UTD chess team takes home plaque from KCF cup

Joseph Pancrazio

Congress provided $3 million for NTxSI from the Consolidated Appropriations Act to help provide infrastructure in both the semiconductor industry and academia. Congress representative Collin Allred, who supported and presented the project with legislation, put forth in his 2023 funding requests that the NTxSI will implement the North Texas Semiconductor Workforce Development Consortium to prepare qualified workers siphoned from NTxSI to address the semiconductor shortage. Joseph Pancrazio, vice president for research and innovation at UTD, believes that the NTxSI, while developed by UTD, will be an active consortium partnering with community colleges to help students succeed.

“We’re looking at a variety of different opportunities,” Pancrazio said. “It could be certificate program offerings that will better prepare our bachelor’s level students in particular for positions within the semiconductor industry, which are typically high paying and come with significant benefits. It could be for minors that would be part of a degree program.”

According to NTxSI, 5,000 new jobs in the semiconductor manufacturing industry are expected to be created in North Texas in the next few years, and from each job made, approximately 5.67 more jobs will be made in response. These positions will include equipment technicians, process engineers, designers and plant operators. UTD wants to prepare students for these new positions by training them in with both research and workforce experience through internships and personalized training.

This mission will start with the Center for Harsh Environment Semiconductors and Systems (CHESS), directed by Manuel Quevedo-Lopez, which will produce devices that can withstand extreme temperatures, radiation and extreme mechanical conditions. Applications for these semiconductors include national defense systems, quantum computing, networks and communication systems, better electrical grids, autonomous vehicles, space exploration and hypersonic weapons. Quevedo-Lopez believes that students wanting to make a change will be attracted to CHESS.

“It will provide specific and unique facilities infrastructure for the students to learn, not just the regular semiconductor manufacturing or regular semiconductor processing characterization, but unique skills,” Quevedo-Lopez said. “We obviously want to have students engaged, right? So the student [will] run research. So the graduate student will be engaged here and obviously we are relying a lot on the graduate students to also help us with some aspects of the research.”

CHESS is currently evaluating gallium nitride in radioactive environments, which

SEE CONDUCTORS PAGE 10

The UTD chess team held its ground and secured a win at the third Annual Kasparov Chess Federation University Cup.

UTD competed at the online international tournament from Feb. 4 to Feb. 5 with four teams — UTD A, B, C and D. Each team was categorized based on its average rating: U2400, U2200, U2000 and U1800. Team A placed 11th, team B placed second and team D placed 16th in their respective categories, while team C won the U2000 category, ultimately bringing home a plaque.

Because of the rating cap in each category, coach Julio Sadorra said he balanced each team out by maximizing each player’s rating and giving an opportunity to members of the chess club. While all four members of teams A and B are team players, team C had one club player and team D had three club players.

“I didn't want to just put strong players in [the] top two boards and then low rated on the three and four because it'll be risky,” Sadorra said. “And [for] the other teams, we had to pair up with the club members, which were [a] really important part of our team. They allowed us to have three international masters and then a club member which is really low rated. It allowed us to meet that average required credit rating.”

Sadorra said the Texas Rapid Championships that were held on Jan. 29 helped the team members prepare for the KCF Cup as both tournaments had the same time format of 10 minutes with five second increments per move. The championship, which ended in a three-way tie between the Comets, helped decide the KCF Cup’s team composition as well. “We used [the rapid finals] as a warmup and I think it boosted their confidence,” Sadorra said. “So those [with] really good performance at the Texas Rapids… those who tied for first basically became leaders of the teams. It’s nice to see them leading and being Board 1 of the teams. Andrei Macovei, I have to mention him, tied for first. He had kind of a slow start in Texas Rapids but then he finished strong. And he did really well playing for the U2000 that won the division.”

The two-day tournament consisted of five rounds on Day 1 and four rounds on Day 2. Junior David Brodsky of Team A said Day 2 was more challenging.

“On day one, the first three matches were pretty easy, [but] day two would decide the tournament because most of the good teams were near the top and they choose when the top teams battle it out and see who wins,” Brodsky said. “Overall, the quality of chess is higher over the board than online, even if you have the same type of control. It's strange, but you can make a lot more mistakes online [that] you'd never make over the board.”

