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NC State University News Clips for October 2-4, 2004

Compiled by North Carolina State University’s News Services, a part of the Public Affairs Office. Listed below are the current news clips. Click on the headline of interest to be taken to the full text. Click on “Return to Headline List” at the bottom of each clip or use the scrollbar to be taken back to this location.

IN-STATE CLIPS

NCSU deals for rural land
College plans ahead to make the most of 1,700-acre farm on city's edge

Foreign students face scrutiny
John Gilligan, research and graduate studies

Election takes top billing
Andrew Taylor, political science

Journalist finds extra - and unwelcome - source of protein in chocolate candy
Lee-Ann Jaykus, food science

Global warming a hot topic local summit
Mary Peet, horticulture science

Nortel's Layoffs Include 350 in N.C.'s Triangle
Michael L. Walden, agricultural and resource economics

Morgan Draws Criticism for ‘Issues’ Retreat
Michael L. Walden, agricultural and resource economics

People
Melanie Bateman, doctoral student; Fred Gould, entomology; Nino Masnari, College of Engineering

Expert: Fall colors will be vibrant
Robert Bardon, forestry

Tie spinoffs of universities to jobs, adviser says
technology transfer; Molly Broad; Joseph DeSimone, chemical engineering

Vet Students Find Refuge at NC State after Hurricane Ivan
College of Veterinary Medicine

Tech major loses its luster
computer science

‘Blarney’ named to Animal Hall of Fame
Elizabeth Stones, clinical science

New AD creates a buzz on home turf
Lee Fowler, athletics

Overseas work whips pedigreed textile firm
Dame S. Hamby, College of Textiles

NATIONAL & REGIONAL CLIPS

Click here to be taken to the CLIP ARCHIVES

Foreign students face scrutiny

Oct. 4, 2004
News Observer
By JANE STANCILL
 © Copyright 2004

A Duke University graduate researcher from Spain went to his home country last year for an academic conference. He found himself stuck for six months waiting for a visa to return to the United States.

A UNC-Chapel Hill postdoctoral researcher from Scotland didn't travel to her father's funeral in February, afraid that she would not be able to get back to the United States quickly.

And a Chinese student at Duke went home for a visit this year and risked missing the final approval of her doctoral dissertation.

This is the post-9/11 reality for thousands of international students who come here each year for higher education.

New security requirements and visa delays are partly blamed for a decline in applications and admissions of foreign students this fall. A national survey from the Council of Graduate Schools reported last month that international graduate applications had dropped 28 percent and admissions had fallen 18 percent. The sharpest declines were among Chinese, Indian and Korean students.

In the Triangle, international applications for graduate school this year were down 26 percent at Duke, 22 percent at N.C. State and 12 percent at UNC-CH. NCSU and UNC-CH still managed to enroll more foreign students this fall than last, however. Duke's enrollment numbers have not been tallied.

While the downward trend has not been as dramatic in the Triangle, it worries university officials who say the United States may be losing its edge in contending for the world's brightest minds.

"The European and Canadian schools are trying to be much more competitive in attracting these students," said John Gilligan, NCSU's vice chancellor for research and graduate studies. "With the visa restrictions and not feeling quite as welcome, they will at least temporarily go to some of these other places."

International student enrollment at NCSU has dropped by 14 percent since 2001. Gilligan said these students are vital to the university's graduate programs. In disciplines such as engineering and some of the sciences, they make up half of the students seeking doctorates.

"Without those students, we couldn't do our research," he said, pointing out that American students aren't entering these fields in large numbers. "It's a law of supply and demand."

Applications decline

The decline in applications is a warning sign, said Catheryn Cotten, director of Duke's international office, who will testify about the problem Wednesday before the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee. A smaller applicant pool ultimately means a slide in the quality of applicants.

"What it means is people are making choices not to even think about coming to America," she said. "People are saying, 'I can't take the risk.' "

Because of bureaucratic backlogs and security clearances, students can wait months for visas to enter this country. So by the time they are admitted in March or April, they have to immediately start the process if they are to get a visa by August, the start of the fall semester.

"Some people don't make it, or they don't make it in time and they have to be deferred," she said. "Some miss a whole year."

Going home for a holiday break or summer vacation becomes a dicey proposition.

Xin Huang, a Duke doctoral student in biomedical engineering, has been home to China only once since he began the program in 2001.

He didn't have a problem. But two of his friends who came to the United States have experienced visa delays, setting them back six or eight months at a time, he said. "It's unpredictable," he said. "People feel nervous about when they can come back."

Huang said another friend who enrolled in a chemistry program at Texas A&M University was unable to obtain a visa for his wife after seven attempts. He gave up and transferred to Cambridge University in England.

For Huang, the United States was the right choice, especially for biomedical engineering.

"If you want to know the best technology, it's better to come here," he said.

Still, the nation could do more to lure international students, Huang said. In September, students were notified that the government would begin charging a $100 fee for the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or Sevis. That's the new database that Homeland Security uses to track foreign students in the United States.

"For a lot of students, $100 is a lot of money," Huang said. "They say the U.S. is not really welcoming students to come here."

Students' contribution

Robert Locke, director of UNC-CH's office of international student and scholar services, said the university has hired two people since 2001 just to handle student tracking and compliance. There are many new rules, including one that requires students to get permission from the campus international office if they have to drop a class because of illness.

Locke worries the Sevis fee may add insult to injury for some students.

"The question is, is that going to be one more thing, one more hassle, to discourage people from coming?" he said.

There are some positive signs for international students on the horizon. One Senate bill seeks a faster visa process for international students.

This week, Cotten will recommend to Foreign Relations that the government cut back on repetitive security checks now that the Sevis system is up and running.

Some students have several reviews a year, but "it ought not be that difficult," Cotten said. "It ought to be seamless."

There's good reason to keep international students coming, university leaders say. They contribute to the research enterprise and help American students learn about diverse cultures.

In 2002-03, there were more than 586,000 international students in the United States, according to the New York-based Institute of International Education. They contribute nearly $12 billion to the U.S. economy in money spent on tuition and living expenses. And the U.S. Department of Commerce says U.S. higher education is the country's fifth largest service export.

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NCSU deals for rural land

Oct. 4, 2004
News Observer
By RICHARD STRADLING
© Copyright 2004

Along Lake Wheeler Road south of Raleigh, apartment complexes abruptly give way to rolling pastures where cattle graze and cows wait to be milked. Almost anywhere else in Wake County, this land would be prime real estate, destined to become a subdivision or shopping center.

But this is N.C. State University's Lake Wheeler Road Field Laboratory, a 1,700-acre farm where students learn to feed turkeys and tilapia, vaccinate pigs and castrate cattle. The university plans to keep this oasis of farmland so it can continue teaching and researching agriculture in the middle of the state's second most populous county.

Two recent multimillion-dollar land deals are helping NCSU expand the farm.

In August, the university acquired three pieces of land, including 96 acres at Lake Wheeler, in a $15 million land swap with SAS Institute. In return, the university gave the computer company 96 acres of farmland next to its Cary headquarters.

A week later, the university sold 159 acres in West Raleigh that were once used for swine research for $14.5 million. It will use the money to buy more than 1,200 acres of research land throughout the state, including an unspecified amount off Lake Wheeler Road, said Howard Harrell, director of real estate.

Both deals are part of the university's slow shift of agricultural work from West Raleigh to Lake Wheeler Road. Office parks, apartment complexes, new roads and buildings such as the RBC Center arena have made farming in West Raleigh difficult and caused land prices to soar.

"Once an apartment goes up next door, it's sort of too expensive to use it in row crop research," said Walker "Mac" McNeill, the university's director of field laboratories.

NCSU has far less development pressure on Lake Wheeler Road. Watershed regulations designed to protect future drinking water supplies along Swift Creek prevent commercial development around the farm and limit the number of houses developers can build.

The university squeezes a lot onto its Lake Wheeler Road farm. There are fields of turfgrass that are as smooth as putting greens, a four-story feed mill and a waste lagoon where researchers test new methods of treating hog manure. The southern part of the farm that includes a 250-year-old gristmill will open as Yates Mill County Park next year.

NCSU students and professors have tended crops and livestock in Wake County since the university opened in 1887. In the early days, students and professors could walk to their fields. They have had to go farther as Raleigh and the university expanded, but have never been more than a few minutes from farmland.

Happy for nearby farm

The Lake Wheeler Road farm is an invaluable teaching tool, said Dale Miller, who teaches animal husbandry.

