March 19, 2009

Georgia Tech Research Tops Half Billion Mark
The Georgia Institute of Technology's annual research spending reached a record $524.9 million in fiscal year 2008. This is a 10 percent increase over 2007 and a 99 percent increase over the past decade, placing Tech among the top 10 in research at universities without medical schools. More than 70 percent of research funding comes into Georgia from federal and private sources, sparking job creation and driving economic impact. More >

Georgia Tech students are the source of some of that innovation and discovery. A few recent examples:
> The HappyHR (left) device measures calories burned even while its users sleep. More >
> Skribit (above) is an online tool to cure writer's block for bloggers. More >
> The Young Entrepreneurs Society, launched from a Tech dorm room, helps students translate their ideas into businesses. More >

Climate Change: A Moral Challenge
Faith leaders challenged students and faculty to re-engage themselves, their faiths and their communities to address the moral and ethical implications of climate change at a conference at Mercer University, Atlanta last month. "Caring for Creation: Ethical Responses to Climate Change," was part of a campus-wide ethics program and was presented in conjunction with Harvard Medical School. More > 

MSM Solves Breast Cancer Puzzle 
Morehouse School of Medicine researchers have solved one of the biggest puzzles in breast cancer research: how and why a specific gene dysfunction results in certain aggressive breast and ovarian cancers. Funded by the Georgia Cancer Coalition, the work has implications for reducing cancer health disparities. It could lead to tests to determine risk for developing these aggressive cancers as well as new treatments to fight them. More > 

Some other cancer explorations at Morehouse School of Medicine:
> Research that could open new avenues to prevent and treat breast cancer in postmenopausal and obese women. More >
> Research to understand a gene that MSM researchers have found to be involved in the majority of prostate cancers, and to test a new drug that may inhibit prostate cancer and lead to a cure. More >

Latino Immigration and the Church
Four local theology programs have teamed up to address challenges and opportunities that Latino immigration presents church and community at a conference this weekend at Columbia Theological Seminary. CTS and the Interdenominational Theological Center, along with the theology schools at Emory and Mercer universities, will explore issues such as legislation, community service organization, and the church's role in ministry to immigrants. The event is sponsored by Faith and the City, a collaboration among these institutions. More on the conference>

Music in the Archives
What do Duke Ellington's draft card, Elvis Presley's letter to President Nixon, Gregg Allman's testimony in a criminal court case, and the 1930 Census record for Leontyne Prices' family have in common? They are all among the holdings of the National Archives on display through April 30 at the free exhibit "From Sacred Harp to Elvis: Music in the Archives" at the National Archives Southeast Region adjacent to Clayton State University.  More >


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Photo credits: Emory University, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Kennesaw State University, Mercer University, Morehouse School of Medicine, National Archives Southeast Region, Oglethorpe University, University of Georgia.