Business analytics graduate Andrei Macovei from the UTD C team said that his team ac- cidentally played against the UTD B team on day two because of miscommunication between organizers. The mistake affected each team’s standing, including team C’s first place standing.

“In the eighth round, we were leading under our category and maybe we were leading under the next category, so our C team was doing really well and then we unfortunately had to play UTD B,” Macovei said. “I made a draw [on the first board] and our second board made a draw but the last two boards lost. The difference was more significant and it was a bit unfortunate but at the same time, both teams were doing really well.”

Since the current chess team has newer players, sophomore Rahul Peddi from team A said that the team’s synergy and performance will improve with time.

“I feel that there are people who just came [here] three, four months ago, [and they’re] trying to figure out how things work,” Peddi said. “Now we've got a lot of new recruits and they don't really have the experience of playing here. But I think let's say by the end of this semester or Fall, I think we should be in good shape.”

Moving on from the KCF Cup, the UTD Chess Club will be hosting a “Women in Chess” themed Chess Fest from Feb. 20 to Feb. 22, including a simul event, blindfold chess games and the Chess Educator of the Year award ceremony.

SG promises increased student advocacy, resource promotion and internal reform

UNAIZA KHAKOO Mercury Staff

Kruthi and Belford, who ran on separate tickets, expressed a uniform interest to put student needs at the front of their goals last year. Their agenda included bringing more awareness to student resources, encouraging collaboration between student organizations and initiating student-centric reoccurring events. Additionally, Kanduri said she wanted internal reform to help senators navigate their term for a successful semester. From sponsoring different legal services to starting and maintaining student-focused traditions such as the Blank Space Project and the annual campus “Scream” night, SG’s campaign promises are beginning to come to fruition. However, there is still work to be done this semester.

As the liaison between students and administration, SG has multiple outlets to help students better connect with resources around campus. For example, SG funds a general attorney and immigration lawyer to help students through issues such as traffic accidents, minor criminal matters and disputes with landlords. Previously, students were not aware that such resources existed.. However, since SG began spreading awareness, there has been in increase in students reaching out. Furthermore, SG offers the Comet Discount Program for students to get discounted prices for services across Dallas such as dining, housing and health and beauty if they show their Comet Card. Belford encourages students to reach out to her if outlets no longer offers discounts to UTD students so that SG can update their discount catalog.

“Something that student government has taught me more than anything this semester … number one is navigating bureaucracy, but number two is just how critical demonstrating the student need for something and the student desire is to actually getting it done,” Belford said. “There’s an information gap between the highest levels of admin and people who make the decision and on the ground what’ s happening … you need to bridge that information gap. People need to, you know, speak up.”

In order to keep addressing student concerns, SG plans to continue with internal reformation. This includes passing out brochures to new senators to help them throughout their term as well as updating document organization to help SG flow better. There is also a focus on reforming the senatorial election after frustration with the process arose last year. The overall goal of all these strategies is to get SG running efficiently to better advocate for student needs.

“The elections last year were quite frustrating for a lot of people because it seems student government was slow on the uptake, and that involved a lot of other organizations and candidates being kind of rushed in the election process,” Kanduri said. “So, a big goal that we have this time around is to really ensure that these student government elections are not only successful and smooth in the way they run, in the way they’re communicated.”

Another goal of Kanduri and Belford was to advocate for the restoration of departments like the McDermott Library. Through the collaboration of SG, the library committee and the Dean of Libraries, Ellen Safley, adjustments to the library schedule were made. The library is now open for 24 hours continuously from Sunday at 11 a.m. to Friday at 8 p.m., in addition to expanded Saturday hours.

“Primarily our advocacy lies in meeting with the right people,” Kanduri said. “So, with the library, we spoke to Dean Safley … I was on the library committee last year and, you know, we spoke to her … before the new fiscal year kicked in. And we did talk about how there’s outspoken student support about reopening library hours.”

The promises made by both the current president and vice president of SG during their campaigns align with the current actions they are taking to improve upon the organization. With a focus on student engagement, increased organization and accessible resources, the SG officers have made tangible progress towards their goals.

“It’s a privilege that student government has to be able to be that bridge between students and admin,” Belford said. “So, anything we can do to connect clubs that are passionate about something to admin who want to hear student voices on it and get something done about it is awesome. It’s an honor.”

1.30 X-WORD KEY 1.30 SUDOKU KEY