March 18 Research Bulletin (Texas A&M University)

How to Submit an Item to Research Bulletin

Send: Research-related news about Texas A&M faculty, staff or students at our colleges, schools or member agencies, including honors, publications, presentations and appearances in news media.
Note: The Research Bulletin does not publish links to scholarly or peer-reviewed journal articles. If your work appears in a journal, please work with your college or school communications team to develop a news story, then submit the link to that story for inclusion.
Include: A URL that links directly to your news coverage, research story or professional development.
Email: rcomm@tamu.edu

News-Media Coverage

Clean Technica, Andrew Dessler (Arts and Sciences), about findings that fossil fuels carry significant hidden national security costs and economic vulnerabilities, while renewable energy sources are less exposed to geopolitical disruptions.
Chron, Robert Ambrose (Space Institute), about how Texas A&M’s new $200 million Space Institute will support research and technology development for lunar and Mars exploration.
Earth.com, Tung Nguyen (Engineering), about “Humanity’s Last Exam,” a rigorous new benchmark that exposes the limits of current artificial intelligence systems by testing deep, specialized knowledge beyond standard academic exams.
Earth.com, Yubin Zhou (Institute of Biosciences and Technology), about the use of caffeine as a precise, reversible switch to control clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based gene editing in engineered cells, opening new possibilities for safer, on-demand cancer and immune therapies.
Food & Wine, Xingmao “Samuel” Ma (Engineering), about how lettuce exposed to both nanoplastics and the toxic metal cadmium absorbed significantly higher levels of each contaminant, suggesting the combination could increase food safety risks and may warrant reevaluating current cadmium exposure limits.
KBTX, Raymond Robertson (Government and Public Service), about how the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran has already driven oil prices up 7.5%, and if it continues, consumers could see higher gas prices within weeks and added inflationary pressure alongside recent tariff increases.
KXXV, Dennis Jansen (Arts and Sciences) and Raymond Robertson (Government and Public Service), about how rising tensions with Iran are disrupting global oil supply routes, contributing to higher oil prices that are driving recent increases in gasoline prices.
NCAR | UCAR News, Ping Chang (Arts and Sciences), about the development of the MESACLIP dataset, an unprecedented set of high-resolution Earth system simulations spanning more than 4,500 years, which is enabling scientists to study climate variability and improve predictions of extreme weather and long-term climate change.
News3LV, Danny Davis (Government and Public Service), about the potential of threats to Las Vegas and the rest of the United States during war with Iran.
Pulmonary Advisor, Alexander Obeng (Public Health), about the influence of multiple household and environmental determinants on adult asthma morbidity.
Quanta Magazine, Siegfried Musser (Medicine), about the dynamics of the permeability barrier of the nuclear pore complex, which simultaneously blocks undesirable macromolecular transport and mediates the transport of selective cargos.
Reuters, Jessica Atkin (Agriculture and Life Sciences), about a study showing that chickpeas can grow and produce harvestable seeds in soil mixtures containing up to 75% simulated lunar regolith when supported by beneficial fungi and vermicompost, demonstrating a potential pathway for producing food during long-term lunar missions.
Spectrum News 1, Raymond Robertson (Government and Public Service), about how the current job market for recent graduates is being reshaped by artificial intelligence (AI), with entry-level roles increasingly replaced by AI and students lacking AI-related skills facing a growing disadvantage.
The Conversation, Georges Naufal and Emily Naiser (Public Policy Research Institute), about how widespread public defender shortages are causing case dismissals and straining the criminal justice system, threatening defendants’ right to counsel.
The Dallas Morning News, Kirby Goidel and Clifford Young (Government and Public Service), about how nativist beliefs about who belongs in a nation are a stronger and more consistent predictor of support for populist movements than economic or authoritarian concerns. (Paywall)
The Debrief, Mohammad Naraghi (Engineering), about a low-cost hybrid “super foam” using in-foam additive manufacturing that can absorb up to 10 times more energy than conventional foams, with potential applications in protective gear, vehicle safety systems and military equipment.

Articles From Colleges and Schools

Allegra Midgette and Lucretia Fairchild (Arts and Sciences) found that children’s understanding of care, such as helping, playing with, or respecting others, varies across cultures, though all associate care with helping and being together. How Children Think About Care Within the Family Across Three Cultures

Ali Mostafavi (Engineering) and team created a live power outage map of Texas that updates hourly and compiles data from utility companies, offering a reliable tool that helps emergency responders quickly identify affected areas. A Tool To Track Texas Power Outages and Aid in Disaster Response

Brian Albanese (Arts and Sciences) and team found that individuals with a history of suicide attempts show greater daily trauma-related avoidance than non-attempters, linking avoidance behavior to PTSD and suicide risk. Differential Patterns of Daily Trauma-Related Avoidance Among Suicide Attempters and Non-Attempters

David Griffith (Business) found that business success has no fixed formula, with adaptability and learning from failure proving more important than overconfidence in maintaining long-term success. There Is No Magic Formula for Business Success, Texas A&M Researcher Finds

Gregory Reeves (Engineering) and team discovered how the transcription factor NF-κB (Dorsal) binds to DNA and regulates gene expression, offering new insights that could help guide therapies targeting inflammation, immunity and cancer. Reducing Disease Through Gene Manipulation

Ke Huang (Pharmacy) helped develop a self-amplifying RNA injection that prompts the body to produce a heart-protective hormone for several weeks after a heart attack, potentially improving recovery and reducing long-term damage. Revolutionary Single Shot Helps With Healing After a Heart Attack

