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Article Tags: Lord Monckton

There are not many empty seats in the dismal, echoing conference chamber in the ghastly concrete box that is the Hotel Maritim here in Bonn, where the UN’s latest attempt to maneuver the 194 States Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change gets underway today.

The “international community”, as it is now called, is here in full force, in the shape of expensively-suited, shiny-shod bureaucrats with an urbane manner and absolutely no knowledge of climate science whatsoever.

However, one empty chair is a pointer of things to come. The Holy See – a tiny nation in its own right, with a billion citizens around the world – has left its chair empty. And that is significant. If “global warming” still mattered, the Vatican would make sure that its representatives were present throughout this gloomy gathering of world-government wannabes.

Source: sppiblog.org

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Palm’s stock is gaining ground based on reports that Taiwanese handset maker HTC has “opened discussions about an intent to acquire” the company.

In the past four months, Palm’s stock has plummeted, falling from $12 to $3 a share based on poor sales at Verizon Wireless. The low valuation has led to several rumors that companies, such as Lenovo or Dell, might be interested in the company to gain ground in mobile. But today, the rumor that HTC was interested appeared in Taiwan’s Economic Daily News, according to Reuters, which led to the stock soaring 11 percent in late afternoon trading to about $5.15 a share. An HTC spokesperson said the company does not comment on rumors.

The speculation comes just a day after an interview with Palm’s CEO Jon Rubinstein appeared in Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech blog. In the frank conversation, Rubinstein admits the company has hit a speed bump, and that the set-backs are really disappointing and frustrating.

As with all of Palm’s likely buyers, none of them make total sense. For instance, HTC is primarily a hardware maker and does not own its own operating system, but rather relies on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Google’s Android. Some analysts speculated awhile back that HTC could be interested in Palm (NSDQ: PALM) for its intellectual property rights, which could come in handy as HTC battles Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) in an infringement lawsuit.

But Rubinstein remains confident despite loads of excessive inventory and dwindling cash resources. “The company has tremendous assets, he said. “We’ve got a great team we’ve built over the last couple of years. Remember this whole thing was a transformation story…We started off with a company that had no future, and we have been transforming it….We do have $590 million in the bank, and we have a plan that carries this company forward. Now, we need to be frugal and we need to invest in those areas that have the best return for us, but when I read that we’re going out of business or our stock is worth zero or those kinds of things, it defies logic to me.”

However, Rubinstein was quick to deflect questions about selling the company. Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky, suggested one way to get more cash would be to sell Palm to a company that has a billion dollars to spend on marketing. Without even coming close to the question, Rubinstein answered: “Remember that the carriers have something to do with all this too in that they get to pick and choose what products they’re going to sell. They want to make sure the customers have choice. As long as we have their support, I think we can succeed.  It may take longer than we’d like, but I think we can get there.”

Related

• Lenovo Considers Acquisitions For Mobile Growth
• Palm’s Stock Dives As Analyst Downgrades Target Price To $0
• Palm’s Struggles Will Handicap Its Ability To Ward Off Upcoming Competition
• Palm Rolls Out Hip Ad Campaign For March Madness

To: UT Knoxville Faculty, Staff and Students

From: Sally McMillan, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Subject: End of the Semester Academic Procedures

As we enter April, we fast approach the end of the semester. Before we begin to think about summer, I write to remind you of the following policies, drawn from the Academic Policies and Procedures section of the Undergraduate Catalog. Thank you in advance for your cooperation, and please contact me at [email protected] should you have any questions.

Final Examinations

“Final exams must be given during the final exam period at the scheduled time, although alternative uses of the scheduled exam period may be designated by the instructor.” Professors assigning take-home final examinations and/or papers should make them due in class during the scheduled final exam period (see FERPA note below).

“Students are not required to take more than two exams on any day. The instructor of the last non-departmental exam on that day must reschedule the student’s exam during the final exam period.” Please note the following: “It is the obligation of students with such conflicts to make appropriate arrangements with the instructor at least two weeks prior to the end of classes” (meaning April 16 is the last day to make such arrangements).

And finally, please note this end of semester regulation:

“No in-class written quizzes or tests counting more than 10% of the semester grade may be given the last five calendar days prior to the study period” (meaning April 27 is the last day to give quizzes or tests counting more than 10% of the semester grade).

