USG NEWS:
www.ajc.com
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/students-to-hold-sleep-out-for-homeless/nhyZ4/
Students to hold sleep out for homeless
By Tucker McQueen
For the AJC
Kennesaw State University students will sleep outside on campus grounds this week to raise awareness on homeless issues.
www.rawstory.com
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/richard-dawkins-calls-out-georgia-southern-history-professor-for-pushing-creationism/
Richard Dawkins calls out Georgia Southern history professor for pushing creationism
Scott Kaufman
The man comedian Russell Brand recently christened an “atheistic tyrant,” Richard Dawkins, as well as noted evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, are asking Georgia Southern University (GSU) to investigate one of its history professors for promoting creationism. According to press release, GSU history professor Emerson McMullen is teaching classes at the public school that explicitly endorse creationist beliefs. In a letter detailing the problems with McMullen’s suggested answers to essay questions about the history of evolutionary theory, Coyne noted that all of the ostensibly “correct” assertions given by McMullen are scientifically suspect.
www.wtoc.com
http://www.wtoc.com/story/1526004/gsu-middle-school-model-united-nations-conference
GSU Middle School Model United Nations Conference
Were your kids in school today? Or were they solving the world’s problems? Some gave it a shot at Georgia Southern University’s Middle School Model United Nations Conference. It’s a chance for the kids to debate solutions to the problems in the Middle East.
www.midtown.11alive.com
http://midtown.11alive.com/news/news/1826972-ga-tech-says-475k-stolen-employees-gtri
GA Tech says $475K stolen by employees at GTRI
Submitted by 11Alive News Staff
ATLANTA, Ga. — GA Tech says seven employees have either been fired or resigned in the wake of a year long investigation into P-Card abuse. The allegations and investigation were first reported on 11Alive last November. Investigators at Georgia Tech say the people named in the report stole nearly a half a million dollars, all of it taxpayer money in the form of federal grants. The men all worked at the Georgia Tech Research Institute’s Advanced Concepts Lab.
Related article:
www.wsbtv.com
http://www.wsbtv.com/videos/news/auditors-find-500k-in-inappropriate-spending-at/vCzSjj/ (video)
Auditors find $500K in inappropriate spending at Georgia Tech Research Institute
RESEARCH:
www.savannahnow.com
http://savannahnow.com/exchange/2014-10-31/course-teach-mobile-app-creation
Course to teach mobile app creation
By Mary Carr Mayle
Georgia Tech-Savannah kicks off a new series of professional development offerings next month with a four-day course that promises to give techies the know-how to create a mobile app and sell it in app stores. “The mobile space is changing quickly on both the business and professional side,” said Russell Clark, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Computer Science and director of its Research Network Operations Center.
www.insurancenewsnet.com
http://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/2014/10/31/uga-team-receives-$137-million-grant-to-train-behavioral-health-care-counselors-a-571183.html#.VFfC2CivIeU
UGA Team Receives $1.37 Million Grant to Train Behavioral Health Care Counselors
Targeted News Service
ATHENS, Ga., Oct. 30 — The University of Georgia issued the following news release: University of Georgia College of Education faculty members Bernadette Heckman and Jolie Daigle have received a three-year, $1.37 million federal grant to recruit and train more than 100 UGA master’s degree students in school counseling to help increase access to mental and behavioral health services for children in Northeast Georgia’s K-12 schools. The program will provide $10,000 stipends to school counseling students in their second year of the two-year program.
www.athensceo.com
http://athensceo.com/news/2014/10/uga-study-communicators-should-address-failures-be-transparent-during-crisis-recovery/
UGA Study: Communicators Should Address Failures, Be Transparent During Crisis Recovery
Crisis communicators play a vital role in how the public views a business immediately after an unexpected and disruptive situation. According to a recent University of Georgia study, it is essential that these professionals address failures that led to the crisis, be transparent and honest and provide symbolic and concrete damage repair. The study, published recently in the journal Public Relations Review, was co-authored by Yan Jin, an associate professor of public relations in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and associate director of the UGA Center for Health and Risk Communication. Jin, an active researcher of crisis communication and strategic conflict management, seeks the answers to better prepare public relations practitioners for crises.
www.technologyreview.com
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/532121/computers-could-talk-themselves-into-giving-up-secrets/
Computers Could Talk Themselves into Giving Up Secrets
Malware might use a voice synthesizer to bypass some security controllers, researchers say.
