News & Views

Along Came a Spider

Before you squish the next daddy longlegs you see, here are a few spidery facts, which may make you want to reconsider. One of our favorite entomologists Roger LeBrun, professor of plant sciences, provided them—just in time for Halloween!

BIG APETTITES: Each year, spiders eat enough insects to surpass the weight of the entire human population.

VARIETY AND LONGEVITY: Spiders have been around for more than 400 million years. There are about 35,000 species in the world, with many more yet to be identified.

VERSATILITY: With 8 legs with 6 joints on each, spiders have 48 knees. A spider holds on to its silk thread with claw-like bristles on its legs while body oil keeps it from sticking to the web.

TOUGH AS STEEL: Spider silk is one of the toughest natural materials known. On an equal weight basis, certain spider silk is five times as strong as steel, yet it is very elastic. It is this combination of strength and stretch that makes it unique.

NO KIDDING: Scientists have bred goats with spider genes, resulting in goat’s milk that has the spider’s web in it. This “silky milk” is used in applications where strength and lightness are essential, such as aircraft, racing vehicles, bulletproof clothing and artificial tendons, ligaments, and limbs.

ARACHNOPHOBIA: Dr. Thomas Mouffet wrote the first English language book on spiders in 1634. He believed spiders had healing powers when eaten. Consequently, his daughter, Patience, was forced to dine on them. Patience is the Little Miss Muffet of nursery rhyme fame who quite understandably interrupted her meal when a big you-know-what sat down beside her.

Honorable Service
Merci Beaucoup for Franklin Simon ’50

Private 1st Class Franklin Simon was 20 when he landed as a member of the 2nd Ranger Battalion on Normandy at Omaha Pointe du Hoc beach and battled his way through Europe during World War II. He earned the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars with V for valor, and two Purple Hearts for his service to the nation.

Last spring, 61 years after the war ended, Simon received yet another medal, this time from another country. He was among 18 veterans awarded the French Legion of Honor, France’s most prestigious award, for helping liberate France and Europe from oppression and tyranny. Created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, the medal is rarely awarded to foreigners.

“I guess it is a big deal,” responds a modest Simon, who heads the Simon Companies in Braintree, Mass., which specializes in development, construction, and property management. After the war, Simon enrolled at the University, earning a degree in mechanical engineering in 1950. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School two years later.

Like many WWII veterans, Simon has never publicly discussed the war. “But lately, the grandchildren have been asking me questions about my experiences,” the Legion of Honor recipient says. “So I’m answering their questions.”

Honorable Service
From Cambodia to Rhode Island to Afghanistan

Vanna Nhem ’04 (left) was born in Cambodia and came to Rhode Island when he was 2. His parents rarely talk to him or his three sisters about their homeland experiences. It’s too painful. Nhem knows the Khmer Rouge murdered some family members and forced his parents into labor camps.

Today, U.S. Army 1st Lt. Nhem is one of 20,000 American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, a war largely overshadowed by the one in Iraq. As a support operations officer, he is responsible for providing logistical support to his battalion of 800 soldiers.

Enemy activity has increased. Mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, and roadside bombs are daily encounters.

“The ROTC program prepared me well,” the URI alumnus emails. “Some of the basic things you learn, leadership skills, military decision making, and land navigation, are things I use every day in my planning.

“There are days when I have to work 24 hours, but nothing can compare to the rough times my parents went through to give me this opportunity,” the 26-year-old writes.

“Every time I find myself feeling sorry for myself, I think of my parents and I find the strength to do whatever is required of me. I hope that by us being here, some little boy somewhere in Afghanistan will have the opportunity to meet his grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, and to see his country. I never had that opportunity.”

Reporting on New Journalism Funds

Wherever she goes in the world, CNN ‘s chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour ’83 reports that people look to the United States and its journalism as a model.

The prize-winning journalist, who has covered wars and famines worldwide, was born to an English mother and an Iranian father. She lived a privileged life in Tehran before her family was forced to flee Iran after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

She came to the U.S. and enrolled at the University, which offered—and still offers—the only journalism degree in the state.

“URI changed my life forever, and it has a deep, deep, deep place in my heart,” she told a gathering of journalists, broadcasters, and members of the University community last spring in Providence during a program designed to build support for three new journalism funds at URI.

The effort is being led by members of the Rhode Island Press Association and the Rhode Island Broadcasters Association, many of whom are graduates of the journalism program.

The goal is to build three separate funds to support and expand student journalism knowledge with 1) a visiting lecturer fund, 2) a speaker series, and 3) student scholarships.

Want to know more? Contact Tom Zorabedian, senior development officer for the College of Arts and Sciences, at 401-874-2853 or zman@advance.uri.edu.

Students Call ‘MA’ or ‘PA’ for help

After their parents drop them off at their residence halls, students have another set of parents they can depend on.“MA,” short for Motorist Assistance Program, and “PA,” short for Pedestrian Assistance Program, are the brainchildren of the University’s Parking Services.

“MA” is a free, seven-day, 24-hour service that students can call whenever they encounter car problems on the Kingston campus.

“We unlock their cars, jump their batteries, lend them gasoline cans, snow shovels or ice scrapers. Although we don’t change tires, we advise them how to do it,” says Patricia Gardner, Parking Services coordinator. “And we take pride in the fact that we can get them on their way in about 10 minutes.”

