The Mercury 10/21/13

VOLUME XXXIII NO. 16

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF UTD — WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM

OCTOBER 21, 2013

The Mercury is proud to present this special edition celebrating Disability Awareness Month. Regular coverage of News, Life & Arts and Sports included inside.

From the editor’s desk: LAUREN FEATHERSTONE Editor-in-Chief

At a university that prides itself on diversity, it is important to recognize all the aspects that make our students unique — seen or unseen, beneficial or challenging. UTD has made strides to give students who might

have previously been left out the opportunity to attend and thrive at college, and in doing so the disabled have become abled.

This significant shift in accessibility has largely increased the number of students, staff and faculty at our campus with disabilities to a portion of the population that is greater than that of many other universities. Students have become empowered by

their disabilities, which has led to innovative research and other invaluable contributions to UTD. This progress and these people are what we as a staff wanted to bring to light in this special edition for Disability Awareness Month.

Working together, despite differences, can reveal strengths previously unrealized.

And so it is our responsibility to continue improving technologies for people with disabilities, as well as the way we interact with them, so that every person and diverse thought can flourish.

Awareness and education are vital to bridging the barriers between people. The more we know about each other, where one comes from and what that person has to

Asperger’s students features attract ascendant University individuals; population sees significant growth

ANWESHA BHATTACHARJEE Web Editor

When he filled out his SAT forms with his top four college choices, Christopher Creamer had three universities listed, all in New York, where he lived.

The last one was a school in Texas that his uncle had once told his mom about. As fate would have it, the school in Texas offered him the best financial aid and Creamer landed 1,500 miles away from home at UTD as a computer science major in 2009.

“I don’t remember it like it was yesterday, but part of my family’s visit included meeting with Kerry Tate (director for the Office of Student Accessibility) and her staff,” he said. “We were impressed then, and we still are today. Kerry really knows what she’s doing, and I think word’s getting around about that.”

Creamer, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, a type of autism spectrum disorder, is now back in New York as a java developer, having graduated from UTD earlier this year.

During Creamer’s time at UTD, the Office of Student Accessibility, or OSA, grew from serving 461 students in 2009-10 to 858 students with disabilities in 2012-13.

In that same time, the number of students with Asperger’s has grown from a handful to 308, a population that has seen the single largest growth in the past five years, Tate said.

In comparison, Texas A&M, which has 2.5 times

more students than UTD, had only 1.5 times more students registered with their Disability Services office in fall 2012, of which only 20 were in the autism disorder spectrum.

Students with autism spectrum disorders comprise only 1.6 percent of Texas A&M’s registered disabled population, compared to almost 36 percent with Asperger’s at UTD. A comparison with other schools shows similar statistics — UTD has more students with Asperger’s than most other schools, Tate said.

“I called UNT a couple of weeks ago, and I asked them how many Asperger’s students they had registered with them or on the spectrum and they said around 30,” she said. “And we have about 258 this (fall) semester.”

Tate attributed this unique characteristic at UTD to a number of reasons, including the fact that UTD is connected through DART and many students with Asperger’s don’t prefer driving.

While word-of-mouth helps bring more students with Asperger’s to the university, UTD’s advanced engineering, brain science and ATEC programs, among others, also play a significant role in drawing students with Asperger’s to the campus, Tate said.

“I think it’s the gaming; they relate to gaming,” she said. “Individuals with Asperger’s don’t have to communicate while gaming, so it takes them into a world where

Life & Arts Editor

With only 20 percent of people with disabilities employed in the U.S., there is a growing concern about changing attitudes among employers, especially in Texas.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor statistics on employment among people with disabilities, there is a 14.1 percent unemployment rate. This rate is double the national average of unemployment among people without disabilities at 7.1 percent.

Kerry Tate, director of Student AccessAbility, said the number is notable to employers across the country.

“The number is high because the unemployment rate is so high anyway, but I think you’ll be surprised how many people with disabilities are unemployed,” she said.

In the U.S., there are 36 million people with at least one disability, which is around 12 percent of the population according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The percentage of people who have disabilities also increases with age and they tend to have a better track record

REHABILITATION INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO/COURTESY

Bionic gear in early stages of development, could improve lives MIGUEL PEREZ Mercury Staff

LINA MOON/GRAPHICS EDITOR

for the jobs they do have, Tate said.

“Once they have taken that risk of getting a job, they are very dedicated to that job,” she said. “It’s very good for individuals with disability to be hired on because then you know you won’t have to pay for any turn over.”

