Tag Archives: columbia university

‘Classed In’ Brings Private Social Networks to Schools

By Guest PostMarch 7, 2013Technologyasp, ceo, classed in, cloud based, cloud computing platform, columbia university, dnevnik, educational social network, gabriel levi, k 12 schools, microsoft bizspark startup, microsoft sql server, new york, north american market, private social networks, russia, russian educational processes, schools, software platform, st. petersburg, windows azure

Microsoft BizSpark startup improves communication and provides easy access to administrative resources combined with an educational social network.

REDMOND, Wash. — March 7, 2013 — During a trip to his home town in St. Petersburg, Russia, Gabriel Levi noticed that his local school system could modernize its services for educators and students by streamlining communication and reducing manual tasks. Using his entrepreneurial instincts, he saw a need and created a solution. Now Levi is CEO and founder of Classed In, where he has turned his mission into a thriving business with a comprehensive educational social network that connects teachers, students, administrators and parents at approximately 27,000 K–12 schools in Russia — more than half the country’s schools.

Levi attended college at Columbia University in New York and studied economics and computer science, while he dreamed of starting a business. When a work assignment took him back to St. Petersburg a few years later, he was struck by how Russian schools were still relying on completely manual processes for everything from registration and grade reporting to class assignments and homework. His point of reference was personal: Levi’s mother was a university instructor, and his younger brother was in middle school at the time. (more…)

Boys’ Lack of Effort in School Tied to College Gender Gap

By Guest PostMarch 5, 2013Educationbachelors degrees, better job, blue collar, boy friendly, claudia buchmann, college education, columbia university, education gender gap, gender gap, lower class families, men, middle class families, narrow notions, proportion of men, receiving college degrees, single sex education, sociologists, sociology, thomas diprete, united states, working class fathers

New Book Examines Why Women Succeed More in College

COLUMBUS, Ohio – When it comes to college education, men are falling behind by standing still.

The proportion of men receiving college degrees has stagnated, while women have thrived under the new economic and social realities in the United States and elsewhere, according to two sociologists who have written a new book on the subject. (more…)

Study Provides New Insights on Drought Predictions in East Africa

By Guest PostFebruary 4, 2013Environment20th century, aridity, atmospheric convection, charcoal, climate, climate model simulations, climate variability, columbia university, drought conditions, drought predictions, earth observatory, east africa, east african climate, eastern africa, el niño, famine, future predictions, geologic past, geologist, geopolitical significance, global warming, gulf of aden, historical fluctuations, historical patterns, horn of africa, humanitarian crisis, indian ocean, jason smerdon, jessica tierney, lake sediment cores, lamont-doherty, little brother, little ice age, long term shifts, medieval times, moisture balance, oceanographic institution, pacific, pacific ocean, paleoclimate record, paleorecord, pollen, precipitation, projections, rainfall, region, run off events, study, surface temperatures, temperature, warm sea surface, water isotopes, western indian ocean, whoi, woods hole

Research May Also Help Determine Effects of Global Warming in the Region

With more than 40 million people living under exceptional drought conditions in East Africa, the ability to make accurate predictions of drought has never been more important. In the aftermath of widespread famine and a humanitarian crisis caused by the 2010-2011 drought in the Horn of Africa—possibly the worst drought in 60 years— researchers are striving to determine whether drying trends will continue.

While it is clear that El Niño can affect precipitation in this region of East Africa, very little is known about the drivers of long-term shifts in rainfall. However, new research described in the journal Nature helps explain the mechanisms at work behind historical patterns of aridity in Eastern Africa over many decades, and the findings may help improve future predictions of drought and food security in the region. (more…)

Driver’s ed for Robots

By Guest PostOctober 31, 2012Scienceadvance, advanced institute, area, bio contaminated, christopher rasmussen, columbia university, cyber, delaware, disaster relief, drexel university, drive, earthquake, energy plant, georgia, herbert tanner, hybrid, indiana university, institute, ioannis poulakakis, japanese, korean, navigate environment, nuclear, ohio, phase 1, physical, polytechnic institute, purdue university, radioactive, robot, robotics technology, sensor network, state university, swarthmore college, system modeling, teach, Technology, tsunami, university, vehicle, worcester

UD joins research team teaching robots to respond in disaster emergencies

How do you teach a robot to get into vehicle and drive it? Three University of Delaware professors plan to figure it out by the end of next year.

