Untitled Document

Tuesday, October 24, 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: 11

	Date	Outlet
Peace Corps advocate, AU alum encourages students to volunteer	10/24/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
News at 10	10/23/2006	WAKA-TV (Montgomery)
WXTX News At Ten	10/23/2006	WXTX (Columbus)
New evidence of ivory-bill from Florida team	10/23/2006	Buffalo News (NY)
One-tank tour: Auburn, Ala.	10/23/2006	Pensacola News Journal
Riley says tax breaks help more than minimum wage	10/23/2006	Birmingham News
Woodpecker mystery lands in Bluffton	10/23/2006	Island Packet, The
Newsleader 9 at 5:30	10/23/2006	WTVM-TV (Columbus)
Workshop gives informatics insight	10/22/2006	Indiana Daily Student
AU professor discusses local housing market	10/22/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
Roaber Bacon students building rebots to clean	10/20/2006	Hilltop Press (KY)


Peace Corps advocate, AU alum encourages students to volunteer 10/24/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
Without a burnt orange and navy blue outfit to wear or a megaphone to carry, Dr. Kyo "Paul" Jhin didn't look like an Auburn University cheerleader, but he sounded like one, shouting "War Eagle" as often as he could during a lecture on campus Monday. Jhin has been cheering for AU ever since he earned his doctorate in math education in 1971 "because Auburn made me what I am today." For the last five years, he’s been an advocate for the Peace Corps, the volunteer agency designed to promote peace and understanding between the United States and countries throughout the world. Jhin is the director for the office of planning, policy and analysis. His office provides the agency with statistical reports about Peace Corps volunteers, country status reports and updates to the volunteer handbook. Although he said he'd use any excuse to visit Auburn, Jhin used this time to advocate for the corps, even suggesting placing a recruiter at AU. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is the country's top university recruiter with 104 alumni volunteers. Jhin said Auburn probably has the most volunteers of any university in Alabama, but he'd like to see it become the best in the Southeast. He said he is in discussions with AU officials to put a Peace Corps recruiter on campus to help in the effort. There are 14 AU alumni currently in the field, Jhin said. Auburn has produced 257 Peace Corps volunteers since President John F. Kennedy started the organization 45 years ago. Overall, there are 8,000 volunteers in 70 countries presently. The world has been in and out of wars and experienced much change since 1961, but Jhin said the mission of the Peace Corps never faltered. It has always been to promote peace and understanding among mankind. All volunteers serve overseas, but the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina last year along the Gulf Coast marked the first time volunteers worked stateside. Jhin doesn't think the current war on terror or possibly reinstating the military draft would increase participation in the corps. Richard Nixon opposed the Peace Corps at its inception because he thought young men would enroll to dodge the draft. Jhin said people have been attracted to it through the years out of a desire to help others and make change, war or no war. "We need the Peace Corps more than ever," he said. Jhin said he favors Auburn grads in the selection process because Auburn produces the type of people wanted by the Peace Corps. "We want the Kenny Irons-type of volunteer, the one who will make a touchdown, the one who will make a difference," he said. Besides gaining international experience unlike any other from the corps, Jhin said it is not uncommon for volunteers to find their spouses during their two-year commitment. If students don't find their mates among the fine crop at AU, Jhin suggested trying the corps.
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News at 10 10/23/2006 WAKA-TV (Montgomery)		Return to Top
AU's conference on alternative energy sources was included in WAKA's broadcast news stories. WAKA-CBS MONTGOMERY-SELMA, AL, OCT 23 2006 10:00PM CT 8 NEWS AT 10 IF YOU STILL THINK GAS PRICES ARE TO HIGH AN ALTERNATIVE FUEL CONFERENCE IS GOING ON AT AUBURN UNIVERSITY TO COME UP WITH OTHER WAYS THAN FOSSIL FUELS TO USE AS A POWER SOURCE. LEADING EXPERTS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE ARE IN AUBURN COMPARING NOTES ON ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF ENERGY. THEIR MISSION IS TO THINK OF WAYS TO CONVERT AGRICULTURALLY AND FORESTRY PRODUCTS INTO USABLE REPLACEMENTS FOR GAS AND COAL. SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS STOPPED BY AS THE KEY NOTE SPEAKER AND TO SEE THE ECONOMICAL POTENTIAL THAT ALABAMA COULD GAIN FROM ALTERNATIVE FUELS.