By David Talbot
Voice-control features designed to make PCs and smartphones easier to use, especially for people with disabilities, may also provide ways for hackers to bypass security protections and access the data stored on those devices. Accessibility features are there for a good reason—they make it possible to control what’s happening on the graphical user interface without typing. But if they aren’t designed carefully, these features can be abused. Researchers at Georgia Tech found that they could sidestep security protocols by using voice controls to enter text or click buttons. In a paper on the work, the researchers describe 12 ways to attack phones with Android, iOS, Windows, or Ubuntu Linux operating systems, including some that would not require physical access to the device. The paper will be presented next week at the CCS’14 conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.
www.politico.com
http://www.politico.com/morningcybersecurity/1014/morningcybersecurity15869.html
By JOSEPH MARKS
7th article down
OUT TODAY: TRENDS IN CYBERSPACE — The Georgia Tech Research Institute and Georgia Tech Information Security Center is out with its 2015 emerging cyberthreats report this morning, which assesses expert opinions on the current trends in cyberspace. “Europe’s role in setting privacy standards means that U.S. companies are left deciding whether to create two sets of products — one for the United States and one for the rest of the world — or to adopt more stringent privacy protections,” the authors write, citing Georgia Tech’s Peter Swire.
www.educationnews.org
http://www.educationnews.org/online-schools/georgia-tech-att-and-udacity-partner-for-online-degree/
Georgia Tech, AT&T and Udacity Partner for Online Degree
Jordan E. Wassell
Georgia Tech is rolling out the first online Master’s degree in Computer Science with the help of Udacity and AT&T. The course, which is modeled after a MOOC, will become available in January, writes Natalie Kitroeff for Bloomberg Buisnessweek. While it is functionally no different from the massive open online courses like the ones Udacity offers, it will be different in two ways. First, in order to receive credit for the program one must pay $6,6000 tuition. Second, graduates of the course will obtain a Master of Science degree that is exactly the same as the graduates who sit in the classrooms of Georgia Tech. They will not need to list “online” next to the MS on their resume.
www.medicalxpress.com
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-10-psychology-workaholism.html
Study examines psychology of workaholism
by Alan Flurry
Even in a culture that lionizes hard work, workaholism tends to produce negative impacts for employers and employees, according to a new study from a University of Georgia researcher. The study, “All Work and No Play? A Meta-Analytic Examination of the Correlates and Outcomes of Workaholism” published in the Journal of Management, uses existing data to relate the causes and effects of workaholism, including its similarities to other forms of addiction.
www.medicalxpress.com
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-11-obesity-role-breast-ovarian-cancers.html
Researcher studies obesity’s role in breast, ovarian cancers
by Sheila Roberson
Mandi Murph in the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy is focusing her research efforts on the role of obesity in the promotion and development of women’s cancer, both breast cancer and ovarian cancer. A grant from the National Institutes of Health is supporting her studies on identifying which biomarkers occurring in blood and body tissue might indicate the development of these cancers.
www.redandblack.com
http://www.redandblack.com/uganews/uga-professor-helps-research-cause-of-als/article_ddce1da4-5fb0-11e4-b537-001a4bcf6878.html
UGA professor helps research cause of ALS
Richard Banton
A team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have provided new evidence as to the cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — or ALS. Structural biologists John Tainer, Elizabeth Getzoff and colleagues found ALS may result from protein instability in motor neurons. Tainer said he thinks his findings have the potential to create treatment options that do not only address specific mutations.
