DAILY LOBO new mexico
Offense shaping up
friday
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April 15, 2011
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
On Thursday, fifth graders at Monte Vista Elementary raced balloonpowered racecars they built with help from UNM engineering students. Students used the racecars to help teach about basic engineering concepts like aerodynamics over the course of three weeks.
THE VILLAGE
Construction continues at the Lobo Village apartments on south campus. The apartments are slated to be completed by August, and fewer than 30 tenant slots are remaining, according to a Lobo Village e-mail.
Photo courtesy of Mark Dalen
Engineering fun UNM students teach fifth-graders to build racecars by Chelsea Erven cerven@unm.edu
Fifth-graders at Monte Vista Elementary school raced mini, balloon-powered racecars Thursday designed with the help of UNM engineering students. Ten UNM engineering seniors spent the past weeks teaching 50 fifth-graders engineering terms and concepts and helping them build the racecars as part of a volunteer program through the Society of Automotive Engineers. UNM Student Ashley Brill, the program’s spokeswoman, said teaching the children was rewarding. “It was really awesome for me to see that they’ve actually learned engineering concepts at 10 or 11 years old,” she said. “There are these words like ‘aerodynamic’ coming out of their mouths, and I know they learned that from us.” Engineering student Tanya Rodriguez said she wants to inspire children to pursue engineering. “It’s fun to interact with the kids and see them actually trying to understand what we do and get all
these concepts and actually think of it as fun,” she said. “They get a chance to know what engineers do, and it’s great to see them in the beginning not knowing a thing about engineering, and now they understand it and explain it in detail.” Brill said the fifth-graders learned to design their racecars to excel in certain areas, such as weight carrying and distance. The competitions were divided into categories to determine which racecars performed best in which areas. Fifth-grader Ryan Bowles said he thought his car would win the competition. Bowles made his car’s wheels out of plastic lids and straw axles. All of the children’s cars were made entirely of recyclable materials, fifth-grader Titus Anderson said. “Our car is really awesome, and it was fun making it because we got to make it out stuff that wasn’t really expensive,” Anderson said. “It was all recyclable, so we’re helping the environment while still having fun.”
see Engineers page 3
Robert Maes Daily Lobo
ASUNM approves aide to president by Kevin Forte
kforte@unm.edu
ASUNM has a new chief-of-staff as of Wednesday night. The ASUNM Senate passed a measure 18-1-1 to replace former Chief-of-Staff Michael Thorning with freshman ChristopherRomero.
Romero will fill in as chief-of-staff for the remainder of the semester. Members of ASUNM’s Outreach and Appointments Committee said Romero, who was not previously a member of ASUNM, lacks experience. “The view is that the appointment was a little bit sketchy because of him being a freshman,” Committee Chair Nick Ramos said. ASUNM President Laz Cardenas said Romero was the only applicant for the position. He said he trusts Romero’s ability to serve as chiefof-staff for the few weeks left in the semester. Romero did not attend the meeting. “The most important aspect for any chief-of-staff or anyone in any position is trust — is trust in the individual,” Cardenas said. “You may be a hard worker. You may
be a good worker, but if you’re a person that you cannot trust, then it doesn’t really matter.” Cardenas told the Daily Lobo on April 4 that Thorning, who resigned from the chief-of-staff position last month, broke Cardenas’ trust. He said he was one of the last people to know that Thorning planned to run against ASUNM Presidential Candidate Jaymie Roybal, who was previously running unopposed. In response, Thorning said Cardenas cut his chief-of-staff duties in half three days after telling Cardenas he planned to run against Roybal. Thorning, who planned to run on the New Day slate, dropped out of the election March 4. Tim Mousseau is now the presidential candidate with the New Day Slate and will run against Roybal from the Now Slate. The election takes place Wednesday.
Unstable dam floods houses by James MacPherson
Associated Press
Eric Hylden/AP Photo Mikey, a springer spaniel, checks out floodwater from the Red River as volunteer sandbaggers work to shore up a dike on Wednesday in Grand Forks, N.D.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 115
issue 137
Question of the week
Negedu benched
See page 2
See page 6
BURLINGTON, N.D.— The Des Lacs River in northwest North Dakota began a slow drop on Thursday, but authorities continued to monitor a weak and leaky dam protecting a neighborhood of about 30 homes. Water levels had fallen more than a foot and the river had retreated from overflowed banks by about 3 feet compared to a day earlier, state and local officials said. Water behind the troubled Burlington Dam No. 1 was down by about a half-foot, said Todd Sando, North Dakota’s state engineer. “The good news is the dam is still there and it’s holding steady,” Sando said
Thursday afternoon. Flooding fears had eased elsewhere in North Dakota. A 30-mile stretch of Interstate 29 reopened north of Fargo after being closed by overland flooding, and to Fargo’s west, officials said Valley City appeared poised to escape flooding from the Sheyenne River after raising its levees. In Burlington, the strength of the 77-yearold dam has been suspect for decades but this year’s flooding has spurred a need to either repair the dam or intentionally breach it by next spring, Sando said. “We’re not going to leave it the way it is,” he said. The dam was built in the 1930s for irrigation and
see Floods page 3
TODAY
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