JULY-AUGUST 2025

Why do some people become addicted to drugs and alcohol and others do not? What role does genetics play? Which genes or network of genes are key? Researchers at the Clemson Center for Human Genetics are working to unravel those mysteries using fruit flies — yes, those flying pests you may find in your kitchen. Read more about the research into addiction as well as aging, rare diseases and “childhood Alzheimer’s.”

Taking antibiotics can kill “good” bacteria along with the bad, allowing an overgrowth of opportunistic, disease-causing bacteria such as Clostridiodes difficile. An effective treatment option for recurrent C. diff infections is fecal microbiota transplant, but it doesn’t work for everybody. Clemson researchers Anna Seekatz and Sophie Millard are discovering why.

Thao Tran Dominy has an impressive body of research. But the assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry is committed to educating students, from undergraduates to Ph.D.’s. It’s the reason she’s the first faculty member from Clemson to receive the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.

Earlier this year, a “city killer” asteroid made major headlines for its slim chance of striking Earth in 2032. Two Department of Physics and Astronomy faculty members tell us what we need to know about asteroids, what they can tell us about the formation of our solar system and whether they pose a danger.

Wren Gregory readily admits her career path is far from traditional. The former high school dropout earned her  Ph.D. from Clemson and now is the co-founder and CEO of a software startup to help early medical technology companies navigate and complete the Food and Drug Administration's regulatory approval process.

Fermin Redondo has helped design instrumentation and experiments that NASA launched into space on its rockets. Find out how undergraduate research opportunities helped propel Redondo’s studies at Clemson and his career as a scientist.

Ramakrishna Podila, a Clemson University materials physicist, has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. He was honored for his role in shaping modern condensed matter and applied physics.

ScienceNet is a platform for connecting our SCIENCE family — students, alumni, friends, faculty and staff. It is where you can exchange ideas and experiences, engage in professional development and explore careers in the life, physical and mathematical sciences. Join ScienceNet.

The northern lights can put on quite a stunning show. This spring, they were AWESOME, thanks to a research project to study how the aurora affects the upper atmosphere. The Aurora Waves Excited By Substorm Onset Magnetic Events project involved two Clemson physicists.

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Congratulations, Nadia Chestnut and Leila Jane Davis! Both are Clemson Honors and College of Science students who have been named Dixon Global Policy Scholars.

Read more about these Dixon Global Policy Scholars on LinkedIn.

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