“PA” is a free evening service that assists students traveling from academic buildings to and from their residence halls. “These are not convenience rides, but are intended for safety and health issues only,” explains Gardner. “Although police and security personnel feel that the campus is a safe area for all to enjoy, it is always a safe idea not to walk alone anywhere at night.”

For more information about the programs, go to uri.edu/parking.

Engineering in China

Fourteen students spent six weeks this summer in Hangzhou, China, just south of Shanghai, at Zhejiang University, one of that country’s top engineering schools. The students studied Mandarin language and culture, visited several companies and research institutes, and experienced aspects of Chinese life.

Shown are (front row, l-r): Katrina Josephson, Nicole Stanton, Cassandra Pinner, Ana Franco, Melanie Rand and Linda Nico and (back row, l-r) Curtis Richard, John Ellwood, Graeme O’Connell, Nathaniel Walker, James Leuzarder, Alexandria Dempsey, Aaron Hebenstreit and Erin Papa, an IEP staff member. Missing from photo—Janna D’Amico.

The trip was the first step in establishing a Chinese option in the International Engineering Program (IEP), which offers students the chance to study German, French, or Spanish with engineering and earn two degrees (BA and BS) in five years. IEP students complete internships with more than 40 partner firms in Europe, Latin America, and Canada and are recruited by top global companies.

Discoveries: 30 Seconds Means Healthier Babies

A brief delay in clamping umbilical cords of premature babies protects them from bleeding in the brain and infections, according to Judith Mercer, a clinical professor of nursing and midwifery whose study results were published last spring in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Infection and bleeding in the brain are associated with developmental delays and conditions such as cerebral palsy.

“Delayed clamping is an easy, no-cost procedure that increases the amount of blood the baby receives at birth. This blood gives the baby more red blood cells to carry oxygen and has high concentrations of beneficial stem cells,” said Mercer pointing out that umbilical cords in most U.S. hospitals are clamped immediately. The three-year study, conducted at Women and Infants Hospital in Providence, was funded by a $392,000 National Institute of Nursing Research grant, a division of the National Institutes of Health. To learn more go to uri.edu/news/releases/index.php?id=3517uri.edu/news/.

Discoveries: When Santa Wore Sunscreen

Santa Claus might have lathered on suntan lotion 55 million years ago when the average temperature was a balmy 74 degrees in the Arctic.

An international team of scientists made the discovery after collecting and analyzing 400 meters of sediment core beneath the Arctic Ocean. The drilling was done about 250 kilometers from Santa’s home in the North Pole. The team reported its findings in Nature last June.

“Little direct evidence about the environmental history of the Arctic Ocean existed before our cruise, partly because of the enormous technological challenges of collecting the samples,” said Kate Moran, professor of oceanography and ocean engineering and co-chief scientist on the expedition. “Our analysis of the core sample suggests that 55 million years ago the Arctic was much warmer than today.”

Moran anticipates that climate modelers will use the data to get better information about how climate change occurs and possibly where global climate might be heading.

“Today’s warming of the Arctic can, in all likelihood, be attributed to mankind’s impact on the planet,” the scientist added, “but as our data suggest, natural processes operating in the past have also resulted in a significant warming and cooling of the Arctic.”

To learn more click on uri.edu/news/arctic.

Presidentially Speaking

Former President Bill Clinton visited the Kingston campus this summer and urged the 1,900 scholar-athletes from 155 countries competing in the World Scholar-Athlete Games to reach beyond perceived barriers and get involved. Conceived by the Institute for International Sport at URI, the hugely successful competition suggests that sport can be a driving force for understanding and friendship among world athletes and, indirectly, among nations.

2006 Colloquium to Explore the Rhetoric of Music

Ever thought about how music influences and motivates? This year’s colloquium, Songs of Social Justice: The Rhetoric of Music, gives the public a chance to explore how social and political movements use music as a means of expression, persuasion, and mobilization. Activist musicians Buffy Sainte-Marie, Chuck D and others will discuss and perform their music, demonstrating the power of music to shape political and social experience. The dynamic series runs from Sept. 12 through Dec. 5. For a complete schedule go to uri.edu/hc/.

Rx for Growth: Vote “Yes” for Pharmacy

Rhode Island alumni are being asked to vote “yes” on a $65 million bond issue this November to construct a new College of Pharmacy building. The college’s current home, Fogarty Hall, completed in 1964, was designed to accommodate 150 students. Today, there are 635. There aren’t just more students enrolled; they stay longer. The increasingly complex discipline has gone from four years of study to six years and more.

Despite its cramped surroundings, the college has some of the most advanced research and teaching technology in the region. Since 2001, funded research awarded to the college has gone from $500,000 to $9 million this past year, placing the college in the top 20 pharmacy colleges in the nation.

With nearly $25 million in federal funding to stimulate biomedical research in the state, the college has been a catalyst for such research at nearly all of the state’s four-year colleges.

By 2012 Rhode Island will have to increase its pharmacist workforce by 32 percent to meet the needs of its rapidly expanding population of elderly Ocean Staters.

A new, modern building equipped with cutting-edge labs will help the college address the increasing demands of both the health care system and the economic health of the state.