Kale. Chickpeas. Tahini. Dates. Those were just a few of the ingredients in a class held for the nearly 300 freshmen of the Wayne State University School of Medicine.The topic was plant-based nutrition, and the new curriculum initiative — equal parts cooking demonstrations, hands-on recipe making and clinical testimonials from patients — is possibly the first of its kind at any of the nation's medical schools. 

Through support from the U.S. Department of Education, Wayne State University announced it is launching the Metro Detroit Teaching Residency for Urban Excellence (TRUE) Project, an innovative multi-sector partnership that aims to positively impact student learning, address the critical shortage of STEM teachers and support the region’s workforce development. The $2.5 million project will target recent graduates and mid-career professionals with STEM expertise in the metro Detroit region, especially those in the automotive and technology industries who may be impacted by recent and planned plant closures.

Jahnavi Narkar has been fascinated by language for as long as she can remember. As a master’s student in linguistics at Wayne State University, she is interested in phonetics, or the sounds of human speech, and studies how the physical properties of sounds impact how they are perceived. Narkar put her research to work by taking part in a national training program in linguistic fieldwork, funded by a grant from the Documenting Endangered Languages program of the National Science Foundation.

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin (a hormone that regulates blood sugar), or the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Oral insulin is potentially prescribed to patients diagnosed with diabetes. However, current oral protein formulations of insulin face multiple obstacles during their gastrointestinal transport and absorption, resulting in lower therapeutic benefits, and there is an urgent need for a safe and efficient oral delivery technology. Now, a team of researchers in Wayne State’s College of Engineering is exploring ways to address these issues.