University of Texas Arlington

Working to reduce SIDS

KTVT/CBS 11 and WBAP820 AM/96.7 FM aired reports on a UT Arlington team that is working on a device that they hope could reduce incidence of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Electrical engineering professor J.C. Chiao, doctoral candidate Hung Cao and Heather Beardsley, a research engineer at TMAC, or the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center, have developed a sensitive wireless sensor system that can detect carbon dioxide exhaled by babies as they sleep. But more importantly, the sensors know when infants are not expelling carbon dioxide – quickly enough to allow intervention.

Facing student debt

KDFW/Fox 4 interviewed Karen Krause, UT Arlington executive director for financial aid, and aerospace engineering student Raymond Correa for a report on the mounting student loan debt that college students face and worries it could create a dangerous economic bubble. “The ones that concern me are the people who always come in, always take the very maximum amount they can get, because I’m not sure they are really understanding those consequences,” Krause said.

Blog post draws responses

Actor and artist James Franco wrote about commencement speeches and his decision to give one at UT Arlington on his blog on the Huffington Post site. Franco said he had reservations about giving a commencement speech but decided to focus on his own story of being “a commercially successful actor who wasn't happy with the work I was doing, so I went back to school to focus on my other interests. Then again, I suppose that's not the worst message -- the message being, you can change your life.” His blog drew responses from The New York Observer, The Atlantic Wire website and the website Jezebel.