This Week, July 18 - 22, 2011
Space law expert: Shuttle's end opens new era, new legal issues in spaceflight
Frans von der Dunk
The space shuttle's final mission marks the end of an era, but also opens an unprecedented age of private and commercial spaceflight. This new era will require international collaboration to keep watch over the practice, a UNL professor and internationally renowned space law expert said this week.
Frans von der Dunk said that in the short term NASA will be dependent on other countries' vehicles for manned spaceflights to the International Space Station. But in the long run this may be beneficial both for the United States and other countries. Read more about von der Dunk's remarks on Today@UNL.
Weller selected for Jefferson science fellowship
Curtis Weller
Curtis L. Weller, professor of food and bioprocess engineering, will be advising policymakers in the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. Agency for International Development on a variety of topics related to global food systems, food processing and sanitation for food and drinking water.
Weller was named one of 13 Jefferson Science Fellows for 2011-12. The Jefferson Science Fellowship program was developed to strengthen science and technology capacity and literacy in the State Department. Originally supported by grants from the MacArthur Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation, the program is now financed by the State Department and coordinated by the National Academies. The program brings experienced, tenured scientists and engineers from American universities to the State Department or USAID for one year. They are given assignments either at headquarters in Washington, D.C., or at U.S. missions abroad. Read more about Weller's fellowship on Today@UNL.
Dwyer wins Fulbright to conduct research in South Africa
Matthew Dwyer
Matthew Dwyer, Henson Professor of Software Engineering in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to perform research at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.
Dwyer, who leaves Aug. 1 for the five-month research trip, will be studying the application of mathematical analysis techniques developed to detect software errors to problems in ecological modeling. He will collaborate with faculty in the Computer Science Division of the Department of Mathematical Sciences and researchers in the Centre for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch. Read more about Dwyer's Fulbright on Today@UNL.
USDA grant to support new E. coli research into cattle's GI system
UNL scientists are taking their battle against foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7 into the belly of the beast, as it were - hoping to figure out what is in the gut of some livestock that makes them so-called "supershedders" of pathogens.
The research team, headed by food microbiologist Andy Benson, received a five-year, $2.35 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The project will build on earlier work done with lab mice by Benson and his collaborators. Read more about this grant on Today@UNL.
