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Maine, Wisconsin judges dismiss attempts to force turnover of voter rolls
Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin on Thursday dismissed lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to compel the states to hand over detailed voter registration information.
Department of Population and Public Health Sciences 2025–2026 Annual Report highlights innovation, discovery and community impact
Related News PhD student Angel Arizpe receives grant to study the implications of substance use among Hispanic cancer survivors May 24, 2024 Alumni Spotlight: Meet Iona Cheng, PhD, MPH, building […]
15 individuals indicted in alleged health-care fraud scheme in Minnesota
The Justice Department on Thursday announced that 15 people were charged in connection to an alleged $90 million healthcare scheme in Minnesota following a joint investigation with the FBI. “The de…
Questions about hantavirus? We’ve got answers. - Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
Last revised May 21, 2026
Health Alert – Worldwide Caution - U.S. Embassy in Argentina
Health Alert – Worldwide Caution Health Alert – Worldwide Caution Health Alert May 21, 2026 Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening Event: As of May 21, 2026, all U.S.-bound American citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who have been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within 21 days of arrival in the United States must only enter through Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for enhanced screening. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply enhanced public health screening at IAD in response to the Ebola outbreak. The Dulles requirement applies to all passengers, including U.S. citizens and LPRs, who were present in those countries. Please be prepared for flight changes or cancellations. Actions to take: Read the Department of Homeland Security Alert on Enhanced Ebola Screening(opens in a new tab). Review Consular Information for Americans Regarding the Ebola Outbreak. If you are planning to travel to the United States, contact your airline to confirm your flight and route. You may also contact the State Department – Consular Affairs: Phone: +1-888-407-4747 or +1-202-501-4444 Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive safety and security updates. For updates on the situation, click here.
Governor Ivey Announces Six Alabama Rural Health Transformation Program Workshops Across State Next Week -
MONTGOMERY – Governor Kay Ivey on Thursday announced that the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) is hosting a series of six workshops across Alabama next week for interested parties to learn more about the new Alabama Rural … Continued
Trump's health department is expanding the use of AI in the hunt for fraud
The Department of Health and Human Services is boosting its use of artificial intelligence to monitor audits from federal grant recipients.
Syracuse auditor's report: City behind on animal shelter regulations
Marion also says the animal control functions of the city should move from the police department to the department of parks.
US HHS Launches AI Initiative to Detect Fraud and Waste in Health Programs
May 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday it has launched a new AI-led initiative to review annual audits to strengthen oversight across federally funded health programs amid concerns around widespread fraud. The program, called the Audit ...
Vermont high school sports scores, results, stats for Thursday, May 21
Vermont high school sports scores and results as reported to the Burlington Free Press sports department.
Blanche meets with Senate Republicans as Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund faces trouble on Capitol Hill
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will meet with Senate Republicans Thursday morning, a GOP aide told CNN, in an attempt to save the Justice Department’s “anti-weaponization” fund as the party weighs its fate.
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 21, 2026 - U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 21, 2026 Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 21, 2026 Event: As of May 21, 2026, all U.S.-bound American citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who have been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within 21 days of arrival in the United States must only enter through Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for enhanced screening. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply enhanced public health screening at IAD in response to the Ebola outbreak. The Dulles requirement applies to all passengers, including U.S. citizens and LPRs, who were present in those countries. Please be prepared for flight changes or cancellations. Actions to take: Read the Department of Homeland Security Alert on Enhanced Ebola Screening. Review Consular Information for Americans Regarding the Ebola Outbreak. If you are planning to travel to the United States, contact your airline to confirm your flight and route. You may also contact the State Department – Consular Affairs: Phone: +1-888-407-4747 or +1-202-501-4444 Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive safety and security updates.
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 21, 2026 - U.S. Embassy In Nicaragua
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening Event: As of May 21, 2026, all U.S.-bound American citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who have been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within 21 days of arrival in the United States must only enter through Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for enhanced screening. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply enhanced public health screening at IAD in response to the Ebola outbreak. The Dulles requirement applies to all passengers, including U.S. citizens and LPRs, who were present in those countries. Please be prepared for flight changes or cancellations. Actions to take: Read the Department of Homeland Security Alert on Enhanced Ebola Screening. Review Consular Information for Americans Regarding the Ebola Outbreak. If you are planning to travel to the United States, contact your airline to confirm your flight and route. You may also contact the State Department – Consular Affairs: Phone: +1-888-407-4747 or +1-202-501-4444 Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive safety and security updates.
