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Taking
research on the road |
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Matt
Kelly
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| Lance
Dougald (left) and Brian Smith sit in the back of the Smart
Travel van, reviewing traffic data as it is collected on computer
monitors. |
By Matt Kelly
It’s
a long way from counting cars by hand to see how bad traffic is.
Brian
Smith, assistant professor of civil engineering at U.Va., and Lance
Dougald, a transportation engineer for the Virginia Transportation
Research Council, sat in the parking lot of the Charlottesville
Fire Department on the 250 bypass, monitoring traffic with a video
camera that hovered overhead on a pole and computers from the back
of the Smart Travel van. As the cars whizzed by, they appeared on
a video terminal, their speed registering and a letter popping up
to denote vehicle classification.
“We
can get a print of how the highway is operating,” Dougald said,
scanning the images on the computer screen. Full
story.
Scientists get $9.3 million to
study diabetes link with heart disease
By Catherine Seigerman Wolz
People
with diabetes are four times as likely to develop heart disease,
which accounts for three quarters of deaths of diabetics, but researchers
have not yet proven why. As the number of diabetic Americans soars
past the current estimate of 16 million, according to the American
Diabetes Association, scientists are looking at the link between
both diseases, starting at the cell level.
One
of the largest such efforts has begun this month at the U.Va. Health
System with a five-year, $9.3 million grant from the National Heart,
Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Full
story.
Employee bonus plans in the works
By Matt Kelly
Managers
will now have more options to acknowledge noteworthy employees.
The
University has adopted a new plan to reward employees for their
workplace contributions, outside the annual review system. The policy
presents a framework of nine categories, such as public service,
customer service, attendance, improved sales, outstanding performance
and worthwhile suggestions. Most of these are broken into three
tiers of rewards, with the first level stopping at $250 and the
third level at $1,000. The plan, which went into effect on July
1, also carries awards of up to five days’ leave. Full
story.
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