Sophomore midfielder Paige Selenski was named ACC Player of the Week after scoring three goals against Boston University and Boston College last week. She leads the team with 10 goals and four assists for a total of 24 points on the season. Photo by Bennett Sorbo.

Off to its best start since 1979, the No. 3 Virginia field hockey team — now 10-0 — will travel to Richmond tonight for an in-state contest.

Although the Spiders (4-5) are coming off a 3-1 win against William & Mary — a team Virginia also defeated — they have lost all three of the games they have played against nationally ranked opponents.

Richmond — led by senior back Sarah Blythe-Wood and her eight goals this season — has scored 25 goals to just 19 from its opponents, yet only averages 12.8 shots per game. Compared to Virginia’s average of 18.3 shots per game, 35 total scores and a 138-49 shooting edge against its opponents, the Spiders face a daunting task in the form of stopping the Cavaliers’ attack.

“We have strengths everywhere,” said sophomore midfielder Paige Selenski, who scored her 10th goal against No. 9 Boston College at home Sunday.

Selenski has amassed 24 points this season and, after tallying three goals against Boston University and Boston College last weekend, was named ACC Player of the Week. Her high school teammate, freshman midfielder Tara Puffenberger, has contributed seven goals and two assists, while sophomore midfielders Inga Stockel and Michelle Vittese, as well as back Floor Vogels, have three goals each.

Virginia claimed its first ACC victory against the Eagles this past weekend. Although the Cavaliers did not score until the second half, the 2-0 victory marked their seventh defensive shutout.

“We knew they were going to come out hard against us and we started out a little sluggish, but I think we got our rhythm together,” Selenski said. “We started playing together and getting some passing combinations going — that is where the goals came from.”

Virginia’s offensive success may very much be an extension of a fortified defensive front.

“Our defense has been phenomenal,” Selenski said. “They have saved [the attack] so many times. Our corner defense has been awesome; every one of them has put in a tremendous amount of effort into getting the ball out and into our attack. Without them, our attack wouldn’t be able to work.”

A staple of Virginia’s effective defense has been junior goalkeeper Kim Kastuk, who boasts a near perfect .941 save percentage in 610 minutes of play.

“[Kim] loves playing goalkeeper,” coach Michele Madison said. “She is what a goalkeeper is all about. She keeps it simple.”

The Cavaliers’ defensive unit has not allowed any penalty strokes thus far this season and has been successful in clearing the circle effectively. By contrast, the Spiders have yielded goals on each of the two penalty strokes they have incurred.

“It is always more fun when you are winning games,” Kastuk said. “It has been a great start, but we are looking to keep building from here. It is big momentum for us moving forward.”

College football needs nothing more than another BCS buster to crash the party this year and create more havoc and hand-wringing for the BCS officials come January. Another upset such as Boise State’s thrilling 43-42 win against Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl or Utah’s 31-17 thumping of Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl could hopefully inch college football closer to a postseason playoff to decide the national champion at the end of the year and replace the game’s current garbage system.

I know money plays an important role, but I think that if more mid-major teams show they can play with the big boys, the pressure will mount on the NCAA to try something new. And if this past week’s top-25 upsets proved anything, it’s that the door is still wide open for one of these mid-major teams to step in and steal a spot in a BCS bowl.

With that in mind, there are three undefeated mid-major programs currently in the AP Top 25 poll — No. 5 Boise State, No. 11 TCU and No. 12 Houston. Which team has the best chance of earning a BCS at-large bid? Could two teams possibly make BCS bowls? Let’s tackle each team, check its résumé and see what the rest of its schedule holds.

