10 Hottest Careers in America: 2010

Ace! NewsFlash

What are the hottest careers in America?

No need to look further for the hottest jobs. What I’ve got here is the second annual list compiled by the University of California, San Diego, on the career fields with the biggest demand and growth potential.

The good news, whether you’re a new college graduate or in mid-career, is that you don’t necessarily need to get a graduate degree to pursue these hot jobs. In some cases, you can take university extension courses to become qualified.

10 Hottest Careers

1. Healthcare information technology. Technicians are needed for such emerging jobs as healthcare integration engineer, healthcare systems analyst, clinical IT consultant, and technology support specialist.

2. Clinical Trials Design and Management for Oncology. Biopharmaceutical drug companies have more than doubled investment in research and development in the past decade. Managing clinical trials include choosing appropriate dosages, designing treatment plans and recruiting patients.

3. Data mining. Data mining is the technique for extracting specific types of information or patterns from large databases. A study from the University of California, Berkeley, found that data in the world doubles every three years.

4. Embedded engineering. There are career options for software developers willing to learn some new tricks. Phones, appliances, televisions, automobiles and iPods all use processors to run. These complex digital processors are embedded systems, often built around a microprocessor core, that are designed by software engineers.

5. Feature writing on the web. Is this where all those newspaper reporters who lost their jobs will end up?

6. Geriatric healthcare. Hey, everybody is getting older which means there are more opportunities for jobs for pharmacists, geriatric care managers, geriatric nurses and managing facilities for seniors.

7. Mobile media. Graphic designers, videographers, video editors, app developers and software engineers are needed to design and provide all the stuff that we now cram in our cell phones.

8. Occupational health and safety. More specialists are needed to cope with technological advances in safety equipment, changing regulations and increasing public expectations.

9. Spanish/English translation and interpretation. There are 250 million Spanish speakers throughout the world and the US has 31 million. The strongest demand for Spanish speakers is in the health care and legal fields.

10. Sustainable business practices and greening of all jobs. Green collar jobs can be found in every profession - even those you wouldn’t suspect. For instance, accountants are needed who understand what carbon accounting is.

*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, IELTS etc ***

Better than Yale? 5 Reasons to Attend a Liberal Arts College

Ace! NewsFlash

Yesterday I ate lunch with a West Coast mover and shaker, whose children went to Yale and whose husband is an influential and involved Yale alum.

Before the water glasses had even arrived, my lunch guest was suggesting that her children could have been better off not attending Yale. Her children graduated without knowing their professors very well and their pedigree diplomas hadn’t helped their job prospects.

She then became animated when she launched into all the reasons why she loved liberal arts colleges. I found myself agreeing with every thing she said. Here are my own reasons why students, whether they are blinded by Ivy League mojo or not, should consider attending a liberal arts college:

1. Student focused. Liberal arts colleges exist to teach undergraduates and only undergrads. That’s far different from universities that are designed to focus chiefly on faculty research and graduate students. Star professors at many universities, including the Ivies, never go near undergrads.

2. Small classes. At liberal art college, students can’t hide in the back of a large lecture hall because there aren’t any. Some introductory courses might have 40 or 50 students, but most are going to be far smaller. Especially for introductory classes, universities tend to herd hundreds of undergrads into lecture halls and often let the teaching assistants deal with these students in smaller settings.

3. Great grad school preparation. It’s a fallacy that you have to attend a state flagship or Ivy to enjoy a good shot at grad school. Liberal arts schools dominate the list of the top 10 institutions that produce the most students who ultimately earn doctorates. Per capita, liberal arts colleges produce twice as many student who earn a PhD in science than other institutions. This shouldn’t be a surprise. Liberal arts college provide the sort of research experiences that universities often reserve for grad students.

4. Employers value liberal arts. One of the missions of liberal arts colleges is to teach kids how to think, talk and write. Don’t all schools do that? Not necessarily. You can graduate from plenty of universities without writing essays or research papers. Who, after all, is going to grade 500 essays? In small class settings, liberal art students are more likely to be required to write papers, give class presentations and collaborate with their classmates and professors.

A new employer survey that the National Association of Colleges and Employers released yesterday indicates that workplaces most value these three skills that a liberal arts eduction can impart:

• Communication skills.
• Analytic skills.
• Teamwork skills.

5. Price discounts. If you need financial aid, private liberal arts colleges are often more generous than state institutions, which have been spending the majority of their discretionary cash on affluent students. Rich students, however, also routinely receive a price break from most liberal arts colleges.

