Kara Shemin - News @ Northeastern

3Qs: For Big Dig, light at the end of the tunnel?

Boston’s Big Dig — the most costly highway project in United States history — has been plagued with problems since ground was broken in 1991. Last week, inspectors discovered a sinkhole beneath the surface of the I-90 connector tunnel, possibly caused by a ground-freezing process used during construction. We asked Thomas Sheahan, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University, to explain why the ground-freezing process was used and whether it caused the sinkhole to form.

by Kara Shemin August 17, 2011

Faculty Reads, Volume Two

Northeastern faculty members have written at length on a wide range of topics. Here, we highlight the first batch of published works in a feature on recent faculty books.

by Kara Shemin August 15, 2011

Faculty Reads, Volume One

Northeastern faculty members have written at length on a wide range of topics. Here, we highlight the first batch of published works in an occasional feature on recent faculty books.

by Kara Shemin August 8, 2011

3Qs: From Tinseltown to Public Office

Having expressed an interest in running for elective office—perhaps as a Republican candidate in the 2013 New York City mayor’s race—actor Kelsey Grammer may be the latest celebrity hoping to cross over to the world of politics. We asked journalism professor Alan Schroeder to weigh in on the history of celebrities who run for office and analyze the advantages they have over traditional candidates.

by Kara Shemin August 7, 2011

3Qs: Buying into the knockoff factor?

Retail titans Apple, Nike and Ikea have to compete with impostor replicas of their retail stores that have popped up in the southern district of Kunming city in southwest China and other parts of the world. These stores hawk knockoff products to sometimes unknowing customers. Tony Gao, an assistant professor of marketing in Northeastern’s College of Business Administration, interprets the broader implications to consumer welfare, intellectual property rights protection and how these competitive behaviors affect international marketing.

by Kara Shemin August 4, 2011

3Qs: Keeping ASL at center of deaf culture

Recent budget cuts in parts of the U.S. have threatened the future of state schools for the deaf, creating worry that deaf children children will be pushed into mainstream schools where American Sign Language (ASL) takes a back seat to new “speaking and listening” technologies. Distinguished Professor of Psychology Harlan Lane, who founded the ASL program at Northeastern and recently wrote a book about deaf culture and deaf ethnicity in the U.S., addresses the debate between specialized vs. mainstream schools for the deaf.

by Kara Shemin August 1, 2011

3Qs: Tech sector ‘bubble-ing’ over?

The leading social-media news site, Mashable, recently released an infographic comparing the successes and failures of new new-venture companies today to those in the dot-com era of the late 1990s and early- 2000s, begging the question, “Are we in a tech bubble?” John Friar, an executive professor of entrepreneurship at Northeastern and an expert in technology strategy for start-up companies, explains what it means to be in a tech bubble, if the world is in fact in one, and how start-ups can avoid the worst fall-out from a bursting bubble.

by Kara Shemin July 25, 2011

3Qs: Machu Picchu’s anniversary cause for celebration and caution

Sunday marked the 100th Anniversary of the discovery of Machu Picchu — the ancient Incan city in Peru — by American archaeologist and history professor Hiram Bingham. Yanet Monica Canavan, the director of Northeastern’s Dialogue of Civilizations programs in Peru, and a native of the country, talks about the historical significance of the discovery of Machu Picchu, its impact on the economy in Peru and how modernization of the site may be causing irreversible damage.

by Kara Shemin July 22, 2011

Google algorithm links to cancer detection

Network scientists at Northeastern find that Google’s PageRank algorithm can reveal complex interactions in other kinds of networks, such as the human body.

by Kara Shemin July 19, 2011

3Qs: Campaigning in Twitter’s virtual ‘big tent’

President Obama, who’s known for his social media savvy, held the first-ever Twitter Town Hall meeting last week, where he answered the public’s questions about taxes, jobs and the economy. Dan Kennedy, an associate professor of journalism, is an expert in news reporting and social networks. Here, he discusses Obama’s choice to engage the public through Twitter, and the use of social media by presidential candidates and journalists.

by Kara Shemin July 9, 2011

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