WXTX News At Ten 10/23/2006 WXTX (Columbus)		Return to Top
AU's conference on alternative energy sources was part of this broadcast. WXTX-FOX COLUMBUS, GA OCT 23 2006 10:00PM CT WXTX F0X 24 NEWS AT TEN FOX 54'S ELIZABETH WHITE REPORTS. ... ALSO FROM AUBURN-GOOD NEWS TONIGHT. AUBURN UNIVERSITY SAYS IT'S LEADING THE NATION WHEN IT COMES TO RESEARCHING AND DEVELOPING ALTERNATIVE ENERGY. TODAY AND TOMORROW AUBURN WILL BE HOSTING MORE THAN 300 POLICY MAKERS, RESEARCHERS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS. THEY'RE ALL WORKING TOWARD DECREASING OUR NATIONS DEPENDENCY ON FOREIGN OIL. TODAY PARTICIPANTS LEARNED HOW WOOD CHIPS AND RECYCLED VEGETABLE OIL CAN BE CONVERTED INTO ENERGY SOURCES. I THINK WE HAVE A GROWING NATIONAL CONSENSUS THAT ECONOMICALLY AND POLITICALLY WE NEED TO CREATE MORE DOMESTIC ENERGY SOURCES IN THE UNITED STATES AND AUBURN HAS BEEN A NATIONAL LEADER IN THAT AUBURN PRESIDENT ED RICHARDSON HAS MADE RESEARCHING AND DEVELOPING BIO-FUELS A PRIORITY. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES HAS APPROVED A THREE MILLION DOLLAR GRANT TO FUND THE PROJECT. WITH ALABAMA HOME TO MORE THAN 23- MILLION ACRES OF TIMBERLAND, STATE LEADERS BELIEVE ALTERNATIVE FUEL SOURCES MADE FROM WOOD CHIPS OR SWITCH GRASS COULD TURN INTO AN ECONOMIC BOON IN THE STATE.


New evidence of ivory-bill from Florida team 10/23/2006 Buffalo News (NY) Gerry Rising		Return to Top
This story includes the work of a "team of ornithologists at Auburn University." One of the ridiculous things about our modern society is that first is everything, second is nothing. The Buffalo Bills Super Bowl records represent a perfect example. Winning four league titles didn't count. So it is even in science. The discovery of an ivory-billed woodpecker, long thought to be extinct, in the Big Woods area of eastern Arkansas in 2004 made headlines everywhere and has been the talk of birders ever since. Never mind that the main evidence - a 3 second video of a bird disappearing in the distance - has been questioned and that, despite an extensive search for additional contacts, none have been reported; this was number one. In fairness, this woodpecker has virtually defined the word elusive. Paul Kellogg, whose film of a pair of ivory-bills at their nest before they were last seen in 1944, once told me how that nest was discovered. He and other members of a team of Cornell ornithologists led by Arthur Allen had been searching for the birds for weeks before they came across the nest. When they finally found it, the nest hole was so close to their base camp, it could almost be seen from there. I suspect that most readers of this column have heard of that 2004 ivory-bill discovery. I wonder, however, how many of you have learned of the more recent evidence of ivory-bills in Florida. On May 21, 2005, a five-member team of ornithologists from Auburn University and the University of Windsor in Ontario observed what they thought was an ivory-billed woodpecker in mature swamp forest along the Choctawhatchee River in Florida. After that initial contact, assisted by seven other field observers, they spent over a year gathering evidence related to their discovery. Unlike the Cornell team working in Arkansas, this group has gathered a great deal of information that extends this initial finding. Their evidence is of four forms. First, they carefully recorded 14 sightings that they describe in their technical paper as being birds seen "well enough to observe the diagnostic shape, plumage pattern, or flight behavior characteristics" of this species. The problem with identifying the ivory-bill is that it is a near twin to another crow-sized woodpecker, the pileated woodpecker. The pileated is a far more common species found throughout the eastern United States and Canada and some western states as well. Here this species even occasionally visits bird feeders. Both species are largely black with a "Woody Woodpecker" flaming red crest. (Exception: the crest of the female ivory-bill is black.) The