Technician
friday september
30 2011
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
IBM touts latest creation
Bus commuters residing near Centennial unhappy Engineering students living in apartments around Centennial have limited transportation options.
ing company that has contracts in the Raleigh area. Current services can be adjusted to meet students’ needs, though, Poosamani said. “The Department of Transportation is not short on funds, but the Jatin Bhatia contract they maintain with First Staff Writer Transit does not allow additional Graduate students who reside in buses. Hence, this limits our ability apartment complexes around Cen- to request for new routes. If we can tennial Campus have said they have change or modify existing routes to no bus transportation to Centennial. provide maximum benefit to students, A majority of the graduate students that would be great,” Poosamani said. He said that although students have in the area study engineering, and almost all of the engineering depart- embraced the temporary route, furments are in the Centennial Campus ther changes should be made. “We have recommended a few engineering buildings. Those who live in Champions Court, Avery Close, Ivy changes to number 10. Make it take Commons, Parkwood, Colonial Arms, this loop: College of Textiles, EB-2 or Gorman crossings must walk to get Partners Way, Avent Ferry, Gorman, Varsity Drive, College of Textiles to their classes. Students usually take Wolfline No.1 and then continue. This would help or Wolfline No. 9 to get off at Varsity reduce students catching the number drive stop, wait for the connecting 8 Southeast Loop, getting down at buses like Wolfline Number 8, 3 or Burger King and then catching Avent 3A, and walk to Centennial. The av- Ferry. Also the student traffic can be erage travel time is about 25 minutes more regularized if we get this new by foot, and more often than not, the connectivity. The proposed package wait-time for connecting buses makes has all of these advantages,” Poosamani said. the travel time increase. But there was confusion between Graduate Student Senator Nithyananthan Poosamani, also a committee students’ perceptions and authorities member of student government’s with regard to the ridership of No. 10, Transportation and Safety Commis- Poosamani said. “The authorities have notified the sion, has been working toward getting [TransportaWolfline to make tion] Commisstops in the afsion Chair that fected areas and they are on a t a ke st udent s research phase to engineering and are satisfied buildings. with the number He said he sucof people riding ceeded in getnumber 10 and ting a trial basis that they are not service — route wiling to change No. 10 — that the route. What I makes stops at really feel is that the apartment those numbers complexes and currently include Centennial. only people using “As informed Nithyananthan Poosamani, graduate No. 10 to get to by t he NCSU student in computer engineering College of TexDepartment of tiles and then Transportation, Southside Circulator [10] is currently walk to Centennial and not used by run on a research phase to find the fea- people to get back to their homes from sibility of running a permanent route. the College. If the authorities can It is a part of improving the Transpor- make possible changes as suggested tation on Centennial Campus Master above, there could be better utilization of number 10 and the ridership Plan” Poosamani said. He said it’s not the shortage of funds, will increase tremendously,” Poosabut the contract with First Transit that is the hurdle in starting new services. First Transit is an international busbus continued page 3
“The Department of Transportation is not short on funds, but the contract they maintain with First Transit does not allow additional buses.”
Executive and researcher explain Watson’s power and IBM’s relationship with University. John Wall News Editor
IBM executives and local business leaders took the opportunity to meet with the chancellor before and after a presentation explaining IBM’s Watson computer Wednesday. Jim De Piante, an IBM researcher who helped build Watson, explained the benefits of the computer that deciphers human speech and correctly answers questions posed. In addition, IBM sent one of its top brass, Senior Vice President and Group Executive of Sales, Marketing and Strategy Ginni Rometty, to campus to have lunch with Chancellor Randy Woodson. IBM recruits from N.C. State more than any other school in the country, Rometty said in a speech before De Piante demonstrated Watson. When Rometty asked the audience in Nelson Hall who had parents or family that work at IBM, more than half of the students in attendance raised their hands. “Watson is the greatest way to demonstrate data analytics and how it can be used in a business and University setting. Everyone can understand this presentation because Watson was featured on Jeopardy,” Tina Wilson, IBM program manager for corporate citizenship and corporate affairs, said. Watson weighs in at 18,000 pounds, and therefore IBM opted to not bring it to campus. In fact, it never travels. It sits in a research center in Yorktown Heights, New York, De Piante said. As with any other technological advance, the goal is to make the computer smaller. The computers that sent man to the moon had as much memory as a handheld calculator, and cell phones hit the market in the shape of cinderblocks. De Piante said that with all the power Watson has, it is no match for the human brain, which weighs three pounds and fits in a shoebox. IBM recruits from NCSU more
Thomas Obarowski/Technician
Executive project manager at IBM, Jim de Piante, spoke in the Nelson Auditorium Wednesday about the history and development of IBM’s Watson super computer as part of IBM’s 100th anniversary celebration.
