higher education : In The News

A Wyndmoor-based project raked in more than $5.7 million from the USDA to research stink bug management, reports American Agriculturist.

Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, Pa., $322,202: Improve long-term viability of the fresh U.S.-grown mushroom industry by marketing mushrooms as an excellent source of Vitamin D.

USDA Agricultural Research Service, Wyndmoor, Pa., $5,739,966: Develop economically and environmentally sustainable pest management practices for the brown marmorated stink bug.

In making the announcement, USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said "Specialty crops producers in the United States – as with all of American agriculture – are seeing sales surge both domestically and abroad as consumers search for high quality, 'Grown in America' fruits, vegetables and tree nuts."

Original source: American Agriculturist
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A Huntingdon Valley online bookseller with a socially conscious focus, Education By Inclusion recently gave a $40,000 scholarship to a Camden, NJ resident, according to The Chestnut Hill Local.

Who would have thought that reselling books and electronics could be such a lucrative business and result in scholarship money for needy students?  Flourtown resident Chetan Bagga, a Columbia University graduate, ran the numbers and started Education by Inclusion (EBI) about a year ago.

The home page of their web site offers this comment to customers. "We are a socially conscious online bookstore with a simple promise -- everything you buy contributes to a deserving student’s education. This year, you’ve made over 100,000 purchases toward scholarships. We sincerely thank you! Let’s keep the momentum going."

Source: The Chestnut Hill Local
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New findings at The University of Pennsylvania may signify a turning point in the long struggle to develop effective gene therapies against cancer, according to The New York Times.

A year ago, when chemotherapy stopped working against his leukemia, William Ludwig signed up to be the first patient treated in a bold experiment at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Ludwig, then 65, a retired corrections officer from Bridgeton, N.J., felt his life draining away and thought he had nothing to lose.

Doctors removed a billion of his T-cells -- a type of white blood cell that fights viruses and tumors -- and gave them new genes that would program the cells to attack his cancer. Then the altered cells were dripped back into Mr. Ludwig’s veins.

Source: The New York Times
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The Community College Times writes about how the Green Jobs Academy at Bucks County Community College teaches students to convert gas cars to electric.

Imagine a car that can run for 44 miles on $1.20 worth of electricity.

That recently happened at the Green Jobs Academy at Bucks County Community College (Pennsylvania) when 10 participants converted a 1990 Mazda Miata into a fully electric battery-powered car.

Source: Community College Times
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Rutgers School of Law-Camden librarian and Philadelphia resident John Jorgensen has been honored for moving legal research into the digital age, according to Fastcase.

John Joergensen is a proponent of the free digital law movement. John, a Reference Librarian at Rutgers School of Law, is working to digitize and make law available online. As the publisher of the New Jersey Courtweb Project, John is publishing online the decisions of the New Jersey state appellate courts, tax court, administrative law decisions, U.S. District Court of the District of N.J. decisions, and the N.J. Supreme Court's Ethics opinions.

Source: Fastcase
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The brother of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel joins Penn faculty, according to The Associated Press.


The Ivy League institution in Philadelphia announced Friday that Ezekiel Emanuel will hold dual posts in the Perelman School of Medicine and the Wharton School for business.

Source: The Associated Press
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Where will your future tech workers come from? A Philadelphia non-profit encourages math and science training for future careers in technology, according to CIO.com.

In the Philadelphia metro area, there's TechGirlz, a two-year-old non-profit group that works with young girls, encouraging them to study math and science in school so they can pursue careers in technology. The problem, according to TechGirlz, is that girls are often choosing to opt out of technology at a relatively young age because they're not being encouraged and mentored.

Source: CIO.com

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Philadelphia Science Leadership Academy principal Chris Lehmann is among those educators calling for a redefinition of how technology is used in education, according to TMCNet.

As Chris Lehmann closed the recent International Society for Technology in Education's annual conference, he implored the audience at his keynote address here to redraw the educational technology battle lines.

"No one is arguing we shouldn't use technology in education anymore," said Mr. Lehmann, the founding principal of Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy, a public high school devoted to inquiry-based, project-driven learning. "The question is how." The call for redefining debate echoed throughout the formal sessions at the conference last month and at informal events at nearby hotels, restaurants, and bars, and even in casual conversations among the more than 20,000 estimated attendees. And, perhaps more important, it was expressed in data released by Project Tomorrow, the Software and Information Industry Association, and technology company CDW-G.

Source: TMCNet
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A bulb literally goes on when students work out at Drexel, according to NPR.

