Serving The University Of Texas At Austin Community Since 1900 @thedailytexan | thedailytexan.com
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Volume 121, Issue 77
NEWS
OPINION
LIFE&ARTS
SPORTS
PAGE 3
PAGE 4
PAGE 8
PAGE 6
Students avoid studying and unwind with Bob Ross painting tutorial.
Moody College needs to introduce a communication studies minor for all students.
CAMPUS
Bedbugs not found in University Teaching Center By Emily Hernandez @emilylhernandez
Despite reports of a second bedbug sighting in the University Teaching Center, the University’s pest control team said they have not found any more bedbugs in room 2.102A. Bedbugs were first confirmed in the room Oct. 18, and the University hired a private pest control company to treat the room the following week, Landscape Services manager Jim Carse said. A month later, journalism junior Alejandra Gavilanes said her professor, Samantha Pinto, warned her class that another bedbug report was made to the University. Veronica Trevino, Financial and Administrative Services media manager, said after the University received November reports of the pests, the private company inspected the room but found no bedbugs, so the classroom has remained open. “They’re state-certified with over 35 years of experience … in pest management, and they haven’t found anything,” Trevino said. “There was an inspection, but no bedbugs were found.” Gavilanes said Pinto, an associate professor of English, told the class on Nov. 20 she did not want to risk exposure for the students, so she encouraged her class to stand or sit on the tables in the room instead. Gavilanes said another student in her class found a bug B E D B U G S PAGE 2
From Japan to Australia to Austin, Yuya Ito has transformed into a top athlete.
Mozart’s Coffee Roasters light show grows in attendance and parking issues persist.
CAMPUS
‘ Life became doable’: A student’s journey with kidney failure
jack myer
/ the daily texan staff
Biochemistry sophomore Mason Bettes was born with one kidney and acute chronic kidney disease. He is scheduled for a transplant Dec. 18 due to a failure this summer. Bettes has persevered through his dialysis, a full 12-hour course load and a part time job.
Full-time student faces kidney failure, transplant surgery scheduled mid-December. By Neelam Bohra
@neelambohratx
hen Mason Bettes was born, doctors told his parents he would die within 48 hours from kidney failure. “Miraculously, his kidney started functioning,” said Bettes’ father, Robert Bettes. “I put him in his car seat at 10 days old, and I never looked back.” Biochemistry sophomore Bettes was born with one
kidney and acute chronic kidney disease. Since birth, he has had blood tests every three months while also taking medicines to monitor its consistent function. But a week before his summer classes started in July, his blood test results changed drastically. His kidney had failed. “My mom woke me up early,” Mason said. “It was still dark in my room, and she seemed very panicked. My doctor had called and said my kidney had basically no function. They rushed me to the
(emergency room), and those couple days are really a blur.” In August, Mason’s father was tested and matched with his son as a kidney donor. They will have kidney transplant surgeries on Dec. 18 at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. “I’d never really thought about it because all my life I’ve felt good — I’ve been normal,” Mason said. “In that hospital room, it finally became real. The one kidney had finally run its course.” While in the hospital, Mason decided to still attend his
summer classes, work part time in a cardiology clinic and take his full 12-hour course load in the fall semester. In Austin, he did hemodialysis for five weeks at the El Milagro Dialysis Center, where he went for 12 hours per week. He then switched to peritoneal dialysis, which he does every night at home. Nicole Turgeon, chief of abdominal transplant surgery at Dell Seton Medical School, said a machine filters toxins D I A L Y S I S PAGE 3
CAMPUS
UNIVERSITY
Student startup reduces meal delivery fees using lockers
New geosciences dean to serve next year
By Hannah Williford @HannahWillifor2
Four UT students set up a meal delivery system on campus that cuts down on fees seen from competitors like UberEats and Favor. With the Picko app, students pay a $1 fee to have a meal from local restaurants delivered at specific times to a locker on campus where they retrieve it, co-founder Rambod Yousefzadeh said. He said restaurant options include Halal Bros, Torchy’s Tacos, Home Slice Pizza, In-N-Out, Teji’s and Hopdoddy Burger Bar and the startup hopes to offer other options in the future. The two sets of lockers, located in the Blackstone Launchpad at the Flawn Academic Center and near Gregory Gymnasium, were custom built by engineering and computer science students and started operations in September, Yousefzadeh said. He said the business is profitable because the system eliminates the wait time of transferring food to the customer and allows deliveries to multiple people at once. “It’s good for us because we don’t have to wait for every individual to come and pick up their item, and it’s good for students because if they’re leaving their classes or they need five more minutes, we can just say take your time, you don’t pay any extra charges,” engineering graduate student
By Lauren Grobe @grobe_lauren
eddie gaspar
/ the daily texan staff
Mechanical Engineering graduate student Rambod Yousefzadeh has created Pickos, a food delivery service that focuses on UT students and uses lockers around campus as delivery locations. Yousefzadeh said. Co-founder Helia Ghassemian said Picko started because of her student experience, where she did not want to eat the meals on campus but found delivery options too expensive. “During my college years, I would always skip lunch,” UT alumna Ghassemian said. “(The options) are kind of expensive … and obviously, being a student … I’m not going to spend that
money every meal. We thought about, what if we had an option that could deliver really good food to campus with a really low delivery fee, so all the college students could afford it. If they’re paying seven or eight dollars for a meal, at least they could enjoy the meal.” Picko has had 56 customers in its 10-week span of operation, with one customer returning nine times, Yousefzadeh said. Hannah Hoang, international
relations and global studies freshman, said she uses food delivery apps because of their convenience but can be deterred by fees. “Whenever I use food delivery services, it’s because I’m on the go or I just can’t physically be at the restaurant,” Hoang said. “Sometimes, (delivery) is pricey, and I will be like, ‘I don’t want to pay an extra seven dollars for delivery when that can be another meal right there.’”
The Jackson School of Geosciences will have a new dean effective next year, executive vice president and provost Maurie McInnis announced in an email Monday. Until officially starting her position Feb. 1, Claudia Mora will serve an interim term as dean-designate, according to McInnis’ email. Mora is the deputy chemistry division leader at Los Alamos National Laboratory and has previously worked as the head of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, according to the laboratory website. “Her record as a leader uniquely stands out,” McInnis said in the email. “Such breadth of experience adds great value to the talent, resources and opportunity within the Jackson School of Geosciences.” Mora has received awards for her research and teaching, according
to the laboratory website. Mora expressed in a UT News article that she was excited and honored to lead the Jackson School. “I have long admired the breadth of research, innovation and education at the Jackson School of Geosciences, and joining this community is a tremendous opportunity,” Mora said in the article. According to UT News, Mora received her undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico, a masters from Rice University and her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, all in geology. Sharon Mosher, the previous Jackson School of Geosciences dean, announced she would be stepping down after serving as dean for a decade to return to teaching and her research, according to the Jackson School’s website. “I have accomplished all I set out to do when I agreed to take on the role of dean,” Mosher said, according to the website. “It is now time for me to conD E A N PAGE 2