Outer space has always intrigued Timothy “T.J.” Tomaszewski (Honors Physics), and now he’s leading an actual scientific mission. UD’s Delaware Atmospheric Plasma Probe Experiment (DAPPEr) team is building the state’s first orbiting spacecraft, a small satellite to study how the sun affects the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Launch is planned for early to mid-2026.

Humans produce more than 400 million tons of plastics annually, much of which ends up in landfills or the ocean. The Center for Plastics Innovation at UD, an Energy Frontier Research Center led by professor LaShanda Korley (Engineering), is developing a comprehensive strategy to address this crisis by redesigning plastics for recyclability and by converting mixed plastics waste into valuable products such as lubricants and detergents.

UD's Lerner College of Business and Economics is partnering with Schwab Advisor Services and the Charles Schwab foundation to establish a new Financial Planning Center. Set to open in 2025, the center will create opportunities for students and develop a talent pipeline for the financial services industry.

Alumna Maya Nazareth (2020) united her passion for jiu-jitsu with her entrepreneurial spirit to found Alchemize Fightware. The company, which has doubled in size in under four years, sells gear designed specifically for women. “I would not be where I am today without Horn [UD’s entrepreneurship program] and these mentors who believed in me,” Nazareth said.

Associate Professor Stephanie E. Raible (Entrepreneurship) and Faculty Director of Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UD's Lerner College of Business and Economics, has been named a top 50 best professor in undergrad business education by Poets&Quants. "I love it when students ask questions and think about the content beyond the classroom. I live for those moments," Raible said.

Based on a little-known bit of history, Shanghai Sonatas is an original musical about a Chinese student and a Jewish musician who escaped Nazi persecution by fleeing to Shanghai. “Artists have a strong and urgent mission to educate, to connect, to share important messages and strengthen our understanding of each other,” said Xiang Gao (Music), who collaborated with Joyce Hill Stoner (Material Culture) and writer Alan Goodson to create the musical.

For five weeks, Marcus Beardsley (History and Ancient Greek & Roman Studies) worked at the Santa Susana Archeological Project in Portugal to excavate the site of an ancient Roman villa. The previous summer, Marcus studied Roman bronze coins in Turkiye. “It reminds me to never become complacent, but to always strive for growth,” he said.

Twenty-five young professionals from 20 African nations participated in the 10th cohort of Mandela Washington Fellows at UD, spending six weeks on campus for professional development and mentoring to bolster their goals of becoming leaders in their communities. Sohaibou Diane of Senegal said the program enabled him to “discover the role we play in creating a better world where all human rights are respected.”

Critical thinking, persistence, compelling communication — the skills that students learn at UD serve them throughout their lives and careers, as demonstrated by the four Blue Hens who received Pulitzer Prizes in 2024. They join seven other UD alumni who have earned journalism’s highest honor.

Chronic wounds are complicated and costly to treat. Now two new wound-management products using hydrogels invented and patented by professor Darrin Pochan (Materials Science) — one of 15 UD fellows in the National Academy of Inventors — and Joel Schneider, a former faculty member now at the National Cancer Institute, are offering hope for better treatment. The products speed healing by fighting infection while promoting tissue regrowth.

First-generation college student Jake Peluso-Vargas (Medical & Molecular Sciences) combined his love of science, his associate’s degree and UD’s Connected Degree program to earn both his bachelor’s and his master’s degree in biotechnology. “When people are given an opportunity, that’s all they need,” said Peluso-Vargas, who is pursuing gene therapy work in the biotech industry.

Rising sea levels bring saltwater farther inland, threatening homes, roads, agricultural crops and drinking water. A multi-department team from UD — economists, environmental scientists and public policy experts, along with visual arts faculty to document their work — is part of a research effort to build climate resilience in coastal communities. “We have to respond, so we can reduce the risk or adapt,” said lead investigator Leah Palm-Forster (Applied Economics).

As a child in rural Ghana, Saviour Anyagri (Business Analytics) rode his bike more than an hour every day to attend school, so he and fellow Ghanaian Seidu Shamsudeen (Public Policy & Administration) dreamed of expanding educational opportunities for others. At UD, they learned the skills needed to create the Saviour Organization, a non-profit school in Ghana. “It doesn’t matter where you are,” Anyagri said, “you can achieve something that can change your life.”

Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam (Psychological & Brain Sciences) received one of the most competitive recognitions for early-career scholars, the Sloan Research Fellowship. Vaziri-Pashkam explores the intersection of visual cognition and action, seeking to understand the computational and neural mechanisms that underpin our interactions with the world. Her Sloan funding will help pilot new experiments and support graduate students in her lab.

First-year student Tori Kimball (Criminal Justice & Psychology) couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pursue a new minor in musical theater, an integrative program that enables students to work with the UD’s professional theater crew, the Resident Ensemble Players. “I’m passionate about my major, but theater has always been my escape,” Kimball said.

Microbial “neighborhoods” which exist in nature can be engineered to degrade or convert pollutants into usable materials. Fourth-year doctoral candidate John Hill (Chemical and Biomedical Engineering) and Professor Eleftherios Papoutsakis are studying the interactions of bacteria which can be used to convert carbon dioxide, which is harmful to the atmosphere, into products for biofuels, personal care and health sectors.

Joining a team of 26 scientists aboard a research vessel near Svalbard, Norway, doctoral student Aruggoda Kapuge Isuri Umejya Kapuge (Earth Sciences) helped collect about 4,500 meters of sediment cores from the ocean floor to analyze millions of years of climate evolution. “It was a big opportunity to collaborate with eminent scientists in the field internationally,” Kapuge said.

