Campus clips

It’s not hard to convince people in 2022 of the need to better understand infectious diseases. Yale announced in April the launch of the Center for Infection and Immunity at the School of Medicine. The center’s director is Akiko Iwasaki, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, who has been in the forefront of COVID-19 research.

Financial support for students was identified as a major goal of Yale’s $7 billion capital campaign when it was announced last fall. Now the university has put a number on it: fundraisers are seeking $1.2 billion toward student scholarships and fellowships in Yale College and the graduate and professional schools. They’re already halfway there: Yale said in April that it had raised $603 million for student support.

The Yale Art Gallery handed over 13 South Asian artworks, valued at an estimated $1.29 million, to the Manhattan district attorney’s office on March 30. Investigators believe the items had been stolen from their home countries of India and Myanmar and illegally trafficked by a former New York art dealer. The gallery said it was “glad to work cooperatively with the DA’s office in this important matter.”
 
Flying to New Haven has become easier as Avelo Airlines expands offerings at Tweed–New Haven Airport. Avelo now flies directly to Chicago, Nashville, Baltimore, and 11 airports in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida.

A billion birds in the US are killed every year by collisions with windows,researchers estimate. The Yale Bird-Friendly Initiative, a joint project of the Law School, Peabody Museum, and Office of Sustainability, wants to improve the odds for birds on campus. They will collect data and recommend mitigation measures for campus buildings that kill large numbers of birds.