Christopher Rasmussen, Ioannis Poulakakis and Herbert Tanner are part of a team competing in a new U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Challenge. The team, with members from 10 schools, led by Drexel University, is one of several groups worldwide working to advance robotics technology for disaster relief. (more…)

20 Years after Rio Earth Summit: Ecologists Call for Preservation of Planet’s Remaining Biological Diversity

By Guest PostJune 9, 2012Natureaichi targets, andrew gonzalez, balance of evidence, biodiversity loss, biological diversity, bradley cardinale, columbia university, david hooper, earth summit, ecologists, ecosystem services, exotic plants, fungal, george gilchrist, impact on humanity, j emmett duffy, natural ecosystems, nutrient remineralization, pests, planet, plant pathogens, preservation, rio de janeiro, rio earth summit, shahid naeem, soil organic matter, sustainability, university of michigan, viral infections

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Twenty years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 17 prominent ecologists are calling for renewed international efforts to curb the loss of biological diversity, which is compromising nature’s ability to provide goods and services essential for human well-being.

Over the past two decades, strong scientific evidence has emerged showing that loss of the world’s biological diversity reduces the productivity and sustainability of natural ecosystems and decreases their ability to provide society with goods and services like food, wood, fodder, fertile soils, and protection from pests and disease, according to an international team of ecologists led by the University of Michigan’s Bradley Cardinale. (more…)

Scientists Look to Microbes to Unlock Earth’s Deep Secrets

By Guest PostJanuary 11, 2012Scienceatlantic ocean, bottom of the ocean, circulation obviation retrofit kits, columbia university, corks, deep ocean sediments, ecosystem, Environment, european consortium for ocean research drilling, expedition, Germany, habitable parts, integrated ocean drilling program, iodp, jamie allan, joides resolution, katrina edwards, lamont doherty earth observatory, microbes, microbial life, mid atlantic ridge microbiology expedition, national science foundation, north pond, ocean sediments, oceans, planet, research vessel, rocky ocean crust, rocky realm, sediment samples, submersible expeditions, subseafloor observatories, total biomass, university of bremen, university of southern california, volcanic lava, wolfgang bach, world

*To find answers, oceanographers install observatories beneath remote seafloor*

Of all the habitable parts of our planet, one ecosystem still remains largely unexplored and unknown to science: the igneous ocean crust.

This rocky realm of hard volcanic lava exists beneath ocean sediments that lie at the bottom of much of the world’s oceans.

While scientists have estimated that microbes living in deep ocean sediments may represent as much as one-third of Earth’s total biomass, the habitable portion of the rocky ocean crust may be 10 times as great. (more…)

First Independent Review of Provincial-Level Environmental Data in China

By Guest PostDecember 28, 2011Environmentair quality, air quality data, angel hsu, Beijing, biodiversity conservation, China, chinese government, chinese policymakers, chinese provinces, city university of hong kong, climate change, columbia university, davos, douglas kysar, energy efficiency, environmental data, environmental management, environmental performance, environmental performance index, epi, fine particulate matter, greenhouse gas emissions, hazardous air quality, marc levy, methodologies for statistics, pm 2.5, provincial level, second largest economy, toxic metals, toxics exposure, waste management, water quality, world economic forum, yale university

A team of researchers jointly led by Yale University and Columbia University has released a report that introduces a framework for assessing China’s environmental management and performance. This analysis offers the first independent review of Chinese provincial-level environmental performance by international researchers.

The report, “Towards a China Environmental Performance Index,” introduces a model framework for environmental performance indicators to assist the Chinese government in tracking progress toward policy goals, as well as recommendations for how the Chinese government can apply more aggressive performance metrics to environmental decision-making. (more…)

Imagine Cup Competitors Fired Up by Ballmer, Sachs, and Crowley; Finalists Announced

By Guest PostJuly 12, 2011Technologyarthur vanderveen, Bangladesh, brazil, bulgaria, columbia university, cyber knightz, dennis crowley, earth institute, economist, foursquare, france, imagine cup, imagine cup 2011, India, information technology, Japan, jeffrey sachs, limits of ecosystems, limits of food supply, malaysia, Microsoft, microsoft ceo, Netherlands, new york city, new york city department of education, new zealand, resource limits, romania, senegal, steve ballmer, Thailand, wai lun chan, world finals

*Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, economist Jeffrey Sachs, and Foursquare founder and CEO Dennis Crowley opened the Imagine Cup 2011 World Finals on Friday night. The competition heated up over the weekend with the first set of finalists being announced Sunday night.*

NEW YORK CITY – Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer inspired them to be great, economist Jeffrey Sachs gave them the homework assignment of saving the world, and Foursquare founder and CEO Dennis Crowley showed them how tangibly close they are to success.

Students representing 70 countries and regions descended on New York City over the weekend to participate in the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals, which challenges students from across the globe to use technology to solve world problems like feeding the hungry, fighting disease, and creating new forms of energy. Finalists in the competition’s nine categories were announced on Sunday and the overall winners will be announced on Wednesday. (more…)