WHAT: Sloan will speak at the University of Florida about effective science communication in the 21st century. Sloan believes visual communication will help increase the public’s knowledge of science. He will help guests understand how to use technology, media and the recession to effectively communicate new understandings of the world. New technology, media habits and the recession are factors hindering the ability to communicate science to the public. A better understanding of these issues will help communicators effectively reach their audience.

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9

WHERE: Genetics Auditorium, Room 101
Cancer and Genetics Research Building
1376 Mowry Road
(Free parking available on site)

CONTACTS:
Jamie Gillooly, UF associate professor of biology, gillooly@ufl.edu,
352-392-2743

Celeste Roberge, UF professor of sculpture, croberge@ufl.edu, 352-273-3086

Under the direction of these instructors, the students spent a semester designing a vision of how Plum Creek might conserve and develop its lands in east Alachua County. The community is invited to see the students’ vision and hear from their professors at Plum Creek’s Envision Alachua Models of Innovation forum beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Models of Innovation is a free series of educational forums sponsored by Plum Creek in support of the Envision Alachua process. Envision Alachua is a community planning process to discuss future economic, environmental and community opportunities in Alachua County on lands owned by Plum Creek. For more information, visit www.EnvisionAlachua.com.

CONTACT: April Salter
850-681-3200; 850-508-7040 cell
april.salter@saltermitchell.com

WHAT:
Models of Innovation Series — Innovations from the University of Florida

WHEN:
Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012

TIME:
6:30 to 9 p.m.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for viewing of the student designs

WHO:
Hosted by Plum Creek

WHERE:
Phillips Center at the University of Florida
315 Hull Road
Gainesville, FL

FEATURED SPEAKERS:
Pierce Jones, professor and director, Program for Resource Efficient Communities, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida

Mary Padua, associate professor, University of Florida School of Architecture, department of landscape architecture

Martin Gold, AIA, director and associate professor, University of Florida School of Architecture and executive director, Florida Community Design Center

Plum Creek is the largest and most geographically diverse private landowner in the nation with approximately 6.7 million acres of timberlands in the United States. In Florida, Plum Creek practices sustainable forestry on approximately 590,000 acres in 22 counties. For more information about Plum Creek in Florida, visit www.plumcreek.com/florida.

Stephen Craig, a University of Florida political science professor, said Florida’s large number of delegates makes it an important state to win. It is also crucial because of its diverse population, making it representative of the population of the national electorate, he said.

Florida’s Jan. 31 primary may also serve as a tiebreaker if two or more candidates are still closely ranked after the primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

“This year, however, it may serve effectively to anoint Romney as the Republican nominee,” Craig said. “That assumes, of course, that he wins South Carolina first.”

Daniel A. Smith, another UF political science professor, believes undecided voters will be a major factor in the primary election.

“Mitt Romney continues to lead the pack,” Smith said, “and Ron Paul continues to troll along in the low teens with his loyal band of Republican libertarians. The real question is whether undecided evangelical Christians will coalesce around Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum.”

At this point, Craig could not assess the impact of the Florida primary on the November general election. However, he pointed out that President Barack Obama lost the Democratic primary here four years ago.

Craig can be reached at 352-273-2377 or sccraig@ufl.edu
Smith can be reached at 352-273-2346 or dasmith@ufl.edu

The supporters of SOPA and PIPA claim the acts will help to greatly reduce the amount of piracy on the Internet by essentially blocking access in the U.S. to foreign sites that are deemed to be infringing on the intellectual property of a copyright holder.

However, those in opposition of the acts believe SOPA and PIPA would lead to Internet censorship and could dramatically change the Internet as we know it.

Contact: Paul Gugliuzza
Office: 352-273-0913
Email: prgugliuzza@law.ufl.edu

Gugliuzza is a visiting assistant professor who specializes in intellectual property issues. He comes to UF Law from Jones Day in Washington, D.C., where he was a member of the firms Issues and Appeals practice group.