Bottom line: For all those Ivy worshipers out there, I’d suggest that you at least entertain the possibility that a liberal arts college could be as good as or superior to an Ivy. Even my husband, an Ivy League grad, eventually came around.

Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution, an Amazon bestseller.

*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, IELTS etc ***

Steering College Grads to Start-Ups

Ace! NewsFlash

Like many other college students, 19-year-old Ian Jennings Jablonowski treks to rock concerts and plays videogames. But the East Brunswick, N.J., native also designed his first website when he was 13. Now, he's part of a new project trying to reshape New York's job market.

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Michael Galpert, left, co-founder of Aviary, with summer intern Tal Safran from Herzeliya, Israel, at the office of the 17-person Web company.

He's among a dozen local students working this summer through HackNY, a new organization that hopes to steer more graduates in computer science, math and related fields to New York City technology start-ups instead of the well-worn path to Wall Street.

Many of the best New York college graduates in quantitative fields are often scooped up by big companies such as IBM and Google, and increasingly by Wall Street firms relying on computerized trading and statistics. "In New York, there's such a large pipe that's been constructed for 100 years to take people and bring them into finance," said Chris Wiggins, a HackNY organizer and a professor in Columbia University's department of applied physics and applied mathematics.

Mr. Wiggins said some of his students who take finance jobs haven't been happy with their decision.

According to a 2009 survey of students at Columbia's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, for example, the largest group of students—36.8%—went to work in financial services. An estimated 17% went to work in software-related jobs.

Mr. Jennings Jablonowski is spending his summer crunching data and prepping new potential features for bit.ly, a nine-person company in Manhattan's Meatpacking District that allows people to easily swap and track Web links on Twitter and other social-networking sites.

Another HackNY fellow, Princeton University student Christopher Triolo, 20, said he is re-evaluating his chosen career in finance just a week into his internship with database firm 10gen. "This really opened my eyes," he said about the HackNY program. (The word "hack" traditionally refers to a reconfigured computer program, and it now serves as a catch-all tech term for clever problem-solving using limited resources.)

The program started this winter after a meeting among Mr. Wiggins, New York University professor Evan Korth and Hilary Mason, a former academic and chief scientist at bit.ly. The three had separately been trying to encourage more links between academia and New York technology companies, and came up with the idea of a 24-hour student "hacking" competition, paired with a summer fellowship.

The 12 HackNY fellows were chosen—naturally, with the help of a computer program Ms. Mason wrote—from more than 100 applicants. The companies pay the students $400 a week, and they are offered free housing in an NYU dorm thanks to the New York chapter of the Internet Society, a nonprofit, and a $37,500 grant from the Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit that encourages entrepreneurship.

The fellows will also spend at least one evening a week participating in workshops to learn technical skills, and practical skills such as how to land investors for their own tech companies. "I don't want to just feed my kids to the wolves," said Mr. Korth, referring to the HackNY students.

This is the first real-world work experience for many of the HackNY fellows, and at small start-ups they can jump in and do meaningful work right away. Interns also have a chance to try out the famously loose culture of technology companies. Plasma TVs, Xbox videogame consoles and wardrobes of T-shirts and jeans are work staples. "Compared to a traditional job, start-up life is different," said Tal Safran, 26, a HackNY fellow who just finished his junior year as an NYU computer-science major.

Start-ups say the HackNY program gives them a better shot at hiring top students when they graduate. Financial firms pay newly minted graduates compensation deep into the six figures, compared with pay of $80,000 and up, excluding ownership stakes, for start-up jobs, according to professors and technology executives. These people say Wall Street careers have lost some of their luster after the recent financial downturn, but for many students the financial sector is more stable and more socially acceptable than telling their parents they're going to couch surf for six months and write computer code.

The participating companies also say they want to contribute to the long-term vitality of the New York tech community, which has always played second fiddle to California's Silicon Valley as a tech hub.

"New York is really a hotbed for start-ups, but students don't necessarily know that just yet," said Michael Galpert, a co-founder of Aviary, a 17-person Web company where Mr. Safran is interning. The HackNY program, Mr. Galpert said, shows students "that they don't have to go on the West Coast to spend their summer working with cool start-ups. They can do that in New York."

*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, IELTS etc ***

Video Game Design degree popular at GMU

Ace! NewsFlash

Who would have thought that playing video games could help students prepare for college? As officials at George Mason University quickly found out, even they underestimated the interest the school's new bachelor's degree in video game design.

Students are flocking to the program. "We've been overwhelmed," said Scott M. Martin, assistant dean for technology, research and advancement at GMU. "Our anticipated enrollment for the fall is 500 percent higher than we expected."

