Nationwide Effort by Newman’s Own Foundation to Help Veterans; Local Initiative Lagging

When Westport-based Newman's Own Foundation launched a national fundraising competition aimed at supporting the work of veterans organizations across the country – coupled with plans to contribute an additional $180,000 to the most successful efforts - the inclusion of a Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network (CPBN) job training initiative for veterans was encouraging.

With the deadline just hours away, however, the local CPBN effort is ranked 23rd among the 28 participating organizations, having raised a total of $691.

A select group of military service nonprofits – a total of 28 organizations across the nation - were invited to raise money and compete for additional funds.  The Honoring Those Who Serve Challenge is a fundraising initiative developed to help charities gain awareness, recognition, and most importantly, cash.  It is an element in the Newman’s Own Foundation’s commitment to military personnel, veterans, and their families, providing a public awareness platform and funding support to organizations that help those who serve.

As of November 10, a total of $388,922 has been raised by 28 participating nonprofit organizations.  The Challenge began on Monday, September 30, and closes on Veterans Day, Monday, November 11, at noon.  Only charities pre-selected by Newman’s Own Foundation were eligible to compete and win – among them Connecticut Public Broadcasting’s Veterans Vocational Training Program.

The CPBN program is free to veterans to train for a career in media arts and video production at Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network’s Learning Lab in Hartford.  Veterans learn from award-winning professionals in television, radio and new media production.  Participants gain experience working on digital projects and productions, ranging from live broadcasts to studio operations to web services.  Completion of the program leads to industry-specific certifications in digital arts or video production and includes portfolio development and business connections.

The charity that raises the most money during the Challenge wins a $75,000 grant. Second place will receive $50,000, and third place will receive $25,000.  Another $30,000 is being given throughout the campaign, through weekly bonus challenges.  As of November 10, the leading organizations were the Dixon Center for Military and Veterans Community Services and Easter Seals ($122,194), Operation Finally Home ($53,331) and Hero Dogs Inc. ($41,531).  All the participating organizations in the Competition – operated through a specially designed Crowdrise website - will keep the money they raise, regardless of whether they receive the additional prize money contributed by Newman’s Own Foundation.

To carry on Paul Newman’s philanthropic legacy, Newman’s Own Foundation turns all net profits and royalties from the sale of Newman’s Own products into charitable donations. To date, Paul Newman and Newman’s Own Foundation have given over $380 million to thousands of charities around the world.

Among a range of programs supported by Newman’s Own Foundation – including the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, CT and an array of nutrition programs nationwide, the organization has been a consistent supporter of veterans initiatives and public broadcasting.  Earlier this year, the organization announced a series of grants totaling $2.4 million over two years to 13 public broadcasting stations and organizations. The grants represent an ongoing commitment to support open dialogue and promote civic engagement.

Funds were used by some stations to generate increased donor giving through challenge grants. In other cases, funds will be directed to programming or special projects, such as National Public Radio’s Military Voices Initiative, where the experiences of military personnel, veterans, and their families are recorded and broadcast.  Among the affiliates included were Connecticut Public Broadcasting and WSHU Public Radio in Fairfield. 

This fall, Newman’s Own Foundation committed $7 million in grants over three years to support United States military men, women, and families through its “Honoring Those Who Serve” program. The grants will be awarded to more than 50 nonprofit organizations that help military personnel, veterans, and their families successfully manage deployments and the transition from active duty to civilian life.  The current Challenge that concludes on Veterans Day, along with $300,000 in grants for nonprofit organizations that assist female veterans with career development, are segments of the overall commitment.

“There is no greater sacrifice than serving and defending our country,” said Robert Forrester, President and CEO of Newman’s Own Foundation. “We have a responsibility to support our military men and women, since they protect the freedom and privileges we enjoy as Americans.”

