Experts Matter. Find Yours.
Connect for media, speaking, professional opportunities & more.
Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics appoints new director
Dr Krzysztof Kredens, a reader in forensic linguistics at the University, took up the position on 1 August 2024 The move comes after founding director, Professor Tim Grant, announced he was stepping down Dr Nicci MacLeod, who completed her PhD at the university in 2006, has been promoted to deputy director. The Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics (AIFL) has announced the appointment of Dr Krzysztof Kredens as its new director. Dr Kredens is a reader in forensic linguistics and was one of the three founding members of the Centre for Forensic Linguistics (CFL), the predecessor to AIFL, when he joined Aston University in 2007. He takes over the role vacated by fellow founding member of the Centre and latterly Institute, Professor Tim Grant, who steps down after five years as AIFL Director, and another six as CFL director prior to that. Dr Nicci MacLeod has been appointed as deputy director, with both commencing their new roles on 1 August 2024. Dr MacLeod is a senior lecturer in forensic linguistics and has been involved with the subject at the University since beginning her PhD in 2006. She has been programme director for the MA Forensic Linguistics since 2022. The mission of AIFL is to improve the delivery of justice through the analysis of language. Its experts study forensic texts and contexts producing academically rigorous, high impact research using insights and methods from diverse areas of linguistics to achieve this mission. Dr Kredens said: “I am delighted to be taking up the role of director at the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics. “On behalf of the Institute, I would like to thank Professor Tim Grant for his service as CFL/AIFL Director. His leadership over the years has been invaluable and his impact has been profound. “While he will be stepping down from his role, he will continue to share his expertise and experience and keep contributing to AIFL and the University in other capacities. Dr MacLeod said: “It has been a genuine privilege to work under Tim’s Directorship, and we look forward to his continuing involvement with AIFL for many years to come. Having been involved with forensic linguistics at Aston University for the past eighteen years, I am thrilled to take on this new role and excited to continue this important work. Professor Grant said: “Being Director of AIFL has been the highlight and privilege of my career so far, and deciding to step back one of the biggest decisions. I’m delighted with the appointment of Krzysztof and Nicci as director and deputy director, and excited to see where they take AIFL next.”
The project is a collaboration between Aston University, the University of Sheffield and The Resolution Foundation The project aims to leverage new, big data to help understand regional economic disparities It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Aston University, in collaboration with the University of Sheffield and The Resolution Foundation, has launched a significant research project to understand regional productivity and wage disparities in the UK. The project has received £300,000 in funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to uncover the factors driving economic imbalances using recent, big data. The research will analyse how various factors such as workers' education, location choices, business types and sizes and regional infrastructure contribute to wage and productivity differences over the past 20 years. The aim is to understand these differences and suggest practical solutions for national and local governments. Researchers will explore potential drivers of regional productivity gaps, including the clustering of highly skilled workers, regional industrial structures, and local endowments like transport links and housing availability. The findings will help identify effective policy measures to reduce these imbalances. This project also aims to demonstrate how data analysis can help understand regional economic disparities. By reducing start-up costs for future research, it will build a community focused on tackling spatial economic imbalances. Dr Anastasios Kitsos, a senior lecturer in economics at Aston Business School and principal investigator (PI) on the project, said: “This project will analyse the relative importance of productivity drivers using novel, granular data from linked administrative datasets covering workers, firms and localities in England since the 2000s. “This analysis will shed light into how much spatial productivity gaps can be explained by the characteristics of people, firms and places over time, and identify intrinsically more productive locations. “Understanding and addressing the root causes of the UK's severe spatial disparities in economic performance is crucial for fostering inclusive, regionally balanced growth and enhancing national productivity. This project aims to provide actionable insights and build a foundation for future research and policy development in this critical area. “The results will be shared in a comprehensive report detailing these influences over the past 20 years and offering policy recommendations for governments on skills, innovation, infrastructure, and local development strategies.”
