USG Institutions:
www.ajc.com
UGA to graduate first black female with physics Ph.D.
Raisa Habersham, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When some 7-year-olds read about the sun potentially engulfing the Earth into a red ball and exploding into a supernova, they’re likely to have nightmares. Then again, not all 7-year-olds are like Whitney Ingram, who was reading her father’s National Geographic at that age. That interest in the sciences is what’s leading Ingram to become the first black woman to graduate from the University of Georgia with a Ph.D. in physics. “My love of science at a young age came from arts and crafts books, where you could build small projects,” Ingram told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That passion stayed with her through college, where she eventually earned her bachelor’s degree in physics. After some convincing from her mother, Ingram decided to reach out to UGA’s Office of Institutional Research to find out if she would be the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics from the university. UGA sent her an email confirming the historic feat in February. …Ingram’s historic degree is complemented by her lofty accomplishments, which include a Science Graduate Research Fellowship with the Department of Energy and a fellowship with the Southern Regional Education Board. Ingram was also one of 65 U.S. students selected to attend the annual Nobel Laureate Conference in Lindau, Germany.
www.gwinnettdailypost.com
GGC student, Navy vet back to school after divorce, homelessness
By Keith Farner
LAWRENCEVILLE — Life was pretty sweet for Max Doster in the mid-1980s. A track and field star at Hunter Huss High School in Gastonia, N.C., Doster earned an athletics scholarship to Western Carolina University in 1985. Doster pursued a degree in physical education, but during his second year, his mother’s medical needs took precedent and he left school to support his mother and younger brother. That began a series of challenging circumstances that ultimately caused him to reevaluate his life, family situation and where he lived. But in the last decade, his family situation has improved and he’s back on campus. …Doster, 49, still has lingering back issues following two surgeries that led him to being medically discharged from the Navy in 2005. But he’s on a path to graduate from Georgia Gwinnett College next year with a degree in political science.
www.accesswdun.com
Devices designed at UNG cREATe conference help local families
By AccessWDUN Staff
For Lettitia Ussery of Lumpkin County, a device designed at the University of North Georgia (UNG) will mean a greater level of safety for her five-year-old son Carston, who was born with a chromosome abnormality that limits his physical and mental abilities. The needs of a child with physical disabilities can be unique and extensive, and a collaboration at UNG between physical therapy students and industrial design students is producing custom-made assistive devices to help provide a greater level of care to the families of four local children. Twelve students in UNG’s Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program and nine students from the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Industrial Design recently spent a week working with the families and patients to determine how to best meet their needs. The program wrapped up Friday, June 30 on the UNG-Dahlonega campus.
www.wjcl.com
New GS President talks about new job
http://www.wjcl.com/news/local-local-news/new-gs-president-talks-about-new-job/224768928/story
By dave Williams
STATESBORO, GA. (WJCL) Georgia Southern University has welcomed it’s 13th President and he’s ready to be off and running. Dr. Jaimie Hebert has only been on the job officially since Friday, But he welcomes the challenge of leading Eagle Nation. “What a spectacular place this is,” said Dr. Hebert. “What a very special place we have here at Georgia Southern.” It’s hard for Dr. Jaimie Hebert to hide his excitement about being the 13th President of Georgia Southern University. Although, his first day on the job was July 1, he’s been in Statesboro since late May, and he has definite thoughts about continuing the success of the university. “i think our university can be a catalyst in economic development for Southeast Georgia as well,” said Dr. Hebert. “I don’t think, we’ve been used to our potential in that regard.” Dr. Hebert says there are many great things about this university but he says the thing that sticks out the most are its people.
www.bizjournals.com
ASD/SKY to design Georgia Tech’s office space at Coda project (SLIDESHOW)
Douglas Sams
Commercial Real Estate Editor, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Architect ASD/SKY will design 12 floors of office space for Georgia Tech at Coda, the proposed mixed-use project and first major expansion of Midtown’s Technology Square. In Coda, ASD gets one of the city’s highest-profile design jobs in Atlanta commercial real estate. Formerly called the High Performance Computing Center (or HPC), the project is being developed by Portman Holdings for Georgia Tech and the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. Gensler and Perkins + Will were also finalists to design the Georgia Tech space. Georgia Tech will help anchor the 750,000-square-foot mixed-use building planned at Technology Square at Spring and 4th streets in Midtown. Tech has committed to lease 288,771 square feet on floors 4 to 16. The building is scheduled to be ready for occupancy in December 2018.
www.bizjournals.com
Top 25 Best Southern Schools 2016
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timlevin/2016/07/05/top-25-best-southern-schools-2016/#417eaa7b1e03
Tim Levin, Contributor
Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors may have lost the NBA title this year, but his alma mater, Davidson College, wins the spot as the No. 1 in the South on the Forbes 2016 Top Colleges rankings. The full list of the 25 Top Colleges in the South is below: No. 12: Georgia Institute of Technology.
