News Sources: Changes Urged in Pakistan Gov't

America and Britain are seeking to broker a power-sharing deal between Pakistan's president, Gen Pervez Musharraf, and the exiled former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto. They are anxious to ensure that the general, who overthrew Bhutto in a 1999 coup and is a key ally in the US-led war on terror, retains his hold on power after the worst political crisis of his eight-year rule. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them on line at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including (click on names for contact information):

Kenneth J. Menkhaus - Associate Professor of Political Science, Davidson College - Menkhaus is a frequent consultant to the US government, the UN and NGO's on "failed states," peacekeeping and post-war reconstruction in countries like Afghanistan and Somalia. He served as special political advisor in the UN operation in Somalia in 1993-94, and in 1994-95 was visiting civilian professor at the Peacekeeping Institute of the US Army War College.

Bob Snyder - Professor of Political Science, Southwestern University - Snyder can discuss Middle East politics, U.S. foreign policy and Islamist terrorism. He is the author of Hating America: Bin Laden as a Civilized Revolutionary and The Myth of Preemption: More than a War Against Iraq.

White House Declares Draft Idea 4-F

America - including the Romney boys and the Bush twins - is scared to death of a military draft, says DePauw's Ken Bode. That explains why the recent statement by the White House's "war czar" that it makes sense to consider a return to a draft was quickly followed by a refutation by a spokesman for President Bush's National Security Council.

Panel Named to Develop College Ranking Alernative

The Annapolis Group is forming a subcommittee of college presidents and institutional research officers to develop a common format for presenting information about liberal arts colleges to aid students and their families in the college search process. The group is seeking alternatives to the commercial college rankings presented annually by U.S. News & World Report. William G. Durden, president of Dickinson College, will chair the subcommittee.

News Sources: College Gender Gap

Colleges are increasingly worried about the fact that their applicant pools and student bodies are becoming lopsidedly female. A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests this shift in college enrollment patterns results from some long-term societal shifts. For example, more women are choosing to spend more of their lifetimes working, and the wage differential between college-educated and non-college educated woman has always been greater than for men. Another factor, the authors say, is that women do better in high school. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including (click on names for contact information):

Cecilia A. Conrad - Associate Professor of Economics, Pomona College - Conrad's primary research is on impact of race and gender on economic status in the United States and the economics of the family. A member of the economics board of Black Enterprise Magazine and a past president of the National Economic Association, she was selected the 2002 California Professor or the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and CASE.

Rick Pringle - Professor of Psychology, Goucher College – Pringle’s research is focused on understanding how males and females learn, develop, work and communicate. His areas of expertise include relational psychology, gender issues, education equity issues, critical pedagogy, and coeducation. He was one of two principal researchers who investigated classroom dynamics during Goucher's transition from single-sex to coeducational college.

Carey Thompson - Dean of Admission and Financial Planning, Centre College - With 17 years experience in admissions, Thompson has been a leader in professional organizations including the Southern Association of College Admissions Counselors. He chaired the Southern Consortium of Colleges and Universities from 1994 to 1996 and was a member of the Southern Regional College Board Council from 1992 to 1995.

A 'Sound' Strategy for Exciting High School Kids about Physics

What can you make out of a disposable cup, a speaker jack and a few household items? A program developed by Sweet Briar College's engineering program is exciting high school students by showing them how to turn $4 worth of items into a speaker for their iPods.

Technology Has College Students Buzzing 24/7

College students always have had the tendency to stay up late. But the popularity of cell phones, IM'ing, social networking web sites like Facebook, and on-line games with opponents from around the world has the campus buzzing 24/7 - including in some ways that are alarming.

News Sources: Undocumented Worker Crackdown

The Department of Homeland Security is about to issue new regulations on how businesses must respond when informed that there are discrepancies in a worker's tax records. Under the new rules employees would have a limited time to contact the Social Security Administration to correct the information or face possible fines. Critics say the federal crackdown on the hiring of undocumented workers will leave farmers without workers to pick crops, restaurants without cooks and dishwashers, and will reduce employment in the construction, janitorial and landscaping industries. Repoerters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including (click on names for contact information):

Dean Hubbard - Professor of Public Policy, Sarah Lawrence College - Holder of the Joanne Woodward Chair in Public Policy, Hubbard’s expertise focuses on issues of immigrant laborers, U.S. labor law, employment discrimination and community organization; and international labor relations.

Frank C. Wykoff - Elden Smith Professor of Economics, Pomona College - Wykoff is the author of Understanding Economics Today and Macroeconomics: Theory, Evidence and Policy. He is the editor of Economic Inquiry, the Journal of the Western Economic Association, and a consultant to the U.S. General Accounting Office, the U.S. Labor Department. and the U.S. Treasury Department.

Robert Smith - Assistant Professor of Sociology, Barnard College - Author of articles on immigration, currently revising book on Mexican immigration; co-author of report to U.S. State Department comparing InterAmerican and Mediterranean-European migration systems.

Vital Signs Are Good for Student-Designed Device

A team of an engineering science design students from Trinity University a device to monitor a patient’s vital signs at home because. The result was the Accessible Home Vital Signs Monitoring System, which captured first place in the 2006-2007 Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Accessible Medical Instrumentation senior design competition.

Experiments in Space

The effects of microgravity on the immune system and wound-healing mammalian cells are similar to the body’s response following trauma on Earth. BioSTAR West and Harvey Mudd College are taking advantage of this similiarity through science experiments that are on board the current flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The experiements test the effects of the polysaccharide chitosan to accelerate the wound healing process, reduce infection and ultimately reduce wound scarringmicrogravity on wound repair.