Commentary: African American Scientist and Inventors
by
Black Kos Editor, Sephius1
Mathematician and professor of mathematics Trachette Jackson was born on July 24, 1972. She attended a large public high school and spent her summers at a math-science honors program hosted by Arizona State University where she developed her passion for mathematics. Jackson was an excellent student and graduated in the top twenty of her class. In 1994, she received her B.S. degree in mathematics from Arizona State University.
Jackson earned her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Washington in 1996 and 1998, respectively. Her Ph.D. thesis was entitled "Mathematical Models in Two-Step Cancer Chemotherapy." She completed postdoctoral positions with the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications at the University of Minnesota, and at Duke University.
In 2000, Jackson joined the faculty at the University of Michigan as an assistant professor in the mathematics department. She was promoted to associate professor in 2003. In 2006, Jackson was appointed as the co-principal investigator of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded University of Michigan SUBMERGE (Supplying Undergraduate Biology and Mathematics Education Research Group Experiences) program. SUBMERGE is an interdisciplinary program in math and biology that exposes undergraduates to experimental biology within mathematical modeling and gives exposure to quantitative analysis in biology courses. In 2008, she became a full professor in Michigan's mathematics department. Jackson is the co-founder, and is the co-director, of the the Mathematics Biology Research Group (MBRG). The group organizes lectures, conferences, and workshops for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, among other activities. The main focus of her research in mathematical oncology is combining mathematical modeling and in vivo tumor vascularization to gain deeper understanding of tumor growth and the vascular structure of molecular, cellular and tissue levels......Read More
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anita Alvarez wasn't the only prosecutor to lose an election on the back of controversial choices in police violence cases. Cleveland prosecutor Timothy McGinty—widely condemned for mishandling the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice at the hands of Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann—also lost his bid for re-election during yesterday's (March 15) Democratic primary.
According to Cleveland Scene, McGinty lost the election for Cuyahoga County prosecutor to challenger Mike O'Malley by about 18,000 votes. O'Malley won 55.4 percent of the votes to McGinty's 44.6 percent. With no non-Democratic challenger, O'Malley is essentially assured to fill the position. McGinty, who served only one term in his position, did not mention Rice by name in his concession speech.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Entire first family will travel with president for trip including a baseball game, a summit with Raúl Castro and a speech calling for civil rights improvements. The Guardian: Obama's address to Cuban people will be highlight of historic visit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Barack Obama will make an historic address to the Cuban people, calling for more freedom but stressing that the US is no longer seeking regime change on the island, according to the White House.
This first speech on Cuban soil by a US president in almost 90 years will be the highlight of a three-day trip that also includes a bilateral summit with Raúl Castro, a joint news conference, a private meeting with dissidents, a baseball game and a moment to pay homage to the Catholic church for helping broker talks that led to the opening of relations in September.
Obama, who will travel with his wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha, will be the first US president to visit Havana since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
The trip is the culmination of a process which began with an historic joint announcement on 17 December 2014 when the leaders came together to signal their intention to begin dismantling the cold war era embargo.
US officials are hopeful that Obama’s speech, next Tuesday, will be broadcast live on Cuban national television but have not yet been provided any guarantees of this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of the top two finishers in Haiti’s disputed presidential vote says he and his supporters will soon hit the streets if no clear signal is given about the fate of next month’s runoffs. Miami Herald: Haiti presidential candidate threatens to re-launch runoff campaign.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of the top two finishers in Haiti’s disputed presidential vote says he and his supporters will soon hit the streets if no clear signal is given about the fate of next month’s runoffs.
“If on the 24th of March, no clear signal has been sent — and by a clear signal I mean the publishing of an electoral calendar — we will go out and start our campaign,” Jovenel Moïse told the Miami Herald during a visit to South Florida this week. “We will stay in the streets up until we get these clear signals.”
On Friday, Moïse flew back to Port-au-Prince after wrapping up a two-day visit where he met with journalists, students at Florida International University and the Haitian community. The visit came as doubts persist over whether the presidential elections, twice-postponed over allegations of fraud in favor of Moïse, President Michel Martelly’s handpicked successor, will happen on schedule.
We have only one choice,” he said Thursday evening to the crowd gathered inside the Little Haiti Cultural Center, “which is to stand behind the April 24 election date so that on the 14 of May, the people will have a president.
“We are stronger, we are more, we are wiser and we won’t back down,” he added to applause.
It was Moïse’s second visit since he came seeking votes and supporters in November for the then-Dec. 27 runoff.
Since the visit, an electoral commission formed by Martelly to evaluate the Oct. 25 first round issued a scathing report on how the process was plagued by fraud and voting errors; the elections were twice postponed; the second place finisher Jude Célestin declared he would not participate and called for a boycott; six members of the Provisional Electoral Council, including its president, resigned; and the former head of the Senate was voted interim president by the National Assembly after Martelly was forced to leave office without an elected successor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These inequities compared with white students are similar to those in traditional public schools, but charter suspension rates are slightly higher. The New York Times: Charter Schools Suspend Black and Disabled Students More, Study Says
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Black students are four times as likely to be suspended from charter schoolsas white students, according to a new analysis of federal education data. And students with disabilities, the study found, are suspended two to three times the rate of nondisabled students in charter schools.
These inequities are similar to those in traditional public schools, where black and disabled students are disproportionately disciplined for even minor infractions, and as early as preschool — although on average, charter schools suspend pupils at slightly higher rates than traditional public schools.
The analysis of charter school data from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights of close to 5,000 charters was done by the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the University of California, Los Angeles, a nonprofit civil rights research and policy organization.
Still, the report is likely to fuel an often fierce debate about disciplinary practices in charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run. Some charter networks have come under fire for “no excuses” behavioral codes, under which students can be suspended for offenses like clothing violations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WELCOME TO THE FRIDAY’S PORCH