Around Campus late Robert Fitzer, clarinet; Misook Yun, soprano; Caroline Oltmanns, piano, and David Morgan, string bass. The SWE CD projects are supported by the Dana School of Music, University Development, the Youngstown Symphony Society and Friends of YSU Bands. All of the CDs are available for purchase at the university by contacting slgage@ysu.edu or 330-941-1832.
Programs and Initiatives WYSU-FM has gone HD. The public radio station, operated by YSU, recently began broadcasting in high definition, a new technology that broadcasts crystal clear, CD-quality sound. WYSU-FM is among
Announcer Mike Cervone, right, and broadcast engineer Ron Krauss in the studio at YSU’s public radio station, WYSUFM, in Cushwa Hall, which recently began broadcasting in high definition.
only a handful of radio stations in the Mahoning Valley that have made the switch to HD. “We’re constantly looking for ways to maintain excellent service to a very supportive audience,” said Ron Krauss, WYSU chief engineer. “By pursuing state-of-the-art technology like HD, it is one more opportunity to further enhance those services.” David Luscher, program director, said HD is already taking a strong hold in the television broadcasting market, and it is only a matter of time before HD radio follows suit. Luscher said that WYSU listeners will need an HD radio to receive the new, higher-quality signal. These radios are now available at most major electronic retailers. Listeners without an HD radio will continue to receive the regular analog signal. WYSU’s switch from analog to HD started in 2003 and cost about $190,000, culminating with the move to a new HD transmitter in December 2006. Gary Sexton, station director, said WYSU was able to secure significant local funding from the Raymond J. Wean Foundation, as well as a $75,000
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Around Campus Corporation for Public Broadcasting Digital Grant. An additional $38,000 came from the 2005 Power Run Campaign, in which individuals made pledges for Sexton’s 50-mile race in Michigan. HD radio broadcasting is hailed by many in the industry as the most significant advancement in radio broadcasting since the introduction of FM stereo more than 50 years ago. The technology offers dramatically higher quality audio, far more programming choices and new wireless data services. In addition, HD radio includes MetaData, which means that information such as song titles, artists, program information and even weather conditions will be displayed automatically on the radio screen. There are currently more than 1,100 HD radio stations in the nation, including nearly 60 in Ohio. The number of stations nationally is expected to grow to more than 3,000 in the next few years. The YSU Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics officially opened in April with a conference attended by nearly 100 faculty, students and alumni. CURMath was created in part to the due to the generosity of Doug Faires, a 1963 graduate of YSU who joined the mathematics faculty in 1969 before retiring last year. Faires provided about $40,000 in upfront money in proceeds from textbooks he has authored. He also is donating his entire extended teaching salary over the next three to five years Doug Faires to endow the new center. That amounts to about $100,000. Many of his former students have also donated to the center. CURMath is designed to assist members of the YSU Department of Mathematics and Statistics to promote the professional development and research activities of undergraduate students interested in mathematics. Typical activities of the Center will include support of the Pi Mu Epsilon Student Chapter and the Mathematical Association of America Student Chapter, student participation at MAA/PME regional and national meetings, problem-solving seminars and participation in mathematics competitions. YSU’s Center for Student Progress received the Educational Policy Institute’s 2007 Outstanding Student Retention Program Award. The award was presented at Retention 2007, an international conference on student retention in San Antonio, Texas. Jonelle Beatrice, CSP director, and Pat Shively, CSP associate director, accepted the award, which is presented annually to an institution that exhibits excellence in the development and implementation of a student retention program. “This award is the result of the diligent efforts of the CSP staff on behalf of students,” said Jonelle Beatrice, as-
sociate executive director of student life and director of CSP. Open admission, urban institutions such as YSU typically retain first-year students at a rate of about 64 to 67 percent, Beatrice said. YSU’s rate for 2005-06 was 68 percent. That means that 68 percent of first-year students enrolled in fall semester 2005 returned in fall semester 2006. Students who use the services of the CSP – including peer mentoring and tutoring – were retained at a rate of 74 percent. On the other hand, students who did not use the CSP were retained at a 20 percent rate. YSU’s retention rates are generally higher than those at other public universities in Ohio as reported by the Ohio Board of Regents. For more information, visit the CSP website at http://cc.ysu.edu/csp/.
The staff of the Center for Student Progress. Seated – Jonelle Beatrice, Pat Shively. Second row – Nakisha Ingram, Gina McGranahan, Jain Savage, Linda Frattaroli, Shannon Reesh, Noreen Yazvac, and Chris Khumprakob, Back row – Becky Varian, Robin Sakonyi, Debbie Campana, Tysa Egleton, Michael Beverly, Kellie Mills Dobozi, Brian Wells, and Angela Kearns.
Conducting Cutting-Edge Biotechnology Research The National Science Foundation has awarded $475,000 to YSU’s chemistry department to purchase a new nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, a piece of equipment that will help faculty and students conduct cutting-edge research in biotechnology and nanotechnology. “The NSF is again recognizing us as a national leader,” said Allen Hunter, chemistry professor and principal investigator on the grant. “This is an important tool needed for research.” NMR spectroscopy is one of the most powerful tools available to chemists to identify unknown substances and to characterize specific arrangements of atoms within molecules. “Access to state-of-the-art NMR spectrometers is essential to chemists who are carrying out frontier research,” the NSF said in awarding the grant that Ashley Malich, a chemistry graduate student, works on the spectrometer in Ward was written by a team from YSU, led by Beecher Hall. The NSF awarded funds to YSU for a new spectrometer, which assists in chemistry Professor Peter Norris, and its identification of unknown substances. partner institutions. This will be YSU’s second NMR hold enormous promise of revolutionizing the healthcare spectrometer. The university’s current piece of equipment and manufacturing industries throughout our nation, and the is approaching 15 years old, and the new one will include Mahoning Valley is well-positioned to lead the development better electronics and allow for more advanced and sophistiof this cutting-edge technology.” cated experiments and easier student use, said Daryl Mincey, Mincey said the equipment will be open for use by chemistry department chair. The university will keep and chemists from universities across the Midwest, including continue to use the magnet from the old spectrometer, he Muskingum College in Ohio, Harold Washington College in said. Chicago and Delta College in Michigan. “Competition for the funding was fierce, so the univerThe award comes on the heels of a $1 million federal sity deserves high praise for this achievement,” U.S. Rep. earmark that Ryan landed for YSU late last year for the Tim Ryan said about the grant. “Research in these areas CyberEnabled Industrial Innovation Center, led by Hunter.
Summer 2007
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