October 4

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dn the

dailynebraskan.com

friday, october 4, 2013 volume 113, issue 030

Inside Coverage

A familiar field NU gears up for first Big Ten home game

Short set

Craig Morgan performs at the Homecoming concert on East Campus Thursday. The concert put on by the University Program Council was free. The show was stopped just after 9:30 p.m. due to rain and lightning.

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staying on

Writing in real tragedy

TEMPO

Columnist says comedies should stay away

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A

Archaeology team digs up Turkey’s past Latest journey yields mosaic, statue head

2 Playday for Caine “Day of Play” inspired by Caine’s Arcade

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UNL professor Jun Wang received NASA’s Group Achievement Award for the monitoring of air pollution in North America. He has received many other awards for his work throughout the years.

UNL professor Jun Wang wins NASA’s Group Achievement Award for atmospheric science mission story by Lane Chasek | photo by Spencer Myrlie

University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor is a part of a NASA award-winning project dealing with air pollution monitoring. Jun Wang, associate professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences, is working on the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution mission, which recently received NASA’s Group Achievement Award. The NASA-sponsored project is led by Kelly Chance of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. TEMPO is a satellite scheduled for completion in 2017 and for launch in 2018. The satellite will contain sensors that will detect and monitor air pollution throughout North America every hour. The project is very extensive, involves the work of 20 scientists and researchers and has been more than 10 years in the making, Wang said. According to Chance, NASA selected TEMPO for funding last November and funding began this year. Though the project itself is a recent one, TEMPO is based on research that has been conducted since 1985, and six successful precursor satellites have already been launched that use the same principles and tools that TEMPO will use in the future, Chance said. TEMPO will measure the reflected light that contains different gases and particles, such as man-made aerosols, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide from car exhaust, smoke and dust, Wang said. “I want TEMPO to be successful,” Wang said. “TEMPO will provide omnipresence to the monitoring of air pollution.”

Wang said he believes TEMPO will be able to complement data received from ground-based sensors throughout the U.S. “I think the U.S. has the most intensive ground-based air-quality monitors in the world,” he said. “But unfortunately, the U.S. is so large that ground-based monitors can’t be placed everywhere. TEMPO not only complements the data retrieved from ground-based monitors, but also makes the constant surveillance of air quality cost-effective.” When launched, TEMPO could also provide valuable information for eastern Nebraska. “Omaha and Bellevue currently have ozone levels that almost exceed EPA minimums,” Wang said. “TEMPO data will be assimilated into current air quality models to predict air pollution in the future. TEMPO data can also tell us where major pollution hotspots are. As EPA regulations become stricter and stricter, it’s important to know where pollution comes from.” Wang said his fascination with atmospheric science stems partly from his childhood in the city of Rugao in Jiangsu Province, China. Rugao is renowned for its kite makers and kite festivals, Wang said. “As a kid, I was fascinated by flying kites,” he said. “I was curious how high they could fly and how you could get them to travel higher. I wanted to know how wind changed with altitude and how you could use that to get your kite flying better and higher.” Wang is a graduate of the University of Alabama in Huntsville and conducted much of his post-doctoral research at

nasa: see page 2

UNL considers using Lied Center Purdue’s Signals program offers free tickets Software would add more interactive tools to Blackboard for staying on track in courses Colleen Fell DN

@dailyneb facebook.com/ dailynebraskan

The University of NebraskaLincoln is evaluating a software program designed to help students stay on top of their schoolwork. Purdue University just released the program, which tracks and reminds students of assignments, to the commercial market. The program, called Signals, works through the current online Blackboard system. The system uses a data-mining and analysis program to keep track of work students do outside of class, such as assigned readings. It provides users with a red, yellow or green signal to indicate whether they’re on

track for a course. Amy Goodburn, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at UNL, said the university is looking at and evaluating the program. The university has not yet decided if it will use the program, which UNL would have to pay for. “We haven’t seen any programs yet that have quite met our expectation,” Goodburn said. Signals has been in use at Purdue for the last few years and has benefitted students’ academic careers, according to Purdue research. Since 2007, students at Purdue who used Signals with at least one of their classes had a 20.9 greater six-year graduation rate than students who did not use the program. In addition, students who used Signals for two or more of their classes graduated within six years at a rate 21.5 percent greater than students who did not use Signals. The closest system to Signals UNL currently offers is MyPLAN, which runs through Blackboard. MyPLAN has two main functions: the connection

through program Arts for All gives students who pay the fund A activity fee free tickets to certain productions nicole rauner dn

courtesy photo

Purdue University’s “Signals” software displays a green, red or yellow symbol to indicate how a student is doing in a course.

function and an early warning system. The connection func-

software: see page 3

After a good turnout at last week’s Blue Man Group concert, the Lied Center for Performing Arts expects strong ticket sales for the remaining academic year. Last year, more than 1,500 tickets were distributed to students from the Lied’s Arts for All program; 5,300 University of Nebraska-Lincoln student tickets were also purchased. “I anticipate these numbers will be similar this year or perhaps higher, based on the 750-

plus students who attended Blue Man Group last weekend,” said Matthew Boring, marketing and sales manager for the Lied Center. The Arts For All program provides one free ticket per semester to selected events in the program. UNL students who are paying the fund A activity fees are eligible for tickets and must present a valid NCard to receive the ticket. The Lied Center offers free tickets to UNL students for 20 events from August to April. Students can reserve tickets online at go.unl.edu/arts4all for coming shows. Presenting an NCard at the ticket office ensures a seat next to friends. Box office hours are Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. “The best way to know when tickets are released is on Facebook,” Boring said. However, some students may not be aware that the Arts For All program gives free tickets.

tickets: see page 3


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October 4 by Daily Nebraskan - Issuu