After her mother’s untimely death from cancer, Stacy Mahinga (Neuroscience) dropped out of UD and later experienced homelessness. However, with help from UD’s McNair Scholars program, Mahinga returned to UD to earn two bachelor’s degrees and set her sights on a career in medicine. “My mom would be proud of what I’ve accomplished at UD and what comes next for me,” Mahinga said.

UD’s engineering degree partnership with Delaware State University offered Jada Moore (Engineering Physics) what she said is “really the best of both worlds.” The program enables students to attend DSU, a historically Black institution without an engineering degree, for three years and then attend UD for another two years to earn their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering.

UD’s Disaster Research Center hosted graduate student researchers in a daylong workshop to discuss the impact of global disasters and weigh priorities, resources and global factors that are crucial for policy making. Expert panelists shared their experiences with studying disasters and provided insights for students to consider as they pursue their own research and planning efforts.

Lonnie Bunch III, Smithsonian secretary and founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, spoke to a packed room at this year’s Paul R. Jones Lecture. Bunch discussed the value of preserving artifacts and the vital role of museums in helping people understand their history. “The best cultural institutions are part of the glue that holds a country together,” he said.

Professor Wendy Smith (Management) received the 2024 Decade Award from the Academy of Management Review (AMR) for her article, co-authored by Marya Besharov (Oxford). Exploring the complexities of organizational dynamics, the article was the most cited from AMR between 2014-2024. Smith said winning the award twice is "an honor and a reminder of the responsibility to push the boundaries of knowledge."

James Hiebert (Education) remembers the moment as a college student when math finally made sense. “Whoa, that is a big adrenaline rush,” he thought. “If that happens when you're studying math, I'm totally in.” Now, after a 40-year career defined by groundbreaking research in mathematics education, Hiebert received the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Lifetime Achievement Award.

Studying the nesting preferences of piping plovers in her home state of Delaware opened Lauren Pollock’s eyes to a possible career as a shorebird ecologist. “These preferences are unique to each bird and can impact the survival of the chicks,” says Pollock (Wildlife Ecology & Conservation). “Not everyone gets a chance to make an impact with a vulnerable species.”

With the National Student Dialogue and other events, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Ithaca Initiative at UD not only encourages civil discourse but promotes the tools for more productive conversations. This year’s Common Reader program featured Mónica Guzmán, author of “I Never Thought of it That Way,” which gives practical strategies for civil dialogue.

Twenty-seven Pakistani women participated in UD’s STEMSisters exchange program, enabling their dreams of higher education and career growth in science, technology, engineering and math. The three-week institute — co-hosted by the American Institute of Pakistan Studies and supported by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad — gave the women a firsthand view of Blue Hen life.

UD is inextricably linked to the past, present and future of the state of Delaware and is deeply committed to this vital relationship. To celebrate and strengthen this mutually beneficial partnership, UD student-athletes, coaches and other leaders embark on the annual 302 Tour, three days to visit communities throughout the state, participate in service projects and meet business and government leaders.

Assistant professor Mi-Ling Li (Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology) led a study of human exposure to methylmercury, a poisonous compound associated with neurodevelopmental delays and other serious health conditions. Results showed that more than 70% of exposure comes from the world's fisheries.

With rows of long, razor-sharp teeth jutting out from a mouth that never closes, sand tiger sharks inspire awe at marine aquariums worldwide. Undergrad Caitlin Bailey (Marine Science) is studying the shifting tooth shape of the sharks at different stages of their lives. "Once I learned about this unique shark, I was enthralled and wanted to research the species more," Bailey said.

After a tough freshman year elsewhere, Gabriella Trincia (Applied Molecular Biology & Biotechnology) wanted to be somewhere she felt more connected to her classmates and professors. Trincia said from the moment she stepped on UD’s campus, she knew she was home. “It’s such a relief,” she said. “UD is everything I wanted out of my college experience.”

Sharing data enables researchers to build on existing research. To facilitate sharing, UD’s Library, Museums and Press manages UDSpace, a free digital publishing pathway that collects and distributes UD research, making it available to the UD community and the public. In 2024, nearly 300,000 items were downloaded from the platform.

After Evan McArdle left the Air Force and enrolled at UD, he knew he wanted to combine his commitment to service with his desire to explore the world. The perfect opportunity for McArdle (Environmental Studies) was a summer internship in Micronesia with the nonprofit Project Recover, which works to find and repatriate American service members missing in action.

UD students scoured old newspapers, archives and oral histories to gather often-overlooked stories to create the Black Histories at UD StoryMap, a virtual tour that connects the lives of Black students, faculty, community members and social activists to sites on campus and in the greater Newark area. While the history is both troubling and inspiring, the project is enlightening, and the students plan to continue adding to the project.

As a UD undergraduate, Chris Christie got his start in politics as student government president. The former New Jersey governor returned to his alma mater to deliver UD’s annual James R. Soles Lecture. “The indispensable nature of American leadership is knowing the right thing to do and having the courage to do it,” he said.

A section of gray pavers lining UD’s historic Green is the research project of Kenneth “KJ” Olsen (Civil Engineering), who used nearly 1,000 pounds of plastic waste to create “sustainable concrete.” The material reduces the use of natural resources, keeps plastic waste out of landfills and fits with the campus aesthetic.