National Institutes of Health award $1.827 million for research on collective cell migration
Priscilla Hwang, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University, has received a National Institutes of Health grant for $1.827 million over five years. The award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences will support Hwang’s innovative research project “Dissecting mechanisms of collective migration” and provide mentorship for student researchers from the high school to graduate level. Collective migration, where groups of cells move together in a coordinated manner, is critical for the successful development of tissues and plays a vital role in wound healing, metastasis, and other biological processes. Dysregulation in collective migration is often linked to developmental abnormalities and disease progression. Despite its importance, the mechanics and mechanisms driving collective migration remain poorly understood. The project is organized around three primary goals: Investigate the effect of biomechanical cues to activate leader cells and directional collective migration: Understand how biomechanical signals activate leader cells to guide the migration of cell groups. Elucidate which and how leader cell mechanics are responsible for leader cell development: Identify the specific mechanical properties and behaviors that enable leader cells to emerge and lead the collective migration process. Examine the role of cell junctional forces in collective migration: Explore how the forces at cell contacts contribute to the overall migration and coordination among cells. Hwang will leverage her expertise in 3D microphysiological systems to study collective migration in dynamic, physiologically relevant environments. Her work aims to uncover the mechanisms by which leader cells sense and respond to mechanical forces in their environment, driving the collective migration of cells. “Our understanding of collective migration, especially the mechanics and mechanisms driving this phenomenon, is very limited,” Hwang said. “Our proposal will significantly accelerate our progress toward a comprehensive understanding of collective migration and lay the foundation for advancing treatment for developmental abnormalities or diseases.” The NIH grant will also expand student research and mentoring opportunities. “This Maximizing Investigators Research Award (MIRA) only goes to the most highly talented and promising investigators, and Dr. Hwang is most deserving,” said Rebecca L. Heise, Ph.D., Inez A. Caudill, Jr. Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering . “The award will provide support for undergraduate and predoctoral research opportunities in this important area of fundamental research that has an impact on neonatal development, cancer, and fibrotic disease.” To ensure diverse perspectives are considered throughout the project, Hwang said students from diverse populations will be recruited, including underrepresented minorities, women, and first-generation college students. “Further, we will continue to share our passion for science with the community through developing hands-on outreach activities based on our research findings,” she added.
How vulnerable are US energy facilities
Earlier this month, alarm bells were ringing at the Justice Department after a Jordanian citizen was arrested for targeting and breaking into solar power facility farm in Florida. During that same time period, energy facilities in New Jersey and Idaho also came under attack. The attacks were politically motivated and have led national media outlets like USA Today to contact experts from Carnegie Mellon University to help explain the situation and break if all down. The Department of Homeland Security has issued warnings that domestic extremists have been developing "credible, specific plans" since at least 2020 and would continue to "encourage physical attacks against electrical infrastructure." Industry experts, federal officials, and others have warned in one report after another since at least 1990 that the power grid was at risk, said Granger Morgan, an engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University. One challenge is that there's no single entity whose responsibilities span the entire system, Morgan said. And the risks are only increasing as the grid expands to include renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, he said. August 15, 2024 - USA TODAY Professor Granger's comments are startling as America's vulnerabilities to important infrastructure seem to be more exposed than ever. And if you're a journalist looking to cover this emerging topic - then let us help with your questions and stories. Morgan Granger is available to speak with media - simply click on his icon below to arrange an interview today. Photo Credit: Zbynek Burival
