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Governor pushing education, lottery
Andrew Taylor, political science
Bright
spot in local hiring
Michael Walden, agricultural and resource economics
A life
of politics
Abe Holtzman, political science
Outdoors
gear goes upscale
Jim Rice, zoology
How to
be accident-free
Wilma Hammett, retired cooperative extension professor
Bush
continues GOP winning streak in North Carolina
Kerry/Edwards rally
Students
Stop Flocking to Tech Field
computer science
Technology
changes how furniture is made
John Summey, industrial engineering
Governor pushing education, lottery
Nov. 4, 2003
Greensboro News & Record
By Eric Dyer
© Copyright 2004
North Carolinians this week demonstrated once again that they can find something to like in each major political party.
Ticket-splitters sent a second Republican to the U.S. Senate, where Richard Burr will be an ally for the re-elected President Bush.
At the same time, the electorate kept Democrat Mike Easley in the governor's office another term. It is a perch from which he will seek more funding for education, expanded incentives to attract economic development and a statewide lottery.
"Richard, welcome," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Wednesday as he stopped at a general aviation terminal in Winston-Salem to commend Burr for his solid victory over Democratic rival Erskine Bowles.
Frist was touring Southern states that elected Republican senators to replace departing Democrats. He brought gifts for Burr: A card with important Senate telephone numbers and a blue cap sporting his name and new title.
Burr briefly donned the hat as Frist informed him that he would need to travel to Washington later this month for orientation sessions.
"So you're not going to have much time to rest," Frist quipped to Burr, who was nursing a cup of coffee to counteract less than four hours' sleep.
Burr took a congratulatory call from Bush after winning 52 percent of the vote to capture Democratic Sen. John Edwards' seat.
It was a costly campaign. Burr and Bowles spent more than $20 million to blanket TV airwaves with advertising.
Burr and the state's other senator, Republican Elizabeth Dole, now will sit with a majority party that has seen its ranks grow from 51 to 55 out of 100 members. This margin could make it tougher for Democrats to engage in tactics to stymie pieces of the Bush administration program.
Some items, Frist said, include capping damages in medical-malpractice litigation, simplifying the federal tax code and confirming backlogged judicial nominees.
Burr, who has served the 5th Congressional District for a decade, said these issues made up "not only the president's agenda but the American people's agenda."
"The easy part's done," he said. "Now the tough work begins."
Still to be decided are Burr's committee assignments. He told reporters that he was interested in joining the Senate intelligence and finance panels but planned to discuss the matter with Dole to make sure "we don't duplicate ourselves."
Political science professor Andrew Taylor said North Carolinians may not notice much difference with Burr holding office instead of Edwards in part because the Republican will be a freshman and lacks the seniority required to chair a powerful committee.
"What (the public) might see in the short term is someone who seems to be committed to the Senate, which Edwards wasn't," said Taylor, who teaches at N.C. State. "We might see some difference in constituency service."
Edwards missed many floor votes the past two years as he chased the Democratic nomination for president and then, last summer, teamed with John Kerry as his vice presidential running mate.
While Burr savored his win, Easley busied himself with gubernatorial duties -- much as he did during the campaign.
The day after winning re-election, Easley was reviewing a request for clemency in a death sentence that is scheduled to be carried out Nov. 12, a spokeswoman said.
Easley, who crushed Republican Patrick Ballantine by 12 percentage points, has given a few details about what he hopes to accomplish in a second term.
His next budget request to the General Assembly may include extra money for his More At Four prekindergarten and the Learn and Earn anti-dropout initiative. In it, students can attend high school for five years and receive a diploma and an associate's degree.
The governor also wants North Carolina to launch a lottery, which all four neighboring states have.
Yet even though his own party will dominate the assembly, it is not guaranteed to go along. Democratic and Republican lawmakers oppose a game for various reasons.
Taylor said Democrats may be more willing to support Easley's program if they believe his commanding win produced coattails that ensured their own success at the polls.
"That might give him a little leverage on Jones Street to get his agenda through," he said, referring to the Legislative Building address in Raleigh.
But the governor also could try personally lobbying lawmakers more than he did during his first term, said Democrat Pricey Harrison, a newly elected state representative from Greensboro who has been around the legislature as an environmental advocate.
"Maybe if he adopts a different style," she said, "it might help him."
