WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2016 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2016 STUDENT MEDIA | @THEBATTONLINE
A&M continues skid with loss at the hands of Rice After losing to the No. 2 Florida Gators last weekend the Aggies fell short yet again By Brady Langston
FILE
Junior Ronnie Gideon entered Tuesday night’s game with a .265 batting average.
TRADITION
‘$17 for ’17’ initiative to raise money for class gift
The struggling Aggies fell short Tuesday night, dropping their fourth straight game after moving to No. 1 in the NCAA rankings. The Aggies lost by a final score of 4-3, tallying up two runs on eight hits with one error and leaving six on base. Starting pitcher Tyler Ivey struggled to settle in and was eventually pulled in the bottom of the fourth inning. He left the game giving up four runs -two of them earned - on six hits with a walk and a strikeout in a losing effort. Despite a strong showing from the A&M bullpen, who entered the game early, the damage had already been done. A&M was able to score in the top of the first inning and stay in the game for the first three frames, but a three-run fourth inning by the Rice Owls would
Michael Young is the 25th president of Texas A&M Unviersity and spoke about religious freedom and democracy Tuesday night.
eventually be the spark they needed to power past the Aggies. The Aggies were able to get on the board first on a one-out RBI single by first baseman Hunter Melton, which scored leadoff hitter J.B Moss. The Owls were able to get the run back in the bottom of the third on a wild pitch from freshman starting pitcher Tyler Ivey. Going into the fourth inning, the game was tied until a single by Rice right fielder Danye Wunderlich gave the Owls the lead. Rice would tack on two more with a double by center fielder Hunter Kopycinski to put Rice ahead for good. The Aggies were able to score runs in the seventh and the ninth, the first coming on an error from Rice and the latter from an RBI single by Michael Barash, but the bid for a ninth inning rally was cut short. The Aggies return to College Station for a weekend series against Georgia to try to end their four game losing streak and work their way back to the top of the college baseball rankings. The first game is scheduled for 6:30 pm on Friday evening at Blue Bell Park.
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BATT THE BATTALION | THEBATT.COM
Online campaign offers students accessible, hands-on alumni impact By Sam King Members of the Class of 2017 will be able to directly participate in the funding of the Class of 2017 class gift through a new initiative, “$17 for ’17.” The initiative encourages students in the Class of 2017 to donate $17 online directly towards the class gift fund. Previously, the class gift has been funded by T-shirt and ticket sales for events sponsored by Class Councils, the A&M organization behind traditions such as Maroon Out, Elephant Walk, Ring Dance and more. Claire Wimberly, Class of 2017 president, said the online-based design of the fundraiser is a new idea. “It’s a really revolutionary idea, even though it may not seem like it, because previously the only way to donate to the class gift fund has been mostly funded by T-shirt through any one of the class events,” Wimberly said. “So this really makes it easy, you can do it straight through your smartphone, your laptop — it takes about three minutes and all of the proceeds go directly toward to class gift fund.” Elizabeth Hoelscher, Class of 2017 vice president, said the initiative is a way for students to be directly involved in the purchase of their class gift. “I think in the past, the students don’t feel like they’re really connected to the class gift, and I think this is a really easy way for them to feel that connection to the gift and to feel that their legacy is being left,” Hoelscher said. The Class of 2017 gift was chosen in February as part of the student elections, but will not be announced until November, after Elephant Walk. Dalton Harris, Class of 2017 gift chair, said some of the funds that are leftover after purchasing the winning option may be used to purchase the second-place option, as well. “As it’s looking right now, the gift that was chosen, we’re hoping to get some money left over so we can actually not only fulfill our first option, but fulfill our second option on the ballot as well, so that’s kind of a good bit of where this $17 for ’17 initiative is coming from,” Harris said. Wimberly said the low dollar amount of the suggested donation makes it a great way for students to leave their mark on A&M. “I think it really is a unique opportunity to have a lasting involvement and impact on this campus in a relatively small way,” Wimberly said. “Seventeen dollars is a few $17 for ’17 ON PG. 2
Young says religion drives prosperity in government Kevin Chou — THE BATTALION
President Michael Young draws on White House experiences in lecture By Tyler Allen
U
