Out of Africa: Scholar takes democracy on the road
For Edward McMahon, assistant research professor of political science and director of the Center on Democratic Performance, this summer is one full of politics African style. Read more
Skormin receives NSF grant to open BU laser communications lab to students and researchers around the globe
When Victor A. Skormin gets ready to test sophisticated communications laser equipment he doesn't flick any switches or twist any dials. It's all done with mouse clicks and can be initiated from half-a-world-away via the Internet. Read more
Standard measures: Scholar developing new ways to gauge corrections systems
Think about the term "prison warden" and the 1950s stereotype of a cigar-smoking, overbearing, authoritarian, middle-aged man will likely come to mind. The stereotype survives, but the reality that spawned it is long gone. Read more
‘The buzz’ gets the biz: BU researcher explores effects of teen drinking on socialization
A team of researchers headed by Elena Varlinskaya, associate research professor of psychology, as the primary investigator, has won a grant from the National Institutes of Health for work that might help explain the danger of teenage social drinking. Varlinskaya, along with Evgeniy Petrov, research professor of psychology, Linda P. Spear and Norman E. Spear, both distinguished professors of psychology, will receive $1.1 million over five years to research ethanol and social interactions in adolescent rats. Read more
A nine year partnership-SEHD helps adjust to new world
Helping people with no food, clothing or shelter, assessing abused children, placing children in foster care, dealing with child support issues, determining eligibility for Medicaid or food stamps – those are just some of the issues faced daily by employees in the Broome County Department of Social Services (DSS). Read more
A Poet Among Us
Luiza Franco Moreira, associate professor of Comparative Literature, specializes in twentieth-century Brazilian literature, and is also interested in 20th century literature of North and South America. Her book "Meninos, Poetas e Heróis" ("Children, Poets, and Heroes"), (EDUSP, 2000) explores the ways that poetry participates in cultural and political hegemony, through a discussion of the work of Cassiano Ricardo, a Brazilian poet and political propagandist. The book has been well received. Read more
BU mathematicians take numbers to the ninth level — and a world record
Two Harpur College math professors have taken the concept of a magic square — a mathematical challenge where every row and column in a square add up to the same number — to the ninth level. In doing so they achieved a new world record. Matthias Beck, visiting assistant professor, and Dennis Pixton, associate professor, teamed up to compute the volume of a doubly stochastic matrix, also known as a Birkhoff polytope, of size nine. It took them six days and the power of 30 desktop computers to accomplish the task. Read more