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 21, 2026 - U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Brazil
Health Alert: Worldwide Caution – Public Health Arrival Restrictions and Enhanced Ebola Screening – May 21, 2026 Event: As of May 21, 2026, all U.S.-bound American citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who have been present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within 21 days of arrival in the United States must only enter through Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) for enhanced screening. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply enhanced public health screening at IAD in response to the Ebola outbreak. The Dulles requirement applies to all passengers, including U.S. citizens and LPRs, who were present in those countries. Please be prepared for flight changes or cancellations. Actions to take: Read the Department of Homeland Security Alert on Enhanced Ebola Screening. Review Consular Information for Americans Regarding the Ebola Outbreak. If you are planning to travel to the United States, contact your airline to confirm your flight and route. You may also contact the State Department – Consular Affairs: +1-888-407-4747 or +1-202-501-4444 Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive safety and security updates.
Bonus 228: The $1.776B Political Question
Every so often a story comes along that is so brazen, so cleanly emblematic of the moment we are living through, that staying quiet about it feels like a kind of complicity unto itself. Monday’s announcement by the Department of Justice that the Acting Attorney General has unilaterally created a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate so-called “victims of lawfare” is one of those stories. And the reason I want to write about it here, in a newsletter ostensibly devoted to the Supreme Court and the law and politics surrounding it, is that I’m increasingly worried that we’re asking the wrong institution to save us from one of the most offensive, alarming, and anti-constitutional things we’ve seen from any president in American history. As I explain below the fold, the Anti-Weaponization Fund is not principally a legal problem awaiting a judicial fix. It is a shockingly egregious political abuse—the President suing his own government, purporting to settle with himself, and routing nearly $2 billion from the Treasury to his own supporters as a not-so-subtle (and not-so-formal) reward, if not an incentive, for political violence. And the Constitution’s answer to political abuses of this kind and magnitude is a political remedy, not a legal one. In his majority opinion in NFIB v. Sebelius (the Affordable Care Act case from 2012), Chief Justice Roberts defended the Court’s endorsement of Congress’s power to adopt the individual mandate by noting that it is “not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.” As much of a judicial supremacist as I am, that sentiment is, for better or worse, an entirely correct (and, in the long term, normatively desirable) institutional assessment. One can believe in substantial judicial power without believing that literally every political dispute in our country can and should be resolved by unelected judges. The real upshot of this latest headline (among so, so many other similar headlines) is that it is past time to reinvigorate impeachment—not because conviction is realistic in this Senate, or even because impeachment itself is feasible in this House, but because forcing every member of Congress to vote on the record whether this brazen, corrosive, and affirmatively dangerous corruption is impeachable is itself a point worth fighting for (and fighting with our friends over). Assuming the courts will save us absolves our political leaders of both responsibility and accountability for allowing this kind of mischief to continue, and it absolves all of us of our responsibility to refuse to tolerate those who would just as quickly shrug their shoulders and move on. For those who aren’t paid subscribers, we’ll be back (no later than) Monday with our continuing coverage of the Supreme Court. For those who are, please read on.
D-Wave Quantum and Department of Commerce Sign Letter of Intent for $100 Million in CHIPS and Science Act Funding to Accelerate U.S. Leadership in Quantum Computing
D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS), (“D-Wave” or the “Company”), the only dual-platform quantum computing company providing both annealing and gate-model syste...
Republicans could abandon $1bn proposal for Trump’s ballroom
Republican senators have queried the timing and lack of detail in secret service bid to add money to the Department for Homeland security bill
HHS warns of children’s screen time use, citing impact on sleep, mental health
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warned about children’s screen time in an advisory released Wednesday, citing impacts on sleep and mental health. The “Surgeon General’s Warn…
One GOP congressman is vowing to end Trump’s $1.8 billion compensation fund for allies
One Republican congressman says he is exploring ways to end the Trump Justice Department’s move to establish a tax-payer fueled “anti-weaponization” fund, a move likely to draw the ire of President Donald Trump.