www.popsci.com
http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/meet-woman-who-trains-robots-living
Meet A Woman Who Trains Robots For A Living
Teaching the art of learning through algorithms and pasta
By Adam Piore
Andrea Thomaz, who directs Georgia Tech’s Socially Intelligent Machines Lab, teaches a one-of-a-kind student: a robot with light-up ears, named Curi. We asked Thomaz how she envisions life with robots unfolding. Popular Science: Why should robots be able to learn? Andrea Thomaz: Personal robots are going to be out in human environments, and it’s going to be really hard for engineers to think of all the things we’re going to want those robots to do. So my lab is trying to enable end users to teach robots. We’re thinking about different elements, from the interaction itself—how should the robot phrase questions so that it’s gathering the right kind of information?—to machine learning, or algorithms to deal with the kind of input people will provide.
www.chronicle.augusta.com
http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2014-11-01/farmers-could-soon-fly-drones-over-fields
Farmers could soon fly drones over fields
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Associated Press
MOULTRIE, Ga. — The next big thing for Georgia farmers could be drones. State economic developers say Georgia’s agricultural industry could be one of the areas with the most promising potential for the launch of commercial drone usage, and they’re intent on showing farmers why. In the town of Moultrie, nestled in a farm-rich region, local aerospace firms flew their drones over fields of cotton to show off the technology to farmers attending the recent Sunbelt Ag Expo… Sharing a booth with VSG Unmanned and Guided Systems at the ag expo was Atlanta-based unmanned service provider Flight Guardian, as well as the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Participation of the unmanned aircraft industry at the expo was coordinated by the state Center of Innovation for Aerospace and Center of Innovation for Agribusiness. “We’ve identified agriculture early on as one of the potential early adopters of the technology,” said Justice.
www.scitechdaily.com
Low Atmospheric Oxygen Levels Delayed Rise of Animals
A new study reveals that oxygen levels during the “boring billion” period were only 0.1% of what they are today, providing the first evidence that oxygen levels were low enough during this period to potentially prevent the rise of animals. Geologists are letting the air out of a nagging mystery about the development of animal life on Earth… “There is no question that genetic and ecological innovation must ultimately be behind the rise of animals, but it is equally unavoidable that animals need a certain level of oxygen,” said Planavsky, co-lead author of the research along with Christopher Reinhard of the Georgia Institute of Technology. “We’re providing the first evidence that oxygen levels were low enough during this period to potentially prevent the rise of animals.”
www.nextgov.com
http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2014/10/are-white-house-hackers-gone/97775/
ARE THE WHITE HOUSE HACKERS GONE?
By Aliya Sternstein
Efforts to suppress abnormal behavior on an unclassified White House network continue, according to Obama administration officials… The disclosure of this breach coincides with two new reports on Russian-backed cyberspying and a 2015 projection for continued online espionage by foreign countries. Next year, “low-intensity online nation-state conflicts become the rule, not the exception,” according to a Georgia Institute of Technology report on emerging cyber threats. Already, China allegedly is supplementing police efforts at pro-democracy Hong Kong protests with online “Man in the Middle” attacks to intercept protesters’ communications. Moscow reportedly is eavesdropping through the Internet on Ukrainian allies amid Russia-Ukraine tensions. “From cyber conflict to industrial espionage to law enforcement monitoring, nation states and government-sponsored groups have adopted online tactics to complement their real-world strategies,” states the Georgia Tech report, which was released Wednesday.
www.bizjournals.com
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2014/10/31/great-inventions-require-long-term-investments.html?page=all
Great inventions require long-term investments
C. Michael Cassidy
How did the invention of glass come to transform humankind? Why did one man’s addition of a poisonous chemical to a city water supply change the course of sanitation? And how did a naval blockade contribute to an air-conditioned South that continues to grow? These are a few of the questions being addressed in a fascinating series on public television that began airing this month. “How We Got to Now” shows how elements we take for granted, such as sound and light, evolved into products we could not do without today… These are companies that address real needs. Take sensor technology being developed at Georgia Tech. Newly launched startups are marketing sensor products that forecast heart failure, detect real-time impurities in the environment and pinpoint water usage and leaks anywhere in home plumbing. It’s no surprise that such startups are a key component of Georgia’s economic development strategy.