West Sanctions Russian Aviation, But Moscow Decides to Keep Planes Flying Despite Risks When the U.S. and its allies slapped sanctions on Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, severing aviation links was at the top of the list. Direct flights vanished and Russian airlines lost access to spare parts for their foreign airplanes. In retaliation, Vladimir Putin’s regime impounded foreign aircraft and shut off the world’s largest air space to countries imposing sanctions. Not since the early 1980s—when the U.S. suspended routes to the USSR over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, repression in Poland and downing of a Korean Air Lines plane—have aviation ties between the two countries dipped so low. Aviation sanctions today are having an impact but come with a major risk. If the fatal crash of a jetliner killing hundreds is linked to the lack of spare parts, Putin will blame sanctions and the West. The stakes are high as Russia seeks to use any issue from cluster bombs to soccer to widen cracks in Western unity over Ukraine. To get ahead of this, U.S. policymakers and their allies need to better explain the effects of sanctions, why they’re worth the risk and why the Russian state, not the West, is ultimately responsible for any fatal crash. U.S. government assessments place Russian aviation among sectors negatively impacted by sanctions. A closer look shows widening success in degrading this increasingly weak link in Russia’s political economy. By late 2021, foreign aircraft comprised 70% of Russia’s fleet of 801 passenger airplanes, which included 298 Airbuses, 236 Boeings, and 23 other foreign aircraft such as Embraers. In addition, 95% of Russian airline flights were on foreign-made aircraft. Consequently, sanctions aimed at depriving spare parts for foreign airplanes have caused many disruptions such as fare increases to cover higher costs of repairs. Some of Russia’s 53 airlines have periodically suspended or stopped flying some of their foreign planes. Reports of Russian airlines’ cannibalization of foreign aircraft similarly underscore a dire situation. Less well known is how sanctions hurt Russian manufacturing since Western technology is critical to aircraft such as the Sukhoi Superjet 100, which uses a French-Russian engine (though Russians are working on a substitution). Production of the Yakovlev design bureau’s MC-21 passenger airplane faces significant delays due to sanctions that force substitution of its Western-made parts. Sanctions even helped push Russia out of a joint venture with China to produce the CR929 widebody aircraft. While China is happy to help Russia thwart sanctions, this plane needs Western systems that sanctions complicate. In response, Russia has adapted to and thwarted some aviation sanctions, which I predicted would happen because Putin’s regime is reproducing a state-centered aviation sector rooted in the Soviet past. The war has accelerated the state’s growing control over this vital economic sector, which began before Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine. Examples include the state’s 51% ownership of Aeroflot since 1994, the merger of two smaller, state-run airlines in 2003 and the consolidation of aircraft manufacturing in the state-owned United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), which was created in 2006. More recently, the Russian state has helped the country’s airlines weather sanctions by facilitating the illegal confiscation of foreign aircraft. Russian airlines have also proven resourceful by purchasing spare parts through brokers in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. Better known for supplying Russia with drones, Iran also agreed to provide Russian airlines with spare parts and has been fixing an Aeroflot Airbus for months. Many foreign airlines continue to fly to Russia, and Putin’s regime rewards friendly countries with overflight rights. But the longer sanctions remain, the harder it’s getting for Russia. To regain profitable foreign routes, its airlines are receiving government assistance to legitimately purchase the Western aircraft they illegally seized, although recent holdups in allocating such funds are causing doubts. In a throwback to the Soviet era, Putin’s regime boasts that Russia doesn’t need the West’s airplanes anyway since its one manufacturer, the UAC, will pick up the slack. Such import substitution is unlikely to succeed, as multiple delays suggest. More likely, Russia’s aviation sector will grow more reliant on the state, if not actually part of it like the UAC. This will make Russian aviation less efficient, less innovative and more expensive. Iranian airlines, which have long suffered under foreign sanctions despite some success circumventing them, present their Russian counterparts with a grim vision of the future such as being shut out of lucrative air travel markets and falling behind in emerging aviation technology. How does this shape safety in Russia’s skies? The short answer is that it’s not as bad as headlines suggest and the impact of sanctions is ambiguous at best. Click bait stories paint a dire picture but often conflate commercial, military and general aviation into alarming numbers that do not accurately capture what ordinary passengers face. Some accounts, such as one claiming 120 accidents occurred in 2023, provide few details or sources. Annual safety reports from Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) allow for comparison over time but often obscure Russia’s situation by combining data from each post-Soviet state it monitors. Its 2019 report is mysteriously missing and its decision not to investigate the fatal crash of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Embraer Legacy 600 plane suggests meddling from above. That said, the IAC source base is the most systematic we have. Keeping in mind the potential for the politicization of its