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University of Michigan Issues Q&A: Beyond India-Pakistan - What the Mecca Defense Pact Reveals About Changing Security Order
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, Aug. 15 -- The University of Michigan issued the following Q&A on Aug. 14, 2026, involving Javed Ali, associate professor of practice in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy:
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Beyond India-Pakistan: What the Mecca defense pact reveals about a changing security order
The new defense agreement bringing together Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye adds another layer to an increasingly complex security landscape stretching from South Asia to the Middle East.
The Mecca agreement establishes a collective-defense framework among three countries with significant military
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ANN ARBOR, Michigan, Aug. 15 -- The University of Michigan issued the following Q&A on Aug. 14, 2026, involving Javed Ali, associate professor of practice in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy:
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Beyond India-Pakistan: What the Mecca defense pact reveals about a changing security order
The new defense agreement bringing together Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye adds another layer to an increasingly complex security landscape stretching from South Asia to the Middle East.
The Mecca agreement establishes a collective-defense framework among three countries with significant militarycapabilities but very different strategic relationships. Turkiye is a NATO member, Saudi Arabia is a longtime U.S. security partner, while Pakistan maintains deep ties with China. For India, the agreement is noteworthy because of its longstanding tensions with Pakistan and its own growing strategic relationships with the United States and Gulf countries.
Javed Ali, associate professor of practice at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and a longtime national security practitioner, discusses what the agreement could mean for India, Pakistan and the wider region, and why the relatively restrained responses from both New Delhi and Washington are worth watching.
What does this agreement change for India and its security relationship with Pakistan?
It is still too early to know exactly how the Modi government is viewing this development. India has not come out strongly in opposition to it, but given the longstanding tensions between India and Pakistan, I have to imagine New Delhi is taking note. Whether it presents a greater security risk to India is less clear. It appears to be a defensive security coalition among three very different countries that do not share borders but are influential in their respective spheres.
What I think is also important is the broader trajectory of Pakistan. Over the past couple of years, Pakistan has made headway in raising its profile on the world stage, including in its dealings with the Trump administration and its involvement in regional conflicts and diplomatic efforts. Its role around the Iran conflict, for example, has been notable. The Mecca agreement seems to fit into that broader pattern. So from India's perspective, this may not be about an immediate or direct threat to its security. It is also about Pakistan expanding its diplomatic and security profile in ways that India will be watching closely.
Pakistan has deep ties with China. Does the agreement risk creating a wider China-aligned security axis that could put additional pressure on India?
Maybe, but I would be cautious about making that connection. China already has deep commercial and economic ties in the Gulf, particularly because of its reliance on energy from the region. But for the most part, China has not projected military power into the Gulf in the way the United States has. Its influence there has been more political and economic. India is likely looking at this and asking whether the agreement somehow gives China an additional strategic advantage. Maybe it does; maybe it does not. I don't think we know that yet.
This is almost like three-dimensional chess being played across the region. A move involving Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye is going to be interpreted not only by those three countries, but also in New Delhi, Beijing and Washington. At this stage, however, I would not characterize this as a China-aligned security axis encircling India.
If the agreement is not primarily about India or China, what is driving it?
One way to understand it is in the context of Iran and the broader security environment in the Middle East. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye are three Muslim-majority countries with very different ethnic, cultural and strategic backgrounds. They also come into this agreement with different security relationships; Turkiye through NATO, Saudi Arabia through its Gulf and U.S. relationships, and Pakistan through its own relationships, including with China.
But there could be a shared interest in strengthening their ability to respond to threats in the region. I think the agreement can be viewed, at least in part, through the lens of the broader effort to counter the Iranian threat. That interpretation could also help explain why we have not seen strong public opposition from Washington. From the U.S. perspective, this could be seen as another piece of a broader regional security architecture rather than an arrangement aimed at India.
So, Turkiye is a NATO member; Saudi Arabia is closely tied to the United States and Pakistan has a deep relationship with China. What happens if those commitments collide during a crisis?
That is one of the serious questions that will have to be worked out. If Turkiye becomes involved in a conflict under this three-country agreement, for example, what does that mean for its NATO commitments? Would that trigger any NATO Article 5 obligations? Why would countries such as Germany, France or Spain necessarily come to Turkiye's aid in a conflict that does not directly affect NATO or mainland Europe?
