Page 4C THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1976
Communication, involvement are_ ken wor d s
Student Government is line to administration
—
Communication and involvement
are the key words in Texas A&M’s
Student Government (SG) for the
1976, says Fred McClure, student
body president. McClure said that
SG hopes to involve more students
in SG, involve SG more in campus
and community affairs and increase
communication from students to SG
nomics major from San Augustine,
Tex. McClure is responsible for car
rying out the instructions of the stu
dent senate and administering SG
activities. He is assisted by Susan
Price, executive director; Jody
Smothers, recording secretary; and
Scott Sherman, information direc
tor.
Price supervises SG’s daily and
recurring programs. Smothers rec
ords the senate meetings and super
vises senate and executive aides.
Sherman disseminates SG informa
tion.
Regular meetings are held be
tween the executive members and
representatives of the other two
branches on Sunday afternoons.
Students are welcome to attend.
The legislative branch is com
posed of an 80-seat senate and their
committees. The senate is responsi
ble for developing and approving
legislation to advance the students’
desires. Senate committees handle
such things as student service fee
allocations and liaison with College
Station City Hall.
The senate seats forty senators
from the academic colleges and
thirty from living areas. Five seats
are filled by freshman elected at-
large from the entering class in Oc
tober. The remaining five seats are
vice-presidencies representing stu
dent interest areas of academic af
fairs, external affairs, finance, rules
and regulations and student servic
es. Senate committees are filled with
both senators and students at-large,
with anyone who is a member of the
student body eligible.
The judicial branch of SG is the
judicial board composed of a chair
man and a representativefroJ
classification. The board heJ
appeals on the SG rules andi
lations and suggests changesil
rules.
Anyone interested in SGsl
contact Student Governmsj
845-3051.
to University officials.
McClure said that SG has come
under criticism in the past years for
being invisible at times when it is
needed. He added this year’s SG be
lieves that it has been around work
ing all along but has not communi
cated properly with the average stu
dent. The communications problem
has not only been a problem of tel
ling what has been done, but asking
what should be done.
To improve communications SG
officials will become more visible by
visiting meetings of campus organi
zations. McClure said that there will
be an “open door” policy with stu
dents invited to visit the SG office in
MSG 216 to register complaints or
ask questions.
SG is the “students’ voice”
through its action on University
committees and day-to-day contact
with administrators. It also works to
develop programs to benefit the stu
dent.
Structurally, SG is broken into the
executive, legislative and judicial
branches.
The executive branch is headed by
McClure, a senior agricultural eco-
Researchers studying heat stress on
rock
One would hardly equate the av
alanche of noise in an earthquake
with the snap of a rock expanding or
contracting from the effects of heat.
But that’s much of what it is, a minia
ture earthquake.
When rock fractures, it gives off
acoustic emissions. A team of resear
chers at Texas A&M University are
monitoring the emissions as part of
an effort to plumb the secrets of why
and how rocks crack when subjected
to temperature changes.
The team, made up of Drs. John
Handin, Melvin Friedman and
Brann Johnson, from the College of
Geosciences, will do basic rock
mechanics research into the thermal
cracking of rock in a project funded
by the U.S. Air Force.
construction of silos, site footings
and other underground structures in
hard rock,” explained Dr. Johnson.
“Naturally, since construction costs
are escalating, they are looking for
alternate methods. However, it
should be pointed out that this work
becomes public domain and can be
used by industry or anyone in other
areas of research.
“We are pursuing basic research
into crack initiation and propagation
resulting from thermally-induced
stresses,” he said. “For example, we
are trying to understand how various
rock properties affect the number of
cracks formed and the extent of their
growth for a given thermal treat
ment. How can we start a crack and
how far will it go?
“Man has been observing the way
rocks crack in heat since he disco
vered fire,” Johnson pointed out.
“He didn’t use certain stones to bank
his fire because he knew they would
fracture explosively.
“Unfortunately, although the
phenomenon has long been recog
nized, our understanding of the way
rocks respond to temperature
changes is limited,” he said. “A real
understanding of how and why is just
being developed.
“Future extensions of our present
“Primarily, the Air Force is in
terested in this work in terms of
rapid excavation as related to the
■<:->> o o o c> o o o<> .
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A&M med school
awarded $320,000
grant by HEW
Texas A&M University has been
awarded a $320,000 grant by the
Department of Health, Education
and Welfare to assist in start-up ex
penses for the institution’s new med
ical education program.
The grant represents first-year
funding as part of a four-year prog
ram through which HEW helps new
medical schools accelerate the start
of instruction or increase the size of
the entering class.
Texas A&M’s medical program is
being organized in association with
Baylor College of Medicine in Hous
ton, Scott and White Memorial
Hospital in Temple and Veterans
Administration hospitals in Temple,
Waco and Marlin, said Dr. James A.
Knight, Texas A&M’s dean of
medicine.
Knight envisions enrolling the
first 32 medical students in the fall of
1977.
The program calls for enrolling
students in a pre-clinical curriculum
during what would normally be their
junior year and senior years at Texas
A&M and then continuing with the
clinical phases of their medical edu
cation for two years at Temple,
Waco, Marlin or Houston.
The $320,000 grant, first to be re
ceived from HEW for the Texas
A&M medical program, is in addi
tion to grants totaling $17,071,609
from the Veterans Administration.
The VA funds will be applied to fa
culty salaries over a seven-year
period and also make possible VA
facility modifications and improve
ments.
