FAU, NAI OFFER STUDENTS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CERTIFICATE; Florida Atlantic University (FAU), November 8, 2023

 Florida Atlantic University (FAU); FAU, NAI OFFER STUDENTS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CERTIFICATE

"Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science and the National Academy of Inventors® (NAI) have announced the expansion of an intellectual property certificate for all undergraduate and graduate engineering students at FAU. The certificate program was launched this spring for senior engineering students at FAU, and to date, more than 700 have graduated with the certificate.

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind such as scientific inventions and creative works, with rights awarded to the inventor or author via patents, copyrights and trademarks.

Beginning this fall, the intellectual property certificate program was integrated into the freshman curriculum as well as the graduate curriculum in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Approximately 470 undergraduate and 180 graduate students at FAU enrolled in the program in the fall. The intellectual property certificate was developed by the NAI and adapted by the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Through this certificate program, students will gain a broad understanding of intellectual property, and is expected to spur innovation and entrepreneurship at FAU.

“There is nothing more powerful or valuable than a great idea coming to fruition,” said Hari Kalva, Ph.D., chair and a professor in FAU’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, who was elected to the rank of NAI Fellow last year. “However, intellectual property is often not well understood or appreciated. This innovative approach to integrate the National Academy of Inventors’ certificate program in our curriculum will foster intellectual property literacy among our students, which is critical to their profession.”

Kalva is a named inventor on more than 25 standard essential patents used in virtually all video distribution and streaming products and services.

The NAI partnered with the Michelson Institute for Intellectual Property (Michelson 20MM Foundation) on this new opportunity for aspiring inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs. The intellectual property course was developed by the Michelson Institute and teaches critical knowledge about America’s intellectual property system and how it works. By completing the course, FAU engineering students will acquire a foundation for a successful career in the most quintessential American tradition – innovation.

“We are excited to join forces with FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science to provide this critical intellectual property certificate program to all of their students to help take their creative minds to the next level of innovation,” said Jamie Renee, executive director of the NAI. “Intellectual property protection is imperative in the field of engineering and to prepare graduates as they design and develop products to solve real-world problems.” 

Students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science can take the course online at their own pace, which consists of 12 video modules and 38 lessons, each with a refresher quiz.

“Intellectual property is a key asset in many organizations today and employees who understand intellectual property are invaluable to companies and many other institutions,” said Stella Batalama, Ph.D., dean, FAU College of Engineering and Computer Science. “Undergraduate students are not usually offered courses on intellectual property to any great depth, with the exception of those who study law. This innovative certificate program offered by the National Academy of Inventors will provide our students with the tools they need to be successful engineers and inventors for decades to come.” 

After completing the course, FAU students take a final exam. Upon successful completion, they receive an “Innovation Development Certificate” from the NAI.

“To be successful in their careers, engineering students need to hone their intellectual property skills and realize the incredible potential of their ideas and inventions,” said Paul R. Sanberg, FNAI, Ph.D., president and founder of the NAI, whose distinguished career has been instrumental in translating new pharmaceutical and cellular therapeutics to clinical trials and commercialization for Tourette syndrome, stroke, ALS, and Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. “Ideas are like property and need to be protected. Students at Florida Atlantic University who participate in the certificate program will learn about their rights as inventors and how to manage and ultimately monetize their work.”

The NAI is a member organization comprising universities from the United States and internationally as well as governmental and nonprofit research institutes, with more than 4,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 250 institutions worldwide. Founded in 2010, the academy recognizes and encourages inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhances the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourages the disclosure of intellectual property, educates and mentors innovative students, and translates the inventions of its members to benefit society.

“The College of Engineering and Computer Science’s leadership and experience delivering this new  curriculum will help us expand intellectual property education to the broader student body at FAU,” said Dana Vouglitois, associate director of technology development within FAU’s Division of Research. “Great partnerships with organizations like NAI help to make FAU’s goal of becoming a leading university for innovation and entrepreneurship a reality.""

