The publishing field buzzed in September over a new book by Matthew Jockers, English, and his co-author and former student Jodie Archer detailing their supercomputing efforts to break the “code” behind bestselling novels. The two used the Tusker cluster at the Holland Computing Center to analyze 4,500 novels, developing algorithms to predict bestsellers with more than 80 percent accuracy.
Their book, “The Bestseller Code,” was released Sept. 20 to worldwide reviews and news articles, including The New York Times on Sept. 2, the Guardian on Sept. 10 and Sept. 25, The Times of London on Sept. 10, The Weekly Standard on Sept. 12, The Atlantic on Sept. 13, Wired on Sept. 16, and The New Yorker on Sept. 23.
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After President Obama nominated a Muslim man for a federal judgeship, apparently for the first time, Brian Bornstein, psychology and law, was among the experts discussing how religious faith might influence judges for a Sept. 28 Law.com article.
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PBS NewsHour featured a video essay by Jennine Capó Crucet, English, on what it's like to be a first-generation college student.
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The fire-starting drones under development by Carrick Detweiler and Sebastian Elbaum, computer science and engineering; and Dirac Twidwell,agronomy and horticulture; was featured Sept. 2 on BTN's LiveBig program.
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Wheeler Winston Dixon, film studies, was quoted in a Sept. 30 Los Angeles Times article about Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin's aggressive moves in Hollywood. Jianlin's media conglomerate owns the nation's second-largest theater chain and a major U.S. film producer. He is in talks to buy Dick Clark Productions and has pursued Paramount Pictures. The report appeared in several California papers, such as the Burbank Leader, the Glendale News Press, LaCanada Valley Sun and Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot.
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The Washington Post interviewed David Harwood, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, for a Sept. 20 report on a new study about diatom fossils found atop Antarctic mountain ranges. The story appeared in other outlets as well, including the Standard-Examiner in Ogden, Utah; and the Albuquerque Journal in New Mexico.
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Work by Carrie Heitman, anthropology, and others at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to build a geographic information system mapping Chaco archeological sites in New Mexico was highlighted in a Sept. 26 article in Colorado's Durango Herald.
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John Hibbing, political science, was quoted in a Sept. 15 report in The Christian Science Monitor about why some Donald Trump supporters actually like being described as "deplorable." Hillary Clinton apologized for using the term to describe Trump backers.
