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STREET CLOSURES
Wheeler Avenue closed for light rail construction Wheeler Avenue will be closed between Cullen Blvd. and Rockwood Drive in preparation for light rail construction between Wednesday and Oct. 29. The street will alternate open lanes, starting with the eastbound lane of Wheeler. UH lot 7B behind Law Hall will not be accessible from the westbound lane of Wheeler. It is suggested that students avoid this area during construction to keep traffic at a minimum. — Sara Nichols/The Daily Cougar
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October 19, 2010
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COMMUNITY
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Issue 041, Volume 76
FACULTY
Bullying From UH to the marketplace issue at center of suicides Researchers take invention into the private sector; profits to benefit UH, future research
Jourdan Vian
THE DAILY COUGAR
National attention aims at curbing youths’ deaths Cristi Guerra, Katie Rowald and Danielle Upshaw
A UH-based research team is bringing the school some notoriety in the private sector with its new invention to help patients at risk for heart failure monitor their condition at home. The team, led by UH researchers Dr. Clifford Dasco, Nithin Rajan and Luca Pollonni, was recently awarded a Texas Emerging
Technology Fund grant from the state for its work on the invention, which is named the Blue Scale. Dasco, Rajan and Pollonni have been working since 2007 to develop the Blue Scale through UH’s partnership with Methodist Hospital Research Institute. Dasco and Rajan started a company called Blue Box, Inc., to bring their invention into the commercial world. “The grant was actually awarded to the company that Dr. Dasco and I started,” Rajan said. “(The Blue Scale) was developed at the university, but this is a commercial award.” DEVICE continues on page 6
THE DAILY COUGAR
STUDENT ENRICHMENT
UH hosts Communication Career panel today The UH International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and UH Career Services will host its Communications Career Panel from 6 to 7:30 p.m. today in the Rockwell Pavilion on the second floor of the M.D. Anderson Library. The event is free and open to all students interested in a career in communications. Pizza and light refreshments will be served, and students will have an opportunity to win an IABC annual membership. For more information, please e-mail uh.iabc@gmail. com. — Sara Nichols/The Daily Cougar
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ON CAMPUS Chemistry of Special Effects Demonstrations on how to make amazingly gorey effects such as wounds, scars and zombie bites will be hosted by the American Chemical Society. Drop by in front of M.D. Anderson Library from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. This is a Cougar Card event. Crime Scene Lab Ever wondered how crime scene investigators use science and chemistry to solve a crime? Come by the UC Pacific Room from 4 to 6 p.m. to check out some of the cool techniques used in the lab such as blood spatter analysis, gun shot residue analysis, fingerprinting detection and much more. A free button and Cougar Card will be handed out.
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With the growing number of social networking sites comes a swift increase in the prevalence of cyberbullying, the deliberate, repeated, hostile behavior by a group or individual intended to harm another, whether online or through the use of a cell phone. i-Safe Inc., a non-profit foundation whose goal is to educate students on how to avoid dangerous and inappropriate behavior online, reported that 42 percent of all young people have experienced cyberbullying and that one in four had it happen more than once. “As we are becoming more and more reliant on technology as our major means of communication, the potential for cyberbullying will probably continue to increase,” said Brent Lane, a psychologist with UH’s Counseling and Psychology Services. “Awareness campaigns to reduce cyberbullying could potentially counteract this trend.” Following the recent rash of teen suicides spurred by both cyberbullying and through physical means, Chris Armstrong, the first openly gay student body president at the University of Michigan, spoke out on CNN’s AC360 about his own experience with cyberbullying at the hands of Andrew Shirvell, a lawyer at the Michigan attorney general’s office. Shirvell created a blog called “Chris Armstrong Watch” where he openly bashed Armstrong for his sexuality, calling him a “radical homosexual activist, racist, elitist and liar.” Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres broadcast a heartfelt appeal to victims of bullying earlier this month. “This needs to be a wake up call to everyone that teen-aged bullying and teasing is an epidemic in this country, and the death toll is climbing,” she said. At a city council meeting in Fort Worth, councilman Joel Burns concurred, recounting his own experiences with bullying and admitting BULLYING continues on page 6
Members of UH’s student chapter of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists took top honors at the organization’s national symposium in Anaheim, Calif. | Courtesy of Ben Mellado
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS
Taking nationals UH group of student engineers and scientists earn win at national symposium Danielle Upshaw
THE DAILY COUGAR A group of UH students is still on cloud nine after bringing home first place in a national decathlon. The UH chapter of the Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists took first place in the overall competition at the organization’s National Symposium held Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 in Anaheim, Calif. The chapter has participated in national symposiums before, and with larger numbers, but this year was different. “Due to lack of funding and timing of the event, our numbers were low this time,” chapter president Ben Mellado said. “I wanted to make it up by coming up big in all the competitions and events.”
The decathlon consisted of five separate categories: a science, technology, engineering and mathematics exam; a poster competition; resume analysis; elevator speech; company commercial and “familia feud.” Ashley McGinty, Mohamed Mohamed, Illiana Rangel and Julio Sanchez joined Mellado for the national competition. Selecting the team for the decathlon was up to Mellado, and he drew on the strengths of each member who attended the symposium. “Each of the members were delegated certain competitions, and each of them had the perfect recipe for the events,” Mellado said. In true team fashion, all members contributed in their own way for all competitions and for the win. “I have learned that you do not have to take a big group in order to represent your school right, you just need the right people,” Mellado said. STUDENTS continues on page 6