Front Page News at Indiana University

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Law School to be named in honor of alumnus and benefactor Michael S. Maurer
'Greening of the IMU' to improve sustainability, save costs at IU Bloomington
NSF-funded study by IU researchers targets 'presence' in virtual worlds
Body's immune system response to dental plaque varies by gender and race
IU Department of Theatre and Drama presents haunting musical tragedy 'Blood Brothers'
Cultural centers at IU launch "Choice of Colors" series; First event is Thursday
Professor's book on dress and adornment in India receives 2009 Millia Davenport Publication Award
IU Bloomington Scoreboard

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Law School to be named in honor of alumnus and benefactor Michael S. Maurer -- Hundreds of university leaders, students, and alumni are expected to be on hand Friday (Sept. 25) for the official naming of the Indiana University Michael Maurer School of Law. The ceremony will coincide with the Law School's second annual Alumni Summit and celebrate a $35 million gift from Michael and Janie Maurer the school received last December. Friday's ceremony, at 5 p.m. at the IU Auditorium, will feature remarks from President Michael A. McRobbie; IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson; Dean Lauren Robel; Michael Maurer, a 1967 graduate of the Law School; and Judge Sarah Evans Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. Two-time Grammy Award winner Sylvia McNair will perform during a reception immediately following the ceremony. Read the complete story.

'Greening of the IMU' to improve sustainability, save costs at IU Bloomington -- Dozens of experts will join Indiana University students, faculty and staff this fall for an intensive planning exercise to improve sustainability practices at one of IU Bloomington's best-known buildings: the Indiana Memorial Union. The initiative, called the Greening of the Indiana Memorial Union, will be led by the Office of Sustainability at IU Bloomington and funded with a $50,000 gift from the Duke Energy Foundation. "The Indiana Memorial Union is both an iconic building and an important part of the daily lives of our students," said IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson. "This initiative will make the IMU a model for sustainability practices that improve efficiency and operations across campus. We are deeply grateful to the Duke Energy Foundation for making this possible." Read the complete story.

Too scary to be real, research looks to quantify eeriness in virtual characters -- Indiana University's Karl MacDorman has been to the valley -- the uncanny valley of virtual humans so lifelike they give us real humans the creeps. What he's found is that things don't look so bad after all. That's because MacDorman's research into human photorealism in robots, androids and computer-generated characters is calling into question a longstanding premise put forth by the pioneering Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori that people become unsettled by any slight nonhuman imperfection in very human-looking forms. MacDorman is an IU School of Informatics associate professor in the Human-Computer Interaction program and the director of the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Android Science Center. Read the complete story.

Body's immune system response to dental plaque varies by gender and race -- Will neglecting to brush your teeth damage more than just your smile? Can failing to attack dental plaque increase your risk of heart damage? The answer to both questions may be yes if you are male and black, an Indiana University School of Dentistry study published in the current issue of the Journal of Dental Research reports. The researchers, led by Michael Kowolik, B.D.S., Ph.D., professor of periodontics and associate dean for graduate education at the IU School of Dentistry on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, studied 128 black and white men and women and found that dental plaque accumulation did not result in a change in total white blood count, a known risk factor for adverse cardiac events. However, in black males the researchers noted a significant increase in the activity of neutrophils, the most common type of white blood cell and an essential part of the immune system. Read the complete story.

IU Department of Theatre and Drama presents haunting musical tragedy 'Blood Brothers' -- Indiana University's Department of Theatre and Drama kicks off its 2009-2010 theater season with Willy Russell's cult musical Blood Brothers, the powerful story of an unlikely friendship beset by the struggles of adolescence, the inevitable rift of the class divide in 1960's England and the cruelty of fate. The play will be presented in the Ruth N. Halls Theatre under the direction of Murray McGibbon. An international hit, Blood Brothers has played for more than 20 years in London's West End. McGibbon attributes the success to the playwright. "Willy Russell is a people's playwright," said McGibbon. "His plays strike at the heart of the common man." Read the complete story.

Cultural centers at IU launch "Choice of Colors" series; First event is Thursday -- Cultural centers at Indiana University have joined efforts to create a brown bag discussion series this fall, "Choice of Colors," which will address issues of diversity, identity and cultural awareness. The first event, "Diversity at IU: What It Is, What It Is Not and What It Should Be," takes place Thursday (Sept. 24). The program will begin at 4 p.m. in the Bridgwaters Lounge of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, 275 N. Jordan Ave. Panelists will be Eric Love, director of the IU Office of Diversity Education; Jacob Levin, a columnist at the Indiana Daily Student; Caralee Jones, vice president of the African American and African Diaspora Graduate Student Society; and Heather Essex, another graduate student in African American and African Diaspora Studies at IU. Read the complete story.

Professor's book on dress and adornment in India receives 2009 Millia Davenport Publication Award -- Pravina Shukla, an associate professor of folklore and ethnomusicology at Indiana University, has been awarded the 2009 Millia Davenport Publication Award given by the Costume Society of America for her book The Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India (2008, Indiana University Press). The Davenport Publication Award, named to honor the memory of Millia Davenport (1896-1992), noted costume scholar and theater designer, recognizes excellence in scholarship in the study of costume. Read the complete story.

