John Dean, of Watergate renown, will speak June 8 at Lipscomb University’s Christian Scholars’ Conference.

Dean was the former White House counsel for President Richard Nixon and key witness for the prosecution before the Senate Watergate Committee and the Watergate trials.

Dean will be one of three keynote speakers at the 33rd annual Thomas H. Olbricht Christian Scholars’ Conference (CSC), to be held June 6-8. He will speak on “The Ethical Legacy of Watergate” on Saturday, June 8, at 10:45 a.m. in Collins Alumni Auditorium. A book-signing will follow at 12:15 p.m.

“Crisis in Ethics: theology, business, law and the law and liberal and fine arts” is the conference theme. Other speakers include theologian Charles Mathewes, who will speak on the “The Future of Political Theology,” and David Miller, founding director of Princeton University’s Faith & Work Initiative.

Historically, the conference has drawn more than 500 theologians and scholars. Keynote sessions are free to the public.

The Dollar General Literacy Foundation will donate $1.2 million to Nashville-area schools and to nonprofit and literacy organizations, officials with the foundation announced today.

The dollar figure represents the foundation’s largest one-day distribution of grants.

A ceremony is slated for Thursday, May 16, at 10 a.m. at the Nashville Public Library.

Since its inception in 1993, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded more than $81 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, helping an estimated 4.7 million individuals improve their literacy.
 

In an interesting move — and distinct to the state’s lottery industry — the soon-to-launch Hot Lotto game will offer a jackpot for which the withholding taxes will be paid by the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp.

The Tennessee Lottery will unveil Hot Lotto on Sunday, May 12. Described in a release as a “popular multi-jurisdictional drawing-style game,” Hot Lotto will feature all-cash (not annuitized) jackpots starting at $1 million and averaging $5 million to $6 million.

Tickets for the new game will cost $1 each, with a “Sizzler” option that triples all non-jackpot prizes and costs an extra $1. Drawings will be held every Wednesday and Saturday night.

“We’re delighted to introduce HOT LOTTO here in Tennessee, for it uniquely offers what many players want:  A lump sum cash jackpot and withholding taxes paid,” Rebecca Hargrove, president and CEO of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp., said in a release. “It should prove to be a great addition to our existing array of fun and entertaining games, all the while assisting our mission of raising funds for designated education programs in Tennessee.”
 

The estate of Jim Buchanan, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in economics, on Thursday said it would give $2.5 million to the Middle Tennessee State University Honors College. Part of the bequest will go toward establishing a lecture series focused on applying Buchanan's ideas to today's economic questions.

Buchanan died in January at age 93. Read more about his estate's gift, including the possibility of MTSU partnering with George Mason University to organize Buchanan's papers, here.

The leadership of SAE Institute has named Lynn Dorton director of its Nashville campus, which is located on Music Circle. Dorton spent the previous 10 years in Florida as director of student enrollment at IMG Academy, a private athletic training institute. SAE offers accredited diplomas and associate of applied science degrees as well as an audio technology program.

The U.S. Army Research Office has awarded Dr. Amir Shirkhodaie, a professor in the Tennessee State University College of Engineering, a $334,000 research grant. Shirkhodaie, director of the college's Center of Excellence for Battlefield Sensor Fusion, will use the grant monies to investigate the possibility of developing an advanced technology that improves the capability of automated surveillance systems.

Relatedly, Dr. S. Keith Hargrove, dean of the TSU College of Engineering, announced three new research projects with Boeing, valued at approximately $500,000. The Boeing projects include using artificial intelligence for the development of aircraft propulsion controls, the development of resilient control mechanisms to mitigate cyber attack in engineering embedded systems and the development of mathematical models for energy harvesting and storage.

The faculty members involved in these projects are Drs. Sachin Shetty, Mohammed Saleh Zein-Sabatto, both professors of electrical engineering; and Dr. Landon Onyebueke, professor of mechanical engineering.

“The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a robust information-theoretic framework with supportive techniques that can detect obscure group activities in areas such as inside a vehicle, boat, airplanes or corner alleys of urban areas,” said Dr. Shirkhodaie.

He said this could greatly reduce the false alarm rates in surveillance operations that frequently occur as a result of miscalculation of enemy intent, and help shift the “balance of power” in peacekeeping operations.

"If we can deliver this kind of technology to the battlefield, this is a game-changer," said Maj. Jay Deason, an aviator with the Tennessee Army National Guard, who has served two tours in Iraq, flying Black Hawk Helicopters.

He said while this technology would have limited application for air reconnaissance operations, it would be greatly useful to ground forces and civil affairs specialists, who identify critical requirements needed by local citizens in combat or crisis situations.

Civilians would also greatly benefit from this technology in homeland security, crowd control, and anti-drug and anti-crime operations, Dr. Shirkhodaie said.