Bike-share plan company selected
FAYETTEVILLE — Veo-Ride, a West Lafayette, Ind.-based company, has been selected to bring a new bicycle sharing program to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and the city.
UA in a letter dated Tuesday announced the beginning of contract negotiations with VeoRide, chosen out of four bidders, according to documents published online by the university.
VeoRide on its website states it was established last year. The company describes how users download a smart-phone app to locate and reserve bicycles, which later are returned to any bicycle rack. The company this year has launched a bicycle-sharing partnership with the University of Kansas and also with the city government in Nashua, N.H.
Research project awarded $500,000
FAYETTEVILLE — A University of Arkansas, Fayetteville industrial engineering assistant professor has won a $500,000 National Science Foundation grant.
Kelly Sullivan will use Faculty Early Career Development Program funding to research a type of decentralized wireless sensor network known as an “ad hoc” network. Applications include tracking forest fires and studying ecological changes, according to UA.
“Sensors can be expensive and prone to failure over time. That’s where the importance of network reliability comes in,” Sullivan said in a statement released by UA. His work involves studying ways to make such sensor networks more reliable by anticipating changes over time.
“For instance, after a number of sensor failures, it may make sense to deploy new sensors into the network in order to restore its functionality,” said Sullivan.
Gift by professor will aid initiative
FAYETTEVILLE — A $25,000 gift from a political science professor will help launch a new academic philanthropy effort to complement coursework done by University of Arkansas, Fayetteville graduate students.
Margaret Reid is providing the gift and leading an effort to raise another $25,000. The new Initiative for Resilient Philanthropy and Public Policy is meant to complement a master’s degree program in public administration and nonprofit studies, according to the university.
The initiative will support student-led projects as well as outreach and collaboration with nonprofit organizations, according to UA.
Pearl Dowe, chairman of UA’s political science department, in a statement called the initiative a “game-changer for recruiting talented students” interested in “interdisciplinary projects and community collaborations that make an immediate, positive impact.”
Grant set to fund
nanotech efforts
FAYETTEVILLE — A National Institutes of Health grant will help two University of Arkansas, Fayetteville researchers study ways that technology can assist with DNA sequencing.
Steve Tung, a mechanical engineering professor, and Jin-Woo Kim, a biological engineering professor, will receive about $400,000 to help with their research involving nanoscale technology, which works at an extremely small scale.
A single sheet of paper, for example, is about 100,000 nanometers thick, according to the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative.
DNA is a molecule containing biological instructions, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute. Sequencing DNA involves learning the order of chemical components making up the molecule, and such information can help with medical treatments and understanding the risk of disease.
The two UA professors are studying what’s known as nanochannel measurement, in which DNA strands go through a tiny channel.
“With sensors, you generally want the sensor to be smaller than the thing it’s sensing. So when you’re sensing DNA, that means you’re at less than one nanometer,” Tung said in a statement released by UA.
Update proposed
for UA principles
FAYETTEVILLE — New proposed vision and mission statements for the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville emphasize “building a better world.”
Pending approval from the university’s governing board, the new vision statement will be: “The University of Arkansas represents the best of public higher education, advancing Arkansas while building a better world.”
A separate, 121-word mission statement refers to UA as “determined to build a better world,” and states UA’s “fundamental purpose” is serving the state by providing access to public education, contributing service, and utilizing research to improve quality of life and to “drive the state’s economy.”
Amy Schlesing, UA’s director of strategic communications, said the statements have been shared with the UA community to get feedback. The plan is to present new vision and mission statements to the university’s governing board in September for formal approval, Schlesing said.
UA adopted a vision statement in 1999-2000 that read: “The University of Arkansas is a nationally competitive, student-centered research university serving Arkansas and the world,” according to a book written by former UA provost Robert V. Smith, Where You Stand Is Where You Sit: An Academic Administrator’s Handbook.
A vision statement on UA’s website now says: “By 2021, the University of Arkansas will be recognized as one of the nation’s top public research universities with nationally ranked departments and programs throughout the institution.”
In a statement, Chancellor Joe Steinmetz said that while UA’s main mission “hasn’t changed significantly in many years,” vision and mission statements “help keep us on track by serving as concise reminders of our purpose and direction.”