conclusions, what does a critical reading of its data alongside other sources suggest? First, fatal crashes in commercial and general aviation actually decreased in Russia from 18 in 2021 to 13 in 2022, and related deaths decreased from 70 to 24. Data for the first half of 2023 points in the same direction, with six fatal crashes and nine deaths. This trend was likely helped by the 14% decline in traffic after February 2022. While so many fatal crashes sound substantial, all but three in 2021 and all but one in 2022 involved small aircraft under 5,700 kilograms, not the jetliners we associate with most commercial flying. Absolute figures on crashes and deaths capture headlines but they don’t say much about safety without considering their relation to passengers flown or departures. According to the IAC, the rate of aviation accidents and the rate of fatal crashes per one million departures both increased from 2020 to 2021 but then decreased in 2022. The IAC does not single out Russia from other post-Soviet states for this metric. But since Russia has the largest aviation sector among those countries, these data suggest that its aviation safety has not dramatically worsened since early 2022. Indeed, even critics who argue that Russian airlines are less safe partly because of sanctions conclude that “2022 and 2023 were also good years for airline safety [in Russia] compared to 2021.” Comparisons with the U.S. similarly suggest that passenger aviation is not as disastrous as some headlines suggest. The IAC data indicates that Russia and other post-Soviet states are usually but not always behind the U.S. in passenger aviation safety. In 2018, for example, IAC countries reported a 0.8 rate of fatal crashes per 1 million departures of passenger aircraft above 5,700 kilograms. Comparable statistics from the National Transportation Safety Board showed a 0.11 rate for that year for scheduled U.S. carrier flights. In 2019, the rates were 2.3 (IAC) and 0.10 (U.S.), but in 2020, both IAC countries and the U.S. enjoyed a 0.0 rate of fatal crashes. The following year, however, IAC countries reported a 1.9 rate of fatal crashes, whereas the NTSB reported a 0.0 rate.1 Against this background of Russian airline safety, let’s now turn to the impact of sanctions. While some commentators emphasize that no fatal crashes have been tied to sanctions, others claim they make Russian airlines unsafe and that it’s only a matter of time before such a fatal crash happens. Some even argue that life-threatening dangers prove aviation sanctions are effective and could help turn Russians against Putin. To reassure the public, Russian aviation officials insist the country’s airlines are safe despite sanctions, as do Russian business media and aviation journalists. This plays to Putin’s claims to legitimacy based in part on withstanding anything the West throws at him. In sharp contrast, Ukrainian media tells Russians their airlines are a disaster waiting to happen precisely because of sanctions. Independent Russian journalists banished by Putin concur, raising alarms about efforts to cover up the impact of sanctions and about the many ways Russian airlines cut corners on safety. In short, an information war exists around the morbid question of whether a Russian jetliner will crash and the role sanctions could play. Fears of a fatal crash were validated by the emergency landing of a Ural Airlines A320 in September, apparently caused by malfunctioning hydraulics tied to sanctions. But a closer examination by a Russian aviation journalist suggests the pilots played a more important role by pressing on to an airport for which there wasn’t enough fuel. Recent Russian state assessments of aviation safety similarly point to pilot error and poor training as the chief causes of aviation incidents. More generally, airplane disasters are usually caused by a convergence of factors—bad weather, a manageable mechanical failure and pilot error—not just one problem. In public discussions, however, pinpointing sanctions’ role tracks more with the politics of the war than technical expertise. At the end of the day, Russian airlines and aviation authorities are solely responsible for putting planes in the sky and Russians’ lives at risk. They continue to claim that everything is fine. But if a fatal crash of a Boeing or Airbus flown by a Russian airline kills hundreds, I predict this narrative will quickly change. Putin will blame the West as he does for everything else affecting his legitimacy, from Russia’s economic problems and his diplomatic failures to protests against his regime and even the war he started in Ukraine. Such a scenario will be a serious test for policymakers who argue that punishing Russia with sanctions is still worth it. To prepare for this, they need to take a page from the Biden administration’s release of intelligence on Russia’s military buildup before the full-scale invasion: publicize as much intelligence as possible on sanctions and their impact, as well as Russia’s aviation sector and what it does or doesn’t do to ensure safety. As Putin’s regime falls back on Soviet-era secrecy about airline safety, sharing such intelligence will be a powerful tool. This will also contribute to broader Western efforts at combatting Russia’s better known disinformation campaigns such as those denying its human rights abuses in Ukraine.
