October 2

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dn the

dailynebraskan.com

wednesday, october 2, 2013 volume 113, issue 028

Inside Coverage

Born to swim

‘Know your numbers’

Husker senior feels right at home in water

Health center offers tests for wellness profiles

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Doughnuts to dollars

A batch of homemade doughnuts is finished on Monday morning at The Doughnut Hole. Before opening the shop, the owners operated a booth at the Haymarket Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings.

out of date

UNLPD considers replacing outdated blue telephone poles with app s t o r y b y C o l l e e n F e l l | p h o t o i l l u s t r a t i o n b y Ty l e r M e y e r

U

niversity of NebraskaLincoln students have the convenience of using blue telephone poles in case of an emergency on campus. However, these poles may be out-of-date, according to UNL Police Chief Owen Yardley. UNLPD and the Association of Students at the University of Nebraska are talking about creating a BlueLight app system for smartphones. The BlueLight app system, which is currently in use by nine other universities, is able to pinpoint a student’s location and send it to an emergency responder in five seconds. An average phone call to 911, according to the app’s website, takes 45 seconds. The app offers two buttons. The first, is the “campus safety” button, in which two taps from the user will send his or her exact location to a dispatcher. The other button is “alert contacts,” for which a student can put in their emergency contacts who will be notified by a prewritten text message. The system will remain active even if campus phone lines were to go down. The poles, which were installed in the early 1990s, have virtually no infrastructure. The poles are not equipped with cameras or speakers, and communications are run through a copper wire. Yardley said the poles are activated approximately 30 times a month. “A few of those calls are accidental and some are to ask general questions,” Yardley said. “I can’t remember the last time that they were used for an actual emergency.” The blue light poles have been somewhat replaced by cellphone usage, Yardley said. He said the idea of using the poles for safety reasons seems like a foreign concept, especially with younger generations of incoming students. Of all college students, Yardley said msot have a cellphone with them at all times, making the poles not as beneficial. “Technology changes so quickly,” he said. Kayleigh Lewandowski, a sophomore microbiology major, said she has never used the blue poles before, nor does she know anyone who

blue lights: see page 2

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STEM professor named ELATE fellow tammy bain dn Jennifer Brand’s mother wanted to be a doctor. But because it was uncommon for women of her generation to take positions in the medical field, the mother of six worked as a nurse instead. So when Brand, now a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at University of NebraskaLincoln, wanted to pursue science, her mother was very encouraging. After applying for the Executive Leadership in Academic Technology and Engineering program, or ELATE, through Drexel University in Philadelphia, Brand was accepted for the 2013-14 ELATE Fellowship last March. She joins 18 women from across the country who work in the science, technology, engineering and math, or the STEM fields. The fellowship was originally for women in the medical field, Brand said, and this is the second year it includes women in engineering. The fellows learn their strengths and weaknesses, and learn how to become better leaders in their current fields, Brand said. It was about a year ago that she first heard of the ELATE fellowship, she said. She began the application process between December and January. “I really wanted to be more ef-

elate: see page 2

Housing renovates staircase flooring in Courtyards Kelli Rollin dn Carpet on staircases is going out of style at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The sound of rips and tears echo throughout the Courtyards, an apartment-style residence hall, as the carpet on the staircases is replaced with rubber flooring. Larry Shippen, associate director for UNL Housing facilities operations, said replacing the floors in staircases and landings has been an ongoing project. He said the project began six months ago and work has been gradually done on all staircases. He said the project was spread out to “limit disruption to student traffic,” in the residence hall. Shippen said the project is to update the staircases to make the flooring last longer. “The carpet was worn and the building is 10 years old,” he said. Work on the staircases has

picked up during the past week to finish the remaining staircases that still have carpet. Shippen said most of the staircases have been replaced with rubber and all construction should be finished by the end of the week. He said UNL maintenance crews are removing the carpet, but a private contractor will install the new flooring. “We are trying to do it as economically as we can to keep student fees down,” Shippen said. Some staircases have been closed since last week because of the construction, so residents had to find alternative routes to go to other floors. Kyler Wimbush, a junior women and gender studies major and Courtyards resident, said the construction on the staircases hasn’t been an inconvenience to him. “I knew what was going on, but I just didn’t know what staircase to use all the time,” he said. Wimbush said he ran into an

Katrina Keogh | DN

A staircase in the Courtyards receives new flooring Tuesday. odd situation during a fire drill last week. He said he was heading

toward the stairs to go outside for the drill, but a worker was doing

@dailyneb | facebook.com/dailynebraskan

construction on the staircase. WimMonday when both staircases were bush said he went to another stairclosed.” case to go outside for the drill, but She said she used other stairit was over before he made it out of cases when the stairs on her side of the building. the building were Wimbush said closed, but someWe are he didn’t know why times used the eltrying to do evator because it the staircase flooring was replaced, it as economically was easier. but he wasn’t opShippen said as we can to posed. the rubber flooring “If it makes it keep student fees is convenient in better, go ahead,” he many ways. down.” said. “It’s a lot more Taylor Whitdurable and lasts a larry shippen ney, a sophomore lot longer,” he said. associate director of unl meteorology maHe said the housing facilities operations jor and Courtyards rubber is easier to resident, said she maintain and only uses the staircases takes a couple of often, so she’ll be excited when the sweeps to clean it, rather than tryconstruction is finished. She said ing to clean carpet. He said when when the staircases she regularly Knoll Residential Center was built, uses were closed, “inconvenience” rubber flooring was used for the wasn’t the best word to describe it. staircases. And he said the rubber “It was more annoying if anyseemed to hold up well. news@ thing,” Whitney said. “Especially dailynebraskan.com because there was some overlap on


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