High Schools Fall Short on College Support, Student Researchers Find

/PRNewswire/ -- Students do not get the college-going help they need from schools until far too late in the game, according to an extraordinary new report by a research team of 25 diverse high school students from Tennessee and Washington state.

Instead, parents and guardians largely step into the gap, according to their study, Hear Us Out, which was released today by the Center for Youth Voice in Policy and Practice at What Kids Can Do, Inc., a nonprofit based in Providence, RI.

Three-quarters of the respondents named their families as the chief source of college motivation and support, even when their parents and guardians had not attended college themselves.

In contrast, almost a third said they had never spoken with a school counselor about college. Although that percentage dropped to 12 percent by twelfth grade, 28 percent of seniors said they had completed their college application mostly on their own.

Student researchers based their findings on surveys of close to 5,000 peers in nine comprehensive high schools, five in Seattle and four in Chattanooga and Hamilton County, Tennessee. Another 225 students participated in videotaped student-led focus groups and individual interviews.

High motivation, little help

Conversations about setting their sights on college began early for 86 percent of students and came to a peak in sixth through ninth grades. But respondents said they lacked concrete advice from school sources in the critical early high school years.

Encountering a problem moving ahead with college plans, 86 percent of students said they would turn to a parent or guardian, compared to 38 percent who said they would consult a school counselor, and 33 percent a teacher.

The cost of college was the biggest hurdle, according to more than two-thirds of students. Forty percent said they knew little or nothing about financial aid. Of students eligible for free and reduced lunch, only 64 percent expected to attend college directly after high school, compared with 78 percent of higher-income students.

Aware of the constraints caused by overloaded counselors and shrinking school budgets, the student researchers urged community partners to step in with support and coaching for families and youth. They also asked for mentoring from "near peers" — college students from similar backgrounds who could share practical advice about access and success.

"I usually don't like asking for help," said one young respondent. "But when someone says, 'Hey, check this out, I don't know if you'll like it, but you should look at it anyway,' that goes pretty far."

Supported by Lumina Foundation for Education, Hear Us Out was a collaborative effort by What Kids Can Do (WKCD), the Public Education Foundation in Chattanooga, and the Alliance for Education in Seattle. The Public Science Project at CUNY Graduate Center helped design the survey and train the students. Students carried out their research and analysis in the spring of 2010.

"We found no shortage of ambition among these high school students, whatever their family income, race or ethnicity," said WKCD president Barbara Cervone, who presented the report along with videotaped student voices to a national group of college access organizations at Lumina's Indianapolis headquarters on December 2. "But making college dreams come true for America's youth is a joint production, requiring all of us."

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NASA awards Emory, MCG $7.6 million for space radiation research

Researchers from Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute and the Medical College of Georgia are launching a new cancer research initiative – literally.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded a team of investigators from both institutions $7.6 million over five years to study how a component of space radiation may induce lung cancer.

The award establishes a NASA Specialized Center of Research (NSCOR), consisting of a team of scientists with complementary skills who work closely together to solve a set of research questions. Ya Wang, PhD, professor of radiation oncology at Emory University School of Medicine and Winship Cancer Institute, is director of the NSCOR at Emory.

Interplanetary space travel could expose astronauts to conditions where they are chronically exposed to types of radiation not normally encountered on earth. One of these is high energy charged particles (HZE), which results in complex damage to DNA and a broader stress response by the affected cells and tissues.

There is no epidemiological data for human exposure to HZE particles, although some estimates have been made studying uranium miners and Japanese atomic bomb survivors, says Wang.

Animal experiments show that HZE particle exposure induces more tumors than other forms of radiation such as X-rays or gamma rays. Because it is a leading form of cancer, lung cancer can be expected to be prominent among increased risks from radiation even though astronauts do not smoke. However, the risk for astronauts remains unclear because the dose of HZE astronauts are expected to receive is very low, Wang says.

The Emory-MCG researchers will probe whether the broader stress response induced by HZE particles amplifies cancer risk. Investigators will collaborate with physicists at Brookhaven National Laboratory to gather information on HZE’s effects. Individual projects include the study of how cells repair DNA damage induced by HZE particles, how HZE particles generate oxidative stress, and how they trigger regulatory changes in DNA known as methylation.

Participating faculty include:

Ya Wang, PhD, professor of radiation oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory – director of NSCOR
Paul Doetsch, PhD, professor of radiation oncology and biochemistry, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory – associate director of NSCOR
William Dynan, PhD, professor, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics at the Medical College of Georgia – associate director of NSCOR
Paula Vertino, PhD, professor of radiation oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory
Huichen Wang, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory
Shi-Yong Sun, PhD, associate professor of hematology and medical oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory
Gregg Orloff, PhD, assistant professor of hematology and medical oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory
“The information generated by this project will be critical for estimating risks and establishing countermeasures for cancers associated with long term space travel. In addition, new insights into cancer resulting from all types of radiation exposure, including those found on earth, are likely to emerge from this project,” Dr. Doetsch says.

Dr. Dynan adds, “We plan to visualize the response to HZE particle radiation in real time using nanomedicine tools and approaches. A focus on leading-edge technology was a distinguishing feature of our application.”

Walter Curran, MD, executive director of Winship and chairman of Emory’s Department of Radiation Oncology, says “the center will place Emory and the State of Georgia squarely on the map as a place of international importance within the handful of NSCORs in the world dedicated to the study of cancer and space radiation exposure.”

New NSCOR awards are also being made to Duke University and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center on the topic of space radiation-induced lung cancer.

Additional information is available on the NASA Space Radiation web site.


