A LOOK AT THE WEEK AHEAD July 27- August 3, 2001
OFFICE OF NEWS AND MEDIA RELATIONS (215) 204-7476 Fax: (215) 204-4403
PACK THE ABILITY TO COMPROMISE IF MOVING ON CAMPUS -- Millions of freshmen carrying computers, sheets and pillowcases--and even the occasional teddy bear--will soon leave their homes to spend their first semester at college. But more important than anything they can put in a box or cart on a dolly is the attitude this year's crop of freshmen bring to their new home-away-from-home, says Temple University housing director Regina Rousso Wilmes.
"Every year we see more students who've had the luxury of having a room to themselves at home," says Wilmes. "When you move in with someone, compromise becomes really important." She suggests that, as soon as possible, roommates try to set guidelines for things such as whether they can borrow each other's clothes or how late the stereo can be played. "Things like whether they're from a small town or big city or a student's major aren't nearly as important to roommates getting along as the small day-to-day things," says Wilmes. "Your college roommate doesn't have to be your best friend, but you do have to be able to live together." Reach Wilmes through the Office of News and Media Relations, 215.204.7476.
VISITING MT. ETNA A BLAST FOR TEMPLE UNIVERSITY GEOLOGIST -- Temple geology professor Dr. Gene Ulmer had an up-close view of Sicily's Mt. Etna when it erupted on June 19. "It was a very exciting moment," says Ulmer, who was three miles from the summit when the volcano began spewing ash and lava. He is part of a team from Temple, Penn State, and Princeton Universities working on a National Science Foundation-funded research project to develop a sensor that can be used to monitor and predict such volcanic eruptions. Ulmer, who was in Italy to attend an international meeting on geo-thermal and volcanic energy, says the Temple researchers have been working on a new type of sensor that would measure the acidity of the gases coming from a volcano.
For example, he says, many Italian volcanoes abruptly change from releasing a mild carbonic gas to a more deadly hydro-chloric gas before erupting. "It may be another predictive tool to watch," he says. Contact Dr. Ulmer at home, 215.343.3689, or through the Office of News and Media Relations.
OUT OF THE WOODS? -- We may not technically be in a recession, but don't tell that to the people losing their jobs, says Jonathan Scott, associate professor of finance in Temple's Fox School of Business and Management. Job cuts are likely to continue, he adds. "Business investment has declined for four straight quarters--the first time since the early 1980s--and equipment and software spending continued its downward spiral.
A capital spending recovery, which creates new jobs, may be in the distant future." With the latest GDP showing no improvement in the economy's slowed growth, there's not much good news, concludes Scott. "For the last year the U.S. economy has grown at a 1.3 percent rate, far below the 3.3 percent average of the past 30 years. It's probably going to be a long walk to that clearing at the end of the forest." Reach Dr. Scott at his office, 215-204-7605, by email at: [email protected] or through the Office of News and Media Relations.
NEW JOINT CHIEFS CHAIR MAY BE PRESSED TO BOOST MISSILE DEFENSE -- President Bush is on the verge of appointing a new chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who may be pressed by advocates of missile defense, counterterrorism, satellites and computer warfare to boost spending and to cut conventional forces like warplanes and ships, says Temple history professor Gregory Irwin. "The Bush administration hopes to restructure the military to better guard America's interests in the 21st century, but the plans announced by Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld make some military chiefs nervous," says Irwin. "The military fears that the administration's obsession with missile defense will divert scarce resources from conventional forces and undermine their ability to execute more traditional missions."
Irwin points out, "Bush wants to devote $8 billion from next year's military budget to missile defense. He also wants to spend $60 billion on 'Son of Star Wars.' Not only does that mean fewer ships, planes, and tanks, but service chiefs realize that Bush might be building a 'Maginot Line' in the sky that will not be capable of protecting this country from nuclear attack -- and will make it extremely difficult to counter more conventional threats." Reach Dr. Irwin through the Office of News and Media Relations.
Cheryl Afonso Temple University Office of News and Media Relations 215.204.7476 [email protected]
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