Contact: Lyrissa Lidsky
Office: 352-273-0941
Email: lidsky@law.ufl.edu

Stephen C. O’Connell Chair Lyrissa Lidsky joined the UF Law faculty in 1994. Her areas of expertise include constitutional law, Internet speech and media law. She is the author of three casebooks on the topics of torts, mass media law and First Amendment law.

Contact: William Hamilton
Cell: 813-476-9557
Email: william.hamilton@quarles.com

Hamilton is a UF Law alum and adjunct professor at UF Law who specializes in electronic discovery and is board-certified in intellectual property and business litigation by The Florida Bar. He is a partner at Quarles & Brady LLP.

WHAT:
The University of Florida Public Utility Research Center, known as PURC, will commemorate its 40th anniversary during the PURC/World Bank International Training Program on Utility Regulation and Strategy.

WHO:
More than 30 international utility professionals will tour the new GRU South Energy Center to learn about electricity generation. Afterward, they’ll return to the UF Hilton and Conference center, the site of the training program. In total there are nearly 70 participants studying energy, water and telecommunications regulation and policy.

WHEN:
Wednesday, Jan. 18, GRU South Energy Center tour: 8 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. followed by educational sessions at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center, 1714 SW 34th St. Gainesville, beginning at 10 a.m.

WHY:
Since its founding in 1972, PURC has grown from a small group center to an internationally recognized research center offering expanded training and interdisciplinary development programs reaching hundreds of people each year who come from all around the world.

The PURC/World Bank International Training Program on Utility Regulation and Strategy is one such program. More than 2,500 people from 149 nations have traveled to Gainesville to learn from leading experts and international faculty. The program lasts two weeks, and the participants attend nearly 50 sessions that include case studies, practical exercises and panel discussions.

BACKGROUND:
Fact sheet available upon request.

WHEN: 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11

WHERE: 747 SW Second Ave., Gainesville

BACKGROUND: Described as a tech start-up super-incubator, the Florida Innovation Hub at UF is designed to bring together scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs. The 48,000-square-foot building is home to UF’s Office of Technology Licensing and UF Tech Connect. Since it opened in October, it also has become home to 15 start-ups as well as the offices of venture capitalists, law firms, design firms and other entities that offer services to start-ups. The Florida Innovation Hub is the first building at Innovation Square, a 40-acre live/work/play urban research park environment under development between the UF campus and downtown Gainesville.

The special guest speaker will be John Fernandez, U.S. assistant secretary of commerce for economic development.

PROGRAM:

• National Anthem, P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School Showstoppers
• Win Phillips, UF senior vice president and chief operating officer
• UF President Bernie Machen
• Gainesville Mayor Craig Lowe
• U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson
• John Fernandez, U.S. assistant secretary of commerce for economic development
• Jane Muir, associate director, UF Office of Technology Licensing
• Ribbon cutting
• Closing performance, Innovation Hub Robots
• 3 to 4:30 p.m. — open house for the public

CONTACT: Steve Orlando, 352-392-0186, sfo@ufl.edu

Two teams from CERN are expected to say that their findings narrow down the search, but experts do not expect to hear that either team has actually observed the elusive sub-atomic particle thought to explain why all matter in the universe has weight.

The following UF experts are available for analysis of today’s announcements:

Jacobo Konigsberg, UF physicist and longtime Higgs boson research leader at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, is a member of the Compact Muon Solenoid, or CMS, research team based at CERN.
Cell: 773-895-1669
Fermilab Office: 630-840-3623
konigsberg@fnal.gov

Darin Acosta, a UF physicist and deputy physics coordinator of the CMS research team has just returned to Florida from his work at CERN.
Office: 352-846-3144
Cell: 352-870-5393
darin.acosta@cern.ch

Pierre Ramond, distinguished professor of physics and director of UF’s Institute for Fundamental Theory.
Cell: 352-562-5213
pierre.ramond@gmail.com

Place:
Emerson Alumni Hall, University of Florida

Purpose:
Meetings of the University of Florida Board of Trustees

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Committees of the University of Florida Board of Trustees will meet on December 1, 2011 beginning at 12:30 p.m. for the first committee meeting, and continuing throughout the day until all committee meetings end (approximately 5:00 p.m., earlier if the last meeting ends earlier). Meetings are not required to run past 5:00 p.m.

