This Week, May 30 - June 3, 2011
Water for Food Institute Finalist Visits Set
Finalists have been selected for the position of founding executive director of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska. Each candidate will participate in interviews and a public presentation. The presentations will be in person at the location listed or via live web stream (with login available at the Water For Food website). Presentations will also be archived on the same website.
Marty Matlock will visit UNL from June 2-3, with a presentation on June 2 at 10 a.m. in the Nebraska Union, 14th and R streets, Lincoln. Matlock is professor of ecological engineering at the University of Arkansas and area director for ecosystems services in the Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability in the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. He also chairs the Cherokee Nation Environmental Protection Commission, is an invited delegate to the United Nations CEO Mandate on Water, and serves on the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's Sustainable Animal Agriculture and Sustainable Crop Production committees. He holds a doctorate in biosystems engineering, a master's degree in plant physiology and a bachelor's degree in soil chemistry, all from Oklahoma State University. Earlier, Matlock was an agricultural engineering faculty member at Texas A&M University where he directed the Water Quality Research Laboratory and was a senior research fellow in the Bush School of Government.
Holdrege Street Construction Begins Today
A resurfacing project on Holdrege Street that starts today has temporarily closed the three south entrances to East Campus. The City of Lincoln project, planned to be completed on Aug. 14, has closed Holdrege Street between 33rd and 47th streets.
The university has provided detour signs to direct traffic to alternate entrances. The UNL shuttle bus will use the 33rd Street entrance. Read more on Today@UNL.
Lectures
INTERNATIONAL QUILT STUDY CENTER & MUSEUM, FRI 5:30PMFirst Friday Talk - "Nebraska Sod House Homemakers"
Researchers Kathy Moore and Stephanie Whitson will present a talk about early days on the prairies of Nebraska. Free admission.
UNL Research Part of National Effort to Solve Global Bee Crisis
UNL entomologists continue to help shed light on the global bee crisis. In the third year of a four-year, $4 million USDA multi-state grant given to 16 U.S. universities, Marion Ellis and Blair Siegfried, entomologists in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at UNL, and other scientists across the country are studying factors affecting honey bee health that have led to significant losses in the critical insect population.
Ellis said many hoped the group would find a single cause of the losses, but instead, it is more of a cumulative effect of many things. UNL research specifically is looking at pesticides and effects of certain varroacide and fungicide combinations on honey bee health, Ellis said. Read more on Today@UNL.
Study Finds Much Different Work Histories for Disability Rejects, Beneficiaries
Seth Giertz
Male disability applicants rejected for federal benefits tend to have lower earnings and labor force participation rates over the decade prior to applying for federal disability benefits, a new study finds. Rejected applicants also work less despite being in better health than accepted applicants, according to the research led by economist Seth Giertz of UNL.
On average, the study found, those rejected for benefits made 8.5 percent less than beneficiaries six years before applying - and nearly 22 percent less just prior to application. Also, applicants who were rejected left the workforce faster as their application dates approached than those who were approved for benefits. Read more on Today@UNL.