Gov. Polis signs prison bill targeting Colorado’s overcrowding crisis
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday signed a corrections bill that seeks to ease chronic overcrowding in state prisons by expanding earned‑time credits and launching a new working group to overhaul population management. Senate Bill 159 establishes a working group to make recommendations for how the Department of Corrections can reduce overcrowding in its facilities. […]
Councilwoman Jurado Calls for Exploration of Entertainment Zone for DTLA
In a bid to support night life and economic development in downtown Los Angeles, Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado introduced a motion Wednesday calling for a report on the feasibility of establishing a so-called “entertainment zone.” If approved by the full City Council, the motion would direct city departments to analyze state law and evaluate potential implementation […]
Jurado Calls for Exploration of Entertainment Zones for DTLA
In a bid to support night life and economic development in downtown Los Angeles, Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado introduced a motion Wednesday calling for a report on the feasibility of establishing so-called “entertainment zones.” If approved by the full City Council, the motion would direct city departments to analyze state law and evaluate potential implementation requirements […]
Essentia Health-Virginia breaks ground on new emergency department
Essentia Health staff, community partners, local leaders and elected officials gathered Wednesday, May 20, to break ground on a new emergency department at Essentia Health-Virginia, marking the start of construction on a $13 million project that will improve the patient experience and strengthen emergency care on the Iron Range.
Philly scrapyard brush fires near train tracks trigger health department air quality alert
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health is investigating air quality concerns due to a large brush fire near Glenwood Avenue, urging residents to take precautions and avoid the area.
Philly health department notifies Center City dental patients of possible exposure to hepatitis, HIV
City health officials are recommending disease testing for some patients of Smiles at Rittenhouse Square following “unsanitary practices.”
Philly’s Smiles on the Square dental patients should get tested for HIV, hepatitis, health department says
The dentist's license has been temporarily suspended for unsafe sterilization practices.
Patients warned of possible exposure at dental clinic in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse
Patients at a dental clinic in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse section may have been exposed to hepatitis C, hepatitis B, and HIV, according to the Philadelphia Health Department
US plans to indict former Cuban president Raúl Castro
The US Justice Department is working to secure criminal charges against former Cuban president Raúl Castro, according to sources familiar. Follow here for the latest.
Birmingham VA Receives Funding for Infrastructure Improvements
The Birmingham VA Health Care System has received funding for infrastructure improvement projects as part of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ nationwide Non
Whooping cough cases confirmed at another Pasadena school, health officials say
The Pasadena Public Health Department Health announced it is investigating an outbreak of whooping cough involving three confirmed cases at Blair Middle School.
Trump orders banks to take closer look at clients' citizenship
The order instructs bank regulators and government departments to identify signs of people without legal status opening accounts or obtaining loans
Trump orders banks to take closer look at clients' citizenship
The order instructs bank regulators and government departments to identify signs of people without legal status opening accounts or obtaining loans
MSE Department Holds 43rd Annual Hilliard Symposium
The event honors the memory of Professor John E. Hilliard and included a keynote address from alum Muratahan Aykol.
Health department building to be razed, redeveloped
The city of Toledo has received a $571,342 state grant to remove asbetos and demolish the 73-year-old building occupied by the Toledo-Lucas County Health ...
As Cape Cod businesses gear up for summer, visa delays are holding up seasonal workers
The J-1 visa program brings some 5,000 foreign student workers to the Cape each summer. But State Department officials have reduced staff, prioritized other visas for the World Cup, and are even scrutinizing applicants' social media accounts. This is putting both workers and businesses in limbo ahead of tourist season.
Fresno County departments of behavioral and public health allowed at Pride Festival
With unanimous approval from Fresno County supervisors on Tuesday, the departments of behavioral and public health can spend money to participate in this year's Fresno Rainbow Pride Festival.
UW-Milwaukee graduate plans to support firefighter mental health
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Thousands of UW-Milwaukee students celebrated graduation over the weekend, including Bella Lipski, daughter of the Milwaukee Fire Department’s chief.
25 states and DC sue Education Department over loan limits, citing health system strain
Democratic attorneys general in more than 20 states and Washington, D.C., on Tuesday filed suit against the Education Department over new limits set to go into effect for graduate student loan borr…
Former prosecutor who railed against Trump’s weaponization of DOJ wins Dem primary
Zach Dembo, a former federal prosecutor and Navy JAG officer, won the Democratic primary for Kentucky's 6th Congressional District to replace outgoing Rep. Andy Barr.