No. 5 Boise State, Western Athletic Conference (WAC)

The Broncos, who started the year ranked No. 14, showcased their talent and their home blue “smurf turf” during the opening Thursday night of the season, hosting an Oregon team then-ranked in the top 25. Boise State came out on top 19-8. The Broncos have since run roughshod over their last three opponents — 48-0 against Miami (OH), 51-34 against Fresno State and 49-14 against Bowling Green — averaging 49.3 points per game in the process. Sophomore quarterback Kellen Moore has completed 70 of 102 passes (68.6 percent) for 932 yards and 10 touchdowns. Boise State did lose junior running back D.J. Harper for the year with a torn ACL in the Fresno State game but appears to have another capable back in junior Jeremy Avery, who is averaging 6.5 yards per rush. The Broncos arguably have played their two toughest opponents already — Oregon and Fresno State. Although the win against Oregon did not initially seem impressive after the Ducks struggled through the first couple weeks of the season, upon further review, the victory looks like a résumé-builder for Boise State. Oregon snapped Utah’s 16-game win streak with a 31-24 victory Sept. 19 and pounded top-10 ranked California 42-3 Saturday. Boise State’s strength of schedule — a significant component to the BCS formula — will only improve if Oregon continues to accumulate wins. Following non-conference games against UC-Davis and Tulsa, the Broncos reach the heart of their WAC schedule. Keep an eye on that Tulsa game. The Golden Hurricane hosts the Broncos Oct. 14 on primetime television, in what is sure to be a high-scoring affair. Tulsa sits at 3-1 and — although it did get shut out 45-0 at Oklahoma — is capable of winning a shootout against the Broncos. Boise State runs like a well-oiled machine, though, and unless it loses that game, the Broncos could cruise to another undefeated regular season and BCS bid.

No. 11 TCU, Mountain West Conference (MWC)

Virginia fans know a little bit more about TCU than these other teams because the Horned Frogs visited Scott Stadium Sept. 12 and put up 30 straight points against the lifeless Wahoos before two late Cavalier scores made the final score respectable. During their first home contest the following week, the Horned Frogs easily downed Texas State, 56-21. This past weekend, TCU defeated another ACC team, Clemson, 14-10, in Death Valley, reputed to be one of the toughest places to play in the nation. Still, two wins against ACC teams and a win against an FCS opponent do not exactly position the Horned Frogs for a BCS bid. Depending on how Clemson plays the rest of the season, that win could look fairly impressive, but right now, it doesn’t look like the Cavaliers will be giving any boosts to TCU’s résumé.

The Horned Frogs begin play in the MWC — which is arguably better than the ACC — Oct. 10 when they travel to Air Force, a perennially dangerous team with an excellent rushing attack. Two weeks later, TCU visits Brigham Young, which was itself an undefeated mid-major before it was upstaged at home by Florida State Sept. 19, 54-28. BYU should be another stiff test for the Frogs. The last important game for TCU will probably come at home Nov. 14 against Utah. The Frogs lost 13-10 to the Utes last season, so they’ll be seeking revenge at home this year. Although TCU may not boast any eye-opening victories thus far, it does showcase a stout defense and junior quarterback Andy Dalton has completed 50 of 71 passes (70 percent) for 625 yards and four touchdowns. Still, it seems more likely that TCU will stumble than Boise State during the rest of the regular season.

No. 12 Houston, Conference USA

Although the Cougars were unranked to begin the season, they have come out of nowhere to sit just outside the top 10 after only three games, thanks in large part to redshirt junior quarterback Case Keenum, who has completed 93 of 134 passes (69.4 percent) for 1,160 yards and eight touchdowns. After defeating Northwestern State 55-7 to open the season, Houston has knocked off back-to-back Big 12 opponents. After shocking Oklahoma State — which was playing at home and ranked No. 5 at the time — 45-35, the Cougars took care of Texas Tech 29-28 in the final minute of Saturday’s home game. That one-point win gave me a 3-5 record for Gameday picks last week. After proving me wrong, Houston is setting out to prove other doubters wrong.

The Cougars already have faced the toughest two-game stretch in their schedule, but some challenges lie ahead. They travel to Southeastern Conference foe Mississippi State Oct. 10, and even though the Bulldogs are one of the weaker teams in the SEC, a win there would still look great for Houston. The only other potential stumbling block I see is a Halloween home game against Southern Mississippi, which, as Cav fans know, possesses a strong offense. If Houston prevails in the West Division of CUSA, it will play in the championship game Dec. 5, which would be a home game if it posts a better conference record than the East Division winner. I think Houston has a better shot at making a BCS bowl than TCU, but its chances of going undefeated are lower than Boise State’s.