major difference between the species is in the amount and pattern of white feathers. The pileated has very little white on its back, the ivory-bill much more, and this distinction is especially evident when a bird is seen flying. Here, for example, is part of the text that accompanies the field sketch by Tyler Hicks shown here: "I turned and observed a large black and white woodpecker flying quickly in loon-like fashion with stiff wing beats. The bird banked and climbed through the canopy, offering binocular views before disappearing. The bird was black with large white wing patches on the trailing edge of the wing. The wings flashed white on both the upstroke and down stroke." (Notice the crossed-out grocery list on the hurriedly used note pad.) Second, the team acquired acoustic evidence using high quality microphones and digital recorders. In their scientific paper they document 99 double knocks and 210 "kent" calls. The double "BAM bam" hammering was compared with Kellogg's recordings, as were the calls. Great care was taken to differentiate the calls from similar sounds made by jays, great blue herons, nuthatches and squirrels. Third, recently used nest cavities were carefully measured and found to be larger than those of pileated woodpeckers. And fourth, foraging activity was found on types of tree bark not usually attacked by pileated woodpeckers. Unfortunately, this group has not been able to obtain photographic evidence. Thus even their detailed records will remain suspect. Hopefully, however, the attention their article raises among birders will draw others to the Florida Panhandle to further substantiate this second event.
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One-tank tour: Auburn, Ala. 10/23/2006 Pensacola News Journal Kris Thoma		Return to Top
· BRIEF HISTORY: Auburn was founded by Judge John J. Harper, and takes its name from a line in "The Deserted Village," a poem by Oliver Goldsmith. The line goes "Sweet Auburn, the loveliest village of the plain" and explains the city's unofficial nickname, "The Loveliest City on the Plains." But perhaps Auburn is most synonymous for Auburn University, an institution that was first chartered in 1856 as the East Alabama Male College. The college was renamed in 1872 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama, changing from a private liberal arts school to a state-supported college. The school was renamed the Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1899. And, finally, in 1960, it became known as Auburn University. Today Auburn is the largest university in Alabama, with an enrollment of about 23,000. The university's 1,900-acre campus is a sign to see: pristine lawns, historic buildings, and state-of-the-art facilities that provide a core for the college town that has grown with the school. Auburn's oldest building still in its original location is the Auburn University Chapel. It, along with Samford Hall, Hargis Hall and Langdon Hall are listed in the National Register of Historic Buildings. · BE SURE TO SEE: Most road trips to Auburn this season are for football, but if you have some extra time on your hands here are some recommended places to visit around the area. Many are located on the Auburn campus: Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, home to eight exhibition galleries including Auburn University's permanent collection of American and European art; Jonathan B. Lovelace Athletic Museum and Hall of Honor, documenting all of the intercollegiate sports played by Auburn athletes throughout its history; Museum of East Alabama, houses more than 5,000 artifacts including 19th and 20th century local, state and general history items; Donald E. Davis Arboretum at Auburn University, home to 150 different tree species native to Alabama and the Southeast. · DISTANCE FROM DOWNTOWN PENSACOLA: 217 miles. · DETAILS: Historical information from www.auburn-opelika.com, (334) 887-8747. For more travel options in the Southeast, visit www.escapetothesoutheast.com.
