Scarlet and Gray, “REB's Glitter Squad”, Lester Cruz and Isabel Ferguson, take pictures and hype up students and families during the October 2022 homecoming football game.

UNLV Newsmakers 2022: October

A collection of news stories highlighting UNLV students and faculty who made headlines locally, regionally, and internationally.

Lester Cruz and Isabel Ferguson — also known as Scarlet and Gray of “REB's Glitter Squad” — take pictures and hype up students and families during the October 2022 homecoming football game (Josh Hawkins/UNLV).

Don’t let the crisp air fool you: While the temperatures are cooling down, activity on campus this October was only heating up.

Students and faculty celebrated the grand opening of new buildings, launched several new community outreach initiatives, published new research across multiple disciplines, and helped both longtime and new voters prepare for the historic midterm election.

UNLV scientists and psychologists investigated everything from ways to up solar energy production and the ranks of STEM professionals to military gambling addiction and the prospect of humans on Mars. Various units rolled out new educational spaces to help shore up Southern Nevada’s mental and physical health care offerings. Both on campus and out in the community, students and faculty hosted panels on federal student loan debt forgiveness, racial discrimination, and the region’s link to Hollywood history. 

For these stories and more, check out the latest installment of UNLV Newsmakers.

Women in Science

Women much more enthusiastically embraced the live chat function during pandemic Zoom classes than men, according to research led by UNLV psychology professor and gender development expert Rachael Robnett. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, found that women were significantly more likely than men to say the live chat feature made class fun, helped them feel more comfortable participating in discussions, facilitated learning, and would be a welcome addition if incorporated post-pandemic. Researchers hope the data could be a key to broadening underrepresented groups’ access to STEM disciplines as colleges incorporate technology into hybrid and in-person courses.

Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, Lab Manager, Science Magazine, Higher Ed Dive, Phys.org

Wealth from Waste

College of Sciences professor Simon Jowitt is among a team of economic geologists who are leading the charge in finding critical metals for renewable energy products in existing mines. As global demand for solar panels continues to increase, so too does the need for critical metals like tellurium — a by-product from copper mining that’s gaining popularity for its use in the cost-saving materials. The amount of tellurium in a mine is rarely reported so, to fill in the gaps and create estimates of critical minerals, Jowitt and colleagues have developed proxies to estimate tellurium content globally.

Mining.com, Oilprice.com, Green Rocks, Highways Today, High Country News

Halloween Highlights

UNLV experts showed no fear of spooky season! From fashion to psychology to culture, faculty members weighed in on multiple aspects of the history behind Halloween.  

  • Katherine Walker, an English professor with expertise on the history of magic and the occult, chatted with Today about Halloween’s origins and with the History Channel about the storied past of exorcisms.
     
  • Kenneth J. Varner, a College of Education literacy professor who researches race, spoke to Today about costumes and cultural appropriation.
     
  • Yahoo! interviewed fashion historian Deirdre Clemente about scrutiny surrounding the iconic Playboy bunny costume.
     
  • Psychologist Stephen D. Benning talked to Newsweek about finding costumes that match your personality.

Ballot Battles

The role of Latino voters and immigrants emerged as a major hot-button issue for the 2022 midterm election cycle. Media outlets around the world called on political scientist John P. Tuman for insight, including:

VRT News Belgium, Deutsche Welle, Finnish Broadcasting Company, The Telegraph UK, Radio Canada, Fox News, Washington Post, The Economist, Swiss Info, Telemundo Dallas, EFE, Latin Times, Le Point International

And he wasn’t alone. A slew of UNLV political and mental health experts spoke to dozens of publications on topics as diverse as abortion, climate change, partisanship, the economy, and the impact of political ads on children. Here are just a few examples:

Inside Climate News, New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Politifact, CNN (twice), The Guardian UK, USA Today, Bloomberg, Newsweek, Yahoo!, Five Thirty Eight, Univision, PBS NewsHour, Vox, Governing, Las Vegas Sun, Glam, Gray DC

University Business

grand opening of the Medical Education Building
UNLV students Savannah Schauer, Ryan Grinnell, and Brooke Ivey at the Oct. 5, 2022, grand opening of the Kirk Kerkorian Medical Education Building (Josh Hawkins/UNLV)

 

General Roundup

 

Topics:

newsmakers

Campus Units:

College of Liberal Arts,  Department of Psychology,  College of Sciences,  Department of Geoscience,  Department of English,  College of Education,  Department of Teaching and Learning,  Department of History,  Department of Political Science,  Intercollegiate Athletics,  Financial Aid & Scholarships,  Admissions,  Office of Government & Community Engagement,  The Lincy Institute,  Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV,  UNLV PRACTICE,  William S. Boyd School of Law,  University Libraries,  Greenspun College of Urban Affairs,  International Gaming Institute,  Department of Physics and Astronomy,  Department of Communication Studies,  School of Public Health,  Department of Social and Behavioral Health,  Graduate College,  Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Related Experts:

Brett Abarbanel ,  Stephen D. Benning ,  Deirdre Clemente ,  Frank Rudy Cooper ,  Michael Kagan ,  Christopher Kearney ,  Shane W. Kraus ,  Rachael D. Robnett ,  Manoj Sharma ,  Jason Steffen ,  John P. Tuman ,  Kenneth J. Varner ,  Katherine Walker

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