With five BCS bowl games, there are spots for four at-large teams. The champions of the six BCS conferences get automatic bids, and the remaining four spots go to the best teams according to the BCS rankings. A mid-major program will automatically qualify for a BCS spot if it finishes in the BCS top 12, or in the BCS top 16 and is ranked ahead of a BCS conference team.

Currently, writer Bruce Feldman of espn.com has both TCU and Boise State making BCS bowls. Suppose, though, there’s a scenario in which all three teams go undefeated. Who goes BCS bowling then? It is doubtful all three teams would make it, so I would have to give the edge to TCU and Houston, which would have the better overall resumes. Last year, both Utah and Boise State went undefeated, but Boise State was denied an at-large berth — so simply going undefeated will not suffice.

I am going to go out on a limb though and say that both Boise State and Houston make BCS bowls. I think TCU will trip up somewhere in its schedule. Boise State is making a routine out of securing BCS bowls, so it is getting hard to root for the Broncos. Houston, however, is a team I can get behind.

The fun thing about this is that the margin for error is so low for these teams because one loss most likely knocks them out of BCS contention. Each successive week they remain undefeated, the pressure will build and the nation will be watching to see which team falls first. Enjoy, everyone.

Photo courtesy University Relations

It is not every day that a Nobel Prize winner comes to Charlottesville. Last week began with one of these fortunate days, as World Poverty Action Week commenced with a talk given by one of the most influential people of the century: founder of the Grameen Bank and Nobel Laureate, Muhammad Yunus.

Yunus spoke at University Hall Sept. 20 to a large crowd of University students and faculty. The talk kicked off a week filled with events to bring awareness to poverty action activities, sponsored by at least six different groups across Grounds, including Student Entrepreneurs for Economic Development and the University Center for International Studies.

Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist, is well-known as the “Father of Microfinance.” In 1983, he founded the Grameen Bank, a community development organization geared toward providing small loans — without the need for any collateral — known as microcredit. More than three decades since this program began, microcredit is now a global movement. Today, the Grameen Bank is the largest bank in the world in terms of the number of borrowers, extending across 84,573 villages and reaching out to almost 8 million individuals. In addition, its loan recovery rate is greater than 95 percent.

In 2006, Yunus, along with the Grameen Bank, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in economic and social development, as the Grameen Bank has benefited millions around the world.

“[Yunus] has brought back hope where there was once despair,” said Gowher Rizvi, vice provost for international programs at the University.

Famine in his home country during the mid-1970s inspired Yunus to look into the theories that he had been teaching as an economics professor. Yunus said the economic theories that he preached about then caused him to feel “tortured,” because they seemed “empty” to him.

The original idea for microcredit grew out of Yunus’ own work. He initially lent a small sum of $27 to a total of 42 families. In turn, the people started to view him as their angel, quickly returning the money as well. He said that he felt if he could just lend them another $27, he might be seen as their “super angel.” These positive results culminated in the advent of the microcredit scheme, for which Yunus is most famous today.

Yunus’ efforts have worked not only in Bangladesh but also in the United States. Grameen America, a U.S.-based microfinance organization, has helped more than 400 borrowers in the country. Its loan repayment rate is an astonishing 99 percent.

But microfinance still faces challenges. Currently, Yunus said, the main problem is that money cannot be lent legally without the use of collateral. In fact, microfinance is essentially an illegal activity that governments often ignore because it has been so helpful.

The benefits of microfinance also have extended to the empowerment of women and have even led to a decline in the birth rate in Bangladesh, Yunus said.

In regards to the current economic climate, there are several key aspects of our entire financial system that need to be improved, Yunus said, noting that the current crisis presents a unique opportunity to change the system for the better. The crisis highlights how important it is to have banks that cater not only to the rich but also to the poor, he said. In addition, money needs to be lent not only to men but also to women.

Fourth-year College student Katharine Hastings, who attended the event, said she was motivated by Yunus’ talk.