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GSU Undergraduate Research Conference proposals accepted through January

Georgia State University undergraduates and their faculty advisors should start thinking about research and artistic projects they would like to enter into this spring’s Georgia State University Undergraduate Research Conference.

Proposals for the conference, to be held March 16, 2011 at the Student Center, are due on Jan. 28, said Deborah Garfin, faculty associate for undergraduate research. Work can include poster presentations, oral presentations or artistic displays. Proposals should be submitted online at http://www.gsu.edu/gsurc/22214.html.

“Students from all departments across the university are encouraged to submit proposals,” Garfin said. “GSURC provides a unique opportunity for students to participate in a research conference and discuss their projects with other students and faculty.”

Every presentation must have a GSU undergraduate student as the primary author or artist, and a Georgia State faculty sponsor. Work presented at a previous GSURC cannot be submitted for the 2011 conference.

Last year’s winners included:

• Provost’s Award and 1st place poster award: Julia Eidelman, biology

• 1st place oral award: Imani Mandela, African-American studies

• 1st place art and design: Emily Pidgeon, art and design (photography)

• 2nd place poster: Taiwannika Walker, sociology

• 2nd place oral: Keisha Parker, applied linguistics and ESL.

More information for presenters and faculty sponsors is available at www.gsu.edu/gsurc.

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NASA Accepting Applications For Aeronautics Scholarships

/PRNewswire/ -- NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is accepting scholarship applications for the 2011 academic year. The application deadline is Jan. 17, 2011.

"We want more students to pursue careers in aeronautics," said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "By offering these scholarships, we are extending to students not just an opportunity to become familiar with NASA's research, but also an extra dose of inspiration. Scholarships are an excellent way for us to attract talented young innovators to our work force."

NASA expects to award 20 undergraduate and five graduate scholarships to students in aeronautics or related fields. Undergraduate students entering their second year of study will receive up to $15,000 per year for two years and the opportunity to receive a $10,000 stipend by interning at a NASA research center during the summer.

Graduate students will receive up to $35,000 per year for up to three years, with an opportunity to receive a $10,000 stipend interning at a NASA research center for up to two consecutive summers.

Students who have not committed to a specific academic institution or program still may apply. However, if accepted, they must be admitted by fall 2011 into a suitable aeronautical engineering program or related field of study at an accredited U.S. university. All applicants must be U.S. citizens. Scholarship money may be used for tuition and other school-related expenses.

NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate conducts cutting-edge, fundamental and integrated systems research in traditional and emerging disciplines. The intent is to help transform the nation's air transportation system and to support development of future air and space vehicles. Goals include improving airspace capacity and flexibility; aviation safety and aircraft performance; reducing overall noise, engine emissions and fuel usage.

For details about this scholarship program, including how to apply, visit:  http://nasa.asee.org/

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Bad Report Card? Studies Show An Online Tutor May Be The Answer

/24-7/ -- November is report card month and parents across the nation are bracing for unpleasant results. Swine flu school closures and a slow implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have contributed to stagnant test scores and low grades.

According to David P. Driscoll, chair of the National Assessment Governing Board which sets policies for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP),

"...the failure of our 4th-graders to make progress nationally is a cause for concern."

Furthermore, it is estimated that approximately 125,000 American students in roughly 19 states have had their schooling affected by swine flu school closures.

These regrettable circumstances are disconcerting for parents. Research shows that tutoring is a viable solution.

According to Marzano (2003),

"...the typical student who receives tutoring will obtain achievement scores .50 standard deviations higher than the typical student who does not receive tutoring. This translates into a 19th percentile point gain."

Yet with the vast number of tutoring services and styles, parents are overwhelmed with choices.

Stuart Ackerman, founder of the online tutoring site, Tutorgiant.com, believes he's found the answer.

"It all comes down to basic skills. One cannot learn about fractions without knowing how to multiply and divide. A student cannot write an essay unless he or she is first able to compose a topic sentence and a paragraph. When a student misses school and/or lacks basic skills, it's time to seek help. Online tutoring, especially with videos, gives students the tools for mastery because they can work at their own pace."

According to Northwestern University researcher Greg Duncan in the journal of Developmental Psychology,

"We find the single most important factor in predicting later academic achievement is that children begin school with a mastery of early math and literacy concepts...Mastery of early math skills predicts not only future math achievement, it also predicts future reading achievement."

Ackerman, a certified school teacher with 14 years of experience and a Masters in Education from New York State, came up with the idea of launching a comprehensive archive of instructional videos, employing himself as the featured tutor.

"I have organized Tutorgiant in such a way that the lessons are organized from basic skills to more advanced." Ackerman explained, "and with the ability to watch video lessons on demand twenty-four seven, I believe I have given students a recipe for success."

The results are impressive. With an archive, to date, of over 400 videos and 500 worksheets in math and English which span the early elementary grades to high school, Tutorgiant.com offers a highly engaging online learning experience. With Ackerman front and center in each video, the website offers instruction aided by eye-pleasing graphics that effectively illuminate key concepts.

"I originally designed Tutorgiant for students who were falling behind and needed an English and math tutor, but I also realized that students who missed school due to sickness and other reasons had to get caught up on lessons. It's also a great tool for students who are lacking basic skills because they can get ahead by learning the lesson before it's taught in school."

For concerned parents and educators looking for an educational website that will engage students and provide the necessary skills and concepts, Tutorgiant may very well be the answer.

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How students view time influences dropout rate

In the struggle to keep students from dropping out of school, UGA researchers are finding that how a student views time and rewards play key roles in why some students quit on their educations.

