Community

By partnering with Louisiana communities, LSU works to improve lives across the state.

Myron Lard

Meet Myron Lard: First to Investigate Soil Samples in Colfax, Louisiana, and East Palestine, Ohio

For the first time, Lard was able to make a new connection between environmentally persistent free radicals and cancer-causing dioxins using real-world samples.

Julia Cazabon

Meet Julia Cazabon: First to Attend Medical School for Free on the LSU Health New Orleans Beer Scholarship

Julia Cazabon, a medical student at LSU Health New Orleans, is the first to receive full support through the Marcia and Billy Beer Endowed Scholarship Fund to attend all four years of medical school for free, thanks to a historic $7.5 million leadership gift—the largest ever to the LSU Health New Orleans Foundation.

LSU Health New Orleans’ Dr. Christopher Thomas and Dr. Bud O’Neal

LSU and Our Lady of the Lake Health Pioneer New Sepsis Test, Saving Lives, Cost

In hospitals nationwide, more people die from sepsis than from anything else. It’s more deadly than opioid overdoses, breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. But since August, a new sepsis test based on LSU and Our Lady of the Lake Health research and advances in microfluidics is saving lives and cost at Our Lady of the Lake Health in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Eunice area farmer Michael Frugé with LSU AgCenter researchers Ida Wenefrida and Herry Utomo

Fighting Hunger and Disease, One Strain of Rice at a Time

The LSU AgCenter is Louisiana rice farmers’ MVP, or most valued partner, in research and crop variety development. From creating a new market for jasmine rice, to producing varieties of rice that are better for diabetics and more sustainable and resilient to changes in the environment, LSU has been critical to the Louisiana rice industry for more than 100 years.

More than half of Louisiana is considered a flood hazard area.

Calculating the Real Cost of Wind and Flood Risk in Louisiana

For the first time, research developed by LSU AgCenter’s LaHouse Research and Education Center has provided Louisiana with a realistic annual cost of natural hazards in the state—$5 billion by 2050.

Students Easton Kling, Micah Champagne, Ellen Hoffman, Spencer Malone and Timmy Tran work in LSU’s Security Operations Center to protect Louisiana against cyber threats.

Fighting for Their ‘Home Team’ on the Ground and in Cyberspace

LSU computer science seniors Easton Kling and Micah Champagne are quick to connect their military experience in the Louisiana National Guard and their work as LSU cyber analysts to protect higher education across Louisiana, “but here, it’s not life or death, and you’re not covered in sand all the time.”

Process technology students at River Parishes Community College

Partnering to Double Louisiana’s Energy Workforce

LSU’s energy team, called FUEL, works to help double the state’s current energy workforce, including by enabling Louisiana’s community and technical colleges to invest in people and programs that are closely aligned with industry needs.

Jubilee Justice's Konda Mason with farm manager Myles Gaines

Louisiana Entrepreneurs Seek Support from LSU Cybersecurity Clinic

Small businesses in Louisiana are lining up to receive free services from the LSU Cybersecurity Clinic, the first in the nation to be funded by the National Security Agency, or NSA.

University Lab School 10th graders Olivia Sterling and Brooke Crain

Cyber Smoothie, Anyone?

When a comprehensive research university operates a K-12 lab school on its flagship campus and there’s a 750,000-wide workforce gap for cybersecurity professionals in the U.S., graduate students and high school students come together for some unusual approaches to learning—and tastes.

Kaitlyn Smith

Baton Rouge Magnet High School Student Makes ‘Smart’ Appliances Wiser at LSU

Kaitlyn Smith is a student doing cybersecurity research in the College of Engineering and the Center for Computation & Technology at the flagship, but she’s not your average LSU student. In fact, she’s not an LSU student at all—she’s a high schooler with a passion for cybersecurity.

LSU Shreveport’s SOC

Louisiana Enables Cyber Protection for All Universities Through LSU

With $7.5 million in support from the state legislature, all of higher education in Louisiana can now gain cyber protection—at no additional cost to the institution—through an industry-leading model developed at LSU.

Morgan Decuir

Ensuring Student Success for All

LSU alumna Morgan Decuir is a first-generation college graduate. She leads STEM education for kindergarten through fourth grade at Caneview K-8 in Port Allen and recently won the Shell Science Lab Regional Challenge, bringing more STEM learning opportunities to her community and to Louisiana students.

Cyber padlock for Louisiana

LSU Leads the Way in Cyber Protection for Louisiana Higher Ed

The establishment of student-run Security Operations Centers on LSU’s flagship campus in Baton Rouge and at LSU Shreveport will enhance the security posture of the LSU system and create a blueprint for 31 institutions of higher learning in the state to protect themselves from cyberattacks.

LSUA Impact Map In Central Louisiana

Building a Pipeline for Dental Care

With $520K in state support, LSU is expanding the LSU Health New Orleans dental hygiene program to LSU Alexandria to address acute workforce needs in central Louisiana.

LSU veterinary medicine students

State Investment in LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Helps Address National Vet Shortage

Initial $2.2 million in state investment is propelling the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine toward a bold goal of almost doubling admissions by next year from 120 to 200.