News and Events
July 22, 2010
FSU to Partner with Appraisal Firm on Real-Estate Valuation Research
The Florida State University College of Business and Jacksonville, Fla.-based real-estate appraisal firm Smithfield & Wainwright, LLC today signed an agreement to work together to provide dynamic research in real estate valuation and analytics designed to benefit the American and global economies.
The agreement calls for interaction and collaboration between researchers at the College of Business and Smithfield & Wainwright by establishing joint research programs including exchanging data, educational literature and research. The partnership opens up unique opportunities to unlock the mortgage-backed securities markets, along with providing key components in bank and financial recovery under the new Financial Reform Act of 2010.
“The fact that the College of Business was chosen for this project is a testament to our program’s depth in the field, as well as the research reputation of our faculty,” said Caryn Beck-Dudley, dean of the college. “Our researchers will be working on projects that support the nation’s quest to improve the financial state of our economy.”
“In the spirit of cooperation and collaboration, we can work together to accomplish results that are expected to have a significant impact not only in the real estate crisis in America, but globally,” said “Big” Hogan E. Copeland II, chairman and chief executive officer of Smithfield & Wainwright. The patents and proprietary technology that the firm’s LPV (Logical Property Valuation) and LIA (Local Impact Analysis) analytical tools possess can aid the global economy in unlocking financial markets, Copeland said.
Copeland is a Florida State University alumnus who was taught and mentored by Professor Barry Diskin, the university’s Francis J. Nardozza Scholar’s Program Fellow. Diskin continues to teach real estate at Florida State and is leading the research charge in this collaboration. Assisting him will be G. Stacy Sirmans, the Kenneth G. Bacheller Professor of Real Estate.
“Our history is one of teamwork and integration that bridges the gap between academia and real-life situations,’’ Copeland said. “The LPV platform’s new collaboration links our researchers with FSU’s talented faculty and other major academicians across the country to bridge the gap that will allow banks and financial institutions to solidify their foundation and stabilization to economic recovery.”
One educational research project of mutual interest is Smithfield & Wainwright’s LPV (Logical Property Valuation) technological platform, which could offer the key to unlocking the mortgage-backed securities markets. The research will look at whether this proprietary and patent-pending platform provides the transparency and real-time, true-price discovery and accountability required under the new Financial Reform Act of 2010.
The second educational research project of mutual interest is the firm’s Local Impact Analysis (LIA) platform. The research will examine whether LIA offers the necessary verifiable comprehensive metrics created by real property. If verified, this proprietary development could be the catalyst for governmental institutions and states for budgeting and contingency planning under the Financial Reform Act of 2010.
Smithfield & Wainwright will gain access to Florida State’s highly acclaimed College of Business, where the firm will have the opportunity to interact with researchers who understand key economic roles that affect the global economy. By partnering with Smithfield & Wainwright, those FSU researchers will have access to the firm’s world-class, centralized data depository, thus allowing true property characteristics to be further evaluated for nationwide stabilization of the real estate markets.
July 21, 2010
TCC Receives NACUBO Innovation Award
Tallahassee Community College has been selected as the recipient of the 2010 Innovation Award by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO).
TCC is being recognized for the development of "My Success Platinum," the College’s Individual Learning Plan (ILP). "My Success Platinum" is an interactive tool that engages students in their academic and career planning via online avenues which address their needs and delivers services the way today’s students demand – anytime, anywhere.
"My Success Platinum" was designed by in-house staff utilizing Microsoft SharePoint Technologies and is integrated with the College’s administrative systems. One of its many features is the student "dashboard" that allows TCC staff to send academic alerts and warnings specific to the student and their academic progress.
"My Success Platinum provides students with the opportunity to own their career and educational goals and to develop a plan to achieve those goals," said Dr. Sheri Rowland, Dean of Enrollment Management. "It also allows the College to provide targeted messages to students based on their academic progress, life challenges and social interests.
"This system has the potential to change the face of academic advising at the College and provides a means of targeting and sharing information and resources with students to help them be successful."
The NACUBO Innovation Award seeks to honor the achievement of higher education institutions of every constituent type – research universities, comprehensive and doctoral institutions, small institutions and community colleges. Successful nominations described a new approach to an institutional issue that is “cutting-edge” or “first-of-its-kind” within the higher education community.
