LEWISBURG, Pa. — These are Bucknell University story ideas that may interest you in February.
OLYMPIC FEVER — The Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games open Friday and Italy is ready to play host according to Professor Anna Paparcone, director of Italian studies. “Italy is likely to be a warm, welcoming and passionate host. Italians are known for their hospitality, strong sense of community, and pride in sharing their culture, food, and traditions,” Paparcone says. “Cortina is known as the ‘Queen of the Dolomites,’ wonderful mountains whose beauty contribute to its popularity. The nation aims to balance celebration with organization, creating an atmosphere that is both festive and respectful of athletes and visitors from around the world.” She sees hosting the Olympics as a moment of national pride for Italy. “The global spotlight also brings opportunities for tourism, economic growth, and unity, reinforcing Italy’s role as a key cultural and sporting nation on the world stage,” she says. Bucknell’s Italian studies program is organizing an event with students to watch the Olympic Games opening ceremony as a celebration of Italian culture alongside diverse cultures from around the world.on Friday, Feb. 6 at 3:30 p.m., in International Commons in Coleman Hall. While Cortina is a new host, one thing that hasn’t changed is the United States Appreciation for Olympians and Paralympians Act of 2016, in which “U.S. winning Olympians do not have to pay taxes on the value of the medal they receive nor the cash prize that they are awarded,” according to Freeman College of Management Professor James Lawson, accounting. “Notably, this exclusion only applies to individuals with an adjusted gross income of less than $1,000,000,” he says. “So high-income Olympians, such as a medal-winning hockey team, will have to report their Olympic winnings as income.” CONTACTS: Paparcone, 570-577-1184, apaparco@bucknell.edu; Lawson, 570-577-3569, jgl014@bucknell.edu
SETTLING THE SUPER BOWL SCORE — Had the Denver Broncos won their home AFC Championship Game to make the Super Bowl, the odds of a scorigami in the big game would have gone up considerably, according to Professor Sam Gutekunst, computer science and mathematics & statistics, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Data Science, who has conducted previous research along with recent Bucknell graduates and a USC professor on NFL scorigamis — a final score combination that has never previously occurred in league history. The phenomenon has sparked a cult-like following among football fans and statisticians alike, becoming a side game almost as thrilling as the game itself. Gutekunst reports that three Super Bowls have ended in a Scorigami (Super Bowl XXI, 39-20; Super Bowl XXIV, 55-10; Super Bowl XLVIII, 43-8). “Interestingly, all three involved the Broncos,” he says. While he can’t estimate a percentage on whether the Super Bowl may end in a scorigami, one of Gutekunst’s future projects is to try to understand the dynamics of regular season vs playoff games, and if there are good reasons why either is more likely to end in a scorigami. “What I can say is that, if a football game ends in a scorigami, it’s most likely to be 36-23 — though this is still in the realm of rare events, and we give any given game a 0.073% chance of ending 36-23,” he says. CONTACT: Gutekunst, 570-577-1746, s.gutekunst@bucknell.edu
VENEZUELAN OIL VOLATILITY — Feb. 3 was the one-month anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Venezuela, and since the first week after the invasion, little has been settled on the nation’s underperforming oil industry, or the impact U.S. control will have on the Venezuelan economy. Professor Matias Vernengo, economics, director of the Bucknell Institute for Public Policy, has previously served as senior manager of economic research at the Central Bank of Argentina, and is a consultant for the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. He is author of the book Why Latin American Nations Fail. He agrees that the economy of Venezuela is completely tied to its large oil industry, “But most of the oil is poor quality and it has to be refined in the United States,” The country’s reliance on oil is why its economy collapsed. “It’s 90% of their exports, and it’s the only export they get for dollars,” Vernengo says. “They’re not exporting it now, so its economy has collapsed.” CONTACT: Vernengo, 570-577-1939, mv012@bucknell.edu
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CONTACT: Mike Ferlazzo, 570-577-3212, 570-238-6266 (c), mike.ferlazzo@bucknell.edu