(New York, N.Y. – August 12, 2014) Darelis Flores, an elementary school teacher at The School of San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, was honored today at a White House ceremony for winning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators which recognizes outstanding academic approaches to environmental education.

The regeneration of the optic nerve and a cure for glaucoma could one day be possible thanks in part to findings from a study led by Giam Vega-Meléndez, a young 26 year-old Puerto Rican graduate student who is on a fast-track to a research career. Vega found that certain proteins, naturally released by the body during development, can promote the regrowth of optic the nerve after injury or degeneration. The research project was conducted in its entirety by Vega-Meléndez, a graduate student in the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences campus (UPR-MSC), under the direction of Dr.

The Seismic Design Team from the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez earned fourth place in a competition organized by the Earthquake Engineering Research Insitute.

For more information about the Team visit their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/UPRMSeismicDesignTeam

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