Without the nearby farmland, Miller would have to take students to more distant university farms, such as the cattle farm in Butner, 38 miles and many traffic lights north of campus.

"In a three-hour lab, you don't have a lot of time up there," he said. "From a teaching standpoint, this is ideal for us to have access to all the species within six miles of campus."

There's no substitute for getting on the farm and putting your hands on plants and animals, said Sarah Partin, a senior majoring in animal science.

"Looking at pictures of grasses in a book is one thing," said Partin, 21, who grew up in Raleigh. "Coming out here and pulling them up and looking at them -- you just can't really catch all that from a book."

Landscape is changing

As she spoke, Partin served hamburgers at a recent open house at the two-year-old beef cattle barn at Lake Wheeler Road. It replaced a barn in West Raleigh that the university built just after World War II. A new stretch of Edwards Mill Road has cut the old cattle pastures in half.

When the university's 170-head beef herd moved to Lake Wheeler, it joined 400 dairy cows, 1,200 pigs and thousands of chickens and turkeys. Four hundred goats and sheep will eventually move from West Raleigh as well.

University officials say they plan to keep two chunks of forestry and agricultural land in West Raleigh: the 245-acre Schenck Memorial Forest and the adjacent horse barn and pastures off Reedy Creek Road. Both are close to Umstead State Park. In addition, new buildings at the College of Veterinary Medicine off Hillsborough Street will not displace the livestock that graze there.

NCSU stockpiles land

The university is always looking for land to add to the Lake Wheeler Road farm, to provide more room for research and to keep homes from creeping in, said McNeill, the field labs director. A few years ago, the university bought 12 acres next to the farm, even though the land had four houses on it and wasn't particularly useful for farming. One of the houses provides offices for the beekeeping program while the others are rented to students.

"I don't like being in the housing business," McNeill said.

But, he said, "as we move everything over here, we would like to have as much undeveloped land adjoining us as we can get."

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Journalist finds extra - and unwelcome - source of protein in chocolate candy

Oct. 3, 2004
Asheville Citizen-Times
By John Boyle
 © Copyright 2004

I sincerely, truly, deeply hope you've finished eating breakfast.

That's because today's topic is, well, let's just ease into this.

It all starts last Tuesday with a friendly newsroom gathering around a bowl full of Hershey's miniature candy bars - always a big hit here at the paper.

"I like the Crackle and the Mr. Goodbars - the crunchy ones," said Jason Sandford, the editor of WNC Health. "So I took three or four to my desk. The first couple of ones, I just peeled off the wrapper and popped 'em in my mouth. I didn't pay attention to them."

Mercifully, this pattern didn't hold.

"For some reason, on the next one I slowed down a little bit and flipped it on its back to make it easier to unwrap," Sandford said. "As I unfolded the wrapper, I think it was the movement that caught my eye. I looked down into the middle of the wrapper, and there was this white worm wriggling in the candy bar."

I'm no food hygiene expert, but here's a tip: If you ever hear yourself saying this about your food - "I think it was the movement that caught my eye" - do not, I repeat, do not, eat it.

"He'd dug a little tunnel right next to a big nut," Sandford continued. "He wormed his way out. I guess I scared him."

At first, Sandford thought it was a sole maggot, but after passing the candy around the newsroom, two more emerged.

"It was like a worm party in a candy bar," Sandford said. "They had a little family action going on down there."

I called Hershey's to ask them about this little mishap, and they were tickled pink to hear from me.

Spokeswoman Stephanie Moritz asked for Sandford's contact information and told me to apologize profusely to him for his unsettling experience, and then got down to brass maggots. She said Herhey's has extremely stringent safety and hygiene standards at its plant.

"There are many outside factors that could be the cause," Moritz said. "Hershey's has very strict standards and processes that ensure that this does not happen."

She said the contamination could've occurred during transportation, storage or at the store.

I checked with the assistant store manager where the candy bars were bought, and he assured me they came in a sealed cellophane package inside a sealed box. He said they received the box about a week ago, and kept it sealed except when they went in it to restock.

He was adamant that the candy bars were properly stored.

Moritz is equally adamant about Hershey's processes.

"With all the processes and standards we have in place, the chance of it happening at Hershey are zero, or relatively low," Moritz assured me, although that "relatively low" part wasn't totally reassuring.

Mike Herndon, a spokesman with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Washington, D.C., said such occurrences are not all that frequent.

"It used to happen a lot," Herndon said. "But with the food code and a lot of other things, it's pretty uncommon."

Not surprisingly, Herndon didn't want to touch this case, figuratively speaking, as far as affixing blame. Without investigating, it's impossible to tell how, when and where the devious insect was able to lay her future offspring in the chocolate.

Unless such a case is life-threatening, the FDA wouldn't get involved with any kind of recall. And apparently, the occasional maggot in your Mr. Goodbug, er, Goodbar, isn't life-threatening.

Looking on the bright side, it's just extra protein! I'm surprised the Atkins diet folks haven't seized upon this yet.

Lee-Ann Jaykus, an associate professor of food science at N.C. State University, suspects the larvae could have been in the nuts, but she too said it's nearly impossible to pin down the cause.

"I would agree with the FDA that this doesn't happen very often," Jaykus said.

At any rate, Moritz just couldn't apologize enough. She wanted Sandford's phone number so she could talk him through it all. "We'd love for him to keep enjoying the product," she said.

Oh, I'm sure he will. A self-described chocolate lover, Sandford seemed a little bug-shy after his close call.

"Ever since seeing that, I'm going to be cutting way back," he said.

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Forsyth officials take closer look at bio-diesel fuel

Oct. 4, 2004
Winston-Salem Journal
By Michael Hewlett
 © Copyright 2004

Forsyth County has struggled for years to have clean air and meet federal air-quality standards.

County officials said they hope that using bio-diesel fuel in some county vehicles will help.

The county's environmental-affairs and general-services departments are preparing an application to the N.C. Solar Center at N.C. State University for $5,000 to offset the costs of using bio-diesel fuel.

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will consider a resolution allowing the departments to apply for the grant at its Oct. 11 meeting.

Bio-diesel fuel can be produced from a variety of renewable sources, typically soybean oil, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

More than 40 federal and state fleets are using bio-diesel blends in their existing diesel engines, the EPA said.

Bio-diesel fuel can be used in its pure form or in a mixed form, most often a blend of 20 percent bio-diesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel, known as B20.

Vehicles running on bio-diesel will release fewer pollutants in the air, said Patrick Reagan, the manager for the modeling and mobile-resources branch for the Forsyth County Environmental Affairs Department.

Forsyth County has 25 vehicles that run on diesel fuel out of a total of 580, said Ron Graham, a deputy county manager. The current budget for diesel fuel is about $34,000, he said.

According to the EPA, B20 fuel costs 30 cents to 40 cents more a gallon than conventional diesel, but fleet managers can make the switch to alternative fuels without buying new vehicles, getting new parts, making changes to refueling stations or hiring additional mechanics.

Anne Tazewell, the alternative-fuels program manager for the N.C. Solar Center, said that the fuel has many benefits.

Bio-diesel reduces several pollutants, including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulates and hydrocarbons, Tazewell said. It would also help reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil and could be a boost to farmers, she said.

The N.C. Solar Center is offering the grant to encourage more local governments to use bio-diesel, she said.

"The whole goal of this grant program was to increase awareness that there are alternatives to conventional petroleum," she said.

Some North Carolina local governments and the N.C. Department of Transportation are using bio-diesel.

The city of Greensboro started using bio-diesel in November 2002, said Gary Smith, the city's equipment-services manager.

The fuel seems to have worked well, he said. The city used more than 1 million gallons of bio-diesel fuel from November 2002 to February 2004. The city uses the fuel in about 600 vehicles, Smith said.

"We've had a good experience with it," he said.

Bio-diesel presented one problem: it was more likely than petroleum to produce algae in the city's underground storage fuel tanks, he said. That could have led to clogged fuel systems, he said.

But city officials now treat the tanks with an algaecide, he said.

Commissioner Richard Lin-ville said he is concerned with the higher cost, but said he thinks that the benefits may be worth it.

"When you look on the plus sides of the renewable energy and if it reduces emissions from vehicles, that has to be looked at, too," he said.

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Global warming a hot topic local summit

Oct. 4, 2004
Kinston Free Press; Jacksonville Daily News (10/2)
By PATRICIA SMITH
© Copyright 2004

MOREHEAD CITY - It was clear from the maps displayed on the screen something had happened.

