Education in brief

Three county residents named to education board

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has named three Fairfield County residents as members of the Connecticut State Board of Education, of eight new members total on the 13-person board.

The board establishes academic standards and sets policy for school districts, including for adult education programs that are publicly funded.

Board members include Ellen Camhi, former president of the Stamford Board of Education, Terry Jones of Jones Family Farm in Shelton and Stephen Wright, a Trumbull resident who is an attorney with Harlow, Adams & Friedman P.C. in Milford.

During last fall”™s campaign, Malloy was critical of Connecticut”™s failure to obtain federal funding in the Obama administration”™s Race to the Top program rewarding innovative approaches.

“These nominees come from diverse backgrounds and experiences, and I”™m confident they can help set the standards needed to bring our students to the top,” Malloy said, in a prepared statement.

Yale scientists develop ”˜anti-laser”™

Yale University scientists have created what they call the world”™s first anti-laser, with a possible application for delivering radiation with extreme precision in imaging or treating cancer.

A team led by Yale physicists Douglas Stone and Hui Cao successfully trapped light waves in a cavity where they bounced back and forth until they were eventually absorbed. The scientists say the technology could also be used in a future generation of optical computers powered by light in addition to electrons.

“We found that several physicists had hinted at the concept in books and scientific papers, but no one had ever developed the idea,” Stone said in a statement released by Yale.