UTA In The News — Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Hospital staff
Hospitals are reallocating resources, enlisting medical students and retirees, and hiring temp nurses, The Dallas Morning News reported in a story about how Dallas is preparing for a potential spike in COVID-19 cases. Erin Carlson, UTA associate professor in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, said nurses often work three 12-hour shifts during a crisis like this, which allows them to take other jobs during the week. She is concerned that up to 30% of health care workers may be sick or quarantined during a big outbreak.
U.S. Department of transportation grants
The city of Arlington received a $1.7 million grant through the Federal Transit Administration to add autonomous vehicles to its via Rideshare fleet, The Dallas Morning News and Dallas Innovates reported. UTA students will be able to ride the vehicles for free.
INNOVATION at UTA
More than 140 inventions that could provide significant advances toward modernization received Army funding last year, Scienmag reported. One of those inventions was a variable zoom X-ray computed tomography device developed at UTA.
Agriculture predictions
A UTA project is a finalist in the 2020 Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics aimed at addressing challenges in agriculture, GrowingAmerica.com and AgriMarketing.com reported. The UTA project uses high-order math to better predict hybrid crop yields. Shouyi Wang, a UTA associate professor in industrial, manufacturing and systems engineering, is leading the project.
College athletics
UTA Athletic Director Jim Baker outlined in a Dallas Morning News story how the coronavirus has affected college athletics.
Online teaching and learning
The University of South Australia and the University of Wisconsin are collaborating with UTA professor George Siemens on transitioning massive open online courses to online education for students in Australia, Education Today reported. Siemens, a fulltime psychology professor at UTA, works as a part-time professor at the University of South Australia during the summer.