Yang Zhao, associate professor of animal science and University of Tennessee AgResearch Guthrie Endowed Professor in Precision Livestock Farming, is the winner of the regional 2025 Agricultural Research Innovation Award of Excellence.

The award was presented at the Southern Mini Land-Grant Conference on June 10 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a meeting for agInnovation South, the coalition of directors of state agricultural experiment stations in Southern states. The group is a regional coalition of the national Association for Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).

MIT engineers found that fluid between cells plays a major role in how tissues respond when squeezed, pressed, or physically deformed, potentially influencing how they adapt to conditions such as aging, cancer, diabetes, and certain neuromuscular diseases.

Researchers from Nanjing University of Science and Technology have developed a novel computational method called BlastGraphNet, which uses graph neural networks to predict the distribution of blast loads on complex 3D buildings. This data-driven approach offers significant improvements in accuracy and efficiency compared to traditional methods, with potential applications in structural design, civil defense, and safety assessments. The study, published in Engineering, demonstrates the model’s ability to provide rapid and precise predictions of blast loads, supporting more effective risk management and engineering solutions.