News highlights for June 10, 2011

Nature News
Time up for relativity table-top test?
6/9/2011
Researchers at University of California, Berkeley, have clashed with a team lead by Luc Blanchet, a theorist at the Astrophysical Institute of Paris, over whether the time-warping ways of Einstein’s theory of general relativity be measured by the quantum ‘ticking’ of an atom? Clifford Will, who studies general relativity at Washington University in St Louis,says he thinks Blanchet and his team currently have the upper hand. “Their argument to me seems completely convincing,” says Will, who was not one of the reviewers of the critiques, but was familiar with them as editor of Classical and Quantum Gravity.
Link to Article http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110609/full/news.2011.358.html

NTI / Global Security Newswire
NNSA Awards $25M For Developing Nuclear Security Expertise
6/10/2011
The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration on Thursday announced it would give $25 million to a consortium of universities to provide hands-on training and research opportunities to the nation’s next generation of nuclear security specialists. The University of California (Berkeley) was selected to lead a group of universities, including Washington University in St. Louis, in the creation of the National Science and Security Consortium.The five-year grant will provide financial aid to students and postdoctoral researchers with interest in work related to nuclear nonproliferation and security.
Link to Article http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20110610_1238.php

Nielsen Wire
Italian Innovation Points to Growth Possibilities
6/10/2011
The complexity of operating in the Italian marketplace was a clear refrain heard repeatedly during a Nielsen Wire client meeting that attracted about 600 of Italy’s leading executives in the retail, manufacturing and media industries to an event held in Sardenia, off the coast of mainland Italy. Academic Michele Boldrin, of Washington University in St. Louis, said as an Italian looking in on his home country from the United States, he saw “crazy public debt” and a labor market riddled with high costs. Boldrin said it was imperative for Italy to create comparative advantages over other countries in Western Europe. He also cited an ongoing brain drain because talented young people found it difficult to penetrate the hierarchy of businesses in Italy.
Link to Article http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/italian-innovation-points-to-growth-possibilities/

Seattle Tech Flash / Puget Sound Business Journal
Questions for: Dan Turner
6/10/2011
Dan Turner of the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, discusses the school’s specialty-focused MBA in technology management. Turner is the faculty director for that degree, which covers the fundamental MBA topics, but with an emphasis for technology-mediated environments. Turner has a B.S. in Business Administration from the Cook School of Business at Saint Louis University, an MBA from Olin Business School at Washington University, and a Ph.D. in Marketing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Link to Article http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2011/06/questions-for-dan-turner.html

Kansas City Infozine
Book on Latina Teen Suicide Attempts Uncovers Reality Behind Grim Statistics
6/10/2011
“Latinas have the highest rate of suicide attempt among teens in comparison to white girls or African-American girls,” says Luis Zayas, PhD, the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor of Social Work at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Zayas brings compelling personal stories and nearly 40 years of research to his new book, Latinas Attempting Suicide: When Cultures, Families, and Daughters Collide link, published by Oxford University Press.
Link to Article http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/47795/
See also Hispanically Speaking News
http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/notitas-de-noticias/details/new-book-on-latina-teen-suicide-attempts-uncovers-reality-behind-grim-/8226/

Sacramento Bee
Obituary: Edward G. ‘Ted’ Jones led UC Davis Center for Neuroscience
6/10/2011
Dr. Edward G. “Ted” Jones, an internationally renowned neuroscientist who was former head of the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience, died Monday at age 72. He collapsed while attending a scientific meeting at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and suffered sudden cardiac death, according to UC Davis Health System. He built his reputation as a top neuroanatomist in academic posts in New Zealand and at Oxford, Washington University in St. Louis and UC Irvine. From 1988 to 1996, he led research on the brain at RIKEN science institute in Japan.
Link to Article http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/10/3690225/obituary-edward-g-ted-jones-led.html#ixzz1Ou2JQGuR