The Grade of Incomplete

“Under extraordinary circumstances and at the discretion of the instructor, the grade of I (Incomplete) may be awarded to students who have satisfactorily completed a substantial portion of the course but cannot complete the course for reasons beyond their control.” Also, please note that “the grade of I is not issued in lieu of the grade F or FX,” and that “students may not remove an I grade by re-enrolling in the course” (sitting in on the same course next semester).

Academic Standards of Conduct

Students must keep the honor statement in mind as they prepare for final examinations and papers. Examples of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to, “copying without proper documentation written or spoken words, phrases, or sentences from any source,” “collaborating on a graded assignment without instructor’s approval,” and “submitting work, either in whole or part, created by a professional service.” Contact the Office of Student Judicial Affairs at http://judicialaffairs.utk.edu or 974-3171 for more information and links to campus resources.

A Final Note Concerning the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA):

In light of the provisions of this act, please do not ask students to submit assignments in open mailboxes or in any other unattended public venues (boxes in the hallway, envelopes taped to doors, and the like). Graded assignments for student retrieval likewise should not be made available in such public venues. Grades should not be posted publicly using student ID numbers or Social Security Numbers, nor should the students’ names be linked with their IDs in any public manner. More information on FERPA can be found by clicking “F” on the A-Z index of the UT homepage.

Thank you, and have a great end of the semester!

Facebook’s U.S. search queries grew 48 percent in March, bringing the company to 4.2 percent market share, according to comScore data that’s due out this afternoon but has already been distributed by Citi Investment Research. At 4.2 percent of searches, Facebook now has a greater share than the search engine Ask, at 3.8 percent, and the long-time portal AOL, at 2.5 percent. And this is coming off of a February when Facebook redesigned its home page to more prominently feature search and saw an immediate 10 percent jump in search queries.

Microsoft’s Bing, which powers Facebook’s web search, is also on the rise, with 11.7 percent market share a couple tenths above February. Yahoo grew for the first time since Bing was introduced — to 16.9 percent market share — but is still on a overall downward slope for the year. Meanwhile, Google had 65.1 percent market share in March, down just a few tenths from March.

Expect this trend to continue. As we wrote last month:

Understanding information through a social lens can be incredibly useful. Not to mention, half of Facebook’s 400 million users log in every day, so they will likely become accustomed to searching through the site where they live on the web.

Related content from GigaOM Pro:

Why Google Should Fear the Social Web

Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my bio.

Post and thumbnail photos courtesy Flickr user boxchain.

Netflix is reported to have reached new deals with 20th Century Fox and Universal for movie and TV show rentals. Netflix customers will be able to rent out the studios’ titles 28-days after their release for purchase. Moreover, subscribers will also be able to stream a greater portion of the titles from these studios’ libraries and will be granted better access to movies-by-mail. While the deal is painted by most accounts as a fair compromise, Netflix appears to be getting a sweeter deal.

The Studios’ Demand

The 28-day delay is intended to serve as an opportunity for the studios to sell more DVD and Blu-ray copies over that time period. The studios believe that anyone who really wants to see the title as soon as it hits the shelves won’t want to wait for Netflix and will feel compelled to purchase it. Will this really increase disc sales that much?

First, consider Blockbuster. TheWrap notes that the movie rental franchise must be very happy about this announcement. It already gets access to new releases as soon as they hit stores — now 28 days before Netflix. That means anyone who really wants to view these titles immediately can just go to Blockbuster. So it’s still relatively easy for most consumers to avoid purchase, even if impatient.

But even without the Blockbuster element, it’s unclear that studios would get many more sales. Is there really much overlap with those who want to rent and those who are willing to buy? With a significant price differential, it’s unlikely that many would-be renters will suddenly pay several times the price to own the film, rather than wait a little longer to rent it.

Moreover, the agreement will enable Netflix customers to stream more of these movies now. That’s similar to owning the film, since subscribers can view the titles on-demand as many times as they want. So with a little patience and an Internet connection, Netflix customers can get more of these studios’ movies for their permanent library at no additional cost.

The Gain for Netflix

Will Blockbuster’s 28-day head-start hurt Netflix? Some more impatient consumers might care, but most of those likely to rent might not mind. There are two factors at play here: First, any current Netflix subscribers aren’t as likely to spend additional money to go to their local Blockbuster to rent a movie sooner.