Nov. 4, 2003
News & Observer
By JEAN P. FISHER
© Copyright 2004
Wake County's largest hospital system will create 540 new full-time jobs in its current fiscal year, most of them clinical workers WakeMed needs to keep up with population growth and increased demand.
An expanded heart center will need more invasive-cardiology technicians. Additional nurses will report for duty in North Raleigh, where WakeMed is adding a full-service emergency room to its existing outpatient surgery center. New outpatient rehabilitation offices around the county will mean more positions for physical, occupational and speech therapists.
And rising volume at WakeMed's hospitals in Raleigh and Cary will open up spots for pharmacists, registered nurses and laboratory and radiology technicians, among other jobs related to patient care.
The new hires will push the private, nonprofit hospital system's total work force to more than 7,000 for the first time. WakeMed, one of the Triangle's biggest private employers, had just over 5,000 people four years ago.
"It's just natural growth," said William K. Atkinson, WakeMed's chief executive. "Last year we had record numbers of people using almost every service we offer."
The number of patients treated in the WakeMed system is rising so rapidly, in fact, that the ratio of hospital employees to patients will remain the same -- about five full-time employees per occupied patient bed -- despite the new hires. That's significant, Atkinson said, because it means increased patient revenue should more than cover the cost of the new positions.
"None of this negatively impacts our charges or increases the cost of care," he said.
The average annual salary for the new positions is $48,000 plus full benefits. That compares to average annual pay in the Triangle of $39,000, according to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
WakeMed doesn't disclose pay for specific positions. But the average annual salary for a pharmacist in the Triangle is about $80,000, the BLS reports. On the lower end, the average annual salary for a laboratory technician is about $30,000. A less skilled worker, such as a nurse's aide who helps patients bathe and attend to other basic needs, earns about $20,000 on average, according to BLS data.
About one in five of the new WakeMed positions is not directly tied to patient care. They include positions in information technology, patient financial services, campus police and janitorial services.
WakeMed has already filled some of the new positions, Atkinson said. The rest will be added as new services get going throughout the year.
For example, the system expects to open two new observation units in its emergency department on New Bern Avenue in Raleigh during the first quarter of 2005 and will bring on 40 additional employees -- mostly nurses -- to be ready.
And 20 positions will be added to staff the new emergency department at WakeMed North that opens in summer of 2005. Expansion of WakeMed's heart program, scheduled to be done by the end of 2005, will create an additional 42 positions.
Health-care jobs are prized for their stability and relatively high pay, and the fact that WakeMed is creating so many of them is significant to the local economy, said Michael L. Walden, an N.C. State University economist. "That's the kind of numbers the governor will go and cut the ribbon for," he said.
One drawback: Most better-paying health care jobs require at least one or two years of training. "It's going to be good for the labor market in general and good for people who are in that field," Walden said. "But it's not necessarily good for people who are unemployed right now. To get these jobs, people do have to undergo specialized training, and that takes both time and money."
WakeMed wants to ease the way for anyone who wants to train for health-care jobs, Atkinson said. This year, the hospital system provided seven staff nurses to teach nursing students at Wake Technical Community College. Atkinson said the system is exploring other opportunities to expand training for health-care workers.
Bush continues GOP winning streak in North Carolina
Nov. 3, 2003
Associated Press; Greensboro News & Record; Wilmington Morning Star; News 14 Charlotte; WTVD; Winston-Salem Journal; Charlotte Observer; WCNC; Kansas.com, KS; Miami Herald, FL; San Jose Mercury News, CA; WVEC, VA
By Paul Nowell
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH (AP) — Appealing to conservatives, males and military veterans who admire his leadership skills, President Bush easily captured North Carolina to continue the streak of Republican presidential candidates who have carried the state.
In a virtual repeat of the 2000 election in North Carolina, Bush defeated Democrat John Kerry on Tuesday by a comfortable margin. It was the seventh straight victory for a Republican presidential candidate in the state, dating back to Ronald Reagan in 1980.
With 99 percent of the vote counted, Bush had 56 percent of the vote to 43 percent for Kerry, despite Kerry's selection of U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., as his running mate.
Charles Hildreth, 74, of Charlotte, said he feels Bush has shown he is a capable commander in chief.
"He's done a much better job under considerable pressure than I feel the opposing candidate has shown with his significant record over the past 20 years," he said.
Nearly all Republicans voted for the president as did almost all people who described themselves as white, Protestant conservatives. Bush also ran strong among men and military veterans.
