Karen Gross, president of Southern Vermont College and professor of law at New York Law School, wrote this interesting essay in Inside Higher Education. It’s thoughtful and clever, and a good start to the new year.
Happy 2009, everyone. See you in the new year.
The University of Akron has received the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Community Engagement Classification in Curricular Engagement and Outreach and Partnerships.
This joins UA with Kent State University and more than 100 other colleges and universities across the nation. KSU received the community engagement classification several years ago.
More from UA:
Unlike the foundation’s other classifications that rely on national data, this is an elective classification, meaning institutions such as UA elected to participate by submitting documentation describing the nature and extent of their engagement with the community. The foundation used this approach to address elements of institutional mission and distinctiveness that are not represented in national data on U.S. colleges and universities.
A University of Akron polymer engineering professor, Arkadii Leonov, thinks he has a solution for the problem of hurricanes that sounds more like a solution to an attack by Godzilla than a weather event:
Use the sonic booms generated by supersonic jet fighters to suppress the storm.
Leonov theorizes that by flying at supersonic speed around the eye of a hurricane, the jets might be able to lessen the devastating effects of the storms. Here’s what the university had to say in a release about the research:
Describing hurricanes as huge, stable, natural aerodynamic and thermodynamic machines that rotate counterclockwise, Leonov says that the pressure outside the most active hurricane cylinder, or eye wall, is greater than that in the hurricane center. He also explains that the upward vertical airflow in the eye wall delivers air with humidity to a condensation level of about 1.5 kilometers. This condensation releases heat and significantly increases temperatures, which he says is imperative to overcome the stability threshold for existence of the upper part of a hurricane.
“Our method will hopefully destabilize all three components in stable hurricanes. Although the ultrasonic boom created by the jet fighters is localized, it has overwhelming energy as compared with that of local air masses in the hurricane,” Leonov says. “Choosing slightly descending spiral trajectories flying in a clockwise direction will drastically increase the local pressure inside the hurricane, destabilize the direction of air rotation and stop the upward supply of wet air.”
While the hurricane speeds of about 150 kilometers per hour are not dangerous to fighter jets flying at desired supersonic speeds of up to 1,800 kilometers per hour, the pilots would contend with heavy fog and acceleration, or g-factor, during turns, Leonov explains.
“Skillful pilots can hopefully overcome these challenges,” says Leonov. He points out that a turning radius of about 200 kilometers creates an approximate 4 g-factor, which is less than half of the overloads with which skilled pilots have been trained …
… Leonov says the “stir” made by his discovery might prompt U.S. Air Force tests, which could require several F-4 jet fighters flying at maximum supersonic speeds of about 1,800 kilometers per hour with safety measures and hurricane fog orientation fully in check.
The University of Akron will create a College of Creative and Professional Arts and a College of Health Sciences and Human Services starting in 2009, the university recently announced.
The new College of Creative and Professional Arts will include the university’s schools of Art, Communication, Music and Dance, Theatre and Arts Administration. The College of Health Sciences and Human Services will include the schools of Family and Consumer Sciences, Social Work and Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.
The Center for Silver Therapeutics Research also was created by the UA Board of Trustees. It will help researchers focus on the advancement of silver-based components as potential cures for a variety of diseases, according to UA. The research work in silver will complement the university’s participation in the recently formed BioInnovation Institute in Akron.
Do you hear that?
There’s something on the wind.
It’s turbines, being considered to power Ohio schools and colleges in the future:
• One Northeastern Ohio school district has stepped into the wind tunnel, according to the Plain Dealer’s Ellen Jan Kleinerman.
• Kent State is seeking ways to go “green,” including researching the potential of wind power. Tom Euclide, director of campus operations and chief in the Office of the University Architect, told me as much here
Some people think it’s all bunk.
Courtesy of http://www.windtruth.org
My previous musings/posts on this issue are located here.
Cleveland’s Fund For Our Economic Future recently awarded more than $1.2 million in grants to Northeastern Ohio businesses and efforts to help spark economic development in the region.
The awards included $250,00 to Team NEO to support Cleveland Plus marketing campaign efforts; $259,000 for the Regional Talent Network, working with the state to prepare residents for high-demand jobs; $284,000 for the TechLift support system for technology-based entrepreneurs; $300,000 to encourage local government collaboration and efficiency; and more than $100,000 to Cleveland State University to produce the 2009 Dashboard of Regional Economic Indicators.
Here’s David Abbott, chairman of the Fund and executive director of The George Gund Foundation:
“It is more important than ever for Northeast Ohio to attract companies, grow existing businesses, prepare talent for present and future jobs, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of local governments … The grants awarded by the Fund today will help the region achieve those objectives. Philanthropy in Northeast Ohio, acting through the Fund, is committed to working with our partners in the public and private sector to implement the programs and changes needed to help our region’s economy grow as the national economy recovers.”
The Fund for Our Economic Future (www.futurefundneo.org) is a collaboration of more than 100 foundations, organizations and philanthropists from across Northeastern Ohio that strengthens the region’s economic competitiveness through grantmaking, public engagement and research. The Kent State University Foundation is among its members.
The National Civic Literacy Board of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute recently gave 2,508 Americans a 33-question civics test. You know, the kind of stuff you learned in high school: The three branches of U.S. government, how a bill becomes a law, how many justices are on the U.S. Supreme Court.
(Nine. There are nine.)
Well, it’s the stuff you were SUPPOSED to learn in high school … apparently some people slept through that class, because the average score was 49 percent.
To quote the Internet: FAIL.
