AIU academy to mix online learning with work

This article is from Post Gazette 

Next fall, students who are interested in attending a cyber charter school will have a new option -- one that combines online learning with workplace experiences.

The Allegheny Intermediate Unit this week announced the formation of the STREAM Academy, a K-12 cyber school that will focus on science, technology, research, engineering, arts and mathematics, during an event at its Homestead headquarters. The event was attended by education and business leaders along with academy and AIU staff.

The new school is an offshoot of the Pennsylvania Learners Online, the online cyber charter school the AIU operates.

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Chooses In4Grants™ to Support Strategic Research Imperative

This article is from The San Francisco Chronicle

Texas A&M University Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) has chosen In4Grants™ from InfoReady Corporation to support the university's strategic goal to significantly increase and support research, scholarship and creative activity.

With specific strategic performance targets to increase research expenditures by more than 50 percent ($30 million by 2015), increase proposals submitted by 10 percent, encourage and support interdisciplinary and collaborative research and submissions of interdisciplinary proposals, TAMUCC needed effective tools to support faculty and staff to meet these goals. By selecting In4Grants software from InfoReady Corporation, TAMUCC has given access to 250 users, including faculty, researchers and collaborators from partnering institutions. Using In4Grants, these users can quickly find grant funding opportunities, research commercialization awards and federal contracts from multiple federal agencies, foundations and other sources in one Web-based software tool. The users can then set up In4Grants information collaboration workspaces for internal and interdisciplinary proposal development and research using familiar social media tools.

Welcome online courses

This article is from European Voice

Europe's higher-education institutions are perhaps confronting their biggest crisis ever. A sag in state funding and the mismatch between research output and the need to drive innovation-led growth are converging to create a 'gathering storm'.

For the European economy, let alone its higher-education sector, the stakes could hardly be higher.

In the midst of this turbulence, there is little doubt of the growing importance of digital education to the future of European prosperity.

VistaGen Therapeutics and Duke University Enter Into Strategic Research Collaboration

This article is from Market Watch The Wall Street Journal
VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. VSTA +3.39% (otcqb:VSTA), a biotechnology company applying stem cell technology for drug rescue, and Duke University, one of the country's premier academic research institutions, have entered into a strategic research collaboration aimed at combining their complementary expertise at the forefront of cardiac stem cell technology, electrophysiology and tissue engineering. The initial goal of the collaboration is to explore potential development of novel, engineered, stem cell-derived cardiac tissues to expand the scope of VistaGen's drug rescue capabilities focused on heart toxicity. The research will be led at Duke, by Dr. Nenad Bursac, Associate Professor in the Departments of Cardiology and Biomedical Engineering, and at VistaGen, by Dr. Ralph Snodgrass, President and Chief Scientific Officer.

Columbia University and Semiconductor Research Corporation Breathe New Life into Scalability by Integrating Voltage Regulators Directly onto ICs

This article is from Market Watch The Wall Street Journal

Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the world's leading university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, and Columbia University today announced research results that place industry focus back onto voltage regulators as a solution for continued processor scalability. Having just proven a new generation of integrated voltage regulator (IVR) that features energy densities more than ten times that of present state-of-art inductors available on computer chips, the team is preparing to test a second round of prototypes.

The research team is working to solve an industry predicament where the increasing use of parallel multicore processors that enable scaling of microprocessor systems means that many different supply voltages are becoming necessary on modern computer chips. External board-mounted voltage regulators have not kept up with these scaling demands.

“Full-time online learning is actually detrimental to student success”

This article is from The World Socialist Web Site

Dr. Michael Barbour is an assistant professor in Instructional Technology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. With 15 years in the field of online education, he has been involved with K-12 distance education in Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. He has taught and worked in research, course design and administration.

In December, Dr. Barbour testified before the state of Michigan’s House of Representatives Education Committee to oppose Senate Bill 619, a measure that removes all restrictions on online cyber charters. The professor noted the limited nature of the research on online education and that the existing studies tend to show “full-time online learning is actually detrimental to student success.”

Singularity University Brings in Gabriel Baldinucci, Former Virgin Group Executive and Entrepreneur, to Lead Overall Strategy and New Venture Development, Including Launch of SU Labs

This article is from Market Watch The Wall Street Journal

Singularity University (SU) has announced the appointment of Gabriel Baldinucci, an experienced entrepreneur, investor, and former Virgin Group executive, as Vice President of Strategy and New Venture Development.

Mr. Baldinucci will be responsible for the development and leadership of a new venture, SU Labs, while also working closely with CEO Rob Nail to direct overall strategy for Singularity University. SU Labs will be the center for SU's work "after the classroom" and will encompass faculty and alumni research, new company generation and incubation, and innovation services for larger companies around the world.

