· 7 min read
UNL in the national news: January 2014
National media outlets featured and cited UNL sources on a number of occasions through the month of January.
The Nebraska Business Forecast Council’s prediction that Nebraska’s economy will trail the national pace for the next few years was reported by Bloomberg Businessweek on Jan. 21. The semi-annual forecast is published by UNL’s Bureau of Business Research, headed by Eric Thompson. http://go.unl.edu/kfd3
A UNL study that found plateauing yields for major cereal crops continued to generate news coverage after the business news site “The Street” posted a story in mid-January. The study, co-authored by Ken Cassmann, agronomy and horticulture, was published in Nature Communications in mid-December.
http://go.unl.edu/6wx5
A group of 27 UNL students made the local TV news on Jan. 7 in Fresno, Calif., after they took a 42-hour bus trip to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity in Fresno County. The volunteer effort was organized through UNL’s Center for Civic Engagement. Students learned about migrant workers and immigration issues, said UNL student David Garcia – who wore a “Hire a Husker” T-shirt during his interview with KGPE-CBS TV. http://go.unl.edu/32zp (Clip begins at 32:04)
http://go.unl.edu/0o8s (Clip begins at 28:52)
UNL’s innovative digital humanities programs were given a nod in a Jan. 6 package of stories in The Chronicle of Higher Education that examined how digital scholarship is playing out in undergraduate classrooms, how it’s used in tenure and promotion decisions and the steps being taken to preserve and disseminate it. http://go.unl.edu/3ug7
As the drought in California worsens, climatologists at the National Drought Mitigation Center were called upon to explain the situation. The UNL-based center and its U.S. Drought Monitor were quoted by the Eureka (Calif.) Times-Standard on Jan. 12; and by National Geographic on Jan. 17 and Jan. 22. http://go.unl.edu/uuya
During the Super Bowl run-up, Tim Gay, physics, who is known for his expertise on the physics of football, was quoted by the Los Angeles Times Jan. 23 and the Wall Street Journal Jan. 27 about n which team would benefit most from atmospheric conditions in the East Rutherford, N.J., stadium. His answer? The Seattle Seahawks. http://go.unl.edu/taot
The February/March issue of Quilter’s Newsletter magazine included a feature article about the late Ernest Haight, a UNL engineering graduate and David City, Neb., farmer, who became a nationally recognized quilter. The article quoted Jonathan Gregory, International Quilt Study Center & Museum, who researched Haight for his doctoral dissertation and curated an ongoing quilt museum exhibit about Haight. http://go.unl.edu/gdy8
A meta-analysis co-authored by Peter Harms, management, that explored the role of narcissism in business leadership was reported by the Wall Street Journal Jan. 12 and a number of others beginning in mid-January. http://go.unl.edu/ie5m
Science and engineering outlets reported Jan. 9 that the world’s fastest thin-film organic transistors had been developed by researchers at UNL and Stanford University. The transistors are a breakthrough that could be used for inexpensive but powerful computer and TV displays. UNL’s team was led by Jinsong Huang, mechanical and materials engineering. http://go.unl.edu/8rhm
Justin “Gus” Hurwitz, law, showed up in the news in mid-January after he discussed the recent “net neutrality” decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. He was among a panel of experts who discussed the issue on C-SPAN3 on Jan. 17. Blog articles appeared on the Free State Foundation blog Jan. 15 and RealClearMarkets.com on Jan. 16.