The grants will help military service organizations across the country that deal with issues such as health, housing, education, career development, and family support. When veterans return home, they face vast and complex challenges. According to the Department of Defense, the military suicide rate hit a record high in 2012, increasing nearly 16 percent over the previous year. Over 60,000 veterans are homeless.  The unemployment rate for Gulf War-era veterans was 9.9 percent in 2012, compared to 8 percent for all Americans.

“Recalling Paul Newman’s service in the United States Naval Corps in World War II, we have been committed to supporting military nonprofits for over twenty years,” said Forrester. “Paul felt that we can all make a difference by helping others, and there is no better time to announce our military grant commitment.”   The actor and philanthropist who founded Newman’s Own passed away on September 26, 2008.

For more information on Newman’s Own Foundation, visit www.newmansownfoundation.org. Any questions regarding the Veterans Vocational Training Program can be answered by contacting Donna Sodipo, Director of Education Services at dsodipo@cpbn.org

UPDATE:  At the end of the challenge, a total of just over $670,000 was raised during the Honoring Those Who Served Competition, including $741 for the Veterans Vocational Training Program at CPBN.

Biking, Walking Gain Traction Around Connecticut; Training, Gala Upcoming

November is shaping up to be another busy month for Bike Walk CT, a member-supported non-profit organization making cycling and walking safe, feasible and attractive for a healthier, cleaner Connecticut. Bike Walk CT is once again offering the League of American Bicyclist-designed Traffic Skills 101 program, a day long course to give cyclists the skills, knowledge and confidence to handle on-road cycling in traffic. The program will be held on Sunday, November 10 at Bishops Corner in West Hartford.

Just days later, bicycling and walking enthusiasts will celebrate the progress made by Bike Walk CT at the organization’s Annual Dinner and Silent Auction, to be held on Tuesday, November 12 at Central Connecticut State University.

During the evening celebration, Department of Economic and Community Development Deputy Commissioner Kip Bergstrom will lead a discussion of the important and growing role of active transportation and bikeable, walkable communities in Connecticut's economy and tourism industry.

Bike Walk CT works locally to increase grassroots efforts to make communities better places to bike and walk; at the state legislature to advance laws that protect the rights of cyclists and walkers, and at the DOT to make sure that policies and engineering practices that will improve conditions for cyclists are implemented. The organization is also active at the federal level, working cooperatively with national organizations to ensure continued funding for biking and walking projects.

Bergstrom has 30 years of experience as a strategist, business executive, economic development professional and place-maker. His DECD portfolio includes the development of the innovation economy, statewide branding, as well as the arts and culture, historic preservation and tourism functions.

Bike Walk Connecticut was formed in 2005 as the Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance (CCBA), with a mission to advocate for bike-friendly facilities and policies in central Connecticut to benefit all bicyclists, both recreational riders and commuters. CCBA received 501(C)(3) status in January 2006. In April 2010, CCBA broadened its mission to include walking issues, adopted a statewide focus, and changed its name to Bike Walk Connecticut.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 618 cyclists were killed in the United States in automobile accidents in 2010 (the last year for which statistics are available). That same year, 32,885 bikers were injured in traffic crashes. Although the numbers have declined since 2005 — when 43,510 bikers were injured, 786 of them fatally — these rates of injuries and deaths highlight cyclists' continued exposure to serious risks.

Greenwich Radio Station to be Purchased by Hartford Native

Once a radio fan, always a radio fan.  That is perhaps the best explanation for the planned purchase of Greenwich radio station WGCH by the Connecticut-based Forte Family Broadcasting, Inc., pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission.

The buyer is Rocco L. Forte of Sarasota, Fla. and Lyme, Connecticut. Forte is the former chief financial officer of the Abate Insurance Agency and AIA Risk Services in New Haven, according to published reports.

A native of Hartford, he is an alumnus of Hartford Public High School, the University of Connecticut and the UConn School of Insurance.

Beginning Nov. 4, Forte’s organization will operate the local station – which marks its 50th anniversary in 2014 - under a "local marketing agreement," until Forte can secure formal approval from the FCC, which could happen as soon as December, the Connecticut Post reported.