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Riley says tax breaks help more than minimum wage 10/23/2006 Birmingham News		Return to Top
AU research park funding is mentioned in this story. The Birmingham News interviewed Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley on Sept. 22 at The Birmingham News building and Gov. Bob Riley Sept. 11 at his office. These are partial responses to questions asked about economic development. News: What would you do to improve education? Riley: I believe, if you look at the last four years, we've probably brought more reform to the educational experience that most kids have than at any time in the last 30 years. We know for a fact today that programs like the Alabama Reading Initiative are having extraordinary results all over the state. One of the things that I think you have to do, and we made a conscious decision when we took funding away from some other programs and put it in the Reading Initiative where we put it in kindergarten, first, second and third grade. I think the children, once they go through that, I think you are going to see increased proficiency in the tests, and I hope that we can continue to expand the reading initiative into additional grades. Second thing, we know that AMSTI (Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative) works. And we have doubled the funding in the last couple of years. But I would like to see an AMSTI program, or at least access to the AMSTI program, in every school. We are having the same type of dramatic results with the Alabama Math and Science program that you are seeing with the Reading Initiative. Third thing. You know, I believe we are on the verge today of being able to offer advanced placement courses to every high school in the state of Alabama through Access. It is going to cost about $40 million to put a lab in every high school, but it opens up a world of opportunity that has never existed, especially in the less affluent, more rural areas of this state. The children there are as bright, capable, as committed as any you will find anywhere. But they haven't even had the ability to even take some of the most basic courses, much less the AP courses. Access is going to be the one thing that levels or becomes a counter balance to the inequities that have been associated with Alabama in the past. News: You have full faith and confidence in the Alabama Reading Initiative. Yet when you look at some of the data out of the Southern Regional Education Board, when you look at the NEAP scores in English and reading, those numbers have moved very little over the past 10 or 12 years. As the state has poured additional money into ARI, there are beginning to develop critics who say it may be working, but only marginally so. Have you seen any numbers that cause you to hesitate? Riley: No, If anything I'm more convinced of it today than I have been in the past. We understand that, when you put these programs in and you focus on the basic skill of reading in schools that have always traditionally underperformed, today they are not only performing, they are competing with some of the better schools in the state of Alabama. That did not happen by accident. If you look back at Alabama's record over the last 15 or 20 years, at least to my knowledge, we have never scored higher than 48th, 49th or 50th. That is not acceptable. We have seen too much progress with ARI throughout the state. I think what you are going to see now, you are going to see the national assessment scores begin to rise. But it is not going to happen tomorrow. We just ended up getting all the schools in this year. But once you have an ARI program in a school that starts at kindergarten it is going to be four years before that first national test. So you can't go in and judge any results before the whole program at that place (is put to) work. News: Are you opposed to expanding ARI? Riley: There was a proposal that was brought to me. And I said first you have to focus. And if you look at the 2010 plan, we talk about, over the next four years, (we) want to expand it into at least the next three grades. Today, I'm not too sure we can do that. I do not know if we have the financial ability to do it. And I do not want to lose focus on moving those numbers, because skeptics like you are always going to look at that national test. And I told them there are going to be opportunities in the future to expand this not only in the next three grades, but we've got some principals out there right now that are doing it in the high schools and are having great results. News: ARI was originally a K-12 initiative and you came in and you narrowly focused on kindergarten through third grade. Are you confident enough that the money is such and the data is such that you can bump that out there to all schools and all grades? Riley: Funding will always be very dependent on our ability to move numbers. And this is what I've told every educational group I've talked to. We've got this money now set aside for K-3, but we have to move the numbers, and if the numbers move, I don't think it will even be a debate. The funding will be available. News: Name for me an area, a stance or policy, that you and AEA agree on. Riley: I agree with AEA