Front Page News at Indiana University

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Technology on way to forecasting humanity's needs, IU researcher reports in 'Science'
Social scientist suggests new research framework to study complex systems
Hoosier writers, artists to converge at West Baden Springs for IU Press-hosted event
'It's a whole new ballgame'
Parasitic worms make sex worthwhile
Wishard Hospital EMS vehicles first to install vital regenstrief medical records system
Professional actors, IU students bring Noel Coward's 'Present Laughter' to Brown County Playhouse
Heil to join IU Foundation as senior vice president for development
IUPUI journalism professor wins second award for press criticism
IU Bloomington Scoreboard

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Technology on way to forecasting humanity's needs, IU researcher reports in 'Science' -- Much as meteorologists predict the path and intensity of hurricanes, Indiana University's Alessandro Vespignani believes we will one day predict with unprecedented foresight, specificity and scale such things as the economic and social effects of billions of new Internet users in China and India, or the exact location and number of airline flights to cancel around the world in order to halt the spread of a pandemic. In July 24 "Perspectives" section of the journal Science, Vespignani writes that advances in complex networks theory and modeling, along with access to new data, will enable humans to achieve true predictive power in areas never before imagined. Read the complete story.

Social scientist suggests new research framework to study complex systems -- The often-used one-size-fits-all approach to policies aimed at achieving sustainable social-ecological systems needs to be updated with a diagnostic tool to help scholars from multiple disciplines better frame the question and think through the variables, asserts social scientist and political economist Elinor Ostrom. "Scholars have tended to develop simple theoretical models to analyze aspects of resource problems and to prescribe universal solutions," Ostrom writes in a Perspective article appearing in the July 24 Science special section on complexity. Read the complete story.

Hoosier writers, artists to converge at West Baden Springs for IU Press-hosted event -- Indiana University Press will host a group of Hoosier writers and artists -- as well as their fans and supporters -- on Monday, Aug. 3, from 6-9 p.m. at the West Baden Springs Hotel for "An Evening Under the Dome," a literary-dining-musical celebration. The evening will feature musical performances by Tom Roznowski and Monika Herzig performing selected songs from some of Indiana's classic songwriters including Hoagy Carmichael and Cole Porter; author displays, readings, presentations and book signings by Scott Russell Sanders, Nancy Hiller, Rachel Berenson Perry and Indiana Poet Laureate Norbert Krapf; and a "moveable feast" of Hoosier-themed dishes created by chef Daniel Orr of FARMbloomington and Sinclair's Restaurant. Indiana handcrafted beers and select Hoosier wines will also be available for sampling. Read the complete story.

'It's a whole new ballgame' -- A newly renovated and brightly lit Indiana University Memorial Stadium provided a stage for Athletic Director Fred Glass to pull an all nighter on Wednesday (July 22). With the Hoosier football team and head coach Bill Lynch set to kick off the 2009 season at home against Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 2 at 8 p.m., Glass cheerfully braved drizzling rain to tape a television commercial about the Hoosiers and the big-event excitement of college football. Read the complete story.

Parasitic worms make sex worthwhile -- The coevolutionary struggle between a New Zealand snail and its worm parasite makes sex advantageous for the snail, whose females favor asexual reproduction in the absence of parasites, say Indiana University Bloomington and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology biologists in this week's Current Biology. The scientists' report represents direct experimental evidence for the "Red Queen Hypothesis" of sex, which suggests sexual reproduction allows host species to avoid infection by their coevolving parasites by producing genetically variable offspring. Read the complete story.

Wishard Hospital EMS vehicles first to install vital regenstrief medical records system -- Starting this month Wishard Health Services' fleet of 25 ambulances will be the first emergency medical services (EMS) agency to be equipped with new electronic medical record technology that will allow paramedics and emergency medical technicians the ability to obtain vital patient health history by accessing their hospital medical records. This technology, the first of its kind in the world and developed by researchers from the Regenstrief Institute in collaboration with the Indiana University School of Medicine, the Wishard Ambulance Service and MedUSA Corporation, will link both the Regenstrief Medical Records System (RMRS) and the Indy Patient Care Records (PCR) database. Read the complete story.

Professional actors, IU students bring Noel Coward's 'Present Laughter' to Brown County Playhouse -- The timeless work of master comic playwright Noel Coward returns to Indiana University's Brown County Playhouse for the first time since 1967 with the comedy Present Laughter, starring IU master's students in acting and professional actors from across the country whose collective credits include a role in John Waters' final film, the European premiere of Doubt and a stint on "Law and Order." Present Laughter is directed by Jonathan Michaelsen, producer for the Brown County Playhouse. Michaelsen lauds Coward's "great style and sparkling writing." "His sense of humanity and sensuality is remarkable . . . this is the most autobiographical play by Coward, who played Garry in the original production," Michaelsen said. Read the complete story.