http://go.unl.edu/phv9
In a Jan. 22 piece about a gay couple who live in Red Cloud, Neb., the Pacific Standard magazine quoted research by Emily Kazyak, sociology. http://go.unl.edu/qf3n
The Los Angeles Times and the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald reported that “Winter Morning Walks,” a classical music album featuring poetry by Ted Kooser, English, had won three Grammys. Kooser is former U.S. poet laureate. http://go.unl.edu/p66r
A study by Barney McCoy, journalism and mass communications, released in October, continued to make news in January. Newsday included it in a list of technology news as students started the new semester. http://go.unl.edu/usdc
A video by Tyler Mancuso, actuarial science student, of his 9-part Bobby McFerrin-style a cappella performance of “Pompeii” by the British band Bastille was posted by MSN video and Ellen’s Good News on Jan. 31, generating more than 225,000 hits. http://go.unl.edu/z3rc
The Medical Xpress website on Jan. 23 highlighted a study on how frequently women turn to the Internet to learn about infertility. The study was conducted by Katie Slauson-Blevins, a former UNL graduate student, and Julia McQuillan, sociology. http://go.unl.edu/tr5z
Susan Poser, Dean of the College of Law, was interviewed for the National Jurist magazine’s January article on a shortage of lawyers who practice in rural areas. http://go.unl.edu/akxp
News that engineers and scientists with the UNL-based ANDRILL Antarctic drilling operation discovered a new species of sea anemone – the first known to live burrowed in ice – was reported from the Arctic to the Antarctic and many points in between. Frank Rack, ANDRILL Science Management Office, was quoted Jan. 17 by National Geographic and ABC News, Jan. 21 by CBC News in Canada and Jan. 24 by the Weather Channel, among many other reports. http://go.unl.edu/4hho
Sabrina Russo, biological sciences, was among researchers worldwide who helped with a study that found older, bigger, trees grow at a faster rate than their younger, smaller, counterparts. The study, led by the U.S. Geological Survey and published in the journal Nature, was reported in Dot Earth, a New York Times blog on Jan. 15 and NPR Morning Edition on Jan. 16. http://go.unl.edu/3ocv
“The Swan Gondola,” the fifth novel by Tim Schaffert, English, received favorable advance reviews in Good Housekeeping Jan. 17, and Bookpage on Jan. 21. Schaffert, dubbed “The Wizard of Omaha,” was the subject of a Jan. 31 profile in Publishers Weekly. The book is set at the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, a world’s fair held in Omaha. Schaffert is director of UNL’s digital archive on the event. http://go.unl.edu/3aj3
Nebraska’s space law experts discussed the regulatory issues facing the sector as space transportation is commercialized. Frans von der Dunk, space, cyber and telecommunications law, was quoted Jan. 17 by CBC News in Canada about Virgin Galactic, which hopes to launch space tourism flights in 2014, and Matt Schaefer, director of Nebraska’s space law program, was quoted Jan. 19 by the Space Politics blog after Congress passed a three-year extension of an indemnification program protecting commercial space companies. http://go.unl.edu/bon8
Politico featured a blog article Jan. 31 by Kevin Smith, political science, on Nebraska’s unique one-house state legislature. The article dubbed the unicameral as the “Little House on the Prairie.” http://go.unl.edu/yde8
Sports Illustrated reported Jan. 25 that a bobsled team including former Husker football player Curt Tomasevicz is gold medal favorite for the Sochi Winter Olympics. http://go.unl.edu/cyvk
The National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth included research by Kimberly Tyler, sociology, in a Jan. 21 round up of the latest findings about sexually transmitted infections and homeless youth. http://go.unl.edu/3vfa
Mary Uhl-Bien, Howard Hawks chair in business ethics and leadership, discussed the “Bridgegate” scandal enveloping New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during a Jan. 9 appearance on CNBC. She gave the governor a B+ for his performance in a press conference responding to the allegations, but marked him down for not doing enough to prevent the incident. http://go.unl.edu/i0t0
Matt Waite, head of the drone journalism laboratory, journalism and mass communications, was cited or interviewed in stories about the future of commercial drones by The Wall Street Journal on Jan. 12, the Here & Now news talk program on NPR affiliate WBUR in Boston on Jan. 15, and Business Insider on Jan. 24. http://go.unl.edu/zjp6
The Los Angeles Times reported Jan. 22 that researchers studying how dolphins swim drew upon a technique developed by Tim Wei, engineering dean, to track how Olympic swimmers move through water. http://go.unl.edu/k33z
Faculty, administration, student and staff appearances in the national media are logged at http://newsroom.unl.edu/inthenews/ . If you have additions to this list or suggestions for national news stories, contact Leslie Reed at lreed5@unl.edu or 402-472-2059.
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