Possible human remains discovered at Rock Hill business: Police
The Rock Hill Police Department is investigating the discovery of possible human remains in the crawl space of a business on Oakland Ave.
2026 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Award
Undergraduate senior biochemistry student Lillian Ott (Mohanty group) has been awarded the 2026 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship, one of the country’s most prestigious honors for graduate students in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The program, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force, supports doctoral students across a broad range of scientific and technological fields of strategic importance. This highly competitive fellowship provides full tuition, fees, and a monthly stipend for three years. In 2026, only 102 fellowships were awarded nationwide. Lillian also received an honorable mention for the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). Studying biochemistry at UCLA, Lillian became excited about how her physical science background could be applied to solve environmental issues. She joined the Subsurface Engineering Analysis Laboratory (SEA Lab) led by Professor Sanjay Mohanty in the Samueli’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. In the SEA lab, she has studied the fate and transport of per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS are ubiquitous “forever chemicals” and known carcinogens that impact water quality worldwide. This fall, she will begin her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University with Professor Nina Zhao. Her research will be focused on metabolomics and the discovery of unrecognized chemical determinants of environmental and human health. “I have seen the serious and unforeseen environmental and health consequences from man-made chemicals like PFAS and microplastics, which are often only appreciated after the damage has been done. I hope that my research can lead to more sustainable chemical design and inform policy and solutions-based innovation in public health and water quality engineering,” Lillian said. Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
25 States Sue Over Changes Limiting Federal Loans for Nursing Degrees
Governors and attorneys general from the states and District of Columbia argue the Education Department’s decision not to label nursing as a professional degree will contribute to worker shortages.
CT Department of Correction plans to address healthcare delays
The CT Department of Correction announced a slate of reforms focused on improving the quality of healthcare for people who are incarcerated.
Blanche faces senators on new Trump ‘weaponization’ fund, Epstein, budget cuts
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced lawmakers Tuesday for the first time since taking the role, answering to bipartisan questions about his department’s newly created “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
Taylor Bishop soars toward political career thanks to MSU internships
When Taylor Bishop (Class of 2026) came to Morehead State University from nearly three hours away in Greensburg, he found two things that put him on a clear path to college graduation and his future career. The first was his interest in history growing up, which expanded into political science after he started taking classes at MSU. "I really got interested in politics when I got to Morehead State," Bishop said. "It was like learning a language that I'd never known, and I fell in love with it instantly." The second key factor that shaped much of Bishop's college experience was taking his First-Year Seminar with instructor Rebecca Wright. Wright is also the coordinator of internships for MSU's Center for Career Development & Experiential Education and gave Bishop some important advice. For more information on gaining real-world experience like education abroad and internships at Morehead State University, contact the Center for Career Development & Experiential Education at careerservices@moreheadstate.edu or 606-783-2233. To learn more about MSU's Department of History, Philosophy, Politics, Global Studies and Legal Studies programs, contact hgpl@moreheadstate.edu or 606-783-2655. "You need to get internships wherever you can so it can get you wherever you want." Bishop took those words to heart and for much of his undergraduate career, he benefited from several meaningful experiences outside of the classroom that expanded both his knowledge and his confidence to succeed.
UPDATE: ONLY Youth and Social Services, and Health Department Offices Closed Thursday, May 21st
UPDATE: PARKS AND RECREATION OFFICES WILL REMAIN OPENParks and Recreation, Youth and Social Services, and the Health Dep
Art Beer & Wine Announces Entertainment Lineup; Seeks Additional Volunteers
Airdate: May 19th, 2026 Boys Golf Cascades Conference Championship, 5-19-26 | Photo GalleryMay 19, 2026JCDOT Progress Report on Airport Road and Bridge ProjectsMay 19, 2026Sheriff’s Department Reports on “Swatting” Incidents; Announces Annual Open HouseMay 19, 2026Art Beer & Wine Announces Entertainment Lineup; Seeks Additional VolunteersMay 19, 2026Jessica Wade & Katie Hosse, Lean Rocket LOCAL Fellows…
Jessica Wade & Katie Hosse, Lean Rocket LOCAL Fellows Launch Business
Airdate: May 19th, 2026 Boys Golf Cascades Conference Championship, 5-19-26 | Photo GalleryMay 19, 2026JCDOT Progress Report on Airport Road and Bridge ProjectsMay 19, 2026Sheriff’s Department Reports on “Swatting” Incidents; Announces Annual Open HouseMay 19, 2026Art Beer & Wine Announces Entertainment Lineup; Seeks Additional VolunteersMay 19, 2026Jessica Wade & Katie Hosse, Lean Rocket LOCAL Fellows…
U.S. government agrees to drop tax claims against Trump in broadening of IRS lawsuit settlement
The one-page document posted to the Department of Justice website Tuesday says the U.S. is “forever barred and precluded” from examining or prosecuting Trump, his sons and the Trump organization’s current tax issues.
