THE DAILY ILLINI
MONDAY February 4, 2019
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
56˚ | 24˚
Vol. 148 Issue 38
Researchers develop reusable dry adhesive BY ALEX SARDJEV CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A team of researchers at the University has recently developed a dry adhesive that can be used underwater and has reusable capabilities. The team, led by professor Seok Kim in Engineering, consists of fifth-year graduate student Jun Kyu Park and former graduate student Jeffrey D. Eisenhaure. The team recently published its study, titled “Reversible Underwater Dry Adhesion of a Shape Memory Polymer.” Members’ findings disprove the notion that dry adhesives are incapable of achieving successful adhesion with wet surfaces. Dry adhesives use synthetically made setae, a structure similar to the biological mechanisms on a gecko’s foot, to help them stick to surfaces. Generally, dry adhesives, such as tape, are made from rigid material, Kim said. “The bad thing about having rigid material adhesive is you cannot make good conformal contact,” Kim said. “If your adhesive material is more rigid, you can expect higher adhesion, but the contact area is also small, so adhesion should
decrease. It’s a paradox.” Using shape-memory polymers as an adhesive material, the team was able to maximize both adhesion and contact area. SMPs are unique in that they become soft when heated and rigid when cooled, which allows for both reversibility and underwater application, Park said. The material is soft when initially applied, allowing it to make sufficient contact with the surface. As the material cools, the bond strengthens. “If we have a soft material and a rigid surface,” said Park, “we can drive out the water layer between the adhesive and the surface using an applied force.” Park likened the applied force on the SMPs in a submerged situation to the weight of a car on a rainy day. In this analogy, the mass of the car helps squeeze out existing water between the tires and the ground so that dry contact can be achieved, Park said. Because SMPs have the remarkable ability to retain the shape of their contact surface, they can be successfully reused by simply altering the temperature. SEE ADHESIVE | 3A
ALEX SARDJEV THE DAILY ILLINI
Graduate student Jun Kyu Park examines a sample of reusable adhesive, which he helped design, in his office in the Mechanical Engineering Building on Tuesday.
BEN TSCHETTER THE DAILY ILLINI
Julia Kelly looks at a painting at Krannert Art Museum’s “Between The Buildings” exhibit on Friday.
UI grants $2 million to arts, humanities BY CLARE BUDIN SENIOR REPORTER
The University of Illinois System has created a $2 million initiative aimed at celebrating the impact of the arts and humanities on the three campuses over the next two years. After review by University of Illinois System President Timothy Killeen and other officials, 14 of the more than 50 proposals sent in by professors as part of the firstyear Presidential Initiative to Celebrate the Impact of the Arts and the Humanities were chosen to receive over $100,000 in grant money. The initiative subsequently upped the proposed $1 million in funding to $2 million as a result of what Killeen said was the sheer volume of strong proposals. “The caliber of the proposals was inspiring, and the ideation that came out of it was very rich, detailed and also
inspiring,” Killeen said. Many of the projects incorporate digital technology such as virtual reality to enhance participation in theater performances, interactive exhibits to showcase innovations in UrbanaChampaign and a newly developed curriculum at the Carle College of Medicine to bridge humanities and healthcare for students. Killeen said these projects demonstrate that the arts and humanities can easily merge and benefit from technology sciences rather than remain completely separate. “We want our artists and humanists to explore and cross boundaries, and I think digitalization, networking, computation, simulation and robotics can all be components of the supporting infrastructure for these kind of initiatives,” Killeen said. Kevin Hamilton, dean of FAA, said this phenom-
enon can easily be reversed and scientific studies often viewed as completely cold and logical can greatly benefit from creative thinking and knowledge of the humanities. “Many of the large-scale efforts that see significant campus investment outside of our core academic programming — our new Carle College of Medicine, for example, or the newly planned investments in Data Science infrastructure — also carry great potential for including arts and humanities researchers,” Hamilton said in an email. Hamilton said the quality and volume of responses to the initiative shows an Illinois arts community as ambitious and prepared as ever for investment in their projects. “The funded projects, along with the many that were not funded, offer a good cross-section of the best of what’s happening in these
areas on campus, and in these projects we see faculty working across disciplines and with public partners firmly in mind,” Hamilton said. “Arts and humanities faculty understand their research and creative work to be core to our world’s central challenges; with projects like these, they are rightly claiming that authority.” Hamilton mentioned along with Killeen that showing attention and providing funding to more ambitious projects is also a great strategy to attract new faculty members with their own dynamic proposals. “It’s important to keep in mind that this investment comes at a time when the arts and humanities have lost many good faculty to other institutions,” Hamilton said. “The past few years have been challenging in this regard, SEE GRANT | 3A
Scammers target students on campus Female restroom wait time INSIDE reflects gender inequality BY DANIEL RENTERIA STAFF WRITER
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Scammers posing to be employees of local energy company Ameren have been seen around the campus for years now attempting to take advantage of students, many of whom are living unsupervised for the first time in their lives. Brian Bretsch, Ameren Illinois spokesman, said the company will call before showing up at students’ doors for any reason. “We are not going to come to your front door and knock on it and say that we have a deal that can save you on the supply side of your business because we simply don’t work in the supply area,” Bretsch said. Lindsay Obeso, senior in LAS, has experienced this firsthand. She said she and her roommate heard a knock on their door during
BY GRACE MALONEY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
MARK CAPAPAS THE DAILY ILLINI
Residents of the apartment complex at 608 E. Chalmers St. had many complaints regarding recent scammers.
the day and the person at the door said he was sent by their rental company, Campus Property Management. However, after checking with CPM, Obeso was told the person was not sent by the rental company and was attempting to scam them. “My roommate was talking with him and is concerned because he’s telling
us that there’s a problem,” Obeso said. “She’s about to give him our information and she’s looking at me, who’s on the couch, and we’re just like, ‘Well we didn’t get an email, so come back when we’re told,’ and I pulled her away from the door.” Obeso was initially susSEE SCAMMER | 3A
For many years, if you are a female student studying Architecture, you might need to do some extra cardio just to use the restroom, as there was only one female bathroom on the first floor while male bathrooms were located on various different floors in the Architecture Building. While the issue has been resolved after a renovation of the building, the overall disparity between wait times for men and women’s bathrooms has been a stagnant problem for decades now. Kathryn Anthony, professor in Architecture, has researched this topic for years, even testifying before Congress when the
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issue reached the federal government for the first time. “Places of assembly are usually where lines for ladies’ rooms are the longest,” Anthony said. Often, public restrooms cannot handle large crowds all at once, whether that is during intermission at a musical or halftime at a basketball game, she said. “Here on campus, that would include theaters at our Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and our football and basketball stadia,” Anthony said. These locations aren’t the only long bathroom lines students experience. “I normally study at Grainger library and it
The upside of night classes PAGE 4A
Kipper Nichols breaks five-game skid
SEE BATHROOM | 3A
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