Linguamatics, Brandwatch and University of Sussex Announce Project to Enhance Language Processing of Big Data

This article  is from Market Watch The Wall Street Journal 

Linguamatics, Brandwatch and the University of Sussex are pleased to announce a joint project funded by the UK's Technology Strategy Board to address challenges faced by automated language processing software in harnessing diverse data sources. The project forms part of a broader Technology Strategy Board initiative focusing on enabling technologies to harness "big data" for economic growth.

The development will improve automatic extraction of information from scientific papers, news or social media for applications in research and development, marketing, and competitive intelligence. Dr David Milward, Linguamatics CTO, points out: "Good quality vocabularies are a key part of 'intelligent' text mining. This project will allow us to develop vocabularies much faster, and adapt them efficiently for new applications."

The current generation of language processing has had considerable success in extracting useful information from unstructured text, whether this is research literature or social media. However, adapting to a new domain is often a laborious process, with respect both to the type of data (e.g. newswire vs. patent literature) and to the terminology used in a given domain (e.g. in medical practice vs. pharmaceutical research). Humans can perform these tasks on small data sets, but face a huge challenge in the face of massively increasing amounts of electronic text. The EVOKES project, which stands for "Exploitation of Diverse Data via Automatic Adaptation of Knowledge Extraction Software" will exploit distributional similarity techniques developed by the University of Sussex. The project will run for 18 months.

Editors' notes:

About Linguamatics

Linguamatics is the leader in deploying natural language processing (NLP) based text mining for complex, high-value problem solving. Used by nine of the world's Top-10 pharmaceutical companies, and other prestigious commercial, academic and government organizations, Linguamatics operates globally, with offices in the UK and USA. 

About Brandwatch

Social networks and the rest of the Web have become massive indicators of consumer influence, market insight and brand reputation. Launched in 2007, Brandwatch provides one of the world's leading tools for monitoring, capturing and analyzing social media. 

About University of Sussex

The University was first in the new wave of UK universities founded in the 1960s and is now a leading teaching and research institution. Sussex research has been formally recognized as world leading, confirming the University among the leading research universities in the UK. 

About the Technology Strategy Board

The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led government body which works to create economic growth by ensuring that the UK is a global leader in innovation. Sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Technology Strategy Board brings together business, research and the public sector supporting and accelerating the development of innovative products and services to meet market needs, tackle major societal challenges and help build the future economy.

Clemson University to Trial Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging Technology

This article  is from Market Watch The Wall Street Journal 

Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) announced today that it will participate in the 2012 Apollo Launch Program hosted by Evatran(TM), the developer of Plugless Power wireless electric vehicle recharging systems. The Apollo Program aims to encourage electric vehicle adoption across the United States through the launch of a convenient recharging alternative to the repetitive plug-in, unplug process.

The Plugless Power system allows a user to avoid the plug-in process traditionally required by electric vehicles (EV). The wireless system provides the driver with parking guidance upon approach and automatically begins charging once the vehicle is in position. When the driver is ready to depart, the system automatically discontinues the recharging process.

Clemson University, as one of the Department of Energy's GATE Centers of Excellence, is participating in the Program to research technologies that may influence the development of advanced drivetrains and electric mobility as a whole. CU-ICAR is actively developing a portfolio of research activities and services around the ecosystems for sustainable mobility and the networked vehicle. To that end, Clemson University is also collaborating with Duke Energy, another Apollo Program participant, to understand how electric vehicles may interface with the electrical grid.

"The Apollo Program fits perfectly with CU-ICAR's efforts in a holistic view of alternative power train solutions and their infrastructure implications," said Dr. Joachim Taiber, Research Professor at Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research. "We are very pleased to be part of the trial and are confident the Program will lead to significant advances in understanding key aspects of wireless infrastructure."

Additional partners will be announced at the Apollo Launch Event scheduled for February 23rd, 2012 in Richmond, Virginia with installations beginning in March 2012. Once installed, the participants will trial the wireless charging systems for three months and provide feedback on usage and features. More information on the Apollo Program can be found on Evatran's website.

About Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research

Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) is a 250-acre advanced-technology research campus where university, industry and government organizations collaborate. CU-ICAR offers Masters and PhD programs in Automotive Engineering and is conducting leading-edge applied research in critical areas such as advanced product development strategies, sustainable mobility, intelligent manufacturing systems and advanced materials.

CU-ICAR has industrial-scale laboratories and testing equipment in world-class facilities available for commercial use as well as a comprehensive computational center, dedicated to solving clients industrial problems, and backed by a massive high-performance computing infrastructure.

About the Apollo Trial Program

The Apollo Trial Program is an initiative started by Evatran(TM), the developer of Plugless Power(TM) wireless recharging technology, to encourage electric vehicle (EV) adoption. Through partnership with five electric vehicle industry leaders from various market segments including Duke Energy and Clemson, the Program aims to increase awareness of wireless charging technology by setting up prototype trials across the country. Installations focus on commercial partners with Nissan Leafs or Chevrolet Volts in their fleets and Evatran is working with Yazaki North America(TM), a Tier 1 automotive supplier, to develop the prototypes for the trial. 