“I found his idea of social business inspiring because it showed that anybody can solve a social problem with ingenuity,” she said.

SEED Resource Head and third-year College student Hebah Fisher, who worked on World Poverty Action Week at the University, also said she was inspired by Yunus’ call for action.

“What struck me most was the encouragement he gave to us as students to go out and make projects,” she said. “As a Global Development Studies major interested in development work, I am even more eager to try my ideas after hearing Yunus speak.”

Fisher noted that overall, World Poverty Action Week was a great success.

“We had a greater turnout for each event than we’d expected, and everyone seemed to … come away from the events having learned a little something more,” she said.

Photo courtesy Alexa Miller

Ever wanted to make a movie? How about doing so in only two hours? That was the task given to participants in the Xtreme Filmmaker’s Challenge last weekend. Hosted by the University’s Filmmaker’s Society, the event gave beginning student filmmakers a chance to write, direct, shoot and produce their own films with only two hours of camera time.

“This is one of our opening events of the year, to get people excited [about filmmaking],” President Dan Quinn said.

At the start of the Xtreme Filmmaker’s Challenge, students gathered outside Clemons Library and were put into teams composed of all different levels of filmmaking experience. A member of the Filmmaker’s Society Executive Board was present in each group to help serve as a mentor and guide students through the techniques of the filmmaking process, Quinn explained.

“With four to five people per team, everyone got to touch the camera, and everyone got to act,” he said.

“We provide the cameras and equipment for the event,” Vice President Hannah Chipman stated in an e-mail. “The films themselves are really up to the teams — we try to give the props and lines of dialogue as a jumping-off point for ideas, but after that, it’s very open-ended. The mentors for each group, after the camera tutorial, are ‘hands off’ for shooting.”

In addition to the time limit, part of the challenge is that all the groups are assigned a prop and a line of dialogue that must be included in the films. This year, the prop was a bunch of bananas and the line was “No experience necessary,” Chipman noted. Participants had two hours of camera time to shoot the films and then worked with their FMS mentors to edit the footage in time for the event’s film screening Tuesday night, Chipman said.

For some participants, the greatest challenge was not just working with the time constraints, but also writing their own piece. “Coming up with an interesting and unique story” was a challenge that second-year College student Yi Li said her group faced. Her group used the idea of “banana phones” in their short film that was entitled “Phonin’ It In,” Li said. While her group worked with the time crunch, she noted that her group had just enough time to shoot their film.

“I was actually pretty surprised,” she said. “We finished it 30 minutes in advance.”

Like many of the event’s participants, Li noted that her group did not have any previous filmmaking experience.

Helping beginning filmmakers gain experience and access to filmmaking techniques is an important part of the Xtreme Filmmaker’s Challenge.

“Our main goal is to get people who are interested in film to dive head-first into making a short film,” Chipman said. “We find that people who are interested in moviemaking are sometimes hesitant to get projects off the ground because they are intimidated by the cameras or by the process.”

This objective is not only an important aspect of the Xtreme Filmmaker’s Challenge, but also of FMS as a whole. “That’s the idea of the XFC: access,” Quinn said.

In turn, the main function of the FMS is to be an organization in which people can come and share their ideas about film, Quinn added. Regular FMS meetings give members a chance to learn new filmmaking techniques, pitch ideas for films and help each other work with their own film projects. Such accessibility can be important in the context of a school that does not have an official film program.

For the films produced during the XFC, the FMS hosted a film screening of the completed projects Tuesday evening, which was attended by everyone from participants to staff members of the Clemons Digital Media Lab to local filmmaker Eric Hurt, Quinn added. The final projects implemented different themes and interpretations of the required elements, leading to pretty diverse results, Quinn noted. The films included such titles as “So Many Bananas,” “Bad Apples,” and “Bananaphone.”

“Films usually end up being anywhere from one to eight minutes [long], depending on the degree of editing needed and how much footage was shot. But, as any filmmaker will tell you, having a one- or two-minute film with no prep time and only two hours to shoot is very impressive,” Chipman said.

