World's First Paperless University

Anaheim University's commitment to becoming paperless in 2010 will make the nationally accredited online education pioneer the world's first paperless university.

Anaheim University is an accredited online institution of higher learning headquartered in Anaheim, Calif.

According to Anaheim University spokesman David Bracey, "We hope to set an example for our Online Green MBA and Sustainable Management Diploma and Certificate students to follow so that they can have a similar impact on the environment at their places of work. It is not our goal to be the first paperless university. It is our goal to be one of many paperless universities and we hope by setting an example, many universities around the world will join us in becoming sustainable and socially responsible institutions that put people and planet before profit. Many of our processes are already digital, and we are now working with the publishers to convert all of our textbooks into e-books so that our entire curriculum can be downloaded and stored on the Sony Electronic Book Reader or the Amazon Kindle."

There is a clear need for paperless offices and paperless campuses, as the paper industry is one of the world's major polluting industries and one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases with over 900 million trees cut annually. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, paper is the number one material thrown away, making up 40% of our waste system. Studies indicate over 45% of office paper that is discarded was thrown out on the day it was printed, and that of the paper filed, over 80% is never referenced again.

Although we have heard that the "paperless" office is just around the corner, paper consumption has tripled during the past decade. The United States uses nearly 3.7 million tons of copy paper (more than 700 billion sheets) per year. According to a Xerox survey, the average U.S. office worker prints 10,000 to 12,000 sheets annually.

Other environmental commitments by Anaheim University include President William Hartley's signing of the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) in February. Universities who have joined this commitment include Cornell University, Duke University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and University of Pennsylvania. By signing the document, Anaheim University promised to within two years, set a target date and interim milestones for becoming climate neutral, Anaheim University says.

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Last Large Piece of ATLAS Scientific Detector Lowered Underground

Researchers in the U.S. ATLAS collaboration have joined colleagues around the world to celebrate a pivotal landmark in the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - the lowering of the final piece of the ATLAS particle detector into the underground collision hall at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Experiments conducted at this revolutionary LHC facility, poised to become the world's most powerful particle accelerator, may help scientists unravel some of the deepest mysteries in particle physics. The U.S. branch of the collaboration (U.S. ATLAS), based out of the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, built and delivered several key elements of the ATLAS detector.

"We're proud of the teams involved in this international scientific endeavor - one of the largest collaborative efforts ever attempted in the physical sciences," says Dennis Kovar, acting associate director for High Energy Physics in DOE's Office of Science. "This technical landmark brings us a huge step closer to unveiling a new level of understanding of our universe."

Of the almost 2,100 participants in the ATLAS collaboration, about 420 are U.S. physicists, engineers, and graduate students. Hailing from 38 universities and four national laboratories, these U.S. collaborators are supported by DOE and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The last piece of ATLAS lowered into the ATLAS experimental cavern is one of two elements known as the small wheels. The two ATLAS small wheels, though little in comparison to the rest of the ATLAS detector, are each about 30 feet in diameter and weigh 100 tons. The wheels are covered with sensitive detectors that will be used to identify and measure the momentum of subatomic particles called muons that are created in collisions at the LHC. The entire detector system has an area equal to three football fields, consisting of 100 million independent
electronic channels. As charged particles pass through a magnetic field created by superconducting magnets, this detector has the ability to accurately track them to the precision of the width of a human hair.

"This is a remarkable milestone in the complicated construction of the ATLAS detector," say Joseph Dehmer, director of the Physics Division at the NSF. "The LHC is one of the most exciting physics experiments for this decade and beyond. We are impressed by the hundreds of U.S. university and national laboratory scientists who are working hard to make this extraordinary project a reality. We look forward to the groundbreaking results that are now just around the corner."

Involving the work of 450 physicists from 48 institutions around the world, lowering this last small wheel marks the end of a decade of planning and construction of the muon spectrometer system.

"For me personally, this is the culmination of many years of work designing, planning, and installing the mechanical structure," says Vincent Hedberg, who led the development of the small wheel support system. "For ATLAS as a whole, the last large detector is finally in place."

