THURSDAY, APRIL 25 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2019 STUDENT MEDIA
ROCKET MAN Josh Gleason — THE BATTALION
Freshman Chris Weber is a right-handed pitcher on the Texas A&M baseball team who is pursuing a degree in aerospace engineering. Weber hopes to eventually work for NASA.
Pitcher and aerospace engineering major balances baseball, academics By Alex Miller @AlexMill20 Freshman pitcher Chris Weber trots out to the mound to the tune of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘All Along the Watchtower,’ but Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ might be a more appropriate walk-up song. Not only has Weber separated himself as one of the Aggies’ go-to relievers in his first collegiate season, but he’s halfway to a degree and has established himself as one of the team’s top students while studying aerospace engineering. “I would call him a Renaissance Man,”
A&M head coach Rob Childress said of Weber. “He is comfortable in any setting, any situation. For a guy who’s an aerospace engineering major to go and be so engaged in his academic career and be a 4.0 student and to come over here and spend the time and energy being the very best baseball player he can be — it’s a pretty special person who’s able to do that.” ‘The Astronaut’ Intro to flight, aerothermodynamics and aerospace computation can only be found on the schedule of one baseball player on the A&M roster. “Chris Weber is undoubtedly the smartest guy on the team,” junior catcher Mikey Hoehner said. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t study much for it, and he just goes in and aces everything.”
Weber’s passion for engineering stems from his father, Tom, who works from home as a mechanical engineer. As a kid, Weber loved math, science and physics. After he committed to play at A&M after his sophomore year of high school, Weber began searching different engineering majors and came across aerospace. His mind was set from there. “I enjoyed working with numbers, and ever since I was young I liked working with flight and space systems,” Weber said. “It just fit pretty well.” Because he was set on aerospace engineering, Weber began knocking out core curriculum by taking AP classes at Boerne Champion High School, just north of San Antonio. He entered his freshman year a junior by hours with over 60 credits. “I knew what I wanted to do coming in,”
Weber said. “I knew what my major was going to be. I used my resources, just looked at the online course curriculum, got the basic credits out of the way, so now I’m already here and I’m just in my major.” Since Weber has his basic requirements completed, he is focusing on getting the most of his major courses. “I don’t have to worry about writing essays or studying for history,” Weber said. “I can just be working on the main material.” Upon graduation, Weber said he hopes to pursue a career as an engineer, working on shuttles and rockets used to send materials to the International Space Station. “I’m just going to see what kind of opportunities come along,” Weber said. “Ultimately I think it would be cool to work for NASA WEBER ON PG. 2
THE BATTALION END-OF-SEMESTER PUBLICATION SCHEDULE The Battalion has two papers remaining for the semester. The last edition of the Corps Values series will be published on May 1 and the graduation edition will run on May 6.
Olivia Treadwell — THE BATTALION
As part of a current pilot program focused on sustainability, some students in Walton Hall are using devices from Keewi Inc. that plug directly into conventional electrical outlets.
Power with a purpose Kaylee Cogbill— THE BATTALION
A first edition copy of Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Left Hand of Darkness” is one of many pieces on display in Cushing’s exhibit.
Exploring perspectives Sci-fi and fantasy exhibition at Cushing Memorial Library keeps diverse authors and characters in the spotlight By Luis Sanchez @LuisSanchezBatt An exhibit at the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives aims to highlight the wide array of races, religions, genders, sexual orientations and cultures represented in the worlds of sci-fi and fantasy. “The Stars are Ours: Infinite Diversities in Science Fiction & Fantasy” will be on display until Sept. 20. It has categories regarding time travel, alternate history, first contact, afro-futurism, fantasy, superheroes, horror, space opera and more. Jeremy Brett, curator of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection, said the new exhibit is meant to showcase a vast collection of voices, ideas and perspectives in sci-fi and fantasy in order to explore diversity in the genres. EXHIBIT ON PG. 4
Residence Life implements new device to track students’ electricity consumption By Camryn Lang @CamrynLang Since January, six students on the first floor of Walton Hall have been tracking their energy usage through devices that plug into their outlets. The semester-long pilot program is a collaboration between A&M Residence Life and Keewi Inc., which created and provided the devices. With the Keewi app, students can monitor the amount of energy each of the plugs use per day, month or year. Users can also turn the power off on the outlets via the Keewi app and set schedules to turn on devices at specific times. The app is designed with gameplay elements so students can compete with each other to use the least amount of energy. Each individual also has the option to answer daily questions about energy sustainability and conservation. Participants move an animated penguin across rushing water by creating a frozen path with each correctly answered question. Residence Life coordinator Brandon Carlson began the program after receiving a grant from the Aggie Green Fund. Carlson said he originally planned to use programmable power strips, but the Keewi technology is much more straightforward and intuitive. “Right now what [Keewi] is doing is a retrofit,”
Carlson said. “They take an adapter that has wireless communication technology built in, and they plug it into a standard wall outlet. Then whatever items you want to plug in, you plug in through the adapter. That’s what controls the load.” Keewi Inc. co-founder and chief operating officer Hedi Razavi created Keewi in January of 2016 to help businesses manage their power usage. Razavi has worked with the San Francisco International Airport, Levi’s Stadium and several universities. She said the devices track the number of kilowatt hours that students are using and which devices are using up that energy. “In the context of the TAMU deployment that we currently have, we’re looking at somewhere around 36 different types of appliances,” Razavi said. “We collect information on what types of appliances are they, whether its a laptop or a monitor versus a dehumidifier.” General studies freshman and Walton Hall resident advisor Thomas Land has been involved with the project since the start of the semester and competes as a member of the Madagascar Team against his fellow Keewi users on Team Eco-Ags. Land said the Keewi technology has created a version of sustainability for this generation. “Keewi is helping pioneer this generation’s energy usage and conservation,” Land said. “They are able to change the way that this generation sees our climate and the energy that we put out that affects that.” As for Residence Life’s plans after this semester, DORM ON PG. 4