A format change is not anticipated.  The station currently broadcasts programs from the Business Talk Network and Lifestyle Talk Network, as well as local sports including the Bridgeport Bluefish and Greenwich High School football.  In addition to local news, other local programming includes a medical report from Greenwich Hospital, a local trivia program, and a weekly program featuring the town’s First Selectman.

“I am excited to be able to buy such a heritage station in Connecticut, and look forward to making the 50th anniversary year of WGCH a successful and even more profitable one,” Forte said in a statement. “My love for radio began in college, when I worked both on-air and in sales,” he added.

WGCH broadcasts 24 hours a day at 1490 AM, is licensed to Greenwich and bills itself as “the voice of Fairfield and Westchester Counties.”

Hartford Skyline's Phoenix Boat Building Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Dubbed the "Boat Building," it is the world's first two-sided building and in 2013 celebrates its 50th anniversary. The headquarters of The Phoenix, located in downtown Hartford at One American Row, was an architectural original, and half a century later, continues to stand out amongst newcomers to the Hartford skyline.

Completed in 1963, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is an exceptionally significant example of the Modernist architectural style.

Distinguished by its unique form and lenticular plan, the building was designed by Max Abramovitz, a recognized 20th century master. Abramovitz -- widely acclaimed for his role in designing two of New York City's landmarks, the United Nations and Lincoln Center -- envisioned the locally dubbed "boat building" as a reflection of a daring and progressive company.

The construction of One American Row cemented Phoenix's commitment to the renewal of Hartford, where the company was founded in 1851, and reflected its forward-thinking and innovative business approach. The company decided to remain in Hartford in the 1960’s – and since then – choosing neither to move to the suburbs or to the planned Constitution Plaza nearby, which was the first urban renewal project in Connecticut and one of the earliest in the nation.

The 13-story tower is properly called an elliptic lenticular cylinder and is 225 feet along its axis and 87 feet wide at maximum width. It is oriented so that its pointed ends face east and west and the sides face north and south. The building was designed by one of the nation's foremost architectural firms, Harrison & Abramovitz, of New York. Ground was broken in 1961 and the contractor, George A. Fuller Company, completed construction in November 1963.

In 2010, the building was awarded Silver Leed® certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, and is one of a small number of buildings that are both Leed® certified and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Phoenix was named one of the region’s top workplaces by The Hartford Courant in 2012.

In 2013, the plaza surrounding the building was renovated with environmentally friendly planted areas. The "green" plaza renovation was the first completed private property piece of Hartford's iQuilt Plan, which promotes creative urban design to strengthen pedestrian links between downtown destinations.

The Phoenix Companies, Inc. is a boutique life insurance and annuity company serving customers' retirement and protection needs. Insurance products are available through select independent distributors, supported by our wholesaling team at Saybrus Partners.  Founded in 1851, Phoenix is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PNX. Corporate offices are in Hartford, CT, and there is a customer service center in East Greenbush, NY. As of December 2012, they reportedly had approximately 600 employees.

Time Short to Nominate State’s Top Librarians; CT Seeks Another Stand-out Year

Nominations for the 2013 Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Awards are open through September 6.  For Connecticut librarians, last year’s success will be tough to top.

The I Love My Librarian Award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of exceptional public, school, college, community college, or university librarians. It is a collaborative program of Carnegie Corporation of New York, The New York Times and the American Library Association.

Ten librarians in 2012 – including two from Connecticut - received a $5,000 cash award, a plaque and $500 travel stipend to attend an awards reception hosted by The New York Times. A plaque was also given to each award winner’s library.

Rachel Hyland, a reference and collection development librarian at Tunxis Community College in Farmington, and Rae Anne Locke, library/media specialist at the Saugatuck Elementary “Secret Garden” Library in Westport, were two of the 10 recipients a year ago.  The others worked at libraries in New Mexico, California, North Carolina, New York and Florida.

In order to be eligible, each nominee must be a librarian with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the ALA in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education.

