A head of the class: LSU Boyd Professor Isiah Warner has been named the 2016 SEC Professor of the Year. The SEC announced the honor Tuesday. Boyd, who also is the Phillip W. West Professor of Chemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor at LSU, is considered one of the world’s experts in analytical applications of fluorescence spectroscopy. His research also aims to develop and apply chemical, instrumental and mathematical measurements to solve fundamental questions in chemistry. The Louisiana Legislature will recognize Boyd with a resolution today at the State Capital as part of LSU Day, the University says. He will received a $20,000 honorarium and will be recognized at the SEC Awards Dinner in May. The SEC Professor of the Year Award is given to one SEC faculty member whose record of teaching, research and scholarship places him or her among the elite in higher education. Read the full announcement.
Rehabilitated: A maximum-security prison in Louisiana once notorious for its violence is experimenting with a novel way to keep criminals out of trouble: Murderers and other “lifers” are now mentors teaching job skills and morals to nonviolent offenders, preparing them for another shot at freedom. The Associated Press reports that since 2010, the pilot program at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola has authorized several state judges to sentence dozens of low-level offenders to at least two years at the prison—typically sparing them much longer terms behind bars. Roughly 130 of these “short-timers” are learning such trades as automotive repair, welding, horticulture and plumbing from inmates serving life sentences. Each is assigned a “social mentor” responsible for their “moral rehabilitation,” amid hopes they won’t return to a life of crime once freed. Read the full story.
It’s a baby: For the first time since 1939, a whooping crane chick has hatched in the wild in Louisiana, The Associated Press reports. Whooping cranes are among the world’s most endangered birds. Only about 600 of the graceful 5-foot-tall birds exist, all descended from 15 in Texas. “I’ve been smiling all day. It’s pretty exciting,” biologist Sara Zimorski of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says. She says the chick hatched Monday, sometime between a morning check of the nest and another in the evening. It was reason to celebrate after three disappointments this year: One pair laid infertile eggs, and two others laid eggs that were fertile but never hatched. Biologists collected the eggs and found dead embryos, Zimorski said. “It’s frustrating, especially since there’s no easy answer” about why the embryos did not survive, she said. Read the full story.