The American Library Association (ALA) released a statement November 9 announcing the candidates running for ALA president for the 2025–2026 term.; American Libraries, November 9, 2023

American Libraries; Helmick, Pun Seek 2025–2026 ALA Presidency

"The American Library Association (ALA) released a statement November 9 announcing the candidates running for ALA president for the 2025–2026 term...

Helmick and Pun, as well as any petition candidates, will take part in a virtual candidates’ forum at 2 p.m. Central on Thursday, February 8, 2024. Each candidate will have the opportunity to share a statement and answer questions from members. Register to attend.

Ballot mailing for the election will begin March 11, 2024, and will run through April 3. Individuals must be members in good standing to vote in the 2024 ALA elections. Renew your membership online or by calling 1-800-545-2433, option 1. For more information, visit the ALA Election webpage."

Roland Pattillo helped keep Henrietta Lacks' story alive. It's key to his legacy; NPR, November 14, 2023

 Walter Ray Watson, NPR; Roland Pattillo helped keep Henrietta Lacks' story alive. It's key to his legacy

"Dr. Roland Pattillo and his wife Pat O'Flynn Pattillo paid for Henrietta Lacks' permanent headstone, a smooth, substantial block of pink granite. It sits in the shape of a hardcover book...

Pattillo, an African American oncologist, stem cell researcher and professor, died in May at age 89. His death went largely unreported. The New York Times ran an obituary last month. The Nation published the news in September...

He protected and elevated Lacks' memory for decades. A Louisiana native, Dr. Pattillo is often described as a quiet, determined man, and a major reason why millions know Henrietta Lacks' story.

He befriended the Lacks family and protected them from reporters and other people. He was aware of the HeLa cell line story, the medical discovery that Henrietta Lacks' cancer cells successfully grew outside her body, but he learned more about the donor when he worked with biologist George Gey, his mentor at Johns Hopkins. Gey was responsible for harvesting her biopsied cancer cells and successfully growing them in culture, the first human cells to do so. They were put to use for medical research in labs around the world...

Henrietta Lacks left behind five young children in 1951.

She was treated at Johns Hopkins, a Baltimore charity hospital that cared for Black patients during the Jim Crow era. Her tumor cells were taken without her knowledge. Her cells became the first successful "immortal" cell line, grown outside her body and used for medical research. They have been instrumental in breakthroughs ever since.

Patients rights and the rules governing them were not like today.

HeLa cells were used to understand how the polio virus infected human beings. A vaccine was developed as a result. More recently, they played a significant role in COVID-19 vaccines.

Pat Pattillo says her husband wanted to share how Lacks' gift benefitted humanity since her death at age 31. But he also hoped to extend empathy for the family she left behind...

Skloot says she and Pattillo first had a mentor and mentee relationship, but it blossomed into a collegial one, especially when they formed the Henrietta Lacks Foundation.

"So, it provides financial support for people who made important contributions to science without their knowledge or consent," she says. "And their descendants, specifically people who were used in historic research studies like the Tuskegee syphilis studies, the Holmes Burke prison studies, and Henrietta Lacks family.""

LWV to explore censorship in libraries and schools; The Mountain Mail, November 7, 2023

 The Mountain Mail; LWV to explore censorship in libraries and schools

"Jamie LaRue, executive director of Garfield County Libraries, will discuss censorship at an event sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Chaffee County from noon to 1 p.m. Nov. 13 in the Sangre de Cristo Electric Association community room, 29780 U.S. 24 N. in Buena Vista... 

As the former director of Douglas County Libraries, LaRue responded to 250 challenges, which are attempts to remove or restrict access to library resources. As executive director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, he oversaw another 1,000 reports of censorship attempts nationwide and summarized for ALA the public challenges for the following year. 

As the current director of the Garfield County Public Library District, LaRue has responded to another dozen or so, including packed public meetings and a campaign to force the library to restrict or remove specific titles. 

Prior to the presentation, at 11:15 a.m., the League will host a social time and short business meeting. A video of the presentation will be available at LWVChaffeeCounty.org following the meeting."

