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Oct 11, 2017

IU launches comprehensive action on addiction, partnering with Gov. Holcomb, IU Health, others

Pills on a table
The latest Grand Challenges initiative aims to find a solution to addiction in Indiana.

On Tuesday, Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie announced IU’s commitment to invest $50 million to collaborate with community partners to prevent and reduce addictions in Indiana.

Announced alongside Indiana Gov. Eric J. Holcomb and IU Health President and CEO Dennis Murphy, the initiative – Responding to the Addictions Crisis – is part of IU’s bicentennial Grand Challenges Program.

Utilizing IU’s seven campuses across the state, and in partnership with state officials, IU Health, Eskenazi Health and others, this statewide initiative is one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive state-based responses to the opioid addiction crisis – and the largest led by a university.

The interdisciplinary team of IU researchers participating in this multifaceted effort will be led by IU School of Nursing Dean Robin Newhouse.

IU to participate in annual earthquake drill

IU’s annual earthquake drill will take place later this month at all IU campuses.

“The Great Central U.S. Shakeout” is scheduled for Oct. 19, but due to many conflicts for IU campuses, the university will conduct its shakeout drill at 10:26 a.m. Oct. 26. An IU-Notify alert will be the kick-off for the “Drop, Cover, Hold On” drill, which is expected to last 10 to 15 minutes.

Why host a drill? Some of the strongest U.S. earthquakes in recorded history occurred in southeastern Missouri within the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which spawned two major temblors in the early 1800s that could be felt as far away as New Hampshire. In addition, the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone encompasses parts of southwestern Indiana and the adjoining portions of Illinois and Kentucky.

Movement along faults within this zone have resulted in a number of small-magnitude earthquakes in historic times. Last month, a 3.8-magnitude earthquake centered in Albion, Illinois, was felt as far away as Indianapolis.

Additional information about earthquakes is available on Protect IU.

University launches new TV talk show focused on faculty research, creative activities

IU Matters television show
A new TV talk show, “IU Matters,”  features a roundtable conversation with Indiana University faculty about current research and creative activities an is hosted by Anne Ryder, a senior lecturer in broadcast journalism at The Media School.

A new TV talk show, “IU Matters,” will feature a roundtable conversation with IU faculty about current research and creative activities, and how those activities have an impact on all.

The first episode, which debuted Oct. 5 on WTIU-30.2, focuses on concussion research. Three IU faculty experts share their work on the effects of concussion and how to more effectively track and prevent it: Keisuke Kawata, assistant professor of kinesiology at the School of Public Health-Bloomington; Thomas McAllister, the Albert Eugene Sterne Professor and chairman of the IU School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry; and Nicholas Port, associate professor in the IU School of Optometry.

The show’s conversation is moderated by on-air host Anne Ryder, former news anchor at WTHR in Indianapolis and now a senior lecturer in broadcast journalism in The Media School.

The show will have four episodes in the 2017-18 academic year, with an eventual goal of creating a 13-week series as the university approaches its bicentennial celebration. The second episode, available in November, will focus on artificial intelligence and how it may affect the future of work.

IU Matters is a collaboration of the Office of the Vice Provost for Research at IU Bloomington, the IU Office of the Vice President for Research, The Media School and WTIU. The 30-minute show is taped in the Media School’s state-of-the-art Ken and Audrey Beckley Studio.

IU ranks first in state, climbs to 27th on World’s Most Innovative Universities list

IU has again been recognized among the most innovative universities in the world by Reuters Top 100: The World’s Most Innovative Universities. The 2017 rankings list IU 27th worldwide, 19th among U.S. universities and first among universities in Indiana.

IU has placed in the top 50 worldwide each of the three years Reuters has published this list. In 2016, IU ranked 37th worldwide and 25th among U.S. universities. In 2015, it was ranked 49th worldwide and 33rd among U.S. universities.

New IU Cinema endowment celebrates President McRobbie’s decade of leadership

IU President Michael A. McRobbie
A gift of $30,000 gift from 30 individual donors will fund an endowment at IU Cinema in IU President Michael A. McRobbie’s name.Photo by Chaz Mottinger, IU Communications

In celebration of IU President Michael A. McRobbie’s 10 years as the 18th president of the university, a $30,000 gift from 30 individual donors will fund an endowment at IU Cinema in McRobbie’s name.

The Michael A. McRobbie President’s Choice Film Series Fund will support an annual film series at IU Cinema featuring films specially chosen by McRobbie or future IU presidents. The series is a result of McRobbie’s interest and engagement with IU Cinema from the very first days of his presidency.

BOSS program at IU East draws national acclaim

A program designed to whet the business appetite of high school students in Wayne County and beyond has brought national honors to the BOSS program at IU East.

The BOSS program – Business Opportunities for Self-Starters – finished in the top three Oct. 3 in the Innovation+Talent category of the University Economic Development Association’s 2017 Awards of Excellence. IU East was one of only 24 finalists nationally in six categories, and the only one this year from Indiana.

BOSS offers a 54-hour curriculum that preaches creativity and teaches high school students how to develop business plans. They are taught by instructors who have undergone a three-day training program with IU East staff.

IU School of Medicine researcher develops device to secure chest tubes without sutures

Dr. Samer Abu-Sultaneh
Dr. Samer Abu-Sultaneh.Photo by Liz Kaye, IU Communications

Medical practitioners may be able to secure chest tubes to their patients more quickly and with greater reliability by using a device developed by Dr. Samer Abu-Sultaneh, assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine.

Abu-Sultaneh has received funding from the IU Innovation-to-Enterprise Central to work with the School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI to develop and test a prototype. The Innovation to Enterprise Initiatives launched in 2011 to support the research commercialization efforts of faculty at the IUPUI campus.

New scholarship for student-athletes first of its kind at IU Southeast

Two longtime advocates of IU Southeast athletics have endowed a one-of-a-kind scholarship to support Grenadier student-athletes.

Dot and Denny Ott, founders and owners of Clarksville construction company Dennis Ott & Co. Inc., have committed $50,000 to create the D. Ott Family Scholarship at IU Southeast. The Otts’ scholarship will support a business student who participates in one of IU Southeast’s seven NAIA-sanctioned sports and maintains a 3.2 GPA.

The scholarship, which rewards both the scholastic and athletic strengths a student-athlete must balance, will be the first of its kind at IU Southeast.

IU McKinney School of Law launching agriculture law program with Purdue University

Amy Cornell
Amy Cornell

The IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law, in cooperation with Purdue University, is launching a program in agriculture law. Amy Cornell, a 2006 graduate of IU McKinney and a graduate of Purdue University, has been retained as a consultant and will assemble a steering committee to build the program.

The steering committee will meet over the course of the next two years to determine the needs of the agriculture market, what needs aren’t being met, and what employers and students are asking for, Cornell said. The program will be designed based on those factors.

Leaders in IT to speak on IU Bloomington campus

Two significant names in the world of computing, Shoshana Zuboff and Dan Geer, will kick off the 2017 Statewide IT Conference with keynote speeches that are open to the public at no cost.

The keynotes will take place on Thursday, Oct. 19 in the IU Auditorium. This year’s conference theme is “In the Age of the Smart Machine.”

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