For the fourth consecutive year, Tulane University is ranked first among graduate schools for the number of volunteers who join the Peace Corps. There are 27 alumni currently serving, 22 from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. In addition to leading the graduate school pack, Tulane also ranks No. 5 among medium undergraduate schools with the most Peace Corps volunteers. This ranking is up from No. 10 in 2017 and is based on the 33 alumni volunteering worldwide.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Science has awarded a five-year, $10 million grant to Tulane to launch a national school choice research center to study and find ways to improve the way school choice policies work for disadvantaged students.

A new study from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine shows that, depending on the interpretation criteria, blood tests can distinguish recent Zika infections in areas where dengue is endemic. Dengue and Zika fevers are both mosquito-borne tropical diseases.

Katherine Johnson, an assistant professor in sociology, is exploring how working mothers find a balance between breastfeeding their infant children 
and their daily career commitments.

Patrick Bordnick, dean of the School of Social Work and a pioneer in the use of virtual reality for substance abuse assessment and intervention, was recognized for his work at the Association of Recovery for Higher Education Conference in July.

Approximately 50 Tulane students who enrolled in a new course, Project IX: Student Design to End Sexual Assault, presented creative, bold and thoughtful ideas for shifting campus culture around sexual misconduct to the Tulane community at an event on May 2.

Gabe Feldman, professor of law, on NPR about online sports betting: “The reason we’ve had sports gambling as cardinal sin No. 1 in professional sports is the risk to the integrity of the game. As we all know, part of the popularity of sports is the uncertainty of outcome. And so anything that might interfere with that uncertainty of outcome is of a major concern to the leagues.”

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a five-year, $42 million grant to the Tulane National Primate Research Center to continue its mission of biomedical research, focusing on finding cures, treatments and preventions for infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, Lyme disease, malaria and tuberculosis.

When searching directions using Google Maps, tagging your location on social media or requesting an Uber ride from your smartphone, you are utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS)—systems designed to present spatial data. Now, Tulane students can learn more about managing this type of technology by enrolling in the region’s first complete GIS Certificate Program. “That’s the beauty of GIS, you can use it for anything,” said Reda Amer, professor of practice in the School of Science and Engineering’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, who directs the program.

Two-time National Book Award winner and Tulane Professor of English Jesmyn Ward continues to earn praise for her 2018 commencement speech with the advice to “persist, work hard.” Forbes, Fast Company, Business Insider and TIME included Ward in their lists of the best commencement speeches this year. Also, Ward published an essay, “My True South: Returning Home to a Place I Love More Than I Loathe,” in the Aug. 6–13, 2018, issue of TIME magazine.