www.globalatlanta.com
http://www.globalatlanta.com/article/27251/export-academy-planned-at-georgia-states-freshly-funded-ciber/
Export Academy Planned at Georgia States Freshly Funded CIBER
by Trevor Williams
Fresh off the renewal of an estimated $1.1 million grant to promote the teaching of international business, a Georgia State University institute is planning to boost its outreach to the Atlanta business community through an export academy. The GSU Center for International Business Education and Research, or CIBER, is one of 18 of the U.S. Department of Education-funded centers that survived after the national list was pared down from 33 to 17. Atlanta is the only city with two CIBERs; Georgia Institute of Technology’s also made the cut. While the GSU CIBER hosts some esoteric conferences focused on curriculum development and honing the practice of teaching international business at the college level, it also sees itself playing a vital role in aiding local companies with their international literacy.
www.sciencecodex.com
http://www.sciencecodex.com/scientists_replicate_the_tide_with_two_buckets_aquarium_tubing_and_a_pump-144686
Scientists replicate the tide with two buckets, aquarium tubing, and a pump
Rachel MacTavish is growing salt marsh plants in microcosms that replicate the tide. She assembled them in an outdoor greenhouse at the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve in Georgia, USA, with buckets from a hardware store, aquarium tubing, and pumps. Her tidal simulation units could be an important tool for preserving and restoring environmentally important wetlands, because they enable researchers to investigate tidal marsh plant growth in a controlled setting. “Tidal wetlands are often influenced by many factors, and controlled experiments allow researchers to isolate and untangle the roles of individual variables,” explains MacTavish, a graduate student in the Department of Biology at Georgia Southern University. “I was inspired to construct and test this tidal simulation method as a way to examine the effects of added nutrients and salt in the water on salt marsh plant nutrient uptake.”
Related article:
www.news.bioscholar.com
http://news.bioscholar.com/2014/11/scientists-developed-inexpensive-tidal-simulator-ecological-studies.html
Scientists Developed Inexpensive Tidal Simulator For Ecological Studies
Editorials/Columns/Opinions
www.myajc.com
http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/politifact-millers-claim-about-deal-and-hope-schol/nhwkk/?icmp=ajc_internallink_invitationbox_apr2013_ajcstub1#a6bbd8e6.3566685.735537
PolitiFact: Miller’s claim about Deal and HOPE scholarship on target
By Nancy Badertscher and April Hunt – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Democratic Gov. Zell Miller has become a factor in this year’s two biggest elections: the race for U.S. senator and governor. In campaign ads, Miller gives Deal credit for saving Georgia’s wildly popular lottery-funded HOPE scholarship. Miller endorsed Democrat Michelle Nunn for Georgia’s open U.S. Senate seat. He’s also backing Republican Gov. Nathan Deal for re-election. “HOPE was a big achievement for Georgia,” Miller says in the ad. “But when it ran into trouble and headed for bankruptcy, Nathan Deal rose to the challenge. Now, thanks to Nathan, HOPE is available for the next generation.” Those are strong words from Miller, considered the founder of HOPE. PolitiFact decided to take a closer look.
www.getschooled.blog.ajc.com
http://getschooled.blog.ajc.com/2014/11/02/dual-enrollment-vs-ap-classes-are-georgia-high-school-students-learning-about-both-options/
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Dual enrollment vs. AP classes: Are Georgia high school students learning about both options?