Committee meetings and breaks (each called a session) will be held in the following numbered sequence. Each session assigned to a room will begin immediately after the session listed before it that is assigned to the same room ends.

12:30 pm

1. Simultaneous Meetings

Committee on Audit and Operations Review, Warrington Conference Room

Committee on Governance, President’s Room 215C

2. Break (15 minutes)

3. Simultaneous Meetings

Committee on Finance and Facilities, Warrington Conference Room

Committee on External Relations, President’s Room 215C

4. Break (15 minutes)

5. Committee on Educational Policy and Strategy, President’s Room 215C

Friday, December 2, 2011

On December 2, 2011, the Board of Trustees will attend the President’s Strategic Discussion beginning at 9:30 a.m. Immediately following the end of the Strategic Discussion, there will be a break, and immediately after the break, the Board Meeting will begin.

9:30 am

1. Strategic Discussion, President’s Room 215B

2. Break (10 minutes)

3. Board of Trustees Meeting, President’s Room 215B

A copy of the agenda may be obtained by writing to: Mr. Jamal Sowell, Post Office Box 113160, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 332611 or calling 352-392-4577.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, any person requiring special accommodations to participate in this meeting is asked to advise University of Florida at least 72 hours before the meeting by contacting Jamal Sowell at 352-392-4577. If you are hearing or speech impaired, please contact the University by calling (FRS) 1-800-955-8771 (TDD).

Date and Time:
Wednesday, November 30, 2011, 1:00 p.m.

Place:
4 Tigert Hall, University of Florida

Purpose:
To Discuss Issues Coming Before the Committee

A copy of the agenda may be obtained by writing to: Mr. Jamal Sowell, Post Office Box 113150, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 or by calling 352-392-4577.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, any person requiring special accommodations to participate in this meeting is asked to advise University of Florida at least 72 hours before the meeting by contacting Jamal Sowell at 352-392-4577. If you are hearing or speech impaired, please contact the University by calling (FRS) 1-800-955-8771 (TDD).

Any person who wishes to appeal a decision made by the University of Florida with respect to any matter considered at this public meeting will need a record of the proceedings, and for such purpose, he or she may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is based.

WHEN: 3:30 p.m., Nov. 29

WHERE: Eastside Campus, 2008 NE Waldo Road, Gainesville.

BACKGROUND: The University of Florida will celebrate the successes of its Eastside Campus. UF’s presence in East Gainesville has helped create economic development in the area, and the event will highlight UF’s commitment to the community.

The celebration will showcase the campus’ new office building, which recently received LEED-gold certification for its sustainability features. UF President Bernie Machen, Gainesville Mayor Craig Lowe and members of the city and county commissions will speak.

Opened in July 2010, the office building houses administrative offices, including Computing and Networking Services, known as CNS, and programs from multiple colleges. More than 400 employees work on the Eastside Campus, with plans to expand buildings and increase the number of personnel.

The celebration also will include a groundbreaking ceremony for the new East Campus Data Center, which will provide a second site, off the main UF campus, for Enterprise Systems, including human resources, finance, portal, student records and eLearning systems. The additional capacity provided by this facility enables the consolidation of college and department servers from various campus buildings into a central site. Server consolidation provides better power management in campus buildings, reduces energy consumption and yields universitywide cost savings. The center will include a new, dedicated, High Performance Computing Center, providing improved support for Academic Research Computing.

CONTACT: Steve Orlando, director, UF News Bureau, 352-392-0186, sfo@ufl.edu.

With stores opening earlier than ever on Black Friday, large crowds looking for deals are expected.

