Melinda French Gates, Trinity ’86 and Fuqua ’87, and David Rubenstein, Trinity ’70, committed Wednesday to donating a majority of their wealth to charity by taking the Giving Pledge, an effort to encourage the wealthiest individuals and families to return their fortunes to philanthropy.

Gates and Rubenstein are part of a group of 40 individuals and families who took the pledge, an effort founded by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett. Among those who took the pledge are New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Barron Hilton and David Rockefeller.

“We have been blessed with good fortune beyond our wildest expectations, and we are profoundly grateful,” the Gates’ said in their pledge letter. “But just as these gifts are great, so we feel a great responsibility to use them well. That is why we are so pleased to join in making an explicit commitment to the Giving Pledge.”

Bill and Melinda Gates and the Gates Foundation have donated more than $100 million to Duke over the years. The Foundation funded $30 million for the construction of the French Family Science Center and $20 million for the establishment of the University Scholars program. Melinda Gates was No. 34 on Forbes magazine’s list of 100 most powerful women last year.

Rubenstein, co-founder of private equity firm The Carlyle Group, has also donated millions to Duke, is the Sanford School of Public Policy’s single largest benefactor. He is the namesake for Rubenstein Hall, Sanford’s sister building that he funded on Towerview Drive. Forbes ranked Rubenstein 374 on its list of the world’s billionaires in March with a net worth of $2.5 billion.

In collaboration with the Office of Information Technology and Parking and Transportation Services, Ball recently launched an alpha version of DuTrack, a GPS-based bus tracking system that he developed for Duke bus-goers.

The Web application will cover all bus routes on campus, including the Robertson bus to Chapel Hill. The project is funded by a $5,000 Student Development Directive Grant from Duke Student Government. Ball and his team may also look to integrate the Web system with a mobile application, such as the Duke iPhone app.

Ball may also look next semester to launch Perkinsense, a Web application that will track the availability of group study rooms in Perkins Library and The Link.

via DuTrack

News and opinions Web site The Daily Beast released its list of 50 Most Stressful Colleges late Sunday night. Duke places 16th among them, and topping the list are Stanford and Columbia Universities at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.

The Beast’s blog post on the rankings notes that a 2009 Professional Psychology study found that 6 percent of its undergraduate study subjects and 4 percent of its graduate subjects noted that they “seriously considered attempting suicide” in the last year.

Duke immediately follows Johns Hopkins University on the list and precedes Cornell University. But students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—which placed 28th in the U.S. News rankings—may not be feeling the pressure as much as those at overall lower-ranked colleges, as UNC almost closes The Daily Beast’s list at No. 43.

To determine where the country’s most pressured students are attending, The Daily Beast gathered the top 50 universities as determined by U.S. News and World Report and applied the following criteria:

The cost: Financial pressure is a huge stress-inducer. Tuition plus room and board, weighted at 35 percent. With 2009-2010 data from the National Center on Education Statistics.

Competitiveness: How academically rigorous is the school? Weighted at 35 percent, with 2010 data from U.S. News & World Report.

Acceptance rate: More competitive schools generally produce a more competitive student body. Weighted at 10 percent, with 2010 data from U.S. News & World Report.

Engineering: Is the school known for its particularly rigorous graduate engineering program? Weighted at 10 percent, with 2010 data from U.S. News & World Report.

Crime on campus: Adapted from The Daily Beast’s analysis of college crime, weighted at 10 percent and ranked relative to this particular group of colleges. With data from the U.S. Department of Education.

Little more than a month after Durham announced its vie to take part in Google’s trial for ultra-high speed broadband networks, Bell accepted a challenge from Morgantown, WV Mayor Bill Byrne with a friendly bet in anticipation of Saturday’s NCAA men’s basketball Final Four game in Indianapolis—placing the Google trial on the line.

The game will determine which team—Duke or West Virginia—will head to the finals to compete for the national title. The conclusion of Saturday night’s matchup will also determine which city will receive an extra push in its application for Google’s high-speed broadband network.

Bell will endorse Morgantown’s application for Google’s trial if WVU wins the game against Duke, WRAL reported Friday.

“If they win, I’ll do the same for him,” Byrne said.

Google’s trial network would be more than 100 times faster than most commercial options, at more than one gigabit per second. Durham is one of many cities across the country that have applied to be a part of the test. Google is expected to make its decision by the end of the year.

He will make remarks and will be joined by Duke students and alumni.

The event will be be broadcast live online at the NASDAQ’s Web site.