UVM News

Major Media Coverage for UVM Professors’ Hedometer

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The Wall Street Journal, in a front page story on the search for America’s happiest town, references the "hedonometer" developed by Peter Dodds, director of complex systems, and fellow mathematician Chris Danforth, who dubs it “the Dow Jones index of happiness.” When combined with the abundance of social networking data available, the hedonometer is a cutting-edge tool (now available online for anyone to monitor) in the emerging field of “positive psychology." The Los Angeles Times and the Huffington Post write about the hedonometer’s measure of the happiest and saddest days of the year (Christmas and the Boston Marathon bombing, respectively), Businessweek explores the economic potential of the hedonometer and the Washington Post blog, “Innovations,” discusses geographic influences of happiness demonstrated by the hedonometer. Read the Wall Street Journal story... and the Los Angeles Times story...

Multiple Sources Feature UVM Professor’s Positive Marine Mammal Report

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The International Business Times, ABCNews.com and Live Science highlight a report on “The Marine Mammal Protection Act at 40” report, in which conservation biologist Joe Roman and his colleagues announce the overall success of the legistlation. As the International Business Times writes, “marine mammals in the waters off the U.S. have largely recovered from their brush with extinction in the 1970s.” Read the story at ABCNews.com...

Student’s Senior Thesis Featured in The Guardian

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The Guardian interviews senior Rachel Franz for an article exploring the findings of her senior Honors College thesis – “Cultivating Little Consumers: How Picture Books Influence Materialism in Children.” After analyzing 30 picture books and writing a 196-page thesis, Franz finds that some books reinforce consumerism, while others teach more wholesome values. “In our pervasive consumer culture,” she says, “children even at the youngest age need to develop critical thinking skills in all areas of their lives in order to preserve happiness and self-acceptance without the 'stuff'." Read the story...

In NPR blog post, UVM Professor Reports on Meeting Addressing the Origins of Life

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Complex systems expert Stuart Kauffman, an experimental and theoretical biologist, frequently posts on National Public Radio's blog, "13.7: Cosmos and Culture." In this recent piece, “Chasing The Seeds Of Life,” Kauffman describes a meeting in which competing scientific theories – that either RNA or a molecule which replicates itself by catalyzing two simpler molecules was the precursor of DNA. Kauffman supports the meeting’s agenda to “get the research community organized behind a common effort…fostering international collaboration.” Read the post...

Times Turns to UVM Professor to Review Novel on Slave Breeding

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Major Jackson, poet and associate professor of English, reviews Margaret Wrinkle’s Wash in The New York Times, where he acknowledges the challenges faced by a white author depicting black characters. Despite noting some inaccuracies and a sometimes self-conscious tone, Jackson writes, “I was moved by this story… Rather than disapproving opprobrium and diatribes, this debut occasions celebration. Haunting, tender and superbly measured, Wash is both redemptive and affirming.” Read the review...

BBC Covers UVM Discovery: Tweeters are Happier Further From Home

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

The BBC -- as well as MIT Technology Review and numerous other media outlets -- report that a UVM team demonstrated the further a Twitter user strays from their “average” locations, the “happier” their tweets become. According to the BBC, Christopher Danforth, associate professor of mathematics and statistics, and his team first created an algorithm to search public tweets for positive and negative terms. When the team indexed 37 million messages from 180,000 GPS- enabled phones worldwide, they found that the distance tweeters were from their two average locations (home and work) the fewer negative terms their tweets contained. The BBC writes that this team is on the forefront of a revolution in research techniques for the social sciences, driven by such extensive social media data. Read the story...

Associated Press Features UVM Family Business Expert

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

In an Associated Press story that ran in papers nationwide, there is a Vermont focus that features Pramodita Sharma, professor in the School of Business and editor of the scholarly journal Family Business. As Sharma tells the AP, one of the key elements that differentiates family enterprises is the significant influence of kinship and a tendency to focus on the long term. “They work not only for the current generation of the family but also the future," Sharma said. Read the story in the Huffington Post...

Boston Globe Notes Memoir by Jody Williams ‘72, PEN New England Award to UVM Professor Emeritus

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

In the weekend Books section, The Boston Globe’s “Word on the Street” column announces the new memoir by Nobel Peace Prize winner and UVM alumna, Jody William ‘72. Two of the year’s PEN New England book award winners were also announced, including professor emeritus of biology Bernd Heinrich in the nonfiction category for his book Life Everlasting: The Animal Way of Death. David Huddle, professor emeritus of English, also won for poetry with his latest collection, Blacksnake at the Family Reunion. Read the story...