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studies of thermal cracking of rock
will be related to geothermal energy
extraction (using the earth’s heat), an
energy resource that could supple
ment nuclear, solar and fossil fuel
sources,” Johnson said.
One proposal being investigated
by another research group is the dry,
hot rock geothermal scheme. In
basic terms, the idea is to drill into
rock that is 200-300 degrees Centig
rade, hydraulically fracture the rock
at depth to develop a large vertical
crack.
“A second well is drilled to inter
sect the crack,” he said. “Water is
then pumped down one well, be
coming heated as it flows to the sec
ond well, where it is brought to the
surface.
“The thermal energy is then re
moved by a heat exchanger and used
ultimately in the generation of elec
tricity,” Johnson continued. “In this
closed system, the cooled water is
then pumped back into the hot rock
and the cycle continued.
“As the geothermal energy is re
moved, the rock in the vicinity of the
wells and hydraulic fractures gradu
ally becomes cooler than the rock
some distance away,” he said. “This,
in turn, results in thermally-induced
stresses which are expected to gen
erate more cracks in the cooling
rock.
“Ideally subsequent water flow
through these subsidiary thermal
cracks will allow more efficient ex
traction of thermal energy from a
larger volume of rock,” Johnson said.
“Although it doesn’t appear that
thermal cracking is necessary for the
success of this scheme, it could pos
sibly lengthen the life-time and
power output of an extraction site.
“Unfortunately, our present
knowledge doesn’t allow us to
adequately predict the chaml
thermal cracking,” he obse]
“Thus there’s need for adi
basic research into thermale
of rock.
“It is the aim of our future
mental and theoretical stud
study this problem undercoik]
that closely simulate thoseeip
in the dry, hot rock geoti
scheme,” Johnson concluded
Nematode mosquitoes enem]J
BELTSVILLE, Md. (AP) —
A Department of Agriculture
scientist says that a tiny para
site, a nematode called “Reesi-
mermis Nielseni,” is the deadly
enemy of many kinds of mos
quitoes, including those that
carry encephalitis and malaria.
Dr. William Nickle has been
raising the nematodes in
enormous quantities in his labo
ratory at the Agricultural Re
search Center here and watch
ing them go to work on hun
dreds of thousands of mosquito
larvae.
The parasite, a worm-like
creature a fraction of an inch
long, swims on the top of water
where the mosquito larvae are
growing. Once the parasite
touches a larva it emits a J
that sticks to the larva.
Then, Dr. Nickle says,!
nematode bites a hole iifi
larva and crawls inside ill
glue hardens and seals ||
hole.
Inside, the nematodes
on the larva in typical para
fashion. After a few days!
parasite cuts another holeil
host and emerges into thef
ter. The second hole does!
harden. The essential:
the larva drain out and thtl|
va dies.
‘A-a
The parasite, which is l
less to humans, might
prove to be the logical alter
tive to DDT, Nickle said.
I'Go
The American Medical Associa
tion/Association of American Medi
cal Colleges Liaison Committee on
Medical Education had a survey
team visit Texas A&M and the other
participating institutions earlier this
summer to evaluate the program for
provisional accreditation, which
would pave the way for enrolling the
first students, Knight said. The sur
vey team’s formal report is expected
at the liaison committee’s October
meeting.
The program passed the first
major step leading to accreditation
when the liaison committee earlier
issued a “letter of reasonable assur
ance,” indicating that prospects
were good that the program would
develop in a manner leading to full
accreditation, the dean explained. If
the program develops in the desired
manner, full accreditation could be
expected shortly before the first stu
dents are to graduate, he added.
WELCOME TO
AGGIELAND
We at Community Cabievision congratulate all incomi
Freshmen for their selection of Texas A&M and we welcoi
all returning Upperclassmen. As this new school year begins
Community Cabievision would like to be a part of your entei
tainment and relaxation by offering you the finest recepi
available via cable TV for your TV set or FM stereo radio,
cable TV system is now available on campus in the followii
dorms:
DUNN
KRUGER
DAVIS-GARY
SCHUMACHER
KEATHLEY
HOTARD
ASTON
MOSHER
MOSES
LEGGETT
CROCKER
MclNNIS
MOORE
PURYEAR
WALTON
FOWLER
HART
WOFFORD CAIN
LAW
HUGHES
PLUS MANY OF THE APARTMENT COMPLEXES OFF CAMPUS
TO BE ABLE TO RECEIVE THE 12 TV STATIONS AND THE FULL-BAND FM I
SELECTION* (SOME 24-RLUS STATIONS) OFFERED, CALL US JUST AS SOON AS C
HAVE YOUR RESIDENCY LOCATION FINALIZED. THE RATES ARE LOW: THE SERVf
IS EXCELLENT.
oB
*Good news! For your TV viewing we will again have TAMU Football-1976
Aggie football coaches and players exclusively on channel 4 and on our FM stai|
selections your own student government radio: 89.1 on your dial.
LATE-RUN, UNCUT
UNCENSORED
MOVIES
HOME BOX OFFICE FROM TIME/LIFE
SPORTS FEATURES
AND
SELECTED SHORT
SUBJECTS
OUR BUSINESS IS SERVICE — WE WOULD LIKE TO SERVE YOU!
DON A. ADAM, ’57
PRESIDENT
E. GORDON GREGG, ’61
VICE PRESIDENT, SALES
JACK M. THREADGILL, U
VICE PRESIDENT, ENG.
BARRY DONNELLY, ’70 — PROGRAM DIRECTOR