New American University

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Arizona State University has a vision to be a New American University, promoting excellence in its research and among its students, faculty and staff, increasing access to its educational resources and working with communities to positively impact social and economic development.

  • ASU Meets Global Challenges

    The world is changing, and ASU is addressing the policy, science and engineering that affect global dynamics in the fields of sustainability, research, education, business and diplomacy. From the grasslands of Mongolia to the Sonoran desert, from high schools in China to business schools in Mexico, ASU is making a difference in the way many people look at themselves and the world in which they live.  

  • Professors See Solutions in Slime

    You know algae. It's the gunk that collects on the sides of a fish tank when you forget to clean it. It's the slime that makes you slip on rocks while crossing a stream. You probably think of algae as a nuisance, if you even bother to think of it at all. Milt Sommerfeld and Qiang Hu think of algae as one of the most useful substances in existence. And they think about it every day. In fact, they have an entire laboratory dedicated to the study of algae.

  • Going 'Green'

    One convert at a time is a noble goal for any altruistic endeavor, especially sustainability, which has long laid low in the grass roots of society. Partly because of this, and because of the consumer-driven society in which we live, converting people to sustainability has been slow. Arizona State University's efforts in sustainability are garnering support on a level of hundreds at a time.  

  • Biodesign Aims to Prevent Cancer

    ASU Biodesign Institute researchers have received nearly $9 million in grants to develop a preventive vaccine against cancer. Stephen Albert Johnston, director of the institute's Center for Innovations in Medicine, will focus his research project on breast cancer, and is one of just two recipients in the nation bestowed with a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the Department of Defense's Innovator Award, funded through its Breast Cancer Research Program.

  • Clinical Partnerships Transform Face of Medicine

    In the four years since she first began the clinical partnerships program at ASU, Kathy Matt has seen it grow at a furious pace and in unforeseen directions. While there are many examples of the "power of partnerships," a recent one for Matt happened on a visit to the ASU labs of Jiping He to discuss the clinical partnerships program with officials of the National Institutes of Health, who were there to learn more about the robotic arm He's research team was developing.  

  • World's Weather Records Find Home in ASU

    Randy Cerveny has seen a lot of strange weather in his day, but lately the ASU President's Professor is focusing on recording it in his role as the keeper of the world's weather anomalies. In this new position as the world's Rapporteur on Climate Extremes, within the United Nations-affiliated World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) Commission for Climatology, Cerveny will maintain the world's extreme weather records, and he will be the person who decides if a new record is set or if it is just a bunch of smoke. 

  • ASU Designs for Future With 2020 Vision

    Arizona State University's projected enrollment of 100,000 students by the year 2020 is a statistic that some people find surprising -maybe even shocking. But the projected growth in college-eligible high school graduates demands that ASU expand to support the needs of the state; if not, Arizona children will be denied access to higher education.

  • Zah's Education Efforts Earn MLK Award

    Some people are cut out to serve others through their leadership, says Peterson Zah, ASU's 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Servant- Leadership Award winner. They don't feel they're doing anything special. They just see a need and step in to fill it.

  • Castillo-Chavez Honored With Mentor Award

    Carlos Castillo-Chavez, a professor of mathematics, statistics and life sciences at Arizona State University, has been honored once again by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), this time for his efforts to help underrepresented students earn doctoral degrees in the sciences.

  • Academic Star Wins Top Honor From USA Today

    ASU student Megan McGinnity, a 22-year-old senior who traveled around the world studying child slavery and human trafficking, was featured in USA Today as one of 20 students named to the All-USA College Academic First Team for exceptional intellectual achievement and leadership.