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The University of Wisconsin-Madison was awarded five federal grants worth $3,682,798 to work on projects to advance nuclear energy research and development, the U.S. Department of Energy announced Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the selection of 42 university-led projects for awards totaling $38 million to be funded over three to four years through the department’s Nuclear Energy University Program.

“We are taking action to restart the nuclear industry as part of a broad approach to cut carbon pollution and create new clean energy jobs,” said Chu in a press release.

UW-Madison’s five awards include one grant of $616,073 to research and demonstrate technologies that will enable the safe and cost-effective management of the used fuel, focused on developing novel technology options to improve used fuel storage, recycling and disposal.

Three grants totaling $2.5 million were awarded to UW for research and development of the next generation of nuclear reactors that will produce more energy and create less waste with a focus on developing new reactor technologies with higher safety, economic and sustainability performance.

The final grant of $538,032 is for research focusing on creative, innovative and “blue sky” research in the fields of nuclear science and engineering.

“These projects will help us develop the nuclear technologies of the future and move our domestic nuclear industry forward,” Chu said.

Actual project funding will be established during the contract negotiation phase of the projects.

A list of selected projects can be found at: http://nuclear.gov/pdfFiles/NEUP_FY10_RDAwards.pdf.

Additional information on the Nuclear Energy University Program is available at www.ne-up.org.

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Nearly 40 public school systems in North Carolina — including four in the Charlotte region — will share $5.4 million in federal stimulus funding to help save money on utility bills and create jobs.

Grants have been awarded to the following local systems:

•Central Piedmont Community College: $200,000 to repair and upgrade the central energy plant for the uptown Charlotte campus and improve lighting. Total cost of the project is $210,630.

•Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools: $200,000 for lighting retrofits in 16 schools. The project’s total cost is $400,000.

•Gaston County Schools: $169,200 to upgrade heating and air-conditioning systems and add system controls for Stanley Middle School and North Gaston High School. Total cost of the project is $369,200.

•Rowan-Cabarrus Community College: $177,521 for lighting improvements, occupancy sensors and HVAC system upgrades. Total cost of the project is $194,546.

The grants program is administered by the N.C. Energy Office, part of the state’s Department of Commerce, to encourage energy conservation and economic investment in counties, municipalities, community colleges and public schools.

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If federal regulators get their way, you may soon be warned before you receive another unexpectedly high bill from your cell phone company.

The Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday it is seeking public comment on proposed regulations that would require wireless phone companies to notify customers of any charges that exceed their monthly plans.

Customers would therefore be alerted before being charged additional fees for extra data usage, roaming or text messaging, the FCC said in a statement.

The FCC said it has received hundreds of complaints from customers who received surprisingly high phone bills. The new rule would aim to help wireless users avoid "bill shock."

"We are hearing from consumers about unpleasant surprises on their bills," Joel Gurin, chief of the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, said in a statement. "There can be many causes of bill shock, including unclear or misunderstood advertising, unanticipated roaming or data charges, and other problems. All can lead to charges that people don’t expect to get."

The FCC has therefore decided to begin gathering information from the public about whether or not alerting customers about these unanticipated charges would be beneficial.

The plan would be similar to a rule in the European Union that requires cell phone companies to notify customers via text message if they are running up extra charges.

The CTIA, a wireless industry association, released a statement after the FCC’s announcement saying that carriers already keeps customers well informed when they reach their monthly cell phone usage limits.

"We look forward to educating the Commission on all of the carriers’ activities and offerings so that customers can stay informed," CTIA President and CEO Steve Largent said in a statement. 

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For 18-year-old Stephanie Gielarowski, it was a school-sponsored trip to China that sparked her interest in Asia.

“I’ve always liked to travel,” she said, but it was that trip last summer where she saw first-hand the economic importance of the region.

“It’s important to be involved and educated in Asia,” she said, including understanding the region’s history and culture. It’s this newfound awareness that spurred her to pursue international business in college. So far, she says, her plan is to study at the University of South Carolina.

Gielarowski is one of hundreds of students who, over the years, have traveled abroad as part of one of the many programs offered by Upper St. Clair High School. The school’s Asian travel opportunities, which include a summer trip to China and an exchange to Thailand, are relatively new compared with some of the European programs, such as a German exchange that has been offered for 20 years.

Together, the school’s seven different language classes, its international and Asian studies, and its opportunities to travel prepare students for the world beyond western Pennsylvania.

“It really opens their eyes to their magnitude and place in the world,” in addition to preparing them for adulthood, said Principal Michael Ghilani.