Among the one in five voters who said they were looking for a strong leader, Bush took four out of five votes.
Not since Jimmy Carter in 1976 has a Democrat carried North Carolina in a presidential election; Al Gore did not even bother campaigning here in 2000, when Bush won by a margin of 54 percent to 43 percent.
Voters like Tori Carpenter, 26, of Raleigh, said it was a simple choice when she walked into the voting booth.
"I'm a Republican and I feel safer with him as president," she said.
Brad Capel, 26, a software developer from Raleigh, said he feels Bush is a strong president.
"I believe in Bush's leadership and Bush's decision-making," he said.
Kerry did best with young voters, and did well with first-time voters. Edwards was seen favorably by more than half of North Carolina's voters, and those who liked the Raleigh Democrat backed Kerry by a wide margin.
Lisa Stewart, 47, of Charlotte, wore a Kerry-Edwards button on her shirt and had no qualms about describing herself as a Democrat.
"I believe in what the Democratic Party stands for and I think Kerry is needed to get us out of the mess Bush has gotten us into (in Iraq)," she said. "We need more of a diplomatic effort and President Bush acts like a cowboy."
The addition of Edwards on the ticket briefly boosted the Democrats in state polls over the summer and led to a flurry of advertising and visits by Kerry and Edwards. Though Bush and Cheney never trailed, for a brief time North Carolina was a battleground state.
Between July 10, when Kerry and Edwards appeared together at a rally at North Carolina State University that attracted an estimated 25,000 people, and Sept. 7, when Kerry appeared in Greensboro, the two candidates visited six times.
But with polls showing Bush widening his lead following the Republican National Convention, there were no further visits until Friday, when Edwards headlined a rock concert-style "Bringing It Home" rally with musician Jon Bon Jovi at Dorton Arena.
Bush himself visited twice during the general election campaign, coming to Raleigh for a private fund-raiser, and holding a discussion of women's issues prior to a fund-raiser in Charlotte in September.
UNC Ready To Toughen Criminal Checks On Applicants
Nov. 4, 2003
Associated Press; WRAL; Winston-Salem Journal
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
A safety task force is ready to recommend several new screening checks for applicants to the 16 University of North Carolina system schools.
But the task force - formed after the killings of two UNC Wilmington students earlier this year - warned that the measures would hardly be foolproof in pinpointing students with dangerous tendencies.
The group is expected to send a report to system President Molly Broad in the coming weeks as part of an effort to improve safety on the state's public campuses.
The panel's admissions subcommittee wants campuses to spend more time checking into applicants' pasts for signs of criminal behavior.
Some of the ideas reviewed during a meeting Tuesday included checking incoming students against 10 years of expulsion and suspension records at all UNC campuses and checking students against a national database to see whether they attended other colleges.
In addition, proposals included comparing home-schooled students to the statewide public-schools database to make sure that the students weren't expelled. The procedures could be burdensome to college-admissions offices and high- school counselors but offer the best chance to protect students, said Leslie Winner, UNC's vice president and general counsel.
"It's sort of a needle in a haystack we're looking for," she said, "but it's a pretty sharp needle."
In the Wilmington cases, the student suspects in the two killings lied about their criminal pasts on their applications. Most campuses now ask applicants whether they have ever committed a crime other than a minor traffic offense.
The task force may recommend criminal-background checks for some students whose applications raise red flags. Guidelines would have to be developed to protect against profiling students, task-force members say.
The group also considered requiring a character reference from high-school counselors, but may drop that idea.
Meanwhile, some campuses already are exploring new ideas for keeping students safe. East Carolina University staff members have begun testing key-chain panic buttons that would summon campus police.
As part of its study, the task force is analyzing the records of more than 100 UNC-system students with criminal offenses in the past three years.
Nov. 4, 2003
News & Observer
By LYNETTE BLAIR MITCHELL
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH -- American government and its politics have given Abe Holtzman a rich life, one of passion, purpose and clearly defined perimeters.
Holtzman taught politics and government at N.C. State University for more than 30 years. Before that, he served in the Army, obtained a doctorate from Harvard University and completed a congressional fellowship that allowed him to work with a senator and a U.S. representative for a year. Subsequently, he went on to serve as staff assistant to the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
During his NCSU teaching career, Holtzman -- with the help of his wife Sylvia, a Democrat -- wrote six books and six articles. One of his books was on presidents, Congress and executive leaders in Washington. His research gave him access to important political people. But fate would rob him of his most prized interview -- a sit-down with President John F. Kennedy.