Second, think about the psychology of those wanting to see the movie post-theater run. If they first saw the movie in the theater and loved it, then there’s a greater likelihood they’ll buy it anyway, rather than rent it. Those who don’t, or who are less passionate about seeing it again, aren’t likely to be as impatient, and probably won’t mind waiting an additional month.

Then, there are those who didn’t see it in the theater. By definition, these individuals probably aren’t in that much of a rush to see the movie. If they’ve waited this long, they can wait another month. This logic suggests that Blockbuster’s advantage might not amount to much. Any damage to Netflix should be minimal.

Yet, the gain to Netflix from making this compromise is enormous. The expansion of its streaming library is a huge win for the company. This must be its preferred method of subscriber viewing — think of all the savings on shipping costs. the company also would need to purchase fewer physical DVDs if it has more subscribers streaming, which means less warehouse space and fewer personnel. Naturally, its customers who have the ability to stream movies also love this method. Through streaming they don’t have to wait for the movie to arrive in the mail — it’s available at the click of a mouse or the push of a remote control button.

All things considered, the studios and Blockbuster get a little, but Netflix gains a lot.

(This is a guest post from Vestact.com, a Johannesburg based asset-management company)

Gregory White noted yesterday that The Mining Industry Is Terrified By The Rise Of South Africa’s Julius Malema.

Malema is the enfant terrible of South African politics.

This week’s inflammatory comments about Zimbabwe and his verbal scuffle with a BBC journalist were just the latest in a series of bizarre antics.

Unlike most public figures in this unusual country, Malema makes little attempt to endear himself to the rich and powerful.

Malema’s power in the ruling African National Congress (ANC) derives from his appeal to the marginalised sections of the country’s populace. Notwithstanding much economic progress since democracy in 1994, unemployment levels amongst the (mostly black) urban poor remain unacceptably high.

In the election of 2009 which brought Jacob Zuma to the Presidency, the ANC lost support amongst the urban middle classes, but fared well in the category of first time voters (18 to 23 years) where Malema
campaigned hard. Zuma owes his ascent, in part, to early support from Malema. More than 50% of the population is under the age of 25, so his visibility amongst the youth cannot be ignored.

Malema is certainly no intellectual, and opposition parties have made much of his shoddy high school results. Yet he has seemingly staked his career on an oddball campaign to nationalize the mines in South Africa. This in a country which has an extreme shortage of skilled managers in the private and public sectors, and which has experienced severe organizational challenges in the existing publicly-owned corporations (most notably Eskom, the embattled power utility).

Rather than dismissing the nationalization option as outdated and unworkable, senior members of the cabinet have prevaricated – denying that it is “government policy”, or wringing their hands and saying that the matter “ought to be debated”.

Even more disturbing to local elites are Malema’s comments about Zimbabwe. The prospect of this country turning into an economic hell hole like our northern neighbor is their worst nightmare.

Is the threat that he poses to the stability of the country and its economy to be taken seriously?

We do not think so. It is likely that he will self-destruct before he can do too much damage. 

He leads a flamboyant lifestyle, and journalists have recently uncovered stakes in engineering businesses which have benefited improperly from contracts awarded by municipalities in his home province, Limpopo.  It seems that no taxes have been paid on these irregularly gotten gains, and investigators are closing in.

Malema’s colleagues also finally seem to have had enough. Today, in response to his attacks on the media, the party spokesperson issued this stern rebuke.

South Africa’s formal economy is well developed and resilient.  Apart from the mining companies to which White refers, there is a substantial financial services sector, which is very profitable and highly regarded globally. Tourism, telecommunications, retail, property and manufacturing are also growing strongly.  The business community is well organised, but low-profile politically.

At its core, the leadership of the ruling party understands that the integrity of the tax base must be preserved, in order to address the developmental needs of the nation. More inward foreign investment is needed, not less. They find themselves saddled with a young demagogue who is spouting crackpot economic theories. 

It’s a matter of time before Malema is thrown overboard.

Join the conversation about this story »

Article Tags: Roger F. Gay

Far-left advocacy group Greenpeace receives large donations from rich and powerful people, enough to drown the entire notion of political independence and non-partisanship. The mechanism of receiving funding – through foundations – is the same as the opposition “right wing” organizations that it criticizes for funding bias.