Nominees must be currently working in the United States in a public library, a library at an accredited two- or four-year college or university or at an accredited K-12 school.

Hyland (left), nominated by Sally Terrell, is described as “a rock-star librarian.  The intelligence, wit, energy she brings to her work has changed the way all of us – from students to faculty to administrators – think about information literacy.”  Locke (right) , nominated by Melissa Augari, has “poured her heart and soul into planning, creating and growing the SES Secret Garden Library, a vibrant, warm and inviting place that is much more than a school library. It is truly the learning hub for our entire school community.” Her collaborative projects “often reach out beyond the school community” and one student said simply, “it’s magical.”

In order to nominate a librarian, five questions must be answered on the contest’s website:

• What sets him/her apart?
• Please list a few ways in which the nominee has helped you and made your experience of the library a positive one. For instance, did the nominee inspire in you a love for literature; assist you in a project or finding other information?
• How has the librarian made a difference in the community?
• How has the library, and the nominee, improved the quality of your life?
• How does the nominee make the library a better place?

More information is available at www.ilovelibraries.org. Nominations must be submitted using the online form, and submitted in their entirety.

Mathematics and Transportation of Cities Draws New Research Analysis

UConn researchers have collaborated to develop a new index that will measure the sustainability of complex urban transportation systems.  The index will allow policymakers, scientists and the public to understand not just how congested cities’ transportation systems are, but the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the system as a whole.

A team of researchers in UConn’s departments of geography and civil and environmental engineering developed The Transportation Index for Sustainable Places, or TISP.  The new approach is part of the July themed issue of the journal Research in Transportation Business & Management, edited by  Carol Atkinson-Palombo, assistant professor of geography, Norman Garrick, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Wesley Marshall, a former graduate student of Garrick’s who is now a faculty member at the University of Colorado, Denver.

“Policy in developed countries and in the U.S. in particular has tended to focus on relieving congestion and has largely ignored social and environmental impacts associated with expanding freeways,” says Carol Atkinson-Palombo. “This index takes a more holistic approach, which gives a comprehensive sense of the effects of the system.”

The TISP takes into account environmental factors like land use efficiency, minimizing natural resource consumption, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Social factors are also measured, such as meeting access needs, incorporating public health and safety and maintaining a community in areas served by transportation. These factors combine with economic measures, such as affordability, self-sufficiency, and efficiency, to create a comprehensive metric, UConn Today reported.

Garrick says that many people only think about transportation in terms of traffic. These so-called congestion indices, he says, are misleading because they are not necessarily about making the city better, but simply moving cars more efficiently.

“In many cities, only 40 percent of the people commuting are in cars,” he points out. “The majority of the people aren’t affected by the congestion index, yet this is the only measure of the impact of the transportation system that is ever discussed in the media.”

Mathematics of Cities

In another initiative aimed at taking a closer look at the function of cities, the view that cities are dissimilar and disordered systems has begun to change.  Patterns have emerged within the supposed chaos, and researchers in economics, physics, complexity theory and statistical mechanics have concluded that cities, mathematically speaking, might actually be basically the same. Though strikingly different in culture and layout, cities like London and Beijing, for example, share many properties with regard to infrastructure, social interactions and productivity.

The new conclusions – decades in the making - are part of a growing field dedicated to the science of cities, Science News, the magazine of the Society for Science & The Public, reports in its most recent edition.   Roughly 75 percent of people in the developed world now live in urban environments. While much of the research is in its early days, eventually it may serve as a powerful, widely used tool for urban planners and policymakers, the publication reports.

Physicist and complex systems scientist Luís Bettencourt of the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico has developed a theory which captures the interplay between a city’s population, its area, the properties of its infrastructure and its social connectivity. His theory suggests that city planning should not involve grand, top-down projects, but perhaps well-considered smaller ones.

The mathematical work is rooted in and reinforces the view “that cities grow from the bottom up,” says Michael Batty, who trained as an architect, planner and geographer and went on to found the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London. “The diversity of life [in cities] offers greater opportunities for mixing ideas.”