GMU professors are training students to develop the art of the future, combining creativity with technology, Martin said. "I've always loved video games," said Katherine Lee, 22, a senior who is majoring in the program. Her favorite classes are those that allow students to create games or add to existing ones, Lee said. "They're giving us really good skills for the field," said Lee, who hopes to one day work at Pixar Animation Studios or for a video entertainment group.

Course titles under the program include "Culture and Theory of Games," which explores the theory, history, culture and lore of computer games. Other courses focus on computer programming, digital arts and graphics and motion capture, which digitally records body or facial movements by actors or dancers.

George Mason first offered the program last fall, when officials anticipated that it would enroll about 30 full-time and five part-time students. Although several colleges offer computer gaming degree programs in the United States, GMU offers the only four-year program in Virginia and the area. The university's original goal was to increase the program's enrollment by as many as 110 students by 2013, Martin said. Currently 200 students are enrolled, and that number is increasing.

"We are receiving inquiries from around the world, and applications at every level have been very strong," GMU Dean of Admissions Andrew Flagel said. Robinson High School senior Ramez Hashlamon, 17, has committed to attend GMU next year. He takes animation classes at Fairfax Academy's professional graphics studio, which is part of the county's public school system. Ramez said that he is interested in the animation side of video gaming and that he is leaning toward a career in film animation. The flexibility and scope of the courses offered by GMU's program is appealing to him, he said.

The professional gaming community also is taking notice of what's happening at GMU. "There have been a lot of game design programs popping up all over the place in the last decade. A lot of schools are focusing on specific areas, like game design," said veteran game writer Bob Bates, who co-founded Legend Entertainment, a computer game development company, and has written about the business of game development. "You run into a problem where kids aren't getting the full picture. Then they get out of school and find out that they don't like the game industry."

GMU instructors, he said, are making an effort to provide a well-rounded education. "The fact that they've had the vision to address the full student, that's interesting to me," he said. "It's not a trade school on video gaming. It's how to make an art form of gaming."

Regions such as Washington are becoming known as important markets for gaming, Bates said. Serious games -- those used to train military and special operations, doctors and others who use simulators -- could become a market force in the region, especially because of its proximity to federal government centers, he added.

GMU is positioning its program to address future needs, said Eugene Evans, general manager of Bioware Mythic, a Fairfax-based studio that is part of Electronic Arts, Inc., which develops, markets, publishes and distributes video games internationally. "Gaming has been shifting from Silicon Valley," he said. "More and more companies are looking to take advantage of the excellent gaming courses that . . . draw in talent. There are probably a dozen gaming companies in the mid-Atlantic region.

"This course bodes well for the future of gaming in this region. The team at GMU is putting a strong emphasis on a broad set of disciplines and instilling an entrepreneurial spirit, which could mean many new start-ups within a few years." That is the goal, said Martin, who put together GMU's program. "I see results of this program really stimulating a new industry in Northern Virginia, transforming our economy," he said.

*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, IELTS etc ***

Game On, Music On!

Ace! NewsFlash

Why Berklee is teaching its students to compose scores for video games

Nazer Lagrimas, 22, president of Berklee’s Video Game Music Club, is aiming toward a career in interactive audio. The club claims more than 300 members.

“Abandon,’’ a video game designed by a group of MIT students and set in a mysterious, surrealistic world of traffic cones, toasters, bookcases, and other vaguely menacing objects, may never make it to game stores or home consoles. But it will have at least one feature found on most commercially marketed video games: an original soundtrack, professionally composed and painstakingly synched to the game’s play features and story line.

At least that’s the goal of a recent Berklee College of Music class whose subject - composing music for video games - is growing in popularity by leaps, bounds, and beeps. Video games pull in $20 billion a year, roughly the combined revenues of the film and music industries. Berklee, one of a handful of schools prepping students for a field that barely existed 10 years ago, is eager to tap that booming market, one that’s making boldfaced names out of its most talented and prolific composers.

Game on, as they might say around campus.

“The push to teach game audio really came from the students here,’’ says Michael Sweet, a Berklee associate professor whose professional background includes writing music and sound design for nearly 100 video games. A 1990 Berklee graduate and avid gamer who joined the faculty 18 months ago, Sweet lists one of his goals as “build[ing] the John Williams for video games in the next generations.’’ His classes fall under the purview of the school’s Film Scoring Department, whose chairman, Dan Carlin, has strongly supported the initiative. Another key proponent has been assistant vice president for curriculum Jeanine Cowen, who four years ago taught the first Berklee course focused exclusively on game audio.