Greenpeace is an international conglomerate, composed of corporations in 40 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Pacific. Included among Greenpeace’s largest corporate donors are the Rockefeller brothers, Ted Turner and Jane Fonda, and the Macarthurs; as well as a long list of foundations with left-leaning gifting bias.

Since people on the left are generally unfamiliar with religious thought, my guess is that the Greenpeace propagandists are unfamiliar with the rules on casting the first stone. The group’s recent libelous attack against the Koch brothers appears to have had a dual purpose; both obviously connected to the exposure of the global warming scam.

Source: mensnewsdaily.com

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Filed under: Wagon, Crossover, Hatchback, Acura, BMW, Infiniti, Lexus, Design/Style, Luxury

BMW 535i Gran Turismo – Click above for high-res image gallery

Depending on who you ask, BMW is either at the forefront of an exciting new automotive genre with the 5 Series Gran Turismo, or is inventing market segments with no real purpose other than to grab several thousand new sales from those who simply must be seen in the latest trendy niche. In other words, the 5 Series GT is nothing if not polarizing.

For now, it seems that you can put such luxury brands Lexus and Infiniti in the latter camp, though fellow upmarket Japanese automaker Acura is headed down a similar path as its German counterpart with the new ZDX – at least with regard to the X6. Speaking to Auto Observer at the New York Auto Show, Ben Poore, Nissan North America’s vice president of the Infiniti business unit, said, “What [we are] seeing is a much stronger preference (among consumers) for a trunk.”

Granted, some may see little difference between such vehicles as the 5 Series GT and Infiniti’s own EX and FX crossovers, but Poore suggests the machines aren’t direct competitors. “I’d rather be on (either) the crossover styling or the trunk styling,” he said. Dave Nordstrom, Lexus’ vice president of marketing, concurs, saying, “We don’t have any plans for it right now. We have not seen the demand from our customers – but we continue to look at it.”

As for us? Well, you can read all about our initial impressions of the 5 Series GT by looking back at our First Drive. Suffice it to say, our own office is split on the effectiveness of this new giant hatchback trend just like everyone else.

[Source: Auto Observer]

Lexus, Infiniti reportedly not interested in taking on BMW’s 5 Series Gran Turismo originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The ink hasn’t even dried on his divorce papers, but James Van Der Beek is already expecting a child with his new girlfriend.

The former Dawson’s Creek star confirmed he and girlfriend Kimberly Brook welcome their first child later this year. James, 33, met Kimberly, a business consultant, last July, according to PEOPLE Magazine.

“Yes, it’s true – the woman I love and I are expecting our first child,” James wrote on his Twitter page Friday afternoon.

In March, Van Der Beek finalized the terms of his divorce with actress Heather McComb. The star has been ordered to pay McComb more than $7,000 a month in spousal support. Their divorce becomes official on June 3.

A new monitoring system from California startup SunReports allows for in-depth but simple monitoring of your solar technology. There are numerous environmental and long-term economic reasons to use solar technology, but once you have solar installed, how do you know what it is actually accomplishing?

As its homepage says, “SunReports is built upon the premise that energy monitoring need NOT be costly, complex, or confusing.” Apollo 1, SunReports’ new monitoring system, helps the company to prove that correct.

(more…)

Sony Japan has released information on the eclectic NAS-V7M and NAS-V5 speaker docks with WM-Port, USB, and MP3 CD capability. They are quite stylish in design, and also quite large. Due for release on June 26th, the latest in the NAS home audio series has several unique features. The V7M to transfer music from a CD straight to your Walkman with the touch of one button.

And with a wired LAN and Wi-Fi integration, you can enjoy access to Internet radio services such as vTuner and SHOUTcast. 20 programmable stations for the Internet radio allow you to quickly hit your favorite genres without having to search. CD’s that are inserted also automatically have CD/title information pulled and displayed from the ‘net.

It’s important to state that the NAS-V7M is a bit more advanced than the V5, as it has 16GB of built-in storage, 2x CD to HDD recording capability (128/256kbps mp3), and MP3/WMA/AAC/ATRAC and PCM. Great to see ATRAC still lives on in Japan. Output is fairly good at 7.5W +7.5 W, with a full range speaker size of 65mm.

NAS

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“Real life” series photos are from AV Watch.