I have to imagine these kinds of questions were considered before the agreement was put into place and that there is some understanding of how those obligations would interact. More broadly, each country had to ask what it gains from joining this coalition, what resources it may have to contribute, and what obligations it assumes if a conflict affects one of the other members. In some ways, this is International Relations 101. Countries maintain overlapping relationships because each one is trying to maximize its own interests. The real test comes when those relationships create competing obligations.
Does the agreement tell us something larger about how countries are responding to uncertainty over America's role in global security?
It may. This could partly reflect a perception that the United States is not necessarily going to be the guarantor of its allies' security in the way it has been in the past. Creating another security arrangement is one way for countries to minimize some of that risk. All three countries have significant military capabilities. They may not individually have capabilities at the level of the United States, but each brings considerable personnel, resources, money and/or military capacity. Operating under a broader umbrella potentially gives them another mechanism for responding to threats.
You pointed to Washington's relatively muted response as particularly interesting. Why?
I think the absence of strong public U.S. opposition is an interesting signal in and of itself. This agreement does not directly obligate the United States to do anything. But the United States has important relationships with all three countries, and Turkiye is a NATO member. I would have to imagine that if the Trump administration strongly opposed this agreement, it could have put pressure on these countries not to move forward. That does not appear to have happened publicly.
We also haven't seen the kind of strong reaction from the administration that can make its opposition to an international development very clear. That raises the possibility that the United States was aware of where these negotiations were going and perhaps had some level of tacit acceptance. I want to be clear that this is an assumption on my part--we don't know what happened behind closed doors. But if Washington had been surprised or strongly opposed, I think we might have expected a different public response.
New Delhi has also been relatively restrained. What does the silence from both India and the United States tell us?
That parallel is interesting. The United States increasingly sees India as a key regional player, and the U.S.-India relationship has grown at the economic, military and political levels. Washington has little incentive to deliberately make an enemy out of India or take actions that overtly antagonize New Delhi and disrupt that broader relationship.
So, if the perception in India were that this agreement was somehow designed by Washington to contain or encircle India, I think that would be an incorrect way to understand how the United States views India. The fact that neither the Indian government nor the U.S. government has strongly criticized the agreement could indicate that there was considerable discussion behind the scenes, or at least that both governments had some awareness of what was developing.
Again, that is an assumption. We don't know what those conversations looked like. But governments assess the second- and third-order consequences of developments like this. If both Washington and New Delhi remain publicly restrained, that is something worth paying attention to.
What should India be watching now?
For India, I think the important thing is to watch what this agreement actually becomes rather than assume from the outset that it represents a hostile bloc. Pakistan's growing international profile will certainly be important to New Delhi. So will the possibility of closer security coordination among Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye. India will also be watching how China views the arrangement and whether Beijing's role changes.
But there is a larger story here as well. The security architecture across South Asia and the Middle East is becoming more complicated. Countries that have very different relationships with Washington, Beijing and each other are increasingly building overlapping partnerships rather than fitting neatly into one geopolitical camp. The Mecca agreement may be another indication of that shift. What matters next is how these commitments work in practice, particularly when one of these countries faces a real security crisis.
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Original text here: https://news.umich.edu/beyond-india-pakistan-what-the-mecca-defense-pact-reveals-about-a-changing-security-order/
University of Arkansas: Walton College Students Top National Field in Cybersecurity Challenge
FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas, Aug. 15 -- The University of Arkansas issued the following news:
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Walton College Students Top National Field in Cybersecurity Challenge
U of A seniors Conrad Haslauer and Nadine Moustafa earned first place in the KPMG Cybersecurity Challenge in March, a national, industry-sponsored competition that puts students' cybersecurity and business skills to the test. The Walton College students topped teams from universities across the country, providing a strong external measure of how U of A students are being prepared to confront complex cybersecurity challenges facing
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FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas, Aug. 15 -- The University of Arkansas issued the following news:
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Walton College Students Top National Field in Cybersecurity Challenge
U of A seniors Conrad Haslauer and Nadine Moustafa earned first place in the KPMG Cybersecurity Challenge in March, a national, industry-sponsored competition that puts students' cybersecurity and business skills to the test. The Walton College students topped teams from universities across the country, providing a strong external measure of how U of A students are being prepared to confront complex cybersecurity challenges facingbusinesses today.