The 1733 drawing showed Roanoke Marshes that clearly divided Croatan Creek from Pamlico Sound. But a later map showed Croatan Sound flowing into Pamlico Sound, as it does today.

What happened, said East Carolina University Marine Geologist Stanley Riggs, was a gradual sea level rise during the 18 th and 19 th centuries that is still occurring.

Scientists documented a sea level rise of one foot to a foot-and-a-half in the 20th Century.

Then he displayed maps depicting the long-term future of what will happen if sea level continues to rise at this rate and if the quantity and magnitude of storms keep battering the North Carolina coast - the barrier islands will collapse, he said.

"It's not a question of whether these maps are right; it's a question of how fast it's happening," said Riggs, who spoke at the North Carolina Coastal Federation State of the Coast Summit in Morehead City Friday.

Therein lies the problem with convincing the public and lawmakers that global warming is something about which they should be concerned, said Courtney Hackney, a professor of biological sciences at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and vice-chairman of the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission.

When Hackney asked those attending the conference who believed global warming is happening, that the arctic icecaps are melting causing sea level to rise, almost everyone there raised their hands.

When he asked how many had seen something in their daily lives that convinced them, the hand count was much, much lower.

"There's a great disconnection between this concept and what you've got to do," Hackney said.

Convincing someone there's a problem may take using magazine articles that break the science down into layman's terms, Hackney said. It may take finding historical maps to show comparisons. It may take finding out which of the possible effects of global warming will motivate that individual, he said.

The possible effects laid out at the summit were many.

Scientists predict the average daily temperature in the Southeast could rise by as much as 10 degrees by the year 2100.

"We could have Orlando's climate," said Mary Pete [sic], a professor of horticultural sciences at N.C. State University.

That could mean a change in the kinds of crops that thrive here - it could mean the end of the backyard tomato, she said.

"Tomatoes really don't set fruit at higher mean temperatures," Pete said.

It could mean a decrease in timberland productivity and more forest fires, said Steve McNulty, U.S. Forest Service Southern Global Change Program manager.

It could mean more health problems with diseases such as melanoma, malaria, West Nile virus, asthma and allergies, said Katherine Shea, general pediatrician and medical consultant for Physicians for Social Responsibility. It could also cause more heat-related deaths.

The list went on: warmer ocean temperatures that could cause more hurricanes; a northern migration of insects and other wildlife that could lead to more use of pesticides that degrade water quality; and long periods of rain followed by droughts.

And eastern North Carolina may bear the brunt of the effects in this state.

"No other part of our state is as affected by global warming as the coast," said Coastal Federation Executive Director Todd Miller.

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New AD creates a buzz on home turf

Oct. 3, 2004
News & Observer
By JAYMES POWELL
 © Copyright 2004

Terry Holland is annoyed but not distracted by a fly buzzing around all day. Sitting in his otherwise pristine University of Virginia office in Charlottesville, he continues the conversation, not breaking his sentence even when the little bug landed on his face.

Holland doesn't flinch for nearly an hour as the fly dances around him. Instead, East Carolina University's new athletics director answers question after question.

Then the insect makes a fatal mistake and lands on Holland's knee.

"ECU was a place that I could really make a contribution ... hold on, I'm going to get this SOB," Holland says. He inches his left hand down his leg, then suddenly reaches out and snatches the fly in his fist.

"Got him."

Holland intends to use that same focus, sense of timing and intensity to resurrect ECU's struggling athletics programs. While some programs like the baseball team are successful, the football team hasn't had a winning season since 2000 and the men's basketball team was 13-14 last season.

An ACC legend and Clinton native, Holland had served as Virginia's athletics director and more recently as special assistant to the school's president. Landing him was widely considered a coup for ECU, which will pay him $276,000 this year in the first year of a five-year deal.

N.C. State Athletics Director Lee Fowler, by comparison, makes $218,000. Former ECU athletics director Mike Hamrick made a base salary of $180,000.

Holland says putting ECU on a par with its ACC rivals will be challenging but surely possible.

The first step, Holland says after calmly dispatching the fly, is improving the Pirates football team. After that, ECU will likely shop for a new conference.

Holland isn't thrilled with ECU's situation in far-flung Conference USA. The league stretches from North Carolina to Florida to Texas then swoops north to include Cincinnati and the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.

Holland is concerned with the amount of time ECU athletes spend traveling. He also is concerned with the conference's stability.

"[ECU] went into a conference that was a bit of a stretch in terms of geography to begin with," says Holland, who has been inducted into both the Virginia and North Carolina sports halls of fame.

Now, the conference is being weakened as some of its premier schools are about to leave for the Big East.

But before any moves are considered, Holland says the Pirates need to find a new identity -- one that includes winning.

"We've got to show some progress in the next two or three years. We need to show very significant progress," Holland says. "Recruits in particular have very short-term memories. The guys that will be seniors three years from now won't have remembered anything about the great teams [the Pirates] have had in any sport."

ECU hasn't been to a bowl game since 2001, and head coach John Thompson took a 1-14 record over two years into Saturday's game at Louisville.

Would it be easier for Holland, who began his new job Friday, to begin finding ECU's new identity with a coach he picked himself instead of leftovers from the previous regime?

"I'm going to go in with a very open mind. And certainly, that is a very natural question. I hope we haven't put him behind the eight ball," says Holland, who hired highly successful Al Groh from the National Football League to coach Virginia. "It's a question of what kind of environment he inherited. But we'll have to evaluate that."

Holland says he believes Thompson can turn ECU's season around. He said he believes Thompson is a good coach, but has been hampered by the "distraction" the entire athletics program has suffered since the former athletics director, Mike Hamrick, departed more than a year ago for the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

"What happens when you get distracted, obviously, [is] people get on different pages. There's a lot of tension. ... They start going down different roads because there's no sure answer," Holland says. "I think I can bring some stability."

Repaying a debt

Former Virginia basketball player Wally Walker, now president of the National Basketball Association's Seattle Sonics, says Holland can do more than bring stability. Walker believes Holland can create a new way of operating for the Pirates.

"He keeps things light," Walker says. "He's had great success wherever he's been. He came to Virginia before my junior year and we weren't very good. Two years later we're ACC champs. He's going to be able to set a course because of his credibility and reputation. He's going to help ECU a lot."

But why should he want to?

Life wasn't just good for Holland in Charlottesville -- it was great. He coached the men's basketball team from 1974 to 1990 and is the school's all-time winningest coach. He's so loved and respected at the university that posters and pictures of him hang in many offices around UVa.

What would make a 62-year-old man leave a high-profile program in a sparkling town tucked away in the beauty of the Virginia mountains?

The answer, Holland said, is a debt of gratitude. Holland's mother and mother-in-law went to ECU. And as a native of Eastern North Carolina, Holland said he doesn't want kids there to grow up like he did, focused on ACC schools and not paying attention to ECU, which has 22,766 undergraduates.

"When I look at East Carolina, I look at a university that has given my family a heck of a lot over the years, as well as the teachers who taught me and provided me with the chance to go to college," says Holland, whose hiring brought rejoicing from many ECU fans.

"So, I've got a debt, and they need me, so those two things sort of come together. That's about the only thing that would get me out of Charlottesville, I've got a huge emotional investment here."

The Pirates are hoping he makes good on that debt.

TERRY HOLLAND

BORN: April 2, 1942, in Clinton

FAMILY: Wife, Ann; daughters Ann-Michael (31), Kate (28)

EDUCATION: B.A. in economics, Davidson, 1964

RELIGION: Presbyterian

PLAYING CAREER: Three-time basketball letter winner at Davidson, 1962, 1963, 1964

COACHING CAREER: Davidson assistant basketball coach, 1964-1969; Davidson head basketball coach, 1969-1974; University of Virginia basketball head coach, 1974-1990

ADMINISTRATIVE CAREER: Davidson athletics director, 1990-1995; University of Virginia athletics director 1995-2001; special assistant to the president of the University of Virginia, 2001-2004

FIRST DAY AT ECU: Friday. Signed a five-year contract with the Pirates and began his duties.

HOBBIES: Fishing, boating

FAVORITE AUTHOR: John Steinbeck

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Editorial: Carolina competes

Oct. 3, 2004
Greensboro News & Record
By staff report
© Copyright 2004

In its quest to become the nation's top public university, UNC-Chapel Hill faces stiff competition. For students. For faculty. For research dollars and other resources. If the state's flagship institution succeeds -- and it must succeed -- the school and the state will be much better off.

