bing pixel

Augsburg alum Brian Krohn ’08 behind app to track coronavirus outbreaks

Brian Krohn '08 Photo: Star Tribune
Brian Krohn ’08

HealthPartners Institute, researchers at the University of Minnesota, and Modern Logic have teamed up to create the SafeDistance smartphone application and website, a new tool that helps users track COVID-19 outbreaks using crowd-sourced information from anonymous users. 

The free app sends notifications as users travel through high-risk areas. “As you’re moving around, you’ll actually see if you’re going into a higher risk area or you’re coming from a higher risk area,” Brian Krohn ’08 told Kare 11. Krohn is a project manager and entrepreneur-in-residence at Minneapolis-based Modern Logic and technical lead on the SafeDistance project.

Users of the app take a short COVID-19 symptom survey and then see a map of their neighborhood, as well as other neighborhoods. Data will not be used for-profit and users will not be asked for identifiable information. The app also offers tips about health risks and how to maintain social distancing. 

Krohn, a Rhodes Scholar, has been described as a “Minnesota “Genius”. His undergraduate research at Augsburg University led him to a “Good Morning America” appearance in which he talked about a process to produce environmentally-friendly fuel, which was later commercialized in the development of a $9 million pilot plant. Among Krohn’s creations are surgery tools, wizard staffs, a cycling workout app, the Soundly app, and more recently, SafeDistance. 

While the app launched recently in Minnesota, it is expected to expand across the country soon.

 

Read the full article on the Kare 11 website.

Click here to learn more and to download the app.

 

Related articles:

Pioneer Press

KSTP

Star Tribune

Augsburg’s business programs awarded globally-recognized accreditation

ACBSPAugsburg University’s Department of Business Administration was recently accredited the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs for both undergraduate and MBA programs.

This globally-recognized accreditation for business programs rewards excellence in teaching and quality of student learning. Founded in 1988, ACBSP has accredited 430 campuses in 60 countries with the mission to promote continuous improvement of business education programs around the world. Evaluation standards include leadership, strategic planning, student and stakeholder focus, student learning assessment, faculty focus, curriculum, and business unit performance.

Augsburg is committed to continuous assessment and improvement to ensure that our business programs equip students with the skills employers seek.

Last year, Augsburg’s MBA program was named one of the top MBA programs by Twin Cities Business readers in a subscriber survey.

See Augsburg’s accreditation at the ACBSP website.

Visit the ACBSP website to learn more about the accreditation.

Learn about Augsburg’s undergrad and MBA business programs.

 

Broadway World: The Playwrights’ Center and Augsburg Announce New Partnership

Playwrights’ Center logoThe Playwrights’ Center and Augsburg University announce an exciting new partnership to offer accredited courses taught by the nation’s leading playwrights, the Broadway World reported. Through online courses, students will connect with peers across the country and will be taught by leading professional playwrights who are actively working in the field. The course offerings will be guided by Augsburg University’s Theater Department in conjunction with the Playwrights’ Center. Registration and accreditation will go through Augsburg’s Center for Global Education and Experience .

“With these courses, students will learn with and from writers at the top of their field, seeing what it takes to have pieces published and performed-and, perhaps most important of all, seeing that this is possible,” said Patrick Mulvihill, Augsburg’s assistant provost for global education and experience, in a Broadway World interview.

The two first courses, Playwriting and Themes in Playwriting, are now open for registration at Augsburg University for fall 2020. Details on the program and the courses can be found at the Playwrights’ Center website.

 

Read the full article on the Broadway World website.

Jeanne Boeh Discusses U.S. Economy on WCCO

Jeanne Boeh on WCCO
Jeanne Boeh on WCCO

WCCO sought input from Jeanne Boeh, professor of economics at Augsburg University, on the U.S. economy during the current COVID-19 global pandemic. Boeh explained that we’re going through an “economic shock.” Boeh also said more people nationally are concerned about the financial implications than they are about the actual illness because of the low death rate.

 

Watch the full interview on the WCCO website.

 

Augsburg Senior Scholar Harry Boyte publised in Time Magazine

Time magazine logoHarry Boyte, senior scholar of public work philosophy at Augsburg’s Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship, co-wrote an article that was published in Time magazine. Boyte’s piece, “The Democrats Need to Sing a New Tune to Beat Trump,” offered an analysis of the 2020 United States presidential race and suggested that a compelling campaign would appeal to Americans as engaged citizens rather than disgruntled consumers: “Want to win the presidency and extend democracy’s longest-running show? Emphasize a citizenship message for the government to be a partner, not a savior.”

