University System News:
www.myajc.com
Georgia to mark 25 years of lottery, HOPE grants
By Eric Stirgus – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State leaders are scheduled Wednesday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of the most important decisions by voters and government in recent history: the start of the Georgia Lottery, which funds the HOPE Scholarship and its pre-kindergarten program. Lottery officials have planned an event at the state Capitol featuring Gov. Nathan Deal, who worked with state lawmakers in 2011 to revamp the college scholarship and pre-k programs in an effort they said was necessary to keep them financially solvent after the Great Recession. … HOPE has been credited with helping nearly 2 million Georgians attend in-state colleges and universities, with many graduates staying here to work in local businesses or become entrepreneurs. The Georgia program was the first of its kind in the nation, a model emulated by seven other states. Some say the anniversary is an opportune time for Georgia’s leaders to consider ideas to keep the state at the forefront of innovative programs to assist students and children. “HOPE established Georgia as a leader in supporting students going to college and we need to celebrate that,” said Jennifer Lee, higher education policy analyst for the Atlanta-based Georgia Budget & Policy Institute. “We should look forward to what Georgia can do that we can celebrate 25 years from now.” The anniversary — the first lottery tickets were sold on June 29, 1993 — comes about three months after the death of the man who spearheaded the lottery and HOPE, former governor and U.S. senator Zell Miller.
www.albanyherald.com
Georgia College, high school students make solar-powered golf carts
High-schoolers will join college research team on July 13
From Staff Reports
MILLEDGEVILLE — Three physics students at Georgia College and State University and two high schoolers are harnessing the power of the Georgia sun by constructing solar-powered golf carts. Senior physics major Nowsherwan Sultan, senior Nick Palmer and physics student Amir Abdallah will continue research over the summer to make four new golf carts to join the college’s other two. They also say they hope to make current models more environmentally friendly and use aerodynamics to reduce the time it takes to charge the carts’ batteries. The students received a $7,700 grant from Georgia College’s Office of Sustainability and another $6,000 grant from Georgia College’s MURACE (Mentored Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors) that provides stipends for researchers. The funds will purchase high-wattage solar panels. Javin Wiggins from Putnam County High School and Aarya Kapani from Walton High School will join the research team through July 13 as part of the Young Scientists Academy Program at Georgia College’s Science Education Center.
www.businessinsider.com
Top tech talent is losing interest in working for Facebook — and the company’s tough year in headlines might be the cause
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-top-tech-talent-less-interested-2018-6/
Zoë Bernard
Students from universities like Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Yale, and Georgia Tech are losing interest in working at Facebook. A new study from education software company Piazza surveyed 150,000 students and found that most engineering and computer-science students are more interested in applying for jobs at companies like Google, Amazon, and Tesla over positions at Facebook.
www.albanyherald.com
Georgia Tech to become health tech incubator
Partnership will give Georgia economy a boost
By Andy Miller
ATLANTA — Georgia Tech’s startup incubator is targeting health technology entrepreneurs, thanks to a contribution from a Blue Cross-owned health IT company. Atlanta-based NASCO, which is owned by several Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, is donating funding for Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) for its HealthTech initiative. That program, which will formally launch next month, is helping build companies working on the issues of population health, caregiver support, billing fraud, precision medicine, genomics, medical devices, diagnostics, data analytics and process improvements in drug research. The HealthTech program is the third of its kind at ATDC and follows other gifts used for initiatives in the financial and retail technology sectors. “NASCO views this partnership with the ATDC and the launch of the HealthTech initiative as critical to our mission to deliver innovative health services and to support the Georgia health care and technology communities,” David Weeks, NASCO’s chief technology officer, said in a statement. “Health care is a highly interconnected ecosystem, and new technologies are helping us to both reduce customer friction and improve health outcomes. The HealthTech vertical will be a key incubator of new ideas to enable these changes.”
www.ajc.com
Tech to use eye-tracking technology in concussion protocol
By Ken Sugiura
Georgia Tech will begin using an eye-tracking technology as part of its concussion management program. The company, SyncThink, made the announcement Monday. The Eye-Sync technology uses a modified virtual reality goggles to measure and detect visual-tracking impairments in less than a minute. Visual-tracking impairment is often a symptom of a concussion. The technology can be used on the field and also in treatment facilities. “We are extremely excited about the opportunity to work with (SyncThink CCO) Scott Anderson and his team with Eye-Sync, but even more excited about the opportunity to improve our student-athlete outcomes as it relates to understanding the complexities of (mild traumatic brain injury) care,” Carla Gilson, Tech’s associate director of sports medicine, said in a statement. “Having a more objective means to assessment may offer ta clearer path to recovery and healing or our student-athletes and sports medicine staff.”
Higher Education News:
www.educationdive.com
Is AI disrupting higher education?
https://www.educationdive.com/news/is-ai-disrupting-higher-education/525130/
Author Shalina Chatlani
The workplace of the future will be marked by unprecedentedly advanced technologies, as well as a focus on incorporating artificially intelligent algorithms of automation to drive higher levels of production with fewer resources. Employers and education stakeholders, noting the reality of this trend, question whether students will be workforce ready in the years to come. This has become a significant concern for higher education executives, finding that their business models could be disrupted as they fail to meet workforce demands. A 2018 Gallup and Northeastern University survey shows that of 3,297 U.S. citizens interviewed, only 22% of those with a bachelor’s degree said their education left them “well” or “very well prepared” to use AI in their jobs.
www.chronicle.com
College Leaders and Professors Ramp Up Protest of Trump’s Family-Separation Policy
By Chris Quintana, Teghan Simonton, and Megan Zahneis
Ana Mari Cauce, president of the University of Washington, knows that wrenching a child away from his or her family can do serious, long-term damage. She knows that, she says, from her training as a clinical pediatric psychologist. And that’s why she decided to use her position as the head of the state’s flagship university to condemn the separation of immigrant children from their families, a practice taking place at the U.S.-Mexico border under a policy set by President Trump. “This cruel and inhumane new standard policy of enforcement at our borders should be swiftly rescinded or legislatively corrected,” she wrote. She is part of a larger academic movement — most of them faculty members, but a few administrators — that has sprung up to condemn the president’s stance on the issue. (Trump and officials in his administration have variously defended the practice, denied that the policy exists, and blamed the controversy on Democrats.) The scholars and administrators are members of a national group, including Democratic lawmakers and a smaller number of Republicans, who are disheartened by the president’s actions and have called on him to immediately end the separation of families.