Twitter co-founder Ev Williams’ commencement address and a journalism team’s coup in winning a major award for “The Wounds of Whiteclay” were among the events and activities that generated more than three dozen national news stories involving the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in May 2017.
The 11 members of a student journalism team gained national attention in May after their in-depth report on Whiteclay, Nebraska — a village that exists primarily to sell beer to residents of the nearby Pine Ridge Reservation — was awarded the grand prize in the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism awards. The student team’s project was chosen over submissions by The New Yorker, National Geographic and HBO, among others. On May 28, National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” interviewed students Matt Hanson and Chris Bowling, journalism, about their roles in the project. The Kansas City Star reported May 27 on the five alumni from Shawnee Mission East High School who were part of the team: Jake Crandall, Vanessa Daves, Lauren Brown-Hulme, James Wooldridge and Hanson. Other student team members were Alyssa Mae, Marcella Mercer, Natasha Rausch, Amber Baesler and Calla Kessler.
Williams’ commencement speech was mentioned by The New York Times in a May 20 report on Williams’ belief that “the internet is broken.” The Hill also mentioned Williams’ commencement address in a May 25 report on President Trump’s use of Twitter.
Other national mentions of the university in May included:
A column authored by Kelsy Burke, sociology, about the connections between Christian sex advice websites and conservative political views was published by The Conversation May 11 and appeared in several other publications, including Newsweek, May 20; Inverse Culture and Raw Story, May 12; and Alternet, May 15. Burke also was quoted May 3 by the Orange County Register and the Long Beach Press-Telegram May 7 for a story about allegations that televangelists Paul and Jan Crouch failed to report the alleged sexual assault of their 13-year-old granddaughter in 2006.
Efforts to help Nebraska villages retain grocery stores were featured in a score of newspapers across the country after The Associated Press carried a May 21 Hastings Tribune story about stores for sale in Kenesaw and Fairmont, Nebraska. The stories quoted Jim Crandall, Cooperative Business Development.
The National Drought Mitigation Center was mentioned in several stories, including a May 3 report in the Inland Valley’s Daily Bulletin about California’s five-year drought emergency coming to an end; in the May 8 Hartford Courant about Connecticut’s drought watch being lifted after seven months; by Minnesota Public Radio May 11 about gorgeous, drought-free weather in the state; and by the West Fargo Pioneer in a May 15 story about spring farming conditions.
Roger Elmore, agronomy and horticulture, offered advice on when to replant corn after flooding in a May 25 Successful Farming article.
Research about a spider species’ jumbo eyes, conducted by Jay Stafstrom and Eileen Hebets, biological sciences, was featured May 1 in Phys.Org. Hebets also was quoted in a May 5 Newsweek article describing how more than 1,000 spider species live in caves.
American Public Radio’s “The Splendid Table” cited University of Nebraska-Lincoln popcorn research in a May 19 report on the best bagged popcorn. The story was based on an August 2016 project by Cooks’ Illustrated that consulted David Jackson, agronomy and horticulture, on how to identify the crunchiest popped kernels.
Karsten Koehler, nutrition and health sciences, was quoted by South Dakota Public Radio in a May 8 report on how low iron levels are associated with lower grades among female college students.
Master’s degree student Julianne Kopf, food science and technology, was quoted by The Fencepost May 26 about Bugeater Foods, a company she co-founded with university alumni Kelly Sturek and Alec Wiese to produce cricket flour.
Kathleen Krone, communication studies, and her colleague Stacy Tye-Williams of Iowa State University were quoted by Entrepreneur magazine May 19 about their research concluding that workplace bullying victims get a lot of bad advice from friends, family and co-workers.
BTN’s LiveBIG reported May 17 on efforts by Sidy Ndao and Mahmoud Elzouka, mechanical and materials engineering, to develop a diode that would allow computers to be powered by heat, instead of electricity. Ndao also received coverage from Yahoo! News on May 20 and LeMonde on May 22 about his Panafrican Robotics Competitton, which drew about 250 adolescent competitors, including West African girls who took a starring role.
The West Fargo Pioneer reported May 28 on a catfish-tagging project led by Mark Pegg, natural resources. Pegg and his students planted radio transmitters in 10 catfish they captured in the Red River near Grand Forks, N.D. More than 15,000 channel catfish have been tagged since the project began in 2012. The haul in 2017 included a 34-incher caught by undergraduate student McKenzie Hauger, fisheries and wildlife, that turned out to have been tagged previously, three years ago and about 300 miles downstream.
Answering a 4-year-old’s question for a fivethirtyeight.com article, Julie Peterson, entomology, concluded that all of the bugs on Earth could squish all the people.
Education Week consulted Reece Peterson, special education, for a May 7 analysis of how often disabled students are restrained or held in seclusion at school.
The Christian Science Monitor turned to Kevin Smith, political science, to discuss a Danish study that found people with heightened sensitivity to disgust tend to shun immigrant people. The story appeared May 3.
USA TODAY quoted Susan Swearer, educational psychology for a May 9 story about the lack of action so far on Melania Trump’s pledge to take on cyber bullying after she became First Lady.
Sandra Zellmer, law, was quoted May 3 in the Huffington Post about President Trump’s executive order to review all large-scale national monument sites designated since 1996 and was quoted May 28 by Grist about the Trump Administration suspending citizen advisory groups that consult on national monument sites. She told Grist that the administration wants to “talk more about economics and energy development and production than about sustainability.”
A research team led by Xiao Cheng Zeng, chemistry, was featured by Phys.Org May 3 in a report about how ice recrystallization might be used to fabricate highly efficient materials for electronics.
Faculty, administration, student and staff appearances in the national media are logged here. If you have additions to this list or suggestions for national news stories, contact Leslie Reed, the university’s national news editor, at lreed5@unl.edu or 402-472-2059.
