Texas A&M Women’s Basketball Wins Season Opener

Production Of Solar Panels In College Station Starting Soon

West of Easterwood Airport, production is about to begin on solar panels used in solar energy farms around the state. Charles Carey is the CEO of the parent corporation that owns U.S. Modules, where during the last year and a half has been spent building the 150,000 square foot complex north of FM 60 off Jones Road. Carey says they project to build 2.2 million panels in 2027. He says that is equivalent to powering 160,000 homes. The panels will be used by a sister company that Carey says is building solar energy farms in north, west, and the panhandle areas of Texas. Employment at U.S. Modules is projected to reach 250 by the end of this year, with continued expansion planned as new production lines are added. Carey says a reason for locating here was the ability to recruit engineering graduates at Texas A&M. Click below to hear Charles Carey’s visit with WTAW’s Bill Oliver. Listen to “Production of solar panels in College Station is starting soon” on Spreaker. News release from U.S. Modules: A new solar manufacturing facility in College Station will bring its first production line online March 25, launching a Texas-based operation designed to expand domestic solar module production. Texas has rapidly become one of the largest solar power producers in the United States, creating growing demand for domestic solar manufacturing. This facility, operated by U.S. Modules, marks the start of a veteran-led manufacturing effort focused on strengthening U.S. energy infrastructure. The site is designed to scale to approximately 1.4 gigawatts of annual production capacity, creating roughly 250 jobs in the region as operations expand and positioning the facility as a growing contributor to domestic solar manufacturing. Production Line 1 is designed for approximately 400 megawatts of annual capacity, with the site built to scale to roughly 1.4 gigawatts of annual production as additional lines come online. The 150,000-square-foot facility includes two solar module production lines along with warehouse and loading infrastructure to support utility-scale deployment.

Navasota Remembers Chuck Norris

Friday’s announcement (March 20) of the death of Chuck Norris was particularly felt in Navasota, where he and his wife lived on a ranch. A post on the city of Navasota Facebook page while Norris was “known worldwide for his remarkable career and accomplishments, to us, he was also a neighbor whose presence left a lasting impression.” The post also said Norris’s legacy of strength, character, and service will not be forgotten.” Navasota junior high school, along with intermediate and middle schools in Bryan ISD, participated in Norris’s Kickstart Kids martial arts program. A post on the Navasota ISD Facebook page said “Grandmaster Chuck Norris” “impacted thousands of our students, instilling character, discipline, and respect that will last a lifetime.” The NISD post also said Norris’s “legacy and influence will continue to make a difference in Navasota ISD and our community for many generations to come.”

Texas A&M Veterinary College And AgriLife Research Among Partners In A New Grant From The National Institutes Of Health

The Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences will house a new research center funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A news release says the five year, $15.3 million dollar grant will advance modern, science-based approaches that improve and accelerate chemical safety assessments while reducing the need for new animal testing. A multidisciplinary team of toxicologists, engineers, data analysis experts, regulatory professionals and educators will address barriers that have limited regulatory acceptance of non-animal methods, particularly for non-pharmaceutical chemicals used in everyday products and industrial applications. Attached is a photo that Dr. Rusyn had approved for the story. Caption option: Drs. Weihsueh Chiu (left) and Ivan Rusyn discuss the plans for Center research News release from the Texas A&M college of veterinary medicine and biological sciences: The Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS), Texas A&M AgriLife Research and partner institutes from across the country have received a five-year, $15.3 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to fund a new research center that aims to transform how industrial and consumer-use chemicals are evaluated for human safety. Funded through the NIH’s Common Fund Complement-Animal Research in Experimentation (Complement-ARIE) program, the New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) Decision Center will advance modern, science-based approaches that improve and accelerate chemical safety assessments while reducing the need for new animal testing. The NAMs Decisions Center brings together a multidisciplinary team of toxicologists, engineers, data analysis experts, regulatory professionals and educators to integrate NAMs — advanced, human based laboratory models and computer-based tools — into real-world regulatory decision-making. Partner institutions include the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Illinois Chicago, Michigan State University, North Carolina State University and Sciome LLC. Together, these scientists will address barriers that have limited regulatory acceptance of non-animal methods, particularly for non-pharmaceutical chemicals used in everyday products and industrial applications. “Chemical safety decisions affect virtually everyone because chemicals are part of daily life,” said Ivan Rusyn, center director and University Professor in the VMBS Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology (VTPP). “It is critical that alternatives to current risk-assessment approaches provide equal or better protection of human health and the environment. This center will deliver and qualify the scientific methods that both industry and regulators need to confidently use modern, non-animal approaches in their decisions.” Addressing a critical bottleneck in chemical safety A major focus of the NAMs Decisions Center is improving read-across, a widely used regulatory approach in which safety data from one chemical are used to inform decisions about similar chemicals. Although read-across has the potential to considerably reduce the need for new animal testing and speed up safety evaluations, regulatory acceptance of industry-developed read-across proposals has remained limited, with recent analyses of regulatory decisions showing that the vast majority of read-across proposals fail due to insufficient data demonstrating biological similarity between chemicals. “Read-across is widely recognized as a critically important component of the future of chemical safety evaluation and is welcomed by both industry and regulators,” said Nicholas Ball, European Regulatory Fellow with The Dow Chemical Co. in Horgen, Switzerland, and a member of the NAMs Decisions Center Advisory Board. “While there is broad agreement that read-across justifications must improve, isolated efforts to demonstrate how NAMs can help have had limited impact. It is exciting to see a coordinated, centerwide effort that will systematically address the shortcomings of current read-across approaches.” The center directly tackles this challenge by developing population-based NAMs that will generate robust data on how chemicals are absorbed, metabolized, distributed and may cause toxicity in humans. “By combining advanced cell-based systems with computational modeling, the center will fill critical data gaps that have historically prevented regulatory acceptance of non-animal safety testing approaches,” Rusyn said. Accelerating safer decisions for non-pharmaceutical chemicals Through coordinated technology development, data integration and regulatory engagement, the NAMs Decisions Center also aims to increase confidence in non-animal chemical safety evaluations, accelerate decision-making for industrial and consumer-use chemicals, reduce and refine animal use in regulatory testing and strengthen public health protection with more human-relevant science. “While the new technologies in toxicology are exciting, their adoption into policy and practice to deliver effective alternative methods for ensuring chemical safety hinges on scientific rigor. We have a responsibility to demonstrate not just the promise but also the current limitations of NAMs,” said Weihsueh Chiu., a VTPP professor and former risk assessor with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Our approach is to let the science lead. We need to identify and solve the critical gaps in these alternative methods because public health depends on getting the science right, not on meeting an arbitrary timeline.” To advance their new science and solutions, the center will work closely with U.S. and international regulatory agencies, industry and non-governmental organizations to ensure that its methods are fit-for-purpose, reproducible and ready for regulatory adoption. “The engagement of a broad international community of regulatory science professionals is a distinctive strength of this center,” said Maurice Whelan, member of the center’s advisory board; deputy director for Health and Food at the European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC) in Italy; and head of the JRC’s EU Reference Laboratory for alternatives to animal testing. “By actively listening to policymakers, regulators, industry, animal welfare organizations and environmental protection advocates, the center is well positioned to develop practical, usable solutions with immediate real-world impact, in the U.S. and worldwide.” Building the future workforce and public trust In addition to its scientific mission, the center will invest in training, education and research translation through proactive engagement with the full spectrum of future users of its methods, including developing resources for students, regulators and chemical industry professionals while addressing ethical, legal and social considerations surrounding the use of emerging technologies in safety decision-making. “By pairing scientific innovation with transparency, training and stakeholder engagement, this center is laying the foundation for a new era of chemical safety assessment — one that is faster, more ethical, and more protective of human health,” said Kevin Elliott., […]