vcu-student-takes-next-step-toward-a-phd<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For Simone Chapman, a summer internship is about more than research \u2014 it&#8217;s a step toward improving heart health for women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2033,"featured_media":1745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,13,1127],"tags":[1190],"class_list":["post-1744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bme","category-students","category-ugrad","tag-internships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2033"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1744"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1746,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1744\/revisions\/1746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1739,"date":"2026-09-15T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/?p=1739"},"modified":"2026-09-14T14:23:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T14:23:28","slug":"vcu-to-celebrate-15-notable-alums-at-biennial-alumni-stars-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/09\/15\/vcu-to-celebrate-15-notable-alums-at-biennial-alumni-stars-event\/","title":{"rendered":"VCU to celebrate 15 notable alums at biennial Alumni Stars event"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Honorees will be recognized at an Oct. 9 event at the Science Museum of Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">By Mark Newton<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Virginia Commonwealth University will honor 15 of its most accomplished alumni at the 2026 Alumni Stars ceremony. The biennial event, hosted by&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/engage.vcu.edu\/\">VCU Alumni<\/a>, celebrates alumni from across the university\u2019s academic units for their extraordinary personal and professional achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Honorees are selected through faculty recommendations and alumni committees. Recipients will be honored Oct. 9 at the Dewey Gottwald Center at the Science Museum of Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year\u2019s Alumni Stars are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Ella Balasa,\u00a0<\/strong>School of Life Sciences and Sustainability. A patient advocate working to ensure medical progress is informed not only by science but also by the voices and experiences of the people it serves.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Carola Bruflat,<\/strong>\u00a0School of Nursing. A widely published expert on health policy, grassroots advocacy and patient-centered care, and the former president of the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Robert Carden, Ph.D.,\u00a0<\/strong>College of Health Professions. Transformed Virginia Blood Services into the Commonwealth Transfusion Foundation, creating a lasting legacy of grants, scholarships and educational opportunities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Marc W. Cheatham,\u00a0<\/strong>School of Social Work. Once an intern for Tim Kaine\u2019s campaign for lieutenant governor, now the senator\u2019s director of constituent services and casework, connecting Virginians with the resources and support they need.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Woon Chow, M.D., Ph.D.,\u00a0<\/strong>College of Engineering. A five-time VCU graduate who now serves as deputy chief health informatics officer and staff pathologist at the Central Virginia VA Health Care System.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/unbreakable-bonds-an-index-card-isnt-the-most-romantic-prop-but-persistence-paid-off\">Edward W. Dadez<\/a>, Ph.D.,\u00a0<\/strong>College of Humanities and Sciences. President emeritus of Saint Leo University in Florida who credits his experiences at VCU with helping to launch his 45-year career in higher education.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Emmet Gowin,\u00a0<\/strong>School of the Arts. An internationally recognized photographer who has captured both intimate family portraits and vast landscapes transformed by natural disasters and human activity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Andrew Henritze, D.D.S.,\u00a0<\/strong>School of Dentistry. Has grown his Henritze Dental Group to 14 locations and 21 doctors in Southwest Virginia while giving back to his community.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Melanie Kay-Wyatt, Ed.D.,\u00a0<\/strong>School of Education. A barrier-breaking educator who currently serves as senior adviser to the state superintendent on agencywide school improvement at the Virginia Department of Education.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Allegra Newman,\u00a0<\/strong>Richard T. Robertson School of Communication. A champion of diverse perspectives and character-driven stories as vice president of development for A Bird and a Bear Entertainment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Amy Hauck Newman, Ph.D.,<\/strong>\u00a0School of Pharmacy. Serves as scientific director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, chief of the Molecular Targets and Medications Discovery Branch, and director of NIDA\u2019s Intramural Research Program Medication Development Program.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>David O. Okonkwo, M.D., Ph.D.,<\/strong>\u00a0School of Medicine. A professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, executive vice president of UPMC Enterprises and team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Frank W. Rockhold, Ph.D.,<\/strong>\u00a0School of Public Health. Internationally recognized for advancing clinical research and an expert in clinical trial design, patient safety, pharmacovigilance, open science and data monitoring committees.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dietra Y. Trent, Ph.D.,\u00a0<\/strong>L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. An expert on historically Black colleges and universities and a former Virginia secretary of education who leads the Virginia HBCU Alliance for Innovation and Community Impact.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/2024\/12\/commencement-speaker-chris-tsui-revels-in-the-risks-and-rewards-of-running-restaurants\">Chris Tsui<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>School of Business. Founder and president of EAT Restaurant Partners, which operates popular Richmond-area establishments such as Fat Dragon and Red Salt Chophouse &amp; Sushi.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Original post on VCU News: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/vcu-to-celebrate-15-notable-alums-at-biennial-alumni-stars-event\">https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/vcu-to-celebrate-15-notable-alums-at-biennial-alumni-stars-event<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Honorees will be recognized at an Oct. 9 event at the Science Museum of Virginia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2033,"featured_media":1740,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2033"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1741,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1739\/revisions\/1741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1735,"date":"2026-09-09T16:49:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T16:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/?p=1735"},"modified":"2026-09-09T16:49:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T16:49:59","slug":"summer-internships-leah-jones-helps-increase-transformer-production-for-the-eaton-corporation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/09\/09\/summer-internships-leah-jones-helps-increase-transformer-production-for-the-eaton-corporation\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Internships: Leah Jones helps increase transformer production for the Eaton Corporation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Engineering is a natural fit for Leah Jones. Her passion for building with LEGOs and a love of the movie <em>Hidden Figures<\/em> led to STEM summer camps and attending the Governor&#8217;s STEM Academy at Landstown High School. When it was time to select a college, Leah chose the VCU College of Engineering for its focus on hands-on experiential learning.