The Daily Titan - April 25, 2012

Page 1

April 25, 2012

Vol. 91 Issue 44

College Students Prepare for Graduation Check out how these soon-to-be alumni are handling all the stress.

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LOCAL | Prescription drug disposal

Fullerton police to take back old drugs Program designed to keep pills out of the wrong hands SHEILA DEL CID Daily Titan

The Fullerton Police Department will be participating in National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. National Prescription Drug TakeBack Day is a program that creates a permanent process for people to safely and conveniently dispose of their prescription drugs. The program is sponsored by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Department of Justice. The police department is also in partnership with the Orange County Community Service Programs for the event to help the community get rid of unused or expired prescription medications. The DEA event will be the fourth National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day in the past two years, reported CBS News. “Prior to this there has not been an organized process in which people can get rid of their old, expired, unused or unwanted prescription drugs,” said Cpl. Tim Kandler of the Fullerton Police Department. “People say I’ll just flush it down the toilet … It goes into places where it may not be dissolved and taken care of.” The police department has had good turnouts, Kandler said. In April 2011, the department collected 15 boxes full of pharmaceuticals weighing in at about 175 pounds. In October, the department composed 270 pounds with a total of 11 boxes. Nationally, the DEA, who facilitates this process, reported they have removed almost 500 tons of medication, Kandler said. On collection day, law enforcement is present to take possession of the unused substances safely.

Kate Hagemann, associate for policy and programs of Product Stewardship Institute, said they host a website called the National Drug Take-Back Network, which has resources on how local government, law enforcement and pharmacies can start their own Take-Back program. However, Hagemann said she is not affiliated with this National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. The organization advocates for state legislation to create statewide Take-Back programs that are based on more permanent state funding, Hagemann said. “Pharmaceuticals issues are obviously very different than other (supplies),” she said. “It has an immediate public health consequence if it is not managed safely. So … obviously we’re promoting Take-Back programs, not only because they can reduce the impact from obstacles in the water ways, but mainly because they can prevent immediate improvement in public health, help reduce prescription drug abuse and reduce instance of poisoning and misuse within the home.” Hannagan also said that one of the important things about the DEA hosting the National Take-Back events is that they have been very visible and, therefore, successful in bringing public awareness about the need to clear out their medicine cabinets for the environment and the coast. “I think we know that having an event twice a year isn’t really convenient … You know you got a lot of people participating in the event, but there are a lot more people who missed it and couldn’t make it, or didn’t hear about it,” Hannagan said. “So one of the things we see (when) moving forward is establishing permanent Take-Back programs, so it is easy as possible for people to manage the material safely.” See DRUGS, page 3

MEN EMPATHIZE BY WALKING IN HEELS

ALLAN XU / Daily Titan About 15 male students literally walked in women’s shoes during the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event, which started in the Quad at 11:30 a.m.Tuesday. The walk took place alongside The Clothesline Project, an annual event focusing on the plight of sexual assault victims.

CAMPUS | Building blocks of tomorrow

CAMPUS | Saving spots

Science students set sights on future materials

New website aims at easing parking pains

Recyclable materials added to concrete to promote sustainability

SEPIDEH NIA

ERINN GROTEFEND

Daily Titan

It’s 11:27 a.m., class starts in three minutes and there is no parking in sight. This is a problem that many Cal State Fullerton students deal with on a daily basis. However, a new website created by a CSUF student is geared towards tackling the problem. Dhaval Bhatt, a fifth-year accounting major, started the website MyParkingBuddy.com. The website aims to pair students up according to class schedule so that when one student leaves, another can take their parking spot. The idea came to Bhatt last semester as he was looking for parking. “I actually came to school one time and I (picked up) this girl named Tanya who was walking to her car. I dropped her off and, before I dropped her off, I asked if I can have her number so I can call her instead of wasting 20, 30 minutes every day looking for parking,” said Bhatt. From there, Bhatt decided to start a website to help other students find parking buddies. He sat down and started drawing out the logos. From there it was just a matter of finding programmers. Once logged in, the user can input their class schedule and the website will search for a parking buddy.

Daily Titan

Daily Titan File Photo MyParkingBuddy.com is a website aimed to pair students as parking buddies according to their class schedules so that they may have parking spaces available when one leaves school and the other arrives.

“They can go to the homepage and there they will see their timetable and they will see a column called ‘Buddy Column.’ As soon as there’s a match for them, they can see their buddy on that column. And when they click on that buddy they will see their contact information and email,” Bhatt said. Neil Kuritzky, a business professor at CSUF, gave Bhatt advice on the website. “The concept seems good; how this turns into a profit needs to still be determined,” said Kuritzky. Samuel Anderson, a fourth-year computer science major, sees the website as a positive step

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toward less parking frustration. However, he thinks there is a privacy problem with it as well. “It sounds like a really good idea. It sounds like it could definitely have a lot of positive points,” said Anderson. “But it seems as though there may be a few negative points that people may point out. Like having their information online that’s accessible to other people. I think that some people could use it for the way it’s intended, but some people could use it to harass (others).” See BUDDY, page 3

Students of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education Coalition and STEM Teacher Education program showcased a variety of their research projects and posters Tuesday at the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Cal State Fullerton. Brent Frazer, Martha Nevarez and Adam Moler are civil engineering majors who presented their project at the event. They worked together to test recyclable materials to be used as fiber-reinforced concrete. The concrete was premixed and the students added the fiber reinforcements. “We have a machine in the engineering lab where we were able to test — like crush — the hardened concrete cylinders,” said Moler. With everyone concerned with being more environmentally friendly, the students thought their project would fit well. Today’s construction market is

all about going green, said Frazer. He added that his team thought it would be a good opportunity to use recyclable materials in concrete. “Concrete is good with compressive forces, but it’s really poor with tensile (tension), so the fibers ideally would make the concrete stronger in tension,” Frazer said. The team ran into some issues along the way including not forecasting that the wood would absorb water when they were making the concrete mixture. Nevarez said the students have a choice of taking a class or participating in a senior project. She added that this project is about teamwork and working well with others. “It shows an interest in what you want to do,” said Nevarez. “It shows that we’re actually more interested in the field than just trying to pass whatever class you can get.” Completing a senior project shows the student has initiative and that they want to make their own discoveries, Moler said. He added that working with classmates and learning how to solve problems taught them how to make team decisions. See MATH, page 2


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