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Cougars spring into action against undefeated Bears
January 18, 2011
UH opera receives national recognition
Issue 59, Volume 77
STATE
Texas to require meningitis vaccine Incoming students will be unable to register for classes in the spring without shot Naheeda Sayeeduddin
THE DAILY COUGAR New students under the age of 30 who plan to enroll in college classes are required by law to be vaccinated against bacterial meningitis starting this month. This law also affects students under the age of 30 who are returning to college after a break in their enrollment of at least one
semester. “Approximately 3,000 students will need to meet the requirement to enroll in spring 2012,” said Stephen Soutullo, associate vice president for Student Access/Student Success at UH. “This number includes new students and returning students who were not enrolled in Fall 2011.” Soutullo said approximately 90 percent of those students submitted paperwork prior to the first day of classes and meet the requirement for enrollment in this spring. Some of the remaining students are still submitting the required paperwork. This law came into effect after Nicolis
SGA
STUDENTS
Student Government to discuss smoking, grades
Imagine Cup 2012 half full of Cougars
The first Student Government Association Senate meeting of the semester will take place at today at 7:30 p.m. in the Cougar Den at the lowest floor of the University Center, SGA President Michael Harding said. The senators will once again be looking at Senator Josie Caesar’s proposed smoking restriction bill and potential changes to the grade replacement policy, Senator Jeff Syptak said. The upcoming referendum on a $45 increase in student fees will also likely be discussed, Syptak said.
Williams, a Texas A&M junior from Sugar Land died in February 2011 after contracting bacterial meningitis. The parents of students who died from the disease fought for the bill to become law requiring college students to be vaccinated. “In the case where we had the college deaths, the parents were vocal,” UH Health Center Director Floyd Robinson said. “I think certainly they wanted to spare parents having to go through this horrible experience of losing a child.”
SYMPTOMS Meningitis usually causes inflammation of the membranes that cover the central nervous system within 24 hours. Symptoms include: J J J J J J J
Fever Severe headache Stiff neck and back Nausea Sensitivity to light Rash Disorientation
MENINGITIS continues on page 3
Source: Cazenovia College
Students take game design competition by force, solving world issues Max Gardner
— Joshua Mann
LAW CENTER
Alumni to have access to legal education courses UH Law Center alumni will now have unlimited use of West LegalEdcenter. The service provides webbased access to more than 6,000 continuing legal education courses. The service comes through a partnership between Thomson Reuters West LegalEdcenter, the law school and the UH Law Foundation. Alumni may register at www.law.uh.edu/alumni/ — Deisy Enriquez
CORRECTIONS Report errors to editor@thedailycougar.com. Corrections will appear in this space as needed.
THE DAILY COUGAR Three of the six teams competing in the Microsoft US Imagine Cup 2012 finals will represent UH in game design, marking the fifth-straight year that the University has had teams enter the competition. The competition is helpful in preparing the students for what they might expect in a real-life business situation, said Research Assistant Professor Yun, who mentored two of the teams. Each team must go through three rounds and bring their ideas from storyboard to the finished form that they are judged upon. The winners receive a cash prize and an internship opportunity with Microsoft Corp. “We can’t just create anything; it’s a real product. Microsoft is the client and we are the developer,” said Yun. “We have to create [the game] according to their description.” Team Zigers (Xbox), Team
UH is represented at the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012 game design finals by Team Eager Beaver, Team Zigers and Team Wasabi Ninja. The competition is on April 3, 2012. | Courtesy of Chang Yun Wasabi Ninja (Windows Phone) and Team Eager Beavers PC (Windows) have each designed and developed a game centered around a major world issue and will present them in Seattle beginning on April 3. “The games that the students are doing are based on the United Nations’ millennium goals for 2015,” said digital media developer and mentor José Báez-Franceschi. “They focus on issues such as poverty and hunger, disease, renewable energies, environmental sustainability, global warming and education.” Graduates Patipol
Paripoonnanonda and Martin Le, and undergraduates Jackchalat Chaiyakhom and Josh Riffel of Team Wasabi Ninja, mentored by Yun, made the game “Phagy” for Windows Phone. The game makes use of the phone’s camera to allow the players to interact with their environment. “The player assumes a role of a nano-machine where the player needs to destroy harmful materials in the water systems,” said Paripoonnanonda. “The game is aimed to raise awareness of water pollution in developing countries as well as the rest of the world.” The Xbox game “Spillville”
This year we already have three teams set and we are trying to get more seats in spring... We would love it if we could break our own record.” Chang Yun, Research Assistant Professor and mentor of two teams focuses on oil spills and was created by Team Zigers, consisting of undergraduates Michael Slater, Chris Gonzales, Sin Ng and Allison Sherrick and is also mentored by Yun. GAMES continues on page 3