Olympian Johnny Weir funds Quarryville library after Fulton Twp. cuts gift over LGBTQ+ content; Lancaster Online, November 6, 2023

JACK PANYARD , Lancaster Online; Olympian Johnny Weir funds Quarryville library after Fulton Twp. cuts gift over LGBTQ+ content

"When figure skating icon and Quarryville native Johnny Weir heard Fulton Township supervisors were defunding the borough’s library because it offers materials about LGBTQ+ life and culture, he decided to step in.

Weir, an avid supporter of both his hometown and LGBTQ+ causes, announced over social media Saturday that he would cover the township’s annual $1,000 allocation to the library for as long as he could, saying via Instagram that he wanted to “help save a community that raised me and to make sure the library represents everyone, not just the few.”

Weir’s generosity has become contagious." 

Ethics Week set for Nov. 6-12; University of North Georgia, November 3, 2023

  Denise Ray, University of North Georgia; Ethics Week set for Nov. 6-12

"The University System of Georgia (USG) will promote Ethics Week from Nov. 6-12 with the University of North Georgia (UNG) offering various events focused on ethical awareness. It serves as a reminder to employees of the importance of an ethical culture and UNG's year-round commitment to compliance with USG policies, as well as state and federal laws.

UNG promotes a culture of excellence by bringing awareness to its core values of integrity, student-focus, excellence, engagement, and service.

"Leading ethically means an individual does the right thing, even when no one is looking. At UNG, we strive to make it easy to do the right thing and hard to do the wrong thing," Jill Holman, director of internal audit, said. "We exist to enroll and educate students. Teaching ethical leadership in the classroom and through our actions is vitally important in promoting a culture of excellence. Join us this week in celebrating our ethical culture here at UNG."

Prison Is a Dangerous Place for LGBTQ+ People. I Made a Safe Space in the Library.; The Marshall Project, November 3, 2023

 MICHAEL SHANE HALE, The Marshall Project; Prison Is a Dangerous Place for LGBTQ+ People. I Made a Safe Space in the Library.

"And because queer people have a way of finding spaces that resonate with us, word has spread. Everyone knows that our library has a spot off by itself, waiting to hug the next LGBTQ+ person with stories of acceptance and belonging.

Michael Shane Hale has served nearly 30 years of a 50-years-to-life sentence and is working through the trauma he has experienced and created. Inspired by the many kindnesses that people in his life have afforded him, he hopes to continue his education. This includes pursuing a Ph.D. in neuroscience and machine learning."

Alabamians react to public library service leaving the American Library Association; AL.com, November 3, 2023

   

Williesha Morris, AL.com; Alabamians react to public library service leaving the American Library Association

"North Shelby library director Kate Etheredge said in an email she’s disheartened by this decision and that ALA’s Library Bill of Rights is “a plain-text explanation of the First Amendment when viewed through a library lens.”

“We can change our policy wording to remove ALA, but the guiding principles of the First Amendment would remain the same,” Etheredge, a member of the ALA, said. “Public libraries exist to provide information and access to all. We do not censor. We do not promote. We make a variety of information and services available and ask our patrons to respect that differences exist among us.”

Etheredge said moving books will “create a barrier to access” for library patrons and create a “slippery slope where each successive patron who feels a book is controversial would also need to be accommodated, and their beliefs may not be the same as the initial group.”...

Conservative interest group Eagle Forum, in a statement, commended the people who “stood against obscene graphic illustrations and agenda driven literature in children’s sections of our libraries.” The group said withdrawing from the ALA was “a step in the right direction” and hopes libraries follow Pack’s recommendations.

“We are hopeful that future library selections will include classic children’s literature which has uplifted and instructed generations of Americans while upholding such timeless values as truth, honesty, beauty, loyalty, love, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control,” said president Eunie Smith. She added children should be “engaged, enthralled, inspired and instructed” with content that’s age appropriate and follows the Golden Rule."

Florida joins conservative states severing ties with national library group; Politico, October 31, 2023

 ANDREW ATTERBURY , Politico; Florida joins conservative states severing ties with national library group

"Florida is among the latest conservative-leaning states to sever connections with the nation’s oldest library organization after the nonprofit became embroiled in the ongoing culture war over what books should be available to students.