Expert Perspective: UMW's Steven E. Harris lends his opinion to The Russia File
The following piece was written by Steven E. Harris published by the Wilson Center in April 2024 Sanctions Are Spoiling Russia’s Plans to Make Its Own Airplanes Putin’s regime is feeling confident these days. Advances on the battlefield in Ukraine, expansions in armaments production, and the dithering of Republicans in the U.S. Congress show the war has turned in Russia’s favor. A well-orchestrated presidential election and some real public support buoy the regime. Political opponents are either dead, in prison, or in exile. Putin’s regime has also declared victory in blunting Western sanctions and now plans to permanently thwart them with programs of import substitution. Nowhere is this better seen than in aviation, where the state proclaims it will produce over a thousand new airplanes to replace the foreign aircraft its airlines have long flown. But this bold vision for aviation autarky has little chance of succeeding. Russia’s Short-Term Success in Blunting Aviation Sanctions Thus far, Putin’s regime has weathered aviation sanctions through a two-pronged strategy. First, Russian airlines illegally kept about 400 foreign airplanes—primarily Airbuses and Boeings—owned by foreign leasing companies. Second, the state bankrolled settlement claims in order to purchase some of these airplanes so that airlines could fly them abroad without risk of repossession and reduce their foreign debt. To date, approximately 170 foreign airplanes have been legally acquired in this fashion, and the Ministry of Transportation recently asked for more cash to continue settling claims on the remaining 230 foreign planes. The next question is how long Russian airlines, from the state-owned flag carrier Aeroflot to private companies such as S7 and Ural Air Lines, can continue flying their foreign planes. As I wrote in late October, safety has been degraded far less than predicted. But in the absence of spare parts, software updates, and thorough maintenance by foreign providers, Russian airlines have about two years before they will have to ground Boeings and Airbuses for major repairs performed using third-party spare parts. Anticipating the eventual retirement of foreign planes, Putin’s regime has embarked on a massive program to make all-Russian airplanes. This program promises independence from Western technology and leasing companies but reveals the success of sanctions and fundamental weaknesses in state capacity. The 2030 Aviation Manufacturing Plan Announced in June 2022, the program calls for the state-owned industrial conglomerate Rostec to manufacture 1,036 airplanes with only Russian parts by 2030. In January 2024, the state allocated 283 billion rubles (U.S. $3.1 billion) to help finance the production of 609 airplanes and prioritize medium-haul aircraft in the overall manufacturing plan. Before sanctions, Russian manufacturers produced a small number of narrow body, medium-haul airplanes such as the MC-21 and the Superjet-100 (SSJ-100) with Western components. Twelve SSJ-100s were manufactured in 2021 and ten the following year. Among the aircraft slated to replace Boeings and Airbuses, the plan called for production in 2023 of three medium-haul Tupolev-214 (Tu-214) airplanes and two Superjet-NEW planes (Superjet-100s with all-Russian parts). None of these were built. In fact, the state-owned United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) failed to manufacture a single passenger airplane in 2023. More recently, the UAC conceded further delays of up to two years for rollout of the MC-21, SSJ-NEW, and Tu-214, as well as of smaller, short-haul aircraft such as the Ilyushin-114 (Il-114) and the “Baikal.” The transition to total import substitution is proving difficult, making it impossible to fulfill early targets of the manufacturing plan. By withdrawing access to Western technology critical for manufacturing, sanctions have successfully shut down production. Russian manufacturers will produce at best inferior aircraft that fly shorter routes using more fuel. At its current rate, the UAC is unlikely to manufacture more than a dozen or so showcase narrow body airplanes before 2030. The manufacturer may have better luck producing simpler planes, such as the Baikal, but the state’s injection of 283 billion rubles doesn’t target its production or that of two other short-haul airplanes. Since the UAC will likely not meet the plan’s annual targets any time soon, Russia’s airlines will have to make do with their aging foreign airplanes and acquire spare parts from third parties. Putin admitted as much at his call-in event in December 2023, during which he praised the import-substitution plan but added that the government would continue to purchase illegally held foreign planes. What Will Russia’s Aviation Manufacturing Plan Actually Produce? Rather than produce new aircraft, the immediate purpose of the state’s manufacturing plan is political theater. The infusion of 283 billion rubles was meant to show the public, before the presidential elections, that Putin’s regime is serious about securing commercial aviation and to generate a sense of normalcy in the midst of war. In the long run, the manufacturing plan is more likely to produce further distortions in Russia’s political economy. These include corruption, secrecy, technologically backward aircraft, and even more state control over commercial aviation. The 283 billion rubles will help Rostec keep state-run subsidiaries such as the United Engine Corporation operating with soft budget constraints and favorable contracts that now lack any competition from Western firms. Executives will siphon off their share of the funds, while Putin’s regime will turn a blind eye as long as everyone remains loyal. If the manufacturing plan continues to falter, state-owned manufacturers will have more incentive to keep their failures secret. In 2023, for example, the Ural Civil Aviation Factory kept hidden cost overruns for the Baikal. When news