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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 24, 2002)
U Opinion: Texas county may ban books • Page 9 Aggielife: Not your typical beer bash • Page 3 i> a npnr a i rnisj 13/A JL XAJLlv/lN I Volume 109 • Issue 18 • 10 pages www.thebatt.com Tuesday, September 24, 2002 A&M collaborates with Navy for underwater vessel By Melissa McKeon THE BATTALION ^■exas A&M collaborated with the United States Navy to build a prototype of an autonomous submarine that is taking the science of engineering to a new level, said associate professor of aerospace engineering Dr. Othon Rediniotis. ^■he submarine propels itself through water by moving like a fish. It is constructed with metal alloys that remember shapes and is held together with fish-like vertebrae that contract and expand as they are heated and cooled. This allows it to move forward as the body of the submarine bends and contracts. “We (Texas A&M) were involved in the basic research and development,” Rediniotis said. “The Navy will decide how they want to take advantage of this new technology.” The submarine will be completely self-directed and will replace today’s existing Remotely Operated Vehicles, (ROVs). This vessel is part of a new type of engineering designed to integrate bio logical mechanisms into man-made machines. Rediniotis said. The major benefit from this new technology is that no ripples can be seen on the water’s surface above the submarine, making it superior to sub marines in use today, he said. A full- scale version of the submarine could be as long as 10 to 13 feet and would be used for underwater recovery missions or exploration, Rediniotis said. A&M could collaborate further with the Navy in order to build the actual version of the submarine. Civil engineering major Greg Dykes said the prototype vehicle is making use of emerging technology. “This machine has mechanical parts that are able to replicate the structure and motions of a living thing,” Dykes said. “The possibilities of this type of machine and its technology seem to be limitless and full of remarkable potential.” A&M got involved with the project in 1997, Rediniotis said. The Navy detailed its certain specifications and cost requirements. A&M submitted a technical proposal and was given money to start research for building the prototype. The vessel was com pleted in 2000. The cost for the whole project totaled $500,000, Rediniotis said. But the main issues in the development and cost of the project had to do mostly with resolving technical issues. “The machine’s muscles are made out of shape-memory alloys,” Rediniotis said. “So one of the central issues was to figure out how to control body shape.” See Submarine on page 2 Multicultural services hosts third annual Awareness Week By Lecia Baker THE BATTALION The Department of Multicultural Services is hosting its third annual Awareness Week this week to familiarize Texas A&M students, faculty and stall with the programs and services that the department provides. The theme for the week is “Celebrating Fifteen Years of Excellence,” symbolizing the depart ment’s fifteenth year of operation at A&M. Megan Paisa, assistant director of the Department of Multicultural Services, said the department is working to prepare leaders for a multicultural world. She said the week will open the department’s doors to new students, staff and administrators and make them aware of all the services the department offers, such as diversity education and student success programs. The department’s ultimate goal is to assist the people of A&M in accepting others’ differences. Paisa said. “This is a wonderful campus and we need to work hard in all areas to learn to better accept peo ple that are different than ourselves,” she said. Through the DMS Awareness Week, the depart ment wants to open up the lines of communication See Awareness on page 2 A&M task force researches possible new department By Sarah Walch THE BATTALION Texas A&M is beginning to build a base for research in child development issues, as a recently established task force takes steps in establishing at A&M what other universities already have. The University Children, Youth and Families (CYF) Initiative Task Force held its first seminar on Monday after noon. The CYF Task Force was appointed in June to address the lack of a department of child development at A&M, said Dr. Jan Hughes, associate dean for research in the College of Education and professor of edu cational psychology. Hughes also serves as a co chair for the task force. “There is a lot of expertise related to children, youth and families within A&M faculty,” Hughes said. “At the moment no infrastructure exists, but we intend to aggressively establish links across colleges and departments.” An evaluation of A&M's research capabilities in child development began in the fall of 2001, Hughes said. The provost asked the dean of education to identify faculty in fields related to children, youth and family, and 54 faculty members first met and began discussions in January 2002. At Monday’s seminar, Vice President for Research Dr. Richard Ewing unveiled the new CYF logo, designed by graduate architecture student Carrie Greene. Ewing said the task force was created in an effort to bring together expertise so that people could talk about issues that have never before been discussed. “We want to maximize research in areas that directly impact humankind,” Ewing said. “Federal funding is increasing (and) there is enor mous potential for research on this critical issue at Texas A&M. We may not be the first, but we do want to be the best.” Hughes said students at A&M will also benefit from the program from better educa tional opportunities in child psychology, child and family sociology, and