Truly an event for which no experience is necessary, the Xtreme Filmmaker’s Challenge gave students of all levels of filmmaking experience a chance to be a director for a day, which can be one of the most dynamic roles to play, Li added. “It was really fun to work with them — and neat to see first-years and fourth-years who wanted to try it,” she said.

The one thing I have with me at all times isn’t a notebook, or my laptop or underwear — it’s my cell phone. It lives in my pocket at all times, and if I’m without it for more than about 10 minutes, I begin to slowly lose my mind.

My phone’s not an iPhone or even a particularly cool smartphone; it’s just a regular old phone. I have, though, learned a few cool tips and tricks for how to get the most out of my phone and I’m going to share a bunch of them with you. If you’ve got a phone that makes calls and sends text messages, these tips are for you.

If you text phrases like “Sushi Charlottesville” or “Score Yankees” to GOOGLE (466453), you can get all kinds of cool information back via text message. There are a ton of things you can check with a simple text, from weather to flight status to shopping price checks. My favorite? “Directions,” followed by where you are and where you’re going, to get you home in a pinch.

If you’re a Google Calendar user — or use Google Calendar through U.Va. — you can set up your phone to add or retrieve events from Google by texting GVENT (48368). If you send a message to GVENT with “next,” Google will text you back with the next thing on your calendar. Or text “lunch with Jim tomorrow 12:30” and it’ll get added to your calendar.

If you’re in the mood for a movie, text your zip code and a movie title to Fandango (36436), and you’ll get a message back with today’s move times. Some cell carriers even will let you buy tickets; try it next time you’re standing in a long line at the theater.

Text messages are an awesome way to send quick e-mails as well. Text just like you normally would and enter an e-mail address instead of a phone number. You’re still limited to the 160 characters of all text messages, but it’s a great solution for the non text-savvy people in your life — also known as most people older than 30.

My favorite service that’s just a text away though is ChaCha. ChaCha is essentially the arbitrator of all bar bets and the solver of all “oh man, what movie have I seen him in?” moments. Text just about any question to CHACHA (242242), and in a couple of minutes, you’ll get the answer back from a real person.

If you’re not a texter, there’s hope for you yet. Using a service called Dial2Do (www.dial2do.com), you can do all kinds of useful things just by picking up the phone. By speaking a couple of commands and a few words or sentences, you can do everything from have The New York Times read to you to adding an event to your calendar. It’s free, simple and intuitive to use, though you will look odd saying “Calendar. Lunch with Jim. 12. P.M. P.M.!”

This next tip is a little devious, but someday might just be your saving grace. Calling 267-759-3425 and then dialing a phone number connects you directly to that person’s voicemail thanks to Slydial (www.slydial.com). Leave a message, and enjoy having a built-in excuse for not calling. Because you totally called; you even left a message!

While we’re using our phones for evil, give Get MOOH! a look. Get MOOH (www.getmooh.com) stands for, “Get Me Out of Here!”, and is a service that you can set up to automatically dial your phone at a certain time. It’s a perfect way to have, say, Alec Baldwin’s voice call you and give you a way out of a blind date, or even to get step-by-step instructions on how to sell the fact that you have to leave because the FBI is looking for you.

Whether you choose to use your cell phone for noble and productive purposes or just to mess with your friends by having Get MOOH call them at 3:30 a.m. every single day is up to you. But with a few clever tricks and numbers in your contact book, your phone can do a whole lot more than just call your friends.

David’s column runs biweekly Wednesdays. He can be reached at d.pierce@cavalierdaily.com.

Guess who’s legitimately 21? That’s right, yours truly. I’ve been anxiously awaiting this day for a long time, for what feels like eons. Now I can rent a car (with certain companies), buy firearms, gamble and of course buy alcohol. But most remarkably, I can share my opinions on the Corner bar scene without being handcuffed on my way to Clemons. I’m counting down the top 10 bars in my mind after one very busy weekend. Take it or leave it.

10. Three. I’ve actually never even been here, but the line is always miles long and walking past I hear some inharmonious hybrid of rap and rock, a poor man’s GirlTalk.

