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UNL in the national news: November 2014
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and its personnel were featured and cited by media outlets across the country on dozens of occasions during November.
The month began with a wave of coverage of a study involving James Van Etten and David Dunigan, plant pathology. Along with colleagues at Johns Hopkins University, the Nebraska researchers found a chlorovirus previously thought to infect only algae apparently had “jumped” to humans. Because the virus was associated with slower cognition, some in the media dubbed it the “stupidity virus.”
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Later in November, the New York Daily News, NBC and other national media outlets reported that a 304-page book written by Stephen Lahey, classics and religious studies, stopped a bullet apparently intended for a Florida State University student. When the Nov. 20 incident began, student Jason Derfuss was leaving the library after checking out Lahey’s book on 14th-century English theologian John Wycliff. Derfuss later found a bullet hole in his backpack and a slug lodged in Lahey’s book. “That’s what happens when you write impenetrable prose,” Lahey quipped to the Daily News.
Just before Thanksgiving, Dawn Braithwaite, communication studies, was quoted in a Boston Globe story describing the difficulties of passing holiday hosting duties to the next generation. Braithwaite observed that Thanksgiving is a dinner unlike any other, with a lot at stake for family relationships.
Other November stories with a UNL connection:
The Associated Press gave national coverage Nov. 23 to a study by Azzeddine Azzam and Karina Schoengold, agricultural economics, that found stringent environmental regulations have benefitted small hog farms in the top 10 hog-producing states.
The Rural Blog reported on the 19th Annual Nebraska Rural Poll, which showed young and old rural residents have very different attitudes on whether rural communities provide a high quality of life. The Nov. 24 article, which originally appeared in the Yankton, S.D., Press & Dakotan, quoted Cheryl Burkhart-Kreisel, extension associate professor of agricultural economics.
NBC News’ “Hungry Planet” published a Nov. 17 article that featured the “big data” approach to managing global cropland as developed by soil scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Kenneth Cassman, agronomy, unveiled the Global Yield Gap and Water Productivity Atlas in October at the Water for Food conference in Seattle.
Jennifer Davidson, economics education, was quoted in a Nov. 17 nerdwallet article about how credit scores influence vehicle insurance premium prices.
Wheeler Winston Dixon, film studies, described director Mike Nichols’ impact on the entertainment industry in a Nov. 20 Christian Science Monitor article. Nichols, director of “The Graduate,” among many other films, TV and stage productions, died Nov. 19.
Matthew Dwyer, computer science and engineering, discussed UNL’s efforts to encourage more women and minorities into the computer science field in a Nov. 8 story in the Daily Herald, based in the Chicago area. The article, which discussed announcements from Apple and Facebook that they would pay up to $20,000 to assist female employees who wanted to freeze their eggs to postpone motherhood, originally was published in the Washington Post’s She The People blog.
KBTX.com in College Station, Texas, reported Nov. 7 that Ronnie Green, vice chancellor of the Institute of Agriculture and National Resources, was a member of a national task force to study antibiotic use in animal agriculture. Texas A&M Veterinary Medicine Dean Eleanor Green also is a member of the task force.
Big News Network and the Indo-Asian News Service carried a Nov. 25 story on research using graphene to enhance random-access memory. Alexei Gruverman, physics, co-authored the study in which a UNL team was the first to design a ferroelectric junction with electrodes made of graphene, which is a carbon material only one atom thick.
Campus Technology reported Nov. 4 on UNL’s institutional-level overhaul of teaching practices in approximately 50 introductory science, technology, engineering and math courses. The ARISE (Adopting Research-based Instructional Strategies for Enhancing STEM Education) program is intended to increase student success rates in those courses. Ruth Heaton, teaching, learning and teacher education, is mentioned in the article.
Research by John Hibbing, political science, about the biological connections to political belief was cited in “All In with Chris Hayes” on MSNBC Nov. 7.
Margaret Jacobs, history, was interviewed by Indian Country Today Media Network for a Nov. 21 story about her research into indigenous child removal policies in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Jacobs’ latest book, “A Generation Removed,” looks at Post-World War II government policies to remove American Indian and other indigenous children from their families into foster care and adoption.