“It is so well known that it is a cliché: To get a good job, you need a good education,” said Jeff Jordan, a University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences professor. “Yet, more than one-third of children do not graduate from high school.”

For the 2007-2008 school year, Georgia’s dropout rate was 22 percent, or 18,960 students. Of those, 8,711 were removed for lack of attendance, 6,078 dropped out because of other adult education, 1,406 were expelled, and 1,330 dropped out for unknown reasons, according to a chart provided by the Georgia Department of Education.

The rate is slightly lower than the previous year, but Georgia still ranks in the bottom five for dropouts nationally.

It’s about time

Jordan has studied Spalding County eighth-graders since 2005, along with researchers from Georgia State University and Georgia Tech. He’s collected data on 1,300 students. He’s trying to figure out their time preferences, something he calls student discount rates.

Time – specifically how a student views the future – is one of the key reasons some students drop out.

Jordan and his colleagues chose to study eighth-graders because “most kids finish elementary school still engaged,” he said. “It’s that time in middle school that those who drop out become disengaged.”

“What research is showing is that we lose kids earlier than we thought we did. They are often present physically, but not present emotionally – they are not engaged,” said Sharon Gibson, a UGA Cooperative Extension multicultural specialist.

In Georgia, students can drop out when they’re 16. The average eighth-grader is between 13 and 15 years old.

The how

Jordan, an agricultural economist, uses money to study how long students are willing to wait. In 2008, the group surveyed eighth-graders at all four Spalding County middle schools to see whether they would rather have the money now or if they would be willing to wait for a few months for more.

In each of the classes they studied, they gave three students gift cards in the amount they chose – $49 for students who indicated they wanted the money now and up to $98 if they were willing to wait longer for more.

The results

The research shows that black boys have significantly larger discount rates than any other demographic group, a finding that may indicate these students have a different view of the future, he said. “They tend to view positive outcomes as less likely and negative as more likely.”

According to Gibson, “if all you’ve seen is negative, negative, negative, and all you hear is negative, negative, negative, then the expectation is that of ‘when is the other shoe going to fall?’”

Kids who live in high-stress environments often find it difficult to believe something good could happen to them, even when it’s happening, she said.

Jordan also found that discount rates predict the likelihood that a student will have above-average disciplinary referrals. And his research has found something else – reward-based reinforcement isn’t necessarily the best way to get kids engaged in school.

“All the research that has been done on these kinds of incentive systems shows that they make things worse,” he said. “‘Good’ kids get the rewards, and the kids who aren’t getting good grades and are falling behind aren’t (getting rewards). The way our system is set up, it makes the gap between high- and low-achieving kids widen.”

In part because of his research, the four middle schools now have a new incentive-based system in place. These incentives have shorter time periods between rewards and more sequential rewards.

Digging deeper

This past summer, Jordan started looking at fourth-graders and kindergarteners. He’s trying to pinpoint when students lose interest in school. That age could vary depending on the child.

Gibson is closely following Jordan’s research and hoping that her outreach efforts will benefit from his findings. Through a USDA Children, Youth, and Families at Risk Sustainable Community Projects grant, she focuses on rural communities to engage and empower youth to “be the change they want to see in the world,” she said.

The project she’s currently working on, called UGA Cooperative Extension Teens As Planners, offers teens opportunities to increase their employability. This is done by helping them improve their workplace, life and technological skills as well as giving them opportunities for civic engagement and service-learning.

“We all need to know we are valued and that we have something positive to contribute,” Gibson said. “Youths are no exception. They need to know that their voices are heard and that their community expects them to contribute and appreciates their contribution.”

By Stephanie Schupska
University of Georgia

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Emory Prevention Research Center Awarded $6.2 Million CDC Grant

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded the Emory Prevention Research Center (EPRC) $6.2 million in a five-year grant renewal, Emory University researchers have announced.

The new grant award will enable the Emory Prevention Research Center, housed at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH), to continue its mission to prevent cancer and reduce health disparities among residents of rural southwest Georgia.

Established in 2004, the Emory Prevention Research Center is one of 35 CDC-funded Prevention Research Centers nationwide working as a network to conduct disease prevention research and promote public health in partnership with communities. The EPRC partners with the Southwest Georgia (SWGA) Cancer Coalition and a Community Advisory Board to conduct research, offer training, share research results, and provide evaluation technical assistance to local organizations in 33 counties of rural southwest Georgia.

Five years ago, the EPRC and its partners in Southwest Georgia collaborated to conduct the Healthy Rural Communities studies. Now, they are testing a program called Healthy Homes/Healthy Families in which trained coaches from the community work with families. The coaches will help the families assess their homes for healthy eating and physical activity opportunities. Then, the families and coaches will work together to make changes at home.

"The study is designed to see if we can change the home environment to make it healthier and whether changing the home environment leads to improved behavior," says Michelle Kegler, DrPH, EPRC director and principal investigator, and associate professor of behavioral sciences and health education at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH).

The new funding includes support for the EPRC’s research, but the Center also conducts training for community-based organizations to build local capacity for health promotion programs and provides technical assistance on evaluation for local organizations. Urban areas tend to have greater resources for health promotion than rural areas, so the EPRC is working closely with its partners in a 33-county region of Southwest Georgia to provide more research and other resources.

“Our partnership with the EPRC provides opportunities for southwest Georgia residents to participate in important research that ultimately may lead to improvements in health care across our regions,” says Diane Fletcher, chief executive officer of the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition. “We look forward to continuing these collaborative efforts that help to fulfill the Cancer Coalition’s mission to serve the people of our communities.”