9. Mellow Mushroom. This bar is too remote; I live in Wertland Square and still deem the walk far. Mellow’s only draw is its Wednesday trivia night, but after attending, I usually just feel stupid at my inability to answer a single question. And I watch “Jeopardy” … more frequently than I’d like to admit.

8. The Biltmore. Despite trying to reinvent the wheel this year after its “renovation,” it looks the exact same as it did three years ago, and the frozen drink menu and cornhole haven’t done much to revamp the establishment. Really, the only redeeming quality about the Bilt, which manages to keep it at No. 8, is that there are $2 pitchers Tuesdays. That’s less than an Aquafina at a vending machine in Cabell! I’m sure some of you are feeling the repercussions of those right now, actually …

7. Buddhist. There are a lot of old people at Buddhist. Really old. Like 24 year-old law students who won’t tolerate us uncultured undergrads. But Buddhist has $10 bottles of wine Tuesdays, a deal which tends to attract a good number of girls and therefore a good number of boys in pursuit. Something for everyone! Lastly, you can play PhotoHunt at Buddhist, usually without a substantial wait.

6. Michael’s Bistro. Who would ever guess that such an artsy bar could be found on top of Littlejohn’s? Michael’s isn’t a popular choice for most University students but it has an extensive specialty beer list. It’s more expensive than the rest of the Corner — refer to aforementioned $2 pitchers — but it will make you feel cultured sipping Merlot and listening to a local band, even if you’re craving a Natty and the drummer is horrible.

5. St. Maarten’s. It’s my personal belief that St. Maarten’s is the most underrated bar on the Corner. Up until my third year, I thought the tiny, windowless brick alcove was a strip club and found it pretty sacrilegious that such an establishment be named after a saint. My first trip there, however, proved me wrong. There are abundant available booths and a much larger ratio of frat stars to townies than one would imagine. Also, it serves nachos until pretty late at night.

4. Cantina. This is a new one, but has earned high accolades already. Obviously, it’s authentically Mexican — it may even be more bona fide than El Puerto and Guadalajara … combined. We were previously lacking an excuse for tequila and margaritas, and this bar, reformed from the meek Martha’s café, has afforded us just such an opportunity.

3. Boylan Heights. When Orbit closed and Boylan opened last year, it was promising to become the next Virginian to displace Coupe’s. After a year, the novelty has worn off. The upstairs becomes absurdly crowded, and I sadly feel like I’m in a nightclub in New Jersey, not a dive in Charlottesville. Seriously, Boylan even has “Guido Night” and has Firefly as a special. Firefly? That stuff is for amateurs, not Wahoos. Then why, you may ask, does Boylan deserve the Barlympic Bronze? The mantra of real estate is “location, location, location,” and it just happens to have the best, occupying the corner of 14th and University. Accessibility, prominence and proximity to Christian’s are attributes that merit some praise in my book.

2. Virginian. Sure, this sliver of a bar gets more crowded than Target during Christmas Eve, but it will never fall too low on the list. Everyone starts hanging out at the “Virg” when they want to feel “legit.” It’s where all the U.Va. ballers go, obviously. Plus, its coolness factor is enhanced by two simple words: Sunday Funday.

1. Coupe’s. People used to dub this the “first-year bar,” but I guess we’ve never wanted to outgrow that. Coupe’s has all the makings of a perfect night: indoor and outdoor seating, beer buckets and live music from the famed Bennie Dodds. Buck burgers are on the grill, and you’ll probably be too drunk to realize they’re the size of a dime. Also, hopping the fence is a true rite of passage, like studying in the Rotunda dome room. I vote that feat should be added to the “110 Things to Do Before You Graduate” poster.

Clearly this list is only my two cents, so I’m not sure what that’s worth — except a good percentage of a rail at the Virginian Sundays. But with my newfound legality, I look forward to gaining a more intricate understanding of the Corner bar landscape than the one I currently possess. I will continue my education tonight for those who’d like to join; maybe I’ll give Three a chance. But I’ll probably stick to the holy trinity that is Coupe’s, the Virginian and Boylan Heights.

