Men’s golf comes from behind to win second-straight Big Ten championship PAGE B2 MONDAY April 25, 2016
THE DAILY ILLINI The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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UI students grateful for Red Bull opportunity BY LAUREN SCAFIDI STAFF WRITER
One hundred and sixty-five teams, seven days and one question: “Can you make it?” This question will be the motivation for team adrenILLINI as they make their way around Europe for the next seven days competing in the Red Bull Can You Make It? challenge. Alison Mo and Nirali Nahar, both seniors, and Nina Rajcevic, a junior, are the three University business students comprising adrenILLINI. AdrenILLINI arrived in Europe Monday and will embark upon their journey starting Tuesday at noon. The students will have to give up their cash, credit cards and phones for a week, all in exchange for 24 cans of Red Bull. While Red Bull is commonly used as an energy drink, these cans of Red Bull will serve a different purpose. They will be used as currency. For the 165 teams coming from all over the world, the cans of Red Bull as currency will be used for food, transportation, housing and anything else they may need along the way. “Red Bull is obviously not worth that much in monetary value,” Nahar said. “The biggest thing is to sell our story and explain why we are doing what we are doing.” Every day, the teams must check in at major cities that serve as “checkpoints,” where they are given 24 more cans of Red Bull each time. The teams are only told their start point and end point. The cities they stop at in between are completely up to them. “There’s only so much we can prepare for this, because there’s a huge element of unexpectedness involved,” Rajcevic said. “We know we are starting in Prague and ending in Paris, but everything in between is to be determined.” Since the whole trip will be unplanned and unpredictable, adrenILLINI is most excited to live in the moment and be spontaneous, which is something they are not really used to, they said. “We are all super organized and big planners, I
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HIDRA is prepared before its first plasma attempt in the Nuclear Radiation Laboratory on Friday.
Historic day in nuclear research BY ASHNI GANDHI STAFF WRITER
The University’s former nuclear reactor, the TRIGA (Teaching, Research, Isotopes, General Atomic) reactor, was dedicated as a National Nuclear Historic Landmark on Friday. The president of the American Nuclear Society, Eugene Grecheck, visited the University and a marker was unveiled for the dedication. Susan Mumm, alumni affairs coordinator for nuclear, plasma and radiological engineering, said that TRIGA was built in the late `50s, shut down in 1998 and had its fuel removed in 2004. The building has since been dismantled, taken down and the area is now a green space. Mumm explained that since the building no longer exists it is important to commemorate the space. “This year we put in a nomination to the American Nuclear Society because of the research that was done
in this facility to have it dedicated as a national nuclear historic landmark,” she said. “(We) built a marker, and constructed that at the site to let other generations know a reactor was there and the importance it had in nuclear research.” Jim Stubbins, professor and department head of nuclear, plasma and radiological engineering said the TRIGA reactor was special and unique to the Engineering department’s faculty and students. “It was a major research facility that had special capabilities,” Stubbins said. The University also finally started its new Hybrid Illinois Device for Research and Applications reactor Friday. This reactor is a fusion device and like all fusion devices, it combines two hydrogen atoms to form helium. This is unlike the TRIGA which split uranium atoms into smaller elements. Both processes release a massive amount of energy because some of the molecule’s mass
is directly converted into energy. The formation of a plasma in the HIDRA means that experiments can finally be conducted using the device. Professors and students alike, like David Ruzic, the director of the lab containing the HIDRA, were incredibly excited by the device’s completion Friday. “This event is a testament to student involvement,” Ruzic said in an email. “At Illinois students just don’t learn about science — they get to do it. (This event) could not have happened without their dedicated involvement and effort. I am proud of every one of them!” Based on Mumm’s explanation, the TRIGA marker is fairly significant. It has the history of the reactor, a metal flag encased inside it and photos of what TRIGA used to look like. While TRIGA was a major asset for nuclear engineers for years, HIDRA will be a major facility going into the future. Grecheck spoke about the
bittersweet event on Friday and the way the world needs nuclear power. “We are seeing that people outside the industry who are realizing how important it is that we provide power to all people of the world but do it in a way that is environmentally responsible and doesn’t create carbon catastrophe in the meantime,” Grecheck said. “People that have looked at it … realize that there is no way to do it without nuclear.” Grecheck then talks about the meaning of the award and its impact on the University’s future for students and faculty. “This award is not only memories of the past, but it ought to be inspiration for the future,” he said. “(And) realizing that we are really doing something and have done something in our careers. And the students that are here you have a chance to make a difference in the world.”