The CDC grant award also provides special interest project grants for RSPH faculty to advance research in cancer and other diseases. This year’s award of $2.2 million includes four special interest projects and two additional new projects, including the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network, which promotes the use of evidence-based programs for cancer control locally and nationally.

Other Emory projects funded this year include:

• Study of Active Surveillance Attitudes and Perceptions for Prostate Cancer led by Theresa Gillespie, PhD, associate professor, Emory University School of Medicine

• Coordinating Center for the Managing Epilepsy Well (MEW) Prevention Research Centers Network led by Colleen DiIorio, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor, Rollins School of Public Health

• Multiple Perspectives on Dual Protection Use by Young Women led by Ralph DiClemente, PhD, professor, Rollins School of Public Health, and Melissa Kottke, MD, assistant professor, Emory University School of Medicine

“We’ve laid a great foundation for collaborative research over the past five years, and we are excited about what can be accomplished with our community partners in the next five years,” says Kegler.


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UGA family researchers receive $5.9 million grant

University of Georgia researchers have been awarded a five-year, $5.9 million Core Center of Excellence grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to address the ways genetic predispositions combine with family and community environments to forecast drug use, drug abuse and risky sexual behavior among children, adolescents and young adults.

The principal investigator is Gene H. Brody, Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Child and Family Development in the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences and director of the Center for Family Research. Co-principal investigators are Steven R.H. Beach, director of the UGA Institute for Behavioral Research and Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology, and Steven M. Kogan, assistant professor of child and family development.

The CCOE will bring together a team of molecular and statistical geneticists, genetic epidemiologists and scientists specializing in prevention, public health and human development. Participating researchers are at the University of Georgia, Emory University, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Iowa.

The grant will allow Brody and his fellow researchers to build on longitudinal, epidemiological research that dates back more than two decades. In that original research, Brody and his colleagues identified young people who were at risk for engaging in drug use, drug abuse, and risky sexual behavior. They also identified specific parenting practices and community characteristics that served to minimize the incidence of young people’s engagement in risky behavior.

Recently, Brody and his colleagues have begun to study the role genes play in the development of these risky behaviors. This research has begun to identify candidate genes that forecast increases in substance use and behavior problems among youth, as well as ways in which participation in prevention programs can override genetic risks.

The ultimate goal of the Center of Excellence, Brody said, “is to increase the efficacy of prevention programs by developing a better understanding of how genes and social environments interact to influence youths’ initiation and escalation of substance use and risky behaviors.”

More information on the UGA Center for Family Research is available at http://www.cfr.uga.edu/.

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UWG to Host Summer Research Program

The University of West Georgia and the Department of Mathematics will host an exciting National Science Foundation program this summer. Students participating in “Research Experience for Undergraduates” are chosen from a national pool of math majors and will live on the UWG campus for eight weeks.

Dr. Bruce Landman, chair of the math department, and Dr. Abdollah Khodkar, associate professor of mathematics, will offer students first-hand experience in conducting research in the mathematical areas of number and graph theory and combinatorics. The NSF sponsored program, which is in its third year, pays for residential living and meals on campus, a stipend and living and traveling expenses.

This year’s participants attend Georgia Tech, UWG, California State University at Northridge, Florida State University, the University of Maryland – Baltimore County, McDaniel College, the University of Michigan and the University of Nebraska.

The research program will focus on individual and team research work under a faculty mentor. The syllabi will feature lectures by visiting speakers, weekly seminars where students give oral presentations on their work and writing a mathematics research paper. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in a prestigious mathematics conference. It is an inspiring program for students who love math, said Landman.

“Our 2007 and 2008 REU programs appear to have been successful,” said Landman. “At least four student-authored articles have been accepted in research journals, two presentations have been made at a national conference, numerous academic awards have been received and most of the students have decided to pursue doctorate degrees.”

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GSU research focuses on improving teacher retention

Nearly 50 percent of teachers leave the profession within five years, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Georgia State University researchers and their public school partners have been investigating how to reduce this troubling trend.

Barbara Meyers, chair of the Department of Early Childhood Education and Assistant Professor Susan Swars, along with doctoral student Brian Lack and recent doctoral graduate Lydia Mays, spent more than two years studying teacher retention and mobility at a high needs school in the metro Atlanta area.

Using surveys, interviews and open-ended questionnaires, the research team collected 134 teachers’ perceptions of why teachers choose to remain at or leave their school. The researchers found the teachers stay in the classroom if they have positive relationships with other educators and administrators, a diverse student population and an environment that emphasizes academic student achievement.

But, educators may leave when they disagree about teaching philosophies and school policies, the researchers found. Teachers are also more likely to exit the profession if they fear they cannot express concerns or have a lack power.

Based on their findings, the research team developed a two-dimensional model that may help educators determine what school environments are best for them.

“Our model can help teachers be more informed job hunters,” Meyers said. “If they identify shared educational beliefs when they interview, they may be more likely to stay at that school.”
Further, the model could also be used to help administrators screen and hire educators that will work well in their schools and perhaps promote retention.

An analysis by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission indicates the cost to the state of Georgia to replace teachers lost to attrition was almost $400 million in 2005, an increase of nearly $60 million from 2001.

“When universities and schools engage in collaborative inquiries about critical issues facing the teaching profession, authentic, constructive, and pragmatic solutions may be found,” Associate Professor Swars said.

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Georgia State/Georgia Tech Center for Advanced Brain Imaging to expand brain, mind research

Georgia State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology are opening a new center that will provide researchers around Atlanta with a dedicated magnetic resonance imaging scanner to further study into the mysteries of the brain and mind.

