thebattalion l tuesday,
march 18, 2014
l serving
texas a&m since 1893
l first paper free – additional copies $1 l © 2014 student media
THREE’S A CHARM Women’s basketball team nets No. 3 seed in NCAA tournament PROVIDED
medical fields
John Rangel
Event to sharpen tomorrow’s doctors
The Battalion
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exas took another step toward the stars earlier this month when University of Texas System Regents met on March 7 to approve a $50 million commitment to funding the world’s largest telescope, a project in which Texas A&M has a stake. The Giant Magellan Telescope Project is a collaboration between nine international partners to build an observatory in Chile capable of producing images 10 times sharper than the Hubble Space telescope. UT and A&M are individual partners in the effort, and UT’s recent monetary pledge is the latest development in a race to start construction before the year is out. David Lambert, director of UT’s McDonald Observatory and astronomy professor, said the $50 million pledge constitutes half of UT’s planned commitment. “It’s a five percent contribution to the construction costs and it brings the project closer to being able to make a decision on construction,” Lambert said. UT’s pledge will come from research reserves held by UT Austin. Lambert said UT is currently working on raising another $50 million from multiple private sources in order to fulfill UT’s commitment of funding 10 percent of the
7th Disaster Day to be the largest to date Jennifer Reiley The Battalion
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See Disaster Day on page 4
See Telescope on page 6
Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION
Senior Karla Gilbert (second from left) celebrates with head coach Gary Blair (third from left) after it was announced that A&M will be a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Patrick Crank
The Battalion he No. 15 Texas A&M women’s basketball team hosted a party inside the Cox-McFerrin Athletic Center Monday to celebrate the team’s selection to the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament, marking the ninth-consecutive season the team will appear in the tournament. A&M (24-8, 13-3 SEC) was selected as a 3-seed in the Lincoln Regional of the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies will face the 14-seed North Dakota on Sunday after 6-seed Gonzaga and 11-seed James Madison play. The winners of each matchup will battle for a spot in the Sweet 16 on Tuesday. “I feel really good [about
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the matchup],” said senior center Karla Gilbert. “We’ve made a lot of improvements, we’ve grown individually and you know what? I think it’s about time we just stepped up to the plate and get ready to go.” Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair has played nearly every team in the NCAA during his coaching career, but Sunday will be the first time he has ever faced North Dakota. “Having a chance to play North Dakota, that’s going to be fun,” Blair said. Despite the team’s unfamiliarity with its first opponent, the Aggies realize they cannot afford to take any team for granted. “I know it’s going to be a very, very tough battle for us, but I feel like this team is very
capable of [overcoming] anything,” said sophomore point guard Jordan Jones. “[We can’t] take anybody for granted, no matter what their seed is, because Nebraska did knock us off last year on our home court.” The Aggies were dealt a tough hand as the undefeated and defending national champion Connecticut Huskies (340, 18-0 AAC) were named the 1-seed in their region. A&M is aware that the road to a national championship may go through the Huskies, but Blair is focusing his team on the game at hand before looking ahead. “We will play every team just like they’re Connecticut,” Blair said. “You cannot get to Connecticut, or get to Lincoln, See Tournament on page 3
baseball
Columbia poses mid-week challenge Ivy League team continues Texas road trip at A&M Clay Koepke The Battalion
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exas A&M baseball will look to build on its 12-2 home record Tuesday as it hosts Columbia University (5-7, 0-0 Ivy League), with the first pitch slated for 6:35 p.m. College Station marks Columbia’s second destination on its ninegame road trip after beginning its trip with losses in three of four games at UT-San Antonio. After Tuesday’s game against the Aggies, Columbia will head to UT-Arlington for a single game before heading to Austin to take on the University of Texas in a three-game set. Tanner Garza — THE BATTALION The Aggies post a team ERA of 2.29 — including two players Freshman Tyler Stubblefield is tied for the team lead with a 0.35 ERA.
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UT funds advance telescope project A&M has financial stake in world’s largest telescope
Participants tend to a patient during last year’s Disaster Day event.
isasters are unexpected, but that doesn’t mean students in medical fields can’t be prepared for any incident thrown their way. In 2009, the Health Science Center College of Nursing hosted its first Disaster Day, an event to prepare students in the medical field for real life disaster scenarios. Jerry Livingston, lead faculty coordinator of the event, said the project started after Hurricane Ike in 2008 and evacuees from south Texas and south Louisiana came to Reed Arena for shelter. “It was the first year we had our nursing program here and our nursing students had literally only been here about two or three weeks,” Jerry said. “People were needed to help man the temporary shelters and our students basically knew nothing. They had a really steep learning curve as far as getting caught up on what to do. It was at that point that Dr. Nancy Dickey decided that we needed to put together some kind of mini course.” In the first Disaster Day, only the college of nursing was involved and included 33 nursing students who took turns playing patient and nurse. Laura Livingston, assistant director of the Clinical Learning Resource Center, said the program quickly began to gain participants — and it has grown each year since. The program is now in its seventh year and Laura said Thursday’s event involves about 276 students from seven disciplines in the health sciences and more than 500 volunteers playing patients, making this year’s event the largest so far. The nature of the disaster will not be revealed to students until the day of the event to make the simulation as real as possible. Jerry said the type of simulation has varied over the years, but tends to have a relevant angle. “In the past, we have used hurricanes, wildfires, an explosion at a local sporting event and a chemical explosion,” Jerry said. “Basically what we’re going to start doing, because this thing does keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger, we have our cases from those four scenarios and we’re going to
astronomy
allowing less than one earned run — and will face a Columbia squad that has yet to hit a home run this season. Freshman left handed pitcher Tyler Stubblefield will get the start on the mound for the Aggies. Stubblefield will take the hill Tuesday sporting a 3-1 record on four starts and is tied for a team-best ERA of 0.35 with sophomore Grayson Long. The Aggies (14-7, 1-2 SEC) enter Tuesday’s matchup with six players with batting averages over .300. A&M has sent eight balls over the fence this year, but will face a Columbia pitching staff that has only surrendered two home runs on the year. Following its game against Columbia, A&M will continue SEC play against Florida with a threegame set beginning at 6:35 p.m. Friday at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
inside thebattalion asks
Q:
Page 2: How do you feel about the increased presence of food trucks in the area?
cuisine | 2 Wafology Former student creates culturally infused waffle recipes at his local food truck.
gender studies | 4 Research talks Women researchers gathered Monday to discuss their research and learn more about different areas of study in women’s research.
art | 11 Global conditions A photography exhibit, opening Wednesday, will recognize the work of Howard G. Buffett and graduate student Christopher Bielecki.
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3/17/14 9:10 PM