UD in the News, July 11, 2008

To view past UD in the News, click here.

1:30 p.m., July 11, 2008--A roundup of recent news items about UD, its faculty, students, staff and alumni.

Allen Barnett, professor of electrical and computer engineering, was quoted in a July 11 Boston Globe story about the drive for solar energy in the face of rising fossil fuel prices. Barnett told the newspaper the industry is poised for large gains, saying, "The parallel is microelectronics. Microelectronics started out in big universities, now they are in laptops, cellphones, microelectronic chips all over your home. People think of solar as replacing a coal-fired power plant; it's really different. It is a new way to use electricity and use energy." Barnett also was quoted in a July 10 NewScientist story about an organic dye that can trap light in glass for use in photovoltaic cells.

Kaitlin O'Neal, a 1999 graduate of UD's Professional Theatre Training Program, is currently featured in Moliere's “The Imaginary Invalid” with the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., and has been receiving strong reviews. “The presence, too, of Kaitlin O'Neal as Argan's voluptuous and scheming second wife, and Levi Ben-Israel portraying a dumb young physician of, well, implausible physical endowments, adds some necessary leavening,” Peters Marks wrote in the Washington Post. "Throw in the too-brief presence of Kaitlin O'Neal who makes scheming and double-crossing as sexy and appealing as it should be,” Gary Tischler wrote in The George Towner, and DC Theatrescene added, "What's outstanding about this play? Everything...Argan's buxom second wife, Béline (Kaitlin O'Neal)...seems as though [she] had wandered on stage from real life..."

Jeremy Firestone, associate professor of marine and Earth studies, was quoted in a July 10 News Journal story about electric purchases from a wind farm in Pennsylvania.

Charles Elson, Edgar S. Woolard Jr. Chair and director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance, was quoted in a July 9 Dow Jones Newswires story about a shareholder rights debates before the Delaware courts.

David Plouffe, who attended UD and is now campaign manager for presidential candidate Barack Obama, was featured in a July 8 Los Angeles Times story and cited a in the July 10 entry in the Washington Post political blog The Fix. The blog also noted that the newspaper's congressional reporter, Paul Kane, is a UD graduate.

William Pfaff, manager of the UD Small Business Development Center in Georgetown, was cited in a July 9 Sussex Countian story about a market analysis conducted in a partnership between UD's Institute for Public Administration and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee.

Joseph Trainor, researcher in UD's Disaster Research Center, was quoted in a July 7 Houston Chronicle story about concerns about the Federal Emergency Management Agency's ability to respond to natural disasters. 'It's hard to tell whether the FEMA response in the Midwest is a precursor for what FEMA can do and can't do," Trainor told the newspaper. "The agency is in such flux even now, still trying to readjust from Katrina."

John Knarr, a UD alumnus, was featured in a July 6 News Journal story about his work as a physical therapist with World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

William Poole, retired president of the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis who is joining the UD faculty, was featured in a story on inflation in the July 6 San Francisco Chronicle.

University of Delaware sustainability efforts were featured in a July 6 News Journal story that cited numerous researchers and University officials. The story cited President Patrick Harker and quoted Executive Vice President Scott Douglass, Provost Dan Rich, Senior Vice Provost for Research and Strategic Initiatives Mark Barteau and David Weir, director of the UD Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships. It cited research by Allen Barnett, professor of electrical and computer engineering; Richard Wool, professor of chemical engineering; Ajay Prasad, professor of mechanical engineering; and John Byrne, director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy.

Eleanor Craig, associate chairperson of the Department of Economics, wrote a Delaware Voice opinion piece in the June 25 News Journal on the need for the state to spend less, not tax more, given current economic circumstances.