Heil to join IU Foundation as senior vice president for development -- Indiana University Foundation President Gene Tempel announced today that Marsha (Marti) Heil will join the Foundation as senior vice president for development on Oct. 1. Heil was selected after a nationwide search. "Marti is a well-known and respected leader in higher education development with more than 30 years of fundraising and management experience," said Tempel. "Marti is an excellent fit for IU because of her experience at a Big Ten university, her recent successes with major fundraising campaigns, her extensive experience with and high level of understanding of strategic planning, and her day-to-day leadership and managerial style. She is truly a leader, a teacher and a mentor of development practices." Read the complete story.

IUPUI journalism professor wins second award for press criticism -- IUPUI journalism Professor Sherry Ricchiardi has won the National Press Club's Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism for a second time. National Press Club award winners are considered the best at their craft. The Rowse award recognizes excellence in the critique of media coverage. Ricchiardi, a senior contributing writer for the American Journalism Review, is the 2009 Rowse Award winner in the category for articles published in newspapers, magazines, newsletter and online. Read the complete story.

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Indiana University Bloomington Scoreboard

Sports schedules and scores will resume in August.

For more information on IU Athletics visit https://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/.

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IU in the news

It's critical time for Crean and Indiana; Hoosiers coach has first unrestricted schedule during important stretch of July
Indianapolis Star, July 24 -- July is the most important month in college basketball recruiting, and this year it is much different than 2008 for Indiana University coach Tom Crean. This is the first July that Crean and his IU staff are not limited to only a portion of the recruiting time due to sanctions related to former coach Kelvin Sampson. Last July, Crean was allowed only seven recruiting days during July, and IU could have only two coaches on the road.
This month, Crean is allowed all 20 days, and the Hoosiers can have three coaches on the road each day teams are allowed to watch players in person. Full story.

How To Debunk A Health Myth
Forbes, July 22 -- It isn't necessary to drink eight glasses of water a day. Flu shots don't cause the flu. And the idea that singles have better sex lives than married couples? Not true either. When Dr. Aaron E. Carroll and Dr. Rachel C. Vreeman, both professors at the Indiana University School of Medicine, began examining more than 60 popular medical beliefs, they discovered that most were myths. The pair has catalogued these false or highly questionable claims in their recently released book, Don't Swallow Your Gum! Myths, Half-Truths, and Outright Lies About Your Body and Health. Debunking a health myth is one thing, says Carroll, but convincing people to believe scientific evidence can be a challenge when it conflicts with their personal experiences. Full story.

Feds pump extra $733 million into region
Journal Gazette, July 23 -- Federal spending in northeast Indiana jumped 17 percent during the past fiscal year, a new federal report shows, nearly double the national spending increase of 9.3 percent. For fiscal year 2008, which ended Sept. 30, federal spending in the region's 11 counties increased $733 million, to $5.1 billion. Federal student loans increased more than 3,800 percent in Allen County, thanks to the federal government's purchase of student loans from local banks. Judith Cramer, director of financial aid at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said that as the financial markets froze last year, there was a fear that banks would stop making student loans, so the federal government agreed to buy the loans from banks as soon as they were made. "They didn't make direct loans here in Allen County, but they sure did end up owning a lot of them," Cramer said. IPFW disbursed close to $45 million in student loans, she said, and at least half ended up being bought by the federal government. Full story.

Interracial roommates more likely to opt out than same-race roommates
Indiana Daily Student, July 23 -- IU students who are randomly assigned a roommate of a different race are three times more likely change their room assignments by the end of their first semester than roommates of the same race, The New York Times reports. "It really surprises me, because I think it would be contrary to the case," said Pamela Freeman, associate dean of students and director of the office of student ethics and anti-harassment programs. Russell Fazio, a psychology professor at Ohio State University, conducted studies on interracial roommates at Ohio State and IU, according to The New York Times. "At Indiana University, where housing was not so tight, more interracial roommates split," Fazio told The New York Times. "Here at Ohio State, where there was a housing crunch, they were told to work it out." Sara Ivey Lucas, IU's assistant director for housing assignments, said no one employed by the Division of Residential Programs and Services was aware of the study at the time it was conducted and did not provide Fazio with any statistics. "About once or twice a year, we may have someone send a request for racial, religious or sexual reasons," Ivey Lucas said. "When we know about it, we try to challenge it, and we sometimes grant the room change. But we at least challenge them to think about why they chose to come to a diverse school such as IU." Full story.

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