Read the full article at Time magazine’s website.

The Chronicle of Higher Education Highlights Augsburg’s Inclusion Efforts

The QuadThe Chronicle of Higher Education highlighted Augsburg University as one of the colleges that met its enrollment goals this year by “paying attention to the changing diversity of Minnesota’s population and recruiting a correspondingly diverse student body.”

“We wanted to enroll an intentionally diverse mix of students in part because we thought that it would offer a richer academic experience for all students,” said Augsburg’s Provost and Chief Academic Officer Karen Kaivola, in the article.

Augsburg’s current first-year class is the largest and most diverse ever. For the past three years, more than half of Augsburg’s incoming class have been students of color. The article notes Augsburg’s efforts to recruit minorities, such as working with organizations like Act Six, College Possible, and the recent hiring of a “chief inclusion officer” to help navigate conversations on campus about race and diversity.

Read the full article at The Chronicle of Higher Education website.

Related articles:

Augsburg University’s Largest, Most Diverse First-Year Class Serves Community on First Day of School

 

History Professor Bill Green wins Minnesota book award

The Children of Lincoln: White Paternalism and the Limits of Black Opportunity in Minnesota, 1860-1876

Augsburg History Professor Bill Green is the winner of the 2020 Hognander Minnesota History Award for his book “The Children of Lincoln: White Paternalism and the Limits of Black Opportunity in Minnesota, 1860-1876”. The book reveals a pattern of racial paternalism in Minnesota after Emancipation.

According to the Pioneer Press, Hognander Award judges said Green’s book was chosen “based on its significance to Minnesota’s history, and its contribution to the broader panorama of race relations and the context of Reconstruction in American history.”

Green, a former Minneapolis Public Schools superintendent, is a second-time winner of this award. In 2016, he was awarded for his book “Degrees of Freedom: The Origins of Civil Rights in Minnesota, 1865-1912.

Read the full article at the Pioneer Press website.

Psychology Professor Nancy Steblay quoted in Star Tribune article about bill for stronger eyewitness ID practices in MN

Professor Nancy Steblay
Professor Nancy Steblay

Augsburg Psychology Professor Nancy Steblay was quoted in a Star Tribune article about a bill for stronger eyewitness ID practices in Minnesota. Steblay is a leader in the research of eyewitness identification in the United States. Star Tribune reported that in recent years, a growing body of research has driven federal law enforcement agencies to change their practices on what makes a sound eyewitness identification.

“The bill represents a consensus of what makes sound science among experts in the field, vetted by the National Academy of Sciences. The rules are also practical for law enforcement to implement” Steblay told the Star Tribune. “The combination of good science and a practice that works makes these very powerful recommendations”.

Read the full article at the Star Tribune website.

Star Tribune interview with Steve Humerickhouse, executive director of the Forum on Workplace Inclusion®

Steve Humerickhouse
Steve Humerickhouse | Star Tribune

Steve Humerickhouse, executive director of The Forum on Workplace Inclusion®, spoke with the Star Tribune’s Gail Rosenblum about how the Twin Cities is becoming one of the largest hubs for workplace diversity and inclusion.

Augsburg University became home to the Forum on Workplace Inclusion on July 1. The Forum is the nation’s largest workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion conference designed for a national and global audience.

Humerickhouse shared some of The Forum’s resources in the article: “We hold a breakfast series three times a year and offer a series of 10 webinars attended by upward of 500 diversity and inclusion experts from around the world. We also create 24 original podcasts each year and blog out articles on social media. The conference is our flagship event, bringing in global speakers from Australia to England to South Africa.

The Forum’s 32nd annual conference is March 10 –12 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. On March 11, Augsburg’s President Paul Pribbenow will share the story of Augsburg’s journey with its many concrete implications for policy and practice.

Read the full article at the Star Tribune website.

WCCO: Augsburg Professor Discusses Coronavirus Economic Impact

WCCO image
WCCO

Augsburg’s Professor of Economics Jeanne Boeh talks to WCCO about the economic impact of the Coronavirus outbreak in China.

Parts of Apple’s products are made in China, where many of the employees aren’t at work because of the outbreak, and that pushes back the production schedule.

“Companies are already ramping up for next Christmas. And some of those prototypes and those kinds of things happen in China right now, and so if those don’t happen, that pushes back the schedule all the way until next Christmas,” Boeh told WCCO. “Many workers in China are going without a paycheck right now, which will affect how much money they spend.”

See the full report on WCCO’s website.