The Center for Advanced Brain Imaging, a joint venture of Georgia State and Georgia Tech, opened this month for researchers exploring topics from autism and learning disabilities, to applied physiology, brain signals and brain-computer interfaces.

“We are excited to open a facility which will provide researchers exploring the mind with a dedicated, around-the-clock center to advance research in some of the most fascinating and challenging areas of neuroscience,” said Robin Morris, vice president of research at Georgia State. “This is yet another example of how the University System of Georgia has encouraged partnerships between institutions, which yield great gains in scientific advancement.”

The center, a facility that has been more than a decade in the making, will provide a huge boost to the study of neuroscience on both campuses, Randall Engle, professor of psychology at Georgia Tech and interim director of the Center for Advanced Brain Imaging.

“It will bring people together from a broad range of disciplines to study how the brain works, how the brain creates the mind, and to better understand disorders and disabilities emanating from the brain,” Engle said.

The Marietta Street center provides both institutions with a research-dedicated functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner (fMRI). Scans from fMRIs tell researchers about active areas of the brain while the person is performing certain cognitive or behavioral functions, which shed further light on the brain.

Researchers at both institutions often had to vie for time at clinical MRIs based at hospitals, but the CABI’s scanner is solely dedicated to academic research, giving researchers a wider opportunity to perform their experiments.

The $2.3 million MRI scanner, funded by the Georgia State University Research Foundation, Georgia Tech Research Institute, and the Georgia Research Alliance through the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, is housed in a 6,000 square-foot facility with a 6-inch thick floor to hold the massive equipment. The machine’s magnetic power is rated at 3 Tesla — a unit measuring the strength of a magnetic field — which provides the power to observe details of electrical impulses and pathways in the brain. The MRI scanner is twice as powerful as conventional MRI scanners operating at 1.5 Tesla, and 60,000 times stronger than the earth’s magnetic field.

The machine will run 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week to accommodate not only researchers from Georgia State and Georgia Tech, but researchers from other institutions who wish to use it.
The CABI also includes facilities for transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, which is a strong magnet that applies bursts to the outside of the head to temporarily disrupt a portion of the brain, giving researchers a way to study the roles of different brain regions.

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Georgia Tech’s Record Research Serves as Catalyst for Economy

For the first time ever, the Georgia Institute of Technology’s research activity has exceeded the $500 million mark, reaching a record $524.9 million in fiscal year 2008. This represents a 10 percent increase over 2007 and an increase of 99 percent over the past decade, helping the Institute consistently rank among the top ten in research programs among universities without medical schools.

“The return on investment from the money that we’re bringing back into the state comes in many forms -- from creating jobs and utilizing local goods and services to encouraging industrial and economic development,” said University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. “More importantly, these efforts help nurture Georgia’s strategic economic advantages and strengthen our ability to innovate, laying the groundwork for our state’s future prosperity in a global economy.”

More than 70 percent of externally funded research comes from outside the state through federal and private funding. While the funds are designated for specific projects and research efforts, they have a significant impact on the state’s bottom line, according to Georgia Tech Interim President and Provost Gary Schuster.

Externally funded projects represent a broad spectrum of programs that help create jobs and support the development of new technology in the state. For example, Georgia Tech’s VentureLab evaluates more than 300 research invention disclosures a year, all of which are evaluated according to their potential to create jobs in the state. There are currently 63 projects in various stages of evaluation. Twenty-two companies have emerged from the program since it began in 2001, including Suniva, the Southeast’s first solar cell manufacturer that has already raised $55 million in venture capital and generated more than $1 billion in orders.

To help meet the state’s demand for math and science teachers, this funding also helps support the newly established Tech to Teaching program designed to create pathways for students pursuing K-12 or college teaching careers. Likewise, the Foundations for the Future initiative helps Georgia educators incorporate technology into the classroom.

In addition to supporting education, the well being of Georgians is the focus of early warning tornado systems developed by the Georgia Tech Research Institute’s (GTRI) Severe Storms Research Center, while the Georgia Transportation Institute tackles the challenges of improving highway safety and finding solutions to traffic congestion. Georgians have access to a more wholesome and affordable food supply though innovative technologies designed by the Georgia Tech Agricultural Technology Research Program, while more than 14,000 Georgia workers were protected from hazardous conditions as a result of GTRI’s workplace safety program, which saved the state’s manufacturing sector nearly $2.5 million in penalties and lost work days.

Research and development originating from Georgia Tech also positively impact the health of Georgians, according to Schuster. For example, discoveries from Georgia Tech labs have transformed the monitoring of patients with chronic cardiovascular conditions through tiny, wireless devices, while painless microneedles in patches applied to the skin could soon provide an alternative to delivery of vaccines through hypodermic injections.

"Georgia Tech continues to grow the amount of research funding it brings to the state of Georgia. This underscores the exceptional quality of our faculty and the high caliber of their work,” said Schuster. “We take pride in Georgia Tech’s role as an internationally prominent research institution and significant role as a positive catalyst in our state’s economy.”

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University of Georgia Wins $6.7 Million National Science Foundation Grant to Extend Research in Southern Appalachia

The National Science Foundation has awarded a grant of $6.7 million to a consortium of universities headed by the University of Georgia for research on the effects of climate change and urbanization in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

The grant extends the work of the Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research project, which has been continuously funded since 1980, according to Ted Gragson, a professor of anthropology in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and lead principal investigator of the ongoing project.

“While we will be continuing the superb work that has preceded us, under the new grant we will explicitly focus on the effect of human settlement and climate change and how they affect the region,” said Gragson.