Brookhaven National Laboratory led the development of the 32 muon detectors in the inner ring of the wheels, working with Stony Brook University, the University of Arizona, and the University of California, Irvine. In addition, numerous U.S. universities built the 64 precision muon chambers on the small wheels; these include: the University of Michigan, University of Washington, Seattle, and the Boston Muon Consortium, which involves Boston University,
Brandeis University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Tufts University.

"These fragile detectors comprise the largest measuring device ever constructed
for high-energy physics," said George Mikenberg, ATLAS muon project leader.

Experiments at the LHC will allow physicists to take a big leap in their exploration of the universe. The ATLAS detector may help its scientists unravel some of the deepest mysteries in particle physics such as the origin of mass or the identification of dark matter. The ATLAS collaboration will now focus on commissioning the detector in preparation for the start-up of the LHC this
summer.

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NASA Selects 38 Partnerships to Advance Key Technologies

NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program Seed Fund has announced the selection of 38
partnerships that will advance key technologies to meet critical needs for NASA's mission. These Seed Fund projects will address technology barriers with cost-shared, joint-development programs.

The partnerships span 30 states and include nine universities, 23 small to medium-sized businesses, 17 large corporations and participation by all 10 NASA field centers.

For a complete list of selected organizations and information about NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program Seed Fund, see this page.

The one-year projects will involve collaboration among three principal partners: a NASA partnership manager at a field center; a co-principal investigator within a NASA program or project office; and an external co-principal investigator from the private sector, academia or other government laboratory.

Examples of selected partnership research areas include the pursuit of improved engine performance and reduced emissions in support of NASA aeronautics research; high-temperature materials for lunar lander engines to support NASA's exploration goals to return to the moon; optics to lower error rates of future space telescopes to support agency science technology needs; and a glass bubble insulation demonstration for cryogenic tanks of interest to NASA's space operations team.

An important element of the fund is the leveraging of financial resources because of contributions from all three partners. NASA's Innovative Partnership Program at NASA headquarters in Washington is contributing $9 million in funding from its Technology Transfer Partnerships budget, $13 million is being provided by NASA sources in programs, projects, or field centers, and $12 million from external partners for a total combined financial commitment of $34 million.

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New Initiative to Give Families Better College Information

Spurred on by the popularity of the U.S. News & World Report annual college rankings, the the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) next month will launch a directory of concise, web-based, and user- friendly profiles of hundreds of private colleges and universities.

Each college and university profile will contain information on admissions, enrollment, geographic and racial/ethnic diversity, graduation rates, most popular degrees, price of attendance, financial aid, net tuition, loan debt, and much more --all in a common format, the association says.

The directory will be known as U-CAN (the University and College Accountability Network).

U-CAN is different from other college information tools inseveral ways, the association says. The type of information collected and the design of the college and university profiles were shaped by the focus groups with students and parents, it says. U-CAN collects the most useful information from participating institutions, and reports it in reader-friendly format. Reputation surveys and institutional rankings are not part of consumer-informed U-CAN website, it adds.

Participating schools include Ivy League universities, liberal arts colleges, historically black institutions, women's colleges, religious and faith-related schools, and many other types of nonprofit, private institutions. The roster of institutions is quickly approaching 400, the association reports.

U-CAN will be free -- both to consumers and to the colleges and universities that choose to participate. U-CAN is not-for-profit and accepts no advertising or sponsorships, the association adds.

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Find Your Online Degree

You hear about them all the time. You see the ads, promising the ease of an online college degree.

But how do you make sense of it all? How do you make sure you're going to find the school and right program for you?

Directory of Schools features more than 1,364 schools with accredited online degrees and 9,238 online programs.

The site offers a full search capability. Search by degrees offered and programs offered.

You find information of the well-known University of Phoenix, as well as online programs from Liberty University, Kaplan University, Ashford University and hundreds more.

Search by subject area: communications, health care administration, management degrees, and many more. You'll also find informational articles that explain online degrees and offers important tips.

Directory of Schools finally lays out the world of online learning in a way that makes sense.

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