THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I © 2015 STUDENT MEDIA I ©THEBATTONLINE
Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION
By Zach Grinovich
A new technology that uses nano-
composite hydrogels to effec-
-Z. .Actively regrow bones may one day
change the way serious bone breaks and
health issues are treated.
Texas A&M researchers have devel
oped a gel that induces bone regenera
tion when injected near a large bone in
jury. While the research is still in testing
phases, those involved say it could one
day change the way doctors treat seri
ous bone injuries in both the civilian and
military world.
“The bone is an amazing organ,” said
Akhilesh Gaharwar, biomedical engi
neering professor and project leader.
“It can regenerate itself if it has a small
defect. However, if the defect is bigger
than two or three centimeters, the bone
will not be able to heal itself.”
Large bone defects and fractures are
difficult to treat. Bone grafts are cur
rently the best way to treat large de
fects and fractures. Bone is taken from a
bone bank, or, often, from the patient’s
own body, and is placed at the site of
the defect. This approach, however, is
a complex procedure that can result in
patient complications — drawbacks that
Gaharwar said make it far from optimal.
Bone treatments and their success are
made more serious in the world today as
the U.S. population ages and bone prob
lems become the most common medical
issues, said Jake Carrow, a doctoral stu
dent in Gaharwar’s lab.
“Aging is a common theme to ev
eryone and longevity of life can lead to
more wear and tear on the body,” Car-
row said. “Being able to regenerate lost
BONE RESEARCH ON PC. 5
LIBRARIES
Cushing
unveils gay
literature
collection
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U»RAfWS
Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION
Don Kelly speaks at the opening for his
gay literature collection Wednesday.
Kelly: Tm just a gay man who has
loved literature all his life'
By Gracie Mock
To kickstart A&M’s GLBT Awareness
^ Week on the 30th anniversary of Gay
Student Services v. Texas A&M, a recently
acquired collection of gay literature was un
veiled at Cushing Library Wednesday.
The new exhibit — “Lives. Liberation.
Love.” — spotlights portions of the Don
Kelly Research Collection of Gay Literature
and Culture.
The exhibit’s namesake, Kelly, said
Wednesday he is not a book dealer or scholar,
just someone with a love for literature.
“I’m just a gay man who has loved litera
ture all his life and this has been a passion —
one of the reasons because I think it helps me
understand the gay condition and it’s a reflec
tion of my own life,” Kelly said. “I will say
that maybe I collected the books, but in some
sense, some curious sense, the books have re
ally collected me.”
Rebecca Hankins, associate professor and
archivist, found the collection. She came
across the news online that Kelly and his col
lection were in Houston in 2012 and con
tacted him about coming to A&M, but bud
geting issues prevented the meeting. In 2014,
she again contacted Kelly and the support
“snowballed” from there.
The collection will be on display at Cush
ing Library until May 2016 and boasts more
than 8,000 items, many of them first editions,
with about 2,000 of them signed by their au
thor. One of the major books in the collection
is by a Canadian author named Ian Young,
who did a bibliography of all gay male litera
ture — a resource that was used as a template
for the collection, Kelly said.
“What started off as a gay book collec
tion became a gay publications collection
and has since been expanded to the lesbian
CUSHING ON PG. 5
Cody Franklin —THE BATTALION
(Top right) A bat rests on a dividing net in the REC. At the stairs near the
climbing wall, students are warned to stay away from a captured bat.
Kyle Field bats find
new home in REC
Stadium renovations displace
250,000-strong bat population
By Spencer Davis
The A&M Student Recreation Center
^ usually sees attendance dwindle as finals
approach. This year, however, the building
has some new inhabitants — hundreds of
Mexican free-tailed bats.
The bats are part of an indigenous popu
lation of 250,000 bats that have inhabited
Kyle Field since it was first built 87 years
ago. When the university began its $485
million renovation of the stadium, remov
ing the population was one of its goals.
With warmer temperatures returning,
the bats are migrating back from their win
ter home in Mexico and finding that their
access to Kyle Field is blocked — sending
them into other campus buildings. James
Nash, associate director of facilities for Rec
Sports, said while efforts to remove the bats
are ongoing, students can expect to still see
some around the Rec Center.
“This process will seal areas that bats
typically use to enter the facility and allow
BATS ON PG. 6
BASEBALL
Aggies head to
Kentucky for
SEC 3-game
weekend series
By Andre Perrard
^ As the newly anointed No. 1 team in the
^ country, Texas A&M did not disappoint
in its mid-week game against Sam Houston
State. Behind a record-setting third inning,
the Aggies rocked the Bearkats with 19 runs.
Now they face a stretch of 27 games, 21 of
which are against teams who participated in
the 2014 NCAA Tournament. The first test
begins Thursday night against the Kentucky
Wildcats on the road in Lexington.
Kentucky (18-11, 4-5 SEC) comes in fac
ing its second consecutive top-ranked team
this weekend, after winning the series at for
mer No. 1 LSU last weekend. The Wildcats
boast a 8-3 record at home this season. Ka’ai
BASEBALL ON PG. 3
FACULTY
I ■ ■ :■■■ . ■'!
A&M deals with
social security
number mishap
Hussey: release result of failure by
employees in provost's office
By Lindsey Gawlik
An number of A&M faculty and graduate
student social security numbers were acci
dentally posted to an insecure website in early
March — a security misstep that administra
tors addressed Wednesday in a campus-wide
email and at a Vision 2020 forum.
The social security numbers for any A&M
faculty member or graduate student who
taught classes during the Fall 2014 semester
were mistakenly posted online. Administra
tors say every visitor to the website while the
information was displayed is accounted for,
and the threat of fraud is low.
Interim President Mark Hussey sent out an
email alerting all faculty, graduate students and
undergraduate students about the occurrence,
and said the incident has since been handled
accordingly.;
“With regard to the on-line posting of
SSNs, we have completed our internal inves
tigation of this incident and concluded that
J.B. Moss and Nick Banks tap helmets
Wednesday against Sam Houston.
Tim Lai—THE BATTALION
Provost Karan Watson says the threat
level surrounding the posting of social
security numbers is low.
this release resulted from the failure of at least
two employees in a unit under the provost’s
office to follow established internal security
procedures,” Hussey said in the email. “Texas
A&M University System Audit will also be
conducting an investigation of this incident
as well to provide an independent assessment
of what internal controls were not followed
along with what actions they recommend be
taken.”
Hussey said those whose social security
numbers were posted have all been notified,
and he encouraged anyone involved who sus
pected fraudulent activity in their accounts to
immediately call the University Police De
partment. Letters were sent to those whose
information was accidentally released, and a
monitoring service was provided to them for
the flext two years, Hussey said.
Provost Karan Watson also addressed the
issue at the start of Wednesday’s final Vision
2020 strategic planning forum.
Watson said those whose information was
exposed were faculty and graduate students
who taught classes at A&M in the fall of 2014.
SOCIAL SECURITY ON PG. 5