"I interviewed all of Kennedy's top people," Holtzman recalled. "Then Kennedy was shot a week before we were to have an interview."
Though his research was interesting, Holtzman did find his greatest satisfaction in his classroom. It was there that he saw the future of his country. One of his former students stands out in his mind.
"I had very good students," Holtzman said. "My first day, I came home to my wife and said, 'I have a student who will someday be the governor of North Carolina. He is Jimmy Hunt.' You could tell he was someone who loved politics and someone who was interested in being a leader." (Jim Hunt went on to serve four terms as governor.)
Numerous awards attest to the fact that Holtzman was an excellent teacher who inspired his students. During his tenure at NCSU, he was recognized as an outstanding teacher and a distinguished professor, and in 1988 the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education named him North Carolina Professor of the Year.
Holtzman has long since left the college classroom, but he still enjoys teaching ENCORE classes for those 50 and older at NCSU. He appreciates his students' eagerness to learn what he has to share.
"They ask questions," Holtzman said. "I like that their minds are functioning."
Here he talks more about politics, NCSU and this year's historic election.
Q. How has this year's election compared to the many you've seen over the last 83 years?
I don't remember the election in 1928, but I believe that this year was the nastiest. The accusations that they were throwing at each other and the lies that were being told, and the bitter feelings, I've never seen this before.
Q. Raised in California, you said that NCSU was simply known to you as a "cow college." How did you end up staying for almost 50 years?
When we came here it was right after Hurricane Hazel. We came into the town and my wife started crying. I promised we would just stay a year. But then, we never left. We decided that we liked Raleigh. I got a job offer to go back to California. But I enjoyed my department and I enjoyed my students.
Q. Have you ever considered running for office?
No. I passed out so many D's and F's that I have students who would come out of their graves to vote against me! My grades were probably the lowest grades of all the teachers. I had some A's and B's. But I had a lot of D's and F's. If you didn't learn anything, you didn't deserve a good grade. Also, I really enjoy teaching, lecturing and spending time with my family. In politics you have to get out there.
Q. Who are some of your favorite political figures?
Roosevelt, Kennedy, Truman, Jimmy Hunt and Clinton. I have a whole list of semi-gods. There have also been some good Republicans -- Chief Justice Earl Warren. I voted for him when he was the attorney general of California.
Nov. 4, 2003
News & Observer
By MIKE ZLOTNICKI
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH -- Jim Herold stood among a gaggle of construction workers, store employees and others and wiped the sweat off his brow. All around, nail guns popped, generators churned and vacuum cleaners roared in a cacophony as the assembled crew rushed to have the store open on schedule. Clothing lay piled on tables, awaiting display.
The budding store manager's latest problem with a mere week before opening? The "O" of the Orvis logo had fallen off the wall.
"It's time for a little Extreme Home Makeover, Orvis-style," he said with a grin as he went to retrieve the logo template. "It's been triage, a little bit of everything. I'm amazed at where we are right now. It's been a SWAT team."
Such has been the birth of the new Orvis "destination" store at Triangle Town Center in North Raleigh, a 20,000-square-foot facility joining new stores in Denver, Dallas and Manchester, Vt., in an unusual new direction for the venerable, 148-year-old company famous for high-end fly-fishing equipment. Picture the four destination stores as sort of Bass Pro Shops-type outdoors-gear extravaganzas for fly-anglers when compared to Orvis' other retail ventures at company stores and affiliates.
"This is retail heaven for me," Herold said as he surveyed the action.
His previous experience includes stints working for REI and Bass Pro Shops and partnering in an Orvis franchise in Annapolis, Md.
"I sent a bunch of resumes out, and the Mother Ship called," he said. "This is my dream store. I couldn't have designed it any better. One of the most exciting things about the store is the people I've gotten to open it."
Among those people at the "dream store" is Jim Cole of Raleigh, who stood amid boxes and boxes of flies like an entomologist in bug heaven. He was busy sorting and cataloging streamers, nymphs, emergers, poppers, midges and other faux fish offerings.
