UT is a leader in the development of alternative fuels, the university is enjoying its best year in recent history in terms of state funding, and Dr. Bill Bass has solved the mystery of “The Big Bopper”—these and other stories in this edition of UTopics.
Why would a retired police officer from Miami own a herd of goats? When you meet Deb Kidwell, it makes perfect sense. Kidwell is raising mules and a special breed of donkey called American Mammoth Jackstock on her farm in Weakley County, Tennessee. It’s her goats that literally clear the way for her growing livestock operation, Lake Nowhere Mule and Donkey Farm.
Ask conservation ecologist Dr. Luke Dollar to describe the moment when he felt farthest removed from the University of Tennessee campus, and he’ll likely cite Madagascar, where he’s logged nearly 6 years researching mammalian predators. Chief among them is the enigmatic fossa (pronounced “FOO-suh”), a 20-pound carnivore that blends a mountain lion’s agility and cunning with the sheer bellicosity of a mongoose.
Foosas help control the predators that devour the human food supply on Madagascar. So when Luke Dollar discovered villagers had killed a foosa, he launched a poster campaign to “Save the fossa, save the harvest.” The campaign has been a success, says Dollar, and its effectiveness has inclined him to expand his educational efforts to the youngest members of Malagasy society, most of whom receive fewer than five years of formal education.
Being national professor of the year is a momentous honor. But for Donna Boyd (Knoxville ’81, ’84, ’88), the award has added significance. She’s a “second generation” professor of the year, having studied under a UT anthropology professor who won the honor in 1985.
Investing your money can be about as serious as a heart attack. Unfortunately, not every investment is a wise one. Think of the impulsive trader who buys on the basis of a hot tip, regardless of whether the bulls are raging or the bears are hunkered down.
If you could look at mountains and seashores and think I saved that, wouldn’t you nearly pop with pride? Paul Pritchard (Knoxville ’71) can say that. He has helped preserve nature’s best for future generations.
It was an unforgettable moment. As he knelt in a pile of damp, moldy leaves in the heart of Tennessee’s majestic Smoky Mountains, Dennis Desjardin (Knoxville ’89) got the surprise of a lifetime when he realized that some of the tan-and-gold–patterned leaves on which he was kneeling weren’t really leaves--they were actually a pair of copperheads.
Alternative fuels--a topic that sparks political, social, intellectual, and cultural debates. As gasoline prices continue to fluctuate, nearly everyone has an opinion about fuel production and consumption and, ultimately, about how to rescue the motorist at the pump, curb U.S. dependency on foreign oil, and lessen adverse effects on the environment.
Maggie Carlin could barely walk 15 feet without taking a break. Although she was only 10 years old, the vivacious redhead suffered excruciating pain from arthritis in both knees. Pain wasn’t anything new to her. At the tender age of 6 months, a veterinarian in Texas diagnosed the golden retriever with luxating kneecaps, and she underwent surgery on her knees. One was successful; the other wasn’t.
Blair Pancake (Knoxville ’05) won the Miss Tennessee title, UT Chattanooga alumnus Leslie Jordan won an Emmy, and we catch up with two Katrina evacuees who were featured in the Summer 2006 issue—that and more in this installment of UTopics.
Each year almost 10,000 Tennesseans die as a direct result of cigarette smoking. Yet some 1.1 million of the Volunteer State’s residents over the age of 18 continue to smoke. That’s nearly 28 percent of the state’s population, compared with the national average of 23 percent.
Agricultural production has traditionally focused on food and fiber, but a third F has entered the picture. Everyone’s talking about homegrown fuel. Whether processing soy diesel or harvesting French-fryer fat, Americans are searching for affordable, sustainable sources of energy available within our own borders.
When you hear University of Tennessee, Knoxville, student Scott Curran talk about “creating a model for campus sustainability,” it’s hard not to get caught up in his enthusiasm. Curran, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, takes pride in the success of the efforts to not only use biodiesel fuel on the Knoxville campus but also create the fuel from campus resources.
University of Tennessee Distinguished Professor Jimmy Mays’s polymer research has put him on the leading edge of a new clean-energy research initiative that seeks to bring hydrogen fuel-cell technology out of the laboratory and into the marketplace.