That in a nutshell was the point Chancellor James Moeser made in his annual State of the University address Wednesday and again Thursday in an interview with the News & Record editorial board.

Moeser is not overstating the university's case. UNC-CH's core mission of teaching and learning depends on the quality of its students and faculty. Both are crucial to the institution's other role as an economic engine and a key contributor to the health and wealth of North Carolina.

Here is what Moeser had to say about some current UNC-CH initiatives:

• On hiring and keeping faculty: Full professors at UNC-CH make good money, on average, about $106,000 a year. But other top national universities have lured away some good professors with promises of much bigger paychecks. One poacher is Duke University, where full UNC-CH professors can get $22,000 more without having to sell their homes. To compete in the race to hire and retain top professors, Moeser pledged to find public and private money to raise faculty pay. A university's best asset is the smart people teaching and doing research there.

• On the Carolina Covenant: Moeser proudly announced last week that UNC-CH will expand the year-old initiative to another 120 accomplished first-year students from low-income families. UNC-CH was the nation's first public university to launch such a program, which covers students' educational costs and ensures that they will leave college debt-free. The Carolina Covenant sends a message that money should be no barrier to getting a college education. Moeser has challenged other universities to do the same and has offered his help in setting up similar programs. They should.

• On merit scholarships: Moeser said UNC-CH must award more scholarships to compete successfully for top students. UNC-CH did welcome its best-ever first-year class to campus in August. But it could have been even better because some top prospects followed the scholarship dollars to other universities with the cash to recognize accomplished students. UNC-CH must find this money.

• On raising the 18 percent cap on out-of-state enrollment: Moeser on Thursday declared the proposal "moribund": dead in the short term, though possible in the long term. With the cap in place, UNC-CH will lose out on many talented students living outside the state's borders. But state residents, lawmakers and the Board of Governors made it clear last year that UNC schools should be primarily for the sons and daughters of North Carolina. Moeser is smart to let this go because the hubbub distracted from more pressing challenges.

• On increasing the graduation rate: Eighty-two percent of UNC-CH students graduate in six years. It is an impressive rate, the highest among the state's public universities. But UNC-CH is shooting for the 92 percent rate of a rival, the University of Virginia. However, many dropouts simply have run out of cash for college, a problem the school should help address because a college degree is more important than ever in today's knowledge-based economy.

• On slight declines in black student enrollment: Moeser appeared not too worried about this development, especially when national peers have reported much steeper declines in minority student applications and enrollment. Diversity of all types is important to UNC-CH, as it should be. This is a university for all of the citizens of North Carolina, and UNC-CH must ensure that minority students are welcomed and valued. It would be a shame if what seems to be a temporary dip became a long-term downturn.

• On Carolina North, its planned research park: This sounds like a case of sibling rivalry: N.C. State has its Centennial Campus, and UNC-CH wants one, too. As Moeser noted, Raleigh and Research Triangle Park are too far away to let the school's faculty be involved in day-to-day operations there. Carolina North will give UNC-CH professors and researchers an outlet for their talents and energies. The research park also could give UNC-CH an edge in the faculty recruiting wars. "If we don't do this, this state will be passed by," Moeser said. "We'll be a third-tier state economically." Melodrama aside, if Carolina North supports the university's strengths, it can create jobs, attract industry and boost the state's economy.

UNC-CH is in good shape to compete -- and win -- in all of these areas. But the school must perform a delicate balancing act. As it seeks more money for faculty and student aid, UNC-CH must be careful not to raise tuition too far and too fast. Campus growth must not damage the town of Chapel Hill. UNC-CH must continue to demonstrate good stewardship of dollars, both public and private. Finally, as it works toward its goal of greater prominence on both the national and international stages, the school cannot forget its main mission as the people's university.

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Forward, march

Oct. 2, 2004
News & Observer
By THOMASI MCDONALD
 © Copyright 2004

RALEIGH -- It's amazing what a winning football team can do.

N.C. State University held a homecoming parade Friday on Hillsborough Street for the first time in 21 years. Spirits soared as floats, the marching band and students strode Hillsborough shouting, "Go Wolfpack!"

"Student apathy," as much as anything, stopped the event on Hillsborough Street, said Kathy Hart, a spokeswoman with the N.C. State Alumni Association.

"We needed to have something that would bring the students, the merchants and the community together," said Decker Ngongang, 23, who graduated from NCSU last year. "We heard about the parades in the past and wanted to have one. The alumni association had the connections and made it happen."

Area merchants hope the parade will spark a revival on Hillsborough Street, once a center of social life for NCSU students. The college hangout has lost its luster in recent years, especially with the growing popularity of Glenwood South, a stone's throw from the campus.

"I can remember coming here in the 1990s, and there would be so many people out at night," said Michelle Morock-Smith.

"We were probably here at the last one in '83," said Beater Pulliam, a Progress Energy employee who was attending the parade with his buddy, Tommy Boggs, a 1971 NCSU grad who came from Lexington, Ky., for the parade and today's football game. "Back then it was a lot of people, all dressed in red. It was a big thing."

By 6 p.m., the street became a noisy sea of red and about 1,000 spectators watched as a caravan of student-made floats coasted along the parade route. The floats all included the mantra, "DevaSTATE Wake." NCSU plays Wake Forest University today.

"This is great because a lot of people who don't normally come down here are here for the parade," said Morock-Smith, who owns the Encounters Cafe, one of more than a dozen businesses whose storefronts were decorated by NCSU students for the parade.

"It's wonderful to see Hillsborough Street look the way it did years ago," the cafe owner said as the marching band signaled the parade's end with funky, hip-hop-laced rhythms.

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New charges filed against Tarboro brothers

Oct. 1, 2004
Rocky Mount Telegram
By J. Eric Eckard
 © Copyright 2004

Two Tarboro brothers accused in a recent double homicide outside an N.C. State football game were charged Wednesday with a Raleigh home invasion that occurred two weeks before the murders.

Brothers Tony H. Johnson, 20, and Timothy W. Johnson, 22, both Tarboro High School graduates, were each charged with armed robbery and first-degree burglary in connection with a home invasion Aug. 23 at a residence on Mariner Circle in Raleigh, authorities said.

Authorities charge that the Johnsons stole guns, drugs, money and cell phones from a group of four victims. The victims were restrained with duct tape and handcuffs, authorities said.

Assistant District Attorney Susan Spurlin said the home invasion was an attempt to recover drugs and money stolen from Timothy Johnson's Raleigh apartment.

The two brothers already are in jail, charged with the Sept. 4 murders of Kevin M. McCann, 23, of Chicago and U.S. Marine 2nd Lt. Brett Johnson Harman, 23, of Park Ridge, Ill. McCann and Harman were killed outside Carter-Finley Stadium during a tailgate party in the parking lot.

Two others – Rachel Louise French, 20, of Apex and Ashley Renee Brown, 18, of Tarboro – also are charged in the case, accused of helping the Johnson brothers elude capture briefly after the murders.

Three other suspects also have been charged in the Aug. 23 home invasion – Christopher Paul Edge II, 22, of Fayetteville; Nathan Bartholomew Archer, 24, of Raleigh; and Justin Barron McCarty, 23, of Fayetteville. All three suspects also were charged with armed robbery and first-degree burglary.

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Vet Students Find Refuge at NC State after Hurricane Ivan

Oct. 1, 2004
WTVD
By Amber Rupinta
 © Copyright 2004

(10/01/04 - RALEIGH) — Hurricane Ivan may be long gone, but thousands of people are still trying to recover from its destruction. One of the hardest places hit was the island Grenada. Before the storm struck, 130 students thought they were going to be studying a semester in the Caribbean. Now they find themselves in the classroom on NC State's campus in Raleigh.

The students say this is just a bump in their journey to becoming veterinarians. Up until 2 weeks ago, they weren't sure if they would have to skip a semester, but thanks to NC State's College of Veterinarian Medicine, that won't have to happen.

They were looking forward to studying in the Caribbean at St. George's University in Grenada, but Hurricane Ivan tore through that island and changed the course of their studies. "The vet college took the brunt of what was damaged there."

Angela McGinnis and Ryan Millingron are two of the 134 first year vet students displaced by Ivan, the pictures they took after the hurricane show the damage the storm did to their university.

While their school rebuilds, they will find shelter from the storm at NC State's College of Veterinary Medicine. "Not part of my plan at all but it's gonna be another fun story I'll be able to tell my kids one day."