Held as part of the Association for Information Systems Student Chapter Leadership Conference at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, the competition challenged students with a realistic financial-services cybersecurity case. Teams analyzed technical vulnerabilities, assessed business risks, considered regulatory requirements and developed recommendations for a business audience. Haslauer and Moustafa took first place, ahead of Brigham Young University in second and James Madison University in third. Judges evaluated teams on problem understanding, risk assessment, mitigation strategy, presentation and a supporting audit report.
The judging process makes the result particularly meaningful for Walton College. University-identifying information was prohibited from submissions, allowing the students' work to be evaluated on its merits rather than their institution's name or reputation. The first-place finish provides independent validation of the technical knowledge, business judgment and communication skills Walton College students are developing for a field increasingly critical to businesses across industries. Haslauer and Moustafa were coached by David Reavis, Janaki Koppolu and Daniel Conway, faculty members in Walton College's Department of Information Systems.
The win comes as Walton College moves through the approval process to offer its cybersecurity program online. The expansion will broaden access to a program whose students have demonstrated on a national stage their ability to connect cybersecurity expertise with business needs. As AI expands both the power and complexity of cyber threats and quantum computing begins to challenge today's security foundations, the need for skilled cybersecurity professionals is becoming increasingly urgent.
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Original text here: https://news.uark.edu/articles/82701/walton-college-students-top-national-field-in-cybersecurity-challenge
Philanthropy Turns Generosity Into Hope for SUNY-Upstate Medical Campus Children
SYRACUSE, New York, Aug. 15 -- The State University of New York Upstate Medical University campus issued the following news:
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Philanthropy turns generosity into hope for Upstate children
Written by Russ Corbin
As the Upstate Foundation celebrates 50 years of advancing patient care, education, research, and community health and well-being through philanthropy, a recent celebration showcased the power of partnership in transforming generosity into hope. Through a collaboration with Make-A-Wish Central New York, the Foundation awarded the inaugural grant from the Libby Rubenstein Caring for
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SYRACUSE, New York, Aug. 15 -- The State University of New York Upstate Medical University campus issued the following news:
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Philanthropy turns generosity into hope for Upstate children
Written by Russ Corbin
As the Upstate Foundation celebrates 50 years of advancing patient care, education, research, and community health and well-being through philanthropy, a recent celebration showcased the power of partnership in transforming generosity into hope. Through a collaboration with Make-A-Wish Central New York, the Foundation awarded the inaugural grant from the Libby Rubenstein Caring forChildren Fund, and with matching funds raised by Upstate Medical University's Department of Pharmacy in honor of their late colleague Logan McGill, the funds will help fulfill a Walt Disney World wish for Lillian, a pediatric patient receiving care at Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital.
The Libby Rubenstein Caring for Children Fund honors the memory of longtime Upstate Foundation board member Libby Rubenstein who demonstrated an unwavering dedication to improving the lives of children throughout her life. The fund supports the fulfillment of Make-A-Wish wishes for pediatric patients receiving care at Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital and the Upstate Cancer Center. It also supports child life programming and educational opportunities that strengthen partnerships benefiting children and families.
Logan McGill was a beloved member of Upstate's pharmacy department, remembered for his kindness, generosity and love of Walt Disney World. Following his untimely passing at age 27, his pharmacy colleagues organized a fundraising campaign to honor their friend and colleague who had touched so many lives. Inspired by Logan's passion for Make-A-Wish, and his family's personal connection to the organization through his sister-in-law Adrianna's own wish experience, the Upstate Foundation matched those gifts through the Libby Rubenstein Caring for Children Fund.
The celebration brought together the McGill family, representatives from the Upstate Foundation and Make-A-Wish Central New York, members of the pharmacy and other Upstate departments, and caregivers who each played a role in bringing this special day to life.
For the Upstate Foundation, the event exemplified the power of philanthropy to extend beyond the walls of the hospital through meaningful community partnerships.
"As an independent public charity, the Upstate Foundation can partner with organizations like Make-A-Wish Central New York to create opportunities that improve the lives of the patients and families we serve," said Eileen Pezzi, vice president for development at Upstate. "The Libby Rubenstein Caring for Children Fund reflects Libby's extraordinary commitment to children while demonstrating how donor generosity, employee compassion and community collaboration can create moments of hope that last a lifetime. During our 50th anniversary, this partnership is a meaningful reminder of the impact philanthropy has throughout the region."