Maham Rahimi (Engineering Medicine) and team developed the Vasculator, an artificial intelligence-based digital platform that helps vascular surgeons assess patient risk and support high-stakes treatment decisions by consolidating clinical decision tools and data into one interface. Digital Platform Aims To Support High-Stakes Decisions in Vascular Surgery

Mohammad Naraghi (Engineering) and team developed a hybrid “super foam” with a 3D-printed internal skeleton that can absorb up to 10 times more energy than conventional foam, offering potential applications in protective gear, vehicles and other impact-absorbing technologies. Hybrid “Super Foam”: Tunable, Lightweight and Ultra-Durable

The School of Public Health launched a multidisciplinary study in Fort Bend County examining how residents’ health, diet and other factors change after moving into Indigo, a 235-acre community centered around a working farm. First Residents Move IntoFort Bend County Ag-Integrated Neighborhood as Texas A&M Study Advances

Thomas Edwards (Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences) partnered with Washington County Emergency Medical Services to conduct training on transporting injured working dogs and how to properly care for them. Texas A&M, Washington County EMS Partnership on New Working Dog Treatment Efforts Takes Flight

Wen-Hsuan Chang (Education and Human Development) explored how prioritizing parents’ well-being can strengthen disability systems and improve outcomes for children and adults, with an emphasis on the need for coordinated systems, community support and early transition planning to help families navigate the shift from school-based services to adulthood. Caring for the Caregivers

Xingmao “Samuel” Ma, Michael Bryant (Engineering) and Cory Klemashevich (Agriculture and Life Sciences) found that lettuce exposed to both nanoplastics and cadmium absorbed significantly more cadmium into edible leaves than plants exposed to cadmium alone, suggesting that interactions between emerging contaminants can increase heavy metal uptake and may pose new food safety risks. What’s in Your Salad? Crops Exposed to Nanoplastics May Boost Heavy Metal Intake

Accomplishments

Anshul Yadav (Engineering) received a Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology fellowship to study water loss from evaporation on the Amazon River.

Humberto Perotto (Agriculture and Life Sciences) received the 2026 Society for Range Management Fellow Award and was recognized as Outstanding Associate Editor for Rangeland Ecology and Management, the society’s peer-reviewed journal.

Lance Black (Engineering Medicine) was named the Harold J. Haynes ’46 Endowed Chair at the School of Engineering Medicine.

Texas A&M University announced the 2026 cohort of University Distinguished Professors, a designation given to faculty members that have made significant contributions and inspired innovative thought in multiple fields.

Funding

Zachary Adelman and Kevin Myles (Agriculture and Life Sciences) received a $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support a project titled, "Self-Eliminating Strategy To Control Gene Drive.”

John Neubert, Madhu Nair (Dentistry) and other researchers will receive more than $2.87 million over the next five years to study temporomandibular disorders.

Lei Guo (Institute of Biosciences and Technology) received a $1.2 million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas to support a project titled, “The Oncogenic Role of TFE3 Oncofusion Protein in Translocation Renal Cell Carcinoma (tRCC).”

Stacey Mitchell and Kimberly Zemanek (Nursing) received a $1 million grant from the Office of the Attorney General of Texas to support a project titled, “Telehealth Center for Sexual Assault Forensic Medical Examination.”

Professional Development

Research Development Services offers faculty development programs and research funding workshops to assist in the process of applying for grants.     

Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) offers virtual workshops that meet the face-to-face requirements of University SAP 15.99.99.M0.04. Please note that it is the responsibility of each college or school (with support or information from individual principal investigators) to ensure that all student and postdoctoral researchers associated with them are compliant with the RCR training requirements.     

High Performance Research Computing offers an ongoing series of short training courses for beginning, intermediate and advanced researchers.     

University Libraries presents a series of online workshops in research-related subjects, such as managing citations, managing research data, searching databases and publishing and copyrighting.  

Events

The Texas A&M Health Institute for Healthcare Access is hosting the “All of Us and More: Hidden Health Patterns in Data Conference” March 19-20 at the Texas A&M Hotel and Conference Center. Registration can be completed here. The conference, which highlights Hagler Institute for Advanced Study Fellow José Pagán as a featured commenter on day one, will unite leaders in data science, public health, clinical research and social policy to explore how linking diverse data — clinical, genomic and social — can deepen our understanding of health.

The Hagler Institute for Advanced Study is presenting “New Insights on Atmospheric Oxidation Chemistry,” part of its 2026 Eminent Scholar Lecture Series, on March 23 at 4 p.m. in the MSC’s Bethancourt Ballroom 2300-C. Welsh-Hagler Fellow Dr. Marsha I. Lester, a Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences, will discuss research over atmospheric reactions that generate hydroxyl radicals (OH), often called the atmosphere’s detergent.

The College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) will host Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath for a Dean’s Distinguished Lecture on the state of Texas public education on March 25. The event will include a presentation and Q&A from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m., followed by lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Commissioner Morath will discuss the continued focus on high-quality education for Texas students and preparation for college, careers and military service.

The 2026 Fallon-Marshall Lecture, presented by the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research on behalf of the College of Arts and Sciences, will take place April 6 at 12 p.m. in MSC 2300 B. Dr. Zina Trost, associate professor of psychology, will deliver this year’s lecture, “Body and Mind: Using Virtual Reality to Push the Boundaries of Pain Treatment and Human Transformation.” This event is free and open to the public.

The “Workshop on Food-Energy-Water-Health Nexus as a Catalyst for a Resource-Secure and Resilient Texas” will take place April 16 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Memorial Student Center, Room 2400. This event aims to position Texas A&M as a leader in integrated Food-Energy-Water-Health systems research, highlight innovations addressing resource security challenges, and define actionable opportunities to expand impact in Texas and globally. Registration is open to Texas A&M faculty and staff and will close April 2.

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