Sony has also noted that both devices has a 32-bit digital amplifier with DSP, rich bass and excellent treble. Both also have a USB port, and headphone jack. The Y50,000 NASV7M will be available in silver and gold, while the Y40,000 NAS-V5 will be available in black and pink.

by Tom Philpott

When my info-larder gets too packed, it’s time to serve up some choice nuggets from around the Web.

————————

Get ‘em while they’re hot. 

• Time’s Michael Grunwald on a truly absurd twist in U.S. farm/trade policy: in order to maintain subsidies to U.S. cotton farmers and avoid a trade war with Brazil, the U.S. government has essentially agreed to start subsidizing mega-scale Brazilian cotton farmers.

• Who wins when King Kong and Godzilla go at it? The audience—at least those folks who can avoid getting stomped by the behemoths. And here we have an entertaining cage match between two powerful, entrenched lobbies: King Corn and Industrial Meat. The topic is ethanol. The corn lobby wants the federal government to keep ramping up the goodies for corn-based ethanol. The meat lobby will accept ethanol goodies to a certain point—but roars like an abused CAFO pig when government ethanol goodies push up the price of corn significantly. The meat industry, you see, can only turn a profit when corn is cheap.

My take: a pox on both their camps. We need less corn and less low-quality, resource-intensive meat. The government should eliminate all ethanol goodies and give Corn Belt farmers incentives to transition to other crops: grass-finished beef, vegetables, etc. But of course, no one in Washington listens to me: I don’t represent a powerful, entrenched industry. Here’s what we’re likely to get instead: more ethanol goodies, and more incentive for farmers to increase corn production—soil, climate, Gulf of Mexico be damned. Corn prices will hover in the $3-$5/bushel range, and the meat industry will slash costs in other areas to maintain profitability. In other words, pretty much business as usual.

• But … Corn Belt farmers and their surrounding communities would benefit economically if they at least partially exited the co(r)n game, transitioned some of their land to fruits and vegetables, and sold the produce within the region. So says a new study from the Leopold Center. The study focused on the Upper Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

In one scenario, the researchers estimated what would happen if farms in those states supplied seasonal fruits and vegetables to the region’s 28 metropolitan areas with at least 250,000 people. (Currently, the vast bulk of produce consumed in the region is trucked in from elsewhere.)

To do so, about 200,000 acres would have to be transitioned from corn and soy (that’s a tiny amount of land in Corn Belt terms—about two-thirds the size of a typical Iowa farm county). “Considering all relevant multipliers, that farm-level production would support 6,694 jobs and $284.61 million in labor income in the six-state area,” the researchers conclude. Meanwhile, keeping that same amount of land in corn and soy supports 1,892 jobs and $42.517 million in labor incomes. In other words, there would be a massive net economic gain from transitioning that much land to fruit and veg.

Seems like many farmers in the Midwest would do well to cancel their National Corn Growers Association memberships and start thinking about what it would take to grow and market veggies.

• Okay, it’s Friday. Some straight foodiness. More than 30 years ago, an obscure young woman published a cookbook on a country that few Americans thought of in culinary terms. That woman was Paula Wolfert, and that book was Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco. What followed was arguably the greatest career in cookbook writing of her generation: something like six classic texts. My stomach literally grumbles when I think of the creations I’ve made guided by Wolfert’s books. Here she is, in a Food and Wine profile,  going back to Morocco. Note well: The piece includes recipes. It’s a little early in the season for eggplant and tomatoes, but I can’t wait to try this one.

Related Links:

Why are we propping up corn production, again?

Blanche Lincoln’s dismal school-lunch bill

Should electric bike sales be subsidized?

Phandroid came across this internal Verizon slide and of course thought it referred to some random Android device (who keeps track of them these days) but key words like share and social suggests its not that robotic OS that’s the subject of this memo.

That, and the strategic date of this Monday, which just happens to be the 12th April, is enough to tip us off that we are talking about Microsoft’s latest smartphone venture, now known to be “exclusive to America’s Largest and Most Reliable 3G Network.”

Nice to see that at least Verizon is excited by the new devices.

Via Engadget.com

Science Daily: Keeping with the global “green” trend, educators worldwide are relying more on environmental education lessons to enhance students’ science knowledge. Studies have revealed that bringing environmental education into the curriculum raises not just science scores — environmental-based lessons can also improve student test scores in other subject areas. Naturally, educators are interested in developing new ways to integrate these relevant lessons into the classroom in hopes of piquing student interest and comprehension in multiple subject areas.