If only all the speed and strength of youth could be channeled into power. Turns out, it can. Some colleges and universities have started converting energy from exercise equipment into electricity.

One of those schools is Drexel University in Philadelphia, where student power runs straight into their buildings' power grids. Dan Simmons, director of recreation at Drexel, says a typical 30-minute workout on a treadmill can generate enough energy to hold a light bulb for 2.5 hours.

Source: NPR
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More than 500 people came to the Piazza at Schmidts in Northern Liberties for Saturday's Vendy Awards, reports the Associated Press.

Eight of the city's most popular food carts and trucks competed Saturday at the Vendy Awards, an offshoot of the popular New York City cook-off that started in 2005. Online voters chose the eight finalists and a panel of chefs and foodies at Saturday's sold-out and sweltering event chose the Caribbean and American soul food of Gigi and Big R's as the winner.

The 10-year-old curbside culinary business is operated by Elukene Rene ("Big R"), originally from Haiti, and Thomas Bacon ("Gigi"), from Philadelphia, and operates on the Drexel University campus.

Original source: Associated Press
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Researchers in Temple University's physics department are developing magnets as blood thinners, helping reduce the risk of heart disease, according to CNET.

Temple University physics department chair Rongjia Tao made headlines in 2008 when he developed a simple device that creates an electric field to thin fuel, thereby reducing the size of the droplets injected into the engine and improving fuel efficiency.

Now, Tao and former graduate student Ke Huang are unveiling their latest research that this same principle, when applied to the human body, can help thin blood and reduce one's risk of heart attack--without the side effects of blood thinners such as aspirin.

Source: CNET
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Temple University Associate University Librarian Steven Bell writes about academic libraries' strategic use of social media in Library Journal.

In more recent years our social media behavior is changing. Rather than simply establishing a presence and hoping students will notice, we're developing strategies for making the best use of our time in social networks. I've taken note of some academic libraries that have social media teams that plan out approaches for different media, recognizing they have unique qualities and that one strategy for all of them may not work.

At my library, a group has worked this spring to establish a more concrete social media plan, and they just recently issued guidelines for coordinating our strategies and establishing a core of social media journalists within the library.

Original source: Library Journal
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La Rose Nightclub in Germantown welcomes teen musicians who want to play jazz, according to Jazz Times.

The Sunday evening jam sessions led by drummer Rob Henderson and jazz promoter Kim Tucker at the La Rose Jazz Club on Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia for the past two years are the epitome of this playful re-enactment of traditional rites of passage between the young and the old, the neophyte and the old head, the apprentice and the master, the eager and the cautious.

Many of the "young ones" come from Cheltenham High School, University of the Arts, Temple University, and the Kimmel Center and Clef Club youth jazz ensembles. Some of the standouts are 19-year-old saxophonist Dahi Divine; 16-year-old pianist Jordan Williams; 11-year-old drummer Nazir Zbo, the little brother of Philly phenom Justin Faulkner; 17-year-old bassist Bruce Ketterer (whose father drives him in from Reading); drummer Ben Singer; and 17-year-old violinist Ben Sutin, whose band has appeared at Chris' Jazz Caf�, one of the few remaining jazz clubs in Philadelphia. Photographers L. David Hinton and Anthony Dean make it a point to be present to document these early moments of what could be the next generation of young lions.

Source: Jazz Times
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NJ.com reports on Salem County's LuNaTecs robotics team, which took top honors at a national competition held at the Liacouras Center, advancing to the international competition.

PSEG, DuPont and Boeing sponsored FIRST robotics Team 316, the LuNaTeCs from Salem County, along with 55 other high school robotics teams from across the country as they competed in the FIRST Robotics Philadelphia Regional Competition on April 8 and 9 at the Liacouras Center at Temple University here.

After two days of stiff competition, the LuNaTeCs, along with 23 other teams, advanced out of the qualifying rounds and into the quarterfinal matches. Perhaps many did not expect Team 316 to do too well since they were ranked 23rd coming out of the qualifying rounds so it was no wonder that such a shocked hush fell on the packed stadium when the LuNaTeC's alliance beat the No. 1 and No. 2 seeded teams.

Source: NJ.com
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Temple researchers find that prolonged bottle feeding may increase risk of obesity, reports Fox News.

Babies who are still drinking from a bottle after the age of one are more likely to become obese, U.S. researchers said today.

A study of almost 7,000 children by scientists at Temple University in Philadelphia found that those who were still being put to bed with a bottle of milk at age two were 30 percent more likely to be obese at age five.

Source: Fox News
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