"It was a truly heartwarming afternoon," said Diane Kuppermann, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish. "Seeing the smile on Lillian's face when she realized she was going to Walt Disney World was priceless. Coupled with honoring the legacies of Libby Rubenstein and Logan McGill, it was a powerful reminder of the difference we can make together in the lives of children living with critical illnesses. Their enduring impact, combined with the joy of granting wishes, reflects the very best of what is possible when a community comes together to make hope a reality."
For the McGill family, the day carried especially meaningful significance. They shared that one of the most difficult parts of losing a loved one is hoping they will never be forgotten. They expressed heartfelt gratitude to the Upstate Foundation, the Department of Pharmacy, the Upstate Cancer Center, and the pediatric operating room team for helping ensure Logan's memory continues to bring joy to others.
Knowing how deeply Logan believed in the mission of Make-A-Wish, his family said there could be no more fitting tribute than helping Lillian and her family create magical memories together at Walt Disney World. Seeing so many people come together to keep Logan's legacy alive, they added, is something they know would have made him incredibly proud.
The Libby Rubenstein Caring for Children Fund demonstrates how philanthropy can connect people, organizations and shared purpose to create meaningful moments for children and families during some of their most difficult times. Those interested in supporting the fund and helping create more moments of hope for pediatric patients and their families can make a gift at https://www.upstatefoundation.org/donate.
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Original text here: https://www.upstate.edu/news/articles/2026/2026-08-13-maw.php
Johns Hopkins: Classroom Learning Meets Community Impact
BALTIMORE, Maryland, Aug. 15 -- Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health issued the following news release:
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Classroom Learning Meets Community Impact
Through Johns Hopkins' Applied Environmental Health Practice course, Mark Poisler helped expand access to safe drinking water while discovering how environmental health complements a career in medicine.
For Mark Poisler, MHS '26, a graduate course in environmental health wasn't just an academic exercise--it was an opportunity to solve a real-world public health problem. Working with community partners, he helped develop
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BALTIMORE, Maryland, Aug. 15 -- Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health issued the following news release:
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Classroom Learning Meets Community Impact
Through Johns Hopkins' Applied Environmental Health Practice course, Mark Poisler helped expand access to safe drinking water while discovering how environmental health complements a career in medicine.
For Mark Poisler, MHS '26, a graduate course in environmental health wasn't just an academic exercise--it was an opportunity to solve a real-world public health problem. Working with community partners, he helped developa project that brought safe drinking water to hundreds of schoolchildren in Sierra Leone. The project gave him firsthand experience translating environmental health science into meaningful action.
Poisler completed the project as part of the Applied Environmental Health Practice course, taught by Megan Weil Latshaw, PhD '05, MHS '01. The course emphasizes collaborative approaches to real-world environmental problems. Because Poisler was interested in water resources and sanitation, Weil Latshaw connected him with Marva Goldsmith, executive director of SierrAfrica Diaspora Connect (SADC). Goldsmith educated him on the need for safe drinking water on Tasso Island--a small island of about 5,200 residents off the coast of Sierra Leone. After learning about the water situation on Tasso Island, Poisler looked for an organization that might help. Poisler sent a proposal to the charitable branch of water filtration company LifeStraw, outlining the problem and why LifeStraw's Give Back program could help solve it.
Poisler's proposal described Tasso Island's water crises as "acute, structural, and completely unaddressed."
"The only way that they get fresh water is through rain," said Poisler. "They have 20 wells on the island, but they're all compromised by saltwater, animal and human waste, and even by animals falling into the wells. None of the water in those wells is entirely safe."
In response to Poisler's proposal, LifeStraw installed five high-flow, point-of-use LifeStraw Escape water purifiers in five schools, one in each village on the island. The purifiers serve 539 schoolchildren, providing them with a reliable source of safe drinking water. The purifiers remove harmful pathogens that may enter the water at the source, during collection or during storage. The company also provided hands-on training to ensure the community can maintain the purifiers.
"The impact was immediate and deeply moving," said Goldsmith. "Mark shepherded the partnership from an academic assignment into a real-world public-health intervention before leaving for medical school. His contribution demonstrates how one capable, committed student can turn classroom learning into meaningful community impact."
Going forward, Goldsmith said SADC's goal is to expand safe water access to households and community gathering points across all five villages on Tasso Island. The next phase will require assessing the island's 20 wells, identifying priority locations, and pairing improved water sources with additional purification systems, safe storage strategies, community training, and local maintenance. Improving the island's drinking water is part of SADC's broader strategy, which includes sanitation, solar energy, digital connectivity, and community enterprise development, she said. These improvements are funded through charitable donations and heritage tourism to Sierra Leone.
