Grain & Chaff

Headliners

Two campus alumni figured prominently in the national news during the past week. Jose Cibelli led the team of researchers at Advanced Cell Technologies Inc. who successfully cloned a human embryo. Cibelli, who received his Ph.D. in Veterinary and Animal Sciences in 1998, is vice president of research at the Worcester company, which was founded by former professor Jim Robl and alumnus Steven Stice. Cibelli was also part of the UMass team that cloned three transgenic cows several years ago. ... Kenneth Feinberg, '67, meanwhile, has been handed the monumental task of administering the $11 billion Sept. 11 Victims Compensation Fund. The former aide to Sen. Ted Kennedy is well-versed in mediating complex and emotionally charged disputes such as those surrounding Agent Orange exposure and the Dalkon Shield birth control device. Feinberg was appointed to the post by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Out and about

Mary Deane Sorcinelli, director of the Center For Teaching, and Martha Stassen, director of Assessment, were invited participants in "Looking Into the Future: A National Roundtable in Higher Education," in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 26-27. The forum was sponsored by the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE). Participants included a selected group of faculty, campus administrators, higher education researchers, and representatives from professional associations.

UR-high

University of Rhode Island officials are seeking approval to charge dorm residents a $300 Internet access fee next year. At the same time, URI is upping its library and computing fee and dorm telephone and cable TV charges. Combined with a previously approved $374 tuition hike and $386 room-and-board increase, the higher fees could increase costs for in-state students by $1,120 or 8.9 percent, and $1,586 or 7.4 percent, for out-of-state residents. Since the new room-and-board rates will eclipse even those at Brown University, URI is trying to discourage comparison shopping by omitting the cable TV, phone and Internet charges from its published room-and-board rates and listing them separately as a "communications fee."

Beds and heads

The University of Connecticut's board of trustees has approved a $72 million package to build new student housing at the Storrs campus. The plan calls for 1,300 new beds, including 500 in dormitory-style suites, 500 in apartments and 300 in sororities and fraternities. Construction will be supported by a special bond issue to be repaid through student fees. ... UConn's probably not counting on graduate students to fill many of those beds though. Graduate student enrollment has dropped 26 percent since 1995, even though the school has added new research buildings and bolstered its graduate programs. A state report said graduate enrollment dropped 5 percent since last year, but UConn officials said some of the decrease is attributable to changes in how students are counted.

Team efforts

The National Science Foundation has awarded each of two University teams a grant to study nanotechnology. Peter Monson, Michael Tsapatsis, Efronsini Kokkoli, and John Sherman of Engineering; Vincent Rotello and Scott Auerbach of Chemistry; Murugappan Muthukumar, Thomas Russell, Jacques Penelle, and Thomas McCarthy of Polymer Science and Engineering; and Mark Tuominen of Physics make up the teams.