DAILY LOBO new mexico
Bad blood see page 7
thursday The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
October 1, 2009
Former soldier speaks out against Israeli army by Andrew Beale Daily Lobo
Vanessa Sanchez / Daily Lobo Ph.D. student Mel Strong examines some of his water vapor measuring instruments in Northrop Hall on Monday. Strong is researching the origin of monsoon moisture in the Southwest and created his own instruments for the experiment.
Head in the clouds
Student develops advanced research methods to study N.M. rain patterns by Kallie Red-Horse Daily Lobo
Ph.D. student Mel Strong is doing research so unique that he had to make his own instruments and build his own plane to complete it. New Mexico is known for its unpredictable weather patterns, and Strong has made it his mission to analyze the air during monsoon season to discover what causes them. “The question is, ‘When we have cloudy days, rainy days, where does that moisture come from?’” he said. “That’s what I’m trying to answer.” Strong took a glass-blowing class to learn how to make his own instruments. He also built a makeshift plane to collect air samples as high as 10,000 feet in the air. Professor Dave Gutzler, one of Strong’s advisers, said this work will advance weather-related research. “It is a huge leap forward scientifically,” Gutzler said. “He has established some new standards for documenting the seasonal cycles of isotopic water vapor in this part of the world — how to gather it, how to measure it, how to analyze it and how to use it in conjunction with dynamical computer models.” Strong said everyday climatic processes offer a lot of research opportunities. “A lot of people assume we already know everything about the weather and how it works, but there is a lot we don’t understand,” he said. Strong said that the day-to-day research can be tedious, but the gratification of discovering a pattern makes it all worth it. “All this work comes down to one graph,” he said. “You finally get that done, and you can actually say, ‘Oh, I know what’s going on here,’ and you can make an interpretation.” Strong said he credits his success to his overactive imagination. “When I’m trying to sleep or concentrate on
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 114
issue 29
A former Israeli Defense Forces soldier spoke out against the Israeli government’s policies at a lecture in the SUB on Tuesday. Micah Kurz, who grew up in Jerusalem, served in the Israeli army from 2001 to 2004. All Israeli citizens are required to join the country’s defense forces when they turn 18, he said. Kurz said his organization, Breaking the Silence, was founded to let people know what Israeli soldiers experience on a day-to-day basis. “We watched ourselves and our buddies kind of lose a few screws,” he said. “At some point you just get either extremely bored, or you actually learn that you can do whatever you want.” Mae Eye, vice president of the UNM Israel Alliance, said the IDF does what’s necessary to secure peace in Israel. “I told (Kurz) that I’m sorry he presented only one side,” she said. “The other side is the Israeli side, in view of history, in view of what the Hamas Charter says, which is to kill Israel, wipe it off the map.” Guida Leicester of the Coalition for Peace and Justice in the Middle East, who helped to bring Kurz to UNM, said the Israel Alliance portrays
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something important I’m just thinking all kinds of crazy thoughts,” he said. “So eventually all those crazy thoughts just get accumulated somewhere and I get enough crazy thoughts that every once in a while I actually get one that is usable.” Strong’s “usable thoughts” have translated into helpful inventions for the scientific community, Gutzler said. “Mel has a data set that is absolutely unique,” he said. “No one else in the world has the sort of data that he has
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see Soldier page 3
Fair prepares students to choose graduate school by Kallie Red-Horse
Courtesy of Mel Strong Mel Strong sits in his makeshift plane while collecting air samples in 2003. Strong goes as high as 10,000 feet to conduct his research.
Hamas as more violent than it really is. “They have said, ‘We don’t want to push Israel into the sea’” she said. “Both sides have a right to live and exist together peacefully.” Leicester said it’s important to hear the story of Israeli soldiers because their stories are central to the region’s problems. “For me, the Israel-Palestine conflict is at the core, the root of the problems in the Middle East,” she said. Kurz said people living in Jerusalem have no idea what happens in the Palestinian occupied territories that are only a few miles away from where they live. “We wanted people to know what’s going on 40 minutes away, and what it means to them that they’re sending 18-year-olds into this situation regularly.” Kurz said the psychological effects of being placed in a position of power over people are detrimental to the young people who work as soldiers for the Israeli army. He said that the soldiers are required to watch checkpoints and decide which Palestinians can go through. “That’s a whole lot of power to be able to control hundreds of people
If UNM undergraduates plan to attend graduate school, they should start planning as early as freshman year, said Jenna Crabb, UNM’s director of Career Services. Representatives from 86 graduate and professional institutions will be at the Graduate and Professional School Fair in the SUB today to help students research potential schools, Crabb said. “You want to look at faculty-tostaff ratio, locations and research opportunities available for your particular field,” she said. “Knowing the industry that you are going to want to work in is going to be really important in figuring out what master’s degree fits your industry, your major and your career goals.” Cassandra Costley, Career Services event coordinator, said interested students will have an impressive array of schools to choose from at the fair. “Students need to shop around for the school that they want,” she said. “We have students that have a quality educational background, so that’s what we are providing, an opportunity to look at all these schools and have them audition for (the students).” Sophomore Crystal Foley said she is considering graduate schools and will attend the fair.
Graduate and Professional School Fair Today 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. SUB Ballrooms “It’s something good to look into if you are not sure about it,” she said. “It’s a good place to get information.” Cindy Garcia, admissions coordinator for UNM’s School of Medicine, said the fair isn’t necessarily geared toward upperclassmen, and in fact it’s better for younger students to attend. “We like to get to freshman so they can start working on their goals… and get a good start,” she said. “When they come into the application process their senior year, they are going to have the strongest application possible, because they were prepared since the beginning.” Crabb said students should learn about graduate schools as soon as possible so they can choose the right place when the time comes. “You want to make your master’s degree fit you, not you fit your master’s degree,” she said. Senior Daniel Fellar said the fair could help students apply to graduate schools, as well. “It’s good to find out more information as to what is involved in the application process,” he said. “The fair would definitely be a good place to get useful additional information.”
Playing fair
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Today’s weather
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