Back when he was a student, notes Sweet, video games were popular but hardly a career anyone at Berklee thought much about. “Now, it’s a juggernaut,’’ he says. “The quality of the artwork and production values [are] dramatically higher, and so is the orchestral work.’’

Berklee is offering five classes this semester in video game audio or game scoring. Sweet says his typical student is not only knowledgeable about state-of-the-art video games like Modern Warfare and BioShock but also has classroom experience in disciplines like sound production, voice acting, music technology, and film scoring. Versatility and familiarity are important. In writing for games, composers must anticipate and create cues for the various layers and levels a player passes through. Story lines and scenes change rapidly and unpredictably. As technology improves and memory space expands, moreover, these games have grown more sophisticated, visually and sonically. Players’ expectations rise accordingly, creating a demand for such elements as a full orchestral score.

Besides offering classes and a summer program in Music for Video Games, Berklee boasts a large and active Video Game Music Club, which holds weekly meetings and claims more than 300 members; sponsors an annual Video Game Orchestra concert of original game music; and hosts panels led by leading game professionals, some of them Berklee alums. One recent topic of discussion among club members has been an upcoming San Francisco conference, where prospective game professionals can take workshops and network with industry reps. Several club members plan to attend, while even more are considering a career niche that promises to be both creative and lucrative. Composing for video games can command fees ranging from a few hundred dollars per minute of music to a couple of thousand.

Berklee grads who’ve already made their mark in the industry include Norihiko Hibino (Metal Gear Solid, Zone of the Enders) and Olivier Deriviere (Obscure, Alone in the Dark), and Shota Nakama, creator and director of the Video Game Orchestra. Club president Nazer Lagrimas, 22, a film scoring major from San Diego, is aiming toward a career in interactive audio. “To me, the fun of video game music is that it’s not linear, like a movie [score] is,’’ Lagrimas says. “There are no real rules or conventions.’’

Berklee senior Sean Hathaway, 23, of Idaho, has already written music for TV and film. He regards game scoring as his most promising career opportunity, though, given the money and prestige it potentially offers. “It’s a great alternative for young composers who aren’t interested in the extremely crunched deadlines that come with television and film scoring jobs,’’ Hathaway says. Dialogue and sound effects often drown out the music onscreen, he adds. Whereas the TV or movie experience is over in a couple of hours, video games involve dozens of hours of play, sometimes more. “There’s more recognition of the music itself,’’ Hathaway says.

Berklee is not the only school building interactive game audio into its curriculum. Yale Music School, New York University, and the New England Conservatory have also developed classes and programs in the artform, according to Paul Lipson, president of the Game Audio Network Guild, an organization that provides information and resources for professionals in the field. Still, Lipson, an NEC grad, places Berklee in the forefront of the movement. “Major music schools and universities are taking this field very seriously, and Berklee has really been leading the way,’’ he says. The guild has strived to build close ties to the school, he adds, in order to maintain a high degree of professionalism. Music schools like Berklee “are kind of locked behind the cloistered walls of academe,’’ Lipson says. “They need advice on the latest trends, so we’ll bring people in to talk with students and faculty.’’

Berklee has forged additional working relationships with the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, a hotbed of young game designers, and with the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, Interactive Media Division. While MIT has plenty of capable game designers, “There aren’t as many great musicians around as Berklee has,’’ notes GAMBIT audio director Abe Stein, who commissioned the class work on Abandon. Sweet’s students had to sign a licensing agreement granting MIT rights to their music, providing the game isn’t later sold or licensed for a fee.

They also heard somewhat contradictory messages about approaching Abandon as composers. MIT game designer Matthew Weise urged students to “go as crazy as you want.’’ Sweet put the emphasis on the fundamentals, though. What actions, he asked the class, might trigger a change in tempo? Where might musical flourishes be inserted? Cross-faded or layered? Should the music be cued by the characters encountered in the game or by the achievements realized by the player?

What it boils down to, he said, jotting all their options on a whiteboard, “is how much stuff can you put in the soup?’’

*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, IELTS etc ***

Brown falls under Hermione's spell

Ace! NewsFlash

Brown: Ivy League campus for stars?

If only Harry would let her borrow the invisibility cloak...

Emma Watson was mobbed by adoring fans as she began university in the U.S. --despite pleading to be treated just like any other student. The 19-year-old actress, who plays Hermione in the Harry Potter films, barely had a moment to herself as she got to know fellow 'freshmen' at the prestigious Brown University in Rhode Island.