when they say that programs like Access will allow all the students of this state to have a more equal education. I agree with them when they say this is going to give more opportunity to children in rural parts of the state than ever before. I'm not too sure that I don't - I believe we should pay teachers as much as we possibly can. I believe that the more we pay teachers, the more commitment we will have from the education community. They are the lynch pin, the ones that make all the problems work, and I am committed to continuing to increase their salaries and their benefits. News: Can the state do anything to help families with the rising cost of college tuition? Riley: I think everyone is committed to keep tuition at as low a rate as possible, particularly for the kids from Alabama. Going forward, we're going to have to realize that higher ed is important not only to the economic viability of this state, but it is also one of the drivers of our economic successes. If you look back over the past couple of years, one of the things that we have tried to do is put additional money into higher ed, and if you look back over the last two years, we've probably funded every request that they've had. That not only should help mitigate some of the increases in tuition, it also becomes an economic stimulus for the state that hasn't existed, at least in my opinion, in the past. News: Florida is spending a billion dollars to lure biotech jobs. Georgia has put $400 million into it's Research Alliance. We've $10 million in a cancer center, $50 million in Huntsville's biotech initiative and $35 million of state money into the Shelby Biomedical Research building. But on an ongoing basis, do we have the money to compete with these others state? Riley: It's a matter of setting priorities and distinguishing between those priorities. If you look at last year, we had proposed $50 million infusion into UAB, where they would have the opportunity to leverage that sometimes $7, $8, $9 dollars to one. It did not pass. It is a good program. It allows you an economic development that creates a non-exportable job. Good paying, clean job. And we need to continue that. We have a cancer center that is going into the University of South Alabama that I think is not only going to revolutionize care in that area, but it is going to become a huge economic development project for that area. You are talking about 900 to 1,000 people, and that is at the inception. We put $10 million into a research park at Auburn University. Auburn is uniquely situated in a variety of different disciplines to take that money and leverage it into something that will not only allow Auburn an opportunity to have an equity interest in some of their investments, but it's something that, over the next few years, when that research park is up and going, Auburn will have the capacity to do some things that other universities have done where they go out and they fund different research projects and then, because of their equity interest, have additional dollars come back in and fund other projects. Hudson Alpha I think is going to be a classic. We competed against Tennessee and Georgia for that. The reason that Hudson Alpha stayed in Alabama is because it is primarily funded by Alabamians. These people stayed in Alabama with a much less incentive package from the State of Alabama than they had received from other institutions. It isn't whether or not, whether you are going to make this choice. I think everyone understands today that, if you are going to build the type of dynamic economy that you want and we are going to be competitive, then you are going to have to invest in higher ed.
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Woodpecker mystery lands in Bluffton 10/23/2006 Island Packet, The David lauderdale		Return to Top
AU search for ivory-bill woodpecker is mentioned in this story. David Jones of Ridgeland has been chasing an extinct bird for 40 years. It's a search linked to one of the most colorful moments in South Carolina history -- and one of its most progressive moments. Jones' passion is typical of the intrigue surrounding the ivory-billed woodpecker, thought to be extinct since the mid-1940s. Interest exploded worldwide two years ago when sightings of the bird were confirmed in Arkansas. Bobby Harrison -- one of the two people credited with that sighting -- will be in Bluffton on Nov. 4 to talk about it. He always draws a full house when he speaks about the majestic bird, which some call the "Lawd God bird." That's because when anyone sees its bright red head, its steely yellow eyes or its 30-inch wingspan, they gasp, "Lawd God, what a bird." Jones knew in his gut what a lot of other naturalists and outdoorsmen knew -- that, contrary to what academics whose boots had never been muddy could prove, the ivory-billed woodpecker never vanished from the earth. It clung to life tenaciously, even though it was driven near extinction by mankind destroying old-growth Southern forests. Jones still slushes through the thickest swamps in the Lowcountry, the Florida panhandle and beyond -- hoping that before he dies he can glimpse what he calls the most regal and gorgeous bird. Harrison has for decades been covering his body with camouflage, setting decoys and freezing in the wet wilderness -- all on blind faith. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the highly respected Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Nature Conservancy, Auburn University and many others are part of the largest, multimillion-dollar search ever launched to find a rare bird. Nobody has the magazine-cover photograph yet, but Jones has a hunch that someone will get it this winter. Why do so many people get so emotional about a secretive bird that lives in the deepest swamps? Precious few people ever saw one when they thrived. They allegedly disappeared from South Carolina about the same time massive swaths of bottomland were cleared to create Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion. Howard Costa of Hilton Head Island, president of the local Audubon chapter, said the story captured his imagination as a child growing up in Charleston. As an adult, he has crawled up on a hummock only to find himself face-to-face with a snake while searching for the ghostly bird in the Salkehatchie River basin. "You don't want to believe it's gone forever," he said. "Now we've got another chance on this thing. Let's don't lose it." Jones said Harrison's story is "spreading the word of conservation in the grandest fashion. The story of the ivory-bill could be the flagship for conservation." Jones came to the Lowcountry as a teenager from Tidewater, Va., to hunt snakes. Then he moved here in 1969. He's been a commercial shrimper, a turtle farmer and a wholesale watermelon dealer. He trades in cast nets, Louisiana swamp boats and gourds. He's sold alligator skulls on eBay. "If this one can make it," he said of the ivory-billed woodpecker, "all things are possible. If you can get one thing to survive in our dwindling wilderness, a lot of other plants and animals can survive and thrive as a result." Jones has long known all the true believers, including Harrison. He knows Gene Sparling, the kayaker who posted his sighting of the ivory-billed woodpecker on a kayakers' list-serve, which sparked the woodpecker's official rediscovery. As far back as the 1960s, Jones trudged the Congaree Swamp south of Columbia, looking for the "extinct" bird. And it is there that the colorful story now etched deep in the rascally heart of South Carolina was born. The late Harry R.E. Hampton, considered the father of conservation in South Carolina, was working hard at that time to stop timber barons from destroying the Congaree's virgin cypress forests, often called "the Redwoods of the east." It was an uphill battle, and it ended up being tipped by the distinctive double rap of the ivory-billed woodpecker. That happened when former judge and College of Charleston president Alex Sanders was a young legislator bent on helping Hampton preserve the Congaree bottomlands. According to a recent recounting in The (Columbia) State newspaper, Sanders took a television reporter and an environmentalist into the Santee Swamp. He also took a recording of the ivory-billed woodpecker. Sanders "played the recording into the mist," the story goes, and "the ivory-billed woodpecker called back -- or at least that's what those in the boat reported." With that came the brouhaha that resulted in the public owning tens of thousands of acres of irreplaceable wilderness. Today, it is the Congaree National Park. The story remains a murky part of the mystery of the ivory-billed woodpecker. "For years afterward when asked whether the woodpecker actually called back," the newspaper reported, "Sanders would say: 'He was there when we needed him.'"


Newsleader 9 at 5:30 10/23/2006 WTVM-TV (Columbus)		Return to Top
AU's conference on alternative energy sources was included in the WTVM news broadcast. WTVM-ABC COLUMBUS, GA OCT 23 2006 5:00PM CT NEWSLEADER 9 AT 5:00 AUBURN UNIVERSITY SAYS IT'S LEADING THE NATION WHEN IT COMES TO RESEARCHING AND DEVELOPING ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES. TODAY AND TOMORROW, THE UNIVERSITY IS HOSTING MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED POLICY MAKERS, RESEARCHERS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS. THEY'RE ALL WORKING TOWARD DECREASING OUR NATIONS DEPENDENCY ON FOREIGN OIL. ... I THINK WE HAVE A GROWING NATIONAL CONSENSUS THAT ECONOMICALLY AND POLITICALLY WE NEED TO CREATE MORE DOMESTIC ENERGY SOURCES IN THE UNITED STATES AND AUBURN HAS BEEN A NATIONAL LEADER IN THAT AUBURN PRESIDENT ED RICHARDSON HAS MADE RESEARCHING AND DEVELOPING BIO-FUELS A PRIORITY. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES HAS APPROVED A THREE MILLION DOLLAR GRANT TO FUND THE PROJECT. WITH ALABAMA HOME TO MORE THAN 23- MILLION ACRES OF TIMBERLAND, STATE LEADERS BELIEVE ALTERNATIVE FUEL SOURCES MADE FROM WOOD CHIPS OR SWITCH GRASS COULD TURN INTO AN ECONOMIC BOON IN THE STATE. WTVM-ABC COLUMBUS, GA OCT 23 2006 5:30PM CT NEWSLEADER 9 AT 5:30 LET'S SEE WHAT'S ON FOX 54 NEWS AT 10 TONIGHT. AUBURN UNIVERSITY SAYS IT'S IN THE LEAD WHEN IT COMES TO DEVELOPING ALTERNATIVE FUEL SOURCES. HUNDREDS OF POLICY MAKERS ARE TRAVELING TO AUBURN TO CHECK THINGS OUT. AND SCREENINGS ARE SHOWING A SIGNIFICANT LOSS IN HEARING EVERY TIME YOU TURN UP YOUR IPOD. THAT'S ALL ON TONIGHT ON FOX 54 NEWS AT TEN.