The two students already have quite a story to tell, Ryan's apartment in Grenada was destroyed and Angela took cover for hours waiting for Ivan to pass. "There was 4 of us and a dog in a little bitty apt and we had a mattress we were holding over our head."

Angela and Ryan are lucky to have made it through the storm. They're now looking forward to joining their classmates at NC State. While they won't be studying to become doctors on a tropical island, they will be counting their blessing that they can continue to do it just a little farther from hurricane alley. "It was completely devastating it was an eye opening experience for all of us."

The vet students from Grenada will start their classes Monday. They are hoping to be able to return to St. George's University for the spring semester in January.

If you would like to donate to the students call the Dean of Student Affairs at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine at 919-513-6212.

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Nortel's Layoffs Include 350 in N.C.'s Triangle

Oct. 1, 2004
Associated Press; Charlotte Observer; NBC 17; WCNC; Wilmington Morning Star; Winston-Salem Journal; WTVD; Akron Beacon Journal, OH; Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX; Grand Forks Herald, ND; Kansas City Star, MO; Kansas.com, KS; Kentucky.com, KY; Miami Herald; Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC; The State, SC; Worcester Telegram, MA; WVEC, VA
By staff report
© Copyright 2004

(10/01/04 - RALEIGH) — Nortel Networks will cut 350 jobs in North Carolina's Triangle area as part of 3,250 total layoffs at the Canadian telecom equipment maker.

The total number of layoffs is 250 fewer than Nortel, based in Brampton, Ontario, predicted in August.

Nortel cut 60,000 jobs, including 4,500 in the Triangle, in four years as it struggled to contend with an economic slowdown that sapped demand for networking equipment. It had previously announced the latest round of cuts, but didn't provide a geographic breakdown until Thursday.

The reductions at its Research Triangle Park campus will affect nearly 12 percent of its work force. Nortel employs 3,000 at the site.

"Anytime we lose jobs of this magnitude, it causes us to sit up and look," said Michael L. Walden, an economist at N.C. State University. "I don't think we should view this with panic."

Nortel Chief Executive Bill Owens said in August that most of the cuts will be among managers as the company restructures into two business units from four. It will eliminate 1,400 jobs in the United States, 950 in Canada, 650 in the Middle East and Africa and 250 in other locations.

In April, Nortel fired Chief Executive Frank Dunn and two other senior executives after finding the faulty accounting. It later fired seven other executives.

Nortel, which is restating financial results from 2001 to 2003, is under review by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Ontario Securities Commission. It is the subject of separate U.S. and Canadian criminal probes.

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‘Blarney’ named to Animal Hall of Fame

Oct. 1, 2004
Kinston Free Press
By Karen McConkey
© Copyright 2004

Blarney's lunch manners are impeccable. Seated among the ladies and gentlemen in Spring Arbor's solarium dining area, he doesn't gobble his fried chicken, slurp his potato salad or smack his lips for more pie.

His friends at Spring Arbor praise him for his dignified behavior among so much chatter. Blarney is eating with friends, and he knows they will look after his needs in much the same way he looks after theirs.

Blarney is the 3-year-old golden retriever who visits Spring Arbor on Mondays with owner and handler Mary Jo Pringle.

His loving nature and tenderness with senior adults has won him statewide acclaim. He'll travel to Durham with Pringle on Nov. 5 and check into his own room at the Sheraton Imperial and later, get inducted into the N.C. Veterinary Medicine Association's Animal Hall of Fame.

This is the fourth year animals have been recognized statewide for their service to humans, whether it's saving lives or salving a wounded spirit.

"Blarney loves people," Pringle said. "Given the choice between other dogs or people, he prefers people."

Pringle and Blarney have attended the mandatory certification classes they need to become a therapy animal, or "pet partner."

Blarney was nominated to the Hall of Fame by his veterinarian, Bert Palmer at Countryview Animal Hospital, and Dr. Elizabeth Stone, a veterinarian with N.C. State's School of Veterinary Medicine. His nomination packet was forwarded to Raleigh and was filled with letters from recipients of Blarney's kind ministrations.

Pringle named Blarney for the stone of Irish myth.

"My dictionary said the definition of blarney was to 'humbug with flattery,' and this puppy certainly knew how to make people love him," she said.

Blarney isn't getting himself all worked up about his upcoming trip to Durham. He likes hanging out on Mondays with his friends at Spring Arbor.

Getting ready to leave, Pringle spoke to her lunch companions.

"If Blarney and I have ever done a kindness to anyone here in this room, we have gotten it back tenfold," she said.

Spring Arbor Director Pat Humphries said Blarney and Pringle's visits are always anticipated. She and the residents couldn't be happier their canine friend has been tapped for the Animal Hall of Fame.

"This is an honor for Mary Jo and for Blarney," Humphries said. "But having them come and visit is always such fun. We're all lucky and blessed both of them are part of our lives here at Spring Arbor."

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Morgan Draws Criticism for ‘Issues’ Retreat

Oct. 1, 2004
Southern Pines Pilot
By FLORENCE GILKESON
 © Copyright 2004

First, Republican opponents of state House Co-Speaker Richard Morgan sent out word that the Moore County representative would be hosting a gathering of Democratic friends.

When Morgan’s office denied that Democrats were invited and announced instead that the event was an issues retreat with a GOP pollster, another opponent issued a news release making it clear that the North Carolina Republ-ican Party has nothing to do with the event.

Morgan is in Alaska this week for a conference of the Council of State Governments and could not be reached for comment.

However, Sabra Faires, an attorney and his chief of staff, said the retreat was arranged to discuss the most serious issues facing the 2005 session of the North Carolina General Assembly.

In a news release, Morgan said he invited “legislators who have helped solve tough issues in the past.”

Among the speakers will be Linda DiVall, president and founder of American Viewpoint, a national public opinion research firm founded in 1985. She will discuss the results of a statewide issues poll undertaken to identify North Carolina policy trends.

DiVall is described as “the foremost GOP expert on the gender gap.” Frequently quoted by the national media, she has counseled Republican leaders on developing strategies to address Medicare and Social Security reform, medical liability reform and trade policy, the release said.

No other reference to partisan politics is mentioned in the news release.

There were rumors about Democrats being invited. The News & Observer of Raleigh went so far as to call the office of Morgan’s Democratic counterpart, Co-Speaker Jim Black, to confirm that Black was not among the invited guests at the retreat.

The retreat is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines.

Faires said the account in the N&O’s Under the Dome column was inaccurate in reporting that the retreat is for “allies and friends” only.

“It’s an issues retreat, not a political retreat,” Faires said. “It’s not a strategy session. It’s not that at all.”

Presentations are scheduled on how to attract more jobs to North Carolina, health care, the economy in general and taxes.

Speakers include Dr. Bill Roper, dean of the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Dr. Mike Walden, William Neal Reynolds professor and Extension economist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at N.C. State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; and Ed McCallum, senior principal at McCallum Sweeney Consulting, a firm based in Greenville, S.C.

Roper is on the agenda to review the state’s health-care policy and discuss future challenges. Walden, who teaches and writes on personal finance, economics and public policy, is to discuss the state’s tax structure and review alternative approaches to the existing tax system.

McCallum’s firm provides site selection and economic development services to companies and organizations worldwide. Com-pany clients in recent years have included Boeing, TVA, Nissan and Weil McLain.

John Davis, executive director of NC Free, will be the dinner speaker Monday. He will outline predictions for the 2004 elections. NC Free is a nonpartisan nonprofit political research organization.

“North Carolina faces complex problems, and it’s not too early to come to grips with these issues,” Faires said.

Morgan said in the news release: “Our focus is on policy, so we wanted to bring in the legislative leaders who can help us shape the policies that will make North Carolina a better state.”

Former state Rep. Art Pope of Raleigh is the apparent source of the report that Morgan would be meeting with Democratic friends. He dispatched a memorandum spreading the word that the retreat was a strategy meeting to plot Morgan’s re-election as co-speaker of the House.

Pope is among several of Morgan’s enemies within the Republican Party. The list of enemies grew even longer a year ago when Morgan engineered something of a coup resulting in the historic election of two speakers of the House of Representatives, one a Democrat, the other a Republican.

Along the way, he also made more enemies among the leadership at both the state and local levels. The North Carolina Republican Party Executive Committee voted to expel him from the committee in May because of the power-sharing deal he made with Democrats that allowed him to become co-speaker.

In Moore County, Elizabeth Kelly, chairwoman of the local GOP, took the unprecedented step of endorsing his primary opponent. Morgan narrowly defeated Peggy Crutchfield, who was making her first run at political office, in the July primary.