niversity President Michael K. Young stepped out from behind the desk and onto the stage of the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center to share his experiences with democracy and the freedom of religion. Young, who has a background in law and foreign policy that includes a stint as a cabinet member under former President George H.W. Bush, said religious freedom in foreign policy serves several functions vital to American prosperity Tuesday night. “If you look across the globe you realize that the vast majority of people around the world identify in some way with religion,
and that religion often drives how they think about their lives; how they think about what the most important things are in their lives; how they think about why they’re here on this Earth; how they raise their children; what is considered good, and what happens after they’re done with this life,” Young said. “They’re questions in the thinking of a large percentage of people, to the extent that when they’re not permitted to freely think about that, you really do stunt, in a powerful way, their capacity to realize their full potential as humans.” Young said his interest in religious freedom peaked while working with the American effort to unify Germany. “It gave me an opportunity to look at what had happened in countries that had themselves had particularly oppressing regimes, and how that in turn affected the people under those regimes,” Young said. “So many
of these groups in Eastern Europe that had moved a nation with respect to challenging their government were really faith-based. Many of these movements had a really powerful religious undertaking.” Religious freedom goes hand in hand with democratic government and consequently empowers citizens, calling it a “recipe for limited government” that in turn gives the government more legitimacy, Young said. “If you allow lots of religious freedom, you are recognizing as a government the notion of limited government,” Young said. “You are prepared to say, ‘Yes we acknowledge there is something that may hinder your allegiance that is above that of the state, and that’s okay.’” Young said a vast majority of the world population lives in nations where religion is oppressed in some way, and that can in turn YOUNG ON PG. 3
TECHNOLOGY
CHEMISTRY LAB RELIES ON SMALL DETAILS FOR BIG RESEARCH In A&M nanoscale lab students gain experience via creative channels By Gracie Mock
Via Avery, Pawlicki, Elinski, Batteas
Students in the program drew a minion on the nanoscale using atomic force microscopy.
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Some scientists look at the universe at large to understand the everyday world, but one A&M research group focuses on the exact opposite — the extremely small. The lab of chemistry professor James Batteas is focused on all things tiny — the nanoscale, or objects that are mere billionths of a meter long. Such a small scale has enormous impact, however, and Batteas and his group investigate how something as simple as the friction between two everyday surfaces can be explained and ultimately controlled. “Whether you realize it or not, surfaces and interfaces dominate and control just about everything,” Batteas said. “Wheth-
er it’s the friction between two surfaces or whether it’s an interaction between some biological molecule and a cell, there’s always an interface involved. What we’re interested in is understanding all those fundamental properties about materials that control their surfaces and interfaces.” The lab’s current project, funded by the National Science Foundation, aims to understand the atomic scale and how friction really works, said Batteas. The nanoscale can be very difficult to visualize and even harder to manipulate however, and Batteas needed a way to easily convey these ideas in a fun manner. He found the perfect method by challenging the new undergraduate researchers in his lab to sketch out tiny, fanciful drawings such as the A&M logo and even minion characters from the 2010 animated film “Despicable Me.” “That’s part of what this project developed
out of, trying to understand those processes,” Batteas said. “So atomic force microscopy allows us to actually measure them directly on the atomic scale, which is the basis of why we developed this demo.” The process Batteas’ lab uses to manipulate atoms and molecules on the nanoscale is called “atomic force microscopy.” Atomic force microscopy works by using a microscopic tip that probes a surface. Sketching super-tiny images of things such may seem trivial, but it is also used as practice to prepare new researchers for the lab’s scientific investigations. “With this particular experiment, when you apply a voltage between the tip and the sample, water condensation between the tip allows the surface to get oxidized as you convert silicon to silicon dioxide, right at the tip,” said Meagan Elinski, chemistry graduate NANOSCALE ON PG. 3
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