Workshop gives informatics insight 10/22/2006 Indiana Daily Student Sonia Rana		Return to Top
AU's Juan Gilbert is mentioned as the keynote speaker in this story. The IU School of Informatics is working to bring the new age of computing to the next generation. The school hosted 20 computer science students from 10 historically black colleges and universities to a three-day workshop called 'Bring IT On!' this weekend, in which participants were encouraged to develop outreach programs for younger students in their respective institutions and communities. An element of the workshop was the 'Just Be' program, which explored the computing field and provided students with ideas on getting involved in the industry. Informatics assistant professor Katherine Connelly, who is also the associate director of IU's Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, and Samantha Foley, a computer science graduate student, worked together to co-chair the program. Foley said the program's purpose was to educate participants about the computing field, encourage students to attend graduate school and motivate college students to create outreach programs similar to 'Just Be.' 'The workshop encouraged students to develop outreach programs to convince young children in their communities to get involved,' Connelly said. The workshop implemented a panel in which graduate students talked about applying to and attending graduate school. Latasha Butler, a senior from Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, said her favorite part of the program was the graduate panel. 'It helped to make me feel better about graduate school,' Butler said. 'They answered a lot of my questions, and now the process is not as overwhelming as it first seemed.' The workshop also had a diversity panel in which faculty from the computer science and informatics departments spoke to students. Additionally, participants had an opportunity to view posters outlining recent projects completed by students in the School of Informatics. The keynote speaker for the event was Juan Gilbert, associate professor of computer science and software engineering at Auburn University. Gilbert gave a speech titled 'Mentoring Students,' in which he told students about graduate school, what it means to be a researcher and how to get involved in the field. Connelly said the speech shared these important topics with students who wouldn't otherwise be exposed to such opportunities. Tiffani Bell, a junior at Howard University in Washington D.C., attended the workshop to learn more about IU's computer science graduate program. 'I've recently attended a number of similar conferences,' Bell said. 'I think IU did a fabulous job, and I'm seriously considering attending IU for graduate school.' Ten colleges and universities from across the nation were invited to nominate two students each to attend the workshop. Participating schools were Central State, Howard, Claflin University, Jackson State University, Johnson C. Smith University, Lane College, Lemoyne-Owen College, Lincoln University, Spelman College and Wilberforce University. Billy Jones, a junior at Central State said he hoped to gain information about graduate school at IU and to meet professors in the field. 'I've always been interested in the IU informatics graduate program and I thought this would be a good opportunity for networking,' he said. Foley said she feels the program was able to accomplish the goals intended. 'The students seem really excited about taking the new information they've learned back to their communities,' she said.
