Thursday, October 4, 2012

UNH Named One of Sierra Magazine’s Top “Coolest Schools”

The University of New Hampshire made the top 10 list of campuses in Sierra magazine’s sixth annual ranking of the nation’s “Coolest Schools,” a salute to U.S. colleges that are helping solve climate problems and making significant efforts to operate sustainably. UNH ranked sixth alongside other schools like the University of California, Davis, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Stanford University. READ MORE >>

UNH Faculty Receive $1.3 Million in Prestigious NSF CAREER Grants

Three UNH faculty members are exploring energy from the ocean, manufacturing on a tiny scale, and speedier computer planning, thanks to prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards from the National Science Foundation. The grants, totaling nearly $1.3 million over five years, went to assistant professors Yannis Korkolis and Martin Wosnik of the mechanical engineering department and Wheeler Ruml of the computer science department. READ MORE >>

Pioneering Device by UNH Faculty Could Give Student Nurses a Shot in the Arm

UNH nursing and electrical engineering faculty crossed departmental lines to create a “smart” training syringe that will help nurses and other health care professionals learn how to give the most effective intramuscular injections by providing real-time feedback. It’s the first device of its type ever created. READ MORE >>

UNH Ocean Scientists Get Funds for Continued Coastal Water Monitoring

Scientists from the University’s Ocean Process Analysis Laboratory received funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of a five-year, $2 million-plus grant to continue work in the Gulf of Maine and New Hampshire’s Great Bay, monitoring carbon dioxide and the effects of ocean acidification on coastal ecosystems. The work is a critical component of region-wide efforts by a host of scientists to monitor the health of coastal waters under changing environmental conditions. READ MORE >>

UNH, Michigan Aerospace Corp to Bring Radiation Detector to Market

Scientists from UNH and Michigan Aerospace Corporation have signed an exclusive option agreement to commercialize instrumentation originally developed at UNH’s Space Science Center for space-based missions and now being re-engineered for homeland security purposes. To build the instrument, UNH is leveraging 40 years of experience conducting space-based neutron and gamma-ray detection, with university scientists and engineers developing all the related instrument hardware and software. READ MORE >>

UNH Seniors Create Bicycle-Powered Washing Machine

A senior capstone project by three UNH mechanical engineering students could make life easier—and cleaner—in developing nations. The project, a bicycle-powered washing machine, harnesses plentiful bicycles and salvaged materials to clean clothing with just six gallons of water, 30 minutes of easy pedaling, and no electricity. READ MORE >>

UNH’s Model UN Team Wins Distinguished Delegation Award for Representation of Tanzania

The University of New Hampshire’s Model United Nations team was recognized as a distinguished delegation for its representation of the African country of Tanzania. The students attended Model UN where they received the honor, which only 10 percent of the teams earn, and also took home the award for best paper. READ MORE >>

UNH Students Receive Scholarships to Pursue STEM Teaching

Two University of New Hampshire undergraduates received the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship funded by the National Science Foundation—forgivable loans of up to $20,000 to pursue teaching careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields in rural and high-needs public schools. Noyce scholars are required to complete two years of teaching in a high-need school district for each year of support, after which the loans are forgiven. READ MORE >>

UNH Contributes More Than $1.4 Billion to State Economy Every Year

The University of New Hampshire contributes more than $1.4 billion every year to New Hampshire’s economy, which includes $791 million through revenue generation, employment and expenditures, and through its contribution toward the state’s skilled workforce valued at $642 million. READ MORE >>

Students Triumphant at Cyber Security Competition

Some of the world’s wiliest hackers were no match for a team of UNH computer science students that triumphed with a second-place finish at the 2012 Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. In their second showing at the competition, the eight students of the UNH Wildhats beat out teams from Harvard University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Northeastern University and others, coming in behind returning champion Rochester Institute of Technology. READ MORE >>

UNH Team Wins NSF Award for “Sun-to-Ice” Study

An interdisciplinary team of scientists from UNH’s Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation’s new Frontiers in Earth-System Dynamics (FESD) program. It is a five-year $5 million project. READ MORE >>

Bullying Prevention School Curriculum is a Success

Researchers at UNH believe they have made a significant breakthrough in reducing bullying and meanness in middle school students. A study of the Courage to Care program, which was developed by UNH Cooperative Extension, found students who participated in the program were less likely to emotionally pick on other students. READ MORE >>

High Schoolers Reach 105K Feet with History–Making UNH Scientific Balloon

High school students and their UNH mentors successfully flew and recovered a scientific payload that had been carried aloft by balloon to 105,700 feet. Tethered to the balloon, carrying a miniscule Geiger counter to measure cosmic rays, was a three-foot, dish-shaped re-entry vehicle the students built of pink Styrofoam and cardboard. It was designed to drift back to Earth without aid of a parachute—a first for the small ballooning community. READ MORE >>

UNH Equestrians Win Regional Championships

UNH’s Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association team won the team regional championship for the northern New England region for the second consecutive year, amassing more points during the eight-competition season than teams from 11 other schools in the region. READ MORE >>

UNH-Led Project To Boost Northeast Organic Dairy Industry

Researchers from the University of New Hampshire are leading a multi-state project that aims to help organic dairy farmers better produce and market their milk. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to 12 researchers from the universities of Maine, Vermont, Cornell, and the USDA, well as UNH, the research will explore how organic dairy farmers in the Northeast can enhance farm profitability by extending the grazing season and adding value to milk through flaxseed supplementation. READ MORE >>

UNH’s Thompson School Launches Two-Year Vet Tech, Integrated Ag Programs

Responding to student and marketplace demand, the Thompson School of Applied Science at UNH launched two new associate degree programs in September 2012: integrated agriculture management and veterinary technology. Both programs draw heavily on UNH’s agricultural facilities as well as on existing academic strengths in animal science and sustainable agriculture. READ MORE >>

UNH Professor’s Groundbreaking Research Leads to International Economics Initiative, Research Center

Groundbreaking research conducted by Michael Goldberg, the Roland H. O’Neal Professor of Economics, has led to the creation of an international research center at the University of Copenhagen that is part of a comprehensive initiative of the Institute of New Economic Thinking (INET), founded by financier and philanthropist George Soros. One of the main research programs of the institute, the initiative and its corresponding research center, the INET Center on Imperfect Knowledge Economics (IKE), is based on the theory developed by Goldberg and his colleague Roman Frydman, professor of economics at New York University. READ MORE >>

Originally published by:

UNH Today

Compiled by Erika Mantz