Abby’s column runs biweekly Wednesdays. She can be reached at a.coster@cavalierdaily.com.

Debuted by Chief Technology Officer William Reynolds during his campaign, Speak Up UVA is designed to promote discussion of student issues.

Student Council formally unveiled Speak Up UVA — an online forum for students to publicly voice their opinions — as part of its outreach initiatives for the year at last night’s meeting.

Council hopes the Web site, which was created by Chief Technology Officer William Reynolds during his Council campaign this spring, will give rise to more substantial communication between Council and University students than there has been in the past.

“It’s an outlet for student expression,” Director of University Relations Jennifer Bristol said. “It’s more effective than [student] surveys — it provides qualitative information and allows students to collaborate.”

Reynolds’ campaign platform stated that he created Speak Up UVA to “return student governance to the students.” The Web site allows students to submit ideas for Council to pursue, as well as vote and comment on the ones currently displayed on the home page.

Topics are ranked by a point system, Vice President of Administration Nikhil Panda said. He explained that visitors to the Web site are allotted 10 points per account, which they can award to topics of interest. He also said that students have the option of granting 0 to 3 points on any given topic but can choose to cast votes anonymously.

Even if they vote anonymously, students are encouraged to create accounts to receive e-mail updates about topics they have created or about which they have commented. Additionally, used points will be returned to users after the ideas they have voted on have been completed or deleted, Panda said.

Most importantly, Council hopes the Web site will help bridge the gap between Council and the greater University community.

“It’ll allow [Council] representatives find out what’s on the mind of students,” Panda said. “We’re trying to be transparent and trying to do more outreach this year.”

Though some students said they are enthusiastic about the concept, others are worried about its outreach potential.

“I think it’s a good idea but I don’t think it’ll be 100 percent effective,” second-year College student Justin Feltman said.

Currently, Council is working to start a Web site publicity blitz that will include information flyers and library drop slips.

The University continues to move forward with changes made to its Patent Foundation, UVAPF, in hopes of increasing revenue and conversion of patents to licensing deals.

“The big change is that the University will, in fact, be supporting the annual operating costs of the UVAPF,” Vice President of Research Tom Skalak said at a Board of Visitors meeting earlier this month. With University funding, University officials and UVAPF now will collaborate on all research projects from beginning to end, when they may be licensed to private vendors.

In the past, the patent foundation was financially self-sufficient but could only pursue so many innovations per year, said Erik Hewlett, Medical School senior associate dean of research. At times, he explained, the foundation needed to provide cash up front but was unable to do so. With the University’s financial support, though, Hewlett said the foundation can “build better relationships and will be able to get more things done and generate more revenue.”

UVAPF hopes that the new partnership will show future patent and commercial partners that it is open to collaboration, UVAPF Interim Executive Director Miette Michie said.

“This means [industries] will hopefully come to us instead of going to another university,” she added.

Revenue generated from technological commercialization partly will go back to the University through individual departments or centers that contributed to the particular discovery or breakthrough behind the patent.

“I think that’s very important,” Skalak said, “because it sends an important philosophical message that says we support the environments that create new innovations.”

Both Michie and Hewlett said these changes will not alter a great deal of the current foundation’s structure, however, as it will continue to exist independently as a University-related organization.
“It’s just that the relationship will be different operationally than it has been in the past,” Hewlett said, adding that it now will be structured more like other foundations, he explained.

Though the financial partnership is recent, some successes have already been made, such as a co-managed innovation fund with Johnson & Johnson, Skalak said.

Though there is a great deal of optimism among UVAPF officials and many University leaders about the changes, others have remained skeptical. The Daily Progress reported Monday that Board of Visitors Member Randal Kirk told the paper, “As a business proposal, no one would invest in this.”

In response to Kirk, Hewlett said it is important to recognize that the patent foundation “is not a business that we’re out trying to raise money for.” In an e-mail to The Cavalier Daily yesterday, Kirk declined to comment about the issue.

