Microsoft founder Bill Gates will donate more than $10 million to scientists researching creative medical proposals, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will grant $100,000 to each of the selected 104 researchers who are developing revolutionary solutions to some of the world's deadliest diseases, such as HIV, malaria and pneumonia. Recipients include a researcher studying bacteria that may kill insects carrying the dengue virus in Thailand, a scientist looking for a possible genetic connection between HIV resistance and Type 2 diabetes in Kenya and a medical researcher looking for a way to turn mosquitoes into "flying syringes" to vaccinate patients. Recipients were chosen based on their grant proposals. While some faculty at American universities such as Harvard and Stanford were selected, researchers were chosen from 22 countries and five continents.
Universities are using online tools to communicate with students and alumni, according to Inside Higher Ed. Programmers have developed software that allows colleges around the country to reach current students, market themselves to prospective students and stay in touch with alumni through networking sites like Facebook. Inigral, a software company, will auction off its "Schools for Facebook" software that gives institutions the contact information of their students and alumni. Many universities hope that Facebook networking will allow them to reach out to alumni better than they could with letters or yearly phone calls, Insider Higher Ed reported.
Iranian security officials arrested and imprisoned Esha Momeni, a U.S. graduate student at California State University-Northridge, who has spent the past two months researching the status of women in Iran for her master's thesis project, according to the human rights group Amnesty International. Iranian officials, who arrested Momeni on Oct. 15 in Tehran, Iran, told several media publications that Momeni was being held for unlawfully passing another vehicle while driving. Amnesty, however, reported that officials confiscated her computer and other research materials including videos Momeni had filmed. Momeni is a member of the California branch of Change for Equality, an Iranian women's rights group. Momeni is currently held in Evin Prison, in a section run by Iranian intelligence and known for holding political prisoners. Information about Momeni's arrest was only released after her family inquired about the case in Iran's Revolutionary Court. The U.S. State Department is investigating the situation.
