http://hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061204/NEWS01/612040301&SearchID=73265141364042

HA, 12/4/06

USM's biotech stature growing

...The Milken Institute, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based independent economic think tank, recently released a study examining universities' ability to market biotechnology research as commercial products and services and receive biotech patents.

Southern Miss ranked 86th in the world, higher than domestic powerhouses including Northwestern, Louisiana State, Tufts and Case Western Reserve universities and several European and Australian institutions....

http://hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061206/OPINION01/612060314/1014/OPINION

HA, 12/6/06

Biotechnology means big bucks for USM

...According to a study by the Milken Institute, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based independent economic think tank, Southern Miss ranked 86th in the world among universities in their ability to market biotechnology research as commercial products and services and receive patents.

USM's ranking was higher than such institutions as Northwestern, Tufts, Louisiana State and Case Western Reserve universities. Several European and Australian institutions were also included in the rankings, behind USM....


http://www.prospect.org/print/V11/9/cohn-e.html

The American Prospect


The Resurrection of Michael Milken

...But the role of his think tank, the Milken Institute, raises questions about where rehabilitation ends and self-promotion begins.

Today the public has only a dim recollection of what sent Milken to federal prison. Milken's defenders portray him as a financial genius who changed the country's capital markets for the better, but was caught up in the hysteria of the 1980s and unfairly scapegoated as a criminal. His critics more plausibly describe him as a crook--a man who used his financial know-how to fraudulently enrich himself and his associates, and whose machinations undermined the integrity of the market.

A quick refresher: At the investment firm Drexel Burnham Lambert, Milken virtually reinvented junk bonds--securities that are considered speculative and below investment grade. Before Milken, most junk bonds were "fallen angels," bonds for companies that were once investment grade but had fallen on hard times. Milken had two key insights. First, a diversified portfolio of junk bonds could have extremely impressive returns since the high interest paid by the successful firms more than offset the losses resulting from defaults. Moreover, such bonds could be a perfect source of capital for risky start-ups. During the 1970s and 1980s, Milken ran with these insights, personally creating an enormous new market for high-yield securities. This is the achievement for which his defenders hail him as a financial genius. But Milken did not stop there. He and his accomplices allegedly conspired to engage in insider trading, arrange illegal take-overs, and defraud their customers. It was this activity that helped make him a billionaire--and sent him to prison....

...Buying Respectability

The Milken Institute is ostensibly a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, based in Santa Monica, California, and founded by the Milken family in 1991....

...At the same time, some people familiar with the institute's inner workings paint a picture of low morale and high staff turnover. One outside economist, who asked to remain anonymous, described the institute as "continually changing direction," and called the quality of its output "very mixed....

...Nonetheless, the institute has not quite been able to resist taking on issues that seem intended less to expand knowledge than to help transform a felonious businessman into a respected public intellectual. On several occasions, the institute has moved beyond Mideast peace and minority businesses and delved into subjects in which its founder has a clear interest, including junk bonds, savings and loans, securities litigation, and tort reform....

...The problem with the institute can be summed up in six words: too much Milken, not enough institute. Far too much of the think tank's business seems designed to advertise its own importance--and, by extension, that of its founder. "Mike Milken is a genuine financial genius, who has been hurt and frustrated by his inability to do what he does best, so his activities in large part are devoted to redeeming his reputation and giving him positive exposure," notes Van Dyk....

..."The Milken name means different things to different people," notes Ross DeVol, the institute's regional studies director. "When some people think of Milken, they think of junk bonds and greed; others think of financial innovation."