Random L.A. County residents can get paid to fill out health department survey: Here’s who
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has launched the 10th cycle of the county’s Health Survey, but not everyone will be able to fill it out and get a monetary reward for doing so. T…
Health worker shortage will worsen with federal loan limit, 25 states say in suit
The lawsuit comes after the Education Department finalized rules that reduce the amount of money graduate students can borrow from the federal government.
Court Rules for Small Businesses, Dismisses Case Threatening Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program
Coalition of Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses and Trade Organizations Triumphs After Intervening to Defend Equity Department of Transportation Program
Sustainable Ag Named National Science Foundation Research Fellow
Sydney Bryson, a sustainable land and food systems major in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design, was named an NSF Graduate Research Fellow.
Pentagon watchdog evaluating US operations involving strikes on alleged drug boats
The Defense Department’s internal watchdog has said it is evaluating US Southern Command’s operations that have included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
MICC kicks off 2026 small business engagement, offers one-on-one sessions
The U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command kicks off its 2026 Advanced Planning Briefing for Industry May 18, bringing together contracting professionals, small business representatives and industry partners for a week long engagement focused on transparency, innovation and Army readiness. Hosted May 18-22 virtually by MICC’s Office of Small Business Programs, the 2026 APBI began with day one briefings from senior Army and MICC leaders, including MICC Commanding General Brig. Gen. Freddy Adams and MICC Deputy to the Commanding General Clay Cole. Attendees also heard from the Department of the Army Office of Small Business Programs, representatives from MICC’s Office of Small Business Programs and leaders from the 418th Contracting Support Brigade, 419th Contracting Support Brigade, the Field Directorate Office at Fort Eustis and the Field Directorate Office at Fort Sam Houston.
These Memphis restaurants got perfect health inspection scores in April
Tennessee Health Department inspectors performed hundreds of health inspections in Shelby County in April. These 29 restaurants earned perfect scores.
Blanche will face questions from lawmakers over a nearly $1.8B fund to compensate Trump allies
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears on Capitol Hill for his first congressional testimony since taking over at the Justice Department.
Events to promote Mental Health Awareness, AAPI Heritage months
One of the featured events is an address on AI by Ryan Lee, MD, chair of the UNMC Department of Radiology.
Trump administration proposes admitting more White South African refugees
The Trump administration is proposing increasing the refugee admissions ceiling to 17,500 for White South Africans, according to a State Department report to Congress obtained by CNN.
How farmers reap benefits of historic meat science discoveries
Nebraska’s meat science department is celebrating its 100th birthday, and the impact of the program runs deep in the livestock industry.