TCC will formally receive its awards during the 2010 NACUBO Annual Meeting in San Francisco, Calif., July 25. Rowland and Mike Robeck, Computer Systems Analyst, will accept the award on behalf of the College.
July 21, 2010
Two Materials Researchers Receive Prestigious NSF Career Awards
A pair of Florida State University researchers who are exploring the properties of two very different types of materials have earned major recognition — and support — for their work.
Sachin Shanbhag, an assistant professor in the Department of Scientific Computing, and Oskar Vafek, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and member of the Condensed Matter Physics research group at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, have won prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The awards are designated for young scientists who are still in the early stages of their academic careers and are intended to help them build upon previous accomplishments in their respective areas of research.
“Florida State is developing a critical mass of talented young faculty members who will be leaders in their fields for decades to come,” said FSU Vice President for Research Kirby W. Kemper. “This is another tangible example of the scholarly rigor that Florida State is already known for and continues to emphasize. Our congratulations go to Professor Shanbhag and Professor Vafek for this important recognition.”
Vafek, a theoretical physicist, is conducting research on a class of materials that includes graphene, a one-atom-thick sheet derived from the mineral graphite that is made entirely out of a hexagonal array of carbon atoms. Graphene’s remarkable electronic properties make it a potential candidate for use in numerous technological applications, which has sparked tremendous interest in the scientific community and in industry.
His CAREER Award, which comes with NSF funding of $84,000 a year over five years, will support integrated research, education and outreach activities, including the development of “wiki-books,” digital learning tools that will assist in the teaching of undergraduate and graduate-level physics courses. Using wiki-books, students work as teams to write certain chapters and edit others, thus sharpening their scientific writing skills while improving their understanding of often-complex concepts. (See http://wiki.physics.fsu.edu to view the physics department’s wiki page.)
“I feel honored and exceptionally privileged to receive this award,” Vafek said. “I view it as a bestowal of opportunity, and responsibility, to pursue experimentally motivated and curiosity-driven theoretical research. I am also aware that I have greatly benefited from the stimulating and collegial atmosphere of the magnet lab and the FSU physics department, both of which have unreservedly supported the proposed line of research and educational activities.”
Shanbhag, meanwhile, is a computational scientist who utilizes incredibly high-powered computers to develop a better understanding of the behavior of synthetic polymers derived from petroleum. (About 10 percent of the world’s crude oil supply is diverted toward non-energy needs and is converted into such petrochemicals.)
Synthetic polymers are used in the manufacture of a great many of the things around us — everything from computers to cars, buildings, packaging, Teflon and home insulation, just to name a few.
“Even the world within us — think cellulose, DNA and proteins — is primarily polymeric,” Shanbhag said. “So learning how different polymers act and move under different environments is important.”
With his CAREER Award, which will provide $82,000 per year in funding over five years, Shanbhag will continue to develop computational models of polymer dynamics. Developing such knowledge “will help us build better and cheaper synthetic polymers, or use existing polymers more optimally,” he said.
Shanbhag cited two examples of how this might benefit society:
* Lighter cars and airplanes could be made by substituting metal with polymer composites, thus reducing their weight without affecting performance. Since these newer materials are easier to process and lighter, their usage brings down the vehicles’ cost and makes them more fuel-efficient.
* The human body is replete with examples where an understanding of the motion of a polymer (such as DNA) through a complex dense environment (such as the cell) is vital. The delivery of therapeutic genes to target cells is one immediate area where such knowledge could be exploited.
He was quick to share the credit for the NSF award.
“I’ve benefited enormously from the excellent computational resources available at FSU through the Department of Scientific Computing and the High Performance Computing Center,” Shanbhag said. “The center is a gem. The staff who manage these resources are terrific, and that has been instrumental in allowing me to focus on the science, instead of babysitting and troubleshooting the machines.
“My background is in engineering, so I also benefit enormously from collaborators and friends throughout the university in industrial engineering, chemical engineering, physics, math and chemistry,” he said.
In addition to Shanbhag and Vafek, two other Florida State faculty members have won NSF CAREER Awards in recent months. Karen M. McGinnis, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Science, and Michael Shatruk, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, also received the awards and accompanying funds to advance their research.
“These four young faculty members, and many others like them here at FSU, are pushing the boundaries of knowledge in their respective fields,” Vice President Kemper said. “Through their hard work, and with the continued support of the National Science Foundation and Florida State, our society will be the ultimate beneficiary of their cutting-edge research.”