“People in this economy are looking for the bargains,” said Steven Kirn, executive director of the David F. Miller for Retailing Education and Research Center at UF. “Consumers are still watching what they spend, but they’ll show up.”

Projections for holiday spending are expected to increase 3 percent to 4 percent this year compared with last year, according to the National Retail Federation, with Americans expected to spend on average $712 on gifts this year.

Technology is also helping consumers find the best deals out there. Along with online shopping, mobile apps are increasing in popularity.

“Retailers are integrating apps into the shopping experience,” Kirn said. “People are using apps on the spot to compare prices, locate a store with a certain product and to get product information by scanning codes.”

Overall, days like Black Friday generate excitement and result in spending.

“It gets people in the spirit,” Kirn said. “Retailers can’t sell something if people are not in the store. These deals generate foot traffic, which leads to a higher ability of selling something.”

Kirn can be reached at 847-528-8282 or Steven.kirn@warrington.ufl.edu

The event will feature:

• Michael L. Good, M.D.
  Dean, UF College of Medicine
  Folke H. Peterson Dean’s Distinguished Professor
• Debbie Labud
  Celebrating the eve of the 10th anniversary of her lung transplant
• Maher Baz, M.D.
  Medical Director, Lung Transplant Program
• Edward D. Staples, M.D.
  Surgical Director, Lung Transplant Program
• John W. Walsh
  President and CEO, Alpha-1 Foundation
• Steve Oelrich
  Florida State Senator, District 14

When: 1 p.m., Monday, Nov. 21.

Where: Shands Cancer Hospital Auxiliary Conference Center, 1515 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, FL 32610

Contact: Media representatives should call John Pastor, public relations coordinator, at 352-273-5810. Or e-mail jdpastor@ufl.edu. Parking is available.

Escorts to the site are required because of proximity to patient areas.

Date:
November 3, 2011 (Telephone Conference Call)

Time:
Beginning at 11:00 AM ET

Place:
123 Tigert Hall

Moderator:
Carlos Alfonso, Chair

Purpose:
Discuss Issues Before The University of Florida Board of Trustees

A copy of the agenda may be obtained by writing to: Jamal Sowell, Post Office Box 113156, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 or by calling 352-392-4577.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, any person requiring special accommodations to participate in this meeting is asked to advise University of Florida at least 48 hours before the meeting by contacting Jamal Sowell at 352-392-4577. If you are hearing or speech impaired, please contact the University by calling (FRS) 1-800-955-8771 (TDD). Any person who wishes to appeal a decision made by the University of Florida with respect to any matter considered at this public meeting will need a record of the proceedings, and for such purpose, he or she may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is based.

WHAT: Soulfest is a multicultural extravaganza and outdoor concert event. The event includes a tabling fair, displaying cultural attire, music, artistic performances and free international foods, as well as a talent showcase featuring performances from various student organizations competing for an opportunity to perform at Gator Growl 2011. The event is free and open to the public.

WHEN: 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21.

WHERE: Reitz Student Union Colonnade and Amphitheatre

CONTACT: Crystal K. Goss, 352-327-6554 or crystal.goss@ufhomecoming.org

Charged with robbery by sudden snatching and obstructing/intimidating a victim was Devonn A. Sowell, 22, of 2006 NW 55th Ave, Apt. J5 Gainesville. Sowell was taken to the Alachua County Jail.

At about 7:07 a.m. Monday, the UFPD was called to assist an individual who was leaving her place of work at Shands at UF medical center when she was approached and confronted/threatened by her ex-boyfriend while approaching her car in Garage No. 10, police report.

The victim told officers she was fearful for her safety and attempted to dial 911. As she was dialing, the ex-boyfriend grabbed the phone from her, left the area, and headed off campus into the City of Gainesville. At that point, both the UFPD and the Gainesville Police Department established a perimeter in the general area of where the suspect fled.

The search continued for the suspect for the next couple of hours until investigative efforts by both agencies led to his location and subsequent arrest.