Georgia’s agribusiness industry depends on a thriving, fully funded public health system
In the fiscal year 2027 budget that Gov. Brian Kemp signed last week, less than one in every 10 state dollars spent on Georgia’s three primary health agencies is allocated to the Department of Public Health. The future of Georgia’s No. 1 industry relies on a state and local public health system that can track […]
Kudos to Cheer Club, College of Business faculty, Cybersecurity team and more
Becky Cottrell, Ph.D., Department of Social Work, and Bridget Arend, Ph.D., School of Education Becky Cottrell from the Department of Social Work and Bridget Arend, Ph.D., from the School of Education co-authored an article recently published in an international journal. Read the article. Biff Baker, Ph.D., College of Business Biff Baker, Ph.D., received a Best in Track award from the Society for Advancement of Management for research examining bureaucratic inefficiencies within Section 8 subsidized housing programs. The study focuses on how administrative delays and communication breakdowns can create housing instability for families and discourage landlord participation. It also offers recommendations to improve accountability and trust in public housing systems. Brendan Fry, Ph.D., Department of Mathematics and Statistics Brendan Fry, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, co-authored the article “Modeling the Impact of Venous Collapsibility on Retinal Oxygenation,” published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. The interdisciplinary research brought together scholars from the University of Delaware, Indiana University Indianapolis, McGill University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. Access the article. Bridget Arend, Ph.D., School of Education Bridget Arend, Ph.D., professor in the School of Education, co-published the book “Facilitating Seven Ways of Learning: A Resource for More Purposeful, Effective, and Enjoyable College Teaching, Second Edition” with James R. Davis. The book explores practical approaches to improving college teaching and student learning experiences. Buy the book. College of Business Faculty At the 2026 Western Decision Sciences Institute international conference, Sally Baalbaki-Yassine, Ph.D., Debora Gilliard, Ph.D., and David Lynn Hoffman, Ph.D., from the College of Business received the Best Case Study Paper Award for “Oreo: A Global Success Story in Brand Evolution and Market Leadership.” Lisa McVicker, Ph.D., and Apryl Brodersen, Ph.D., also had their paper, “Electronic Performance Monitoring: Employer Panacea or Legal Quagmire?” accepted for publication in the Journal of Business Leadership. Community Engagement Exchange Program Metropolitan State University of Denver was selected to host international Fellow Aleja Henao Espitia of Bogotá, Colombia through the Community Engagement Exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State. View Espitia's LinkedIn profile. David Varel, Ph.D., College of Letters, Arts and Sciences MSU Denver historian David Varel, Ph.D., has been awarded a 2026 ACLS Fellowship by the American Council of Learned Societies. The fellowship program supports outstanding scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, and selected just 63 scholars from more than 2,000 applicants this year. Varel’s project, “The Black Chicago School: Academic Activism in the Age of American Apartheid,” explores the work of Black scholars who challenged scientific racism, built alternative institutions and helped lay the foundation for the modern civil rights movement. The fellowship provides up to $60,000 to support full-time research and writing. Learn more about the fellowship. MSU Denver Office of Financial Aid Team Several MSU Denver employees were recognized for leadership and service during the Colorado Association of Financial Aid Administrators (CAFAA) conference held in May in Crested Butte. Don Holtzen, interim associate director of systems, chaired the conference and was recognized for his service as CAFAA conference chair and technology chair during the 2025-26 term. Holtzen also received the Postsecondary Institution Professional of the Year award, which recognizes financial-aid professionals who have made significant contributions to their institutions and to CAFAA. Tori Pacheco, associate director of Student Services, helped design décor and facilitate the conference and was recognized for her service as CAFAA secretary during the 2025-26 term. Destiny Candelaria, call center coordinator, served on the conference planning committee and presented on One Stops during the event. Michael Nguyen, executive director of Financial Aid and Scholarships, assisted as a CAFAA board member and was recognized for serving as president-elect during the 2025-26 term. Richard Balbag, program assistant I, received the Distinguished Support Staff Member of the Year award, honoring staff members who have made exceptional contributions to their financial-aid offices. Military Friendly Recognition Military Friendly has awarded MSU Denver Gold Status as a military-friendly university and ranked the University No. 7 nationally for military spouses. The recognition reflects MSU Denver’s strong support systems for veterans and military spouses, including transfer credit assistance and retention-focused resources. As of 2026, 1,050 military-connected students are enrolled at the University, advancing institutional priorities around serving veterans and supporting student retention. MSU Denver Cheer Club The MSU Denver Cheer Club earned third place in the 4-Year College Small Coed Intermediate division at the USA Spirit Nationals. Celebrate the win on Instagram. MSU Denver Cybersecurity Team An MSU Denver cybersecurity team earned first place in the Strategist category at the 2026 CYBER RECon National Competition hosted at Fort Meade, Maryland, by U.S. Cyber Command. Led by Jeffrey London, Ph.D., and undergraduate student Matthew Bopp, the team competed against universities and law schools nationwide with its 30-page legal analysis on cybersecurity and free speech titled “Freedom of Speech and MDM: Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformation.” The paper also earned Bopp a personal invitation to apply to the University of Maryland School of Law. MSU Denver Debate Team MSU Denver Debate won the 2026 Sierra Sustainability Summit hosted at Yosemite National Park in April. Students Kat Conte and Simon Bernhard bested teams from George Washington University, Gallaudet University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the University of San Francisco and Tennessee Tech in the modified present-and-defend style competition. Their proposal recommended adapting Colorado’s Keep Colorado Wild Pass model to support California state parks facing budget constraints. Learn about the summit. MSU Denver Women’s Golf MSU Denver Women’s Golf was represented on the national stage this month as junior Neige Dunn competed as an individual at the NCAA West Regional. She became the first Roadrunner in 10 years to qualify for NCAA Regionals as an individual. Get the details.