Sitting pretty: Emma Watson shows her poise as she joins her new friends at Brown University

One of the gang: Watson gets to know her fellow freshman at the Rhode Island campus

New friends: Watson mingles with students on campus

Miss Watson, who looked anything but the global movie star in simple denim shorts and a white T-shirt, is likely to have to get used to having her own fan club on campus. She said recently: 'But I do hope that it will be only a short time before I am known as "Emma Watson, the student from the UK" rather than "Emma Watson who starred in those Harry Potter films".'

Miss Watson achieved straight A's in her A-levels. She will have to return to the studio during her holidays to film the last two installments in the Harry Potter series.

Model student: Watson appeared relaxed and happy as she began university life

Bewitching: Watson has grown up in the international spotlight since appearing in the first Harry Potter movie

*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, IELTS etc ***

SAT, PSAT, SSAT, and now...Test Prep for Pre-K! Those NYC parents...

Ace! Lifestyle Insights: New York City

Test Prep for Pre-K: What are NYC parents thinking?

Suzanne Rheault, at her house last week in East Hampton, N.Y., started a school testing and admissions consultancy after leaving Morgan Stanley last year.

Such has been the longstanding philosophy of Suzanne Rheault, a 39-year-old mother of two who now lives with her family downtown. A Type-A — make that A-plus — overachiever, even by New York standards, she skated competitively as a kid, finished M.I.T. in three and a half years, and tested out of a chunk of her courseload at Columbia Business School. She conquered the marathon. She logged long hours and worked on holidays for Morgan Stanley, once flying, with pneumonia and against doctor’s orders, across the country for a technology conference (she paid with a burst eardrum). After marrying and having children, she kept up a grueling schedule, typically traveling two weeks a month.

The key to her success in picking stocks, she always felt, was extensive research. Then came the personal challenge that defied all research, her own Moby Dick: getting her daughter into private school. No Excel spreadsheet would unlock the formula that would guarantee results; all her expertise in statistics and economics failed her. She particularly struggled with preparing her child for the test that many private schools rely on, the so-called E.R.B., named for the Educational Records Bureau, which administers it. She scoured the Web site Urban Baby and found anxious parents trading conflicting advice: You must prep your child for the test! You must not prep your child for the test, because the testers will know and hold it against you! She wanted to get it right; she had no idea if she would.

“I didn’t like that some people were in the know and some were not,” Ms. Rheault said. Her daughter landed somewhere where she’s happy, but the frustration with the system stayed with Ms. Rheault. Last fall, after once again being unable to attend her daughter’s first day of school, thanks to work, and sensing that the market was about to turn, Ms. Rheault jumped ship from her employer to start her own company. It would be her mission to democratize information for New York’s most competitive elite.

Her company connects school, testing and admissions experts, who are paid by the hour, with parents eager for authoritative information. So far, she is marketing expertise mostly for people applying to private schools for their children, perhaps because those people are more likely to shell out up to $450 an hour to talk to someone who knows something about what Spence likes to hear in an interview.

Ms. Rheault tells the story of one of her experts, an admissions officer, who was treated to a fancy breakfast by an ex-boyfriend’s sister who was desperate for advice. The officer felt she couldn’t say no when asked; but “honestly, I’d have rather had the money,” she told Ms. Rheault. Why should everyone pussyfoot around with expensive breakfasts and cringing favor-trading? At business school, they teach you to put a price on it. In a world that caters to some of the country’s most successful financiers, it’s amazing it took so long for someone to find a way to set the market value of that former PTA president at Dalton (not an actual example, but a potential one).

In an even more controversial move, Ms. Rheault and her business partner, Suzanne Starnes (also of M.I.T.), have worked with their experts to create — yours for $500 — an E.R.B. prep workbook, with every element of the test in it. They don’t call it intellectual enrichment, or a learning kit, or educational games; right there, on the cover of the workbook, it says it clearly: “Pre-K and Kindergarten Standardized Test Practice.” Whatever you think about “pre-K” and “test practice” appearing in a phrase together, you have to give Ms. Rheault credit: At least she’s calling it like it is.

Robin Aronow, a consultant who helps parents navigate private and public school admissions, does not encourage prepping for a few reasons: She believes that it makes the kids anxious, which could hurt their scores, or that it might test them into a school they’re not equipped to handle. And yes, she believes, based on experience, that if a child appears obviously prepped, that information will make its way to back to the schools. (Ms. Rheault’s experts say that’s not the case, and the Educational Records Bureau declined to comment.) Also, could it be cruelty to children to drill 4- and 5-year-olds? “Well, it isn’t necessary,” Ms. Aronow said.