The agency in charge of Florida’s public libraries issued a new rule in October forbidding any grant activities tied to the American Library Association, a 150-year-old organization that aids thousands of libraries across the country with training and funding.

The move by the DeSantis administration puts Florida in line with a cadre of Republican states and lawmakers leveling scrutiny on ALA, labeling the group as “toxic” and a “conduit” for exposing children to pornography — claims refuted by the organization and its supporters.

Conservatives in a growing number of states, including Alabama, Wyoming, Missouri, Texas and now Florida, have severed affiliations with the ALA, in part over the group choosing a new president, Emily Drabinski, who in 2022 tweeted that she’s a “Marxist.”...

How the rule will affect local libraries is currently unclear. Libraries pay for ALA memberships that grant access to benefits such as discounts on professional development and education products."

An Apparent Cyberattack Hushes the British Library; The New York Times, November 3, 2023

  Alex Marshall, The New York Times; An Apparent Cyberattack Hushes the British Library

"Tasmina Islam, a lecturer in cybersecurity education at King’s College London said in an email that the motivation for attacking a library could be financial.

“Cybercriminals can access a lot of information from a library, including users’ personal data,” she said. Libraries also “store electronic books, research articles and various intellectual properties, all of which cybercriminals can exploit for illegal distribution,” Islam added.

The British Library incident “served as a warning for other libraries and institutions to assess their own security measures thoroughly,” she said."

Our History Is Our Protection; American Libraries, November 1, 2023

Tracie D. Hall, American Libraries; Our History Is Our Protection

"Before his own death, another civil rights crusader, US Rep. John Lewis, presciently asserted that in his estimation, access to the internet (and information more broadly) would be the civil rights issue of the 21st century.

Lewis’s words demonstrate uncanny foresight. In this moment where disinformation and information disparity have become normalized, many libraries are forced to fight defunding when they should rightfully be advocating for increased funding to provide the growing educational and social services they are being asked to take on.

We are indeed in the midst of a civil rights movement. Libraries are called to face this moment just as we have in times before, with an indefatigable commitment to information access and the unequivocal belief that right of access applies to everyone.

That legacy, that history, is our protection." 

Rory Cooper honored at White House by President Biden; University Times, University of Pittsburgh, November 2, 2023

 University Times, University of Pittsburgh; Rory Cooper honored at White House by President Biden

"Rory Cooper, who has been given a slew of awards over the years for his work in rehabilitation sciences, found himself at the White House last week, where President Joe Biden bestowed on him the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement.

Cooper is founding director of Pitt’s Human Engineering Research Laboratories and, since 2021, assistant vice chancellor for research for STEM-health sciences collaborations.

He was among several people Biden presented the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to on Oct. 24. On Oct. 26, Cooper, who holds nine U.S. patents and has nine more pending, also was inducted into the 50th class of the National Inventors Hall of Fame at a gala in Washington, D.C."

Biden Issues Executive Order to Create A.I. Safeguards; The New York Times, October 30, 2023

  Cecilia Kang and David E. Sanger, The New York Times; Biden Issues Executive Order to Create A.I. Safeguards

"President Biden signed a far-reaching executive order on artificial intelligence on Monday, requiring that companies report to the federal government about the risks that their systems could aid countries or terrorists to make weapons of mass destruction. The order also seeks to lessen the dangers of “deep fakes” that could swing elections or swindle consumers."

Why the Supreme Court’s wasted time on ethics may cost it; CNN, November 1, 2023

 Joan Biskupic, CNN; Why the Supreme Court’s wasted time on ethics may cost it

"Supreme Court justices, who have infinite power over American lives, have continually resisted calls for greater accountability in a formal code of conduct.

Some justices recently signaled that they might be ready to adopt a binding ethics code. But their record of inaction reflects the difficulty of compromise among the nine and suggests any real change may not come at their own hand.

The delay has had consequences.

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats plan to authorize subpoenas for three wealthy conservatives, including real estate magnate Harlan Crow, who has provided luxury travel and other gifts to Justice Clarence Thomas."