Mick Kulikowski

Apr 27, 2011

North Carolina State University Selects Park Scholars

North Carolina State University has selected 45 Park Scholars for fall 2011. The prestigious awards are valued at about $80,000 for North Carolina residents and $136,000 for out-of-state students. Winners were selected from a pool of more than 1,300 highly qualified applicants. Biographies and photos of the Class of 2015 Park Scholars can be accessed… 

Apr 6, 2011

NC State Students Win Udall, Goldwater Scholarships

Two North Carolina State University students are winners of prestigious national undergraduate scholarships. Krystian Kozek of Apex, a junior majoring in materials science and engineering and chemistry, won a Goldwater Scholarship for the 2011-12 academic year. Garik Sadovy of Wake Forest, a junior majoring in materials science and engineering and minoring in environmental science, won… 

Apr 1, 2011

Take It to the Bank

Your NCAA college basketball tournament bracket is most likely, like The Abstract’s, busted. But there’s still a reason – even though it’s baseball season  – to watch the final three games of the tourney. That reason is the bank shot. More specifically, whether that big game-winning or momentum-breaking shot – cue “One Shining Moment” –… 

Mar 18, 2011

NC State Experts Can Discuss Japan Nuclear Crisis

Media looking for information on a variety of topics surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant crisis can contact the following North Carolina State University experts: Nuclear reactor function and physics Nuclear engineer Dr. Paul Turinsky can discuss how a nuclear reactor works and the attempts to prevent reactor meltdown. He can be reached at… 

Mar 16, 2011

Fire It Up

The basketball is in your hands, the score is tied and time's running out. You're about 10 feet away from the basket on the right side of the court, just outside the free-throw lane. Before the clock hits 0:00, check out new research from NC State engineers that shows whether a direct shot or a bank shot has a better chance of scoring your team a postgame victory celebration. 

Mar 14, 2011

Fly Tree of Life Mapped, Adds Big Branch of Evolutionary Knowledge

Calling it the “new periodic table for flies,” researchers at North Carolina State University and collaborators across the globe have mapped the evolutionary history of flies, providing a framework for further comparative studies on the insects that comprise more than 10 percent of all life on Earth. 

Mar 14, 2011

Research Gets Curiouser and Curiouser

Interested in learning more about how ants live in the medians of Manhattan or in Peruvian tree gardens? How about the ways animals and plants move through landscape corridors that surround nuclear weapons sites? If so, you have something in common with Dr. Jai Ranganathan, a conservation biologist who produces “Curiouser and Curiouser” podcasts for… 

Mar 10, 2011

Money in the Bank: Using Backboard Can Pay Off for Basketball Shooters

The basketball is in your hands. The score is tied and there are only a few seconds left on the clock. You have the ball about 10 feet away from the basket on the right side of the court, just outside the free-throw lane. It’s decision time: Is it best to try a direct shot… 

Feb 24, 2011

NC State Receives $3 Million Grant to Root Out Factors Behind Childhood Obesity

North Carolina State University has received a five-year, $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to study the root causes behind childhood obesity in low-income families. The goal is to track urban and rural families to better understand the factors – economic, social, cultural and environmental – that contribute to what has… 

Feb 17, 2011

DeSimone Receives Top Science Mentor Award

Dr. Joseph M. DeSimone, North Carolina State University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher and innovator, has received the 2010 Mentor Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The award honors association members who have mentored significant numbers of underrepresented students – such as women, minorities and persons with… 

Feb 16, 2011

Superbugs From Swine Farms?

The spread of bacteria that are immune to many types of antibiotics – so-called “superbugs” – is cause for great concern for public health. But where are these superbugs coming from and how are they spreading? One source may be hog farms. A recent study by NC State entomologist Coby Schal and colleagues from Kansas State… 

Feb 14, 2011

Roses + Celery Gene = Longer Rose Vase Life

You buy some roses as a Valentine’s Day gift for a loved one. You bring them home and present them to your loved one. Smiles abound. Until disappointment sets in two days later, when the rose petals begin getting dark and mushy. Welcome to the world of botrytis, or petal blight. To prevent this from… 

Feb 11, 2011

NC State Ninth On Princeton Review Best Value Public College List

In yet another testament to its success at providing a quality education at a low price, North Carolina State University is ranked ninth in the “Top 10 Best Value Public Colleges for 2011” by The Princeton Review. An education services company, The Princeton Review chose its “Best Value Colleges” for 2011 based on criteria covering… 

Feb 10, 2011

For Longer-Life, Disease-Free Roses, NC State Researchers Insert Celery Gene

A rose by any other name would smell … like celery? North Carolina State University research intended to extend the “vase life” of roses inserts a gene from celery inside rose plants to help fight off botrytis, or petal blight, one of the rose’s major post-harvest diseases. 

Feb 3, 2011

Water Flea Circus: Five Questions With Dr. Jerry LeBlanc

This week’s edition of the journal Science contains a paper describing the genome of the water flea (Daphnia pulex). BioMed Central has also released a number of companion papers related to the genomics of the water flea, including one by Dr. Jerry LeBlanc, professor and head of NC State’s environmental and molecular toxicology department. LeBlanc uses…