University System News:
www.wsfa.com
Sandra Deal learns about Destination Ag program
http://www.wsfa.com/story/36731343/sandra-deal-learns-about-destination-ag-program
By Ashley Bohle, Reporter
Sandra Deal, Georgia’s First Lady, visited Tifton today. She was visiting ABAC, to learn more about a new Destination Ag program. Each Tuesday and Thursday during the school year, selected school grades will spend the day at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture. These students work with ABAC students to learn activities like carving wool and beekeeping. On Tuesday Deal watched second graders take part in the action.
www.ajc.com
Kennesaw State ending culinary degree program
http://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/kennesaw-state-ending-culinary-degree-program/K3o0NwWNXu4HckYzWX1K4O/
Eric Stirgus
Kennesaw State University is ending its Culinary Sustainability and Hospitality degree, two years after receiving the largest single donor gift in the university’s history for the program. “The university believes that there are more opportunities for our students with a major that has an increased focused on the business elements surrounding hospitality,” KSU officials explained. KSU has 225 majors in the program, spokeswoman Tammy DeMel said. Students currently in the program can work to complete their degree through 2021, according to an update on the university’s website.
www.bizjournals.com
Kennesaw State snags Florida A&M University AD Milton Overton
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2017/10/31/kennesaw-state-snags-florida-a-m-university-ad.html?ana=e_me_set3&s=newsletter&ed=2017-11-01&u=xw%2BDRjRaikB6EdaliSJBWQ0ae2f198&t=1509547796&j=79093311
By Phil W. Hudson – Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Kennesaw State University has a new director of athletics. KSU President Sam Olens announced Tuesday that Milton Overton will lead the school’s athletic department. Milton Overton, who has spent the last two years as director of athletics at Florida A&M University, will be formally introduced as Kennesaw State’s new director of athletics Nov. 9 at 10 a.m. Overton is the fourth individual to hold the position at Kennesaw State. He replaces Vaughn Williams, who accepted the position of senior associate athletic director for administration at Boston College in July.
www.wabe.org
KSU Says Elections Server Was Wiped After FBI Gave Clearance
https://www.wabe.org/ksu-says-election-server-wiped-fbi-gave-clearance/
WABE STAFF
Kennesaw State University says a computer server holding state election data was wiped clean after copies of it were made by the FBI and the agency told KSU its investigation into a possible hack was complete. A group suing the state, charging Georgia’s voting system is outdated and not secure, says KSU erased the server in July after its lawsuit was filed. The group says data on the server may have revealed whether state elections were hacked. “This was not accidental. This was something that was conducted with purpose to make sure that the information could never be recovered again,” said Richard DeMillo, a computing professor at Georgia Tech who has been closely watching the case. KSU’s Center of Elections Systems holds the state contract to maintain the statewide electronic voting system. In a statement, KSU said erasing the server was done according to “standard procedure.” “Following the notification from the FBI that no data was compromised and the investigation was closed, the server was returned to the University’s Information Technology Services group and securely stored,” the statement said.
www.onlineathens.com
UGA budget nearly $1.7 billion, and other numbers from university’s annual report
http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2017-10-31/uga-budget-nearly-17-billion-and-other-numbers-university-s-annual-report?utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_campaign=e13a7fabc7-eGaMorning-11_1_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54a77f93dd-e13a7fabc7-86731974&mc_cid=e13a7fabc7&mc_eid=32a9bd3c56
By Lee Shearer
It cost nearly $1.7 billion to run the University of Georgia last year, according to the university’s 2017 report to donors. Nearly a third of that came from student tuition and fees; more than $522 million. The state Legislature and Gov. Nathan Deal appropriated about $436 million. The state once paid for more than half the university’s annual costs, but legislative cuts beginning in the early 2000s have reduced that fraction to about 26 percent as of last year. To make up the slack, the state Board of Regents has increased tuition and fees, which now account for about 31 percent. …According to the annual report, UGA spent the biggest chunk of its money — $418 million — on research. Some $328 million, about 20 percent, went for instruction; $175.9 million for public service; $111.6 million for academic support; $47.7 million for student services; $99.7 million for institutional support; $127.3 million for building maintenance and other physical plant expenses; $167.3 million for scholarships and fellowships; and $180.7 million on auxiliary enterprise expenses. Some other highlights from the report:
www.ajc.com
New Georgia Tech Cobb Research Campus to receive $62.7 million
http://www.ajc.com/news/local/new-georgia-tech-cobb-research-campus-receive-million/J2IL99qYPqfHN9zmA9DSdK/
Carolyn Cunningham For the AJC
The Cobb County Board of Commissioners agreed Oct. 24 to allow the Development Authority of Cobb County to issue $62.7 million in revenue bonds to finance facilities of the new Georgia Tech Cobb Research Campus near Lockheed Martin. These bonds will not be paid from taxes but by the authority only from amounts to be provided by Georgia Tech. The tax-exempt revenue bonds will pay for the acquisition, renovation, construction and equipping of facilities at 2001 Dixie Ave. SE in unincorporated Cobb County.
www.healthcareitnews.com
This Georgia Tech professor is building robots to improve the health of children with disabilities
Ayanna Howard’s creations demonstrate intelligence, trust and emotional empathy for the benefit of patients.
