Wednesday, February 27, 2013 // Issue 83, Volume 78
THE DAILY COUGAR
T H E
O F F I C I A L
S T U D E N T
N E W S PA P E R
O F
T H E
U N I V E R S I T Y
O F
H O U S T O N
S I N C E
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STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Election disconnections
OPINION
Voting polls experience technical difficulties Katherine Morris Contributing writer
Technical difficulties and confusion on the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences ballot could mean rocky results for candidates. The polls opened at 9 a.m Tuesday, and students were ready to submit their ballots to decide who would represent them in the 50th Student Government Association administration, but the ballot instructions did not inform students they are allowed to vote for up to eight SGA senate candidates to represent CLASS. There are 13 candidates running for a position in CLASS. Outside of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library, campaigners offered students their last spiel before heading to the polls. Many of them
Republican trend fading LIFE+ARTS
Some students, like computer information systems junior Cody Kraushaar, had no issues voting for the Student Government Association polls, but many experienced Internet difficulties at polling stations, and the ballot instructions failed to inform voters they were allowed to vote for eight SGA CLASS representatives. | Nichole Taylor/The Daily Cougar were also trying to inform students of the error. University Center voters were not
as well informed. “No one told me about the potential issues with the ballot before
voting,” said computer science
Media causes image problems
ELECTION continues on page 3
SPORTS ENGINEERING
Put a patent on it Engineering school offers training in information proporty Julie Heffler Staff writer
Vice president of the Partnership for the Advancement and Immersion of Refugees, Arielle Gutierrez, tutors and mentors children. | Courtesy of Valerie Hang
CAMPUS
PAIRs of helping hands Jessica Crawford Staff writer
A UH organization recently received grant money from the Jeremy Lin Foundation’s Make a Difference Program. T h e Pa r t n e r s h i p f o r t h e Advancement and Immersion of Refugees — along with Workshop Houston and Yellowstone Academy — is competing in an online contest to win publicity from Lin for its project. “All three organizations are wonderful and doing terrific things for the community. But PAIR is the
only one which specifically is UH affiliated. I am very interested in seeing if we could spread publicity about the online contest,” said theater junior Jake Fiedler, program coordinator for PAIR. Education junior Valerie Hang, PAIR president, said the organization is making a difference for refugee youth living in the U.S. “PAIR empowers refugee youth to navigate American society, reach their academic potential and become community leaders PAIR continues on page 3
The Cullen College of Engineering has devised a training series to teach its faculty, students and staff how to handle intellectual property and how to become an entrepreneur. Kicking off March 8, the series will include topics such as liability, inventions, license agreements and more, according to the event’s website. Aaron Levine and Matt Todd, cochairs of the New Ventures and Corporate Transactions Group at Novak Druce Connolly Bove + Quigg, will be hosting the training sessions. “Our intention is to walk folks through the notions how to manage the process from creation to cash, from concept to solidifying that concept, to funding that concept, to using that concept, to cashing out on that concept,” Todd said. “From the seed of the idea to selling your company, we are trying to walk them through that process.” Levine and Todd consulted with a team of patent-holding members of
the College of Engineering. The group was created by Joseph Tedesco, the dean of the College of Engineering. Yuhua Chen, an associate professor for the college, holds five patents and was one of the consultants for the series. “I think it is great that the college invests in this area and provide some formal training to faculty and students. I learned the patent laws and patent drafting myself, out of my own needs,” Chen said. “I have Chen developed a course module to teach my students the basics about patents, as well as how to draft patents. My students turn in a patent draft at the end of the semester. Knowing how to draft patents also helps students to be more innovative.” The IP and patent process is complicated, but he hopes the training will help these potential entrepreneurs be less afraid of going PATENT continues on page 3
Transfer makes impact GET SOME DAILY
thedailycougar.com
BASEBALL POSTPONED After a water main burst, UH will play yesterday’s game at 6:30 p.m. today.
ONLINE POLL Who are you voting for in this year’s SGA elections?
COUNTDOWN
12
Days until Spring Break.
It’s time to avoid the food trucks and roll over to Fresh Foods. You’ll thank us come bathing-suit season.