This unsealed Apollo 17 photo is the 'most significant evidence' in new UAP release, says doc director
'The Age of Disclosure' director Dan Farah reacts to the new tranche of UAP files released by the Department of War, singling out one image from the Apollo 17 moon landing as the 'most significant evidence.'
Crime Reports: Investigation into ‘deceptive business practice’ conducted at Abilene restaurant
Editor’s Note: The Abilene Police Department supplied the following arrest and incident reports. All information below is based on reports made by responding officers, and all suspects are considered ...
Ballad Health announces construction underway on Johnson City ER expansion project
Ballad Health says construction is now underway on a major expansion of the emergency department at Johnson City Medical Center.
Luling mass shooting threat at local business: Man taken into custody
The Luling Police Department says a man threatened his wife and claimed he might carry out a mass shooting on May 15.
Popular Thai-inspired cocktail bar in Highland Park temporarily closed by health department
A popular Highland Park cocktail bar that serves Thai street food-inspired fare has temporarily closed its doors after county health inspectors cited it for health code violations. The Goldfish at …
Balancing act: 26 Sun Devils sports present unique challenges in NIL era
Arizona State’s athletic department faces unique challenges in sponsoring 26 varsity sports teams, especially with the rise of name, image, and likeness.
Justice Department announces a $1.7 billion 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' fund to compensate Trump allies
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in announcing the fund in a statement that it was "a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress."
Adult dies of hantavirus in Colorado, state health officials say
An adult in Colorado has died after a confirmed case of hantavirus that is not linked to a recent outbreak aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials said in a statement on Monday.
New MatterChat Model Helps AI to ‘See’ the Language of Science
From writing emails to generating computer code, much of the artificial intelligence prevalent in our daily lives has succeeded by mastering one domain: text. However, this leaves a major blind spot in the physical sciences, where models depend on the high-resolution, three-dimensional data of the physical world, like the intricate lattice of atoms in a crystal. Delivering on the promise of using AI for science requires teaching these data-driven text models to seamlessly “talk to” physics-based models. Now, a new AI framework from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), called MatterChat, solves this problem by creating a specialized “bridge.” It connects the conversational power of a Large Language Model (LLM) with a physics-based AI that models “interatomic potentials”: the complex physical forces between atoms. The resulting system already significantly outperforms general-purpose AI tools like GPT-4 at predicting material properties, and the team hopes it can accelerate scientific discovery by serving as a robust research partner that provides grounded insights and generates step-by-step instructions for synthesizing novel materials. A paper describing this work was recently published in Nature Machine Intelligence. “Traditional simulations can provide the physical rigor required for materials science, yet their computational cost remains prohibitive for high-throughput screening. Conversely, while LLMs excel at rapid knowledge synthesis, they inherently lack the ‘structural vision’ to interpret materials directly from their underlying atomic coordinates,” said Yingheng Tang, a postdoctoral researcher in Berkeley Lab’s Applied Math and Computational Research Division (AMCR) and lead author on the paper. “MatterChat was built to solve this dilemma, empowering LLMs with a structural ‘vision’ that allows researchers to leverage their full potential for solving complex, real-world materials challenges.” Empowering language models to solve complex challenges in materials science To build MatterChat, the Berkeley Lab team drew inspiration from technologies like Vision Question Answering (VQA) and Text-to-Image (T2I) generation. In these tasks, AI must translate high-level text concepts into visual images, or vice versa. Doing so requires developers to build tools that “bridge” two fundamentally different forms of data. The researchers adapted this concept to the physical sciences. With MatterChat, they created a “bridge model” that successfully connects an LLM’s general knowledge with the deep understanding of the atomic-scale world encoded in scientific interatomic potentials. Until now, researchers using LLMs to solve materials problems usually had to feed them raw data files as if they were just strings of text. It’s like asking an AI to understand a complex 3D engine based only on a parts list: the LLM can read the names, but it can’t “see” how the atoms fit together in space. MatterChat solves this by training a specialized AI bridge model, pre-trained on millions of crystal structures and an LLM, to align the LLM’s representation of the world with the interatomic potential’s representation of the world. The bridge model can translate physical insights into a format the LLM can actually understand. By giving the LLM these “scientific eyes”— a scientific “inductive bias” in the terminology of AI — the Berkeley Lab team has transformed it