In response to reports of the retreat, state GOP Chairman Ferrell Blount issued a news release making it clear that the North Carolina Republican Party has nothing to do with the retreat. Blount pointed out that Morgan does not hold any elected position within the Republican Party or with the Republican Caucus in the General Assembly.

“Representative Morgan is free to hold whatever meeting he wants, as is any citizen of our great country,” Blount said. “The North Carolina Republican Party, however, is offering the citizens of North Carolina true change and positive alternatives to the failed policies and scandals of the Democratic Party, while Richard Morgan is trying to divert attention away from this effort.”

Blount added that the GOP “is working hard with our grassroots supporters to unite the party and to elect a Republican majority to the North Carolina General Assembly, as well as elect Republican candidates from the courthouse to the White House.”

Morgan faces no Democratic opposition in November and thus is assured re-election. His District 52 encompasses 21? precincts in Moore County. Little River Precinct and half of Carthage Precinct are in District 54, represented by Democrat Joe Hackney of Chapel Hill, who is likewise unopposed at the polls in November.

Far from certain, however, is his future position in the House. If Republicans win a majority in November, it is unlikely Morgan can hang on to the speakership. If Democrats win, the speakership is just as unlikely, unless the Democrats suffer a gash in the ranks as deep as the one Republicans experienced in the past year.

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Tie spinoffs of universities to jobs, adviser says

Oct. 1, 2004
Triangle Business Journal; MSNBC
By Leo John
© Copyright 2004

CHAPEL HILL - Gov. Mike Easley's science adviser wants technology spun out of state universities to be judged by how many jobs are created - an emphasis on economic development that's currently a secondary goal of professors and campus officials.

Robert K. McMahan says the current system of judging technology transfer efforts by the number of patents issued or revenue generated is outdated. He is recommending to University of North Carolina System President Molly Broad that tech transfer offices within the 16-university system be repositioned with clear economic development goals.

Broad could not be reached for comment. But UNC-Chapel Hill's tech transfer chief, Mark Crowell, says he has no problem with using jobs as a criteria.

But he adds that his office has a number of aims, including stewarding fledgling technologies and generating revenue for the university. Such goals are not always in sync with economic development interests.

Technology transfer offices over the years have been involved in helping spin out companies such as Durham-based Cree and Inspire Pharmaceuticals along with promising startups like Pittsboro-based Biolex.

Technologies generally are spun out in one of two ways.

A startup company may be formed, with a research professor playing a leading role. Alternately, a technology may be licensed to an existing company in exchange for an upfront payment along with royalty payments.

In lieu of an upfront payment by a spinoff, the university generally takes an equity stake in the company and earns royalties on sales. That eases the cash crunch young companies face.

Joseph DeSimone, an entrepreneur who holds professorships at both UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, says universities need to standardize their licensing methods and reduce the emphasis on generating revenue. DeSimone also points to statistics that he says show the universities are producing splendid research that never reaches commercial fruition.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study of universities nationwide in 2002 rated UNC-CH 18th in terms of quality of research.

Using measures such as the number of issued patents and citations of those patents in other research papers, the study ranked Duke University 20th and NCSU 28th. Topping the list was the University of California System.

However, when it came to converting that same research into new companies and ultimately jobs, UNC-CH performed poorly in the MIT study.

With about $942,500 in 2002 licensing revenue (UNC says it was $1.2 million) and four new startups, UNC was ranked 83rd, trailing Wake Forest University (50th), Duke (41st) and NCSU (53rd). Topping the list again was the University of California.

"We are doing so well on the front end and so poorly on the back end," says DeSimone, a co-founder of startup Micell Technologies.

DeSimone also says the process is cumbersome and slow. He says converting his latest technology into a startup called Liquidia took him nine months. That time frame, he says, should be reduced to two months.

Crowell says the terms of every licensing deal "need to be determined on a case-by-case basis," and signing them takes time because of discussions among all parties involved.

That does not convince UNC professors. Several professors, including DeSimone, Anthony Hickey, a co-founder of Cirrus Pharmaceuticals and Oriel Therapeutics, and Richard Mailman, a co-founder of DarPharma, wrote a letter to UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser in August 2003 saying, "... there is a collective belief that the university needs to drastically improve and change both its policies and its operational procedures associated with technology transfer."

The professors recommend setting up "boiler plate" agreements to reduce the time it takes to license a technology and aligning the university's interests with that of the inventing faculty member.

Crowell says some professors have a tendency to look at a technology as "their baby" and have "unrealistic expectations" from the tech transfer office.

McMahan, who is a full-time professor of physics and astronomy at UNC-CH as well as the governor's science adviser, says the problem is not the performance of the tech transfer offices, it's the mission they have been chartered with. "It's not the people, it's what we are asking them to do," he says.

The money, though, is important to the universities. UNC-CH's tech transfer office says licensing revenue is at $3.94 million this year, up from $3.86 million in all of 2003.

In total, the office has spun out 22 startups, which together employ 285 people. So far this year, the tech transfer office has spun out two companies.

NCSU's Office of Technology Transfer director, Donna Cookmeyer, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

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Some N.C. voters look to presidential debate for guidance

Oct. 1, 2004
News 14 Carolina; WTVD
By Aaron Beard
 © Copyright 2004

RALEIGH (AP) — For many North Carolinians, the presidential debate Thursday night debate offered the first chance to hear President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry face off and clearly state their positions on everything from the war in Iraq to health care.

For many students at North Carolina State University, it was their first time of listening to a debate in preparation to vote in a presidential election.

"I'm just kind of taking it in, and learning right now and doing more research," said 19-year-old Kelly Gilliam, a sophomore from Burlington who was holding a Bush-Cheney sign and said she was leaning toward voting for the incumbent.

Gilliam was one of about 250 students who gathered in the campus movie theater to watch the debate from Coral Gables, Fla. Party volunteers staffed tables in the lobby offering bumper stickers for the candidates and voter registration forms.

The debates could be key in swaying undecided voters in what many polls consider to be a close race. They could be especially important for Kerry's hopes in North Carolina, which hasn't voted for a Democratic president since 1976.

In the theater, however, it appeared many people had already settled on a favorite. They cheered some of the remarks of the candidates and waved signs in support of some of their remarks.

Stephanie Canady, a sophomore from Clayton, said younger voters are more aware of the importance of voting in this election. Republicans and Democrats on campus were pushing hard to register voters this year, she said.

"To me, it's disturbing to see how few people in this age group really do care with these issues that do truly affect our future," said Canady, who said she would probably vote for Kerry. "I do think our age group is going to be crucial in deciding this election, and it gives me hope to see turnouts like this and see people are coming to hear both sides of the issue."

Their views could be representative of a key voting demographic, a Duke University lecturer said Thursday. Alma Blount, director of the Hart Leadership Program at Duke's Terry Sanford Institute for Public Policy, said young voters could decide the election though it was unclear which way they lean.

In a news release, Blount said many college-age voters identify themselves as independents, making it difficult to predict how they'll vote.

"This group is the wild card," Blount said.

"We tend to think that young people are a bit more liberal, iconoclastic, more prone to buck authority," she said, "but many analysts think that this generation is more conservative than the last."

Many Democrats hoped the addition of North Carolina senator John Edwards, a Robbins native and former Raleigh trial lawyer, would provide a boost in the state. But polls continue to show the ticket of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney leading Kerry-Edwards in North Carolina.

Several likely voters interviewed by The Associated Press before the debate said the addition of Edwards probably wouldn't affect their vote.

But in one case, the addition of Edwards to the ticket hurt Kerry in this state. Matthew Young, an emergency room physician from Raleigh, said he would vote for Bush. The independent voter said Edwards' time pursuing lawsuits against the medical industry cost the Democrat his support.

"I don't like John Edwards," Young said. "Most physicians don't like him."

Susan Gardner of Cary said she would vote for Kerry, and that she was most concerned with the environment and women's issues.

Gardner said she would watch the debate with her family, which included her 13-year-old son, Ben. She said Ben was more interested in politics because several students at school were beginning to debate who they wanted to win next month's election.

"I feel like if people were more educated or willing to go beyond these blurbs you see on TV or the headlines you see in the newspaper, and actually read about what the issues are, they wouldn't be supporting this idiot who's in the White House," Gardner said.

Brandon Horne, 24, of Chapel Hill, said he was more likely to vote for Kerry simply to vote against Bush.

