The President's Message - USM Forum -- Message Board

Reporter · Status: Offline

The President's Message

info · Status: Offline

Reporter wrote:
This "President's Message" is too long to post. ...

... or to proofread: "Routhern Miss Tops $100 Million in Research"

Lily · Status: Offline

There's that "prestigious Miliken whatyamacallit" again. Don't these guys ever pay attention? I may start the World-Class Prestigious Lily Award and give it to something at USM and see how fast it shows up in the PR.

LVN · Status: Offline

oh, my. The possibilities are endless. The Board could make up a couple of awards. Hmmm. Whatever happened to that certificate thing we had??

Obviousman · Status: Offline

Lily wrote:
There's that "prestigious Miliken whatyamacallit" again. Don't these guys ever pay attention?

Not only does he choose to highlight what is obviously a bogus rating but then allows it to be posted with the institute name incorrect (Should be Milken, not Mil - i - ken). How dense is the gnome? When looking at the ranking doesn't he consider the following: USM doesn't have any Biotech patents! We would be just as likely to be rated high in ranking of schools with the best downhill ski facilities within 50 miles of campus.

I thought scientists were supposed to have and usecritical thinking skills. Of course this should be a hint to many of what his scientific understanding really is.

Lily · Status: Offline

OM he's too busy making a list of people to fire on his way out the door.

Obviousman · Status: Offline

Good point Lily, though he is more likely too busy studying his list of people to fire.

The most dangerous time during an autocratic regime is during the endgame. As the clock counts down to May 20th there are many skeletons to hide, witness's to be bought off and innocents to punish. His use of a Kennedy quote at the message's end, shows he is using the rest of his term to plant the trees to continue his influence. I hope the new President comes with a bottle of ROUNDUP (TM) to spray on all the weeds Shelby leaves behind.

OM

Obviousman · Status: Offline

An offline message from Polymer Science I received may shed some light on Thames believing the Milken report to be correct. Seems Shelboo has been known to state in public that his best in the wurl, wall paint is a product of biotechnology research within his group. So in the context of his alternate view of reality, the Milken report is merely recognizing his Wurl Crass prowess as a biotech researcher.

The lesson from this boys and girls is that anything is possible in Never Never Land. All you have to do is believe.

asdf · Status: Offline

Obviousman wrote:
USM doesn't have any Biotech patents!

I don't know if I would say that. I did a quick google patent search for 2000-2004 (the range the Milken report). It is hard to tell what could be classified as biotech, but out of the 21 patents, 2 could definitely count:

In vivo polymerizable ophthalmic compositions and methods of using
Inventors: Mark E. Hammer, Steven T. Charles, John C. Lang, Robert Y. Lochhead, Lon J. Mathias
From the abstract: "...are useful in repairing torn or detached retinal tissue or forming intraocular lenses in situ."

Articles coated with in vivo polymerizable ophthalmic compositions
Inventors: Mark E. Hammer, Steven T. Charles, John C. Lang, Robert Y. Lochhead, Lon J. Mathias
From the abstract: "Coatings for surgical instruments which comprise..."

Obviousman · Status: Offline

asdf - you've got to be kidding. Look in a dictionary or www.dictionary.com, from where the following comes. The irrelevant examples you give from Shelby's Polymer Cronies have about as much to do with what the rest of the educated world views as biotech as the gnomes wall paint. Biotech would come from Legitimate Faculty in Biochemistry such as Bateman or Cannon or Heinhorst or Butko, not the bozos across the street.

bi·o·tech·nol·o·gy [bahy-oh-tek-nol-uh-jee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun the use of living organisms or other biological systems in the manufacture of drugs or other products or for environmental management, as in waste recycling: includes the use of bioreactors in manufacturing, microorganisms to degrade oil slicks or organic waste, genetically engineered bacteria to produce human hormones, and monoclonal antibodies to identify antigens.

asdf · Status: Offline

OM - sorry, I was using the more general definition found on the dictionary.com page:
The application of high-tech research and development to the medical field.

That is what I generally think of as biotech. I also didn't know I should exclude research just becuase Lochhead and Mathias are bozos or are not legitimate faculty.

If you use your definition, though:
the use of living organisms or other biological systems in the manufacture of drugs or other products...
then SFT's research might qualify. He had 9 patents in that time frame and nearly all deal with castor or lesquerella oil or soy protein. One of his big research aims is novel use of crops and they are a biological system used to manufacture products.

Look, I don't know what the Milken people exactly refer to as "biotechnology." From what I can tell, they used proprietary information from something called ipIQ from The Patent Board and a survey from the Association of University Technology Managers.

USM did not manipulate or bribe anyone to get on this list. The report has many, many lists in it and USM happens to be in one (the only one they took out to a top 100, where we were #86). Ole Miss made another list in the report as #9 in the country for most income per patent. So, what it appears instead is that the PR people saw a list we made, and ran with it. I mean, USM does not make that many lists, so you know the PR people are going to make the most of it. They are not researchers or academics. All they know is we made a list. Instead of complaining about them doing their job, maybe you should help implement a PR committee with faculty input so that only legitimate things are reported.

Obviousman · Status: Offline

asdf - good points, but the ranking still does not jive.

HEST · Status: Offline

Do we really believe that SFT writes these "messages" to his "public?" C'mon, I have a life-sized picture of him sitting at his desk typing those PR warm-fuzzy sentiments. . .

But speaking of crazy rankings being tossed around, I see we still are touting this info as selling points to parents and potential students (see the Living in Hattiesburg link under the Parents/Family section of the website):

Hattiesburg ranked 68th among 313 metropolitan areas in the United States for "economic strength" according to Where the Money is...America's Strongest Local Economies written by economist William H. Fruth and published by POLICOM Corporation of Jupiter, Florida.
Hattiesburg Is Hot! Expansion Management Magazine ranked Hattiesburg 42nd nationally for business expansion and relocation.

The first bullet is from a 1997 publication; the second is from a 1999 publication. Sure, the city of Hattiesburg also uses the statistics, but at least they give the publication dates.