Tulane University, along with developers 1532 Tulane Partners and SKK Opportunity Zone Fund I, LLC, announced in November a new phase in the redevelopment of the former Charity Hospital building, which will result in Tulane initially occupying nearly 350,000 square feet through a long-term lease. Over the next few years, the developers and Tulane will transform Charity, which has been empty since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, into a mixed-use complex with apartments, retail, educational institutions and other use, all anchored by Tulane’s academic and research presence.

“Portraying women and men as inherently falling along stereotypical gender roles as ‘natural’ or ‘innate’ perpetuates incorrect gender role myths, stereotypes and sexism.”

John Sabo, a leading scholar on water resources and river ecology, stepped into his role as the director of the ByWater Institute in the fall. He also is a professor in the Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering. Previously at Arizona State University, Sabo served as a professor and founding director of Future H20, a nationally renowned initiative to create solutions for water abundance that can scale to the world stage. Sabo studies the importance of water in determining the viability and resilience of animal and plant populations in river ecosystems.

Ehab Meselhe, a professor in the Department of River-Coastal Science and Engineering, will develop an online forecasting tool to help scientists, ecologists and engineers evaluate how freshwater diversion and other coastal restoration projects may impact marine mammals, shorebirds, barrier islands and fisheries from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. The project, funded by a grant from the NOAA RESTORE Science Program, aims to fund research that reduces the uncertainty around the management of natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico region.

U.S. News’ Best Colleges 2022 edition ranked Tulane No. 42 among the nation’s top National Universities list, No. 29 among National Private Universities and No. 34 among the list of Most Innovative Schools. The publication also ranked Tulane No. 4 among the Best Schools for Service Learning, and Tulane’s Undergraduate Business Program ranked 41st in the nation. Additionally, the Princeton Review Best 387 Colleges: 2022 Edition placed Tulane in the top universities that are Most Loved, Best Run, and have the Best College City, Best Quality of Life and the Happiest Students.

A Tulane team will work with the New Orleans-based glass recycling center Glass Half Full to develop a plan to divert glass from landfills and turn it into glass sand products to restore coastal communities and preserve historic sites. The project, led by Julie Albert, associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was inspired by a service-learning collaboration.

ESPN selected the Tulane University Special Olympics (TUSO) program as one of the Top 5 Unified Special Olympics Sports groups in the nation and also named TUSO to its 2021 Honor Roll for intentionally promoting meaningful social inclusion by bringing together students with and without intellectual disabilities to create accepting environments.

A study co-led by Dr. Xiao-Ming Yin, chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Dr. Donald R. and Donna G. Pulitzer Professor, found that cycle thresholds from PCR tests — an indicator of the amount of virus an infected person carries — aren’t a reliable gauge for identifying those most likely to transmit COVID-19.

Researchers at the Tulane National Primate Research Center found that an inhaled vaccine currently being developed induces a robust and long-lasting immune response against SARS-CoV-2 in nonhuman primates, similar to the protection provided by the Moderna vaccine.

Tiong Aw, assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, is developing more efficient ways to test and measure viruses in wastewater so engineers can evaluate how to best eradicate them.