Front Page News at Indiana University
April 6, 2007
Front Page News at IU delivers top headlines of the day from the campuses of Indiana University. It comes to you courtesy of IU University Communications in the Office of University Relations.
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Tavis Smiley to address IU Bloomington graduates on May 5
Sensor monitoring system could aid mass transit, homeland security
Cracking the Domenico code; IU Art Museum director and colleague reconstruct 'puzzle' of New Testament cycle
IU Bloomington Scoreboard
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Tavis Smiley to address IU Bloomington graduates on May 5 -- Indiana University President Adam W. Herbert today (April 5) announced that Tavis Smiley, a popular radio personality, political commentator, motivational speaker, author and Indiana University alumnus, will present the commencement address at IU Bloomington Saturday, May 5. With his late night television talk show, "Tavis Smiley," and his radio show "The Tavis Smiley Show," Smiley was the first American ever to simultaneously host signature talk shows on both PBS and National Public Radio. His television show continues now in its fourth season, and "The Tavis Smiley Show" on public radio is now distributed by Public Radio International (PRI). He also offers political commentary twice weekly on the nationally-syndicated "Tom Joyner Morning Show." Smiley was recommended by the IU Bloomington Commencement Speaker Committee which includes students, faculty and staff. Herbert said he concurred with the committee recommendation because he believes Smiley's presence will make the commencement ceremonies an inspirational experience for IU graduates and their families. "Tavis Smiley is one of our own," Herbert said. "He grew up in Kokomo and came to IU with limited resources but a strong passion for learning. He has subsequently become an internationally renowned talk show host and political commentator. Yet, he has never forsaken his Hoosier values. Read the full story.
Sensor monitoring system could aid mass transit, homeland security -- Human behavior can be observed and accurately analyzed by a complex sensor network, a system that could ultimately benefit public transportation, homeland security and crime prevention, reports a research team at the Indiana University School of Informatics and two universities in Japan. The researchers evaluated a distributed sensor network they deployed in the JR Kyoto subway station in Japan as part of the Digital City Surveillance Project. Their study appears in the April-June issue of IEEE Multimedia. They blanketed the station with a sensor network of 28 wide-view cameras, and developed a system that "learned" from a station operator to recognize what people were doing in the concourse. The system then audibly told operators about events like overcrowding so operators could respond promptly. "The advantage of this system is that it doesn't require an expert to design it to recognize a certain kind of event. Station operators can do that as new situations arise," said Karl F. MacDorman, associate professor of informatics at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Read the complete story.
Cracking the Domenico code; IU Art Museum director and colleague reconstruct 'puzzle' of New Testament cycle -- (This show opened in New York City last October and on March 28, opened at the IU Art Museum. It runs there until May 20.) A museum director's detective work is restoring a visionary 18th-century Venetian artist to his rightful place in the history of art. Heidi Gealt, director of the IU Art Museum in Bloomington, and George Knox, an emeritus professor at the University of Vancouver, have reconstructed the largest known New Testament cycle produced by a single artist: 313 large, finished drawings in ink and wash by Domenico Tiepolo, one of the foremost Venetian artists active during the second half of the 18th century. Dismembered, sold and scattered soon after his death in 1804, Domenico's narrative, which retells the history of early Christianity, has never before been published or exhibited. Nearly 60 of the finest drawings are on display at the Frick Collection in New York City. "Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804): A New Testament" showcases the wide variety of compositional devices, gestures and settings Domenico used for his New Testament cycle and demonstrates the artist's gift as a storyteller and chronicler of his time. Read the full story.
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Indiana University Bloomington Scoreboard
Results from Thursday, April 5 -- No varsity teams in action.
Schedule for Friday-Sunday, April 6-8
Baseball -- Due to the cold weather conditions in the Bloomington area, the series between the Indiana baseball team and Northwestern has been changed. The teams will not play on Friday, April 6, and will play a Saturday, Sunday, Monday schedule instead. Series notes and details.
Men's golf -- The IU men's golf team will play in the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Saturday, April 7.