Ms. Rheault’s father grew up in a housing project in Roxbury, Mass., and frequently reminds his daughter how “absurd” her latest project is. “I get it,” she said, but argued that if you’re going to stay in New York and not risk the public schools, you might as well get your $35,000-a-year investment right. She feels good about a partnership the business has with the “I Have a Dream” Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports higher education for children in low-income communities.

As for prepping kids for a test, maybe Ms. Rheault’s own experience informs her thoughts. She started training, seven hours a day, as a competitive ice skater when she was only 5, and look how successful she has been.

Even her eardrum has healed — almost.

*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, IELTS etc ***

Amgen Scholars Program @ UW for a new generation of biomedical researchers

Ace! Insights

The Amgen Scholars Program: Encouraging a new generation of biomedical researchers

Student Rita Sodt, right, has studied the development of mathematical models that simulate the growth of gliomas, a highly invasive type of brain tumor, under the direction of mentor Kristin Swanson.

A chance encounter with a funny-looking rock when he was 8 years old helped launch Phillip Poonka's lifelong interest in research. Now a junior at the UW and a student in the highly selective Amgen Scholars Program, Poonka is on a trajectory that is likely to culminate in graduate school and a career in biomedical research. "It was lying in my street among some small chips of asphalt," he explained. "I came to the conclusion that it was a meteorite based on the impact it left on the asphalt, its charred appearance, and its dense metallic feel. My mom did not find the rock very interesting and almost threw it away when cleaning the house, but I was inspired to learn more about these rare extraterrestrial objects and I later made some simple experiments to support my find." And so a career began. He participated in science fairs in elementary and middle schools, garnering top honors. He spent time conducting his own experiments. At the UW, he has been conducting research in the Department of Radiology since his sophomore year. This summer, as an Amgen scholar, he gets to devote all his time to research, as the program provides support for room and board and also pays a stipend. He also works closely with faculty mentors.

The goal of the Amgen program is to grow the next generation of biomedical researchers. The program's philosophy is that the best way to achieve this is to take the very best students (about one in 10 is selected from a national pool for the UW program), immerse them in the laboratory of a top-flight researcher who provides them not just a research experience but becomes a mentor, and have them present their research findings to their peers at a national meeting and local sessions as well. The UW program is one of 10 funded by Amgen in the U.S. This year the program received 270 applications from across the country for 29 slots. "Some of the students are new to research, while others are more experienced," says Jennifer Harris, associate director of the UW's Undergraduate Research Program, which administers Amgen Scholars. "We recruit the faculty mentors first. With busy schedules and competing demands on their time, faculty mentors do this because they believe it's the right thing to do. They want to foster new talent in their fields. The faculty are doing this without compensation, so it's always a challenge."

Students apply and list their top three choices from among the list of faculty projects. There is some preliminary screening by program staff, but the ultimate matches are made by the faculty. Besides their research, students also attend seminars and tours that expose them to the choices they will have as researchers -- the security of academia versus the product-driven focus of private industry.

Poonka is spending his summer studying heart muscle sciences in the Heart and Muscle Mechanics Lab of Michael Regnier, associate professor of bioengineering. Poonka actually has two mentors, Regnier and Steven Korte, a postdoctoral fellow. "The scientists and graduate students who work in the lab are very supportive and I feel comfortable asking them questions," Poonka says. "I'm a strong believer in mentoring," Regnier says. "We have students in our lab at all stages. We have some undergraduates who have been working in the lab for two or three years. The challenge with Amgen scholars is their time is limited to the summer. We pair them with graduate students or postdocs, where they are exposed to different aspects of the project and get to assist on experiments. We talk with them about the purpose of experiments and they actually take some measurements. Then we care out some semi-independent experiments for them. They realize that they are playing an important role in our overall research goals. They may have a small piece of the puzzle, but they own that piece. Our goal is that they leave the lab excited about science."

Regnier is a mentoring advocate because it's his way of giving back. "I was provided research opportunities because someone gave me a chance. I get a kick out of seeing the light go on in a student's head, watching them grow and become independent people." Regnier takes the extra step of not just talking about science but also discussing career choices and what steps his students need to take to be well prepared for future opportunities. Rocky Eastman, a first-generation college student from Walla Walla and now a UW senior, is working on research at Seattle Children's Research Institute, where he already has co-authored two research manuscripts that will be published shortly. This summer, he's working in the field of tissue engineering, where the ultimate goal is to build tissue and organs in the lab to eliminate the need for transplants. "It's very exciting to be a part of this growing field," he says, "and I would not have anticipated that my undergraduate studies would have led to this." Ultimately, he'd like to have a career in pediatric oncology.

