During the Board of Trustees meeting Friday at the ASU System Office in Little Rock, Chancellor Kelly Damphousse reported on recent campus developments, including the work of the Chancellor's Completion Commission. He also presented a summary of fall semester highlights through a video, now available online. The board heard on a report on Accelerate ASU, an efficiency study by Huron Consulting Group.

A research paper co-authored by Dr. Steve Green, professor of soil and water conservation, has been published by the journal Biomass and Bioenergy. Green and fellow investigators wrote "Predicted Harvest Time Effects on Switchgrass Moisture Content, Nutrient Concentration, Yield and Profitability," as part of a collaborative study involving researchers in four states and led by Dr. Mike Popp of the University of Arkansas.

Dr. Brandon Kemp, associate professor of electrical engineering, and Mohammad H. Rahaman, graduate assistant, have published an analytical study of direct light propulsion by optical momentum reversal in nanostructures. Their research helps explain the recent experimental discovery of enhanced optical propulsion due to electron ejection, and creates opportunities for new material designs for macroscale propulsion. The article is in the journal APL Photonics.

Dr. Marcus C. Tribbett, assistant professor of English, presented a paper at the annual conference of the South Central Modern Languages Association meeting in Tulsa. The presentation was titled "From Feeble-Minded Daughter to Phoenix Rising: Rory Dawn's Construction of a Resistant Female and Working Class Identity in Tupelo Hassman's Girlchild." Hassman is a contemporary novelist, and the book was her 2012 Alex Award-winning debut.

Dr. Russ Jones, professor of computer and information technology and department chair, was interviewed by a local television station last week regarding the upcoming vote by the Federal Communications Commission to repeal the current "net neutrality" rules on internet service providers. Jones, whose classes have analyzed the issue and its potential impact, discussed how a regulatory change would affect students, companies and other individuals.