To accompany an established program called “Coastal Roots,” educators in Louisiana recently designed and tested eight hands-on horticulture lessons to teach middle school students the basic needs, processes, and benefits of plants. Students who received the horticulture lessons were tested on science content and “environmental awareness.” Significant increases in student post-test scores were found in both years of the study.

In 1999, The Louisiana Sea Grant College Program established ”Coastal Roots” an innovative program designed to teach information on Louisiana’s wetland loss and foster stewardship for the state’s coastal resources in elementary through high school students. The program combines nursery management and coastal environmental awareness into a hands-on program in which students at participating schools grow coastal plants for use in local wetland restoration projects.

To compliment the nursery-based Coastal Roots program, the researchers designed eight hands-on lessons that take basic horticulture knowledge a step forward by introducing the importance of plants to Louisiana’s wetlands. Kathryn Karsh, Edward Bush, Janice Hinson, and Pamela Blanchard from Louisiana State University published the study report in HortTechnology.

Four Louisiana schools participated in the LSU study. The schools were chosen from those participating in the Coastal Roots program, and included one private and three public schools in four southern central parishes (counties). Students were tested on science content in the lessons using a pre-test, eight multiple choice quizzes (each focusing on a particular lesson), and a post-test. An “attitudes toward the environment scale” test was administered to evaluate students’ environmental awareness changes in the treatment and control groups.

Students who received the horticulture lessons improved their post-test scores by 11.4 points in the first year and an impressive 25.07 points in the second year of the study. In the second year, students who received the lessons were more found to be significantly more “aware of their role in the environment” than those who did not receive the additional lessons.

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New York Times: Starting this week at Princeton Public High School, students can take gym class in the garden.

“I think it’s strangely enjoyable,” said Tim Vasseur, a Princeton sophomore, shovel in hand. “It’s definitely not easy to do or anything like that.”

Advocates for greener schools believe this is the first time public school students will receive physical education credit for garden work. The idea was conceived by Matt Wilkinson, a physical education teacher and a former wrestling coach who also has a background in horticulture.

“We’re giving students another option to mainstream physical education,” Mr. Wilkinson said. “How long is somebody going to play basketball or soccer? Gardening they can do their whole lives.”

Last fall, members of the community raised $1,500 and constructed 16 raised garden beds on school property. Now that it’s spring, students will get to work planting seeds, weeding, and turning compost.

“It gives people who aren’t that athletic — and I feel like I’m not — it gives them an opportunity to do something else,” said Kruthi Isola, a sophomore. “You learn how to do more than just play a game.”

As part of the class, students will create weight lifting programs customized to build gardening muscle. For example, Mr. Wilkinson emphasized how the day’s activity — using shovels to turn over soil in preparation for planting — uses the same muscles employed in bicep curls.

But the teenagers are not required to get their hands dirty. Each member of the class can choose between working in the garden or a more traditional activity. On the first day the garden was open, 17 of 27 students in one class picked gardening; the rest played Frisbee.

“Some of my friends, they’re like dude, come on, let’s go play some basketball,” said Alex Henry, also a Princeton sophomore. “Why are you doing this girl stuff? But I was like, you know, let’s break the orthodoxy a little bit.”

When the gardening gym class first received publicity in a local newspaper, most of the comments left on the Internet were positive, but not all.

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Environmental News Network: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may still be considered as one of the most conservative from a religious standpoint. But with the opening of the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, otherwise known as KAUST, a new era in academic learning, combined with new innovations in ecological architecture and design, has begun in which both men and women students will benefit jointly.

The new campus opened its doors in September in the Red Sea city of Thuwal. It is considered to be the most environmentally innovative campus of its kind in the Kingdom. Constructed in a manner to utilize the maximum benefit of sea breezes for cooling, the buildings themselves have been constructed in order to screen out a good deal of the heat that is generated by the hot Arabian sun; making the internal environment more sustainable for the students.

From an academic standpoint, the university will offer degrees in 11 fields of study, including Environmental Science and Energy Development, Biosciences and Bioengineering, Industrial and Chemical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, and Computer Science. One of the most innovative aspects to the new KAUST campus is that both male and female students will study together in the same classrooms; something that has not been common in other Saudi campuses.

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