www.wtoc.com
Keeping an eye out for toxic algae in Chatham County
http://www.wtoc.com/story/32377331/keeping-an-eye-out-for-toxic-algae-in-chatham-county
By Sean Evans, Reporter
SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) – A thick green sludge is wreaking havoc along some Florida waterways, even along the coast, and it’s enough for Florida’s governor to declare a state of emergency in four counties. Tuesday, we checked in with a researcher at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography to see what our chances are here in Coastal Georgia to see blue-green algae blooms. Doctor Julia Diaz says the development of toxic blooms is definitely within the realm of possibility, though we aren’t currently seeing any cases like in Florida. “It’s the same sort of thing if you were to go out to your Home Depot and buy fertilizer for your garden. It has all these basic ingredients, and so once that gets released into seawater, it can trigger these massive blooms, because the algae all of the sudden have more of what they need in order to grow, and it’s out of control,” said Dr. Julia Diaz, Assistant Professor, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography.
www.islandpacket.com
Like grouper? Ocean gliders could help Lowcountry fishermen net more
http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/community/beaufort-news/article87937117.html
BY WADE LIVINGSTON
They look like torpedoes. Yellow torpedoes, about the size of a person, 5 feet, 5 inches long, 120 pounds. When they go on a month-long mission — like they soon will off Beaufort County’s coast — they surface every few hours to call home, transmit data and request further instructions. Gliders, or underwater autonomous vehicles, from the University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography’s new glider network will soon move through South Carolina waters taking temperature and salinity readings, and listen for fish behavior. Researchers say glider data could help fisherman increase their hauls, among other things. The network will be the first regularly funded program of its kind in the region, according to the institute. It will span an area of the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to North Carolina through which the gliders will cruise at a leisurely pace.
Higher Education News:
www.ajc.com
College degree still pays off
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/college-degree-still-pays-off/nrsdy/
Maureen Downey, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some people argue we send too many kids to four-year colleges who would be better off in technical schools or two-year programs. But there’s good reason. That four-year degree makes a big difference in average earnings. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average weekly pay of a U.S. worker with a bachelor’s degree is now $1,137. That weekly paycheck drops to $798 for workers with an associate’s degree and $738 for those with some college but no degree. And high school grads on average earn $678 a week. “Too many Americans simply don’t qualify for the jobs that pay high wages in a globalized, technologically advanced economy. Consequently, average family incomes continue to cycle down, even as the upper middle class—the top 20 percent or so—gets richer,” writes University of Maryland economist Peter Morici.
www.getschooled.blog.myajc.com
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
Why do parents want their kids to go to college? Because advanced education pays off.
State Sen. Fran Millar of DeKalb once noted many Georgia parents applaud the effort to get more kids to consider technical colleges. However, those parents often saw technical college as an option for other kids, not their own. For their children, parents still wanted a four-year college degree. Commenters on the blog frequently remark we’ve oversold the importance of a college degree to parents and, as a result, send too many Georgia teens off to campuses where they flounder. Here is a column by Peter Morici, an economist and business professor at the University of Maryland, that helps explain why parents believe their kids need a degree to compete.
www.hechingerreport.org
College admissions favor the rich. Let’s turn it around before taxpayer-funded tuition relief becomes another handout for the wealthy
by JIM WOLFSTON
As we prepare the U.S. for global competition, we find ourselves stuck with a myopic and outmoded approach in college admissions — one in which family income has gradually insinuated itself as the most important criterion. If richer students continue to dominate our college admissions, then taxpayer supported tuition relief will, by and large, become another a handout for the wealthy. Even our Pell Grant system — designed originally to provide tuition support for the poorest families — has morphed into aid for wealthier families.
www.knoxnews.com
University of Tennessee settles Title IX lawsuit for $2.48 million
By MJ Slaby and Dustin Dopirak of the Knoxville News Sentinel
The University of Tennessee will pay $2.48 million to settle a federal Title IX lawsuit alleging the university maintains a “hostile sexual environment.” Lawyers for UT and the eight unidentified female plaintiffs agreed to the settlement, announced Tuesday, two days before a response to the lawsuit from UT lawyers was due in U.S. District Court. The settlement, to be paid half by the athletics department and half by the Knoxville campus, still needs to be approved by U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger of Nashville.
www.bostonglobe.com
Gun industry lobbying group has funded 100 college shooting clubs
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/07/03/gunclubs/VR8GuDiFcyxQ5UmHWscoaL/story.html
By Beth Healy GLOBE STAFF
When students set out to revive the century-old Harvard Shooting Club in 2009, they won a $10,000 grant from the gun industry’s lobbying group. Since then, 100 colleges have received at least $1 million from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, according to tax records and the organization. The Newtown, Conn., nonprofit has a broad mission beyond helping young people hone their shooting skills. It actively lobbies against gun restrictions, stepping up its efforts most recently after the Orlando nightclub massacre. In the past two weeks, the group has opposed several Senate proposals aimed at requiring stricter background checks and keeping suspected terrorists from buying guns. …Barmak Nassirian, director of federal policy for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said there are so many outside donors, it’s difficult to reach consensus on which are suitable and which are not. “Gun lobbying certainly strikes a lot of people as problematic,’’ Nassirian said. By the same token, he noted, “Higher ed has raised money from governments that have horrific human rights records.”