"This is the only president that I've ever been uncomfortable with, like uncomfortable with feeling that he's not telling the truth," Horne said, adding that he still planned to watch the debate.

Dave Heeter, a retired attorney, said he planned to vote for Kerry, but that he was prepared for a series of "fairly acrimonious" exchanges by the candidates.

"Hopefully, they will talk to the issues," Heeter said. "I am getting tired of (political attacks), but it seems to go on."

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'Fear Factor' duo defend reality TV craze

Oct. 4, 2004
News & Observer
By THAD OGBURN
 © Copyright 2004

Best friends in college often have some unusual adventures together.

But it's unlikely that many friends have tried three things that Damion Martin and Aaron Teel recently did -- sharing an underwater stunt in frigid temperatures, using their mouths to retrieve cow tongues from a vat of animal lard, and driving a stunt car onto a moving truck via a ramp attached to a third moving vehicle.

Martin and Teel did it all -- or at least tried to -- for the NBC reality show "Fear Factor." The episode featuring them, called "Best Friends Fear Factor" aired last Monday.

Martin, a senior industrial engineering major at NCSU who went to high school in Cary, and Teel, a Greenville native and 2004 NCSU graduate in industrial engineering, did not win the $50,000 prize. In fact, none of the "Fear Factor" best friends did; the ramp stunt proved too difficult for all of them.

But Teel and Martin said they enjoyed the experience anyway. And they bristle at those who suggest that America's current infatuation with such reality TV fare is bad.

Q.So, how did you come to be on "Fear Factor"?

A.MARTIN: It was just good timing and luck. We were in Cancun, Mexico, for spring break 2004 ... and they were casting at a hotel the next day. I approached the producer and started a conversation.

The next day, both my friends and I went to the casting, in which the producer from the previous day remembered my name. A bunch of zany questions followed, and eventually we made the producers laugh enough to be chosen.

Q.What was the toughest stunt?

A.MARTIN: The ramp stunt seemed ridiculously difficult from the start.

Q.How did you manage to retrieve the cow tongues from the lard? You must have strong stomachs.

A.MARTIN: It was not too terrible. Of course, I wouldn't do anything like that for pure amusement, but with the objective at hand of winning the money, adrenaline kicks in. I will say that the smell was possibly the worst thing I have come in contact with.

TEEL: We attempted to take our clothes to a dry cleaners, and the place rejected our clothes. Yes, rejected our clothes, saying, "We will not clean these." The odor was terrible and felt like slime was embedded in our clothes.

Q.And this episode was the first time ever that no team has won on "Fear Factor," right?

A.MARTIN: Yes, I can't believe that absolutely no one won the money. ... A "Fear Factor" first. With a final stunt as difficult as that, though, I am not surprised.

Q.How did the experience affect your friendship?

A.TEEL: Damion and I joke from time to time, saying things like "You owe me about $20,000." But it's all out of brotherly love. Overall, I would say the experience kept our friendship the same or might have even made it better.

MARTIN: We were best friends before the show and best friends after.

Q.What has been the reaction from students and others at N.C. State?

A.MARTIN: I was quite surprised by the amount of support I had from my fellow students at State, especially the industrial engineering department. I had a lot of professors wishing me luck, on top of students who called and cheered us on to win.

Q.There are some people critical of reality TV, who would say shows such as this have no redeeming value. How would you respond?

A.TEEL: This show is about big stunts, big money and big fun. If anyone was given the chance to do extreme stunts like this, a chance to have fun and the chance to win money and did not take it, I would question how they enjoy their day-to-day life and if they are living it to the fullest.

MARTIN: To those who say that reality shows have no redeeming value, I would say clearly, you have not participated in one. Not only did I meet great staff with "Fear Factor," but I learned a lot about myself. The chance to do some adventurous stunts and win money in the process seems more than enough for me.

Q.So, do you want to be on another show one day?

A.MARTIN: I would not pass up any opportunity to do another reality show. I cannot see why anyone would.

TEEL: I would love the opportunity.

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Expert: Fall colors will be vibrant

Oct. 1, 2004
The McDowell News
By staff report
© Copyright 2004

The aftermath of Hurricanes Frances, Ivan and Jeanne shouldn’t have a major impact on the changing leaves in western North Carolina, but the storms have certainly made traveling to the mountains to view this year’s colorful array of foliage more difficult.

Dr. Robert Bardon, associate professor of forestry and extension forestry specialist at North Carolina State University, says the strong winds and heavy rains brought on by tropical storms in recent weeks shouldn’t affect the tapestry of colors in the mountain region this fall.

"The trees are growing well and are not under a lot of stress," Bardon said. "It doesn’t appear that the wind has done much to defoliate the crowns."

The hurricanes will have an impact on tourism with the damaged roads, but they shouldn’t have an effect on the trees."

However, the vibrancy of the colors this will depend largely on the weather during the next few weeks. Warm, sunny days followed by cool evenings with temperatures above freezing produce the best fall colors, Bardon says.

During the spring and summer months, leaves manufacture most of the foods necessary for the trees’ growth. The food-making process occurs in cells that contain the pigment chlorophyll, which gives the leaves their green color. The leaves also contain other pigments that are masked most of the year by the greater amount of green coloring.

In the fall, when days get shorter and cooler, leaves stop making food. As the chlorophyll naturally begins to breaks down, the green color disappears and yellow colors surface. Other chemical changes create additional pigments that vary from yellow to red to blue.

Leaves at higher elevations in North Carolina, such as Mount Mitchell, have already started to change colors, Bardon says. However, leaf viewers have lots of time to make a trip to see colors not just in the mountains, but all across the state.

"In North Carolina we have a large window of several weeks to view fall colors," Bardon says. "If someone doesn’t get to see fall colors in the mountains, they can head down toward the coast and still see colors later in the fall."

Bardon advises those traveling to view the leaves in western North Carolina to plan ahead. The storms damaged parts of popular tourist routes, including parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Interstate 40 west of Asheville.

"I would tell people who is interested in going to the mountains to call ahead to the area they are going to make sure they can get around and won’t hamper recovery operations," Bardon says.

Rendezvous Mountain State Park and Stone Mountain State Park, which are both located in Wilkes County, and Pilot Mountain State Park, located north of Winston-Salem, are areas that offer good viewing opportunities in places that should not hamper hurricane recovery operations, Bardon says.

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Overseas work whips pedigreed textile firm

Oct. 1, 2004
Triangle Business Journal
By Amanda Jones
 © Copyright 2004

GARNER - The employees of a 35-year-old textile research company could go the way of many other North Carolina textile workers - out the door with pink slips in hand.

Hamby Textile Research Laboratories' contracts with two former Dupont companies expire at the end of October. That will end a 35-year relationship in which Hamby has tested hundreds of Dupont fibers that led to products such as StainMaster carpet and Lycra spandex goods.

Hamby Textile Research owner Mike Hamby, the son of a former North Carolina State University School of Textiles dean, Dame S. Hamby, laments the passing. Much of the company's work is spearheaded by General Manager Ken Pridmore.

He says at the company's peak in 1990, it had 35 employees. That's now down to 10 due to the fact that textile manufacturers increasingly are sending their contract work overseas.

With average annual sales of around $2.5 million, Hamby says he doesn't expect to have to file for bankruptcy protection. But he has put his Raleigh home on the market and hopes he can find enough work to keep the company's doors open.

"The fat lady hasn't sung, yet. She's just waiting in the wings," he says. If no significant contracts are signed by the end of October, Hamby expects to shut the doors and let his employees go.

Hamby Textile Research is located in an 80,000-square-foot building on 5.2 acres of land on U.S. 70 east of Garner.

The company's technology has played a role in bringing new fibers to market. Hamby technicians run new products through standard mill equipment to see how well they work in finished goods. The company has more than $4 million invested in equipment.

Gene Norton, manager of the North Carolina Employment Security Commission's Wake County office, says Hamby has applied for help under the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance Act, which helps employees who have been laid off due to increased imports from, or shifts in production to, foreign countries.

Hamby employees who might choose to be retrained under TAA for another occupation could be eligible for income support, relocation allowances, job search allowances and a health coverage tax credit.

"I think it's another sign of the decline in textiles in North Carolina," Norton says. "It's surprising (Hamby was) able to hold on as long as they did."

Hamby says he has an outside chance to work a deal with the new owners of Dupont's former Invista unit, which was sold to Wichita, Kan.-based Koch Industries in April, or with other national and foreign textile companies looking to gain a better foothold in the U.S. market.

