LSU College of Science

10/02/2026

Meet Faith, a Ph.D. candidate in LSU Geology & Geophysics, in Dr. Sam Bentley’s lab, who is studying the Mississippi River Delta and how science can help shape future management and restoration decisions.

🌊 Research in the Delta: Faith is part of the MissDelta Initiative, where she works with researchers across multiple institutions to study the Mississippi River Delta. Her current research examines the 2025 seasonal sediment budget. Over three research cruises, her team collected 70 sediment cores offshore, along with samples from the Mississippi River. Their work revealed a large bypass zone in an area where they expected significant sediment input and retention, an important finding for future restoration and land management. Faith's paper on the project is currently in review.

🚢 When fieldwork goes sideways: During one overnight research cruise, Faith's coring tool stopped suctioning properly, causing the team to lose cores. Then the tool bent and broke. Working with another scientist, Faith helped find a local welder who repaired the equipment. The next day, they returned to the field with a new plan and completed their remaining sites in a few hours. The experience taught her to stay flexible, creative and level-headed when things go wrong.

📚 Science beyond the lab: Faith is especially interested in how science informs policy and how research is communicated to the public. She has been heavily involved in education outreach, sharing science with students of all ages. When research gets overwhelming, she says working with students helps reignite her passion for science.

🐕 Beyond geology: Faith is from Gause, Texas, and has a four-year-old Lab/Heeler mix named Skipper, whom she rescued from the streets of Houston. She also recently started making chainmail bracelets and accessories for friends and family.

💡 Her advice: Apply for every research position, internship and opportunity that interests you, even if you think you won't be selected. Ask questions, stay engaged and take advantage of the opportunities around you.

Faith's dissertation is fully funded by the NASEM MissDelta Transition Initiative grant.

09/30/2026

A magnetic field can make it easier, or harder, for electricity to flow through a material. A new paper from the Baranets Research Group, led by graduate student Md. Rashed Alam in collaboration with colleagues in the LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy, explores a compound that does both, depending on temperature.

The team discovered a new family of crystalline materials with unusually complex crystal structures and extensive disorder. Combined with intriguing electrical and magnetic properties, this work opens opportunities to explore new magnetic materials and materials that convert heat into electricity.

Published in the 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘊, the paper is part of the JMCC Emerging Investigators 2027 themed collection.

Read the paper: https://doi.org/10.1039/d6tc01406b

09/30/2026

Scientists have learned a lot from animals like the axolotl about how limbs regenerate. But which signals actually distinguish regeneration from the body’s normal response to injury?

Many of the same genes are activated after an injury whether an animal can regrow an appendage or not. To separate the signals involved in wound healing from those that lead to successful regeneration, Assistant Professor Igor Schneider is looking across species.

With a new $1.875 million NIH MIRA (R35), his team will compare axolotls, lungfish and bichirs with the non-regenerating lizard limb, searching for regenerative signals shared across more than 400 million years of evolution. They’ll then test which candidates are actually required for regrowth.

The goal: uncover a deeply conserved “pro-regenerative signaling toolkit” that could provide new targets for studying regeneration in mammals.

🔗 Read more in the comments.

LSU Research
LSU Department of Biological Sciences

09/29/2026

When you have to look profesh, but you’re a field biologist at heart. 🌳🐦‍⬛🐟
LSU Museum of Natural Science

09/28/2026

09/28/2026

09/25/2026

Meet Young Woo Kim, a Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry whose research takes a computational approach to understanding biological systems at the molecular level.

🧬 From the lab to the computer:
Young Woo began his scientific journey studying experimental biochemistry, but his work at LSU has taken him into computational biophysical chemistry. Today, he uses computational methods to explore how biological systems operate at a fundamental level.

💻 Building new tools:
Young Woo recently helped finalize QMzyme 1.0, a Python toolkit designed to automate quantum mechanics input file generation and promote reproducibility and accessibility in quantum mechanics research. He presented the toolkit at both Schrodinger’s Virtual Fair and the Southeastern Theoretical Chemistry Association's annual meeting, earning a poster award at both events.

🔬 Learning across disciplines:
When Young Woo entered his current lab, he had little background in molecular dynamics or quantum mechanics. Learning these new areas from the ground up has helped him bridge the gap between different fields and become a more versatile scientist.

🎹 Beyond science:
Originally from South Korea, Young Woo grew up attending international schools in Kazakhstan and Myanmar before attending The College of Wooster in Ohio. Outside the lab, he composes classical music, practices sleight-of-hand magic and has a background in music.

📣 His advice to students:
“Have an open mind towards broader aspects of life, not just science.” Young Woo's journey into computational research shows how unexpected opportunities can open new paths in science.

LSU Department of Biological Sciences

09/25/2026

What does it take to preserve nearly half a century of biodiversity? A lot of liquid nitrogen—and a lot of care. ❄️

Hidden behind the scenes at the LSU Museum of Natural Science is one of the world’s oldest and largest vertebrate genetic collections, built through decades of fieldwork and collaboration around the globe.

Scientists around the world already use its tissues for genomic research and studies ranging from evolution to wildlife forensics. A sample preserved today could also become valuable decades from now—helping researchers investigate an emerging disease or answer questions we haven’t thought to ask yet.

From hauling liquid-nitrogen tanks into remote field sites to monitoring freezers back in Baton Rouge, see what it takes to build and protect a frozen archive of life: https://www.lsu.edu/science/news/2026/09/thom-grc-nsf.php

LSU Research

09/24/2026

Yesterday, the LSU College of Science gathered for our New Faculty Welcome Reception, bringing together faculty hired over the past five years, department chairs, college administrators, and faculty colleagues. It was an opportunity to get to know one another, build connections across departments, and celebrate our growing science community.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make our newest colleagues feel at home! 💜💛

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LSU Department of Chemistry LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy LSU Department of Biological Sciences LSU Museum of Natural Science LSU Mathematics