The Virginia Tech media relations office has the following experts available for interviews this week surrounding issues in the news. To schedule an interview, please contact mediarelations@vt.edu.

Presidents Day: Polling numbers, Nikki Haley’s last stand in South Carolina

Voters have voiced concerns over both Joe Biden and Donald Trump in some of the latest polls, but a new poll from presidential experts released over the weekend tells a different story. The 2024 Presidential Greatness Poll shows that scholars do not share voters’ opinions on the two. Biden comes in the top third of American presidents at #14. Meanwhile, Trump is in dead last, even trailing behind James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson. Virginia Tech political expert Karen Hult is available to break down why voters’ and scholars' opinions vary so drastically.  

Trump is the likely GOP presidential nominee given that he has won every primary, but his opponent Nikki Haley does not seem to be backing down. This Saturday, the two will face off in her home state of South Carolina. Virginia Tech presidential primary experts Caitlin Jewitt and Karen Hult are available to discuss her likelihood of winning and why she hasn’t backed down yet. Additionally, Super Tuesday is quickly approaching and unlike most years, this will be much less climatic than previous primary seasons.  

The future of electric vehicles

As the Biden administration weighs delaying the switch to electric vehicles, according to new reports, the future of these energy-efficient modes of transportation remains up in the air. Virginia Tech Transportation Institute expert Hesham Rakha is available to speak about the current state of the market and what needs to be done to make electric vehicles more mainstream.

Effective strategies for tax season

Navigating tax season can be a source of stress for many individuals. Virginia Tech finance expert Jesse Lineberry is available to share ways to stay ahead on tax season to avoid being overwhelmed as the April 15 deadline approaches.

2024 Headlines in the News

Virginia Tech experts share their thoughts on what they expect to make headlines in 2024. Topics include climate change, artificial intelligence, the presidential election, and more. For a full list of experts and those topics, click here.

Curious Conversations podcast: AI & Education

Andrew Katz joined Virginia Tech’s “Curious Conversations” to chat about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) as an education tool. Katz shared his insight related to the applications of AI models, such as ChatGPT, to help break down complex ideas for different educational levels, virtually improve teacher-to-student ratio, and provide interactive learning advantages that improve retention.

Andrew Katz is an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Education and the director of the Improving Decisions in Engineering Education Agents and Systems (IDEAS) Lab at Virginia Tech. His current areas of interests include exploring how students learn and make decisions that affect the environment, how educators can use digital technologies, how engineers make design decisions for automated technologies that affect communities, as well as how education systems can promote a holistic student formation that fosters mental and physical health.

New episodes will debut each Tuesday. Expert researchers are also available for media interviews. To listen and learn more, click here. 

Research Highlight

Low-intensity ultrasound as a treatment for pain

A new study from Virginia Tech researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC shows that applying low-intensity focused ultrasound to an area deep within the brain may point to new ways to help people cope with chronic pain. Recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience, scientists demonstrated the effectiveness of using low-intensity focused ultrasound to modulate the activity in a critical region in the brain that processes and regulates pain signals. The results showed that the ultrasound made people feel less pain, and it also altered how the brain and heart communicate. Overall, the heart did not respond as strongly to pain, and certain brain signals changed. More here.

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