Kent State University researchers will be using 360 videos to train future teachers with the help of a sizable National Science Foundation grant.

Karl Kosko, associate professor of mathematics education; Richard Ferdig, professor of educational technology; and Cheng Chang Lu, professor of computer science, have received a three-year, $1.48 million grant from the foundation to support their work, a news release stated.

The project uses 360 video, "which records video in a spherical fashion," the release stated. That lets the video capture more student interaction and allows the viewer to look in any direction. The 360 video was piloted with future teachers in the fall semester of 2018.

"They're talking about the content that's being taught, whereas with the standard video, it's not happening, or at least to a lesser degree," Kosko said in the release. "This grant is going to push forward on those ideas. We're going to explore more with 360, with even more depth than what we did in our pilot. One of the things we're going to do is include not just one camera in a classroom but several cameras so you can go from one point to another."

Ferdig said in the release that he sees other applications for this work, such as "immersive training for pilots, police and public health workers."

In other university research news, a College of Wooster researcher has received an approximately $325,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health that could affect the control of mosquitoes, a news release stated. Laura Sirot, associate professor of biology, will be studying a particular protein in male mosquitoes' seminal fluid. The protein, found in a species that transmits a variety of viruses, transfers to females.

"With the tremendous global impact of mosquito-borne diseases on human health, new approaches for mosquito control are desperately needed. The diseases caused by these mosquito-transmitted viruses are estimated to affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide and to kill tens of thousands annually," Sirot said in the release. "Although there has been progress on vaccine development, there are no cures for these diseases. Therefore, control efforts focused on preventing bites and meeting the demand for alternative, novel insecticides, instead of existing insecticides that mosquitoes may have become resistant to, has spurred this study."