The emerging mathematical theory of cities stands on four basic assumptions:

1. Cities mix varied people together, allowing them to reach each other.
2. Cities are networks that grow gradually and incrementally, connecting people.
3. Human effort isn’t limitless and stays the same regardless of urban size.
4.   Measures of the socioeconomic output of a city — things like the number of patents awarded or crime rate — are proportional to the number of social interactions.

 “In a nutshell, the city is the best way of creating a vast, open-ended social network that minimizes the cost of moving things in and around an environment,” Bettencourt says. “When people brush up against each other, that’s when the magic of the city happens — the social reactor begins to work.”

Cities Reshape Transportation Mix

At UConn, when the research team used the TISP index to look at transportation in the U.S., they found some not-so-surprising results: areas with higher rates of driving rather than public transportation have greater carbon emissions, and having more cars and highways increases traffic fatality risk.  But despite the prevailing perception, says Garceau, the researchers found that developing varied transportation systems that include a combination of roads and public transportation are more cost-effective than simply building highways.

Many cities have already begun to adjust their transportation planning. Some have begun dismantling freeways that run through their downtowns to reconstruct a truly urban atmosphere. New Haven is in the midst of doing precisely that in Connecticut, eliminating the Route 34 connector and replacing it with an urban boulevard that will reconnect city neighborhoods cut off for decades.

Others cities are moving forward with light rail and bus rapid transit systems (such as CTfastrak between Hartford and New Britain, now under construction) and encouraging walking and bicycle use by building compact, mixed-use communities that focus on pedestrians rather than cars.  Garrick points to Cambridge, Mass., Portland, Ore., and New York City as U.S. cities that have taken strides toward sustainable transportation. On a smaller scale, he cites Storrs, the home of UConn’s main campus, for developing a walkable town center from scratch, and planning for greater bus access as the newly-minted downtown area unfolds.

First McCarthy and Comey, Now Schwartz and Handelsman: Four CT Nominees for Obama Administration

All roads have been leading to Connecticut lately as President Obama has sought top talent for his administration.  Among key Presidential appointments announced by the White House last week was Linda Spoonster Schwartz, as nominee for Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Policy and Planning, in the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Schwartz is the fourth Connecticut resident and second who previously led a Connecticut agency, to be nominated recently by President Obama.

Linda Schwartz, a disabled veteran, has led the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs through Republican and Democratic administrations since 2003.  She concurrently serves as an Associate Clinical Professor of Nursing at the Yale School of Nursing, where she has been on Faculty since 1999 and was appointed Associate Research Scientist and Scholar.  From 1980 to 1993, she taught at several University and College Schools of Nursing and held leadership roles in Nursing organizations in Connecticut. Her nomination was sent to the Senate for confirmation on Aug. 1.

The White House also announced last week that President Obama intends to nominate Jo Handelsman of Yale University as Associate Director for Science, Office of Science and Technology Policy.

 Dr. Jo Handelsman is the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and Frederick Phineas Rose Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University, a position she has held since 2010.  Previously, she served on the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty as a Professor in Plant Pathology from 1985 to 2009 and Professor and Chair of the Department of Bacteriology from 2007 to 2009.

“The extraordinary dedication these individuals bring to their new roles will greatly serve the American people.  I am grateful they have agreed to serve in this Administration and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come,” President Obama said in the formal announcement.

On July 17, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Gina McCarthy as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.  McCarthy, whose nomination was held up for a time amidst political wrangling in Congress, has served as Connecticut’s Commissioner of Environmental Protection  prior to heading to Washington to join the EPA as assistant administrator earlier in the administration. McCarthy, is a 25-year veteran of state and local government in New England where she worked for Republicans including former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell.

The Boston Globe reported that the newly confirmed McCarthy told an audience at Harvard Law School that cutting carbon pollution will “feed the economic agenda of this country” and vowed to work with industry leaders on shaping policies aimed at curbing global warming.

