ARTIST LECTURE
NEWS 2 PANIC! AT THE DISCO
A&E 8 NORSE RELAYS
SPORTS 12
LUTHER COLLEgE
“Let the chips fall where they may.”
CHIPS
APRIL 14, 2016
Serving the Luther College community since 1884.
VOLUmE 138, NO. 20
Students awarded peacebuilding Students represent grant to rebuild Afghan school Luther at national research conference jorAm mutenge STAFF WRITER
Students of Paymori High School stand outside of their school. Paymori High School is located in the isolated region Bayman Province in northeast Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of Cheragh Yzadani AnA lópez STAFF WRITER Two Luther students, Cheragh Yazdani (‘18) and Mustafa Muhammadi (‘19) were selected as the recipients of the Davis Projects for Peace grant of $10,000 for their project to assist a rural school in Afghanistan. The Davis Project for Peace is an organization endowed by Kathryn Davis, a philanthropist who funded projects for peace around the world. According to the organization’s webpage, Davis’ fund devotes $1 million every year to projects that help achieve peace. According to the Davis Projects for Peace
website, the purpose of funding these projects is to “to encourage student initiative, innovation and entrepreneurship focusing on conflict prevention, resolution or reconciliation.” Students that are eligible to apply are undergraduate students at any of the Davis United World College Scholar partner schools and undegraduates at other institutions. The contest is advertised through the Diversity Center and Center for Global Learning and is open to all undergraduates. Yazdani saw the advertisement during his first year, but it wasn’t until this year that he decided to write a proposal along with Afghan student Mustafa Muhammadi. DAviS project, PAgE 4
Jewell Barn lot no longer free starting 2016-17 school year lily kime STAFF WRITER Starting in the 2016 fall semester, the parking lot located near Jewell Barn will no longer be free for students to park in. The decision to enact this change was made by Campus Security, Facility Services and the finance department. Currently, the Jewell Barn lot is a free lot. This means that students do not have to pay the registration fee for a permit but have to be willing to park their car further away from campus than the paying lot. The lot was originally intended for students who did not use their car often during the academic year. The college wanted these students to be able to park their cars in a spot that would be out of the way and to ensure that students using their cars more frequently would have access to
Parking in the lot by Jewell Barn will come with a fee in the 2016-17 academic year. Lily Kime / Chips more convenient parking spots. However, according to Director of Campus Safety and Security Bob Harri, the goals of the free lot are not being adequately met. “Unfortunately, the parkfree lot has not met their needs in actual practice,” Harri said.
“Many of the cars parked in that lot seem to move as frequently as vehicles in the pay lots. There are still vehicles in the pay lots that do not seem to move very often and create inconvenience.” pArking lot, PAgE 4
Twelve students from various disciplines represented Luther College at this year’s National Conference on Undergraduate Research. The conference was held at the University of North Carolina in Asheville on April 7-9. Assistant Professor of French Anne-Marine Feat joined the 12 students at the conference. The students who presented their research at the conference were Taylor Berg (‘16), Jordan Blank (‘16), Matthew Borchart (‘16), Sandra Cardenas (‘16), Jenna Johnson (‘16), Robert Manges (‘16), Makayla Marinack (‘16), Laura Post (‘16), Laura Proescholddt (‘16), Sarah Sturm (‘16), Anne Willey (‘16) and Cassidy Woods (‘18) The National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), established in 1987 by the Council on Undergraduate Research, is designed to promote undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activity in all fields of study by sponsoring an annual conference for students. The selection process for the conference is competitive as NCUR receives applications from thousands of students nationwide every year. Associate Dean and Director of Curriculum Development and College Honors Terry Sparkes said that Luther College conducts its own application process in which faculty members choose the best projects among senior students from various academic disciplines. “Luther College applications start in October each year,” Sparkes said. “Any student who has undertaken research in any discipline is eligible to apply.” Sparkes also stressed how competitive the application process is. “All Luther applications are reviewed by the advisory committee which selects the top projects to be nominated for the conference,” Sparkes said. “Nominations are then submitted to the National Conference for Undergraduate Research where final selections are done. It’s a very selective process.” Anne Willey (‘16), who presented her research at the conference, discussed her research and its relation to her history senior project. “My research argues that the historically accurate medical practice in L.M. Montgomery’s ‘Anne of Green Gables’ series rejects the nostalgic reputation of her series and instead shows the realism of her portrayed rural communities,” Willey said. “My presentation, however, only focuses on the surgical practices in the series.” Jenna Johnson (‘16), another presenter, talked about her two projects: the senior honors project and the summer research project she conducted at the University of Iowa. “My senior honors project involves using C. elegans, a microscopic nematode, to study how iron homeostasis disruption affects protein homeostasis—the ability to synthesize, refold and degrade the unfolded proteins,” Johnson said. Johnson’s summer research project looked at binding affinity and specificity between a protein called BRG1 and DNA. Sparkes said she was happy to announce that every project nominated this year was selected to present at the conference. Sparkes advises all eligible students to consider applying for next year’s conference.