DAILY LOBO new mexico
Fight for life see page 4
September 16, 2011
friday
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
UNMH construction drafted, cost unclear
SUPPORT FOR IMMIGRANTS
Expansion, redistricting required for continued growth by Charlie Shipley
charlieshipley84@gmail.com
Dylan Smith / Daily Lobo UNM students (left to right), Karina Zubiate, Klarissa Mier and Susana Perez Participate in a candle light vigil in front of the UNM bookstore last night. The gathering was held to support New Mexican immigrants, regardless of their immigration status, in the face of the looming bill supported by Guv. Suzanna Martinez that it would make it impossible to get a license without proper documentation of citizenship.
The main building of UNM Hospital will be demolished to make way for a proposed new Adult Acute Care Hospital as part of the UNM Health Sciences Center (UNMHSC) Master Plan. The plan, under the direction of architecture firm Dekker, Perich and Sabbatini, says the UNMH main building is a special-use facility with an incompatible structural grid and outdated infrastructure. Though portions of the building would be salvageable, the costs of isolating them as stand-alone buildings and keeping them open during demolition are not feasible, according to the document. UNMHSC spokesman Billy Sparks said it’s not possible to determine the cost of the construction at this stage of the Master Plan. “In the sense of the Master Plan itself, cost would be determined at the time of construction,” Sparks said. He said there are a variety of possible sources of funding from which the HSC could obtain funding. “Things are typically done through a combination of bonds and capital outlay funds from the state as well as federal funds, which sometimes come into play,” he said. Sparks said in addition to the Adult Acute Care Hospital, a children’s care hospital is also under consideration. The plan also allows for the HSC to be developed into four distinct “districts,” including education, clinic, hospital and mixed. The mixed district will be developed by a public and private partnership rather than the UNMHSC. Possible uses include housing, retail and office space. The proposed “districts” would make it easier for visitors and
patients to navigate through the campus and incorporate necessary additional parking and open space, the plan said. Paul Roth, executive vice president of UNMHSC, said the hospital has seen recent growth, but he said additional expansion is vital to continued success.
“We’ve got a growing population, Existing facilities right now are at capacity or exceeding capacity” ~Carolyn Abeita HSC chairman “Over the last 10 years, HSC has grown at an average annual rate of six percent,” he said. “Our campus has expanded to the west in order to meet the growing educational, clinical and research demands.” There are already capacity problems in the HSC, said Carolyn Abeita, chairman of the HSC board of directors. “We’ve got a growing population. Existing facilities right now are at capacity or exceeding capacity,” she said. “That’s primarily the number one reason for what you see in the Master Plan, to accommodate the growth as the community expands.” Dale Dekker of Dekker, Perich and Sabbatini said the plan will expand facilities in an ordered, constructive way. “This plan reflects the need for growth, north of Lomas and at UNMH. Everything north of Lomas is going to respond to that growth. The state is going to grow by a million people over the next 25 years.”
Engineering teachers dunked to raise money by Michael Howland-Davis mnhdavis@unm.edu
How do you build a better dunk tank? Add an engineering student, a barbeque grill, a water pump and about 20 feet of copper tubing. “I think the dunk tank worked just fine — I mean look at me,” Professor Arup Maji said, sopping wet after a few rounds in the dunk tank. “The water heater was a really nice touch.” It’s actually a thermo-transferheat-exchanger — after all, it is an engineer’s dunk tank. UNM’s chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Chi Epsilon, the engineering honor society, held a “dunk your professor” fundraiser on Wednesday. More than 100 students, faculty and staff lined up for a chance to send engi-
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 116
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neers into the tank, and then grab a quick lunch. “This is a great opportunity for students and professors to bond and get to know each other,” Steven Gomez, president of UNM ASCE, said Wednesday. “We’re also hoping to raise money so we can compete in the ASCE Rocky Mountain Regional Competition.” The group hopes to send students to the event to compete in two challenges. One challenge requires students to build a steel bridge, which is judged in various categories of competition, and the other requires students to build a concrete canoe and race against other schools. “It takes a lot of time and resources,” Gomez said. “We also need to find people who are really interested in competing.”
Caitlin Hermanson, UNM ASCE treasurer, said she hopes the fundraiser will bring in at least $500. “I think the turnout is great, but we have a lot of work ahead of us,” she said. “We have a lot of people lining up and spreading the wealth, but it’s going to be quite a journey to fundraise our way to the competition.” The key to making the event profitable was the involvement of the civil engineering faculty. “This is great,” Hermanson said. “We have all of our senior level instructors out here getting wet. We couldn’t do this without their involvement.” Or without an engineer’s touch on the high-tech dunk-tank. Dave Bonham, UNM ASCE vice president, said he built the dunk tank’s water heater with 20 feet
On to Arkon’s next
Texas Tech is coming to town
See page 5
See page 6
President of the American Society of Civil Engineers UNM chapter, Dave Bonham gets dunked by a student during a fundraiser. The group is trying to raise money to attend an engineering competition.
Courtesy of the New Mexico School of Engineering
of copper pipe, a 30,000 BTU barbeque grill at 650 degrees and a pump that circulates 3,200 gallons per hour. “We’re able to cycle the 500
gallon tank more than six times per hour,” he said. “If you think that’s something, you should see what we can do with a bathtub and a batch of yeast.”
TODAY
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