DW WILDLIFE
Having fun helping Haiti
Local band Race You There to raise funds during their CD release party at Plush
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Arizona Daily Wildcat
The independent student voice of the University of Arizona since 1899 wednesday, january , dailywildcat.com
tucson, arizona
UA grad runs for state house ASUA By Brian Mori ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT
Just over a year and a half after graduating from the UA, Dustin Cox, 24, is making good on his promise to run for state office. Cox graduated from Skyline High School in Mesa, Ariz., in 2004. He was awarded the Flinn Scholarship for academic excellence and community service, which he could use at any Arizona public university. Cox said the scholarship, which he
valued at about $60,000, persuaded him to stay in-state. “I was on my way to Stanford when I got the Flinn Scholarship, and you don’t give up the Flinn,” he said. Cox worked with UA student government to bring cohesive social justice programs to college students, which he believed were missing at the UA. He developed A-Town at UA, which is a branch of Anytown Arizona, Inc., a national nonprofit youth leadership organization devoted to promoting
social awareness, diversity and involvement for high school students. “I found the money from all over the place — private and corporate donations, and the UA,” Cox said. “(College students) have the passion, the energy and the resources at our institutions of higher education to really wield a lot of influence and make some changes in policy and practice, and make a huge impact on our community.” Cox said A-Town programs let students work for causes that interest them.
“It’s kinda like a boot camp for folks who want to make a difference,” Cox said. “No matter where you’re from, what you’ve done, (A-Town) educates you about issues and inspires you to do things about them.” Since earning his Bachelor of Arts in political science and sociology, Cox has served as executive director at Anytown Arizona, Inc. and Anytown America. The Arizona Daily Star named Cox one of Tucson’s top 40 professionals under age 40 in 2009. COX, page A10
appoints chief justice By Taylor Avey ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT
Gordon Bates/Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA Space Sciences is in the running for a $650 million research grant to study the composition of asteroids whose paths of travel intersect with the orbit of the Earth. The sculpture outside of the UA Flandrau Science Center and Mineral Museum is an example of what the center of an asteroid looks like when it is floating in space and before it enters our atmosphere and becomes a meteorite.
UA up for $650 mil from NASA By Jazmine Woodberry ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT
UA Space Sciences is competing against three other schools for a chance to run a NASA space mission. The UA could receive $650 million for the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from NASA’s New Frontiers spaceexploration grant project. OSIRIS-REx will be used to
retrieve rock samples from an asteroid more ancient than Earth, providing samples for both research and museum exhibits. If the UA lands this gig, it will be the biggest research project in UA’s history. “We do a lot of great studies of meteorites but we don’t understand the context,” said Dante Lauretta, deputy chief of the OSIRIS-REx mission. “So this asteroid return mission gives you
that critical piece of information where we can say, ‘This piece came from that spot on the asteroid.’” Lauretta noted that these carbonrich rock samples could have organic carbons and clay minerals with water inside, possibly explaining how DNA developed. Chris Shinohara, science operations center manager on the project, sees even more positive results for NASA
and the UA. “People have been looking at manned asteroid missions,” Shinohara said. This mission would be a good precursor to such an endeavor, he added. “I think (this project) will help position the UA for many other opportunities out there,” Shinohara said. OSIRIS, page A10
In the first week of the spring semester, the Associate Students of the University of Arizona appointed first-year graduate law student Jen Dang as a justice to the ASUA Supreme Court. This week they will promote her to Chief Justice of the supreme court. Today’s ASUA meeting will be in the Ventana Room of the Student Union Memorial Center at 5 p.m. Current Chief Justice Melanie Rainer is unable to perform her duties this semester, and will relinquish her title to Dang, according to Emily Fritze, executive vice president of ASUA. Also on the agenda, ASUA will plan an event to acknowledge all the people involved in the textbook rental project. Frank Farias, assistant vice president of Student Affairs and executive director of UofA Bookstores will partner with the Arizona Student Association’s State-wide Chairman, Kenneth Strocsher, a political science and contemporary western-European politics junior to plan the event. The textbook rental program was initiated to reduce students’ textbook burden each semester. It was also designed to provide professors the option of scanning excerpts of books, instead of requiring students to buy entire textbooks, according to Tyler Quillin, an ASUA senator who participated in the program. Since the launch of the textbook rental program, the number of book titles offered has increased from 20 titles to 400 titles. “We’ve made significant strides toward the textbook rental program,” Quillin said. “[The presentation is] to commend the hard work of the people in the bookstore.” Farias will come prepared to update senators and students on the progress of the program. Senators will also review and vote to approve the 12 budget items on the consent agenda.
If you go:
Ventana Room of the Student Union Memorial Center at 5 p.m.
UA Tech Park to house solar plant, flowers By Laura Donovan ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT
Bell Independent Power Corp. has chosen the UA Science and Technology Park to house a new solar plant. “We believe that we can be a major demonstration facility for solar energy,” said Bruce Wright, associate vice president for University Research Parks. The park recently celebrated its 15-year anniversary. The celebration focused on planning for the next 15 years and developing a “Solar Zone” as a means of obtaining alternative energy resources. The solar plant, which will be an anchor tenant of the UA Tech Park’s solar zone, will use up to 45 acres of parabolic solar mirrors to capture solar energy. “The park is partly a demonstration site for solar energy,” Wright said. “We want to introduce the public to solar awareness.” Wright hopes to bring additional types of solar energy to the newly established “Solar Zone.”
“We’re committed to being sustainable, and the park aims to showcase its expertise and play in the solar energy market,”Wright said. The Tech Park preserves resources in other ways. At present, the UA Tech Park recycles all water, including domestic and waste, on site. In selecting the solar plant site, Bell Corp. looked for the best place for a solar generating station, and was also interested in developing a relationship with a university. “The UA Tech Park is a good site for this facility because of their ability to accelerate permitting and will allow us access the University of Arizona’s capabilities,” said Bell Corp. President Joseph Bell Jr.
UA Tech Park to house solar plant 45 acres for the solar plant to be placed in innovative “Solar Zone”
Courtsey of the UA Science and Technology Park
The UA Science and Technology Park is planning on housing a new solar plant called the “Solar Zone” within the next 15 years.
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