MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I © 2015 STUDENT MEDIA I ©THEBATTONLINE
Crash kills two students, one in critical condition
By Katie Canales
Two students were killed in a
one-car accident around 1:10
a.m. Sunday while heading north
west on FM 244, according to
KBTX. Two more Aggies were in
jured in the crash, with one in criti
cal condition at the Temple Scott
& White Memorial Hospital as of
Sunday evening.
Kinesiology junior Corinthia
“Nikki” Williams and communica
tion senior Alexis Emmou, the driv
er of the car, were pronounced dead
on the scene. History junior Rene
Contreras, a passenger, is in critical
condition at the Temple Scott &
White Memorial Hospital and Tyra
Preston, university studies senior,
was treated at St. Joseph Regional
Health Center in Bryan.
D’Juan “DJ.” Johnson, sports
management junior, said Williams,
who was known as “Nikki Nikki
Nikki” to her friends, was support
ive and protective of those close to
her.
“She was a good friend,” Johnson
said. “She was a real, true friend.”
Esteli Nyampundu, interdisci
plinary studies senior, said she knew
Williams for four years.
“Nikki was a very, very loveable
person,” Nyampundu said. “When
ever she walked in a room, best be
lieve you’re about to laugh.”
CRASH ON PC. 2
BATT
THE BATTALION I THEBATT.COM
Vanessa Pefta — THE BATTALION
By Zachary Grinovich
eeing isn’t necessarily believing any
more.
Due to technological advances,
physicists can say with a high degree
of certainty, that everything that can be seen
in the physical world is less than five percent
of what is actually there. The other ninety-
five percent is a combination of dark matter
and dark energy. Dark matter is still highly
ambiguous but, thanks to an international
collaboration, it may soon be discovered in
part with instruments under development at
Texas A&M.
The Super Cryogenic ITark Matter Search,
\or SCDMS, will be one of the biggest dark
matter detection experiments in history. It
aims to use detectors of unparalleled sensi
tivity placed two kilometers underground to
try and record dark matter for the first time.
These detectors are being designed by a team
of A&M physicists to determine the nature
of dark matter.
Rupak Mahapatra, physics professor, along
with professors David Toback, Rusty Harris
and Nader Mirabolfathi, are at the forefront
in United States’ efforts to find dark matter.
The search is tough — humans cannot see
or feel dark matter because its particles don't
interact with the observable world.
“Dark matter has no electromagnetic in
teraction,” Mahapatra said. “Of course they
have gravity, but they also have a weak inter
action. What this means is that if you pass a
billion times a billion times a billion particles
through your body, every once in a while,
one will hit you.”
It is not a concept that is easily grasped,
but Mahapatra explained it in simple terms.
MATTER ON PG. 2
Young steps
into role as
A&M head
Tanner Garza —THE BATFALIGN
President Michael K. Young met with
media members during his first day at
Texas A&M on Friday.
By Mark Do re
A revitalized Kyle Field is months from its
^ unveiling, enrollment continues to rise, con
struction projects dot the campus landscape and
a handful of new deans are in place. And now,
one more change at a university full of them —
the president’s office has a pennanent occupant.
Seated around a large wooden conference ta
ble in a conservative blue shirt and floral maroon
tie, A&M president Michael K. Young spoke
exclusively with The Battalion Friday morning
about his first official day, his perceptions of the
student body and his vision for the university’s
future.
His optimism for the path on which A&M
heads is rooted in, among other things, the na
ture of the students and the way he has been
received.
“The passion for the university it something
I’ve never seen,” Young said. “When you have
all these former and current students and tre
mendous faculty supporters, all kind of galva
nized behind this university, it really is unique.”
Young, who was previously president of the
universities of Utah and Washington, was put
YOUNG ON PG. 2
Senior responds to needs
of Nepal after earthquake
Alli Bradshaw —THE BATTALION
Biomedical sciences senior Jonathan Brewer will travel to
Nepal after graduation to aid in relief efforts.
By Sam King
Jonathan Brewer has been
eagerly counting down the
days to graduation. But near the
end of his countdown, a mas
sive earthquake struck Nepal on
April 25. Now, Brewer is count
ing down to a different date.
Along with a team of similar
ly impassioned medical profes
sionals through an organization
known as International Medical
Relief, the biomedical sciences
senior will head to Nepal at the
end of May to offer his help to
the relief efforts.
On April 25, Nepal was hit by
a earthquake, and according to a
tweet on Sunday from Nepal’s
National Emergency Operation
Center, 7,250 people have died
and 14,267 people are injured.
Brewer, who has been to
Haiti three times to help, the
first trip coming a year after the
earthquake from which the is
land country is still recovering,
said he was sitting in class read
ing about the earthquake when
he felt a calling to go be a part
of the relief.
NEPAL ON PG. 2
Cadets wrestle during activities tied to the informal transfer of ranks during the March to the Brazos.
March to the Brazos raises $113,000
Top fundraising units
1. E-1
2. Squadron 2
3. E-2 S
4. F-1
5.F-2
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Clair© Shepherd — THE BATTALION
By Lindsey Gawlik
^ More than 2,200 from the Texas
^ A&M Coips of Cadets made an
18-mile trek starting and ending at
the Quad Saturday for the 39th an
nual March to the Brazos.
This year, the Corps raised
$113,000 for the March of the
Dimes, a nonprofit that works to
prevent premature births and aid
children with birth defects.
Becky Goss-Shepherd, March of
Dimes division director for the Wa-
co-Temple-Kileen and Bryan-Col-
lege Station areas, said it was amazing
to see the Corps, whose outfits com
pete to raise the most money, come
together at the March to the Brazos.
“It’s amazing to watch them all
come together because [we’ve] been
working with them all as individuals
and groups and that sort of thing, so
this day is really more about the cel
ebration of it,” Goss-Shepherd said.
Breanne Gorbutt, community di
rector of the Brazos Valley chapter of
March of Dimes, said each outfit var
ies in what they do to raise money.
“Some send their guys out with
their Corps boots and they go door
to door in Houston or in Dallas and
collect money that way,” Gorbutt
said. “Some it’s just all parents, some
hold barbecues — it’s just different
for every outfit.”
The March to the Brazos serves as
the largest strident-run funding event
in the nation for March of Dimes.
This year, David Gardner’s Jewel
ers contributed to' the competitive
spirit among the outfits by donating
a watch bearing the recently updated
MARCH ON PG. 4