Environmental Health: A Bridge to Clinical Care
Poisler's journey to medical school began as a Hopkins undergraduate. He graduated in 2024 with a double major in molecular and cellular biology and public health.
His interest in public health led him to take a gap year before medical school as an online MHS student in Environmental Health and Engineering. He completed the master's program while working full time at Texas Children's in Houston as a clinical research assistant, enrolling and interviewing patients for the CDC's New Vaccine Surveillance Network, where he saw firsthand how the environment can impact health.
"I would see patients who present with asthma from certain parts of Houston that are highly industrial," he said. "To address that exposure from industrial activity would really reduce the cost of hospitalizations and the burden of asthma. It all trickles down. Once you have asthma, catching a respiratory virus like RSV or flu exacerbates those symptoms."
Poisler hopes his training in environmental health will help him identify broader patterns in his patients, produce useful evidence, and develop solutions that reach more people than he can see one at a time, he said. "I want to do more than help the patients that are in front of me. I also want to have an impact on the health of people I'll never see."
Environmental Health and Engineering is a cross-divisional department spanning the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Whiting School of Engineering. This hybrid department is uniquely designed to lead pioneering research and prepare the next generation of scholars to solve critical and complex issues at the interface of public health and engineering. Learn more about our programs.
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Original text here: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2026/classroom-learning-meets-community-impact
Dartmouth College: Making Computer Science More Accessible Beyond English
HANOVER, New Hampshire, Aug. 15 (TNSjou) -- Dartmouth College issued the following news:
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Making Computer Science More Accessible Beyond English
An Indian-language research paper opens pathways for multilingual science communication.
Written by Harini Barath
When Siddhartha Jayanti sat down to write the first computer science paper in Telugu, an Indian language with approximately 100 million speakers, he realized he had to first solve a problem that had little to do with computing. He had to find the words.
His research examined how groups of computer processors work together by looking
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HANOVER, New Hampshire, Aug. 15 (TNSjou) -- Dartmouth College issued the following news:
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Making Computer Science More Accessible Beyond English
An Indian-language research paper opens pathways for multilingual science communication.
Written by Harini Barath
When Siddhartha Jayanti sat down to write the first computer science paper in Telugu, an Indian language with approximately 100 million speakers, he realized he had to first solve a problem that had little to do with computing. He had to find the words.
His research examined how groups of computer processors work together by lookingat what each processor knows and how they communicate. Jayanti showed that there are fundamental mathematical limits on how quickly multiple processor cores can safely coordinate and share common data, by analyzing how information flows between them.
But there was no established vocabulary in Telugu, Jayanti's native language, for the technical terminology, such as "shared-memory multiprocessor," that he needed to effectively communicate his results.
He resolved to find a way, nonetheless, successfully writing a Telugu-language chapter in his PhD dissertation that later won the 2023 ACM Principles of Distributed Computing Doctoral Dissertation Award. The main results were translated into English for reviewers and the chapter was published in 2022 on arXiv, an open-access archive of research papers, becoming the first research paper in modern computer science written in an Indian language.
Now an assistant professor of computer science at Dartmouth, Jayanti, in a paper published this year on arXiv, describes how he overcame the challenge of developing technical vocabulary for advanced computer science concepts by deriving and coining new words through Sanskrit, aka Samskrtam, a classical Indian language which has an extensive influence on Telugu.
With more than 1.47 billion people, India is now the most populous country in the world and is home to dozens of languages. Telugu is one of 22 official languages recognized by the Government of India.
"When you can derive terms natively, they mean things to people, they can relate them to other words, they can understand them in a linguistic way, along with in a scientific way," says Jayanti, who learned both Telugu and Sanskrit as a boy and was particularly interested in reading and writing poetry in both languages.
It has also been an enduring practice across Indian languages to take words from classical languages such as Sanskrit and make them their own through minor alterations of word endings or sound substitutions, he says. "This means that you can create a common vocabulary across a slew of Indian languages all at once."
In his recent paper, Jayanti explains how he derived words through simple examples such as "asynchronous," which is used technically in the field of distributed computing to indicate that different computers or processors do their work independently without waiting for the other systems to stay in sync.
