University of Oklahoma researchers recently launched the Children’s Environmental Health Center in the U.S. Southern Great Plains, a groundbreaking initiative dedicated to advancing research on children’s health and environmental exposures, following a year of preparation. Funded by a $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, this new center aims to reduce school absences by addressing the health impacts affecting children in rural and agricultural communities across the Southern Great Plains. The research will also inform the development of effective and affordable interventions to improve health outcomes for children.

At the Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies’ 15th annual Undergraduate Design Competition, the future of global health innovation was on full display. Rice University welcomed 22 student teams from 18 universities across eight countries, both in-person and virtually, to present affordable, practical solutions designed to improve health care in low-resource settings at the April 11 event. Far from just another student competition, the event serves as a global stage where future engineers, scientists and public health leaders come together to address some of the world’s most urgent health care challenges.

The University of Texas at Arlington, with 23 patents granted in 2024, helped propel The University of Texas System to No. 3 in the National Academy of Inventors’ prestigious top 100 ranking of U.S. universities awarded utility patents. The UT System’s 14 institutions are collectively ranked as a single entity in the National Academy of Inventors’ (NAI) annual report. UT Arlington’s 23 patents is a 15% jump from the previous year.