Scientists believe understanding the southern Appalachian Mountains from many viewpoints is crucial to ensure that their unique ecological and societal character are preserved for future generations. Problems tied to climate change in the region and pressure from those moving from surrounding urban areas to the sparsely populated mountain land present daunting challenges.

The Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research Program was originally centered at the U.S. Forest Service’s Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in Otto, N.C., a 1600-hectare outdoor laboratory; however, it moved into surrounding areas several years ago, making the studies of human interactions with the landscape possible. The new grant will allow researchers to focus on experimental and observational research in the French Broad and the Little Tennessee River basins, the latter with headwaters in north Georgia.

Ten UGA faculty members in several colleges and departments, as well as collaborators at a number of other universities, are involved in research projects under the umbrella of the grant. The Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at UGA is the administrative unit for the grant.

Other faculty involved in the project at UGA include: Carolyn Dehring from the Terry College of Business; Jeff Hepinstall, John Maerz, Rebecca Moore and Rhett Jackson of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources; Jackie Mohan and Cathy Pringle of the Odum School of Ecology; and Nik Heynen and David Leigh from the department of geography in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

The project also has collaborators from Duke University, Mars Hill College, the University of Illinois, the University of Minnesota, the University of North Carolina, the University of Wisconsin, the U.S. Forest Service Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory and Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

“Southern Appalachia provides a near-perfect opportunity for a natural experiment,” said Gragson. “By significantly strengthening the social science component of the project and moving outside the experimental watersheds of the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory into the surrounding areas, we will be able to find focus on how exurbanization and climate change are affecting this priceless part of America.”

While the southern Appalachian Mountains have long been a vacation area for people in urban areas all over the South and elsewhere, there is increasing evidence that in the next century the area could become a sprawling megalopolis.

“The southern Appalachian Mountains are one of the most significant biological regions in North America,” said Gragson, “but changes are now taking places so fast that cities, counties and states in the region are finding it difficult to manage the growth and development affecting the biological uniqueness of the region.”

The team hopes that research from numerous different angles in the project area will help lead to practical ways to control growth in the coming decades.

“Earlier, it was thought that development would slow in the region, but after the 2000 census, people noticed that it was accelerating and turning into sprawl,” said Gragson.

The Coweeta project is part of the national network of sites funded by the National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. For information on the program, see www.lternet.edu/. For specific information on the Coweeta LTER, see http://coweeta.ecology.uga.edu/.

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USG Reports $906.5 Million in Extramural Income from Grants and Contracts in FY2008

One of the Board of Regents’ strategic goals is to increase research funding in the University System of Georgia (USG), and a new report shows the System is on track. Extramural funding increased 7.8 percent in Fiscal Year 2008 over the previous fiscal year, to $906,534,509, an increase of $65,914,281.

“This increase is another indication of the importance of continued investment in the research activities of our institutions,” said Dr. Susan Herbst, the USG’s chief academic officer and executive vice chancellor. “During tight budget times, our ability to generate increased funding through research and service missions is even more important to our ability to sustain and strengthen the academic enterprise.”

The rise in the USG’s extramural funding is particularly welcome, Herbst notes, in light of a new report by the National Science Foundation that finds federal spending on research and development has declined in real terms from 2007 to 2008 and that 2008 funds for basic research dropped to the lowest level since 2002 in constant dollars.

Related to the regents’ strategic focus -- strengthening research as well as economic development efforts -- the Board heard two separate reports on research activities and the board’s Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP) economic development efforts. The research report, given by Dr. David Lee, vice president for research at the University of Georgia (UGA), highlighted why research is so important and must have continued investment to keep the University System competitive in terms of faculty and attracting funds, which multiply through the regional economy, creating jobs in a host of sectors.

Terry Durden, interim assistant vice chancellor for the board’s office of economic development, reported on the System’s economic development efforts and how those programs benefit the state. ICAPP, housed in the Regents’ Office of Economic Development, created more than 5,000 new jobs in 100 Georgia counties since it began in 1996, Durden noted. ICAPP creates programs to respond to Georgia’s college-educated workforce needs and works with University System institutions and Georgia employers to benefit the state’s economic development by producing college graduates that are in high demand and low supply.

In the extramural funding report, of the $906.5 million, $704,462,546 was for research, $120,447,949 was for public service and $81,624,014 was for instruction. Federal funds made up the greatest portion of the funding for System research income, with 65 percent coming from this source. The state of Georgia was the source of 8 percent of the System’s extramural funding and the non-profit sector accounted for 9 percent of the total. Business and industry provided 12 percent of the funds and other sources combined for the remaining 6 percent.

The report also details extramural income from sales of intellectual property at the five senior institutions in the University System. The FY08 total income from entrepreneurial activities such as inventions, software, copyrights and trademarks was $21,831,205, an increase of $7,354,575, or over 51 percent, over FY07. The five institutions producing this income included the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, the Medical College of Georgia, the University of Georgia and Georgia Southern University.

“Federal funding for research plays a vital role in the System’s extramural funding,” said Dr. Cathie Hudson, the USG’s vice chancellor for research and policy analysis. “The ability of our institutions to attract federal funding shows the quality of our institutions and that the federal government considers the System to be good stewards of taxpayer’s dollars.”

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Northeast Georgia Universities to Collaborate on Nanotechnology and Infectious Disease Research; Inaugural Symposium on Feb. 19

The inaugural Georgia Symposium on Nanotechnology in Infectious Disease, co-sponsored by northeast Georgia’s major research universities, will be hosted by the University of Georgia Thursday, Feb. 19.

The free, one-day symposium marks the start of a collaboration among UGA, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University to transform Georgia into a major attractor and incubator for emerging nanotechnology-based industries, with a focus on the application of nanotechnology to infectious diseases.

