ND Newswire
Notre Dame’s Wireless Institute, National Instruments join forces to help develop next generation of wireless
• Date: May 16, 2012 • Categories: Research
Researchers at the University of Notre Dame’s Wireless Institute and at National Instruments (NI) have entered into a research partnership that will accelerate innovations in future generations of wireless technology.
The researchers will join National Instrument’s RF/Communications Lead User program to support their development of fourth-generation (4G) and beyond 4G technologies, initially focusing on relaying techniques in the context of the Long Term Evolution (LTE)-Advanced standard.
Notre Dame students travel to Northern Ireland for inaugural CSC seminar
• Date: May 14, 2012 • Categories: Academics and International
Seven University of Notre Dame students and two faculty members traveled to Northern Ireland this spring for a new Center for Social Concerns (CSC) seminar to explore the role of digital technology in peace building.
The Notre Dame team worked with eight students from Lismore Comprehensive School, a Catholic school in Portadown, and four students from Lurgan Junior High School to help create a website. Lurgan Junior High is a Protestant school about 20 minutes from Portadown. The four students from Lurgan traveled to Lismore each day during the week of March 12-16.
Play Like a Champion Today, Athletics to travel to Uganda to promote youth sports
• Date: May 14, 2012 • Categories: Athletics, Faith and Service, and International
As most college students are packing to return home for summer vacation, 12 University of Notre Dame students will be leaving to share the experience of sports with the children of Uganda. This trip, sponsored by Play Like a Champion Today (PLACT) as part of the Institute of Educational Initiatives and by the Department of Athletics will focus on promoting youth sports as well as educational research.
Heading this international effort are Kevin Dugan, manager of youth and community programs for the athletics department, and Clark Power, professor of education and psychology and founder of PLACT, a program developed to champion character development through youth sports. “The purpose of the whole effort is to work with the Catholic Church and the (Ugandan) Ministry of Education and Sports to share ideas on how sports can be used as a platform for positive social development,” Dugan said.
More than 2,900 students to receive degrees May 19-20
• Date: May 11, 2012 • Categories: Academics and Campus and Community
More than 2,900 students will receive degrees at Notre Dame’s 167th University Commencement Ceremonies, which will be held on campus May 19 and 20 (Saturday and Sunday).
Degrees will be conferred on 1,973 undergraduates at the Sunday ceremony. Alumna Haley Scott DeMaria, who made an inspiring recovery from critical injuries suffered in a tragic 1992 bus accident involving the Fighting Irish swimming team, will be the principal speaker and will receive an honorary degree. Ken Hackett, former president of Catholic Relief Services, will receive the 2012 Laetare Medal, Notre Dame’s highest honor and the most prestigious award given to American Catholics.
Michael J. O’Brien, a political science major from St. Charles, Ill., will deliver the valedictory address.
Music historian and liturgical scholar Margot Fassler wins three research awards
• Date: May 11, 2012 • Categories: Academics
Art. Sacred music. Medieval history. And the digital humanities. Margot Fassler, Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Music History and Liturgy at Notre Dame, brings them all together in her current research on Hildegard of Bingen — research for which she has been recently awarded fellowships from both the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Adding to these accolades, Fassler, a professor in the Department of Theology who co-directs the Master of Sacred Music program in the College of Arts and Letters, on May 11 (Friday) received the 2012 Otto Gründler Book Prize for “The Virgin of Chartres: Making History Through Liturgy and the Arts” (Yale University Press, 2010).
“It seems that 2012 is my year,” Fassler says.
Science dean biking 3,250 miles to bring attention to rare disease research
• Date: May 11, 2012 • Categories: Academics and Campus and Community
Greg Crawford, dean of the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame, will be cycling 3,250 miles from Boston to Pebble Beach, Calif., to raise awareness and funds for research to find a cure for Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC) disease. His third cross-country ride will start May 21 (Monday) and conclude June 22 (Friday), in time for the Parseghian Classic, a golf fundraiser at Pebble Beach Resorts.
The “Road to Discovery” bicycle ride demonstrates Notre Dame’s commitment to research to find a cure or treatments for the devastating disease that took the lives of three grandchildren of former Notre Dame head football coach Ara Parseghian.
Mendoza ranked No. 1 for ethics and sustainability in Bloomberg Businessweek specialty rankings
• Date: May 10, 2012 • Categories: Academics
The Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame earned top five rankings in eight of 14 business specialty categories in the 2012 Bloomberg Businessweek annual ranking of the “Best Undergraduate Business Programs by Specialty,” released May 9.
The results included first-place rankings in ethics and sustainability, third-place rankings in macroeconomics, accounting and finance, a fourth-place spot in microeconomics, and fifth-place rankings in business law and information systems.
Microfinance programs: Benefits not clear-cut, study shows
• Date: May 10, 2012 • Categories: Academics and Research
Large-scale microfinance programs are widely used as a tool to fight poverty in developing countries, but a recent study by University of Notre Dame Economics Professor Joseph Kaboski and MIT colleague Robert Townsend suggests that microfinancing can have varying results for participants and may not be the most cost-effective use of funds for many situations. The study was published in a recent issue of Econometrica.
Kaboski and Townsend used the Thai Million Baht Village Fund, one of the largest government microfinance initiatives of its kind, to evaluate and understand the benefits and disadvantages of microfinance interventions. Beginning in 2001, Thailand transferred one million Thai baht (Thai currency), or about $24,000, in government funds to create almost 80,000 village banks throughout the country. Its goal was to increase credit and stimulate the economy, but results varied significantly among and within these villages.
Paul Bohn named 2012 spectroscopy fellow
• Date: May 09, 2012 • Categories: Academics
Paul W. Bohn, the Arthur J. Schmitt Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, director of the Advanced Diagnostics and Therapeutics initiative and professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, has been named a fellow of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy (SAS). Bohn will be honored for his exceptional contributions to spectroscopy and his service to the society during its annual meeting in October.
A member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Bohn has received numerous awards throughout his career.
Marketing group names award after ND professor William Wilkie
• Date: May 08, 2012 • Categories: Academics
William L. Wilkie, professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame, recently added another achievement to his long list: The American Marketing Association Foundation has named an award after him.
The foundation announced the creation of the William L. Wilkie “Marketing for a Better World” Award at the annual AMA Winter Marketing Educators’ Conference in St. Petersburg, Fla. The award recognizes and honors the life of Wilkie, the Nathe Professor of Marketing at the Mendoza College of Business.