Men's tennis -- The Indiana men's tennis team takes to the road this weekend to face Wisconsin on April 7, and Northwestern on April 8. Both matches begin at noon. Match notes.
Women's tennis -- The No. 34 Indiana women's tennis team hosts a pair of top-15 teams in No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 11 Northwestern. Indiana faces the Fighting Irish on Saturday, April 7, at 10 a.m., and takes on the Wildcats on Sunday, April 8, at 10 a.m. Match notes.
Men's and women's track and field -- Due to impending inclement weather the Indiana Relays, which was scheduled for Friday-Saturday, April 6-7, has been cancelled.
Rowing -- The IU women are in action on Saturday, April 7, in Indianapolis when they take on Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Purdue. Team notes. https://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/w-rowing/recaps/033107aaa.html
Softball -- Indiana (18-17, 1-3 Big Ten) will host Northwestern in a doubleheader at 12 noon on Sunday, April 8, at the IU Softball Field. Game story.
Water polo -- The IU women's polo team hosts Michigan at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 7, in the Councilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Team notes.
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IU in the News
Experts float explanations for swimming's high tide
Washington Post, April 2 -- World records fell like the Amazon rain at the World Swimming Championships that ended yesterday in Australia. Led by the indomitable Michael Phelps, who set five records, swimmers in Melbourne cruised to the best times ever in 11 events. Even though that's a remarkable outburst of history-making performances, the fact is world records in swimming tend not to last long. Elite swimmers are older than they were a generation ago, which means they are more experienced and possibly stronger, too, says Joel Stager, the director of the Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming at Indiana University. "We're now coming to the realization," Stager says, "that if you can keep a top swimmer motivated after college, if he can keep training and invested in the sport longer, he will get faster." Read the full story.
Perilous journey to sunken ship; The volunteer groups that sank the USS Spiegel Grove tried to make the ship 'diver friendly,' but their efforts couldn't prevent the death of three thrill seekers
Miami Herald, April 1 -- The lesson from the deaths of three scuba divers who recently drowned in the bowels of the USS Spiegel Grove sounds harsh, but true: It's not Disneyland down there. Trying to reduce the risks of diving at the deeper levels would have been virtually impossible, said Charlie Beeker, the director of underwater science at Indiana University, who personally made 44 dives to help make the Spiegel Grove safer. Read the full story.
Report puts pacifier on 'smarter baby debate'
USA Today, April 3 -- Parents fork over billions of dollars for CDs, DVDs, toys and other products that promise to make their babies smarter -- and governments invest in programs to maximize children's brain development from birth through age 3. But many efforts to build "brighter babies" are doomed to failure because they are built on misinterpretations and misapplications of brain research, a report says. Such efforts teach parents helpful skills, says Jonathan Plucker, professor of cognitive science at Indiana University. "People are starting to almost universally acknowledge that those years are critically important." Read the complete story.
Losing our religious IQ: Americans get 'F' in spiritual knowledge
The Ithaca Journal, April 6 -- Sixty percent of Americans can't name five of the Ten Commandments, and 50 percent of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married. Scholars and theologians who agree say Americans' woeful level of religious illiteracy damages more than democracy. "You're going to make assumptions about people out of ignorance, and they're going to make assumptions about you," says Philip Goff of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University in Indianapolis. Read the full story.
The billion dollar man: Tiger on way to becoming sports' first 10-figure athlete and DRIVING FORCE. From equipment to conditioning, Tiger powers new golf generation
New York Daily News, April 4-5 -- Gary Sailes, an associate professor in IUB's Department of Kinesiology, was quoted in two stories in a five-part series about golfer Tiger Woods. In one article, he said, "The media is enamored with this guy. People have an interest in golf and his background. And his golf game is only getting better. He's a phenomenon. Tiger is the most widely recognzed individual on the planet." In another article, Sailes told the reporter, "They said if we've got to compete with this young kid, we've all got to get in shape. They all had to get in shape. Just as Martina Navritilova brought that aspect to tennis, Tiger brought it to golf. Golfers getting out there in the gym and running? That was just something you did when you played collegiate tennis. But now these guys are out there on Tour and they're very serious about it." Read the first story. Read the second story.
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