abgandh2@dailyillini. com
Legislators approve emergency funds DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
Emergency funding is coming to the nine public universities after the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill Friday. After a long budget stalemate in Illinois that has led to budget cuts throughout the state’s public colleges and universities, Illinois lawmakers voted to support $600 million in funding for higher education. The decision was reached unanimously in the Senate after being approved in the House. The legislation will now go to Gov. Bruce Rauner, who is expected to sign it. The funding is coming from a surplus in Illinois’ Education Assistance Fund and is expected to contribute nearly $200 million in tuition grants for lowincome students. The $600 million in funding for this legislation comes from the state's Education Assistance Fund, which today has $354 million on hand. The approved bill comes
mean, we all live out of our Google planners so I’m excited to see how this plays out,” Nahar said. Before adrenIL LINI was even given the opportunity to go to Europe, they had to successfully earn the most likes on a minute-long video they created to prove they “can make it.” “We wanted to get out the message that we are super adventurous, we are super excited about this challenge and we can make it,” Nahar said. The video shows adrenILLINI decked out in Illini gear and drinking Red Bull with their friends as they reminisce on pictures of them studying abroad in Europe last year. “We wanted to show there was support on our side, and we have definitely felt that through U of I,” Mo said. “We also wanted to showcase that we can inspire others to live life to the fullest.” AdrenILLINI pulled two all-nighters to make sure the video was absolutely perfect before releasing it, they said. The next step was to market themselves so they could get as many likes on their video so they would be chosen to go to Europe. To do this, adrenILLINI posted their link to large Facebook groups, individually messaged people on Facebook, went to sorority dinner announcements and talked to as many people as possible to get them to believe in their team and vote for them. “The marketing was kind of difficult because there were twelve teams from U of I that were also trying to get likes from the same groups of people,” Nahar said. However, all adrenILLINI’s hard work in marketing paid off. They were the only one of 12 teams from the University selected to go to Europe, making them the only team from the state of Illinois. Eighteen total teams from the United States will be participating in the challenge starting Tuesday. “We want to be competitive about this but enjoy everything that comes our way too. We can make it, we can totally make it,” Nahar said. “Let’s do this thing.” lscafid2@dailyillini.com
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CZECH REPUBLIC
Gov. Bruce Rauner watches from his seat in the audience as President Barack Obama speak on Feb. 19, 2015, at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy in Chicago. days after news about the University is preparing for fall 2016 layoffs. There is no word yet on whether this bill changes the state
of those layoffs, though in a statement by University president Timothy Killeen, he notes that the University is receiving about four
times less from the state for the year compared to 2015.
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Campus works toward environmental sustainability BY MICHAEL SEMACA STAFF WRITER
Many University aren’t aware of all the environmental stability practices on campus. The University keeps winning award after award for being green. It was ranked in the Top 50 green colleges by the Princeton Review, earned a Gold Level by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System and was named a Tree Campus
USA just two weeks ago. A major part of this success has been due to the Student Sustainability Committee. The committee consists of 12 students who look over green proposals and vote on which should be implemented by the University based on how beneficial they would be. The committee gets its revenue from two student green fees that total to over $1.1 million at around $14 per student. This makes it
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one of the largest sustainability funds in the country. Students like committee chair Paul Couston have been hard at work considering what proposals to vote on this semester. The committee has had more proposals than ever this year, making it the most competitive cycle ever. “It really is amazing, with the budget we have, what we’re able to accomplish and the innovation the students and faculty have on campus
… It’s really inspiring to see how passionate students are about sustainability,” Couston said. While Couston couldn’t go into detail about the projects committee is considering currently, he did say they range from geothermal projects, to putting more recycling bins around campus and even to installing solar panels on buildings. Despite the work that he
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Time to venture off campus and explore all Champaign-Urbana has to offer
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