Application deadline set for Humanigration trip

The deadline for applications is Nov. 19. The Humanigration trip was created to immerse participants in the immigrant experience and to develop a perspective on immigration and other issues such as globalization, said Maricela Alvarado, director of the Latino Cultural Center.

The Purdue Regional Visualization and Analytics Center and Purdue Homeland Security Institute in Discovery Park are leading the university program, now in its second year, through a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Six members of the newly elected class will address their colleagues at the induction ceremony: PepisCo Chairman and CEO Indra K. Nooyi; trailblazing mathematician and hedge fund leader James Simons; biochemist and Merck Research Laboratories President Peter S. Kim; Harvard economist Susan Athey; and historian and Emory University Provost Earl Lewis will speak. Soprano Dawn Upshaw will perform. During the program, the Academy will also present its Scholar-Patriot Award in honor of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who was elected a Fellow of the Academy in 2002.

"The question we don't know is how deep the recession will be and low long it will last," says Sugato Chakravarty, a professor and head of the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing.

Students in Purdue University's Engineering Projects in Community Service program, helped by a $100,000 grant from the Ford Motor Co. Fund, will partner with Lafayette Habitat for Humanity to build a home in Reynolds, Ind., that uses standards for environmentally friendly and energy efficient buildings.

The goal of the Center for Energy Systems and Policy is to find solutions to global energy problems through multidisciplinary research.

Five Krannert faculty members held a panel discussion on Oct. 3 about the causes and implications of the current U.S. financial crisis. Later that day, the House of Representatives passed a $700 billion bailout bill aimed at calming the turmoil on Wall Street.

Money Smart Week, held Oct. 11-18, is sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. The week is filled with free workshops and activities designed to help people of all ages spend, save and borrow wisely and to make them aware of the community entities that can help them do so.

Created in 1995, the Hall of Fame highlights the contributions of Stanford's alumni of color. Córdova, who graduated cum laude from the university with a bachelor's degree in English, was nominated by El Centro Chicano, Stanford's Chicano and Latino organization.

"Fast Track te Informa" will air regularly at 6:30 p.m. on Friday , then repeat at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday on Comcast's Channel 5.

Economists from Purdue's Department of Agricultural Economics, Krannert School of Management, and the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing said the $700 billion federal bailout package should provide short-term help for lenders but won't cure the nation's economic ills. They prescribed tighter regulation of the banking industry and derivatives markets, combined with a culture that saves more and spends less.

The Faculty Early Career Development awards range from $300,000-$500,000 in research funding over four or five years. About 400 researchers win the awards annually.

Classroom Business Enterprise is an economic and entrepreneurship program for elementary and middle schools in 14 north-central Indiana counties. The program provides teachers the training and tools to teach students the basics of starting businesses. As part of the educational experience, students will operate their own classroom businesses.

Department head Suzanne Nielsen and former head Phil Nelson, the 2007 recipient of the World Food Prize – regarded as the "Nobel of Agriculture" – will moderate a discussion on current trends in food science.

The Dolores McCall Pet Tribute Garden is located adjacent to the entrance to the school's small animal hospital. The dedication, which will be held at 4 p.m. at the Lynn Hall of Veterinary Medicine, is free and open to the public. 

The donor, who has asked to remain anonymous, will contribute $2.5 million in unrestricted funds over five years to Purdue's Presidential and Trustees scholarship programs. The gift, combined with $2.5 million from other donors, will be used to create the $5 million Presidential and Trustees Scholarship Challenge, aimed at attracting high-achieving high school students to Purdue.

Purdue Varsity Glee Club

The late Agnes Sopcak made the bequest to expand the endowed scholarship in her brother's name that benefits undergraduate students in the Purdue Varsity Glee Club who have a financial need. The gift toward the Access and Success drive was announced at a President's Council event.

Based on the 1926 play by the same name, "Chicago" is the story of nightclub dancer Roxie Hart, who dreams of starring in vaudeville. After she kills her lover in a crime of passion, Hart hires Chicago's shrewdest defense lawyer, who turns her trouble into celebrity headlines. Hart becomes the toast of the town - until other crimes pull the limelight away from her.

Miscanthus grasses

In an article published Friday (Oct. 3) in the journal Science, Purdue University agricultural economist Otto Doering and a team of 22 other scientists write that there is an urgent need for more comprehensive and collaborative research. This will help next-generation fuels avoid the pitfalls of grain-based biofuels, which include increased nutrient runoff and clearing of new land to recoup lost food production, Doering said. 

"Economic stress is one of the major sources of family stress," says Viktor Gecas, professor of sociology and head of the Department of Sociology. "Research shows that this kind of stress can lead to changes in family members and in family dynamics, such as husbands becoming irritable and wives becoming depressed, as well as more extreme problems such as mental health issues, alcoholism, drug abuse and family violence."

The public is invited to attend.

Richard Feinberg, a researcher with the Purdue Retail Institute and director of the Center for Customer-Driven Quality, says that a preliminary outlook shows that overall holiday retail sales will be flat or at most 2 percent above last year. Last year, retail sales were up 5 percent over the previous year, the retail institute estimates.

Dining court dedication

The outdoor ceremony was followed by inside tours and samples of the international cuisine.

Located immediately south of Wiley Hall, the 500-seat freestanding dining court completes University Residences' consolidation of 11 cafeteria-style dining rooms to five architecturally distinct dining courts.

Indiana HomeTown Competitiveness (IHTC) provides rural areas the tools to discover and more fully utilize their existing assets. The program recently completed a pilot program and is accepting applications through Oct. 31 for another group of communities.