Rick Diguette is a local writer and college professor. Today, he takes up a topic of personal interest to me as a parent of two high school sophomores, dual enrollment. My twins have to decide in the next few weeks whether to apply for their high school’s new International Baccalaureate diploma program, which locks them into six two-year courses over 11th and 12th grades. Their other option is to select a mix of IB and AP courses, which could possibly allow space for dual enrollment at a local college. But I found out from the high school it falls on parents to pursue and enable dual enrollment. Parents whose children dual enrolled at Georgia State, Georgia Perimeter or Tech confirmed to me they spent a lot of time and energy making it happen.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/67690/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=dc1e13faa0aa4cc28954c1930d0af2a2&elqCampaignId=415
Many For-Profit Institutions Do Little to Benefit Students
by Matthew Boulay
It is said that the road to the American dream is through schoolhouse doors. Often young people choose to serve their country in the military before they reach the hallowed halls of higher education. Today, the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the Montgomery GI Bill and other federal benefits are enabling more than one million veterans to go to college or attend a career school.
…Similarly, minorities – military and civilians alike – are targeted for their access to federal education assistance. While most attend public colleges, minorities are disproportionately enrolled in for-profits. African Americans are more likely than all other ethnic groups to go to for-profits. African-American and Hispanic undergraduates (together) at for-profit colleges are more than twice as likely to borrow federal student loans – and more than three times as likely to take out private, high-interest rate education loans – as their counterparts at other colleges. But many for-profits leave students with substandard educations, non-transferable credits, useless degrees or no degrees at all, and with heavy student loan debt.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/11/03/essay-duties-colleges-after-graduation-first-generation-students
Graduation Shouldn’t Be Endpoint
By Karen Gross and Ivan Figueroa
Much of the attention in higher education circles focuses on getting more vulnerable students to and through college. We have finally acknowledged that access to and entry into post-high school education not enough; we need to focus on graduation – whether from a certificate program, a community college or a four-year college or university. We have targeted improving graduation rates as a goal that symbolizes success, enabling some to claim victory when those rates rise. But we are mistaken. We are claiming success too early.
www.nypost.com
http://nypost.com/2014/11/01/colleges-are-learning/
Colleges are learning
By Post Editorial Board
While the University of North Carolina generates headlines for an 18-year-long scam that let athletes participate in intercollegiate sports even though they weren’t learning anything in their courses, the University of Michigan has just received approval for a new approach designed to make sure a Michigan degree provides real value — to students as well as employers. In the system that prevails on most campuses, you earn a degree by accumulating credit hours. But Michigan will now offer a master’s degree in health-professions education based on a student’s proven proficiency in the coursework. It’s called a competency-based degree, and it’s part of a growing trend.
Education News
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/breakaway-group-seeks-retro-common-app/39183?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Breakaway Group Seeks ‘Retro Common App’
by Eric Hoover
When a bandwagon becomes crowded, passengers get antsy. “The more the merrier” might sound good at first, but as popularity grows, the load has a way of weighing down the wheels. Sooner or later, a new bandwagon comes along. Perhaps that’s a useful way of thinking about the latest news from the college-admissions realm. As The Chronicle first reported on Friday, a group of highly selective colleges is exploring the possibility of creating a shared application that students could use to apply to one or more of the participating institutions. Those behind the venture seek to build an alternative to the Common Application—only with a much smaller membership, bound by different requirements, according to a confidential May 12 draft of a request for proposals obtained by The Chronicle.
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/Lamar-Alexander-Wants-to/149807/
Lamar Alexander Wants to Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
By Kelly Field
Ask the average American to describe Senator Lamar Alexander, and they’ll probably mention the red-and-black plaid shirt that became the senator’s trademark when he campaigned for Tennessee’s governorship in the late 1970s. Ask the average college lobbyist or education aide, and they’ll paint a different picture: Lamar standing beside a tower of boxes stuffed with regulations, railing against the burden those rules impose on colleges. Or this image: Lamar waving the 10-page paper federal student-aid application, appealing for a shorter form. For years, the Republican senator has been trotting out those two props in an effort to persuade his colleagues to roll back regulations and simplify, simplify, simplify student aid.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/03/study-finds-serious-attrition-issues-black-and-latino-doctoral-students
Missing Minority Ph.D.s
By Scott Jaschik
ATLANTA — The Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, whose annual meeting just concluded here, gathers 1,300 minority Ph.D. students and postdocs, and some of their advisers in what is billed as the largest annual gathering of minority doctoral students. Many here talk about the challenges created for black and Latino students who end up — as doctoral candidates or later as junior faculty — with few colleagues who share their backgrounds. The institute celebrates the success of new minority Ph.D.s in a ceremony in which they put on their doctoral robes, but what of those who didn’t make it to the finish line?
