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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

NOTE ON FORMATTING: When stories are transferred from the Web, certain punctuation marks and other marks in this report don't carry over and result in symbols and other formatting errors. To see or print the story in full without these translation errors, simply click on "full story" at the end of each item."

Total Clips: 5

	Date	Outlet
State 4-H breaks ground for center	10/18/2006	Montgomery Advertiser
Kansas State U. presents live teleconference addressing world hunger	10/18/2006	Brown University News Service
Expert on aviation to speak at (AU) College of Business	10/18/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
New voting system to be tested inside Haley Center	10/18/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
New Voting System Developed at Auburn University	10/17/2006	WTVM-TV


State 4-H breaks ground for center 10/18/2006 Montgomery Advertiser Alvin Benn		Return to Top
AU President Ed Richardson is quoted in this story. COLUMBIANA -- It was too wet Tuesday to break ground at the site of a $7 million 4-H Club Environmental Science Education Center, so officials did the next best thing. U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, and more than a dozen officials of various organizations went behind the Alabama 4-H Center on Lay Lake to simulate digging into the ground. "I'm looking forward to coming back here when it's finished," said Shelby shortly before the meeting was adjourned and the large crowd went outside for the brief ceremony. When the 18-month construction project is completed, the facility will be added to the 4-H Center to provide educational and environmental instruction for thousands of Alabama children. It also will be the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building in the Southeast. "If this country is to remain economically strong, science will play a key role," Auburn University President Ed Richardson said during the program, which was held inside the 4-H Center built 26 years ago. Students from around the state are expected to spend time in the new building learning about the importance of protecting and enhancing the environment. During his remarks, Richardson referred to his days as a 4-H member in Pike County. "Almost 10 percent of the freshwater that flows through the country flows through Alabama," Richardson said. "I would just ask you to reflect on that as we debate with Atlanta on how much they can take from our rivers." Richardson also said the new building will provide an opportunity for urban children to experience "a special relationship involving clean water, air and wildlife" afforded children in rural areas. Opp attorney Wesley Laird, a member of the 4-H Club Foundation Board for the past 11 years and emcee of the program, called the new building a "significant step forward." Alabama Power Co., which owns the land where the current building stands, has extended the program's lease for 30 years with a clause to add 15 more years. The science education building will contain 17,500 square feet of instructional space covering two floors. A large observation deck will overlook Lay Lake. Water collected from the building's roof will stored in a cistern and used for the toilets throughout the building and for the fire protection sprinkler system. The building has been designed to meet the latest in air quality and indoor environmental guidelines and will be energy efficient using natural light. More than 500 corporations, foundations, organizations and individuals have supported the project. Shelby provided $1 million in federal funding. The Alabama Farmers Federation and Alabama Power were two major financial supporters. Lamar Nichols, assistant director of 4-H Youth Development, estimated that $5 million has been raised "and we are hopeful that the rest will be provided by the time the building opens." Nichols said the building's designers had a goal "of making sure we had a high-quality experience for young people on days just like today where we can actually bring the outside into the wet labs inside." "I told 'em my one requirement was to be able to hose the kids down and do whatever was needed in case they are caught in a thunderstorm," Nichols said. "They'll be experiencing the outdoors indoors."
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Kansas State U. presents live teleconference addressing world hunger 10/18/2006 Brown University News Service Monroe, Adam		Return to Top
The AU-produced documentary is mentioned in this story. MANHATTAN, Kan., Oct 17, 2006 (Kansas State Collegian, U-WIRE via COMTEX) --A strong, unified group of farmers could help solve world hunger, a developmental activist said Monday. Makanjuola Olaseinde Arigbede was one of three in a panel of experts who addressed questions, solutions and current events involving world hunger in a live teleconference from Washington, D.C. Arigbede, a doctor from Nigeria, was joined by Deepa Narayan, senior adviser in poverty reduction and economic management at the World Bank in India; and Eva Clayton, who recently retired as the associate director of the International Alliance Against Hunger for the food and agriculture department of the United Nations. The 23rd-annual World Food Day teleconference was titled Power of the people bottom-up solutions for world hunger. The Department of Human Nutrition and graduate students in public health worked together to allow Kansas State University students and faculty the opportunity to view the teleconference, which was shown at participating universities throughout the country. It's important for us at universities to be aware of need, not only internationally, but in our own backyard as well, said Briana Goff, interim assistant dean of the Department of Family Studies and Human Services. The conference was broken into three parts. The first, hour-long segment was a question-and-answer session that allowed for collaborative answers. The second included a short documentary about positive work being done around Auburn University. The third part allowed people from all over the United States to call in and pose questions to the panel. The experts addressed the relationship between farmers and their governments. There are ways to influence the governments, but there needs to be a strong unified group of farmers, Arigbede said. Governments need to be encouraged by their people. The people need to tell the governments where to begin, because a lot of the time they don't even know where to start. Narayan said there need to be alliances for the small farmers so governments feel pressured. The discussion also covered topics of individual responsibility and intercontinental unity. We can make a new world, but we have to make it together. We are not making it just for America or for Africa, but for one human race, Arigbede said. Narayan said the first step for the individual is to ask questions and consciously understand the implications of one's actions. It is reassuring to all of us that we can make a difference, because it addresses what can happen if we all take small steps, said Sandy Procter, head of K-State's extension nutrition program. These small-scale changes are the bottom-up process that they are addressing. We can be part of the solution if we choose not to turn a deaf ear. (No Web link was provided for this story.)