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AU professor discusses local housing market 10/22/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Amy Weaver		Return to Top
Dr. Harris Hollans isn't one to use the term "housing bubble" to explain a sudden decrease in housing prices on the market. Instead, the Auburn University assistant professor of real estate prefers to think of the period as a gradual slowdown in prices. "Its not a burst, but a long slow deflation," he said, like slowly letting the air out of a balloon. So many factors affect the housing market - inflation, employment and income, to name a few - it makes it difficult for experts like Hollans to predict when a slowdown will occur. Seeing signs around town, advertising houses on sale at a "reduced price," is a good indication the balloon is starting to deflate and it's a "buyer's market," he said. The Auburn market has grown tremendously in the last few years, but it's cause for concern when there are so many houses, new or resales, on the market at the same time because it takes a long time to sell any. "A builder doesn't want to sit on a house for seven months," Hollans said. Builders and developers hopefully notice this and slow development down, he said. "When there is a significant increase in supply (the number of houses on the market), without an increase in demand, that is likely going to hurt housing prices here," he said. Interest rates are perhaps the most major factor in the real estate market, Hollans said, because affordability is so key. If the majority of the nearly 6,000 employees of Auburn University live in the city of Auburn, that means nearly half do not. So where do all they live? Auburn 3,504 Opelika 731 Lee County (not Opelika or Auburn) 60 Alabama (not Lee County) 1,645 Georgia 56 TOTAL 5,996 Note: Numbers include full-time and part-time employees, not student workers. Not only is the decline hard to predict, it's also difficult to tell how long it will last, how long it will be before the "buyer's market" becomes a "seller’s market." Hollans said the employment growth expected with the opening of automotive plants in the area and the expansion of Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., could help, but it depends on the kind of housing those employees will be looking for and what they can afford. The research park being developed by the city of Auburn and AU on the south side of campus will also be a factor. "Auburn's challenge is to set its focus on what kind of market we want to be," Hollans said. It's possible housing prices will rise in the area, but Hollans, who worked in commercial real estate in Birmingham before joining the Auburn faculty last fall, is doubtful. He expects to see prices stabilize or continue to drop. Understanding real estate or joining the real estate game boils down to the basic business principle of supply and demand. "Obviously no one's going to sell a house when there is no one to buy it," Hollans said. By all indications, Hollans says now is the best time to buy. But once enough buyers buy into the demand, there will be less available houses, decreasing supply, and increasing prices. The wider the gap between demand and supply, the more likely it is for prices to fall. Hollans attributes a lot of market growth in the Auburn-Opelika area to people making investments in the market by purchasing second homes. The gameday condos being built up around the AU campus are a prime example of the kind of investment people can make to affect the market. The university's push for more student housing will directly impact the area rental market, but Hollans said it will influence markets for condos and houses as well. "There is a lot of variety here because it's a college town, but is there a market for it?" he asked. "Interest and affordability are two different things." As the county's largest employer, Auburn University can have a significant impact on the housing market. If the university experiences a surge in students and faculty, Hollans said it could be a major influence, but historically, growth at the university is static
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Roaber Bacon students building rebots to clean 10/20/2006 Hilltop Press (KY)		Return to Top
This story mentions AU as the location of the national BEST competition. The Roger Bacon High School Robotics team is hanging out the out the laundry. For the past month, 13 seniors and one junior from Roger Bacon High School, almost all physics students, have been designing and building a remote control robot. While this may seem like a fun after school project, this robot is being built to compete against robots from other schools at the University of Cincinnati BEST (Boosting, Engineering, Science, and Technology) competition. This year's competition is to design and build a remote control robot that will be able to hang up the clean laundry and to collect the dirty laundry. The Roger Bacon students have been working hard for four days a week after school for the past month in order to get ready for the competition. At school, being on the robotics team is very exciting for the seniors who are taking physics. Moderators and teachers Michael Schaffer and Megan Guldner, have been controlling the building environment while their students use power tools, clothes pins, electrical circuits and tape, to create their robot. According to the specifications for the competition, the team can only use a certain amount of materials in order to build the robot, so teams are tested not only on their understanding of the principles to build the robot, but their ingenuity as well. The competition began in September at UC. There, teams learned what the project was and what materials they would be able to use. These past few weeks students have been building the robot for Mall Day on Oct. 14, when they showcased the robot and test it out. On Saturday, Oct. 21, Game Day arrives. Here, students are judged on the performance of their robot, the notebook which they have put together detailing the building process, and the display they put together which shows how the team has done not only this year but previous years. The winner will go to the national competition at Auburn University in Alabama. Elyse Krause, senior and co-captain of the team, is very excited about the whole thing. "Our team has encountered our own ups and downs, but it is all coming together nicely. We're all really excited about the competition and our robot. I can't wait till Game Day."
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