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Associate Dean on fighting cancer Joanna Raines Special to The Battalion Michael T. Stephenson is the Associate Dean of Liberal Arts and a communication professor. What students may not realize is, Stephenson has overcome a battle against cancer. The disease that has affected so many has given him a new perspective on life. Q: Could you describe your life before you had cancer? A: Fairly normal life but very blessed with great friends and family. Q: What was it like getting the diagnosis? A: Initially, they simply told me that I had a large mass in my abdomen and that they couldn’t rule out cancer. Just a month before, my Mom passed away from cancer. So the notion that I might be on that same path was very, very scary. It took about two weeks to get the biopsy and official cancer diagnosis, and by then, I was reasonably prepared for the battle for my life. But that first day when they told me what was growing inside of me, there are no words to describe the trepidation. It was only a month after my Mom died and my Dad was still an emotional mess, and I had three kids and a wife. I honestly couldn’t believe this was happening to me. Q: How did having cancer change your professional life? A: I have always worked extremely hard; it was just a part of who I was. I published extensively and was always thinking ahead as to what the next project would be. In my teaching, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to give my students the best experience in my classroom. The medical diagnosis changed me. I was no longer interested in staying an extra hour to analyze my data; I was no longer interested in building my life around my professional life. I think I was fairly balanced in terms of family and work time, but I wasn’t always mentally “present� when I was with my family because I had my mind on something at work. After my diagnosis and subsequent recovery, my priorities changed dramatically. When I’m on my deathbed, the people around me will not care whether or not I published that one additional article. I still have an obligation to do my job well, and I’ll definitely keep doing that. But now, more of my “mental space� is prioritizing my wife and three kids. Q: How did it change your personal life? A: Aside from the major change of investing more quality time with my family, it changed the way I see the world. I try not to take the ordinary, mundane for granted. I count my blessings each day - one by one. And even though I was always a very committed to my Christian faith, cancer took me to a relationship with God that I had never known before. That’s a story I wish I could tell more people. Q: How do you think your life be different, had you not been diagnosed with cancer? A: I had a wonderful life before cancer and I have a wonderful life after cancer. Staring death in the face has a way of changing your priorities. And it’s See Q&A on page 6
Tim Ti T im Ba B Bardin ard rdi din in The Th T he Battalion Battalion Ba n The Th T he night nniigh igh ght sky k has has exerted exxer e tteed a strange s ra st r ngee pull pull on m ma mankind ankkind innd for for centuries. cent ce ntur nt uriie ies. Untold ies. Untol tol old billions old billllllio bi ioons ns throughthrou hrou hr ough ough g ou out ut the thhe course couurrse co se of of history hist hi ssttory have gazed gazzedd up up at at the the twin twinkling innkllin ing llilights ighhts ts and nd ppondered, ondered, next to the sheerr size off the h universe, how h utterly l smallll andd insignificant they are, and getting smaller. Why smaller? The universe is expanding, and at an increasingly rapid rate, because of a phenomenon known as “dark energy.� This mysterious force makes up nearly 70 percent of the mass and energy of the universe. Scientists attempting to understand dark energy have called it one of the most significant problems in physics today. “A few years ago, two [University of] Texas astronomers [Gary Hill and Karl Gebhardt] came up with the idea of measuring the history of dark energy by performing a very, very large survey for a specific type of galaxy – distant Lyman-alpha emitters. Gary had the brilliant idea for
the th he instrument, innst stru rume ru ment me nt,, and nt annd Karl Karl Ka rl led ledd onn the thhe science scienc sci sc ienc n e off ddark arkk energy,� ene nerg rgy, rg y � said y, s idd Robin sa Robi bin Ciardullo, Ci Ciarrddull ulllo lo, professor professso sorr off astronomy ast ast stro rono ro nomy no my at at Penn Penn Pe Pen nn State SSta tate ta te University Un Uni niveers nive rsit i y and it and a member memb mbber of thee Hobby-Eberly Hobb bbbybby y-Eber Ebber erly rly Telescope Tel elles e cop ccooppee Dark Darkk Energy Experiment project. En E nerrgy gy E xperim xp i ent pr ojec oj jec ectt. Albert Albe Al Albe b rt r Einstein Ein inst sttei e n was w s one wa on off the t first fir irst stt scientists sci cien ien e ti tist ist sts sts too describe des e cribbe el eelements emeennts of of dark d rk energy da ene nergy in his theory ne the h oryy of general relativity in 1917. In 1940 scientists discovered that the universe was expanding, but it was not until 1998 that they realized the expansion was accelerating. The scientists thought dark energy might be the cause, and so the HETDEX Project was born. “The project has been in preparation for six years now, and we are about a year away from the first survey observations,� said Rebecca Johnson, press officer for the McDonald Observatory of the Uni-
Final Silver Taps in 2010 to honor two Jan. 21, 1967 - Oct. 13, 2010 Steven Craig Lofton
Jan. 4, 1989 - Oct. 28, 2010 Gerardo Ivan Aguirre
“To know Steve is to know music.�
“He’s one of those guys everyone liked.�
Steve Craig Lofton, civil engineering graduate student
Gerardo Aguirre, contruction science graduate student
Katie White
Haley Lawson
The Battalion Sharon Posey Lofton said her husband Steve Lofton never met a stranger. Everyone who knew him said he had the most infectious laugh and a smile that lasted for days. Steve loved music; he played multiple instruments, his favorite the bass, and he was well-known for the bands he had started. Steve was working on his Ph.D in engineering at Texas A&M when he died Oct. 13, 2010 in his sleep at the age of 43. Steven C. Lofton grew up in Ridgeland, Mississippi and attended Mississippi State University for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering. He met his wife Sharon at a Halloween party where he was playing in the band. Steve and Sharon were together for 16 years and married for seven. Steve came to A&M to work on his Ph.D in engineering, while Sharon worked as a nurse at St. Joseph Regional Health Center in Bryan. He became a civilian employee of the Army Corps of Engineers. He was a blast specialist, and, Sharon said, one of the top in his field. “I got so many condolence cards from people I didn’t even know,� Sharon said. “So many were from people he worked with who said they had lost a great engineer.� Apart from engineering, music was one of Steve’s passions. Sharon, also a musician, said they were hardly ever home because Steve was always playing a gig somewhere with some band. He loved New Orleans funk, but his favorite genre to play was rock. “He was very warm and loving,� Sharon said. “He started so many bands here, he will certainly be missed for that.� Lofton was preceded in death by his mother, Emily Sue Lofton. He is survived by his wife Sharon Lofton, his father, Edwin Lofton and a brother, Michael Lofton.