In June, the President nominated James B. Comey, Jr., of Westport, to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a term of ten years.  Comey was confirmed as the seventh director of the FBI on July 29 by a vote of 93-1 in the Senate.  He served in the Justice Department official in the Bush administration.

“To know Jim Comey is also to know his fierce independence and his deep integrity,” Obama said in making the nomination. “He’s that rarity in Washington sometimes: He doesn’t care about politics, he only cares about getting the job done. At key moments, when it’s mattered most, he joined Bob in standing up for what he believed was right.”

Before serving as deputy attorney general, Comey was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he helped bring down the Gambino crime family, and served as the managing assistant U.S. attorney in charge of the Richmond Division of the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to news reports.

Handelsman is currently President of the American Society for Microbiology.  In 2011, Dr. Handelsman received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Mentoring.  From 2002 to 2010, Dr. Handelsman was the Director of the Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching.  In 2004, Dr. Handelsman co-founded the National Academies Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology.  She received a B.S. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Handelsman will help advise President Barack Obama on the impact of science on both international and domestic affairs.  “This is an enormous opportunity that I felt I just could not pass up,” she told the Yale  News.

“In addition to being a superb biologist, Jo Handelsman is nationally recognized as an exceptional mentor of young scientists and an effective champion for increasing diversity in the scientific work force,” Steven Girvin, deputy provost for science & technology at Yale told the News. “Her energetic devotion to improving science education is of critical importance to the nation.”

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal released a statement calling Schwartz "a champion of veterans and a national star."  From 1979 to 1980, Schwartz was a caseworker in the Office of the Field Director of the American Red Cross at Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany.  Dr. Schwartz served in the United States Air Force (USAF) Nurse Corps from 1968 to 1986, both on Active Duty and as a Reservist.  She retired as a Flight Nurse Instructor, with the rank of Major after sustaining injuries in a USAF Air Craft accident.

In 2001, she served on the Board of Directors of the American Nurses Association and was elected to the American Academy of Nursing.  From 1996 to 2000, she served as a Member and Chair of the VA Advisory Committee on Women Veterans.  She received a B.S. from the University of Maryland, an MSN from Yale University School of Nursing, and a Dr.P.H from the Yale University School of Medicine.

New Leadership at UConn's Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

There is new leadership at the helm of UConn’s Roper Center for Public Opinion Research - the leading educational facility in the field of public opinion. Paul Herrnson takes over this week as Executive Director of the Roper Center, and joins the faculty as a Professor of Political Science. The Roper Center, which was founded in 1947, promotes the intelligent, responsible and imaginative use of public opinion in addressing the problems faced by Americans and citizens of other nations. Dr. Herrnson comes to UConn from the University of Maryland, where he was a Professor in the Department of Government and Politics and recipient of outstanding teaching awards from the University and the American Political Science Association. He was also the Founding Director of the Center for American Politics and Government at the University of Maryland.

The Roper Center is an archive—it preserves the data from polls conducted by many leading survey organizations for the use of researchers, students, and journalists. Its collection now includes 18,000 datasets and continues to grow by hundreds of datasets per year. In total, it includes responses from millions of individuals on a vast range of topics.

Since its beginning, the Roper Center has focused on surveys conducted by the news media and commercial polling firms. However, it also holds many academic surveys, including important historical collections from the National Opinion Research Corporation and Princeton University's Office of Public Opinion Research.

Today, the Roper Center Facebook page includes current polling data from around the world, including questions culled from recent surveys on breaking news and topical events.

Herrnson is a well-published scholar whose research papers have appeared in the leading journals. His recent books include: Interest Groups Unleashed (2012), and the 6th edition of his widely used text, Congressional Elections (2011). According to the University of Maryland web site, Herrndon’s “dedication to civic responsibility and the political process fuels a number of activities on local and national levels.” He has provided expert testimony to the Maryland legislature, U.S. Congress and federal courts in the areas of voting technology, ballot access and campaign finance.

