Anthropology

• Ancient footprints found at Rutgers' Koobi Fora Field School in northern Kenya show that some of the earliest humans walked like us and did so on anatomically modern feet 1.5 million years ago. The research is the cover story in the February 27, 2009, issue of Science.

Astronomy

• Astronomers at Rutgers and Pennsylvania State universities have discovered galaxies in the distant universe that are ancestors of spiral galaxies like our Milky Way. These ancient objects, some of the first galaxies ever to form, are being observed as they looked 12 billion years ago when the universe was a mere two billion years old.

Economic Development

• Rutgers is a key participant in a $5.1 million U.S. Department of Labor Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grant. The grant is intended to serve as a catalyst for transforming the economy through coordinated workforce development in central New Jersey's bioscience corridor.

Education

• A $3.7 million, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation will help increase the representation and advancement of women in academic careers in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering.
• The new Rutgers Future Scholars Program is helping students in the university's host communities get a college education. The program offers academic support to economically disadvantaged students beginning in eighth grade and free tuition and fees to those who complete the program and meet Rutgers' admission requirements.

Environment and Alternative Energy

• Rutgers has received three grants from the National Science Foundation totaling $7.65 million to fund graduate research in clean and sustainable energy.
• Rutgers' seven-acre solar energy facility, the largest system on a single campus in the United States, is a clean, renewable energy source that generates approximately 10 percent of the electrical demand for the Livingston Campus and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 1,200 tons per year.

Food and Nutrition

• Since its launch in November 2008, Rutgers Against Hunger has collected donations of 27 tons of food and raised $107,000 for local food pantries.
• Rutgers researchers and a team of international collaborators have described the genome of sorghum, a drought-tolerant African grass. The findings could lead to better food crops for arid regions.
• Rutgers has established the Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health with a four-year, $10 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The institute will focus on obesity and its associated diseases.

• As part of a program to fund innovative and unconventional health research, Professor Eric Lam received a $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to explore the use of tomatoes as an antiviral drug-delivery system.
• A Rutgers geneticist has identified a specific DNA change that is likely to increase risk for developing schizophrenia in some people. The results could help in the development of new drug therapies, consistent with the trend of personalized medicine.
• The Rutgers Cell and DNA Repository has received $57.8 million from the National Institutes of Health to support investigation into the genetics of mental disorders and of metabolic and digestive diseases.

• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has selected Rutgers to colead a new Center of Excellence researching the technological issues involved in maintaining homeland security. Rutgers and Purdue University will together receive $5 million per year for six years.
• The National Science Foundation has awarded $10 million to a group of institutions that includes Rutgers to study complex mathematical and computer science problems that underpin the security of communications and financial transactions over the internet.

Mental Health

• Rutgers Center for Behavioral Health Services and Criminal Justice Research received an $8 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to explore issues of co-occurring substance use and abuse.

Transportation

• The Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation is leading a $25.5 million federal study of long-term bridge performance to help departments of transportation invest wisely in bridge maintenance.