The Battalion Gerardo Ivan Aguirre was a big man with an even bigger heart. With his 6’ 7� height and lovable demeanor, his professor Ron Workman termed him a “gentle giant.� He was a construction science major who, friends said, always worked hard and would do anything for the people he loved. “I met with Gerardo on several occasions as his academic advisor and I remember him being an incredibly sweet young man,� said Amanda Holmes, academic advisor for the department of construction science. Aguirre was well-liked by his peers and diligent with his schoolwork, Workman said. “He came to me a lot about internships and he was real active. He was a real nice kid,� Workman said. “He’s one of those guys everyone liked. He worked really hard and wanted to do what’s right.� Workman said he had a good relationship with Aguirre and enjoyed helping him in school and with life in general. He remembered the first time he met Aguirre on the first day of class. Workman mispronounced Aguirre’s name and decided to give him a nickname. “First day of class [last fall] I tried to say his name a couple of times and he just shook his head, so I just said we are going to call you ‘Big Slim,’� Workman said. “Spring last year all the kids called him ‘Big Slim’ and he started introducing himself as ‘Big Slim.’� “Big Slim� chose his words carefully to make See Aguirre on page 2
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Protect against theft this season Amber Jaura The Battalion It’s that time of year again – shopping for the perfect gift, spending time with loved ones, feasting like there’s no tomorrow and catching that contagious holiday spirit. In the midst of annual holiday festivities, don’t forget to take safety measures both on campus and back home. During the holiday season, with increased shopping and items visible in vehicles, auto theft rises, making victims out of many people. According to the Texas Auto Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority, every two minutes a vehicle is burglarized in Texas and the contents stolen. Reduce Auto Theft in Texas is one of 27 grant programs funded under ABTPA, which is a division of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. Michelle Lanham, the program manager for RATT, said the program works to combat vehicle theft and burglary by informing people to enjoy the holiday season and take safety measures to avoid having their vehicles broken into. “We concentrate on public awareness and education. In other words, For more we take a proactive information and approach to make the ways to protect public aware of veyour vehicle, visit hicle crimes and how http://www. to best prevent them,� Lanham said. “We txwatchyourcar. com. would like the public to know that leaving valuable items in view in their vehicles, including shopping bags, electronics/communications devices, gift cards, money, clothing, sunglasses, CDs, etc. is an open invitation for burglars to break in and steal those items.� With the influx of stress from finals, many students forget to lock up valuables or place them under car seats. Yet these measures, however simple, are essential to enjoying the holiday season and avoiding future frustration of having items stolen. Along with the obvious measures, Lanham said there are other factors students need to keep in mind. “Simple things that some people may not think about can also cause problems,� Lanham said. “For instance, if the only things an indi-
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versity ve vers rsit ityy off Texas it T Austin. at Aus A usti tin. HETDEX HETD HE TDEX TD EX is is collaborative a co ollllaabbor o ative project pr ojec jeecct bbetween etw ween Texas A&M Texa as A& &M University, University Uni i verr si s ty tthe th he U Un niversi sity ity of Texas at Austin and Penn State University to map the expansion history of the universe and study the dark energy phenomenon to understand why it is causing the universe to expand. A number of other national and international research universities are also participating in the project. HETDEX will survey over one million galaxies in the course of the study. The data collected will be converted into a 3-D map of the universe. “[T]he overall science goals of HETDEX is to measure the effect of Dark Energy in the past, and test whether the evolution of dark energy is consistent with that expected from a cosmological constant, or with something else. But, of course, it’s much more than that,� Ciardullo said. “There will be lots and lots of other projects that can be done with the data.� The project is funded by a grant
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