Vice President for Research David Lee said, “These three universities have common research interests in the application of nanotechnology to biomedicine, especially in the area of infectious disease. As they comprise a major component of the state’s intellectual resources, these institutions have significant opportunities–in addition to profound obligations–to facilitate and participate in this revolutionary development in 21st century science, technology and industry.”

“Nanotechnology is set to revolutionize the biological and physical sciences, and the related areas of applied science and engineering, during the next two decades,” said Rich Dluhy, director of UGA’s NanoScale Science and Engineering Center (NanoSec), the conference organizer.

“The global economic impact of nanotechnology is estimated to be at the trillion-dollar level over the next 15 years,” said Dluhy. “To ensure the continued robust economic development of the State of Georgia over the coming decades, it is imperative that all available nanotechnology-related resources be marshaled.”

Nano-technology–that is, the manipulation of nanometer-length atoms, molecules, and supramolecular structures–opens the door to advances in variety of scientific disciplines. Dluhy said that the Georgia collaborations will target advances in nano-medicine and nano-pharmacology for pathogen- and disease-intervention strategies, applications of inorganic nanostructures and nanopatterned surfaces in food processing/food safety, applications of nano-devices in agriculture and horticulture, and applications of chemical and biological nano-sensors to detect zoonotic and emerging diseases associated with homeland security and biodefense.

The one-day symposium, held in the Riverbend South Conference Center, features morning and afternoon keynote speakers, followed by talks from faculty at the three sponsoring institutions.

The session begins at 8:30 a.m. with keynote speaker Mostafa El-Sayed, Julius Brown Chair and Regents’ Professor of Chemistry in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Director of the Laser Dynamics Laboratories at Georgia Tech. El-Sayed recently was awarded the U.S. National Medal of Science, partially in recognition of his work in nanomedicine.

The next session begins at 1 p.m. with keynote speaker Shuming Nie, Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Chair Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Emory University.

Conference organizers are Duncan Krause, director, UGA Faculty of Infectious Diseases; Richard Dluhy, director, UGA NanoScale Science and Engineering Center; Gang Bao, Distinguished Professor, Georgia Tech/Emory Department of Biomedical Engineering; Larry McIntire, chair, Georgia Tech/Emory Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Conference details are online at http://id.uga.edu/conferences.php#021909.

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UGA Research Foundation Receives $18.7 Million Gates Foundation Grant to Improve Control of Schistosomiasis

UGA Research Foundation Receives $18.7 Million Gates Foundation Grant to Improve Control of Schistosomiasis, a Debilitating and Neglected Tropical Disease

The University of Georgia Research Foundation has received a five-year, $18.7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to research ways to reduce morbidity from schistosomiasis in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Americas. Researchers will develop and evaluate research-based approaches and diagnostic tools to identify, control and even eliminate schistosomiasis where feasible.

Dan Colley, director of UGA's Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, is principal investigator for the project, which will provide critical tools and an evidence base for decisions about controlling schistosomiasis. Colley, a microbiologist and immunologist in UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, has researched the disease for nearly 40 years.

"This grant significantly bolsters the University of Georgia's growing strength in public health and medical research," said UGA President Michael F. Adams. "It holds promise for great progress in eliminating a disease that causes suffering and economic hardship for millions around the world."

This is the largest grant UGA has received from the Gates Foundation, the first for medical research and the third-largest grant in UGA history.

The project grew out of a consensus research agenda developed in 2007 with broad input from the schistosomiasis research and control community. It focuses on operational research, and its overall goal is to answer key strategic questions about controlling schistosomiasis to ensure that future programs operate with increased efficacy, cost-effectiveness and sustainability.

"This grant will support and advance pioneering work on schistosomiasis under the technical guidance of Dan Colley," said UGA Vice-President for Research David Lee. "With his international leadership, this award will make great strides in addressing the widespread, debilitating impact of this infection. The University community is proud of Colley and others at the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases who work tirelessly to improve health conditions in the developing world."

Secondary goals for the project are to integrate global schistosomiasis control efforts with other programs, monitor the effectiveness of current treatments, develop survey and diagnostic tools and overcome barriers that currently prevent effective control.

Caused by several species of flatworms of the genus Schistosoma, this neglected tropical disease affects some 200 million people worldwide. It is most common in Africa, and to a lesser extent in Asia and South America. It is transmitted through a species of freshwater snails, which become infected through contaminated water and then multiply and release infected worms into the water. The worms enter through the skin as their human hosts wash clothes, swim, or fish.

While it has a relatively low mortality rate, schistosomiasis can damage internal organs and impair physical and cognitive development in children. Symptoms of infection include abdominal pain, cough, diarrhea, fever, fatigue, pulmonary hypertension and often an enlarged liver and spleen. The worms can live in the blood vessels of people for up to 40 years, leading to chronic illness.

"Mass drug control programs in several African countries already use the drug praziquantel to reduce mortality from schistosomiasis and to help stem the suffering," said Dan Colley, principal investigator on the grant and director of UGA's Center for Tropical and Global Emerging Diseases. "And while controlling schistosomiasis is a World Health Organization global priority, most endemic countries still lack adequate control programs, and the sustainability of existing programs is tenuous."

Colley will oversee a management team based at the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, University of Georgia, but the consortium will involve partners from around the world. Much of the research will be carried out through subgrants to investigators at several federal, state and private institutions and laboratories and field sites in North America, South America, Europe and Africa.

