Grain & Chaff

Confirmation

When Geosciences professor Lynn Margulis suggested 30 years ago that some cellular structures like energy-generating mitochondria were once independent bacteria that established a symbiotic relationship a billion years ago, the idea was thought daring. But according to New Scientist (Sept. 9), the theoretical process is not only widely accepted, but apparently still taking place in aphids. A University of Tokyo study discovered that aphids and the microbes that live within them have become inextricably entwined and cannot reproduce independently.

Wage debate

A study by Economics professor Robert Pollin is figuring in the debate over a proposed living wage ordinance in Santa Monica, California. The study, released earlier this month, suggests that area businesses can afford to pay higher wages to workers at or below the poverty line. Meanwhile, a business-funded study by a UCLA law professor says the proposal for a $10.69 an hour minimum wage will drive down property values, force hundreds of layoffs and drive away new businesses. The living wage plan was proposed last year by an alliance of unions, clergy and residents. According to the Los Angeles Times, hotel interests hope to block the wage plan with a statewide ballot initiative in November.

Frontiers in management

The research of three faculty in the Isenberg School of Management and the College of Engineering was featured in the Boston Sunday Globe (Sept. 9). The article noted Finance and Operations Management professor Alan Robinson's research on creative thinking in the workplace and Management professor Charles Manz's musings on the leadership wisdom of Jesus. Also highlighted was ongoing research on ant workforce behavior by Abhijit Deshmukh, assistant professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.

Old school ties

Former College of Engineering dean James E.A. John and his late wife, Constance, were honored Sept. 15 when Kettering University named its recreation center in their honor. James has been president of the Flint, Mich., school, formerly known as General Motors Institute, since 1991. Constance John died of cancer last November at the age of 67. ... Former hockey coach Joe Mallen has been named head coach at UMass Boston, where he headed the Div. 3 Beacons in the 1980s.

Spreading the gospel

Music professor emeritus Horace Clarence Boyer discussed the history of gospel music on National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" on Sept. 14.

Around the Five Colleges

Activist Angela Davis discusses "Jailing Democracy: Women, Civic Participation, and the Prison Industrial Complex" on Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Chapin Auditorium at Mount Holyoke College. ... Greenfield Community College geology professor Richard D. Little introduces the premiere of "The Rise and Fall of Lake Hitchcock, New England's Greatest Glacial Lake" on Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Pratt Museum at Amherst College. Little wrote, edited and produced the video about the 200-mile lake that once covered much of the Pioneer Valley.