Editor's note: 'University News' would like to thank the author, Madalyn Weston, for the 66 articles that she has contributed to the Celebrating Women in STEM column over the past few years, and we'd like to congratulate her on her graduation. Math: one of the most hated...

The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has been a leader in technology since 1911. It developed its first computer with Harvard University in 1944, the first commercial hard disk drive in 1956, and the IBM Personal Computer 5150 in 1981. In 1997, the IBM Deep...

Happy Earth Week, UMKC! Our usual events have been canceled, but it’s still been an interesting month for the planet. While cities around the world are on lockdown, people are reporting a drop in air pollution levels and a return of wildlife in urban locations. Calls for post-pandemic...

The heart is a necessary and interesting requirement for human life. The size of an adult fist and weighing around one pound, the heart pumps close to 2,000 gallons of blood through your body each day. The cardiovascular system as a whole contains over 60,000 miles of blood...

Hurricanes are one of the most feared natural disasters. Though rated by wind power, hurricane waters are far more dangerous. According to the National Hurricane Center, 88% of hurricane-related deaths in the U.S. are caused by storm surges, flooding and other water-related...

Mathematics is an exciting and competitive field. Though it’s been around for centuries, the many unsolved problems continue to allow for creative and innovative techniques, as well as fame and fortune. For example, the seven Millennium Prize problems come with a million-dollar...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was founded in 1862 under President Abraham Lincoln. At the time, around half of all Americans lived on a farm, and President Lincoln referred to the new department as “The People’s Department.” Today, only about 2% of Americans...

General Electric (GE) was founded in 1892 with the merger of the Edison General Electric Company and the Thomas-Houston Electric Company. Since then, it has driven innovation in multiple areas, including aviation, power and healthcare. It’s also driving diversity in tech....

The American Medical Association (AMA) is the largest organization of physicians and medical students in the United States. Founded in 1847, the AMA’s responsibilities range from naming generic drugs to publishing medical research. They launched the war on smoking in the 1970s...

 Dwarf planets have been on everyone's mind since the demotion of Pluto in 2006, but there is another dwarf planet much closer to home: Ceres.  Ceres hangs out in the Asteroid Belt just beyond Mars and was visited in 2015 by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, the first spacecraft...

African lions are one of the most popular animals at the local zoo, but this species is in danger in the wild. Lions are classified as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, mostly due to loss of food sources and habitats, retaliation killings...

When you hear the words “noncommutative algebra,” you’re probably not thinking, “Wow! That sounds like my dream job!” This special branch of mathematics examines how the order of multiplying two functions changes the outcome of the problem and has applications in quantum...

There are trillions of galaxies in the universe, coming in all different shapes and sizes. The classic galaxy we think of is a spiral galaxy, with blue arms shaped like a whirlpool. The most common type of galaxy is an elliptical galaxy, with a reddish color and a ball-like...

Each year in the United States, Veterans Day is celebrated on Nov. 11 to honor those who served in the United States Armed Forces. Celebrated worldwide, the date marks the end of World War I. Many patriotic women in STEM have served our country and used their skills to defend...

Volcanoes are one of the deadliest natural disasters, killing approximately 29,000 people since the 1980s. There are around 1,500 active volcanoes worldwide and many more below the ocean waves. Fortunately, scientists are studying these deadly landforms to decode the warning...

The world of astronomy changed in 1990 with the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. For nearly 30 years, Hubble has dazzled the world with unrivaled images of distant stars and galaxies. But the successor of Hubble is coming: the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).  Scheduled...