Hewlett explained that it is important to use the new knowledge gained from patent projects to benefit “the society that is paying for the research” through foundations, individual donors or government grants.

“We want to be thinking about how can we apply these [discoveries] to something that’s useful,” he said.

Skalak agreed, adding that although commercial success is important, there are other more important goals, such as attracting new faculty and staff or increasing student opportunities for hands-on research experiences.

To help oversee the recent changes, Skalak also explained that the University has created a new position — executive director of technology transfers and ventures — the role of which will be to provide a “face to the University for outside partners,” while also ensuring that all ventures “support the University’s mission.”

Some students expressed frustration with the library’s current search system, VIRGO. The new VIRGObeta will offer search options customized to the University’s needs. Photo by Bennett Sorbo.

The University Library is working to introduce a new cataloguing system, called VIRGObeta, which will hopefully simplify the search process and alleviate some confusion students often experience with the current VIRGO system.

VIRGObeta, the test form of the software released about a year ago, allows students to get the results they want from a simple keyword search, said Jane Penner, director of content management services.

“We want [VIRGObeta] to be a positive experience for the users,” Penner said. “We want them to be able to use it once and find the resources they need and feel like they’ve been successful in their research.”

The old VIRGO system was confusing at times and somewhat unpopular with students.

“Sometimes students have trouble deciphering what information is exactly being presented,” said third-year Engineering student Brian Boswell, a circulation assistant at Clemons Library. “A lot of people look at VIRGO at the initial screen and don’t know how to proceed, even if they know specifically what they are looking for.”

Penner added that the library has at times received complaints from students who said they could not find what they were looking for with VIRGO and that the results sometimes did not seem to have anything to do with the search terms.

Jennifer Roper, head of Cataloguing and Metadata Services, said VIRGO was problematic because it was built by outside vendors who wanted their software to work for a broad range of libraries. VIRGObeta, on the other hand, was designed specifically with the University in mind.

“We can take into account the specifics of our community,” Roper said. “[The vendors] were not going to be able to hone in on that one particular user group.”

Penner also noted that with the new system, users will be able to search digital images and text, which was formerly filed in a separate database.

“We subscribe to many, many databases, and for most of them you have to go into them database by database and know where you need to go,” Penner said.

Penner said although VIRGObeta improves functionality in that area, it still is not perfect. She added that the University may purchase new software that could search each database quickly.

Roper said plans to improve the functionality of VIRGO are nothing new.

“We’re always trying to change things and make the systems work better,” she said. “This is just a different approach.”

According to library staff, a timeframe for the changes’ implementation has not been established at this time. The interface for the new VIRGO system is an open-source program called Blacklight, which was developed by the University and is becoming popular elsewhere, including Stanford University and University of Wisconsin, Madison, Roper said.

An estimated 55,000 people will attend the U2 concert Thursday night at Scott Stadium. In anticipation of increased traffic, many of the University Transit System bus routes will run on altered service hours.

The Central Grounds Shuttle and the Colonnade Shuttle will stop running at 5:30 p.m.. The Northline, Stadium/Hospital Shuttle, and the Inner and Outer U-Loops will end service at 4:30 p.m. The Green Route will extend its service between the Health System and U-Hall until 12:30 a.m.

The Charlottesville Transit Service Free Trolley Route will follow a similar detour to that used during home football games. The trolley will take Jefferson Park Avenue, Emmet Street and University Avenue to get downtown.

Several area roads also will be closed beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday in anticipation of the concert. Alderman Road/Maury Aveneue will be closed between Ivy Road and Fontaine Avenue, Hereford Road will be closed between Stadium and Edgemont Roads, and George Welshe Way will be closed between Emmet Street and Alderman Road. McCormick Road between Emmet Street and Alderman Road also will be closed, in addition to Stadium Road between Emmet Street and Alderman Road, and Whitehead Road between Alderman Road and Stadium Road.

The Central Grounds Garage will close to non-permit holders at noon, and all vehicles must vacate the garage by 3 p.m. All other permit holders should consult the UTS Web site’s Special Events page to note any further changes.

—compiled by Rebecca Rubin