University System News:
CNBC.com
5 ways states are luring small business
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/15/5-ways-states-are-luring-small-business.html
Elaine Pofeldt, special to CNBC.com
When Marc Gorlin launched his firm Roadie, he knew Georgia was the ideal place to find the talent he needed to launch his on-demand app. Gorlin, who previously co-founded the financing company Kabbage, says the attractive cost of living in the state and access to “smart, talented people in multiple industries” make it attractive.
www.wsbtv.com
Stun gun sales to students surge with new law
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/cobb-county/stun-gun-sales-to-students-surge-with-new-law/398341243
by: Tom Regan
COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Georgia college students are snapping up Tasers and other stun guns after a law took effect that allows students and faculty to carry electronic shock weapons on campus. Adventure Outdoors, a hunting and camping supply store in Smyrna, told Channel 2’s Tom Regan sales have doubled in recent weeks. “We had to place a large order, because they were selling out. More people are coming in and buying these. A lot of fathers are buying them for their daughters and ladies who go to Georgia State, Kennesaw State, UGA and Georgia Tech,” said store manager Eric Wallace. The law on electronic shock weapons is sometimes referred to as “campus carry lite.” It was seen as a compromise on legislation vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal that would have allowed students to carry concealed weapons on campus. High-powered stun guns can deliver a disabling shock to an assailant. Some weapons generate millions of volts in a quick burst. “If you hold it to them for a second or two, it can knock them to the ground for a few seconds so you can get away,” said Wallace. Some students at Kennesaw State University support the electroshock-weapons carry law.
USG Institutions:
wgntv.com
More than $175k raised for homeless teen that bikes six hours to get to college, sleeps in tent
http://wgntv.com/2016/07/17/homeless-teen-bikes-six-hours-to-get-to-college-sleeps-in-tent/
BARNESVILLE, Ga. – When police received a report over the weekend of a tent pitched outside of Gordon State College in Barnesville, Ga., they headed over and asked the occupant to come out with hands in sight, the Herald-Gazette reports. Fred Barley, 19, emerged, and he had an amazing story to tell—and thanks to the cops’ compassionate reaction, his story became even more amazing, according to WSB-TV.
The Verge
Someone finally gave a robot a decent pair of shoes
http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/7/18/12211386/walking-robot-durus-shoes
By James Vincent
Getting robots to walk like humans is a tricky (and reliably amusing) exercise. Mimicking the product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution using servos instead of muscles usually leads to robots that stumble, bumble, and fall flat on their shiny metal asses. We’re getting better at it though, and a team of engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with a handy method of improving their robot’s ability to stride: a pair of decent shoes. Okay, so it’s a little more more complicated than just heading over to Foot Locker to get the DURUS robot sized up for a pair of Nike Airs, but it is all about how we copy human characteristics.
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Georgia State’s president among highest compensated in the nation
By Janel Davis
When Georgia’s Board of Regents approved compensation packages of more than $1 million for two of its public college presidents last year, people noticed. The pay increases for Bud Peterson at Georgia Tech and Mark Becker at Georgia State universities were a mix of state and university foundation funds — some paid out during the year, and some deferred — and were described by University System officials as retention incentive pay to keep the highly regarded leaders in their positions. The pay hikes approved last May, a month after regents increased tuition at all of Georgia’s public colleges, made Becker the fifth highest-compensated public college or university leader in the country in fiscal 2015, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education’s annual compensation survey released Sunday
Higher Education News:
The New York Times
Some Predict Tuition Increases Under Hillary Clinton’s College Plan
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM
Hillary Clinton’s plan to allow most Americans to attend public universities at no cost could have the perverse effect of driving tuition higher as the federal government chased a tuition target that universities would simply raise at taxpayers’ expense, some experts warn. In recent decades, the federal government has significantly expanded tuition subsidies, only to watch the cost of college climb even faster. Some experts see evidence that colleges have responded to past increases in federal subsidies by raising prices.
www.chronicle.com
Science Students Learn to Use Social Media to Communicate Research
http://chronicle.com/article/Science-Students-Learn-to-Use/237158
By Arielle Martinez
Scientists these days don’t just need to be good at putting their ideas into writing; they need to know how to post them on Twitter and Facebook. That’s the premise of an unusual course at the California Institute of Technology, “Social Media for Scientists,” which was first offered this past spring by Mark E. Davis, a professor of chemical engineering, and Sarah Mojarad, a communications program manager for social media. In the course, they taught both undergraduate and graduate students in science and engineering how to use digital platforms to communicate research to both scientists and nonscientists.
The Texas Tribune
Texas Universities to Launch Online Counseling
https://www.texastribune.org/2016/07/16/texas-universities-launch-online-counseling-progra/
by Aneri Pattani
Faced with soaring demand for mental health services from students struggling with depression and anxiety, three Texas universities plan to launch an online counseling program this fall replacing face-to-face therapy with informational videos, online exercises and video consultations that cut the time spent on each individual by nearly 70 percent. Texas A&M University, the University of North Texas and Baylor University hope the online service will help reach more students using 10- to 20-minute video conferences with counselors — a fraction of traditional 50-minute face-to-face sessions. But some psychology experts worry that the shortened sessions won’t provide much help and will come with privacy risks.