AUBURN - Students at Auburn University will soon have the opportunity to earn credit for a master's degree while still working toward their undergraduate diploma.

Trustees at Auburn today approved an accelerated dual degree program that is expected to appeal to top students who wish to work in fields where advanced qualifications are needed.

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AUBURN - Auburn University has identified programs that $25.9 million in stimulus funds from the federal government will support once released by Gov. Bob Riley.

The majority of the funds will support student learning, safety and other enhancements, as well as teaching. The intent is to enhance the experience of the entire student body, which for fiscal year 2010 has reached 24,602.

"It would have taken a 26 percent tuition increase to cover the gap created by the dramatic decrease in state appropriations for fiscal year 2010," said Don Large, Auburn University executive vice president. "The promise of stimulus funding allowed us to mitigate that by using the majority of funds to improve student services."

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AUBURN - Auburn University has launched MATRIX for the Future: Premier Agriscience Education Academy in response to a growing shortage of secondary and postsecondary agricultural educators and declining enrollment numbers in agriculture at Auburn and at land-grant colleges nationwide.

The two-year project, funded by a $100,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant, was developed by Don Mulvaney, an Auburn University College of Agriculture professor, animal scientist and leadership coordinator for the College of Agriculture; and Brian Parr, an assistant professor in the College of Education and agriscience education specialist. Out of a shared concern for the future of agriculture in the United States, Mulvaney and Parr launched the program to prepare outstanding high school students enrolled in agricultural classes and involved in agricultural organizations to be the next generation of leaders in agricultural production, education, science and agribusiness.

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AUBURN - Auburn University has created a new scholarship to honor the memories of two graduate students who died nearly a decade ago. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a Chinese student in the Graduate School.

The Chen-Wu Graduate Fellowship Award honors Auburn graduate student Changqing Chen and his wife, Yi Wu, who were found slain in their off-campus apartment May 29, 2000. Chen was a graduate student in textile engineering, while Wu was set to begin graduate studies in electrical engineering that summer.

The Changqing Chen and Yi Wu Scholarship Memorial Fund was initiated following the deaths and was recently merged into the Auburn Family Graduate Assistantships Endowment.

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AUBURN - A research project by Auburn University and Ford Motor Company shows that global positioning system satellites that can "talk" to cars could help prevent serious accidents.

The researchers have found potential for a GPS satellite to act as an early warning system that detects when a vehicle is about to lose control and communicate with the vehicle's stability control systems and other safety features to prevent a rollover or other serious accident.

The research findings were presented recently at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics in San Antonio, Texas.

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AUBURN – Researchers in an Alabama educational alliance have received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to help Alabama students with disabilities earn college degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and, ultimately, enter the workforce.

The funding was granted to the Alabama Alliance for Students with Disabilities in STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – which is a collaborative effort involving Alabama State University, Auburn University, Auburn University Montgomery, Tuskegee University, Central Alabama Community College, Southern Union State Community College and the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. The alliance also includes six school districts in Lee, Chambers, Elmore, Montgomery, Macon and Tallapoosa counties and has an outreach component that covers the entire state.

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AUBURN - An Auburn University scientist is among a small group of international experts who are taking infrared imaging technologies and turning them into a fast, easy and effective method to control the spread of flu, SARS and other viruses.

David Pascoe, a College of Education professor who has researched thermal physiology for 20 years, today presented to university trustees a camera-like device that takes a snapshot of a person's skin temperature. The image reveals if that individual has a fever and can be used by public safety officials in pandemic screening, such as determining if an airline passenger will pose a health risk to other travelers. In a demonstration to the Auburn Board, Pascoe showed skin temperature maps of a healthy individual and one carrying a virus.

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AUBURN - Auburn University officials dedicated the John C. H. Miller Jr. Writing Center Sept. 24 in the Governor's Room at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center.

Speakers included Jay Gogue, Auburn University president; Sarah Newton, Board of Trustees president pro tempore; Margaret Marshall, newly named director of university writing; Sharon Roberts, co-chair of the Writing Initiative Task Force; and Matt Klauza, assistant to the center director and a Ph.D. candidate in English.

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AUBURN - Auburn University's College of Sciences and Mathematics, in collaboration with the Alabama Department of Education, has been awarded $600,000 from NASA to produce modules in the varying science focus areas of global climate change. The program, "Bringing Global Climate Change Education to Alabama Classrooms," will partner with the Alabama Science in Motion, or ASIM, program to effectively train teachers and educate students in grades 9-12 about the changing planet.

Steve Ricks, director of the Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative, said the partnership with Auburn University will allow Alabama's teachers and their students to experience first-hand how scientists investigate global change. Teachers and students will gain unique insight into the science behind one of the most prevalent scientific issues of our time – the environment and its effect on our lives.

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AUBURN - Auburn University has achieved its highest enrollment in history this fall, and its freshman class boasts the top ACT score of any previous class, according to numbers released today by Auburn's Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

Enrollment is 24,602 among all students groups – undergraduates, graduate students and those enrolled in professional schools – which is up from 24,530 in fall 2008.

New freshman enrollment consists of 3,918 students, who compiled an average score of 26.2 on the ACT college entrance exam, outpacing last year's then-record of 25.9.

This year 477 new minority students are enrolled, up 15 percent from last year's 416, a number which includes all students of color. The number of new transfer students also increased, with 1,377 enrolled as compared to last fall's 1,305.

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