Mary Eddins, an 18-year-old senior, participated in the Thai exchange her sophomore year and has taken the Asian Studies class offered by the school. Of her trip to Thailand, she says, “that opened my eyes up globally.”

Her previous foreign travel consisted of vacations to Mexico or the Caribbean, but that only offered the resort experience, whereas staying with a host family, “you’re immersed with the culture more, you learn the culture first-hand.”

That sentiment was echoed by Junior Rachel Amoroso, 16, who went on the exchange earlier this year.

“It was really a life changing experience,” she said. “I had never been out of the country before.”

But that cross culture taste has her hungry for more, and she is planning on studying abroad in college. In fact, she says, most of her questions at college fairs revolve around whether a school offers study abroad.

In addition to sending students overseas, Upper St no fax pay day loans. Clair High School also has foreign students come to Pittsburgh. In the spring, the school hosts Thai students and teachers. This April, 38 Thai students and three teachers arrived in Upper St. Clair.

The Thai exchange not only exposes the students to a new culture, but it also offers the entire community a way to connect. Organizing the program has become a labor of love for Thai native and Pittsburgh transplant Luck Kosoladolkitt. She first put the program together when her son was a junior and she wanted him to have a study abroad experience. From there, it has grown.

“The high school level is the most important time for students to make a decision before they go to university,” she said of the experiences of both the Thai and Upper St. Clair students. “They are in their teens, and they don’t know exactly what they want to do with their own life; this gives them the opportunity” to see other possibilities.

As part of the exchange, all of the students, Thai and American, host a Thai Night Gala in Upper St. Clair where the Thai culture is celebrated. The event also is a fundraiser to help pay for the program.

Many of the students who have gone on the Thai exchange or the summer trip to China also take the Asian Studies class that is offered. The semester-long elective looks at modern Asia as well as Asian history, and the curriculum was developed with the help of the University of Pittsburgh Asian Studies Center.

“We are a global society,” said Lauren Davidovich, who is teaching the current semester’s Asian Studies course. “Asia may not have been addressed as it should have been, and we would be remiss not to study it.”

In addition to personal growth offered by foreign travel, the school’s programs have students looking at careers in international business after they saw the economic importance of Asia.

Davidovich also noted that combining the class plus the real travel experience offers the students a unique perspective.

“Education breeds understanding,” she said.

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AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, once the world’s largest carrier by traffic, may pursue alliances to win more passengers as rivals’ mergers erase its advantage, analysts said.

Possible alliance partners include US Airways Group Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp., the sixth- and seventh-largest U.S. airlines, said Jeff Straebler, a fixed-income strategist at RBS Securities Inc.

Alliances such as AMR’s Oneworld let members sell seats on each other’s jets, a benefit in an industry where the breadth of airlines’ networks attracts corporate fliers. American, now the second-largest U.S. carrier, would be No. 3 under the United-Continental merger, and said Monday that it is studying a "range of alternatives."

"American helped originate the whole idea of alliances and partnerships," said George Van Horn, an analyst at IBISWorld Inc. "If somebody should be good at it, you could make the argument they should be."

Straebler and Van Horn said an alliance might appeal to AMR by providing many of the benefits of a merger, such as adding passenger revenue and avoiding flight duplication, without the risks and expense of meshing fleets and unions. Ties to US Airways or JetBlue might help American in New York, the world’s busiest travel market, they said.

AMR was under pressure even before the United-Continental deal emerged. The company is the only major U.S. airline that may lose money in 2010, and has the lowest margins and highest costs among its peers, according to Jamie Baker, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst. American and unions representing about 77 percent of its work force are in contract talks, with the pilots’ negotiations dating to 2006.

American’s last merger came in 2001, when it bought Trans World Airlines for $2.8 billion.

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Wells Fargo gave $21.6 million to Bay Area nonprofits in 2009.

The greatest focus area for Wells' philanthropy was community development, followed by education. The giving broke down into the following focus areas:

• Community development: $8 million

• Education: $6.8 million

• Human services: $3.2 million

• Arts and culture: $2.4 million

• Civic: $905,000

• Environment: $215,000

Wells Fargo also announced that its giving nationwide totaled $202 million.

The company said that the $21.6 million to Bay Area nonprofits is a 30 percent increase over 2008 giving, though the higher numbers reflect Wells Fargo's takeover of Wachovia, which also had a strong corporate philanthropy program.

In 2008, Wells Fargo gave $16.7 million to local nonprofits and Wachovia gave $5.3 million. Nationwide, Wells gave $102 million in 2008 and Wachovia gave $124 million.

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Southwest Airlines Co. — the third-largest carrier at Denver International Airport by passenger count — has announced that parents of minors traveling alone will have to pay $50 to fly their children in the airline's "unnaccompanied minors" program. That is up from the previous price of $25 per child.