About $140,000 worth of hooks, feathers and fur were scattered about his work site, about 50,000 individual flies, ranging from tiny nymphs three-eighths of an inch long to big saltwater streamers more than seven inches long. Prices range from less than $2 for most trout flies to about $7 for the big saltwater baitfish imitations.
A retired glass etcher, Cole, 54, had bloody hook pricks on his fingers, but that didn't sully his good humor when he was asked his job title.
"My job is selling fishin' stuff," he said, laughing under the glow of a 12-inch-by-12-inch stained-glass window depicting a brook trout rising to a Royal Coachman dry fly. "This job will cut into my fishing time, at least until the holidays."
Raleigh may seem an odd place for such a store, but among the mountain trout fisheries, Piedmont warmwater species and superior coastal fishing, Orvis saw an opportunity beyond its traditional mail-order business in the state.
"We've actually had a great following from our catalog base from this area for some time," said Tory Myler, retail marketing manager from the Manchester headquarters in town to help ready the store for opening. "This is definitely one of the most popular areas from a corporate view.
"The location itself come into it. The casting platform and river in back are unique. That's something we couldn't do in some other cities."
A river actually does run through it. An artificial waterway will run behind the store and through part of the mall, allowing anglers to test equipment before buying.
Myler said the company has no financial goals for the store.
"It's such a new concept that we have nothing to benchmark it with," he said. "This is a new direction where we're heading."
It may be a new direction for Triangle fly anglers as well, who have seen several fly shops close in recent years.
"On the good side, it will probably have a lot of soft goods to help the fly side," said Jim Rice, 48, a zoology professor at N.C. State who is an avid fly angler. "The bad side is that it's on one extreme end of the Triangle.
"From a consumer's standpoint, none of the shops in the area seem to cover everything. I like having multiple shops because they tend to carry different things."
Besides rods, reels and flies, the new Orvis store will carry a lot of other merchandise, some of which will appeal to those who have no interest in fishing. The company's mantra, Myler said, is "distinctive country living."
To that end, pet supplies, rugs, furniture, lamps, candles, blankets, clothing and other Orvis products will be available. This past Friday, meat smokers, peanuts and Bloody Mary mix awaited stocking around one table -- sort of Southern Living meets Vermont. A towering stuffed bear (stuffed toy, not a mounted bruin) greets visitors as they enter, and a shopper can take him home for a cool $5,000.
The store will be dog friendly, with pets allowed in the store. The store even will sponsor dog events, starting Sunday with an American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen program for the first 40 pets and owners. The program will run 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
"Dogs are as important to Orvis people as fish are," Myler said.
One can only hope that applies to the first mud-covered Lab fresh from a beaver swamp.
The bold new entry in a limited marketplace seems to be accepted by the competition as well.
"I think it's good," said David Falkowski, fly-fishing manager at The Great Outdoor Provision Co. store in Cameron Village, one of the few remaining retail outlets with an emphasis on fly-fishing. "I've never had a problem sending a customer somewhere if we didn't have what they needed. We have a very loyal customer base, and we've been in business a long time. Hopefully we'll all do well and keep on doing what we enjoy."
Steve Peters of Durham, 26, has been fly-fishing since age 10, and he most recently worked at one of the Great Outdoor Provision Co. stores. He has since signed on as a full-time fly-fishing associate at the Orvis store.
"I loved working at Provision Company," he said. "I came over here because it's an easy product to get behind. You don't have to sell people; you just help them choose."
After a customer chooses an Orvis product, a bit more than the typical sale happens. Orvis donates 5 percent of pre-tax profits annually to conservation-minded agencies such as Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited and the Coastal Conservation Association.
On Friday at the Raleigh store, 5 percent of profits will go to The Nature Conservancy's Roanoke River Project.
That should make a fly angler feel better after dropping up to $600 on a fly rod. The more you spend, the more you save.
Nov. 4, 2003
News & Observer
By BENJAMIN NIOLET
© Copyright 2004
Nearly one quarter of all accidental deaths in North Carolina in 2003 happened in the home.
Statistics show that people who are killed in home accidents most often fell, or were poisoned or burned, or drowned.
Advocates and experts say those deaths are preventable. The time to spot a hidden hazard in the home should be before a trip to the emergency room, they said.
"We have the potential for living longer and better today if we do a little bit of up-front work," said Kay Sanford, an epidemiologist with the Injury and Violence Prevention branch of the state health department.
