The Daily Reveille 3-30-2017

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Volume 123 · No. 12

Thursday, March 30, 2017

EST. 1887

lsunow.com

BY WILLIAM TAYLOR POTTER @wmtaylorpotter and NATALIE ANDERSON @natalie_mechell

With the Louisiana Legislature’s 2017 Regular Session rapidly approaching, legislators have pre-filed several bills relating to higher education – as well as several others on topics ranging from tax codes to the death penalty. The Daily Reveille took a look at some of the bills worth watching once the session is underway.

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LAYING DOWN THE

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LAW

Legislators pre-file bills on higher education, hot-button topics HOUSE BILL 194 House Bill 194, proposed by Rep. Gene Reynolds, D-Minden, would raise the minimum GPA requirement for initial TOPS Opportunity Award eligibility from 2.50 to 3.00. The new standard would be applied to high school students graduating during or after the 2020-2021 school year. The bill also changes the continuing eligibility requirements to specify that entry into the workforce qualifies as an enrollment exemption and the maximum extension for entering the workforce is five years. This change will affect high school students graduating in the 2016-2017 school year or later.

HOUSE BILL 122 Rep. Vincent Pierre, D-Lafayette, pre-filed House Bill 122 — a bill that would prohibit public colleges and universities from asking about criminal history on initial applications. The college would not be able to ask about criminal history until after an interview or the college extends a conditional offer. Colleges and universities would still be able to consider criminal history for the final decision. The bill would allow the colleges to consider the gravity of the criminal conduct, the time since the criminal conduct and the bearing the criminal conduct will have on the student’s ability to meet requirements.

HOUSE BILL 133 Rep. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, proposed House Bill 133 to require each public postsecondary education management board to develop a “centralization plan and a cooperative unification plan.” The bill would require each board — including the LSU Board of Supervisors — to review the possibilities of centralization and the short- and long-term costs and savings. Rep. Steve Pugh, R-Ponchatoula, pre-filed a bill in February that would merge all the higher education boards into one Louisiana Postsecondary Education Board of Trustees.

HOUSE BILL 184 House Bill 184, by Rep. Mark Abraham, R-Lake Charles, would establish the La. Jobs Now Fund, which would be appropriated to postsecondary management boards for degree production in STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The treasury would be directed to transfer $34 million from the state general fund annually. Fifty percent of the money would be appropriated to public four-year universities, while the other half would go to two-year community or technical colleges.

HOUSE BILL 117 Rep. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, proposed to raise the requirements for high school seniors to be eligible for a TOPS Award in House Bill 117. The minimum GPA required for a TOPS Opportunity award will increase from a 2.5 to a 3.0 Additionally, the minimum GPA required for a Performance Award will increase from 3.00 to 3.25 and from 3.00 to 3.50 for an Honors Award. These changes will become applicable to graduating high school seniors during or after the 2020-2021 school year.

READ MORE ABOUT PRE-FILED BILLS FOR THE 2017 REGULAR SESSION ON PAGE 7

STUDENT LIFE

Discover Day to be held on April 4

BY EVAN SAACKS @evansaacks LSU Discover will host its fourth annual Discover Day on April 4, showcasing research conducted by students along with creative works. However, there is one big change for 2017’s event — students from other Louisiana universities will be allowed to participate. The event was first hosted in 2014, a year after the LSU Discover department was founded. The program was created to encourage students to use the resources and utilities available to them to conduct research on campus. Unlike past years, when only University students were showcased, the 2017 event will feature nearly 200 students from other schools, including the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Baton Rouge Community College and the University of New Orleans. Another new addition is the use of the Student Union Art Gallery, which will feature art showcased on Discover Day throughout the entire month of April. Visitors will be able to vote on their favorite works and presentations. Ninety-five faculty, staff and doctoral students will serve as official judges for the event. Discover Day was intended not only to showcase

see DISCOVER DAY, page 7

RESEARCH

Researchers discover new method of directing x-ray pulses BY KATHERINE ROBERTS @krobe844 It takes a village — especially when working on high level research. Researchers from LSU and Lund University in Sweden collaborated to find a new method for using strong laser pulses to direct short bursts of x-ray light. Department of Physics and Astronomy professor and lead researcher Kenneth Schafer, Department Physics and Astronomy professor Mette Gaarde and graduate student Seth Camp worked together to understand the theory behind this new method in directing and controlling x-ray light discovered by Lund University.

“[Lund University] came to us with some data they didn’t really understand, but which showed that they could control the direction the x-rays were going in,” Schafer said. “They designed what is like a switch that they could use the strong laser to turn on. The x-rays were going [one] way, and they could turn on the strong laser and it would make them go [another] way. The question is why? So that’s where we got involved.” Gaarde said with this new method, they can control where the x-ray light goes, as well as how long it lasts. When the laser’s light is turned on, it manipulates the direction of the short bursts

see X-RAYS, page 7

Professor Kenneth Schafer, graduate student Seth Camp and professor Mette Gaarde worked to understand the theory behind a new method to direct and control x-ray light.

KATHERINE ROBERTS /

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