TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2017 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2017 STUDENT MEDIA | @THEBATTONLINE
Aggies Andrea Batarse and Emily Main traveled to France and Greece in order to interview refugees for their documentaries.
Kevin Chou — THE BATTALION
CRISIS THROUGH A LENS 2 Aggies travel to refugee camps, film the living conditions of refugees By Ana Sevilla @AnaVSevilla Two refugee camps, two determined students, one camera and no cell phone service: This was all part of the production process that Aggies Andrea Batarse and Emily Main experienced while traveling abroad filming the documentary, “Safe Passage.” Viewed in 65 countries and showcased both at Texas A&M and Marquette University, the 9-minute documentary sheds light on the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe shown
through the stories of various refugees and imagery of their living conditions. Batarse, international studies senior and Refuge CEO and CFO, said the idea for the documentary came after starting her business, Refuge. Initially, Batarse and former business partner Lexi Carley, Class of 2016, sold bracelets through Refuge to provide educational opportunity. Founded in February 2015, Refuge assured children an education through bracelet sales. “One bracelet, one month,” was the original idea, Batarse said. “There are 65 million refugees. Half of them are children, and they’re left uneducated and unable to rebuild their own country,” Batarse said.
In 2016 alone, Refuge donated more than 450 months of education and 150 vaccines through UNICEF. After successfully running the business for a year, Batarse decided to apply for the student media grant sponsored by The Center of Conflict and Development at Texas A&M. The grant awards up to $5,000 to students interested in capturing conflict-related issues through photojournalism. Kelly Prendergast, ConDev communications manager, said the grant awards students the chance to not only fund their project but a chance to connect firsthand with those living in conflict-stricken areas. “It’s very unique in that we allow students to cover conflict-related issues, which if you look at study-abroad in general, they do limit
where students can go for obvious reasons,” Prendergast said. “But one thing that makes our grant unique is that we do try to get students out to cover topics that are challenging and that they’re going to learn something from.” Batarse said she always desired to travel to meet refugees through a firsthand account. After Carley graduated, Batarse asked Emily Main, Class of 2017, to join her on her journey. However, many obstacles were to be had before the cameras even started rolling, said Main. “The biggest obstacle was deciding how we were going to show the human beings that SAFE PASSAGE ON PG. 2
A&M prof asscoaite’s work to connect CO2 into solar fuel By Josh McCormack @_joshmccormack
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Stephen Kolek recorded seven strikeouts in the win over Alabama on Saturday.
Aggies aim to continue win streak against UTA By Kevin Roark @Kevin_Roark The No. 20 Texas A&M baseball team will face off against the University of Texas at Arlington at Clay Gould Ballpark Tuesday night. The Aggies have strung together six consecutive wins and three straight SEC series wins after sweeping Alabama this weekend. The Aggies (26-11, 8-7 SEC) will pay a visit to the Mavericks (19-17, 9-5 Sun Belt) for a midweek bout as a team that has seemingly begun to take a turn for the better. A&M’s offense has been led as of late by freshman Braden Shewmake of Wylie, Texas. The second baseman has earned a hit in the past five games and now leads his squad with a whopping 55 hits for the season. He ranks fifth overall in the SEC with a .350 batting average, which has led to 42 RBIs. Shewmake will be backed up in his dugout by catchers Cole Bedford and Hunter Coleman, one of which can be expected to
take up duties of designated hitter tomorrow evening. Bedford holds a .337 average while Coleman has tallied .324 from home plate. They hope to propel the team forward with the help of senior outfielder Nick Choruby’s eight stolen bases. Tuesday night he’ll step up to the plate across from a UTA team that’s also coming off three consecutive conference series wins. In the bullpen stands a trifecta of Mavericks that showcases pitchers Jacob Moreland, Joel Kuhnel and Kadon Simmons. They collectively average a 2.77 ERA and will pitch against the Aggies rotation averaging 3.68 earned runs per nine frames. Texas A&M fans can expect to see junior Turner Larkins on the mound for his second start of the season. The Arlington native is returning from illness and most likely won’t reach a full count of pitches. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. in Arlington.
A solar lab concentrator, a solar reactor and a group of dedicated researchers — herein lies a possible solution for the future of the environment: Converting carbon dioxide to usable solar fuel. Associate professor Ying Li, who works in the mechanical engineering department, has been developing a way to turn pollutant greenhouse gases into energy using photocatalyst materials. The simulated process used to create the fuel — called artificial photosynthesis — works similarly to the environmental process in which plants absorb water in the soil and CO2 from the air. “CO2 is a greenhouse gas,” Li said. “Rather than let it just be emitted, what I want to do is convert CO2 to hydrocarbon fuels like methane.” While the process occurs naturally in the environment, simulating it in the lab requires researchers to use photocatalyst materials, which will serve as conductors to simulate
Laura Haslam — THE BATTALION
Associate professor Yung Li, Huilei Zhao and Debjyoti Banerjee are delving into the possibility of converting carbonn dioxide to fuel.
the natural process, Li said. “Photocatalysts, like titanium dioxide, are semiconductors so they can absorb sunlight or photons. The photon will excite the electrons to a higher energy level. These electrons can initiate chemical reactions to react to CO2 or to reduce CO2,” Li said. This entire engineered process remains very close to the natural process itself, Li said. CO2 ON PG. 3
Student-run organization helps aspiring entrepreneurs reach goals Blackstone Launchpad connects clients with mentors to grow ideas By Savannah Mehrtens @twitterhandle Blackstone Launchpad helps student and alumni entrepreneurs connect with mentors who will help them follow their business plans, and will be growing their audience with a grand opening April 28. Under the May’s Business School Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship, the Texas A&M chapter of Blackstone Launchpad is now one of 20 programs nationwide to focus and direct student entrepreneurs to success on an individual basis. After receiving their grant in the summer of 2016, along with the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at Austin, Blackstone Launchpad began operating on campus in the fall semester. Taylor Wismer, sociology senior and student venture consultant, said Blackstone Launchpad works as a middleman to filter people toward successful entrepreneurs as mentors who can assist them with their ideas.
Laura Haslam — THE BATTALION
The Blackstone Launchpad program offers individualized coaching for student entrepreneurs.
“We are kind of a one-stop shop for entrepreneurship,” Wismer said. “We provide students with mentorship and all the different certificates, organizations on campus. We’re really the beginning hub that works to push students to where they need to go once they come to us with an idea or a business plan, anything like that.” BLACKSTONE ON PG. 2