“The Selected Letters of Willa Cather,” co-edited by Andrew Jewell, University Libraries, was recommended reading in writer Mike Lunsford’s Nov. 2 account of a visit to Cather’s home town of Red Cloud, Nebraska. The story was published in the Tribune-Star in Terre Haute, Ind.
The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philly.com turned to Ari Kohen, political science, for a Nov. 24 story about Lincoln University Robert Jennings’ weak apology for comments about campus rape situations. Kohen is author of the blog “TerribleApologies.com.”
A talk by James D. LeSueur, history, was highlighted in the Nov. 7 edition of Commerical Appeal in Memphis, Tenn. LeSueur, an expert in political Islam and colonial and postcolonial Algeria, spoke at Rhodes College about Algeria’s controversial experiments to achieve reconciliation with militant Islamists.
EWTN News, a Catholic news service, spoke with Julie Masters, gerontology chair, for a Nov. 7 article about the ethics of assisted suicide. The story was prompted by the suicide of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old brain cancer patient who moved to Oregon to take advantage of that state’s “Death With Dignity” law.
A 2013 study by Barney McCoy, journalism, that showed college students use their cell phones and electronic gadgets a lot in class, popped up in a Nov. 20 article in the Western Front, the student newspaper at Western Washington University.
Several TV stations outside Nebraska carried Nov. 18 stories about Joshua Gromosky, an Omaha 8th grader awarded a full scholarship to UNL after he aced the ACT college entrance exam. UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman surprised the boy and his family at a school assembly at Mary Our Queen School in Omaha.
Donde Plowman, College of Business Administration Dean, and Tim Wei, Engineering College Dean were quoted in a Nov. 10 Associated Press article about how the two colleges’ higher tuition rates have paid off with more faculty and enrollments. The story was carried in several outlets across the country.
WBUR, Boston’s NPR station, featured an interview with “Perfectly Awful” author Charley Rosen on Nov. 21. The book, about the Philadelphia 76ers’ ridiculously horrendous 1972-73 season was published by University of Nebraska Press.
In a Nov. 16 Associated Press article published nationwide, Anthony Schutz, law, summarized the legal arguments behind the legal challenge of the Keystone XL oil pipeline route through Nebraska.
William Spaulding, psychology, was quoted by The Associated Press in a story about Nebraska’s prison woes. Spaulding said that after Nebraska reduced the use of state mental hospitals in a 2004 reform effort, prisons and jails became the state’s de facto mental health treatment centers. It was part of a news story carried by outlets across the country.
Rawstory.com quoted Mark Svoboda of UNL’s National Drought Mitigation Center in a Nov. 6 piece confirming that 2014 will be California’s hottest year on record. He said a snowy winter is critical to replenishing reservoirs and cooling temperatures.
Matthew Waite, director of UNL’s drone journalism laboratory, was quoted by the Washington Post and other national news organizations about expected commercial drone regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA is expected to require drone operators to have a pilot’s license. In stories that appeared from Nov. 24 to Nov. 26, Waite said that requirement would be a major disappointment. During the same time frame, a piece quoting Waite appeared in the New York Post and Morningstar.com. It described commercial drone operation as a growing and potentially lucrative field.
Cory Walters, agriculture economics, was quoted in a Nov. 4 National Public Radio story about why farmers aren’t cheering this year’s bumper harvest. The story, which aired on the All Things Considered news program, explored the harvest’s surprising impact on the farm economy.
In a Nov. 10 article about homeless children, the Huffington Post quoted a survey conducted by University of Nebraska-Lincoln sociologists for Administration for Children and Families. The survey showed more than 60 percent of homeless youth become victims of violence. It was conducted by Les Whitbeck, Melissa Welch Lazoritz, Devan Crawford and Dane Hautala.
This is a monthly column featuring UNL faculty, administrators and staff in the national news. National media often work with University Communications to identify and connect with UNL sources for the purpose of including the university’s research, expertise and programming in published or broadcasted work. 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.
