Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
New Program to Help Scientists Share Large Data Sets (Blog)
The Chronicle of Higher Education
…That’s exactly the kind of issue a new $8-million program from the National Science Foundation hopes to solve. The program, the DataNet Federation Consortium, involves six different research centers in an effort to make it easier and faster to access and share large and complex data sets. It is often said that 80 percent of a researcher’s work these days goes into “managing and manipulating the data,” said Reagan Moore, the DataNet Federation Consortium’s principal investigator and a professor at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4797/74/
10 Things College Football Won't Say
Smart Money
…As with any event that draws thousands of screaming fans, football games require all kinds of extra people, including emergency city employees like firefighters, police and medical technicians. "In many cases, big-time football games put increased stress on local security and medical personnel," write Dennis Coates, a professor of economics at the University of Maryland, and Craig Depken, a professor of economics at the University of North Carolina, in their study of college football and local economies.
Regional Coverage
Trauma found in late football star's brain
The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)
…Kevin Guskiewicz, director of a sports brain trauma institute at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, said studies of retired NFL players showed a three-fold increase in the likelihood of suffering from depression if they had at least three concussions. Scientists don't yet understand the toll of repeated blows to the head that don't cause obvious concussion symptoms, said Guskiewicz, who directs the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related TBI Research Center, which is named for a student who died after taking a blow to the head in his first high school game. UNC researchers have found that players average 950-1,200 blows to the head in a season, Guskiewicz said.
State and Local Coverage
Roses and Raspberries (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
Roses to Kevin Guskiewicz, a UNC professor and chairman of the Department of Exercise and Sport Science, who last week was named a recipient of the highly prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. The fellowship – commonly, if unofficially, referred to as a "genius grant" – carries an unrestricted $500,000 award.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4774/71/
Network names Creeden director
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network, a new Triangle support network for startups, has named Robert Creeden to be its first executive director. …First announced in April, the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network is a partnership between the New York private equity firm, the Council for Entrepreneurial Development and the Triangle's four major universities – Duke University, N.C. Central University, N.C. State University and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Related Link:
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2011/10/04/vet-robert-creeden-to-head-blackstone.html
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4809/68/
10 things to know about breast cancer
The Charlotte Observer
A lot of people talk about preventing breast cancer, but the correct term is risk reduction. "We don't really know how to prevent breast cancer. We know how to reduce people's risks," said Judith Swasey, a nurse practitioner at UNC Chapel Hill's cancer hospital. The basics: Don't smoke, exercise a lot, watch your diet, annual screenings.
Pink truck to join the blue
The Chapel Hill News
Two gleaming fire trucks – one pink, one blue – will greet football goers Saturday when the Tar Heels take on the Louisville Cardinals at Kenan Stadium. The "Pink Heals" pink fire truck will join one of Chapel Hill's Carolina blue fire trucks outside gate 3 at 10 a.m. Chapel Hill firefighters will operate a boot drive, inviting people to drop money into firefighters' boots for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Skip junk food fundraisers
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Brace yourself: It's school fundraising season again. Here comes the parade of doughnuts, cookie dough and candy bars. It's also prime time to remind coaches, teachers, school administrators, parents – and kids – to be choosier about how they raise money. (Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical associate professor in the department of health policy and administration in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill.)
Davis says firing a 'total surprise' in first on-camera comments since termination
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Former North Carolina football coach Butch Davis said during an ESPNU interview Tuesday that his firing in July was "a total surprise." Davis appeared as a guest college football analyst on "The Experts," and told host Anish Shroff he had no idea he was going to get fired by Chancellor Holden Thorp.
Issues and Trends
Higher challenge (Editorial)
The News & Record (Greensboro)
For the second time in five years, Greensboro is set to host a memorable event for the University of North Carolina. The inauguration of Thomas W. Ross as system president takes place Thursday in the Corbett Sports Center at N.C. A&T.
UNC System head Ross goes back
to old high school
The Associated Press
The president of the 17-campus University of North Carolina system is returning to his old high school. UNC President Tom Ross meets Wednesday with students from across Guilford County at his alma mater Grimsley High. Ross says his strong public education helped lay the foundation for success. He's returning to Grimsley High to challenge student leaders to help their peers make the same connection. The visit is part of the activities surrounding ceremonies around Ross's formal inauguration as the University of North Carolina's 17th president on Thursday.