When the Center was launched, Elmo Roper and others in the emerging field of survey research recognized that the information they were gathering should be preserved for future generations of scholars, students, and journalists. Since that time, the Roper Center has continued to acquire and archive public opinion data.

Since its founding, the Center has maintained two key objectives: (1) to preserve the voice of the public in the form of public opinion polling data and maintain these data in the most current formats possible, and (2) to re-disseminate the data in detailed and complete form via intuitive access tools.

Most of the surveys in the Roper Center are national samples, but there are also some state and local surveys, as well as a number of surveys of special populations of interest. Nearly all of the surveys are based on representative samples drawn according to the best practices of the time. The Roper Center now focuses on data from the United States, but continues to acquire some surveys from other parts of the world, particularly Latin America.

The Roper Center contributes to education at the University of Connecticut.  Although the Roper Center does not offer any degree programs, it works with a wide range of programs-including the departments of Political Science, Sociology, and Statistics—in giving employment and research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students.

Told You So, Nader's Latest Title, Replays Past Columns

In the beginning, Ralph Nader was often right.  In 1965, the publication of Unsafe at Any Speed changed the face of the automobile industry and made his a household name. The Winsted, Connecticut native became synonymous with consumer activism, and earned the designation time and again, revealing alarming and potentially harmful corporate actions and alerting consumers and government agencies to perils unknown.  That was last century.

As the current century got underway in earnest, Nader was campaigning for the office of President of the United States, appearing on the November 2000 ballot in states across the country, most notably New Hampshire and Florida, as it turned out.  Because in those states, Nader’s vote total exceeded the margin by which George Bush defeated Al Gore.  And, so the argument goes, had he not been a “spoiler,” most of those votes would have gone to Gore, who would then have won the Electoral College outright in addition to the popular vote, avoiding the Florida recount debacle and the U.S. Supreme Court decision that ultimately decided the election’s outcome for Bush.

The rest, as they say, is history.  And a whole lot of columns.  (For the record, Nader received 22,188 votes in New Hampshire; Bush’s margin over Gore was 7,211 votes.  In Florida, after the aborted recount, Bush won the state by 537 votes out of 5.9 million votes cast.  Nader received 97,488 votes.  On the ballot in 43 states, he won 2,882,995 votes, or 2.74 percent of the popular vote.)

Fast forward to 2013, and Nader’s latest book, which is neither modest in length, title or time period.  The book tour for “Told You So:  The Big Book of Weekly Columns,” which is hefty if not heavy, brought Nader, at age 79, to the Barnes & Noble at the Shoppes at Farmington Valley in nearby Canton on July 13, where stories were told, books were sold, and advice offered.

The Table of Contents – which runs 11 pages – indicates that “Big Book” is no euphemism.  The final column, circa 1972, is listed in the “Golden Oldies” category and begins on page 507.  The bulk of the entries, however, were written in the Bush and post-Bush era, between 2002 and 2012 – in other words, after the extraordinary 2000 election.

The book’s publisher says it provides a “panoramic portrait of the problems confronting our society and provides examples of the many actions an organized citizenry could and should take to create a more just and environmentally sustainable world.”  Nader continues to criticize those in power and corporations, and raise issues including increasing the minimum age.

Certainly a great many subjects are covered substantively in the book, and Nader spoke easily and expansively to a substantial audience of the curious and the book-buying snaking through the Barnes & Noble aisles.  (Autographs, of course, were free.)  Any rear-view mirror retrospective on Nader, however, cannot help but be seen through the prism of 2000 as well as 1965, and the consumer action organizations he launched.  Which may explain the volume of columns since his 2000 presidential run, and as the cover boldly states, the reminder directed to the reader (or even the passer-by), that Nader “Told You So,” even lately.