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
University City officials drop proposed loitering law
6/9/2011
The University City City Council voted unanimously June 6 against a proposed ordinance that would have imposed fines of up to $1,000 for anyone who loitered or obstructed sidewalks or streets in the Delmar Boulevard Loop. Police officials said existing ordinances were sufficient. Earlier this year, many Loop business owners told city officials their customers and employees felt threatened and uncomfortable because of the large numbers of youths frequenting the area. The legislation would have imposed fines of up to $1,000 for anyone who loitered or obstructed sidewalks or streets. Police in University City, St. Louis, Metro Transit St. Louis and Washington University have increased patrols in The Loop.
Link to Article http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/metro/news/article_25542f16-7c49-5596-817e-b52c011c2e83.html

St. Louis Suburban Jounals
Basement inventor makes low-cost artificial hand
6/10/2011
Mark Stark, an Affton, Mo., mechanical designer and basement inventor has developed a mechanically simple, low-cost artificial hand that has potential to have a major impact on the market for prosthetics. Jack Engsberg, an associate professor of occupational therapy at Washington University, said the invention possesses significant commercial potential. “I believe there’s a huge market for the device if it is as functional as it’s (claimed to be),” Engsberg said. Engsberg, who developed an easier and less expensive way to make sockets for artificial limbs, said the device takes the best elements of the hook system (feel and touch) while adding the extra-capability of five digits.
Link to Article http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/metro/news/article_02790ffe-0fe8-513c-87a0-fa02dd815816.html

St. Louis Business Journal
Washington University named among the world’s best business schools
6/8/2011
Business Insider has named its top 50 MBA programs in the world, and Washington University in St. Louis is among them. Washington University’s Olin Business School comes in at No. 36. That’s up from No. 47 last year. Olin, led by Dean Mahendra Gupta, also was named among the best undergraduate business schools by Bloomberg Businessweek earlier this year.
Link to Article http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2011/06/08/washington-university-named-among.html?page=all

University City Patch
School Board Talks Greenhouse Funding
6/9/2011
The Clayton Board of Education closed out the 2010-11 school year with a meeting Wednesday night, including a spirited public comment session concerning the new greenhouse at Clayton High School. One of the night’s action items concerned additional funding for the greenhouse, for which the board had already allocated $350,000.Board director Dr. Brad Bernstein questioned why the high school even needed to offer a plant biology class in the first place. “I’ve called Washington University, UMSL and Saint Louis University and asked them when they offered plant sciences,” he said. “Those classes aren’t offered to freshmen or sophomores, only the higher levels. How are we going to integrate this into a high school curriculum?”
Link to Article http://clayton-richmondheights.patch.com/articles/school-board-talks-greenhouse-funding-top-officials-departure

Issues in Higher Education

New York Times
Colleges Now Offering Education in Disaster
6/9/2011
A new undergraduate minor disaster mental health at the State University of New York is among scores of programs on emergency management and disaster response that have sprung up across the country in recent years at the same unflagging pace as the catastrophes that have inspired them. Just as earlier waves of college students were molded by long-running conflicts like the cold war, today’s undergraduates have confronted an abundance of sudden, free-ranging calamity, both natural and not. Programs like the one at SUNY New Paltz offer a range of diplomas, from associate’s degrees to doctorates, and go by various names: disaster science, emergency preparedness, public safety administration, hazard policy, humanitarian action
Link to Article http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/education/10disaster.html

Washington Post
Report: D.C. universities contribute $11.3 billion to local economy
6/8/2011
D.C.’s universities contribute $11.3 billion to the local economy, making them the city’s largest private employer, according to a study released this month by a local education consortium. The report, produced by the non-profit Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, represents an institutional response to persistent criticism of some local universities for their perceived encroachment on surrounding communities.
Link to Article http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/report-dc-universities-contribute-113-billion-to-local-economy/2011/06/08/AGiQAzLH_blog.html

New York Times / Editorial
The Fair Rewards of Invention
6/7/2011
Before the Bayh-Dole Act was passed in 1980, the billions of federal dollars spent on scientific research rarely benefited the public through commercial applications. Fewer than 5 percent of government patents were licensed to industry. To push patents into practical use, the law set up a scheme for awarding the rights to institutions, like universities, that have incentive to bring inventions to market. In a 7-to-2 decision this week, the Supreme Court undermined the act’s purpose by ruling that it does not automatically give a university title to an invention by a faculty member when the research is federally financed.
Link to Article http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/opinion/08wed3.html?_r=1&ref=policy