of a 48 percent increase was finally publicized, Putin’s point man for the Far East region, Yuri Trutnev, was incensed and proclaimed, “Our people are like that: they don’t like to share information.” For now, Putin’s regime allows the Russian business media to report fairly openly about the country’s aviation industry on issues such as spare parts and safety, state subsidies, and shortfalls in production. But if commercial flying becomes more precarious and the manufacturing plan remains unfulfilled, the government will likely limit what the public knows about its airlines and long-term plans to maintain them. As the economic historian Mark Harrison shows in his recent book, Secret Leviathan, secrecy in the Soviet era significantly degraded state capacity in many areas, including production. Post-Soviet autocrats face a similar “secrecy/capacity tradeoff,” while newer techniques of disinformation further erode capacity. In attempting to revive the Soviet Union’s autarkic aviation industry, Putin’s regime will find it hard to avoid similar reductions in capacity. Insofar as Russia’s commercial aviation industry is concerned, the lesson for the West is that it pays to play the long game. Russia has effective tools for blunting sanctions in the short run, but in the long run it faces structural obstacles and the absence of Western technology, both of which will degrade this economic sector. The main question remains whether the United States and its allies can keep up the pressure by enforcing sanctions.
Amid Detainees' Release, Putin Flaunts Power and Flouts Western Influence
On August 1, the United States, Russia, Germany and three other European nations engaged in an historic 24-person East-West prisoner exchange. The largest such swap since the end of the Cold War, the multi-country deal secured the release of three prominent American detainees: Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, corporate security executive Paul Whelan and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty editor Alsu Kurmasheva. It also freed a dozen Russian opposition leaders, incarcerated in their native country for challenging Vladimir Putin and his authoritarian regime. Lynne Hartnett, PhD, is the chair of Villanova University’s Department of History and an expert on modern Russia, protest movements and dissidents in exile. Recently, she shared some insights on the Kremlin's decision to release the American and Russian prisoners—as well as the egotism, oppressive tendencies and political posturing that drove their detention. Q: The arrests and sentencings of Gershkovich, Whelan and Kurmasheva have been described as "outrageous," "a mockery of justice" and reflective of "a total disregard for basic freedoms." What prompted Putin and the Russian government to detain these individuals? Dr. Hartnett: For Putin, seizing Gershkovich, Whelan and Kurmasheva was a power play. They were pawns for him to use when he deemed it convenient. If they could be used in a prisoner swap, they would be. But if that time never arrived, their incarceration, suffering and even potential deaths were inconsequential to him. Their arrests were also a signal that, in Russia, Putin's authority is uncontested. These were American citizens, and around the world, a U.S. passport opens doors: It holds power; it provides access; and it affords its holder protection. But the arrests of Gershkovich, Whelan and Kurmasheva were Putin’s attempt to demonstrate the limits of American influence. They were meant as a signal that, in Russia, a U.S. passport becomes meaningless if it serves Putin to make it so. Q: In recent years, the Russian government has seemingly worked to rehabilitate the reputations of figures like Josef Stalin, who infamously used the Soviet Gulag to stifle opposition and criticism. Is Putin's use of detentions as a political cudgel similar? DH: The show trials of the Stalinist era are frequently referenced. However, it should be stressed that those were largely intended for domestic consumption. They were used to justify the Communist elites' repression of fellow citizens by broadcasting "evidence" that enemies lurked within. The trials of Americans like Gershkovich and Brittney Griner [a professional basketball player detained on smuggling charges] were designed to show the world, not just Russians, that Putin's regime would not be cowed—even if the person being tried had fame and a powerful enterprise, like the Wall Street Journal or the WNBA, supporting them. Q: The New York Times recently ran a piece on the Russian dissidents released, claiming "hopes are high [they] will breathe new life into a fragmented opposition force." What do you anticipate these political players' activism will look like in the coming years, especially in exile? DH: As in the Imperial and Soviet periods, Russian censorship prevents any news or opinions that are not the government's from coming to light. As Putin has dismantled political opposition in Russia and tightened his grip on any vestiges of civil society in the country, there is little hope that a powerful opposition movement can gain momentum without outside support. This is where the Russian dissidents living abroad come in. They will ensure that a vision for another type of Russia is articulated. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, political exiles smuggled illegal newspapers and journals into the Russian empire to instill hope in their compatriots, to give them some indication that a nation beyond the autocracy was achievable. This, in my opinion, is the role that Russian dissidents living in exile must have today. They must provide the vision. They must provide the hope. While they cannot change the system on their own—they need a movement en masse—the dissidents abroad are needed to demonstrate that a nation without Putin and his repressive regime is possible. This is certainly not an easy venture, and it will require extraordinary sacrifices to be made a reality. However, it may be the Russian people's only hope.