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Georgia Tech Launches Center for Music Technology

Georgia Tech today (November 7, 2008) launches the new Center for Music Technology with more than 20 researchers from the arts, sciences and engineering. Several interdisciplinary projects already in progress will be demonstrated today at an exclusive launch event for potential collaborators.

“Our goal is to build an international center for creative and technological research in music that will redefine the way we create, perform, listen to and consume music,” says Dr. Gil Weinberg, co-founder and director of the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology. “To that end, we brought together top researchers from across campus who together can address current challenges in the field and develop new solutions that cannot be achieved in the framework of a single discipline.”

Unlike much current research in music, the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology is committed to bringing new ideas to the market, with applied solutions for businesses and consumers. Researchers are already working on ways to improve existing acoustical instruments, as well as defining new approaches for music making. “One of our new projects, called ZooZ Beat, for example, allows anyone with a cell phone to use expressive gestures to create and share music in a group,” explains Weinberg. “Other projects explore concepts like wearable devices for music therapy, audience participation in live performance, robotic musicianship, music as an assistive medium for the visually impaired and computational analysis of music at the signal level.” Other research areas include composition, machine listening, materials science, music information retrieval, digital signal processing, design and manufacturing, networked music, music perception, music theory, multimedia development and acoustics.

“It is important to note that the students who work with our faculty members bring with them a wide range of skills and experiences, from the technical to the artistic,” stresses Weinberg.
“More than half of our students are pursuing a Master of Science in Music Technology degree in a relatively new program at Georgia Tech that encourages students to explore their creativity both technically and musically. We are currently in the process of proposing a PhD degree in Music Technology, which will allow our students to deepen their education in these areas and help develop a strong intellectual backbone for research activities in the Center.”

The Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology is a unit of the College of Architecture at Georgia Tech, and jointly funded by the Office of the Provost and the Colleges of Architecture, Computing and Engineering.

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UGA Again Ranked Number One in Advertising Research

The University of Georgia again has been ranked number one in advertising research, according to an article in the fall issue of the Journal of Advertising. UGA also ranked number one in 1990 and 1998.

The comparative institutional ranking was based on the number of articles published in the top three U.S.-based advertising journals from 1997-2006. These top three journals included Journal of Advertising, Journal of Advertising Research and Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising. The number one ranking holds for both total appearances and weighted appearances.

“We are proud to see that University of Georgia is again recognized as the leader in advertising research among colleges and universities in the U.S.,” said Karen W. King, professor of advertising and head of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication department of advertising and public relations. “It is particularly noteworthy that UGA has four scholars appearing among the top 25 researchers in terms of productivity.”

Listed among the most published were three Grady College faculty members: Len Reid, professor of advertising, ranked 4th; Tom Reichert, associate professor of advertising, ranked 16th; and Karen W. King, professor of advertising, ranked 24th. Also appearing on the list was Terry College of Business professor of marketing George Zinkhan, who tied with Reid for the number four ranking.

Rounding out the top five in comparative institutional rankings were Michigan State University, University of Alabama, University of Florida and Auburn University.

Established in 1915, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication offers seven undergraduate majors including advertising, broadcast news, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication management and telecommunication arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to WNEG-TV, the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, see www.grady.uga.edu.

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Georgia Tech Awarded New Center to Study Potential Silicon Successor

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded funding to the Georgia Institute of Technology to create a new Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC)- The Georgia Tech Laboratory for New Electronic Materials.

The Laboratory will focus its efforts on the development of new materials to serve as the successors to silicon in the semiconductor industry. Specifically, the development of graphene – which holds tremendous promise as an electronic material – will be the initial core of research and development at the Center.

NSF funding will be $8.1 million for six years of research and development. The MRSEC office suite will be housed in the Georgia Tech’s new Marcus Nanotechnology Research Center Building.

“This is an exciting time for graphene research,” said Dennis Hess, director of the Georgia Tech MRSEC. “Our studies may allow the manufacture of microelectronic devices and integrated circuits based on graphene. The Georgia Tech team, in conjunction with external partners, has already pioneered the use of epitaxial graphene to achieve such goals. Georgia Tech Physics Professors Walt de Heer, Phil First and Ed Conrad are worldwide leaders in the growth and characterization of epitaxial graphene. We look forward to additional innovative discoveries from our Center over the next few years.”

The Laboratory will be a cross-disciplinary effort utilizing the talent and resources of Georgia Tech and four additional institutions: University of California Berkeley, University of California Riverside, Alabama A & M and the University of Michigan. Georgia Tech will initially have 13 faculty members involved in the Laboratory’s efforts, with five additional members representing the partner schools. Collaborations are already in place with several companies and national laboratories within the U.S. and abroad.

Graphene, a sheet of carbon only one-atom thick, holds the potential to become the core material for computer processors in electronics, which continue to become smaller in size. Silicon, comparatively, has fundamental limitations that inhibit operation in ever-shrinking devices used in microelectronics, optics and sensors.

Georgia Tech will develop the fundamental science and technology to maximize graphene’s potential as a component in future electronics technologies. In addition, the Center will provide the core curriculum, train a diverse workforce and develop the future academic and industrial leaders needed for this new direction in the semiconductor industry.

An industrial advisory board is being assembled for the Center, which will include representatives from leading electronics companies.

"This new MRSEC complements Georgia Tech’s multiple programs and investments in nanotechnology extremely well,” said Professor Mark Allen, senior vice provost for Research and Innovation. “Much of the work will take place in our Nanotechnology Research Center, a new facility dedicated to research into both inorganic and organic nanoscience and nanotechnology. We look forward to enabling the next generation of graphene electronics through the efforts of the researchers in this new MRSEC.”

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