Nature’s Scientific News Reports on UVM Team’s Discovery of Previously Unknown Role of Enzyme

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Karen Lounsbury, professor of pharmacology, Christopher Francklyn, professor of biochemistry and their team discovered that an enzyme called threonyl tRNA synthetase is being used by cancer cells to signal the human body to create additional blood vessels to feed the tumor. These findings, published in Scientific Reports, a primary research publication from the publishers of Nature -- and being presented at conferences around the country -- could be used “as part of a personalized cancer medicine approach to treat patients with greater success,” according to the study’s first author, postdoctoral pharmacology fellow Tamara Williams. Read the article…

Science Daily, Yahoo News Announce UVM Professor’s Discovery of Mystery Protein Responsible for Rare Blood Type

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

There are only a handful of people with the Vel-negative blood type, but when they receive a transfusion of any other type they can become severely ill, or even die. Science Daily reports that Bryan Ballif, associate professor of biology, has identified the SMIM1 protein responsible for the rare “Vel-type” blood using a high-resolution mass spectrometer, also creating a method for testing for it in patients, ending a 60 year long search. Read the story...

Professor Studies Pitcher Plants, Extrapolates Ecosystem Data, According to Science Daily

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Science Daily reports on a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, coauthored by Nicholas Gotelli, professor of biology, on overfeeding carnivorous pitcher plants to extrapolate data on the tipping-points of ecosystems. Read the story...

Live Science Features Continued Groundbreaking Medical Research by UVM Professor

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0400

“Stressed? It May Show in Your Breath” continues the discussion on research by Jane Hill, Ph.D., assistant professor of engineering and an investigator in the Center for Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the College of Medicine. Hill and her team are working to analyze, Live Science reports, “six biomarkers in breath that seem to change when a person is experiencing a high level of stress, according to a study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Breath Research.” Read the story...

Professor Considers Conservatism for the Huffington Post

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0400

In his blog post for the Huffington Post, “Market Radicals: The GOP's Betrayal of Conservatism,” Alex Zakaras, associate professor of political science, argues that conservatism, a movement that came out of the French Revolution, is, at its core, “about protecting human lives and institutions from such radical, self-inflicted upheaval,” ideals he believes the modern Republican party, by attempting to drastically reduce the government in favor of privatization, is not, by definition, upholding. Read the post...

Video: C-Span Interviews Jody Williams ‘72, Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Alumna Jody Williams, recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her work on the campaign to ban the use of landmines, gives C-Span an in-depth interview coinciding with the publication of her new autobiography, My Name is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl’s Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize. She speaks candidly about personal issues in her life and describes her motivation for advocacy as righteous indignation and “anger at injustice.” Watch the video...

New York Review of Books Features UVM Alumnus’ New Work

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0500

The New York Times Review of Books captures in detail a new work by historian and author Douglas Smith ‘85, Former People: The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy, an account of the destruction of “a lost breed” of society as it encountered the Bolshevik Revolution. According to the review, “Smith has performed a real service in drawing attention to this widely overlooked segment of the Russian population and the horrifying persecutions its members endured. His book inspires awe and pity in equal measure, and expands our understanding of a forgotten people.” Read the story (subscription required) or contact University Communications.

New York Times Taps UVM Expertise for Front Page Health Story

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Rachel Johnson, UVM nutrition professor and spokesperson for the American Heart Association, is the lead expert weighing in for The New York Times on a story reporting the significance of a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine regarding the strong connection between following a Mediterranean diet and reduced risk of heart attacks, strokes and death from heart disease. The piece appears in media outlets across the country, including The Boston Globe and Huffington Post. Read the story at NYTimes.com... Johnson was also interviewed on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Listen at NPR.org…

CNN Features UVM Research on the Geography of Happiness

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Both CNN and The Atlantic highlight UVM complex systems research, led by professors Peter Dodds and Christopher Danforth, which analyzed 10 million geotagged tweets from 2011 to determine the happiest – and least happy – places in America. Using 10,000 words rated on a scale of one to ten according to how “happy” they are (LOL, good, nice, sleep, food- and beach-related words on the upper end, words such as mad, hate, smoke, jail and expletives in general ranking low), the team found Napa, California, to be the happiest place and Louisiana the least. Even ignoring context, with such large datasets, the researchers say, simply counting words produces reliable results that are consistent with other existing measures of happiness. Read the stories at CNN.com… and TheAtlantic.com…