into a robust research tool capable of providing grounded scientific insights into complex materials challenges, such as predicting thermal stability or analyzing electronic band gaps. “We think of atoms as living in a physical space, but from a machine learning perspective, they are just vectors living in some very non-trivially structured manifold in a high-dimensional Euclidean space; and, of course, the same is true for the sentences and paragraphs that we use to express our ideas about those atoms,” said co-author Michael Mahoney, Berkeley Lab’s Scientific Data Division (SDD) AI Initiative Research Lead. “The bridge model basically gets those two structures to ‘talk with’ each other.” As a proof-of-concept of this general approach, the team trained their bridge model on a dataset curated by pairing nearly 143,000 stable atomic structures from the Materials Project with their corresponding physical properties. This training data was automatically assembled using the Materials Project’s API and deliberately enriched with properties fundamental to microelectronics design — like formation energy and bandgap — allowing MatterChat to learn the complex patterns connecting a material’s atomic blueprint to its functional performance. To validate their model, the researchers benchmarked MatterChat against a suite of other AI systems, from general-purpose LLMs to other specialized scientific AI methods. The results show that MatterChat consistently outperformed its competitors across a range of tasks. The model was more accurate in classifying material types and demonstrated superior precision in predicting numerical properties. For example, it excelled at predicting a material’s bandgap, a property critical for designing new electronics from high-capacity energy storage to next-generation computer chips. “Our design is significantly more efficient because we don’t have to build a massive AI model from the ground up,” said co-author Zhi (Jackie) Yao, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s AMCR. “Instead, we take two powerful, pre-trained models — a structural encoder for materials physics and an open-source LLM — and use them off-the-shelf. The only component we actually train is the lightweight ‘bridge model’ that translates between them. It’s the difference between building an entire car factory and simply designing a smart adapter that connects a world-class engine to a world-class navigation system. This approach is not only computationally efficient, but also makes the system modular, so we can easily upgrade components or adapt the bridge for other scientific domains in the future.” Crucially, this modular design highlights exactly how institutions like Berkeley Lab and the Department of Energy are carving out a highly valuable niche in the booming AI landscape. Rather than competing with Silicon Valley tech giants to build ever-larger language models from scratch, the lab is focusing on the specialized connective tissue that makes commercial AI useful for hardcore science. Because the bridge model approach underlying MatterChat is forward-compatible, it is perfectly positioned to leverage these parallel tracks of innovation. As Mahoney pointed out, “We expect that industry will continue to develop improved LLMs, and we expect domain scientists and facilities will continue to generate new data. An important part of scientific machine learning is not simply to solve problems on today’s data, but instead to develop general methods that will be forward-compatible with orders of magnitude more data, whether from scientific domains or from LLMs.” According to Yao, the MatterChat project, which was initially developed and enhanced with funding from a Berkeley Lab Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) Program, will now expand its capabilities. In a collaboration with Fermilab, MatterChat is already contributing to a U.S. Department of Energy Genesis Mission project — called Accelerating eXtreme Environment Specs-to-Silicon (AXESS) — that aims to speed up the development of next-generation, high-speed, radiation-hardened detectors for challenging particle physics experiments by using advanced 3D integrated circuits (chiplets) and AI-driven data analysis. In addition to the LDRD support, the team also credits supercomputing resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), located at Berkeley Lab, with MatterChat’s success. “We are incredibly grateful to NERSC; this research simply would not have happened without access to the Perlmutter supercomputer through their AI for Science program,” said Tang. Wenbin Xu, a NERSC postdoctoral fellow at the time, was also a major co-author of the work, as was Benjamin Erichson, a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s SDD, highlighting the benefits of AMCR-SDD collaboration on AI for science. ### Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is committed to groundbreaking research focused on discovery science and solutions for abundant and reliable energy supplies. The lab’s expertise spans materials, chemistry, physics, biology, earth and environmental science, mathematics, and computing. Researchers from around the world rely on the lab’s world-class scientific facilities for their own pioneering research. Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest problems are best addressed by teams, Berkeley Lab and its scientists have been recognized with 17 Nobel Prizes. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
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