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI decided on electrical and computer engineering because I love to learn how everything works internally, and most things that function need some source of power,\u201d Leah said. \u201cThanks to the experience gained through my major\u2019s coursework, I\u2019ve been able to complete two internships working at data centers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Working as a quality engineer for Eaton, Leah sought to understand how cross-functional teams accomplish their goals by bringing together many areas of expertise. Her team of interns included engineers working in quality, testing, continuous improvement, manufacturing and strategic planning. Their goal was to increase the number of transformers Eaton could produce every day, explaining their discoveries and final recommendations to stakeholders at one of Eaton\u2019s rapid improvement events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy specific project was implementing a new quality inspection checklist across one of the static transfer switch production lines consisting of five subassembly lines,\u201d Leah said. \u201cI created five new checklists for the quality inspectors to use for every single unit they inspect. That included specific questions like details on what needs to be inspected, visual aids and standards, so customers are aware of our reasoning for checking these specific things. I learned how every static transfer switch was put together from beginning to end and spent a lot of time on the production floor. By the end of my internship, I knew the name for every piece of a static transfer switch and what a working unit looks like versus how a defective unit appears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leah credits the College of Engineering\u2019s Circuits II class for preparing her for this internship. As Eaton mentors detailed transformer connections on the production floor, Leah had the knowledge to be an active participant in the work, confirming to her the value of the education she is receiving at VCU. The cross-disciplinary experience at Eaton made Leah curious, and she plans to look into a career in robotics and automation. The VCU College of Engineering recently launched a new <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/05\/19\/new-bachelor-of-science-in-robotics-and-autonomous-systems-engineering-launches-at-vcu-college-of-engineering-in-fall-of-2026\/\">Bachelor of Science in Robotics and Autonomous Systems<\/a> focused on the kind of cross-disciplinary education Leah received at Eaton.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFuture interns, make sure to take in all that information that comes your way, even if it doesn\u2019t pertain to what you\u2019re working on,\u201d Leah said. \u201cThe advice you get from coworkers can inform your future career decisions. While doing that, don\u2019t forget to speak up and share your own expertise and perspectives. You can teach them a few things too. I loved how open everyone in the company was and how willing they were to help me with my professional, academic and personal journey. The Eaton team made lasting impressions with me and I\u2019m thankful for the opportunity to work with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering provides <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/electrical-computer-engineering\/academics\/undergraduate\/\">undergraduate<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/electrical-computer-engineering\/academics\/graduate\/\">graduate<\/a> students with the opportunity to <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/electrical-computer-engineering\/research\/\">perform real-world research<\/a> as soon as they enroll. From delving into the intricacies of circuits to understanding computer programming, electromagnetics and more, students gain understanding of many important engineering topics. Browse videos and recent news from the <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/electrical-computer-engineering\/\">Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering<\/a> to discover how the College of Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University prepares the next generation of scientists and engineers for the challenges of the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During her Eaton Corporation internship, electrical and computer engineering student Leah Jones created new quality inspection checklists across subassembly lines to boost static transfer switch transformer production efficiency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1829,"featured_media":1736,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,13,1127],"tags":[1190],"class_list":["post-1735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ece","category-students","category-ugrad","tag-internships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1829"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1737,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735\/revisions\/1737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1732,"date":"2026-09-09T16:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T16:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/?p=1732"},"modified":"2026-09-09T16:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T16:44:20","slug":"summer-internships-marcelle-jones-learns-from-nasa-engineers-at-the-langley-research-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/2026\/09\/09\/summer-internships-marcelle-jones-learns-from-nasa-engineers-at-the-langley-research-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Internships: Marcelle Jones learns from NASA engineers at the Langley Research Center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Richmond local Marcelle Jones grew up in Chesterfield County and came to VCU for its affordable education and interesting research opportunities. As a senior mechanical and nuclear engineering student, Marcelle has been involved with undergraduate research and industry internships, including a recent summer internship at NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor a long time I thought I\u2019d end up in computer science, since I really enjoyed programming and building my own little websites, games and desktop applications,\u201d Marcelle said. \u201cEarly in high school, though, I discovered my interest in working with hardware and designing physical systems. I got into engineering through Arduino and woodworking projects I did after class, and I settled pretty quickly on mechanical engineering once I came to VCU. It allows me to design machines that can achieve goals I\u2019m interested in and keep me at the systems-level of thinking where I work best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During her freshman year, Marcelle added a nuclear energy