Rita Sodt was so motivated in her desire to experience research first-hand that she contacted a researcher early in her freshman year at the UW. She learned about Kristin Swanson, research associate professor of pathology, from the TA in her honors calculus class and took the initiative to arrange an interview, securing a place in the lab by Winter Quarter. Sodt, now a senior, has studied the development of mathematical models that simulate the growth of gliomas, a highly invasive type of brain tumor. She is spending her summer working full-time in Swanson's lab. "I am very lucky to have Kristin as a mentor," Sodt says. "She has trusted me with interesting and challenging projects, which has given me confidence in my research abilities and has taught me valuable research skills that I would not learn in the classroom. She has been a wonderful mentor because she helped me learn to work independently and to think critically about our research."

Eric Evangelista, a senior who transferred to the UW from Everett Community College, is having his first laboratory experience this summer. "The best part about working in the lab has been the trial and error aspect," he says. "Things just don't work sometimes but it's been fun trying to figure out why. And it's definitely a plus that it's giving me an opportunity to apply some of what I've learned in class to some "real world" situations." Evangelista, a senior majoring in chemistry, was born in the Philippines, moved to Canada when he was 8 and arrived in Washington at age 18. He had thought that his future would be as an MD, but exposure to peers who are research oriented has had an impact. "Seeing how motivated they are in their pursuits has definitely raised my interest in a career in the lab," he says. "The Amgen program has also helped in this area by providing an opportunity to see what it would be like to do research with potentially far-reaching consequences."

The Amgen Scholars will be giving poster presentations of their research from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Aug. 19, in Mary Gates Commons. They will be giving oral presentations in concurrent sessions from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, in Mary Gates Hall, rooms 248, 254, 284 and 288. More information will be available here.

*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, IELTS etc ***

Field of Study: Political Science & International Relations

Ace! Focus on Field of Study

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U.S. Leads in World's Billionaires

Ace! NewsFlash

The World's Billionaires

The richest people in the world have gotten poorer, just like the rest of us. This year the world's billionaires have an average net worth of $3 billion, down 23% in 12 months. The world now has 793 billionaires, down from 1,125 a year ago.

After slipping in recent years, the U.S. is regaining its dominance as a repository of wealth. Americans account for 44% of the money and 45% of the list's slots, up seven and three percentage points from last year, respectively. Bill Gates lost $18 billion but regained his title as the world's richest man. Warren Buffett, last year's No. 1, saw his fortune decline $25 billion as shares of Berkshire Hathaway fell nearly 50% in 12 months. Mexican telecom titan Carlos Slim Helú maintains his spot in the top three but lost $25 billion.

More ...

Billionaire Bust
Last year the world had 1,125 billionaires. Today there are 793. How $1.4 trillion vanished.

In Pictures: The World's Billionaires

*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, IELTS etc ***

Teens Bond by Jailbreaking the iPhone

Ace! NewsFlash

Teens Bond by Jailbreaking the Mobile; 'A Trust Issue' for MuscleNerd

Like many teenagers, Ari Weinstein spends his summers riding his bike and swimming. This year, the 15-year-old had another item on his to-do list: Foil Apple Inc.'s brightest engineers and annoy chief executive Steve Jobs. Ari is part of a loose-knit group of hackers that has made it a mission to "jailbreak" Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. The term refers to installing unapproved software that lets people download a range of programs, including those not sanctioned by Apple.

Ari Weinstein, 15, in the computer lab of Germantown Friends School, where he just finished 9th grade.

Since Apple began selling its latest iPhone 3GS on June 19, Ari and six online cohorts spent hours a day probing the new product for security holes. This weekend, one of the members of the group, dubbed the Chronic Dev Team, released the jailbreaking software they've been working on. Ari says the program is a test version with some bugs, but that users have successfully downloaded it. A quarter-million people have visited the site, he says. "Coding and testing things that may or may not work, and figuring things out, is a really rewarding experience," says Ari, a Philadelphia resident who began hacking when he was 11.

Ari's hobby has ruffled the feathers of famously secretive Apple, which exerts tight control over its gadgets and sells programs for its iPhones exclusively through its App Store site. "The vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones, and for good reason," an Apple spokeswoman says. "These modifications not only violate the warranty, they also cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably." Mr. Jobs, in the past, has called dueling with hackers a "cat-and-mouse game" and has said it is Apple's "job to stop them from breaking in."