He derived the Sanskrit term asamakalika from a- (not), sama (same), and kala (time), which he then adapted to asamakalikamu, in Telugu, in keeping with the grammatical rules of the language.
"Incidentally, the English term 'asynchronous' also comes from combining the Greek morphemes a- (not), syn- (together), khronos (time)," Jayanti notes in his paper.
Shared-memory multiprocessor became samvibhakta-smrti bahusamsadhakamu, the most complex of the examples he presents. Jayanti modifies root words from Sanskrit with prefixes and suffixes to arrive at the translation.
Another hurdle in writing a computer science research paper entirely in Telugu was the inadequacy of existing software tools. Jayanti found that many programs did not fully support the language, with problems such as missing keyboard characters, fonts that displayed Telugu incorrectly, and typesetting software that could not properly handle the script.
He experimented with different tools, customizing and combining to create a complete workflow he called TeluguTeX, a system that allowed Jayanti to write both Telugu text and mathematical notation correctly.
Improving fonts, keyboards, and typesetting tools will make it easier for researchers to publish technical work in their native languages, he says.
Besides being the first modern computer science paper in Telugu, the 2022 paper, which established fundamental mathematical limits on safe multicore coordination, has also informed further research in the field of distributed and parallel computing. Working with collaborators at Princeton and MIT, Jayanti leveraged the technical results from his Telugu-language research paper to develop highly efficient algorithms for a widely used data structure--a method computers use to organize and store data for fast access and updates. The algorithms can perform many operations at the same time, almost as fast as is theoretically possible.
Google now uses these algorithms in its open-source software for analyzing massive networks, he says, enabling it to process graphs with tens of billions of connections.
A scientific vocabulary for a digital age
Jayanti, who describes himself as "passionate about Telugu and Sanskrit," sees the Telugu-language paper as a first step or a proof of concept to inspire efforts for building a scientific lexicon that works across all Indian languages. This can enable precise scientific expression, expand the scope for publishing scientific texts in regional languages, and provide a unified technical vocabulary across languages while respecting the incredible linguistic diversity and vernaculars across India, he says.
"Technology and science have become such a central part of our life. There should be a natural and easy way of taking on science, and what better way of trying to do that than to find a mechanism for making the research frontier of science and technology accessible in all of these languages?" Jayanti asks.
Jayanti proposed the Samskrtam Technical Lexicon Project as part of his PhD thesis and has since been involved in efforts related to the 2020 Indian National Education Policy. "Textbooks are being written at the central level in all subjects, both in regional languages and in English, and I am part of the group curating 11th and 12th grade computer science textbooks," he says.
Eventually, the effort to create a scientific and technical lexicon that underpins more widespread science communication and research writing in Indian languages must be a collaboration between scientists and language experts, says Jayanti. The overlap between these expert communities remains small, he says, "but I think if we do this work, it can be very impactful to a lot of people."
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Original text here: https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2026/08/making-computer-science-more-accessible-beyond-english
Dalton State's Economic Impact on Northwest Georgia Exceeds $167 Million
DALTON, Georgia, Aug. 15 -- Dalton State College issued the following news:
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Dalton State's economic impact on Northwest Georgia exceeds $167 million
Dalton State College generated more than $167 million in economic impact during fiscal year 2025, an increase of nearly 12% over the previous year, according to a new economic impact report released by the University System of Georgia (USG). A companion study found that graduates from the Class of 2025 are poised to earn more than $1.4 million in additional lifetime earnings because of their college degree.
"These findings highlight what
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DALTON, Georgia, Aug. 15 -- Dalton State College issued the following news:
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Dalton State's economic impact on Northwest Georgia exceeds $167 million
Dalton State College generated more than $167 million in economic impact during fiscal year 2025, an increase of nearly 12% over the previous year, according to a new economic impact report released by the University System of Georgia (USG). A companion study found that graduates from the Class of 2025 are poised to earn more than $1.4 million in additional lifetime earnings because of their college degree.
"These findings highlight whatwe see every day at Dalton State: when students succeed, our communities thrive. Our growing economic impact and the increased lifetime earning potential of our graduates underscore the value of higher education for students, employers and the region as a whole," President John Fuchko, III, said. "Dalton State is proud to help drive economic growth across Northwest Georgia while providing students with the knowledge, skills and opportunities to build successful futures."
