Vince Kane, director of the Wilmington Veterans Affairs Medical Center (left), and UD President Dennis Assanis celebrate the signing of the affiliation agreement.

UD, Wilmington VA join forces to boost health care, research

Two Delaware institutions joined hands Friday, June 9, on the grounds of a former tank factory to announce a partnership meant to improve care for America's military veterans and open new avenues for research and education. 
 
With more than 100 people including veterans in attendance, top officials of the University of Delaware and the Wilmington Veterans Affairs Medical Center signed on to an Associated Health Education Affiliation Agreement—a pact that connects UD's growing research enterprise with the nation's veterans and the employees who serve them. The event was held at UD's STAR Health Sciences Complex, a site where Chrysler built tanks years ago. 
 

Where water and minerals meet  

Methods to improve water purification or build better batteries are problems that have challenged scientists for decades. Advances have inched forward, but rising demand moves the finish line further and further away.

Neil Sturchio, a geochemist, has studied mineral/water interactions for 25 years with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. He and his collaborators recently demonstrated a new way of studying the microscopic structure and processes that occur where minerals and water meet, using X-ray beams to trigger the reactions while capturing images of their effects on the mineral surface. Now, using a method called Resonant Anomalous X-Ray Reflectivity (RAXR), the researchers are able to go one step further and distinguish the identity of the element being studied.