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/georgia-tech-professor-building-robots-improve-health-children-disabilities
Bernie Monegain
It’s safe to say, Ayanna Howard has never created a robot she didn’t like, or couldn’t tweak. The Georgia Tech professor and roboticist is also co-founder and chief technology officer of Zyrobotics, a Georgia Tech VentureLab spin-off. Its mission? To create accessible technologies that engage and empower children with disabilities. She builds the robots to engage kids with motor disabilities – cerebral palsy – for example, or children with autism. It turns out, the robots appeal to all children. Howard has more than13 years of R&D experience. Her work includes projects supported by agencies such as NSF, NASA, Procter and Gamble, ExxonMobil, and Intel. Her robotics and assistive technology research has resulted in more than 200 publications and numerous patents.
www.healthdatamanagement.com
Georgia Tech makes machine learning algorithm available to fight cancer
https://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/georgia-tech-makes-machine-learning-algorithm-available-to-fight-cancer
By Greg Slabodkin
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a machine learning algorithm that accurately predicts the efficacy of cancer drugs and are making it freely available to the open source community in the hope of generating further medical breakthroughs. Leveraging raw genetic data, the software tool was demonstrated to be about 85 percent accurate in assessing the treatment effectiveness of nine drug therapies in 273 cancer patients. Results of the study, conducted by Georgia Tech researchers, were published October 26 in the journal PLOS One. “By making our algorithm ‘open source,’ we hope to facilitate its testing in a variety of cancer types and contexts leading to community-driven improvements and refinements in subsequent applications,” state the authors of the article. “It is our hope that through community sharing of this and other open source cancer drug prediction algorithms and associated data formatting/normalization procedures that the attainment of a major goal of personalized cancer medicine will be facilitated.”
www.sciencedaily.com
‘Instant replay’ for computer systems shows cyber attack details
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171030092912.htm
Until now, assessing the extent and impact of network or computer system attacks has been largely a time-consuming manual process. A new software system being developed by cybersecurity researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology will largely automate that process, allowing investigators to quickly and accurately pinpoint how intruders entered the network, what data they took and which computer systems were compromised. Known as Refinable Attack INvestigation (RAIN), the system will provide forensic investigators a detailed record of an intrusion, even if the attackers attempted to cover their tracks. The system provides multiple levels of detail, facilitating automated searches through information at a high level to identify the specific events for which more detailed data is reproduced and analyzed.
www.atlanta.curbed.com
Georgia Tech student housing tower eyes launch—south of Bobby Dodd Stadium
Centennial Student Housing Lofts would signal a shift for development to the west of The Connector.
https://atlanta.curbed.com/2017/10/30/16567474/centennial-student-housing-lofts-north-avenue-centennial-olympic-park-drive?ito=792
BY MICHAEL KAHN
A 12-story student housing tower could soon start construction at the corner of North Avenue and Centennial Olympic Park Drive, bringing 255 units to the currently vacant lot. Located across the street from Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium, the development would include a seven-story parking deck, too, according to filings for permits. It’s unclear exactly how many students the building could house, but with a heavily four-bedroom arrangement typical in many such developments, the numbers could be pushing 1,000. The tower would rise on the site of a former public housing tower for seniors that was imploded in 2011. While the 1970s Roosevelt House tower had stood 17 stories, the lower replacement would still represent a push for greater height in an area that’s oddly suburban in nature, despite its proximity to the heart of the city.
www.tiftongazette.com
UGA agriculture students help design Rutland Farms’ annual corn maze
http://www.tiftongazette.com/news/uga-agriculture-students-help-design-rutland-farms-annual-corn-maze/article_0fe5b5c6-be73-11e7-b58f-db287383a547.html?utm_source=eGaMorning&utm_campaign=e13a7fabc7-eGaMorning-11_1_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_54a77f93dd-e13a7fabc7-86731974&mc_cid=e13a7fabc7&mc_eid=32a9bd3c56
By Julie Jernigan
University of Georgia Tifton campus students contributed to the design of Rutland Farms’ “The Wizard of Oz”-themed corn maze this year using GPS and precision agriculture technology. The students are in George Vellidis’ UGA-Tifton precision agriculture class. Vellidis, a UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences professor, has been researching precision agriculture since 1995. His students use this technology each year to prepare them for future agricultural careers. Vellidis’ class helped construct Rutland Farms’ previous corn maze design of former UGA football coach Mark Richt in 2015, which brought national attention to Rutland Farms. …Ryan Rutland, a CAES alumnus, and his wife, Meredith Rutland, have created the corn maze every year since 2011. Meredith Rutland draws the design, while Ryan Rutland navigates and students direct his path. “We take the image Meredith (Rutland) gives us and integrate it into our software,” said Jackson Fleet, an agriscience and environmental systems major. “Then the software relays the boundaries of the field and gives us real earth coordinates so we can help guide Ryan through the field with our receivers.” The students were surprised at the ease with which they learned the GPS controls.
Higher Education News:
www.nytimes.com
College Application Website Went Down as Deadline Looms
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
For thousands of students anxiously trying to apply to colleges, it must have felt like disaster: Just before midnight on Monday, with barely 48 hours to go before the early deadline at many colleges, the web portal used by more than a million students a year started balking, and then shut down completely. The Common Application, the nonprofit organization that runs the web portal, posted on Twitter Monday night that, because of “technical difficulties,” it was taking the application system off line for two hours to make repairs. Many students, admissions officers, guidance counselors and teachers reacted to the shutdown with snark and a strong dose of gallows humor. Many of them postponed their bedtimes.