University of Texas Arlington

Making college affordable

Education News.org reported that The University of Texas in Arlington is now offering a bargain to students willing to make the attainment of a college degree a priority. A new program will put the cost of a college education at $10,000 for qualified students in the Arlington and Mansfield school districts. But the workload involved will not be for the lighthearted. Students who are selected to take part will be allowed to earn up to 24 college credits during their junior and senior year of high school and after graduating would continue their studies at Tarrant County College, where they will work towards a two-year associate’s degree. For the final two years, students will transfer to UT Arlington to complete the remaining credits required to earn their bachelor’s.

Lynch to serve as QinetiQ conference speaker

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Rick Lynch, director of the UT Arlington Research Institute, was mentioned in a Robotics Wire article about QinetiQ North America. The company will showcase its latest unmanned systems and remote sensor technology for land, air and maritime environments at the Annual Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) North America 2012 exhibition next week in Las Vegas. Lynch, who serves as QinetiQ North America’s senior advisor for robotics and warfighter systems, is scheduled to speak to conference attendees Aug. 7. The story was also carried by Digital Journal.com, WUPV.com (Richmond, Va.) and WMBB.com (Panama City, Fla.).

UT Arlington researchers' work with autistic children highlighted

The Montana Standard published a story about researchers from The University of Texas at Arlington and the University of North Texas Health Science Center who are using a toy robot to gain insight into children with autism. The researchers hope that their collaborative work will lead to earlier diagnosis and better treatment for children with the neurological disorder. The story was initially reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Lose the Training Wheels bike camp held at UT Arlington

The Down Syndrome Partnership of Tarrant County is hosting its 3rd Annual Lose the Training Wheels bike camp at The University of Texas at Arlington, CBSDFW.com reported. By weeks end, some 140 volunteers will help teach children with disabilities, ages 8 and up, how to ride two-wheel bicycles without training wheels.

Franklin interviewed about cricket presence in downtown Dallas

The Dallas Business Journal blog, DBJ Confidential, interviewed Carl Franklin, a UT Arlington herpetologist, in a quest to find out how crickets, which are normally found in fields, managed to scale the 56-story Renaissance Tower in Dallas and survive. Crickets, which are related to grasshoppers, are attracted to lights, and that could explain why they were in downtown Dallas, Franklin said. If crickets are flying, they could get caught in turbulent winds that displace them from the moist soil. The surviving crickets likely fed off the dead crickets if they didn’t have access to fresh plant matter. The DBJ Confidential post was noted in The Dallas Morning News blog, The Scoop.