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MONDAY, APRIL 22 , 2013
WWW.DAILYAZTEC.COM
VOLUME 99, ISSUE 104
Mars rover alumni land at SDSU
campus J. Hutton Marshall Managing Editor
The eight San Diego State alumni on the NASA team that designed the most recent—and most ambitious— Mars rover, Curiosity, visited SDSU on Friday to illuminate the challenging, innovative work they performed during the last decade. Each alumnus worked separate aspects of the Curiosity mission, which began in 2000. The eight former Aztecs attracted a large crowd that filled College of Arts and Letters 201. During the event, titled “Aztecs Take Mars,” each person ran through his or her background at SDSU and specific involvement in the mission to an engaged crowd full of students and professors. The alumni work in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is under the umbrella of NASA. The JPL traces its roots back to the days when the U.S. and Russia competed in the space race, but still retains more autonomy than other departments within NASA. Prior to the lecture, the eight alumni sat down with The Daily Aztec to talk about their experiences working on their mission—from the effects of the media attention they received to the nail-biting last seconds before Curiosity touched down on the surface of Mars. “Once the rover enters the outer atmosphere of Mars, there’s a transmission delay,” “surge” navigator for the Curiosity mission Mark Ryne said.
Senior Staff Writer
San Diego State hosted the Day of Silence to raise awareness about antilesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender harassment. The Day of Silence, sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is a student-run event held in middle schools, high schools and colleges across the nation. Last Friday, SDSU students took part in the event to bring attention to discrimination against LGBT individuals. The LGBTQ Advisory Board,worked with Gamma Rho Lambda, a queer-based on-campus sorority, and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Student Union to organize the event. Last Thursday and Friday, volunteers tabled, passed out cards and encouraged students to sign a pledge promoting tolerance. Some students covered their mouths with duct tape to make visible statements in honor of the day, while others signed the pledge. One student who chose to wear duct tape, international security and conflict resolution junior Justin Campbell, has participated in the Day of Silence since his sophomore year of high school. Campbell said he takes part in the event because he feels he has been silenced throughout his life and wants to empower others to overcome similar challenges. “It’s not one time in particular, but
Preview of firstround matchups featured on page 3 Third annual EX 4 VETS on page 2
Gendered-toy exhibit on page 5
kevin serrano , staff photographer
Eight San Diego State alumni, part of the NASA team that designed the Mars rover, visitied the campus. Two members of the team explain the technicalities of the rover.
“So at that point, we already knew it had either crashed or landed successfully—there was nothing we could do about it.” Videos from the NASA control room immediately after Curiosity’s touchdown revealed what an enormously emotional moment it was for the scientists and engineers, who put more than a decade of work into the moment’s success. “My husband told me that you either watch the rover land successfully and everybody goes and gets a beer,”
Ryne’s wife Cathy Ryne said after the interview, “or it crashes, and everyone goes and gets a beer.” For Brandon Florow and Joey Brown, founder of the SDSU Rocket Project who graduated in 2005, being part of such a large, public endeavor so early in their careers was a surreal experience. “I had known about and watched a lot of the people working on the mission for a long time, so to actually get to work with them on a project like this was incredible,” Brown said.
Curiosity touched down on the surface of Mars on August 5, 2012, a date that the alumni have inscribed on their matching blue polo shirts. The date signifies not only the end of their grueling mission to put a carsized rover on a distant planet, but the beginning of their quest to encounter what mysteries lay undiscovered on the red planet. Curiosity has already exceeded expectations by providing groundbreaking scientific research, and it’s expected to stay in operation for years to come.
Silence speaks volumes against LGBT bullying campus Hannah Beausang
APRIL 22, 2013
MONday
it was kind of my whole high school career,” Campbell said. “I didn’t really have friends. There were times when people would roll down their windows when they were driving by and they would throw things at me or call me names. Now that I’m in college and I’ve moved past that, I really want to help stop that because I know some people aren’t as fortunate as me and don’t make it through times like that.” Gamma Rho Lambada Vice President and business marketing senior Jill Miranda said the Day of Silence is important because it encourages students to think about the consequences of their actions. “This is a day to remember all those who have been affected by other people,” Miranda said. “It’s about starting to be aware of your surroundings and who you talk to and making sure that bullying subsides.” LGBTSU president and business administration senior Michael Manacop said student participation helps create a sense of unity through nonviolent measures. “The more participation we get, the more you can see the different voices that are being silenced from discrimination, name-calling or bullying,” Manacop said. “It’s kind of like using a peaceful protest to spread awareness about the issues that are going on.” However, some students think that there are other, more effective ways of promoting equality for LGBT students. Women’s studies senior
SDSU graduate student shows how toys reinfoce gender sterotypes Vine adds to digital journalism on page 4
LGBT studies senior Thomas Negron stays quiet in support of Day of Silence.
and SafeZones@SDSU member El Glasheen said he thinks the message should be conveyed in a bolder fashion. “For me, I think it’s important to not be silent,” Glasheen said. “I want people to be loud and active and make their voices heard … I want people to be visible.” A recent Human Rights Campaign Foundation study surveyed more than 10,000 LGBT students between the ages of 13 and 17 about discrimination in the community. According to the study, LGBT youth are more than twice as likely as non-LGBT youth to have been verbally harassed at school. A 2009 GLSEN study of 13 to 21 year-old LGBT students revealed 84.6 percent of students reported being verbally harassed in schools because
hannah beausang , senior staff writer
of their sexual orientation and 63.7 percent because of their forms of gender expression. The study also showed that youth hear derogatory anti-gay remarks about 25 times in a typical day at school, which equates to once every 14 minutes. The Day of Silence was founded in 1996 by students at the University of Virginia as part of an assignment about peaceful methods of protesting. More than 150 students partook in the first Day of Silence and, in 1997, the event spread to a national level and about 100 colleges participated. Miranda said more than 35 SDSU students signed the pledge and about 75 flyers were distributed to students during the two days.
I appreciate the chance to learn the way arguments ... are constructed without fear of my own beliefs being compromised. TEACH OR PREACH on page 7
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