ChristianaCare Nurses Inducted as American Academy of Nursing Fellows
In recognition of their extraordinary impact on the nursing profession, two ChristianaCare nurses have been named as Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). This prestigious recognition highlights their significant contributions to nursing leadership, innovation and health care policy. Michelle Collins, DNP, APRN, CNS, ACNS-BC, NPD-BC, NEA-BC, LSSBB, currently serves as vice president of Nursing Professional Excellence at ChristianaCare. Throughout her accomplished 30-year career, Collins has played a crucial role in improving how nurses practice and learn. Her leadership was significant in achieving ChristianaCare’s third Magnet® designation, highlighting her commitment to excellence. Collins’ initiatives, including pioneering a Virtual Acute Care Nursing model and securing a $1.5 million grant for nursing technology integration, have set new standards in health care innovation. Danielle Sarik, Ph.D., APRN, CPNP-PC, is a nurse scientist consultant at ChristianaCare. Her research contributions have been integral in shaping policies that improve health care outcomes for children and families. Sarik is renowned for developing and implementing the Baby Steps model, recognized by the AAN as an Edge Runner designee. This pioneering transition of care approach addresses health equity for neonatal patients and families following discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit. “Induction into the Academy represents the highest honor in nursing,” said AAN President Linda Scott. “Earning the Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN) credential is a significant recognition of one’s accomplishments and signifies the future impact they will make in collaboration with their colleagues in the Academy.”
Florida Tech, Kennedy Space Center to Study Waste Treatment in Space
Associate professor of chemical engineering Toufiq Reza has spent years researching sustainable waste conversion techniques on Earth. When Florida Tech offered him a sabbatical, he took the chance to learn what that conversion process looks like in outer space while further strengthening the university’s already deep ties to NASA. In Fall 2023, Reza became the first professor to leverage school funding to spend a semester at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. He worked with Annie Meier, who leads a team developing ways to convert astronaut-generated trash into fuel during missions, known as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). “I wanted to do something different that I haven’t done. I have been doing research in my field; I know who the players are,” Reza said.” I could have easily gone to a research lab at another university and continued my research. But I wanted to learn something new.” His sabbatical prompted a new partnership between NASA Kennedy and Florida Tech. This summer, they signed an annex to their existing Space Act Agreement which will allow Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and the university to conduct joint research regarding logistical waste treatment and ISRU. “At NASA, we want researchers who are doing something that could help us, that could be synergistic, and to not reinvent the wheel,” said Jose Nuñez, university partnerships and small sat capabilities manager at NASA Kennedy. “The goal is to find professors who can benefit the agency in an area that needs more research.” As part of the agreement, KSC will share raw materials, waste simulant samples and information such as gas composition data with Florida Tech. In return, the university will analyze and share findings, such as what useful products can be taken from trash-to-gas waste for use as plant nutrients, and evaluate value-added applications. “I will encourage students to work on some of their technologies, test them in our lab and vice versa. This is a massive thing,” Reza said. “We can learn from each other to help each other.” Already, Reza’s students have visited Meier’s lab, and Meier and her KSC team came to Florida Tech to present her research and visit the university’s research facilities. Meier’s goals are similar to Reza’s: Both researchers want to find sustainable ways to convert trash and waste into energy, materials and chemicals. However, the methods aren’t completely transferrable between the two different environments of Earth and space. On Earth, Reza explained, waste can be burned or stored in a landfill. Neither of those options are viable in space. “You cannot dig up the moon soil and start burying. There is no oxygen or air to actually burn it…there is no water,” Reza explained. Currently, astronaut waste, such as food packaging, clothing, hygiene items and uneaten food, is launched back towards Earth and incinerates on the way there. However, Meier is working to advance waste mitigation technology, which Reza got to see up close. One of her projects, the Orbital Syngas/Commodity Augmentation Reactor (OSCAR), mixes oxygen, heat and trash in a reactor, which burns the trash and collects the gas it creates. Over the course of the semester, Reza assisted in KSC’s Applied Chemistry Lab, where Meier’s research took place. He offered both expertise and extra hands, from helping measure samples to reading through literature. He also took note of innovative technology for potential new research ideas, such as potentially developing a way of protecting metal coatings in space using the tools he learned. Meier’s waste conversion technology is built for a space environment, but Reza said it is unlikely that her complete systems could be used for waste conversion on Earth. Just as water and oxygen are limited resources in space but are plentiful on Earth, vacuums are plentiful resources in space but are expensive to create back home. However, that doesn’t stop the researchers from seeking inspiration through the new partnership. “We can learn from them and then take a part of their technology and integrate it with ours to make our technology more sustainable and vice versa,” Reza said. “They can improve their technology by utilizing part of our technology as well. As Meier said, “I wanted to learn on the terrestrial side how we can infuse some of our technology, and he wanted to learn from us to grow into the space sector, so it was a really cool match.”
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams '95 M.S. took the trip of a lifetime in June, traveling to the International Space Station (ISS) on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. Not long after their arrival to the ISS, however, the spacecraft began having mechanical issues. Since then, the pair have been left stranded in space with no return flight booked to come home. As the scientific world, public and international media watch, experts like Don Platt from Florida Tech are supporting ongoing media coverage until the two astronauts return to Earth. To return Starliner to Earth, the thrusters need to fire correctly at the right time to get the crew safely out of orbit. "Clearly, you need to have thrusters to be able to position your spacecraft, to move away from the space station, to get into the position to safely reenter the Earth's atmosphere," said Don Platt, associate professor of space systems at Florida Tech. "They claim just doing a rocket burn, they can probably make it home, but they don't know where'd they land," said Platt. The problem lies with the propulsion system inside the service module. "It sounds as if they've experienced a different amount of heating than expected with some of these thrusters, and had some affected things like valves that control the flow of propellant to the thrusters. So sometimes those valves will leak or not open all the way based on the amount of heat they are experiencing," said Platt. Platt explained that the valves for these thrusters are comparable to fuel injectors in a car. They simply open and close to feed the propellant into the combustion chamber − the end result being thrust (power). Part of the challenge for Boeing teams is that they can't exactly replicate what the spacecraft is experiencing in space. Platt said that heat is not just created from the thruster itself, but from the Sun. August 11 - Florida Today Don Platt, the director of Florida Tech’s Spaceport Education Center in Titusville and an associate professor of space systems, explained that Boeing is currently trying to figure out what went wrong with Starliner and to see if there is still a chance to use the thrusters. "There's probably very little they can do to fix them at this point," Platt said. "What they can do is they can look at what thrusters are working properly, and how can we then use those thrusters to efficiently get the vehicle back into the atmosphere and then to the surface of the Earth." While Starliner has been having extensive issues and now Boeing has some tough decisions to make about what's next, Platt said we need to remember that this was a test mission. "I think that we've had a lot of success in space over the last decade or so, and we've probably gotten used to things going perfectly," Platt said. "Although space is not that easy, and we can see problems, problems do pop up from time to time. Even back in the days of the shuttle program, there used to be issues with the orbiter, even on orbit, and they'd have to think about, 'can we keep flying this mission, or do we need to return to the Earth?'" August 13 - Central Florida Public Media For now, all we can do is watch and wait. But if you're a journalist following this ongoing story, then let us help with your coverage. Dr. Don Platt's work has involved developing, testing and flying different types of avionics, communications, rocket propulsion systems as well as astrobiology/biotechnology systems and human deep space exploration tools. Don is available to speak with media anytime. Simply click on the icon below to arrange an interview today.