Expert on aviation to speak at (AU) College of Business 10/18/2006 Opelika-Auburn News AU Briefs		Return to Top
Phil Boyer, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, will be the Aviation Management Distinguished Speaker for the College of Business at Auburn University at 7 p.m. Thursday in 125 Lowder Business Building. As president of the AOPA, the largest and one of the most influentical civil aviation organizations in the world, Boyer is the country's leading spokesman for the interests of general aviation, a field that includes all types of flying other than airlines and military flights. To promote general aviation safety, Boyer led a successful campaign to persuade the Federal Aviation Administration that the satellite-based Global Positioning System should be endorsed, developed and certified for use in general aviation flight operations, and GPS is now a principal element in advanced air navigation. AOPA's Web site, at www.aopa.org, provides real-time complete weather and other up-to-the-minute information and demonstrates Boyer's lifelong advocacy of applied advanced technology. AOPA is now working on technology to bring real-time weather, traffic and terrain information into the cockpit. (No Web link is available for this story.)


New voting system to be tested inside Haley Center 10/18/2006 Opelika-Auburn News AU Briefs		Return to Top
A new type of voting system will be available for testing in front of the AU Bookstore in the Haley Center Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon. Researchers in the Auburn University Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering have partnered with Indiana University, the AU Center for Governmental Services and IBM to develop Prime III, an advanced electronic voting system that enables people with certain disabilities to vote in elections with ease and privacy. Juan Gilbert, project director and head of the Human Centered Computing Lab, is encouraging everyone, disabled or non-disabled, to help test the system. With a grant from the AU Outreach Office, a team of 10 AU graduate students and faculty members began developing the Prime Voting System, or Prime III, an innovative, multimodal electronic system that allows voting via touchscreen and voice. The name comes from the three methods of voting used by the program: visual, touch and speech. The program will undergo an extensive evaluation during the 2006-07 academic year, with simultaneous studies taking place in AU's Haley Center and in Uniontown. In the usability tests, participants will cast their votes for types of food rather than political candidates to ensure the personal political views of those participating in the tests remain private. (No Web link is available for this story.)


New Voting System Developed at Auburn University 10/17/2006 WTVM-TV Elizabeth White		Return to Top
A similar story appeared in the Opelika-Auburn News. A group of Auburn University students is helping the disabled to exercise their right to vote.Prime III is a new voting system, that could help all voters cast their ballots by 2008. An automated voice, is what voters hear when they put on the Prime III headset. Prime III is a touch-screen voting system, that allows every American to cast a vote. Creator, Dr. Juan Gilbert, is a professor at Auburn University. "It allows you to vote by touch or voice if you can't read, see or hear, you can still vote," Gilbert said. Prime III has been in development since 2003. This week the system will be tested out in a campus wide vote. "we are finally at a point where we believe our system is the most secure system and the easiest to use, what is more natural that speech or touch?" asked Gilbert. During the mock election, in order to be neutral, the choices are burgers and fries, rather than democrats and republicans. As far as security, voter privacy is protected using randomly generated numbers. "Two people can be voting at the same time for the exact same person and they have different numbers for that person. If my dreams come true it would be the primary voting system for 2008," said Gilbert. The mock election to test Prime III will happen October 19th. Then, different computer companies will see if they can hack they system. If all goes well, the group will apply to get prime three used in a real election.
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