Kansas State University

REMINDER: AAALAC International site visit 

K-State’s triennial AAALAC accreditation site visit is scheduled for May 30-31. Site visitors will perform a comprehensive review of K-State’s animal care and use program. The review entails meeting with university leadership, visiting with the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and inspecting laboratories where animal research occurs as well as animal housing areas. 

The University Research Compliance Office is reaching out to responsible individuals within our AAALAC-accredited program to answer any questions prior to the site visit. We are committed to the success of K-State faculty, and this includes supporting responsible and compliant animal care and use in research and teaching. We hope you will join us in ensuring that the AAALAC accreditation visit is a success. Revisit the March 30 edition of RSCAD Momentum for additional details. 

International Travel 

URCO has been receiving many questions regarding international travel and new regulations and laws. Individuals traveling internationally on university business or with university property are responsible for complying with export control laws and regulations. Export control regulations may restrict or prohibit some travel-related activities or destinations and/or may require licenses for others. We can help travelers assess what export control requirements apply to ensure institutional and individual compliance. 

We have developed an international travel information website that is updated regularly and can answer most of your questions. You will find the latest information on security enhancement measures by the Department of Homeland Security relating to international flights and electronics restrictions. We will update this immediately if additional countries or regions are added to the list of restricted countries. 

You will also find what you need to know when traveling to a conference or traveling with a laptop, personal digital assistant, cellphone, or other data storage devices along with information on conducting research, field work, and other related activities overseas. 

We are happy to answer specific questions about your travel destinations, such as restrictions that apply to Cuba, Iran, Russia, and other countries. Please reach out with any questions you have! Contact URCO at comply@k-state.edu or 785-532-3224. 

— Cheryl Doerr

Thanks

Many thanks to all who attended the 2017 K-State Research Showcase! We had more than 70 exhibitors and more than 100 industry representatives at K-State Olathe. If you missed it, relive the event on Twitter through #KStateResearchShowcase or on the K-State Mobile App. Be sure to share news about future collaborations with us!

NCURA Webinar

The Research Administrators Council will host viewing of a live National Council of University Research Administrators webinar 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. on May 23 in Union 206. The session will feature an overview of new research terms and conditions. Read more information on upcoming NCURA webinars.

Brief Break

RSCAD Momentum will take two weeks off. We'll resume summer publication on June 8. 

View past funding highlights and issues of RSCAD Momentum in our archive. 

New NIAAA Strategic Plan Aims to Advance Alcohol Research Across a Broad Spectrum of Areas

As scientific advances continue to expand our understanding of how alcohol affects human health and point to new ways to address alcohol-related harm, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has released its 2017–2021 strategic plan for research.  The new plan serves as a roadmap for optimizing the allocation of NIAAA’s resources to areas of alcohol research most likely to benefit from additional support, translating scientific discoveries for the benefit of the public, and continuing to build on NIAAA’s position as the nation’s key source of evidence-based information on alcohol and health.

Michele Parrinello Wins Dreyfus Prize

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has announced that Michele Parrinello, Professor at USI Università della Svizzera italiana and ETH Zurich, has won the 2017 Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences, conferred this year in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry. The international prize, awarded biennially, consists of $250,000, a medal, and a citation. The award ceremony will be held at USI Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano, Switzerland, in the fall and will include a lecture by Parrinello.

The 2017 Jefferson Lecture: “Powerlessness and the Politics of Blame”

Read the full text of Martha C. Nussbaum’s Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities delivered on May 1, 2017, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

After One EPA Science Board Is Trimmed, a Bigger One Awaits

The Trump administration’s removal of several academic experts from a scientific advisory board at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has renewed concern about the government’s commitment to fact-based policy making. The advisory panel, known as the Board of Scientific Counselors, lost about half of its 18 members on April 30 as they completed the first of what is typically two three-year terms and were not reappointed. The EPA said in a statement that it receives hundreds of nominations to serve on the board and that it wanted to provide "fair consideration of all the nominees." An EPA spokesman, J.P. Freire, said that means including more people "who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community."

Arctic Nations Strike Down Research Roadblocks

Researchers working in the Arctic will face less red tape, under an agreement signed by representatives of the eight Arctic nations at a meeting in Fairbanks, Alaska, on 11 May. The legally binding document should help to ease rules that can hinder data collection and obstruct the transport of analytical equipment, data and samples across national borders. The pact is also designed to give scientists better access to government science facilities — including ice-breaking ships — and to terrestrial, coastal, atmospheric and marine areas for field research.

Surviving Genocide: Storytelling and Ritual Help Communities Heal

According to Kirmayer, Yezidis serve as an extreme case study of the psychological challenges that refugees face at every stage of forced migration, from the initial trauma of violent upheaval to the stress of uncertain asylum status and eventual resettlement. In a 2016 study of Iraqi Yezidi adults in a Turkish refugee camp, nearly 30% showed symptoms of both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression. Yet psychologists and psychiatrists working with Yezidis today also note their remarkable resilience. This stems in part from their tight-knit communities and the rituals and storytelling traditions that have helped them weather centuries of persecution, says Jan Kizilhan, a German psychologist of Yezidi descent at Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University in Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany. “Yezidis know what it means to survive genocide,” he says. “It’s in our music, our narratives, our behavior.” By studying how Yezidi refugees are coping, he and others hope to learn how to better support the mental health of the more than 60 million people worldwide who have been forced to leave their homes.

Global Health Spending Good for U.S. Security and Economy, National Academies Say

If a serious infectious disease blossomed across the globe today, the U.S. death toll could be double that of all the casualties suffered in wars since the American Revolution. Those 2 million potential American lives lost to a global pandemic is just one sobering statistic cited in a new report released today by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that urges sustained U.S. spending on global health initiatives. It also calls on the federal government to develop a new “International Response Framework” to guide the nation’s preparation and reaction to intercontinental epidemics and global pandemics.

Will Vaccine Help Curb New Ebola Outbreak in the DRC?

Ebola has surfaced in a remote part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the first outbreak of the disease since the West African epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people before it came to an end 2 years ago. A vaccine proved its worth in that epidemic—which hit major cities—but it is still awaiting approval from regulatory agencies, and the DRC government has yet to request the vaccine’s use to quell this outbreak.

The WannaCry Ransomware Hackers Made Some Real Amateur Mistakes

The WANNACRY RANSOMWARE ATTACK has quickly become the worst digital disaster to strike the internet in years, crippling transportation and hospitals globally. But it increasingly appears that this is not the work of hacker masterminds. Instead, cybersecurity investigators see in the recent meltdown a sloppy cybercriminal scheme, one that reveals amateur mistakes at practically every turn.