Scientific American, BBC Feature Breath Test Developed at UVM to Quickly Identify Lung Infections

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0500

According to stories published by the Scientific American, the BBC, Huffington Post, Wired and multiple other outlets, a research team of engineers led by postdoc Jiangjiang Zhu and assistant professor Jane Hill have developed a “breathprint” test that can detect dangerous lung infections such as tuberculosis within minutes. Traditional tests can take days or weeks to get culture results. Discussing the future of their work, Hill says, “I suspect that we will also be able to distinguish between bacterial, viral and fungal infections of the lung.” Read the Scientific American story...

USA Today College Features UVM Holding First Ever Case Competition Devoted to Family Enterprise

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0500

USA Today College reports that, as the study of family business has exploded in recent years, UVM’s School of Business hosted the first ever family business case competition, with sixteen teams from across the world, each presenting a solution to a hypothetical problem before a panel of judges. Read the story...

Fishing With Dolphins

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Joe Roman, conservation biologist and a fellow at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, contributed this story to Slate about a rare collaboration between fishermen and dolphins to catch mullet in Laguna, Brazil. This rare phenomenon -- Roman says fishman view dolphins as competitors or thieves across most of the world -- has occurred in Lacuna for at least 120 years. Read the story...

Alien Entrees

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Conservation biologist Joe Roman was featured in the New Yorker's "Talk of the Town" for his unorthodox method of controlling invasive species: he cooks and consumes them -- with style. Green crabs, introduced from Europe and now voracious and prolific, often out-competing native North American shore dwellers, Roman suggests enjoying soft-shelled in spring, sauté in butter, garnishing with parley and serving with French bread. Roman has also teamed with a New Haven sushi chef to turn pesky burdock into a comestible glazed with soy sauce and honey, "to give locals a taste of their own backyards." Read the story at NewYorker.com (subscription required)... or contact University Communications.

The Energy Costs of Oil Production

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Eric Zencey, a fellow with the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, interviewed on Public Radio International's "The World," explains that renewable energy sources are yielding a higher rate of return than oil, asserting that, "the age of oil should be over." Zencey also talks to "The World" about reconsidering traditional measures of GDP, advocating "gross domestic transactions," to factor in additional barometers of productivity and of national happiness. Listen to the interview at The World.org here... and here...

Model Sheds Light on Chemistry That Sparked Origin of Life

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Science Daily and numerous other publications feature a study by experimental and theoretical biologist Stuart Kauffman and colleagues published in the journal Acta Biotheoretica that could help answer a longstanding scientific quandary: how life began on a molecular level. "By combining, splitting, and recombining to form new types of networks of their own subunits," the story explains, "the (team's molecular) models indicate that these subsets of molecules could give rise to increasingly large and complex networks of chemical reactions, and, presumably, life." Read the story at ScienceDaily.com...

Can America Embrace Biking the Way Denmark Has?

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Professor Austin Troy, head of the Transportation Research Center, visits Copenhagen, reporting for Slate on the infrastructure for bicyclists there. Troy writes that the city's dedication to cyclists -- building racks, lanes and timing traffic lights so bicycles never hit a green and can navigate intersections with ease -- has lead to 58 percent of Copenhageners getting on their bikes daily, a trend that saves energy and money. While only 0.4 percent of commuters currently bike in the United States, Troy believes we could catch up with a similar commitment to the needs of cyclists. Read the story at Slate.com...

Chronicle Features Prof. Robert Manning on the Wisdom in Walking

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0500

In his essay for The Chronicle of Higher Education, “Long Walks, Deep Thoughts,” Robert Manning, professor in the Rubenstein School of Natural Resources, explores the “biomechanical marvel” of bipedalism along with the powerful historical connection between walking and philosophy, scholarship, literature, human rights protests and spirituality, from Aristotle to Martin Luther King.

He notes Wordsworth, who was said to have walked some 180,000 miles, his study being ‘out of doors,’ his housekeeper was purported to say, and of John Muir: “His walks,” Manning says, “offered him deep insights into our relationship with the natural world, writing, “‘I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out until sundown, for, going out, I found, was really going in.’”

The piece is excerpted from Manning’s new book, written with his wife Martha S. Manning, Walking Distance: Extraordinary Hikes for Ordinary People. Read the story…