New Fellowship Pairs University of Michigan Researchers With State Policy Makers to Better Connect Research and Policy

This article from Market Watch The Wall Street Journal

The Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation (CHRT) announced today the inaugural class of the CHRT Policy Fellowship at the University of Michigan, a new fellowship program focused on building connections between health services research and policy for more effective, evidence-based health policy decisions.

The fellowship, thought to be the first of its kind in the nation, will bring together five researchers from the University of Michigan and five Lansing policy makers to work on joint projects and learn from each other. The fellowship will include interactive seminars as well as hands-on experience.

"Researchers across the University of Michigan are engaged in significant work that can and should inform policy," said CHRT director Marianne Udow-Phillips. "Similarly, policy makers can help faculty understand how the policy process works so that research can be better targeted to have a meaningful impact. In order to accomplish those goals, researchers and policy makers need open channels of communication and a shared language. This fellowship is designed to build a common knowledge-base for researchers and policy makers and help them generate ideas for working more closely together."

Fellows will meet in Ann Arbor twice per month for four months, beginning February 10, in day-long seminars on health policy topics relevant to researchers and policy makers alike. A broad range of health policy leaders and subject matter experts will lead interactive sessions, and the fellows will be paired to produce policy-relevant work on health issues of mutual interest.

"The CHRT Policy Fellowship at the University of Michigan presents a tremendous opportunity, not only for the distinguished inaugural class of fellows, but also the University of Michigan," says University of Michigan Provost Phil Hanlon. "This is an exciting opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to supporting learning through teaching, research, and community engagement, while also making our resources more accessible to state policy makers."

The fellowship is guided with support and leadership from the University of Michigan Health System and the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

The inaugural class of University of Michigan research fellows:

Barbara L. Brush, Ph.D., A.N.P., R.N., F.A.A.N., associate professor of nursing and co-coordinator of the Family Nurse Practitioner Program at the University of Michigan School of Nursing.

Vanessa Dalton, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology and director of the department's Program on Women's Health Care Effectiveness Research.

Christopher Kim, M.D., M.B.A., S.F.H.M., assistant professor in the departments of internal medicine and pediatrics; associate chief of staff, Office of Clinical Affairs; associate medical director, Faculty Group Practice at the University of Michigan.

Edward C. Norton, Ph.D., professor in the University of Michigan Department of Economics and the U-M School of Public Health Department of Health Management and Policy.

Joshua D. Stein, M.D., M.S., ophthalmologist and health services researcher in the University of Michigan Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.

The inaugural class of five policy fellows, including staff from the offices of Michigan's senate and house majority and minority leaders and Department of Community Health:

Mark Burton, JD, chief of staff, office of Senator Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan Senate.

Katie Duggan, JD, health policy analyst, House Democratic Policy Office, Michigan House of Representatives.

Elizabeth Hertel, senior policy analyst, House Republican Policy Office, Michigan House of Representatives.

Beth Nagel, MA, health information technology manager, Michigan Department of Community Health.

Cheryl Pezon, JD, policy analyst, Senate Republican Policy Office, Michigan Senate.

See the CHRT fellowship page www.chrt.org/fellowship on the CHRT website for detailed information about the fellows' background and research/policy interests, and a list of fellowship faculty.

In April 2012, CHRT will sponsor a symposium, Healthcare Policy & Research: Can We Speak the Same Language?, that will also explore ways that researchers, policy makers, and practice leaders can work together more effectively to influence real world change.

The Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation (CHRT) illuminates best practices and opportunities for improving health policy and practice. Based at the University of Michigan, CHRT is a non-profit partnership between U-M and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan designed to promote evidence-based care delivery, improve population health, and expand access to care.

Roosevelt University To Offer Course On Occupy Movement

This article from CBS Chicago

 Roosevelt University is set to offer a course all about the Occupy movement.

The new course, Political Science 390: Occupy Everywhere, is being held for the first time this semester. Associate professor and social movement expert Jeff Edwards will teach the course.

In a news release on the Roosevelt Web site, Edwards said he got the idea for the class after observing the ongoing debate in political science circles about the effect that economic inequality is having on democracy in America.

The students will compare the Occupy movement to other social movements throughout history, examine the racial dynamics of the movement, look at the Occupy movement as a global phenomenon, and examine the future of the movement and its possible impact on the 2012 presidential election.Students taking the course will review literature, essays and articles about the Occupy movement, as well as additional research on democracy and economic inequality. Students will also conduct original research on elements of the Occupy movement.

There are other similar cultures being taught at other universities across the country, including the New York University course titled, “Cultures and Economies: Why Occupy Wall Street? The History and Politics of Debt and Finance.” Meanwhile, Columbia University in New York planned, but decided not to offer, a course called, “Occupy the Field: Global Finance, Inequality and Social Movement.”