Video at the speed of light
ABC7 News reported on a Sept. 27 demo at SFSU of the first ever international
transmission of super high-definition (SHD) 4K digital video. The video
was transmitted over an ultra fast optical network, and is a project
of a consortium that includes SFSU's Institute for Next Generation
Internet. "Downloading now is a function of the limited capacity
of this [current] Internet," said Joaquin Alvarado, director of
academic programs for the College of Extended Learning, "[With]
the speeds that we're talking about downloading will not be something
we worry about anymore."
Unsettled by signs
Mitchell Marks, associate professor of management, contributed to a Sept.
27 ABC7 News story on the recent drop in consumer confidence. Marks said that events like the recent hurricanes and the spike in oil prices
have a large affect on consumers. "Cumulatively they begin to
think 'Wow what's the pattern here?' And they start looking for more
signs," he said. "And unfortunately when people look out
for this kind of thing, they look at the glass [as] half empty."
Restoring eel grass
An ABC7 News broadcast on Sept. 22 featured Romberg Tiburon Center researcher
and biology Professor Katharyn Boyer's San Francisco Bay eel grass
restoration project. The piece documented Boyer and her team of researchers
and
students as they harvested eelgrass from a patch along the Alameda
coastline. The seeds they collect are destined for a barren site on
the Marin County side of San Francisco Bay. "The eel grass helps
to clean the water by its blades moving back and forth through the
water column, causing the sediment particles to drop out," Boyer said. The project is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and CalTrans. Boyer and her team hope to see the eel
grass, a key spawning habitat for bay herring, sprout up in the previously
barren areas as early as next spring.
Uniform design
According to the Sept. 15 edition of the San Mateo County Times, Connie
Ulasewicz, associate professor of consumer and family studies, designed
new uniforms for girls at Hillcrest Juvenile Hall. The girls now wear
pink polo shirts instead of baggy orange T-shirts. "As more girls
are getting into the system, no one has really looked at what they
really need," said Ulasewicz. "If they feel better about
themselves, that helps them get out (of juvenile hall)." Ulasewicz was interested in designing the uniforms because of a study she did
on the social psychology of clothing.
Taking the ball and going home
The performance of Kansas City's MLB and NFL teams could affect voters'
desire to approve the use of public funds for stadium projects, reports
the Kansas City Star in a Sept. 11 article. Jules Tygiel, professor
of history, said voters won't necessarily be convinced by the teams'
threats to leave the area if voters don't approve the projects. "Los
Angeles has lost two football teams, but it doesn’t seem any
worst for it," he said.
Morrison meets Metallica
The Morrison Artists Series' 50th season received coverage in the San
Francisco Chronicle and Contra Costa Times. San Francisco Chronicle
music critic Joshua Kosman called the series "one of the Bay Area's
best-kept cultural secrets" in a Sept. 7 article. The series kicked
off with a benefit that included a performance by the classical quartet
Flux; Kirk Hammett, the lead guitarist with the heavy-metal band Metallica;
and Saul Gropman, director of the Morrison Artists Series. "We've
been trying to get away from the staid, traditional format of chamber
music concerts because we're losing audience members to age," Gropman said in the Sept. 7 article. "Chamber music is too easily seen
as blue-hair stuff. That's why we have to get even more creative while
maintaining the integrity of the series."
For
more SFSU people and programs in the news, see the SFSU
in the News page on SF State
News.
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