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UPI interviews geologist Lee Florea about his upcoming trek.

Ball State graduate is featured.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the recipients of its 2013 Leadership Awards, which celebrate the individuals and groups at the forefront of sustainability in the built environment. The awards will be presented at the Leadership Awards Luncheon on Thursday, Nov. 21, during the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Philadelphia. This year’s winners are Jo Ann Gora, president of Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., and Mary Spilde, president of Lane Community College in Eugene, Ore.

Sixth District Congressman Luke Messer, along with Ball State President Jo Ann Gora, announced Friday the creation of the Congressional Leadership Academy. Two students from every high school in the sixth district will be selected to participate in the event. Note: Story ran story on air multiple times over weekend.

A solar-powered demonstration house will be open to the public tomorrow (Aug. 24) at the University of Louisville. A team of students from three universities has built the house to compete in an international competition. In a nearly empty lot off Third Street, students are sawing, hammering, and putting the finishing touches on a two-bedroom house. This house is the region’s contribution to this year’s Solar Decathlon competition…a contest sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy that will send 20 collegiate teams from around the world—and their houses—to California next month for judging. The house under construction in Louisville was designed, engineered and built largely by students from the U of L, University of Kentucky and Ball State.

“i.M.A.D.E designed, fabricated, and installed custom machined plywood and aluminum work pods for the Center for Media Design unit at Ball State University. Designed primarily in Rhino and Grasshopper, the geometries are informed from a zero-waste strategy of cutting small undulating strips from full plywood sheets, eliminating plywood off-cut waste. This “slice and dice” fabrication method reinforces the natural properties and aesthetic of plywood striations, while creating gradient effects of varying thickness and porosity, that change dynamically over time, lighting conditions, and vantage point.”

Rising gas prices over the coming decade may make public transportation significantly more attractive to Hoosiers, say three new reports from Ball State University.

The Studebaker East Residence Hall at Ball State University opened this year. This project involved stripping the existing building down to only its structural frame and rebuilding a new facility around it. The 8-story building includes a chilled beam mechanical system that is connected to the campus geothermal loop, making it one of the most energy-efficient buildings on campus. The project is expected to achieve LEED Gold certification.

Environmentally, wind is also a comparatively clean alternative to generating electricity with fossil fuels, said Scott Rice-Snow, a geological sciences professor at Ball State. And that's true for much of the wind industry, said Michael Hicks, an economist at Ball State. While it might still be viable to use existing turbines, "if the incentives went away, it might mean we see less new or future investment," he said. Note: This story originated with the Anderson Herald-Bulletin and distributed by Associated Press. The Indianapolis Business Journal also posted it.

For the second year in a row, a project located in Haiti and executed by a class of Ball State architecture and landscape architecture students has been recognized in the 2012 Honor Awards Program sponsored by the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS). In addition, four students from the same class earned a third-place award in the 2012 (New) Concrete Unit Design Competition sponsored by the National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA) and funded through the Indiana Concrete Masonry Association (ICMA).