Global Reach

I. Richmond Nettey, Ph.D., professor of aeronautics in Kent State University’s College of Aeronautics and Engineering, has been appointed the new chair of the Transportation Research Board Standing Committee on Airport Terminals and Ground Access at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.

Apple and Google partnered in early April to create a new smartphone app that uses Bluetooth to track coronavirus cases. Using a technology called contact tracing, the app alerts a user when they come in contact with someone who has been positively diagnosed with COVID-19. Gokarna Sharma, assistant professor in Computer Science, recently answered 10 questions about the new app based on his professional opinion. Sharma is experienced in algorithms, blockchain and smart technologies such as this.

Two Kent State professors partnered with the Summit County Juvenile Court and Hands of Gratitude over the summer to teach juveniles how to assemble prosthetic hands for children in Central America and were featured in the Akron Beacon Journal.

Kent State University College of Public Health professor Tara Smith, Ph.D., was featured on Sean Carroll’s Mindscape podcast to talk about the novel coronavirus (and its associated disease, COVID-19) pandemic. Smith gives insight on what measures are useful and which are probably not.

Each year, Kent State students participate in off-campus study away/study abroad programs and internships in locations across the country and around the world. And they take photos—lots and lots of photos.

Renowned marine scientist Michael W. Beck, Ph.D., will discuss the importance of coastal conservation at a free lecture on March 4. Beck, a research professor in the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, focuses on conserving our coastlines in an effort to reduce the risks of storm surges and flooding to property, people and our planet and will speak at 7 p.m. March 4 in Auditorium 101 in the Science & Nursing Building at Kent State University at Stark.

In early February, scientists reported the hottest temperature on record in Antarctica: 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Studies show climate change is disproportionately affecting the poles, warming them faster than anywhere else on Earth, and raising questions about what kinds of changes we can expect in arctic ecosystems as temperatures rise. 
A Kent State University biologist has teamed up with some colleagues in an inter-institutional effort to answer some of those questions.


A new collaborative study between researchers at Kent State University and Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) has confirmed a way to determine the age of beluga whales - a topic that has been the center of much debate.

Kent State hosts STARTALK Foreign Language Academy, where 20 accepted high school students in Northeast Ohio are immersed into either Russian or Chinese language and culture. The Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies received federal funding for the 12th year to host this academy on campus.

Ecosystems in today's world are responding to a wide variety of environmental changes. David Ward, Ph.D., the Art and Margaret Herrick endowed professor of Plant Biology in Kent State’s Department of Biological Sciences, and international colleagues and graduate students want to know what happens when these changes interact?