Myles W. Jackson, Ph.D., a history of science and technology professor, is currently working on a new project dealing with issues of privacy and ownership relevant to the Human Genome Project, a topic he introduces in this lecture video.
Category Archives: Knowledge Share
President Hultin, Faculty and Students Ask ‘What is a Culture of Peace’?
December 13, 2007 – 4:51 pm
President Hultin: “What should we make of our record of war and peace in the last century?”
What can we learn from the 20th century’s place in history as the century with the greatest technological and scientific strides and the greatest amount of bloodshed? That was the central theme of President Jerry M. Hultin’s opening as special guest speaker at the two-day Culture of Peace Student Forum Conference held at the United Nations Headquarters, November 29 - 30.
Poly staff, faculty and students also took part in the conference which brought students from over 38 countries together to explore the concept of a “culture of peace” in a globalized world.
Below is a recap of the conference. A news article with more details is available here.
“We at Polytechnic,” said Hultin, “believe that a culture of peace can be developed if knowledge and learning are used with three key ideas in mind: 1. Entrepreneurship: give young people the skills to create new products, enterprises and jobs so they and their families have a stake in stability and in a culture of peace. 2. Invention and innovation: challenge universities and research corporations to solve the essential problems of sustaining life for the nearly 3 billion people who have access to less than $2 a day, so these people have hope. 3. Information: use information-and the ability to link the world-to understand why peace fails and where wars start, so that those who are seeking a culture of peace can have greater impact.”
Conference co-organizers, Up with People, wrapped up the first day with a couple of songs.
On day two, “Education and Technology” panelists, Bruce Niswander, Director of Poly’s Brooklyn Enterprise on Science and Technology, Bharat Rao, Associate Professor of Management, and Carl Skelton, Lecturer of Digital Media and Director of Poly’s Integrated Digital Media Institute presented trends in their respective subject areas, challenging the students to think about how new technologies factor into peace, particularly Web 2.0 applications, i.e., user-driven social networking and media-sharing sites such as Facebook and Flicker.
Poly students attended group and open-floor discussions on topics such as intercultural communications and conflict resolution.
Lucas Bernard’s Recent Finance Publications
December 10, 2007 – 12:25 pm
Recent publications by Lucas Bernard, Adjunct Associate Professor in the Financial Engineering Department:
Firm Value, Diversified Capital Assets and Credit Risk: Towards a Theory of Default Correlation (with Grüne, L. & Semmler, W.), Journal of Credit Risk, 3(4) Winter 2007/08
Abstract excerpt: Previous work by Grüne and Semmler (2005), focusing on a single firm, has shown that firm-value models, incorporating company-specific endogenous risk premia, imply that exposure to risk does impact asset value. In this paper, we extend these results to study the effects of random shocks to diversified capital assets, wherein the shocks are correlated to varying degrees. Thus, we construct a framework within which the effects of correlated shocks to capital assets can be related to the probability of default for the company.
The Foundations of Credit Risk Analysis (edited with Semmler,W.), Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., Cheltenham, United Kingdom, 2007
Description: The explosive growth of the credit risk industry is symbolic not only of the rapid expansion of finance into new and global markets, but is also representative of a widespread shift. The securitization of risk and, in particular, its transfer through the resulting credit derivatives, has dramatically changed the ways in which both the world economy and the finance industry work. This authoritative collection of key papers provides an overview of the subject from its beginnings through to current scholarship in this area.
Nina Weber Attends ‘Learning Exchange’ in South Africa
December 6, 2007 – 6:33 pm
A view of one of the Learning Exchange conference rooms.
Amid lush scenery and frequent zebra and giraffe sightings, Nina Weber, Director of Career Services, spent three days at the beginning of November near Johannesburg discussing the tough realities of improving communities, especially those in the developing world. “People from around the globe came together to learn about creating justice and peace under some of the world’s worst conditions,” says Weber, a 12-year member of Future Search Network, the group that organized this and other Learning Exchange conferences.
Learning Exchanges are open to anyone involved or interested in cooperative strategic planning. Weber has attended others, one in North Ireland and another in Sweeden. Since returning from the South African conference, Weber has decided to gather a group of Poly students from South Africa to better understand their experiences in hopes of serving them better.
Weber’s trip to South Africa wasn’t all conference work; she went on a four-day safari and spent four days in Cape Town. Below are pictures from the conference and Weber’s other adventures.
A friendly reminder.
Nina as she sets off on a safari.
Robben Island Prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated from 1964 to 1982.
Professor Gupta’s Global Knowledge Sharing Tour
December 3, 2007 – 1:21 pm
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Nikhil Gupta
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Nikhil Gupta’s recent knowledge sharing activities have taken him from Davos, Switzerland to Arlington, Texas. He also recently joined the editorial board of Composites Part B, a leading journal in the area of composite materials.
Presentations
Hollow Particle Filled Functionally Graded Composites, Materials Science Department, University of Texas-Arlington, TX, October 19, 2007
Lightweight Functionally Graded Materials and Smart Composites, Metallurgical Engineering Department, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India, July 27, 2007, ASM-IIM Visiting Lecture
Hollow Particle Filled Composites, Functionally Graded Materials and Smart Composites, National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore, India, July 17, 2007, ASM-IIM Visiting Lecture
Hollow Particle Filled Composites, Functionally Graded Materials and Smart Composites, Materials Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, July 16, 2007, ASM-IIM Visiting Lecture
Conference
Co-chair, Coated Microballoons, a session at Syntactic and Composite Foams II, Davos, Switzerland, August 5-10, 2007
Gupta’s research interests:
- development of multifunctional micro and nano-composites materials
- processing and structure property correlation for particulate composites and sandwich structures
- sensing of damage and structural health monitoring