Connecticut Resident Selected as Presidential Innovation Fellow, White House Announces

A Connecticut resident is one of 43 “incredible Americans” selected as new Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIFs), to serve 6- to 12-month intensive “tours of duty” in the US Government, where they will work hand-in-hand with top government innovators to develop solutions that can save lives, save taxpayer money, and help fuel private-sector job creation.

Nayan Jain is a Presidential Innovation Fellow working on the MyData Initiatives (Blue Button) at the Department of Health and Human Services.  Jain is an engineer and healthcare hacker with a passion for developing software that is able to simplify complexities by reducing noise and finding patterns in data.  His career in health IT began as an undergraduate with a design for an administrative database for the Department of Neurosurgery at Emory Hospital.

The Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program was created in 2012 to tackle five inaugural projects—each focused on making a part of the Federal Government work better for the American people.  Each team of innovators is supported by a broader community of interested citizens throughout the country. Presidential Innovation Fellows put aside their jobs and day-to-day home lives to offer their skills and expertise in collaboration with Federal agency teammates to create huge value for the American public.

The 1st round of five projects was launched in August 2012 with 18 inaugural Fellows. The first round selections included Nick Bramble, Director of the Law & Media Program, Information Society Project at Yale Law School in New Haven.  Bramble is a lawyer with a strong interest in improving how governments release data and promote engagement by citizens and startups.

The 2nd round of the Presidential Innovation Fellows program will include ten projects,– four that are the second phases of Round 1 projects and six new projects. Presidential Innovation Fellows have a unique opportunity to serve our Nation and make an impact on a truly massive scale.  The MyData Initiatives seek to spread the ability for people to securely access to their own data while spurring the growth of private-sector applications and services that a person can use to crunch his or her own data for a growing array of useful purposes.

After graduating and a stint writing applications for back-office propane systems, Nayan Jain  joined the DC-based startup, Audax Health.  While serving as Director of Mobile Technology at Audax, he helped build the core Zensey mobile and web platforms that aim to drive behavior change through consumer engagement and social game mechanics.  He collaborated to build MedTuner, an artificial intelligence that alerts its followers of important health events using techniques in machine learning and natural language processing, which was awarded first place at the 2012 Health 2.0 Developers’ World Cup in San Francisco, CA.

Most recently, he selected by Google to be a Glass Explorer and is looking forward to building wearable experiences that will help improve lives and patient outcomes.  He graduated with a BS in Computational Media, primarily focused on Human Computer Interaction and Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.  He currently lives in Connecticut, but spends his spare time in New York, according to the PIF announcement.

Jennifer Pahlka, Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer for Government Innovation reports that some of the tech innovators and change-agents who comprise the new class of Fellows will work on second phases of Round 1 PIF projects such as Blue Button (which is helping veterans and others across the country gain secure electronic access to their own personal health records); Open Data (which is making more and more government information like car safety ratings and hospital pricing available for use by the American people, including entrepreneurs and software developers who are turning those data into useful products and services); MyUSA (which is greatly simplifying the Web interface that citizens can use to find what they need from the Federal Government); and RFP-EZ.

For Round 2 of the PIF program, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have partnered with the US General Services Administration (GSA).  Through this new partnership with GSA, which already works with every agency in the Federal Government, the prototype solutions that PIFs build will spread more efficiently throughout Government, enabling the program’s positive outcomes to reach more people more quickly.

For example, through Blue Button – a growing initiative across the public and private sectors – patients can download their own health information from a growing array of organizations (the Department of Veterans Affairs’ health system, private-sector health care providers, etc.) and securely share their medical histories with caregivers, import their prescription histories into mobile reminder apps, and more.

Others will work on new projects, such as developing tech tools to support disaster relief and recovery efforts; working with private-sector innovators to create consensus tech standards for the “Internet of Things,” which will connect a wide range of devices with embedded sensors and control systems, with big potential efficiencies and cost-savings; and helping Federal agencies save money through better, more cost-effective financial accounting systems.

Details on the entire class of Presidential Innovation Fellows is available on the web, and details about current and future rounds of the PIF program is at whitehouse.gov/innovationfellows,