About 1,875 new undergraduate students entered Tulane in fall 2022. These students are the highest achieving and most diverse in university history. They were selected from an applicant pool of 43,028, which made Tulane’s acceptance rate 8.4%. Twenty-eight were valedictorians of their high schools, and 178 had perfect GPAs. Thirty-two are Louisiana Promise students who are enrolled with their full financial need met without loans.

“If we don’t take the information we currently have and be proactive by addressing the potential negative impacts on academics, emotions and socialization, we are going to have more children with anxiety or children experiencing depression, hopelessness, etc.” MAURYA GLAUDE, a professor of practice at the School of Social Work, quoted in an article in Teen Vogue, discussing the mental health of teens in Southeast Louisiana who are affected by hurricanes.

Laura McKinney, associate professor of sociology, and Michelle Foa, associate professor of art history, have received a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities to develop a minor in environmental humanities. The interdisciplinary curriculum will give students more opportunities for deep examination of people’s relationship to the environment and draw on the expertise of humanities, social and natural sciences, and architecture faculty.

Professor of English and Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities Jesmyn Ward was awarded the 2022 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. The annual prize honors an American literary writer whose body of work is distinguished for its mastery and originality. Ward is the youngest person to receive the award.

Dr. Lu Qi of the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine found that people who always add extra salt to their meals have a 28% higher risk of dying prematurely compared to those who never or rarely add salt. By age 50, always adding salt could shave off 2.28 years for men and 1.5 years for women.

José Silvestre, a PhD candidate in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, is part of a team of scientists that analyzed 50 years of satellite imagery to generate the first global database of river avulsions. Avulsions occur when a river abruptly jumps course and forges a new river channel. Silvestre hopes to gain a better understanding of what controls avulsion location in the context of climate and land use changes.

Using CRISPR analysis, School of Medicine researchers have developed a highly sensitive blood test for tuberculosis that screens for DNA fragments of the bacteria that cause the disease. The test can deliver results within two hours. Dr. Tony Hu, Weatherhead Presidential Chair in Biotechnology Innovation and professor in biochemistry and molecular biology, biomedical engineering, and microbiology, is lead author of the study.

School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine assistant professors Brigham Walker and Janna Wisniewski and professors from Portland State University presented research on the barriers patients from marginalized communities face when seeking primary care appointments and how healthcare providers can address these inequities. The research is part of Count the Costs: Racial Inequity, launched by The Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the A. B.

Katharine Lee, assistant professor of anthropology, co-authored a study that found COVID-19 vaccines affected people’s menstrual periods, especially those who don’t typically have periods due to long-acting contraceptives, gender-affirming hormone treatments or menopause. The study began shortly after vaccines became widely available and individuals reported through social media changes in their menstrual cycles after receiving the vaccines.

Researchers are investigating the role endothelial cells play in the development of severe and long COVID-19. The cells line blood vessel walls and can malfunction following SARS-CoV-2 infection. This dysfunction can cause blood clotting in organs, as seen in the most severe COVID-19 cases. Dr. Xuebin Qin of the Tulane National Primate Research Center is leading the research.