So far, Apple hasn't stopped them. A year ago, when the Cupertino, Calif., company launched its iPhone 3G, a team of hackers released jailbreaking software for the device less than a week later. The software, which can be downloaded from a Web site, gives users access to a store that sells programs that Apple doesn't. These include applications that block ads on the iPhone's mobile Internet browser, for example, or let the phone double as a laptop-computer modem (a common feature in Windows Mobile, so one wonders about Apple's motives for excluding it from iPhones).

In February, Apple filed a 27-page statement to the U.S. Copyright office arguing that modifying phones violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Digital-rights advocates say they believe it isn't illegal because people own their phones outright. The copyright office is expected to rule in the fall. Ari says he takes ethics seriously and says he has researched the Millennium Copyright law online. But he has concluded his actions aren't wrong. He also has a lawyer, who he says volunteered his services after Ari created iJailbreak, a piece of free software that worked on the original iPhone, two years ago.

"Apple doesn't have the right to tell me what I can put on my phone," says Ari, who uses non-Apple-sanctioned programs that let him change the look of his home screen and administer Web sites from his phone. "I only do hacking that helps people." Ari became interested in technology as a preschooler, when he would flip through the manual for a cable set-top box and change the settings on the family computer. "I remember it being a big relief when he went to kindergarten," says his mother, Judy Weinstein, 43, a social worker.

At age 7, Ari teamed up with two other boys to create playing cards, decorated with hand-drawn characters, to sell online. The business never took off. But Ari says he learned to build Web sites, among other things: The site he created wasn't on the child-approved list of his AOL Internet service, he says, so to access it, he had to figure out how to get around AOL's parental controls. "That's when we knew we should start teaching him ethics," says his dad, Ken Weinstein, 45, a real-estate developer.

Ari started hacking in sixth grade after looking for a way to download free games on his iPod mini. Two years ago, he received an iPod touch for his bar mitzvah and says he jailbroke the device in an evening. He later simplified the process into the iJailbreak software. He says the program has been downloaded a million times. Some users donated cash, a standard way of showing appreciation for free software, and Ari says he received "several thousand dollars" in all.

Ari attracted the attention of Will Strafach, a Connecticut teen who created an online chat room for people interested in reverse engineering the iPhone. That eventually morphed into a team named after Mr. Strafach's Internet name, Chronic. "When I get out" of school, Mr. Strafach says, "I want to work for Apple." Ari, who goes by AriX online, soon began to work with the Chronic Dev Team's half-dozen teenagers and twentysomethings. The group communicates almost exclusively via a private online chat room, where they can talk and send files. Team members say they don't know all the others' real-life identities. One of them, Mr. Strafach says, lives in Austria.

Earlier this year, Ari and his team tried to hack more efficiently by working with another group -- iPhone Dev Team, an invitation-only bunch in their 20s and 30s who have typically been the first to roll out iPhone hacks. Members of the iPhone Dev Team worried about working in a large group. In part, they were concerned that if information leaked out about the security holes they were probing, others could exploit them first. Or, Apple could plug the holes. In March, the two groups stopped communicating. "It just came down to a trust issue," says Eric McDonald, an iPhone Dev Team member known as MuscleNerd.

In June, Apple announced its 32-gigabyte iPhone, with added layers of security and encryption. Ari bought one immediately, in part with the $20 an hour he earned helping family friends with computer problems. "I'm happy to contribute," says Michael Cohen, a real-estate investor who recently hired Ari to help set up his wife's new computer. "He obviously has a future in this stuff."

Mr. Strafach's group also sought help from George Hotz, a 19-year-old Cambridge, Mass., hacker who had worked before with Chronic Dev. Known as geohot, Mr. Hotz is widely acknowledged as the first person to "unlock" the iPhone nearly two years ago, so people could use the phone with any wireless carrier. Mr. Hotz, who took a paid internship with Google Inc. in April, joined the hackers in early June. In emails, he says he has done the project on his own time and was happy to help "a bunch of cool guys with a good attitude." Google declined to comment on Mr. Hotz's work with Chronic Dev.

More than a week ago, both Chronic Dev and iPhone Dev said they figured out how to jailbreak Apple's new phone. The iPhone Dev Team wanted to wait to release its software so Apple can't plug the security hole in the device immediately. But Chronic Dev and Mr. Hotz released theirs as soon as it was ready. "A lot of people bought their phones expecting to jailbreak their phones, and now that we have the capability to do it, we should let them," Ari says. "A lot of people have thanked us."

*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, IELTS etc ***