concentration to her degree path, allowing her to focus on how these power systems can be integrated with other fields, particularly aerospace, leading her to a passion for space nuclear propulsion. That excitement led Marcelle to NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center where she worked under the Structural and Thermal Systems branch to design the conceptual architecture for a lunar nuclear reactor capable of providing efficient and continuous power to a permanent human settlement on the moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy initial task was to design and evaluate systems for a lunar base through finite element analyses and mathematical modeling,\u201d Marcelle said. \u201cMy mentor at NASA allowed us to pick whichever systems interested us the most, so I proposed a fission surface power system, which is a major priority for NASA\u2019s Moon Base initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The work Marcelle produced was meant to be showcased at a student conference, but other NASA team members believed it could be a good fit for publishing in an academic journal. She has been working with <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/directory\/lane.carasik\/\"><strong>Lane Carasik, Ph.D.<\/strong><\/a>, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, to revise and co-author the paper before submitting it for publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy professional expectations for this internship were greatly exceeded with the possibility of my work being published,\u201d Marcelle said. \u201cBeyond those goals, I was able to talk with several engineers who have careers I\u2019m interested in mirroring. They shared lots of important advice about graduate school and my overall career path, and I left this internship with more certainty about my future direction and strong appreciation for space nuclear systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Getting to see large-scale design testing up close was another impactful experience Marcelle had at NASA, while touring the anechoic chamber, which is a room designed to dampen sound waves so almost none are reflected from the walls. In NASA\u2019s acoustics testing facility, Marcelle experienced the kind of environments equipment is assessed in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere was almost no echo whatsoever in the room,\u201d Marcelle said. \u201cIf you stood in there long enough, you\u2019d start to hear your own blood flowing around your ears. Honestly, it was pretty relaxing. And it got me thinking about the lesser-considered effects that come into play when you\u2019re designing extremely precise and complex systems for aerospace. Considering only acoustic behaviors, I was amazed at the deeply-specialized knowledge of these engineers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During her time at VCU, Marcelle has explored several internship opportunities, including working at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Phlow and the Virginia Microelectronics Center.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEvery position I\u2019ve held exposed me to a radically different professional environment. At NASA, I experienced a very unique workplace that emphasized producing good work and solving difficult problems over everything else. The attitude of engineers and scientists there was deeply influenced by this drive for knowledge and understanding. My internship experiences make me feel more prepared to enter a professional setting and navigate the unique challenges and culture that come with each workplace experience, and I\u2019m excited to see where I end up next!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2026, Marcelle applied to more than 200 summer internships, and the NASA offer was the only one she received. Applying early, often and extensively is the advice Marcelle recommends to any students looking for workplace experience before graduation. Eighty-one percent of mechanical and nuclear engineering students at the VCU College of Engineering are offered full-time employment as a result of their co-curricular experiences. An internship is required by the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear engineering to help students build their professional network and prepare them to join the workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe job market is hard to time or predict, so try and put your foot in every door you have available,\u201d Marcelle said. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to apply for positions you don\u2019t think you\u2019re the best fit for or that make use of knowledge you don\u2019t have yet. These are learning opportunities to grow at a much faster pace than a university can cram into you, so take full advantage of them. Once you get that internship, talk to as many people as you can, and set up individual meetings with people on career paths you want to pursue or avoid. Your internship experience is an inflection point in your education, so get as much advice, feedback and guidance as possible. Also, make good connections with people, as they can serve you well in the future through reference letters or job prospects. Keep track of every bit of contact information you\u2019re able to get, and don\u2019t be afraid to reach out after the internship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After graduation, Marcelle plans on pursuing graduate school with either Ph.D. or Masters in space nuclear propulsion. Her ultimate goal is working full-time with NASA or a private contractor developing hardware designs for space exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering provides <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/mechanical-nuclear-engineering\/academics\/undergraduate\/\">undergraduate<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/mechanical-nuclear-engineering\/academics\/graduate\/\">graduate<\/a> students with the opportunity to <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/mechanical-nuclear-engineering\/research\/\">perform real-world research<\/a> as soon as they enroll. From applying material science to additive manufacturing techniques to optimizing coolant systems for nuclear reactors and more, students gain understanding of many important engineering topics. Browse videos and recent news from the <a href=\"https:\/\/egr.vcu.edu\/departments\/mechanical-nuclear-engineering\/\">Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering<\/a> to discover how the College of Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University prepares the next generation of scientists and engineers for the challenges of the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VCU engineering student Marcelle Jones interned at NASA\u2019s Langley Research Center, designing conceptual architecture for a lunar nuclear reactor\u2014a project now being refined for publication in an academic journal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1829,"featured_media":1733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,13,1127],"tags":[1190,112,1023],"class_list":["post-1732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mne","category-students","category-ugrad","tag-internships","tag-lane-carasik","tag-nasa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1829"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1732"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1734,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1732\/revisions\/1734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]