www.online.wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/articles/college-applicants-get-glimpse-at-their-future-job-prospects-1414783194
College Applicants Get Glimpse at Their Future Job Prospects
Data Aim to Give Students a Tool for Determining Educational Value
By MELISSA KORN and DOUGLAS BELKIN
Sydney Frankenberg is considering several schools and multiple majors as she prepares to apply to college. A key question at the top of her list: Which program will land her the best job at the most reasonable cost? A few years ago, Ms. Frankenberg would have had little to go on in her quest to assess the return on investment for college. But as tuition and student debt skyrocket and many recent graduates get a slow start to their careers, North Carolina this summer joined a handful of states offering students and parents new tools to provide at least partial answers.
www.insidehighered.com
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/03/cornell-james-madison-face-questions-about-hiring-former-unc-employees
Fallout From UNC
By Jake New
At least two dozen current and former employees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were implicated in last week’s report detailing academic fraud at the university.
The extent of their knowledge and involvement in the scandal varies, with some employees just having a basic idea that the courses — all “paper classes” within the African and Afro-American studies department — were suspiciously easy. Others, the report alleged, knowingly steered about 1,500 athletes toward no-show courses that never met, were not taught by any faculty members, and where the only work required was a single research paper that received a high grade no matter the content. Nine of these employees have so far been fired or otherwise disciplined by UNC, and several others have since retired. But a handful of tutors, advisers, and coaching staff members have taken jobs elsewhere, and it remains unclear if they will face any sanctions for their roles in the scandal or for their unwillingness to speak to investigators.
www.diverseeducation.com
http://diverseeducation.com/article/67695/?utm_campaign=Diverse%20Newsletter%203&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elq=dc1e13faa0aa4cc28954c1930d0af2a2&elqCampaignId=415
Professors Examine Affirmative Action And Racial Stereotypes in Higher Education
by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
In order to get rid of the stereotypes that follow disadvantaged minorities who are admitted to college through race-conscious affirmative action, admissions policies would have to hold the disadvantaged group to higher standards than their more advantaged peers. So argue a pair of University of California, Berkley law professors in a new National Bureau of Economic Research paper titled “Affirmative Action and Stereotypes in Higher Education Admissions.”
www.chronicle.com
http://chronicle.com/article/3-Academics-Forced-to-Seek/149769/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
3 Academics Forced to Seek Safety in the United States
Like no other time since World War II, foreign academics and students are being forcibly displaced due to violence and political persecution. The Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund, which helps relocate threatened academics and intellectuals, is seeing an increase in requests for help, with Iraqis and Syrians facing the greatest need. Following are stories of three scholars —a Syrian engineer, an Albanian writer living in Greece, and a Thai anthropologist—who have recently fled to the United States. The stories demonstrate the growing threats to dissident intellectuals around the world.
www.nytimes.com
Handling of Sexual Harassment Case Poses Larger Questions at Yale
By TAMAR LEWIN
NEW HAVEN — A sexual harassment case that has been unfolding without public notice for nearly five years within the Yale School of Medicine has roiled the institution and led to new allegations that the university is insensitive to instances of harassment against women.
www.thehill.com
DOE invests in more efficient nuclear power plants
By Tim Devaney
The Obama administration is looking to develop more efficient nuclear power facilities. Next generation nuclear reactors would not only save energy, but they would also be safer to operate, the Department of Energy (DOE) said Friday as it announced new investments in the sector. As part of the Obama administration’s climate action plan, the Energy Department announced it will provide tens of millions of dollars to support companies involved in key nuclear energy research.