Homeowners should take a look at their homes with an eye on potential hazards and ways to reduce them. Then from day to day, homeowners should try to separate potential hazards from people prone to them, such as children, Sanford said.
Children are particularly prone to drowning in the home, Sanford said.
Swimming pools should be surrounded on all sides by a locked fence. But inside the house, children have drowned in buckets of mop water, in bathtubs or even in toilets. Children should never be left unattended, even for a moment, near water, Sanford said.
Fires are another danger.
In 2003, 103 people died at in house fires. Homes should be equipped with working smoke detectors that are tested and have batteries replaced regularly.
Every member of the household should be familiar with an escape plan. Most importantly, no one should ever go back inside a burning building, Sanford said. Many of the house fire deaths were not children but older people, which suggests people might succumb when they go inside to help others.
In North Carolina last year, 224 people died from falls. Almost half of them died from a fall at home, Sanford said.
Falls are a particular danger for the elderly, said Wilma Hammett, a retired N.C. State University cooperative extension professor who specializes in making homes suitable for older people.
"It's the details that we don't think about, we tend to overlook because we live with it," Hammett said.
Shiny floors are dangerous to older people, and not just because they can be slippery. The eyes of older people change and have trouble adjusting to glare, such as that off a shiny floor.
Older people can become disoriented from bright lights, or even from sunlight, Hammett said. Windows should have blinds or a window treatment that allows control of the light coming through. Light should be evenly distributed throughout a room, so bright track lighting should be aimed at a wall or ceiling.
Chairs and beds can also contribute to falls, she said. Beds for elderly people should be high enough so that a person can sit on the bed with his or her feet on the floor. Head boards and foot boards should be firmly attached to the frame because elderly people tend to use them to stand up.
In addition to changes in furniture, elderly people should exercise to make sure they have enough lower body strength to avoid falls, or to get up if they fall. Their medication should be checked to make sure it does not make them dizzy.
Although it is impossible to predict where accidents will occur, advocates say a brief run-through of the house can help locate potential hazards.
The Home Safety Council, a nonprofit affiliated with Lowe's, recommends an inspection that can be done in about 30 minutes, said Meri-K Appy, president of the Home Safety Council. Parents or homeowners should go through each room, trying to see it through a child's eyes. It may take getting down on hands and knees, but looking from a lower height can turn up little hazards that aren't so obvious from higher up.
Safety features on products should be used as well, Appy said.
"That baby strap is there for a reason. And often it's there because of someone else's tragedy," she said.
VPTC Hosts Distinguished Panel on University Tech Transfer
Nov. 3, 2003
PRNewswire
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The Virginia Piedmont Technology Council (VPTC), a membership organization for anyone with an interest in technology, hosts its next Speakers Series lunch on Monday, November 15, 2004, 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. at the Omni Hotel in Charlottesville, Virginia, where guest speaker Fred Hutchison will lead a panel discussion with regional company and university representatives involved in different aspects of technology transfer.
Fred Hutchison, an Intellectual Property attorney in Research Triangle Park, NC, with more than 30 years experience in licensing and contracts both from Licensor and Licensee perspectives, will give an overview on the process of technology transfer and then will lead a panel discussion. Topics to be covered include risks associated with technology commercialization, return on investment to Licensors and Licensees, and current market terms and trends companies and universities need to understand to establish good working agreements and relationships.
Suzanne Jackson, VPTC's Chairman, said, "We're privileged to have assembled such a high-caliber panel of thought leaders on tech transfer. The information they will share is important for anyone interested in technology commercialization."
Speakers include:
* Fred Hutchison, Founding Partner, Hutchison & Mason PLLC (Moderator)
* Mike Martin, Executive Vice President, Virginia Tech Intellectual
Properties
* David Day, Director of the Office of Technology Licensing, University of
Florida
* Joseph DeSimone, Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State University,
and Founder of Liquidia Technologies and Micell Technologies
* Robert MacWright, J.D./Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Executive
Director, UVA Patent Foundation
* John Uhrin, Partner, Harbert Management Corporation
More information regarding this event, including bios for the speakers and on-line registration, can be found at http://www.vptc.org.
About the VPTC: The Virginia Piedmont Technology Council is a membership organization for anyone with an interest in technology. The Council helps businesses succeed by providing visibility opportunities, connections to shared interest groups and decision-makers, and access to the latest technology trends. Twelve volunteer committees help produce 30 programs, attracting more than 1,600 participants annually. Founded in 1997, VPTC is headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia. Call 434.817.6300 for more information or visit http://www.vptc.org.