Dalton State's $167 million impact includes $144.6 million in direct spending by students and the college on personnel and operations and $22.4 million generated through the re-spending of those dollars throughout the region. Students' personal expenditures accounted for $18.7 million of the overall re-spending within the local community. The study's service area for Dalton State includes Whitfield, Murray, Catoosa, Gordon, Walker, Bartow, and Gilmer counties.
The companion study on lifetime earnings potential found that USG graduates earning bachelor's degrees in 2025 are projected to earn approximately $1.4 million more during their lifetimes than individuals without a college degree. Dalton State offers 26 bachelor's degree programs. In Georgia, high school graduates who earn a bachelor's degree will boost their work-life earnings by 80%, compared to the national estimate of 77%.
"A USG degree isn't just a diploma. It's a game-changer for our students and a major win for Georgia's economy," USG Chancellor Sonny Perdue said. "Adding $25 billion to the state and giving our graduates a $1.4 million lifetime boost shows the real power of public higher education. When out students succeed, they put strong skills, a great work ethic and real value right back into Georgia communities."
The college's labor impact also increased by 3.7%, due to support of 1,270 full- and part-time jobs. For every job at Dalton State, an additional three jobs are sustained in surrounding communities through institution-related spending. The study found the USG and its institutions generated 170,096 jobs, creating about the same employment impact as Georgia's top five employers combined.
Both studies were conducted on behalf of USG by Jeffrey M. Humphreys, director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth in the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business.
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REPORT: https://pxl-usgedu.terminalfour.net/prod01/channel_4/media/usg/news-documents/USG-Impact-FY-2025-06-08-2026.pdf
REPORT: https://pxl-usgedu.terminalfour.net/prod01/channel_4/media/usg/news-documents/USG-Lifetime-Earnings-FY-2025-06-08-2026.pdf
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Original text here: https://www.daltonstate.edu/news/dalton-states-economic-impact-on-northwest-georgia-exceeds-167-million/
Case Western Reserve: Engineering's Xiong (Bill) Yu, Named Ohio Sea Grant Award Recipient
CLEVELAND, Ohio, Aug. 15 -- Case Western Reserve University issued the following news:
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Engineering's Xiong (Bill) Yu, named Ohio Sea Grant Award recipient
Xiong (Bill) Yu, Opal J. and Richard A Vanderhoof Professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, recently received the Ohio Sea Grant Award, granted by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and The Ohio State University.
Titled "AI-Empowered Smart Sewer Systems for Stormwater Overflow Reduction in the Lake Erie Watershed," this award provides funding
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CLEVELAND, Ohio, Aug. 15 -- Case Western Reserve University issued the following news:
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Engineering's Xiong (Bill) Yu, named Ohio Sea Grant Award recipient
Xiong (Bill) Yu, Opal J. and Richard A Vanderhoof Professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, recently received the Ohio Sea Grant Award, granted by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and The Ohio State University.
Titled "AI-Empowered Smart Sewer Systems for Stormwater Overflow Reduction in the Lake Erie Watershed," this award provides fundingto help Yu and his research team advance smart sewer systems by:
* Reducing stormwater overflow;
* Improving water quality; and
* Strengthening the resilience of coastal communities in the Lake Erie watershed.
About the research
Stormwater overflow poses a significant water quality challenge to the Great Lakes communities, contributing to nutrient pollution, increased pathogen levels and harmful algal blooms. Stormwater overflow, including combined sewer overflows, exacerbate these issues, particularly during extreme weather events which overwhelm the capacity of existing sewer infrastructure.
The proposed smart sewer system framework will be built upon a preliminary framework developed in the dissertation research of Enpei Chen, a PhD student and member of Yu's Intelligent Infrastructure and Smart Systems Laboratory, to advance AI-enabled smart sewer systems. In previous efforts, Enpei has led the development of a novel recurrent deep reinforcement learning framework for real-time control of urban drainage systems, which effectively mitigate storm overflow with the existing sewer infrastructure.
With the support of the Ohio Sea Grant, the team plans to integrate AI modeling, predictive analytics and intelligent control strategies to effectively mitigate overflow and demonstrate with community partners in the Lake Erie Watershed. The project will be conducted in collaboration with regional partners, including the City of Rocky River Wastewater Plant, Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD), and Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District (GCMSD).
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Original text here: https://case.edu/news/engineerings-xiong-bill-yu-named-ohio-sea-grant-award-recipient