“I believe a job at IBM would be a rewarding experience – especially if I decide to study computer engineering.” Nathan Fox, freshman in environmental engineering
than any other school in the world, Rometty said in a speech before De Piante demonstrated Watson. When Rometty asked the audience in Nelson Hall who had parents or family that work at IBM, more than half of the
students in attendance raised their hands. “The IBM-N.C. State relationship
watson continued page 3
Tin cans made wearable
insidetechnician Wolfpack seeks to exterminate Yellow Jackets See page 8.
See page 6.
Centennial magnet school making scientists for the future See page 5.
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Visit our new location in Harrelson Hall on the Brickyard
Jessie Halpern Staff Writer
Student health ranked No. 11 in Nation
Fri 8am - 6pm Sat 9am - 4pm
Local craftswoman to host metal-working workshop.
4 5 7 8
In the spirit of Parents’ Weekend, the Craft Center is hosting a unique presentation sure to attract visiting families. Marlene True, metal-worker and designer, will demonstrate how to turn old, painted tin cans into unique jewelry. The event will be held in the Crafts Center commons area at 7 p.m. Friday, and is to be in conjunction with True’s workshop called “Ordinary MaterialsExtraordinary Jewelry.” The workshop will be held twice over the weekend from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. True’s jewelry is made from materials that would usually be thrown away and wasted, like vintage tin cans,. “I really like to use the ones with the labels printed right on the can, and they’re getting harder and harder to find,” True said. Using these unique cans, True ma kes neck laces, bracelets, brooches and rings, and suggests that people view her website to get
an idea of the kind of treasures she creates. “What I’m going to be doing is showing the students in the workshop how to use tin cans, how to take them apart. It’s really different than using regular materials. I’ll also be talking about how I started working with tin cans, how I discovered that and the evolution of my work with this material over the past eight or ten years,” True said. This weekend will be True’s first time presenting on campus, but she has displayed her work at other venues throughout her career. Crafts Center staff and faculty heard about True’s work last year, when, at another crafting event, a designer spoke highly of her work. “We’re expecting about 50 people,” George Thomas, director of the Crafts Center, said. “It’s a great event because it can gather a much larger crowd than our usual eight or ten people. We’re also trying to make this more available to the general public -- there are a lot of jewelry crafters in the Raleigh area.” Among those local crafters is Katie Sarber Kinnane, a Raleigh citizen whose current project is working with duct tape. Using her unique materials, she crafts wallets, flowers, headbands, and other wearable items. In addition,
Kinanne also collects bottle tops and other recyclables for her crafts. “I’m so excited that a fellow crafter is going to show off her work at State. I can’t wait to learn about how she uses her materials and maybe get a few ideas for my own projects,” Kinnane said. Her crafts are available for sale at etsy.com, under CSarber. Attracting students, families and local crafters, the Crafts Center is sure to be a busy place this weekend. The event, according to Thomas, is also geared toward students in the Arts Village and the School of Design. “We don’t normally have the capacity to fill a whole lot of seats, but this weekends’ event will be able to accommodate a lot more people,” Thomas said. “We’re doing the seminar Friday as a way to let others see what the workshop will be about and also for people who couldn’t get into the workshop to be able to still get the experience.” For those interested in attending, True promised an interesting learning experience. Those who are unable to make any of this weekend’s crafting events can find her work on her website at www.marlenetrue.com.
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