Invista's research and development facilities are now in Taiwan, Shanghai and Singapore. Koch Industries also announced in September it was building a new Invista production facility in China.

If no deals work out, Hamby says he is about ready to give up on working in the textile industry after more than 30 years. "I have a lot of talented and dedicated employees, but they're talented in an industry that's not growing," he says.

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People

Oct. 4, 2004
News & Observer
By staff report
© Copyright 2004

MELANIE BATEMAN, a doctoral student from Weaverville, is the recipient of a $5,000 Alfred Toepfer Scholarship to be used to study agriculture in Germany. Bateman, who is studying entomology-behavioral biology, plans to study plant defense chemicals at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology.

FRED GOULD, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Entomology, is the 2004 recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Award. The award is presented annually to the person judged to have made the most significant contribution to U.S. agriculture during the previous five years. With the award comes a $15,000 cash prize, which Gould will donate to the NCSU libraries and the department of entomology. He joined the faculty in 1978 as a research associate.

NINO A. MASNARI, dean of the College of Engineering, has been selected to serve on the Council of Deans of the Aeronautics Advisory Committee, a standing committee of the NASA Advisory Council. Masnari, a member of the faculty since 1979, is one of 15 deans selected from higher education institutions in the United States. The membership term is two years.

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Tech major loses its luster

Oct. 3, 2004
News & Observer
By JONATHAN B. COX
 © Copyright 2004

Offshoring, always an option for companies, could become a necessity. IBM, Dell and other high-tech corporations have come under fire in recent years for shifting jobs overseas.They say it helps them cut costs and be closer to customers in growing markets such as India and China.

Soon, they might have a more urgent reason. U.S. universities are producing fewer graduates in computer science, the foundation of many technology jobs. It's an alarming trend to some in the industry, one that they say could force companies to look offshore to meet demand.

"Especially if the quality goes down, companies will feel they're better off going to other countries," said Pankaj K. Agarwal, chairman of the computer science department at Duke University. "We cannot afford that."

The number of new undergraduate majors in U.S. computer science programs has fallen 28 percent since 2000, reports the Computing Research Association, a group of more than 200 North American computer science, computer engineering and related academic departments.

Duke has seen undergraduate enrollment in its computer science department fall by a fourth during the past three years. N.C. State University has seen roughly a 22 percent decline. Enrollment at UNC-Chapel Hill has risen since it started an undergraduate computer science major in 2001, though it, too, has logged noticeable declines of late.

One reason, say those in the field, is that technology jobs appear less lucrative than they did during the dot-com boom. Then, students thought a computer science degree would lead to riches and a quick retirement. Many took on the major.

Even those with minimal skills made it into the industry because demand was so high that companies had to hire almost anyone available. When the tech bubble burst, the promise of fast money evaporated.

The value of stock options plummeted. Companies cut thousands of jobs to trim costs and stay viable. They moved work to countries where labor is cheaper.

The industry lost its luster. Students were discouraged by difficult programs full of math with no quick path to success.

"Computer science is seen as a rather challenging major," said Kevin Jeffay, director of undergraduate studies for UNC-Chapel Hill's computer science department. "If you're going to work your butt off and have this Dilbert-like life, you don't want it."

Even those students who do want it have had trouble, he said. Parents, after seeing reports of software and other tech jobs moving overseas, have steered their children away from computer science.

"They go back to other useful fields like English and history," said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America, a trade group of 500 tech companies, including large Triangle employers IBM and SAS. "We are concerned that the student population in this country seems to react almost instantly to the headlines.

"You get into a downward spiral where you need the best and brightest, and it's not coming out in the quality and quantity that you need," Miller said. That prompts companies to look elsewhere for employees.

Some temper the doomsday prediction. Undergraduate students now are likely of higher quality and thus more attractive to employers, because they have pursued computer science degrees despite the industry downturn.

And just because there are fewer undergrads, that doesn't mean the labor pool will suffer. After the layoffs of the past few years, experienced workers returned to earn graduate degrees. Their decisions increase the number of qualified employees.

Colleges have also begun to integrate computer instruction into other majors such as e-commerce programs in business schools. A computer science degree, therefore, can be unnecessary.

One thing's almost certain, though: Those with the necessary skills could relive a bit of the dot-com fever as tech spending rebounds.

Eric Glass, a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill, is optimistic. He watched as his father lost his position to a worker in India, and as his mother, also a high-tech worker, struggled to find a job.

Even so, he will pursue a computer science major because he enjoys programming and figures the market will only improve.

"I definitely don't think it will ever be the way it was before in the dot-com era," he said. "It will get better, I think."

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. high-tech industry will have almost 4 million jobs for computer programmers, software engineers and other computer specialists in 2012. That's fewer than it once predicted, but up from 2.9 million jobs in 2002.

But with demand for high-tech workers weak now, experts fear more students could abandon computer-related fields.

Majors are faddish and cyclical, and students often lag trends in the job market. If they sense demand picking up, more will likely major in the field. It will just take two or four years for those decisions to manifest into more workers. Until then, businesses will have to act.

"Companies will do what they have to do in order to make their business work," said Stu Zweben, who serves on the board of the Computing Research Association. "Some things might not get done. They might hire people with less IT skills. They'll look for other suppliers of those skills."

Where will they look? Most likely overseas.

Entrepreneurs and large companies alike have rushed to set up programming shops in India where workers write software. Others handle technical support for businesses in the United States. Similar offices have been established in Eastern Europe, and China also is seeking part of the business.

By 2008, about 247,000 computer jobs will be performed offshore, predicts Forrester Research, a consulting firm in Massachusetts. That's more than double the 102,000 that were handled overseas last year.

Overseas, though, is only one option.

The declining supply of new workers "is a long-term concern of ours," said Jeff Chambers, vice president of human resources for SAS, the world's largest privately owned software company. "Short term, it's not."

SAS, which employs about 4,000 at its Cary headquarters and is known for its generous benefits, has hired selectively during the economic downturn. It has sought out the most talented workers laid off from companies such as Nortel Networks and IBM to gain a competitive edge.

As its workers near retirement, SAS will try to retain them. It could let more of them work part time, for example, to avoid having to find as many new workers in a potentially tight labor market.

"These people have a ton of experience," Chambers said. "We would rather keep the people we have than chase after new ones."

No matter the short-term fix, the United States must find a way to stoke interest in technical fields or risk losing its technology leadership, said Matthew Szulik, chief executive of Red Hat, the world's biggest distributor of the Linux computer operating system.

The nation must revamp its public education system to put a stronger emphasis on science and math and show students that such careers can be rewarding, he said. Countries such as India and China are ahead in that regard. When Red Hat hires -- as it has been lately-- it looks for candidates with a strong background and also solid work experience. If companies can find higher-performing and lower-cost talent overseas, they could have little choice but to look.

Unless the education system adapts to the needs of a global work force, the United States risks "becoming nothing but a services industry," Szulik said. "That would be bad to the whole economic structure of the nation."

Brett Clippingdale of Canada gave up a high-paying job that afforded him a Mercedes to return to UNC-Chapel Hill for an undergraduate degree in computer science. He knows that low-cost countries are becoming more attractive to companies. Still, he is undeterred. He has a passion for technology and trusts that his enthusiasm and degree will lead him to success.

"As far as a job, we'll hope," he said. "In the meantime, I'm doing what I like."

WHERE THE JOBS ARE


The South remains home to the largest number of information-technology workers, according to the latest annual survey by the Information Technology Association of America, an industry trade group.

Region IT employment, 2004 Change from 2003

South 3,130,731 4 percent

West 2,950,573 -0.7 percent

Northeast 2,386,964 5 percent

Midwest 2,058,020 2.6 percent

SOURCE: ITAA

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'Dawn of the Downloaders'?

Oct. 3, 2004
News & Observer
By staff report
© Copyright 2004

Hollywood is scared that illegal movie downloading via the Internet could cripple its industry.

So the movie studios are intensifying efforts to stamp out such nefarious activities, running ads in college newspapers at N.C. State and elsewhere, and sending nasty letters to violators. Here's why: University students are tech-savvy, hooked into fast computer networks needed for downloading films and typically short on cash. No surprise: They're also prime candidates for becoming online movie thieves, the industry says.

It's too soon to tell whether the movie business will suffer the same decline in profits that has roiled the music industry.

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Election takes top billing

Oct. 3, 2004
News & Observer
By DAVID MENCONI
 © Copyright 2004