Friday five -- from Baja to BLUMR

It's quiet here at Visions as my colleagues have turned their three-day holiday weekend into a four-day one. So while some are sitting by the pool enjoying Missouri's heat wave, I'll share today's edition of the Friday Five.*

1. Bob Phelan just called in his report from the Mini Baja Team. Turns out our team's vehicle may not be the smallest or most manuverable, but it's dependable. The team is participating in a series of tests today and will race tomorrow. Check back here to find out how they did.
2. Visions is proud to announce it has a new sibling on campus. Check out BLUMR, UMR's gardening and landscape blog, for all the dirt.
3. Research by UMR chemist Nuran Ercal shows that a newly redesigned antioxidant may play a critical role in preventing HIV-1-associated dementia. Her research will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Experimental Neurology.
4. UMR students talk with TechnoFiles this month about their commuter bus feasibility study. Grab the mp3 here. Like what you hear? Go ahead and subscribe directly to TechnoFiles in iTunes, Yahoo or supply the following URL to your podcast receiver: www.mst.edu/podcast/sample.rss. Or browse the episode archive and listen online at Yahoo.
5. Robert Stone, director of the interdisciplinary Student Design and Experiential Learning Center and associate professor of interdisciplinary engineering, is leaving campus for a year, starting in July. He will join the engineering mechanics faculty at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, Colo., as a visiting professor. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Stone has been asked to assist the USAFA faculty with their two design competition teams: the Formula SAE race car team and mini-baja buggy team. Good luck -- (and don't be too helpful, ok?)

*In the spirit of truthiness, I must confess to taking a four-day weekend, too. It just doesn't start until 5 p.m.