Students Stop Flocking to Tech Field
Nov. 3, 2003
Red Nova, TX
By staff report
© 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 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 the University of North Carolina 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 the University of North Carolina'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 the University of North Carolina, 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.
Technology changes how furniture is made
Nov. 4, 2003
Centre Daily Times, PA
By Mary Beth Breckenridge
© Copyright 2004
It used to be fairly easy to pick out a good-quality piece of upholstered furniture. You looked for eight-way hand-tied springs and a kiln-dried hardwood frame.
End of discussion.
But in the furniture industry, like the rest of the world, technology marches on.
Manufacturers have come up with all kinds of alternative materials and methods for building upholstered furniture, mostly to save time and money. Some of them, however, are giving hand-tied springs and hardwood frames a run for their positions on the top rung of the quality ladder.
Furniture maker Mitchell Gold Co. has even built an advertising campaign around its construction methods, which include the use of hardwood plywood in some pieces and serpentine springs instead of hand-tied coil springs.
Yet Mitchell Gold, president and chief executive officer of the company that bears his name, said many in the furniture industry have been slow to embrace change. He likens holding up hand-tied springs as a gold standard to saying typewriters are the best tools for writing.
"This is part of the struggle of the furniture industry," he said, "not keeping pace with new technology."
Springs and other types of foundation systems are one aspect of upholstered-furniture construction where change has been marked. A multitude of spring choices are available, and quality varies according to the type of steel, the configuration of the springs and the number of springs used.
Hand-tied springs are labor-intensive, and Gold said the twine can loosen over the years. Hand tying might add $100 to the cost of a sofa, "but it doesn't give you $100 more of goodness," he said.
Some manufacturers are forgoing springs altogether. Webbing has long been used as an alternative, although most industry experts consider it less durable than good-quality springs. Still, webbing has been a boon to upholstered-furniture design, because it takes up less room and therefore allows for greater design flexibility.
One company, North Carolina Foam Industries, has come out with another alternative, a high-density foam that it's marketing as a replacement for foundation springs. The foam, called Pluralux, is being used as a foundation in some sofas and chairs that will be shown by a handful of manufacturers at October's semiannual International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, N.C.
Chris Bradley, North Carolina Foam Industries' national ac-count manager, said the foam simply fits into the frame where the springs would be. Installing it requires no skilled labor, and he estimated it can cut production time by a half-hour for a chair and an hour for a sofa.
Bradley maintained the foam also provides the same comfort as hand-tied springs. The company tested the foam at the April market by having visitors sit in two chairs or sofas, one with the springs and one with the foam. In the sofa test, 60 percent of the subjects preferred the foam, and another 12.5 percent considered the two sofas equal in comfort. The results were similar for the chair test.
John Summey, an extension specialist at the Furniture Manufacturing & Management Center at North Carolina State University, said he'd like to see independent research conducted on the foam's comfort and said its durability is still unknown. "The idea is not bad if it works," he said, "but the question is, does it work?"
Furniture frames are another element where materials have changed. Hardwoods such as oak historically were considered superior because of their "nailability" -- their ability to hold fasteners such as screws and pegs securely over time, Summey ex-plained. Drying the wood in a kiln made it more dimensionally stable, meaning it wouldn't shrink, expand or warp.
Then along came hardwood plywood, also called engineered hardwood. It's similar to traditional plywood, except it's made of thin layers of hardwood instead of the softwood used in most plywood. The layers are glued together with the grain of each layer perpendicular to the next, giving hardwood plywood a dimensional stability similar to kiln-dried hardwood, Summey said.
The material makes a strong, durable frame, he said. In fact, "we basically have seen no difference in them" in terms of resistance to breakage.
Gold also likes that hardwood plywood creates less waste than solid wood, and that what waste there is can be recycled to make particleboard.
There's still that nailability issue, though. Hardwood plywood doesn't hold fasteners as well as regular hardwood, so some manufacturers use a tack strip of solid hardwood inside the plywood frame, Summey said.
Summey cautioned, however, that the comfort of a piece of upholstered furniture depends on the sum of its parts. A good-quality foundation and a strong frame won't make a sofa comfortable if the cushions aren't made the way you like -- and that's strictly an individual judgment.