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Indiana University Bloomington Scoreboard

Schedule for Friday, Sept. 25:
Field Hockey: Miami of Ohio, 5 p.m., Oxford, Ohio
Women's Volleyball: Michigan, 7 p.m., Bloomington, Ind.
Women's Soccer: Northwestern, 7:30 p.m., Evanston, Ill.
Men's Soccer: Wisconsin, 8:30 p.m., Madison, Wisc.
Men's Tennis: UVA Ranked Plus One, Charlottesville, Va.
Women's Tennis: Hoosier Invitational, Bloomington, Ind.

Schedule for Saturday, Sept. 26:
Football: Michigan, 12 p.m., Ann Arbor, Mich.
Women's Volleyball: Michigan State, 7 p.m., Bloomington, Ind.
Women's Rowing: Lemonhead Regatta, Bloomington, Ind.
Men's Tennis: UVA Ranked Plus One, Charlottesville, Va.
Women's Tennis: Hoosier Invitational, Bloomington, Ind.

Schedule for Sunday, Sept. 27:
Field Hockey: Ohio State, 1 p.m., Columbus, Ohio
Women's Soccer: Wisconsin, 1 p.m., Madison, Wisc.
Men's Tennis: UVA Ranked Plus One, Charlottesville, Va.
Women's Tennis: Hoosier Invitational, Bloomington, Ind.
Men's Golf: Ping/Golfweek Invitational, Bremerton, Wash.
Women's Golf: Lady Northern Invitational, Madison, Wisc.

Schedule for Monday, Sept. 28:
Men's Golf: Ping/Golfweek Invitational, Bremerton, Wash.
Women's Golf: Lady Northern Invitational, Madison, Wisc.

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IU in the news

Study finds pain killers may hinder, not help, athletes
St. Petersburg Times, Sept. 25 -- Athletes at all levels and in a wide variety of sports swear by their painkillers. "For a lot of athletes, taking painkillers has become a ritual," says Stuart Warden, an assistant professor and director of physical therapy research at Indiana University, who has extensively studied the physiological impacts of the drugs. "It's like candy" or Vitamin I, as some athletes refer to ibuprofen, he said. Why are so many active people swallowing so many painkillers? Warden and other researchers have found that, in laboratory experiments on animal tissues, NSAIDs actually slowed the healing of injured muscles, tendons, ligament and bones. "NSAIDs work by inhibiting the production of prostaglandins," substances that are involved in pain and also in the creation of collagen, Warden says. Collagen is the building block of most tissues. So fewer prostaglandins mean less collagen, "which inhibits the healing of tissue and bone injuries," Warden says, including the micro-tears and other trauma to muscles and tissues that can occur after any strenuous workout. Full story.

Obama takes the 'middle way' on Tibet
Asia Times, Sept. 26 -- United States President Barack Obama seems to be taking a "middle way" approach in dealing with the Tibet issue. While he wants to be sympathetic and friendly to the Dalai Lama and his cause, he by no means wants to offend the Chinese government by getting too close to the Tibetan spiritual leader in exile. Elliot Sperling, an expert on Tibet at Indiana University, said China "will certainly take note of the fact that Obama is treading carefully on the Dalai Lama. The Tibetans have been thoroughly accommodating. The Dalai Lama has given up most of the demands of the exile community for a country of their own and instead has vague demands for autonomy," he said. "Basically, they're in a position of weakness and the Chinese know it - and they're playing it for everything they can." Full story.

Coach Tom Crean offers advice to students, fans at IU Auditorium
Indiana Daily Student, Sept. 24 -- The cheers began before he walked onto the stage. The clapping and hollering continued as IU coach Tom Crean, clad in stone-washed jeans and an IU zip-up, entered the IU Auditorium on Wednesday. He began his speech discussing last season. He didn't dance around last year's 6-25 record, saying how hard the situation is. "What we inherited a year ago, I don't think anyone could put in context what that was," Crean said. "(Athletics Director) Fred Glass said, 'You're dealing with the equivalent of a death penalty in basketball.'" But Crean was upbeat. He turned around and pointed out the back of his zip-up, adorned with the five national championship banners. From alumni to students - including the famous gorilla - he addressed them all.
During the question-and-answer portion, students mostly heaped praise for Crean. But there was the inevitable question of a student section. Full story.

Attention 'Glee' Fans: A Hot Tub Cannot Get You Pregnant
Newsweek, Sept. 24 -- We think Finn is adorable, so we want to help. To do so, we turned to myth-busting expert Dr. Aaron E. Carroll, coauthor of Don't Swallow Your Gum: Myths, Half-Truths, and Outright Lies About Your Body And Health and associate professor of pediatrics, director of the Center for HealthPolicy and Professionalism Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine. (Listed in said book's index: "water, having sex in.") Here's the truth about hot-tub sex (or lack thereof): You cannot get pregnant from kissing in a hot tub. A woman cannot get pregnant in a hot tub if she is not having sex, even if some uninvited swimmers find their way into the water. "The hot water would kill the sperm," says Carroll. "Even just cold water would kill them. And it would take days." It takes sperm hours to swim from the cervix to the uterus, only inches away, and even then nature commissions millions of sperm to get the job done. Even then, they're funneled them through a pretty straightforward tunnel, so fraught is the journey and so bad are sperm at swimming in a straight line. It's not going to happen. Full story.

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