research oppor tunities related to childhood and the social sciences. University of Virginia Curry School of Education professor and keynote speaker Dr. Robert Pianta said the issue of institu tional research affecting the public and public policy “sits in the fault lines of our culture.” “The discourse between the public and the researchers has not been worked out yet,” Pianta said. “It will be a very large role to fill, to educate Texas about research on child development in an informative way.” Pianta was instrumental in a large developmental research program funded by the National Institutes of Health. His presentation addressed numerous issues that faculty from all related disciplines might consider. Pianta recom mended multi-level, long-term studies to most effectively ana lyze the current programs. “You need an interdiscipli nary approach to address com plex questions,” Pianta said. See Department on page 2 Improvements to WebCT allow students access to more courses By Eric Ambroso THE BATTALION Improvements in the WebCT Internet course management system at Texas A&M will allow stu dents to access a greater number of courses and faculty to offer more information online, said Jan Richards, assistant director of the Office of Distance Education. The WebCT system supported by A&M is an online, password-protected course template that gives faculty an automatic place for course material, grades, homework, discussion boards and e-mail. Students can use WebCT to communicate with their professors and other students easily online. This fall, 230 courses will be active on WebCT, along with more than 350 sections and 11,500 students, Richards said. Starting this fall, faculty members and students will be able to log in to WebCT using their Neo username and password. Every student and faculty member is automatically given a Neo account when they join the University, which is used for registra tion and official e-mail services. In years past, stu dents have had to collaborate with their professors in order to create a username and password when using WebCT. Students will simply log in with their preferred Neo username and go directly to their courses. Students will use their ID’s and passwords like a bank account to access their courses. New features in the system will provide increased security and easier use for faculty and students. Allowing users to have predetermined usernames and passwords will provide increased security for the WebCT, Richards said. “Using the Neo usernames and passwords will provide external authentication to the WebCT,” she said. “It should be far more secure and easier.” Faculty members will automatically have their classroom roster placed in their course listing, which will allow professors to control access to their course material without entering each of their students in separately. This becomes important when students use WebCT to turn in assignments and professors post grades. See WebCT on page 2 WebCT Improvements : Students will now be able to log in to WebCT using their Neo username and password. WebCT has: • Over 230 courses active * More than 350 sections available TRAVIS SWENSON • THE BATTALION WebCT Web Come Toot Gore: Bush’s Iraq war push makes world more dangerous ■SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A1 Gore harshly criticized President Bush’s push for war against Iraq, say ing it has hurt the United States’ stand ing and could dangerously undermine the rule of law around the world. ■“After Sept. 11, we had enormous sympathy, goodwill and support around the world,” Gore said Monday. “We’ve squandered that, and in one year we've replaced that with fear, anxiety and uncertainty, not at what the terrorists are going to do but at what we are going to do.” In his first major speech on the Iraq situation, the once and possibly future Democratic presidential candidate accused Bush of abandoning the goal of a world where nations follow laws. “That concept would be displaced by the notion that there is no law but the discretion of the president of the United States,” he said. “If other nations assert the same right, then the rule of law will quickly be replaced by the reign of fear,” and any nation that perceives itself threat ened would feel justified in starting wars, he said. Gore also told an enthusiastic Commonwealth Club crowd he would decide in December whether to chal lenge Bush again for the presidency in 2004. Gore always has supported over throwing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and was one of the few Senate Democrats who voted in favor of the Gulf War resolution after Iraq attacked Kuwait. He said he felt betrayed by the first President Bush’s “hasty withdraw al from the battlefield.” But like other leading Democrats, Gore has expressed reservations in recent months about military action against Iraq, suggesting the diplomatic costs would be extremely high. His speech Monday was much more critical, warning of ominous and untold consequences, ranging from a short-term power vacuum that could increase the danger of chemical and biological attacks, to the creation of legions of enemies angry and fearful about U.S. domination. “If we end the war in Iraq the way we ended the war in Afghanistan, we could easily be worse off than we are today,” Gore said. Gore described his speech as an effort to lay out an alternative to the course of action pursued by the Bush administration. Even before securing United Nations support for a multinational war against Iraq, Bush asked Congress to approve the use of “all means that he determines to be appropriate, including force,” in a unilateral effort to topple Saddam Hussein. Gore urged Congress not to give the president such a broad mandate. “It needs to be narrowed,” said Gore, See Gore on page 2
