Thursday, August 30, 2012
By text-mining the classics, UNL professor unearths new literary insights
Mark Twain once said that all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources. Oscar Wilde put it more bluntly when he said that talents imitate, but geniuses steal.
Matthew Jockers, an assistant professor of English at UNL, has assembled a way to quantify the spirit of those sayings, particularly when it comes to certain authors and the impressions they left on other writers. And in doing so, he's opened a new door for literary theorists to study classic literature. Read more about this research in Today@UNL.
Letters of interest sought for NSF EPSCoR collaborations
Nebraska EPSCoR anticipates issuance of a request for proposals by the National Science Foundation for its EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Track 2 grant program in summer 2013. Funding available for a collaborative proposal is $6 million, to be split among the partners over three years. The project must be multi-institutional within Nebraska. At this time, it is anticipated that the Track 2 award will support research in any STEM field.
The Quartet includes Sarah Pizzichemi, violin, from Seattle, Wash.; James Moat, violin, from Toronto, Ontario; Justin Kurys, viola, from Timmins, Ontario; and William Braun, cello, from Tucson, Ariz. Read more about issuing a proposal in Today@UNL.
Free tickets available now for first Heuermann Lecture
Four former U.S. secretaries of agriculture – two with Nebraska ties – are the lead-off speakers when the second season of Heuermann Lectures begins at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28, at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Free tickets for this lecture are now available. The four former agricultural secretaries – U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns, Clayton Yeutter, John Block and Dan Glickman – will discuss "The Land-Grant Mission of 2012 – Transforming Agriculture for the 2050 World."
Panel moderators are Jeff Raikes, chief executive officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Ronnie Green, University of Nebraska vice president and Harlan vice chancellor, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Heuermann Lectures focus on providing and sustaining enough food, natural resources and renewable energy for the people of the world, and on securing the sustainability of rural communities where the vital work of producing food and renewable energy occurs. Read more about this lecture series in Today@UNL.
UNL Libraries lists Digital Common's 2012 most downloaded UNL graduate documents
The top 20 most downloaded UNL graduate documents for 2012 come from six colleges: Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Arts and Sciences, Education and Human Sciences, Engineering, Journalism and Mass Communications, and the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.
This year's list is marked with a new leader at the top. Courtney D. Blume's dissertation, "RAP: A Reading Comprehension Strategy for Students with Learning Disabilities," accepted in April 2010 by the College of Education and Human Sciences, was downloaded 3,691 times. Eight graduates from Education and Human Sciences populated the list, the most of any of the other colleges, according to data from the Libraries. The former most downloaded graduate document for the last three years dropped to fourth, being downloaded only 2,886 times, which is still more downloads compared to 2011. Read more about this list in Today@UNL.
Latest from the UNL Newsroom
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Center to assess program's bridging of early childhood achievement gap
The Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools has earned a $3.2 million U.S. Department of Education grant to explore whether an intervention approach that bridges living rooms and classrooms can also span the persistent achievement gap facing disadvantaged children.
Three of the intervention's creators, CYFS Director Susan Sheridan, research associate professor Lisa Knoche and faculty affiliate Carolyn Pope Edwards are leading a newly funded four-year study of its ability to help these struggling children close gaps in cognition, language skills and social-emotional maturity as they enter preschool. Called "Getting Ready," the CYFS-designed intervention aims to strengthen parent-child relationships and foster family-school partnerships that improve the educational prospects of children at risk for developmental delays. Read more about the center in Today@UNL.
HIVE tech collaboration plans 'meet and greet'
HIVE, a new technology collaborative, is hosting a meet and greet event at 3:30 p.m. in the Nebraska Union. HIVE is a grassroots organization linking UNL students with faculty, and local businesses to develop working relationships and technology-based solutions. HIVE originated out of a UNL mobile app contest held last spring.
"HIVE is a way for people to get their ideas from paper to a real product" said Sourabh Chakraborty, a senior electrical engineering major who is a student worker at UNL's New Media Center. "HIVE brings together coders, writers, graphic designers, marketing and businesses to collaborate in a way that currently doesn't exist in the classroom. It builds on people's strengths and exposes them to other people's ideas." Read more about HIVE in Today@UNL.
Lectures
BEADLE CENTER ROOM E228, NOONBIOC Grad Student Seminar, "Intracellular Cholesterol Binding Proteins Enhance HDL-mediated Cholesterol Uptake in Cultured Primary Mouse Hepatocytes"
Cameron Murphy
UNL launches Nebraska App
UNL has launched the Nebraska App, a suite of mobile applications that makes essential university resources available on mobile devices. Students can check grades, access course content and browse the course catalog. They can access the public directory and get in touch instantly, keep tabs on Husker sports, find places on the campus map, stay informed with the latest campus news, watch videos, and even listen to podcasts of popular lectures in iTunesU.
"UNL is moving services to the where the students are in terms of devices and network access"," said Mark Askren, Chief Information Officer. "Students now have a much more powerful connection to UNL via their mobile device." Read more about Nebraska App in Today@UNL.
