Higher Education : Buzz

But what Carris primarily ended up researching was a much more obscure � and intriguing � bit of local history."

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It won't work exactly like Gene Roddenberry envisioned on Star Trek, but teleportation will likely be a reality one day. Pioneering research being conducted at the University of Maryland's Joint Quantum Institute, among others, on quantum entanglement could lead to the ability to instantly transport an item from one end of the galaxy to another.

Here's an excerpt:

"According to the quantum theory, everything vibrates," theoretical physicist Michio Kaku tells NPR's Guy Raz. Kaku is a frequent guest on the Science and Discovery channels. "When two electrons are placed close together, they vibrate in unison. When you separate them, that's when all the fireworks start."

This is where quantum entanglement � sometimes described as "teleportation" � begins. "An invisible umbilical cord emerges connecting these two electrons. And you can separate them by as much as a galaxy if you want. Then, if you vibrate one of them, somehow on the other end of the galaxy the other electron knows that its partner is being jiggled."

This process happens even faster than the speed of light, physicists say."

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It's not often that a top tier university launches a brand new school. With its new Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins and the school's inaugural dean Yash Gupta are out to redefine the MBA.

Here's an excerpt:

"At Johns Hopkins it will be compulsory for MBA students to work with the department of medicine and public health. For example, business students will have to work with their scientific counterparts to write a business plan and bring a product to market "connecting invention with innovation", as Prof Gupta puts it. "If I am going to pull this together, I've got to have a synergystic school," he says.

Students must spend time in developing countries, such as India, Rwanda, Kenya or Peru, and work in teams on economic development projects, such as introducing a drug delivery system for people with Aids."

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A recent MICA exhibit, A Pathway to Awareness: Quilting for Social Justice, examined the possibilities of a medium that has only recently gained acceptance as an artform, to convey messages related to social justice. One piece in particular, stood out for Art-Full Life blogger, Doreen Bolger.

Here's an excerpt:

"On a recent visit to MICA, I was surprised but delighted that A Pathway to Awareness: Quilting for Social Justice remained on view after its scheduled conclusion in April. The exhibition presented the artistic results of teaching and mentoring done by Dr. Joan M. E. Gaither, a documentary quilter who recently completed a quilt that told the story of Barack Obama's journey to the White House. As she spoke to the creators of textile work like this, she urged them to quilt "the story that needs to be told, one that only you can tell."

Demonstrating art's potential to impact society, every piece in A Pathway to Awareness had a story and a message. Perhaps the most arresting work was Sex is a Weapon (American Dream). The hand-crafted dress composed of individual quilted parts stood on an old-fashioned wire seamstress form. While its ruffles and medallions could be on any party dress, its quilted squares revealed images of objectified women, each striking a suggestive pose in a skimpy bathing suit."

Read the entire post here.

Read more about Baltimore's artsy goings-ons here!

The Swedes have been at it again, handing out prizes to American researchers. It ain't a Noble Prize, but the work of Rita Colwell, a professor at the University of Maryland and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Heath has won the Stockholm Water Prize for her research that has helped solve many water-related public health problems including cholera.


Here's an excerpt

"Colwell, 76, received the award for her "numerous seminal contributions towards solving the world's water and water-related public health problems," the jury of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) said.

Her work, especially on preventing the spread of cholera, "has established the basis for environmental and infectious disease risk assessment used around the world" and "is of the utmost global importance," it added in a statement.

The 76-year-old professor at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health was also honoured for being one of the first to study "the impact of climate change on the spread of disease," SIWI scientific director Per-Arne Malmqvist told a gathering in Stockholm where the prize was announced."

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There's no question that the HBO series The Wire changed both television and the way the world looks at Baltimore, now it's changing the way university professors are educating their students. The seminal show about life on streets of Mob City has become a teaching tool for more than just film classes.

Here's an excerpt:

"Among the police officers and drug dealers and stickup men and politicians and dockworkers and human smugglers and teachers and students and junkies and lawyers and journalists who populate the late, great HBO series The Wire, there is one academic. His name is David Parenti and he teaches social work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Academics, on the other hand, can't seem to get enough of The Wire. Barely two years after the show's final episode aired�and with Simon's new show, Treme, premiering next month on HBO�there have already been academic conferences, essay anthologies, and special issues of journals dedicated to the series. Not content to write about it and discuss it among themselves, academics are starting to teach it, as well. Professors at Harvard, U.C.�Berkeley, Duke, and Middlebury are now offering courses on the show."

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The only real rival to Baltimore County has been the University of Texas at Dallas, which has won or tied for first seven times in the last 14 years. This year, two Dallas teams tied for second, along with a team from Texas Tech."

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