Southwest (NYSE: LUV) plans to use funds generated from the added cost to help pay for expenses associated with caring for an unaccompanied minor.

In addition, the Dallas-based airline has plans to roll out a section on its website where parents can book their unaccompanied minors online. This is intended to save parents time by eliminating paperwork at the airport. The online service will be available April 23.

"We continuously evaluate our UM process to ensure that we deliver the best possible service to our young customers who are traveling alone," said Teresa Laraba, Southwest's senior vice president of customer services. "During a recent audit, we identified several opportunities, including the creation of an online booking tool for UMs and an enhancement in the employee training that comes along with handling our young passengers who are flying solo."

Unaccompanied minors on Southwest flights are children ages five to 11 who are traveling without an adult passenger.

In other Southwest news, the airline said it has terminated its codeshare agreement with WestJet, nixing a deal that had promised Southwest its first taste of international business.

If the agreement had withstood the test of time, it would have landed Southwest a link to international status by connecting the airline's service to WestJet flights heading to Canada.

DIA low-fare competitor Frontier Airlines offers service to Mexico and Costa Rica.

Southwest said WestJet had asked to modify its initial 2008 agreement with Southwest, and the airline could not “agree with the modifications to the confidential agreement.”

The Southwest-WestJet deal went sour earlier this month when WestJet announced it could be entering into a codeshare agreement with Delta Air Lines. At the time, Southwest sounded the alarm, saying it had heard that Delta, as part of the deal, might transfer slots at New York’s LaGuardia to WestJet.

Southwest indicated that an agreement with another carrier could hurt the deal Southwest and WestJet had in place.

"We prefer the existing terms of our agreement with WestJet,” said Southwest’s executive vice president of strategy and planning Bob Jordan. “Upon reviewing the number of changes that WestJet has requested, we have decided that it is in the best interest of both parties to move forward independently.”

Southwest added it’s still interested in exploring opportunities to enter into the Canadian market, adding that partnerships with other Canadian carriers remain a possibility.

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In a move aimed at combating the spread of diabetes, insurer UnitedHealth Group is launching a new program that will pay for lifestyle coaching at YMCA facilities.

Under the proposal announced Wednesday, the insurer will cover 16-week programs at the YMCA that discuss changes in eating, exercise and other lifestyle habits.

As part of the program, UnitedHealth will also pay incentives to Walgreens’ pharmacists to teach people how to better manage the disease.

Insurers such as UnitedHealth may start rolling out more such preventative care programs as the government’s health care overhaul forces insurers to cover patients regardless of medical condition.

UnitedHealth said it will pay YMCA lifestyle coaches based on performance, so coaches get paid more for recruiting more participants into the program, and for helping those participants achieve greater weight loss.

The company said studies funded by the government show that pre-diabetes patients can prevent or delay the disease by 58% simply by meeting in group coaching sessions, changing eating and exercise habits, and losing about 5% of their body weight faxless pay day loans.

UnitedHealth claims its program marks the first time a health insurer will cover "evidence-based" preventative diabetes care.

"The pilot data showed that paying for these services works — people get and stay healthier, leading to dramatically lower health care costs for employers and the health care system," Tom Beauregard, executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group, said in a statement.

UnitedHealth will first roll out the program in 7 cities, including 3 in Ohio: Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton. The other cities are Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.

The program is free to people enrolled in UnitedHealth care plans through their employers. 

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Devereux Kids has been awarded $200,000 in federal funds for its community-based education, support and reunification program aimed at increasing the safety and well-being of children.

The funds will be used to expand the organization’s child abuse and neglect prevention programs in Marion County, but may be expanded to other areas, according to a Devereux release.

Devereux Kids, established in 1999, is a program of Orlando-based Devereux Florida. Devereux Kids works in 10 counties in Florida and reached more than 1,100 children in 563 families in the 2009 fiscal year. The foundation supporting the organization was founded in 1912 in Pennsylvania and created Devereux Florida in 1987. Devereux Florida helps more than 13,000 children annually.

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In its third round of venture funding, Achaogen Inc. raised $56 million.

The San Francisco company seeks drugs to fight bacteria that are resistant to existing drugs. It’s also working on drugs aimed at bubonic plague and other bugs attractive to possible terrorists.

Frazier Healthcare Ventures, a new investor, led this round and put Robert More on Achaogen’s board of directors.

Alta Partners, 5 AM Ventures, Arch Venture Partners, Domain Associates, Venrock Associates, Versant Ventures and the Wellcome Trust also gave money.

Kevin Judice is CEO of Achaogen.

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