@work on the economy:

 

Fayetteville State Entrepreneurs Turn Heat Into Dough

 

 

 

From the time superagent Maxwell Smart first picked up his shoe phone to make a call to headquarters, straight through to today, portable telephones have always been limited by a time bomb – limited battery life.  

 

But maybe not for much longer. Four students from Fayetteville State University have worked with an FSU faculty member to develop a strategy to create a phone that gets its power from heat. The team won first place for their business plan in a competition by Opportunity Funding Corporation’s Venture Challenge in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

The FSU team of James Hemstock, Tye Owens, Tashia Parket and adviser Dr. Boris Abbey developed their plan around a thermoelectric device invented by Dr. Daryush Ila, associate vice chancellor for research.  

 

How does the cell phone charge using this device? The device attaches to the back of the cell phone. Electricity is generated by the by the user’s hands, thus immediately charging the phone as you talk.

 

In addition to developing a compelling plan to commercialize a potentially valuable technology, the team gained valuable experience in entrepreneurship: as team leader Tye Owens, says, “Just the experience alone has been worth everything—learning how to do all the market research, how to write it up and present it to investors, then negotiating with the investors—I would do it all over again.”

 

We have a formal academic program that emphasizes entrepreneurship, and we set very high standards for our teams,” says Fayetteville State Chancellor Dr. James Anderson, explaining the school’s winning record. Anderson, who attended the competition, called it “a really outstanding opportunity for students to compete in the public domain against top students from other institutions.” It was Fayetteville State’s fifth first-place win in eight years.

 

The winning team is not satisfied with their competition victory. Their plan is to incorporate and then prepare to actually take the product to market. Team members were approached after the competition by three companies with an interest in either investment or collaboration and the University has applied for a patent.    

 

@work in the community:

 

 

 

 

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changing Nutrition at Appalachian State University and the NC Research Campus

 

“Superfoods”: blueberries, salmon , tea and…chia. Chia as in chia pet? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzY7qQFij_M  Researchers at

 

Appalachian State University and the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis believe the seeds of chia (not the terra cotta version) could be the next addition to the super food list, and could help people live healthier lives.

 

Why are scientists, nutritionists and athletes keenly interested in chia?   Studies have shown that the chia seed is rich in nutrients including omega-3’ s well as a natural source of energy.  It is this concentration and omega-3, without the risk of mercury or other contaminants that can be in fish, that interests nutritionists in their efforts to promote heart health.  

 

Dr. David Newman, Director of Appalachian State’s Human Performance Laboratory at the N.C. Research Campus, and a professor in ASU’s Health, Exercise and Leisure Department is the supervisor of the chiastudies in chia, funded by Dole Foods to determine if the seed could serve as a food additive. According to Dole, chia is an oily seed that is lower in fat and calories per serving than walnuts. One ounce of chia seed contains 44 percent of daily fiber, 20 percent of calcium, 15 percent of iron, 25 percent of phosphorous and 30 percent of manganese. 

 

Chia’s use as a food additive predates its creation and marketing of the” chia pet” by centuries.   According to Dr. Newman, “The ancient Aztecs and Mayans incorporated the seed in their diets hundreds of years ago and a lot of people regard it as a magical food.”

 

ASU’s first study on chia, conducted in Boone, utilized whole chia seeds. The study found no effect on women and any disease factors. A second study, to be published this month in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, found that grinding chia seeds results in increased omega-3 fatty acids in blood levels. 

 

A third study this summer, will research athletes who eat chia seeds for two weeks and before exercising to study chia’s benefits for athletic performance. “We have now conducted more human trials (on chia) than any other team,’ Neiman added. 

 

So it may not be long now before chia cha-cha-cha-changes its image – and people’s health.

 

  

@work in the world:

 

 

 

ECU Conference, Course Bring the World To Greenville

 

 

 

The world came to ECU this month for help with a challenge facing every university – how do they get students ready to succeed in the global economy?

 

Administrators from 25 universities in 17 countries – from China to Russia to Ecuador to the Gambia --  took a close look at one of ECU’s most innovative ideas – virtual classes designed to bring its students virtually face to face with students from across the world, to explore key issues, improve cultural understanding and communication and learn how to work together.

 

In all, sixty people, including representatives from Appalachian State, NCA&T State, NC School of Science and Math attended the 5^th Annual Global Partners in Education Conference in Greenville May 7-11 to hear presentations and seminars focused on leadership and leadership development, international and global relations and collaborative projects.

 

The program builds off of ECU’s Global Understanding course. Launched in 2003, the freshman-level course uses Internet-based technology to bring students face-to-face with their international counterparts.

It also helps address a sticky problem: while most students would benefit from the skills and abilities they gain through travel abroad, only a small percentage of UNC students go. Last year only about 5500 of UNC’s 220,000 students studied abroad. The Global Understanding doesn’t replace a study abroad experience, but it does make global exposure more available to more students at a time when families are struggling.

 

ECU started the course; since then it has sat at the center of an ever-growing network of universities seeking to achieve similar goals: “The Global Partners in Education organization promotes global cultural exchanges for university students like no other system throughout the world of which we are aware, said Austin Bunch, ECU’s senior associate provost. “ECU is the central hub for this initiative and has received national and international recognition for the innovation of the global understanding program. This conference allows the key people in the partner institutions to meet face to face to enhance their relationships and continue to build a global network of colleagues. We’re looking for the next phase of our global understanding program…the next levels of understanding and the involvement and cultural appreciation.”

 

 

ECU is spreading its experience to other schools in the UNC system. In the past, faculty at UNC_Chapel Hill, Fayetteville State and NCA&T State have begun offering courses using ECU-inspired techniques; this year Appalachian State and the NC School of Science and Math are looking to add Global Understanding courses.

 

The UNC system partners appreciate many of the same advantages as the international partners who were in Greenville at the conference. They see that it’s valuable for students to understand other cultures, wherever they come from. As Sara Drammeh of the University of Gambia, puts it: “Some at the university come from remote places. They don’t know about America. And students here, they don’t know about Africa. When they interact with our students, it changes.” 

 

From the remotest villages to the densest urban centers, students are communicating, collaborating, and learning in new and exciting ways.  "Including transit, it took me about 24 hours from Kuala Terengganu to Greenville,” said Nazli Aziz, a Global Understandings instructor from University Malaysia Terengganu, in Terengganu, Malaysia. “But it was worthwhile taking the trouble to travel that long way.”

Fortunately for the students enrolled in the global understanding courses across the world, interacting with their foreign counterparts is much easier. They are doing their travel virtually.

 

 

Fact of the Month

 

Even in a down economy, people with a bachelor’s degree still have an edge when it comes to looking for work – and finding it. Statistics from the NC Department of Commerce’s Labor and Economic Analysis and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (presented to the NC Economic Development Board May 11, 2012) show that four-year college graduates are more likely than those at any other education level to be trying to work (nationally the April 2012 “participation rate” is 76.2% vs. 59.2% for high school graduates) and to be successful in finding work (in North Carolina, the unemployment rate for people with just a high school degree is 9.0%, compared to 3.5% for four-year college graduates). 

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