More Asian Pacific Americans hold public office in the United States than at any other time in U.S. history, a sign of the community’s growing engagement with the political process, according to a newly released political almanac published by UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center.
The 14th edition of the National Asian Pacific American Political Almanac, first published in 1976, contains information on all 3,000 current elected and appointed officials. It also analyzes political trends and makes electoral projections of the nation’s 17 million Asian Pacific Americans. (more…)
*University of Minnesota professor is part of international team that predicts the volatile region’s water may once again vanish*
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL — An international team of scientists drilling deep under the bed of the Dead Sea has found evidence that the sea may have dried up during a past warm period similar to predicted scenarios for climate change in coming decades. Emi Ito, professor of earth sciences in the University of Minnesota’s College of Science and Engineering, is a research team member. (more…)
The blanket of sea ice that floats on the Arctic Ocean appears to have reached its lowest extent for 2011, the second lowest recorded since satellites began measuring it in 1979, according to the University of Colorado Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Center.
The Arctic sea ice extent fell to 1.67 million square miles, or 4.33 million square kilometers on Sept. 9, 2011. This year’s minimum of 1.67 million square miles is more than 1 million square miles below the 1979-2000 monthly average extent for September — an area larger than Texas and California combined. (more…)
*Outstanding educators using technology are recognized for their contribution and impact in teaching.*
REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 1, 2011 — Microsoft Corp. today announced 11 educators from Alabama, Alaska, California, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Washington who have been selected as winners of the 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum (IEF). The IEF is an event recognizing innovative teachers and school leaders who creatively and effectively use technology in their curriculum to help improve the way kids learn while increasing student success. Out of the thousands that applied, 100 educators from 25 states were selected for a spot to compete on Microsoft’s corporate campus in Redmond. IEF participants also voted on their peers in the Educator’s Choice category and selected a winning project. The winning educators will represent the U.S. and advance to compete against educators from around the world at the Partners in Learning Global Forum, Nov. 6–11, 2011 in Washington, D.C. (more…)
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – Knowing that the U.S. west coast was battered during the winter before last by a climatic pattern expected more often in the future, scientists have now pieced together a San Diego-to-Seattle assessment of the damage wrought by that winter’s extreme waves and higher-than-usual water levels. Getting a better understanding of how the 2009-10 conditions tore away and reshaped shorelines will help coastal experts better predict future changes that may be in store for the Pacific coast, the researchers say.
“The stormy conditions of the 2009-10 El Niño winter eroded the beaches to often unprecedented levels at sites throughout California and vulnerable sites in the Pacific Northwest,” said Patrick Barnard, USGS coastal geologist. In California, for example, winter wave energy was 20 percent above average for the years dating back to 1997, resulting in shoreline erosion that exceeded the average by 36 percent, he and his colleagues found. (more…)
*Three friends are sailing the U.S. Eastern Seaboard in search of the American spirit. They’ve chronicled their journey and stayed connected with help from Office 365, an official sponsor of the trip.*
BOSTON – July 5, 2011 – In 1987, John Mirassou and two friends set sail from Ft. Lauderdale on a 17-foot Boston Whaler. They didn’t expect to find anything more than good times on their journey, which ultimately logged some 6,100 miles. They were wrong.
“What started out as way to see the country by boat really turned into a story about the American people,” Mirassou said. “Everywhere we went we were taken in by people we had never met. This American spirit came out in amazing instances of generosity.” (more…)
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A new study shows that the desert tortoise, thought to be one species for the past 150 years, now includes two separate and distinct species, based on DNA evidence and biological and geographical distinctions.
This genetic evidence confirms previous suspicions, based on life history analysis, that tortoises west and east of the Colorado River are two separate species. (more…)
President Richard C. Levin today announced that Dr. Henry A. Kissinger will donate his papers to Yale University. The collection, which consists of approximately one million documents and objects covering Dr. Kissinger’s extraordinary life as a diplomat, scholar, teacher, and private citizen, will enhance Yale’s existing strengths as an archival repository for major 20th century American leaders. Yale already holds the papers of renowned former diplomats and alumni Henry Stimson (Class of 1888), Dean Acheson (Class of 1915), and Cyrus Vance (Class of 1939, LAW ’42), as well as those of President Woodrow Wilson’s most influential adviser, “Colonel” Edward House. (more…)