“Our Fading Heritage: Americans Fail a Basic Test on their History and Institutions,” found Americans couldn’t name the three branches of U.S. government, what the Electoral College does and who in the United States has the power to declare war. Worse yet, the ISI asked the questions on Election Day 2008. Watch and cringe.
So now we have some Americans believing that the three branches of the U.S. government are “The People, The Man and The Military.” And people who believe the Electoral College is “a college that you go to if you want to be elected President of the United States.” (It’s not the WORST answer, but it is WRONG.
The co-chairman of the study, Richard Brake, called the answers “shocking.”
“When we look closely at what Americans don’t know about crucial institutions like the branches of government and our monetary system, it is quite concerning, especially as our leaders address a financial crisis.
Now, I’ve run into similar situations (A college student in a class taught by my mother once told her that Wisconsin is “on the west coast, you know, by the Pacific Ocean.” Another wrote that Zeus, the king of the Gods in Greek mythology, was “a male Greek goddess”), but American adults exercising their right to vote really ought to at least try to be informed.
Or not sleep through civics class. It’s not too much to ask.
Nerves shot over the holidays?
Kent State University’s Angela Neal-Barnett, an associate professor of psychology and the author has “Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Woman’s Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic and Fear,” has stress-reducing tips:
• Take care of yourself: Often we are so focused on making the holidays special for everyone else that we forget about ourselves. Remember to tend to your own needs. Doing so will help you and those you love appreciate the holidays more.
• Ask for help: When you begin to feel stressed, anxious or overwhelmed, there is nothing wrong with asking for help. Don’t let your anxious feelings multiply because you are afraid of what people will think if you ask for help.
• Remember the healing power of music: If you find yourself becoming stressed, play or hum a song that soothes your nerves or gives you hope. It really does make a difference.
• Stay in the moment: Be aware of your feelings from moment to moment in an objective, nonjudgmental way. Don’t let toxic thoughts stick; just let them go. Once you empty your mind, fill it with positive thoughts.
• Change your response: For many people the same issues cause stress holiday season after holiday season. Identify what is causing the stress and change the way you respond to it.
(And enjoy the season … unlike the lady from my car company, who was cheery and delightful this morning when she called me on my phone. And by “cheery” and “delightful” I mean “snarky” and “huffy.” - D.O.)
UPDATE: Gov. Ted Strickland thinks Ohio can be the home of wind technology as a replacement for the steel industry, which has outsourced production to Asia and cut jobs.
Here’s the Associated Press story.
ORIGINAL POST FOLLOWS:
With talk of wind turbines being installed in Lake Erie in the near future — the turbines are said to be able to generate enough power for several thousands homes apiece — Northeastern Ohio residents should probably get to know as much as they can about this safe (and on Lake Erie, reliable) energy source.
One Wyoming (I hope at least someone got the corny “Oklahoma!” reference in my headline … if so, my mission is complete) college, Casper College, already has tapped the power of wind to help train the next generation of renewable energy technicians with help from a Scotland, United Kingdom-based wind turbine company. And while the following it taken mostly-verbatim from that company’s press release on the matter, it’s still good food for thought:
The installation of a six kilowatt wind turbine on a historic oil field in Wyoming is the latest initiative for Casper College and the Rocky Mountain Oil Testing Center as they foster the next generation of energy innovation. The wind turbine, manufactured by Proven Energy, will serve as a training tool to educate college students on their quest to become renewable energy technicians.
“This project, designed to support students as they learn about wind energy technology, is ambitious and exciting,” said Clarke Turner, RMOTC director. “It has resulted in a remarkable event: A wind turbine, the very image of new energy generation, is operating at Teapot Dome, one of the most historic oilfields in the world. This project represents new thinking in a time of great challenge in the energy arena.”
The Proven 6-kilowatt turbine is much smaller than the ones most people associate with wind energy. The blades are just nine feet long. It is a manageable size that can easily be lowered on its 49-foot tilt-down tower allowing for hands-on maintenance and training. The RMOTC will benefit from the energy produced by the wind turbine against their total electric consumption. A wind turbine of this size can offset the electric load for the home of a typical family of four.
Proven Energy manufactures 2.5-kilowatt and 15-kilowatt wind turbines that can help reduce or eliminate electrical bills for home and business owners, schools and municipalities. These types of wind turbines can also provide electricity for remote applications such as telecommunications sites operating in isolation of existing power.
Next year, Casper College and the RMOTC expect to commission a second small wind turbine designed to demonstrate the potential for wind energy in remote industrial and agricultural applications. Casper College, which has offered renewable energy classes for several years, will begin offering a renewable energy degree in fall 2009. Funding for these small wind projects comes from a grant issued by the U.S. Department of Energy in January 2008.
Proven Energy wind turbines also operate on oil rigs in the North Sea where 16 2.5 kilowatt turbines provide power for eight off-shore platforms. More than 1,900 small wind turbines manufactured by Proven Energy are in operation worldwide. Based in Scotland, Proven Energy is the world’s leading supplier of small scale wind turbines.
Three Hiram College computer science majors recently presented their research components for their Computer Security class:
• Timothy J. Posta, class of 2009 and a graduate of Chardon High School in Chardon, presented “Your every move, known! Keystroke logging.”
• Matthew Young, class of 2010 and a graduate of Bedford High School in Bedford, presented “A study of malware on the Gnutella Network using LimeWire.”
• Stefan Maurer, class of 2010 and a graduate of Olmsted Falls High School in Olmsted Falls, presented “How hard/easy is it to penetrate a system’s AV software?”
All Hiram College computer science majors must complete an integrated research component and present their findings as part of their graduation requirements.