In order to help the case of unemployment further, employers are given an incentive to hire people with disabilities in Texas. Tax breaks on the individual hired or having a federal agency pay part of that individual’s salary are some rewards offered.

In order to better the chances of find-

Prof utilizes robotics to create leg prosthetics

Advanced prosthetics that mimic leg muscles have the potential to help amputees walk independently.

Unemployment rate doubled for disabled SARAH LARSON

deal with day-to-day, the better chance we have at overcoming societal obstacles that inhibit the greater human race.

Therefore, it is not only people with disabilities, but in fact the entire population that can become abled in this movement.

Know the issues, know the people and know the progress that has been made to put an end to the stigma of disabilities.

ing employment, people with disabilities are encouraged to complete high school or pursue a college education. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 13 percent of people 25 and older with a disability have a bachelor’s degree or higher. This compares with 31 percent for those with no disability.

“There’s definitely a lag,” Tate said.

“But you’re going to start seeing that number climb because a lot of people now have access to education, whereas

Robert Gregg uses his background in robotics to create and develop technologies that could help people with lowerlimb impairments.

Gregg, a mechanical and bioengineering professor, oversees the Locomotor Control Systems Lab in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, which is developing high-performance wearable gear that could improve the mobility of people with physical disabilities.

Gregg’s research focuses on wearable robots and prosthetics, among other research interests.

“These types of technologies could be used to improve the mobility and therefore the quality of life for individuals with physical impairments,” Gregg said.

Gregg studied electrical engineering and computer science at UC Berkeley before pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois.

“That motivation all came from my Ph.D. work on walking robots where I was working on these essentially autonomous systems like the Honda Asimo (a human-sized walking robot),” Gregg said.

“I thought, ‘How could I use these technologies to actually help people?’”

Gregg said he’s encountered disability throughout his life, and he’s always been aware of physical impairments.

When Gregg was a Ph.D. student, his father was diagnosed with congestive

From Callier Center patient to director of AccessAbility

Kerry Tate draws on personal experience to improve disability services MADISON MCCALL Mercury Staff

Kerry Tate’s parents recognized the slow development of speech in their young daughter at the early age of one year old.

Not only was the child’s speech not developing on track but the young toddler was not responding to verbal cues.

Kerry Tate, who is now the director of the Office of Student AccessAbility, was then diagnosed with severe sensorineural hearing impairment.

Tate first came to the Callier Center for Communication Disorders at 3 years old to get assistance with her hearing impairment. She continued to go to the Callier Center for assistance through her high school and college years, and said the Callier Center offered insightful advice to handle the day-to-day communications with her teachers and professors.

CONNIE CHENG/STAFF “They were very good at working with our family,” Tate As the director of the Office of Student AccessAbility, Kerry Tate empowers students said.

“I really had such a great outcome here.” with disabilities by removing stigma and barriers to achievement in the classroom.

As director of the Office of Student AccessAbility, she said one of the programs greatest successes was the name change of the office. When she was a young high school student, the school counselor did not believe she would succeed in higher education institutes, Tate said. By removing the word disability from the title, the program removed the stigma attached to young students affected by disability.

“We wanted to get the word disability out of the way,” Tate said. “We wanted it to be AccessAbility because it is access and ability.”

Tate said another success was bringing Delta Alpha Pi, an international honor society that recognizes students with disabilities and their success, to campus.

One of the main focuses for the office is offering a supportive environment for all students and teaching advocacy skills that could last a lifetime. The AccessAbility team offers encouragement to students that have not developed their ability to communicate their needs to others.

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TAYLOR TISDALE Mercury Staff

Student Government is working with the university on several grand-scale projects, including preparing for a new Bioengineering and Sciences Building and potentially creating a student app.

Vice President for Administration Calvin Jamison presented the senate with university plans for expansion and development at the Oct. 15 Student Government meeting. The new Bioengineering and Sciences Building is slated for construction in 2015.

The $108 million facility will be approximately 222,000 square feet, housing instructional laboratories, faculty offices, computational infrastructure and research space. The research building will bring together interdisciplinary groups of scientists and engineers from multiple fields to provide a focus on learning and research of the functions of the brain, the nervous system, the cell, the gene and the discipline of science and engineering as they relate to improvement of human functions and electronic sensing devices, Jamison said.

Proposals have been made for a new traffic column and crosswalk at the intersection of Synergy and Rutford and a new connector road that would allow access to campus from Mapleshade lane in Plano.

The Technology committee is currently finalizing a written proposal for the construction of a student app to submit to the IT department. Utilities for the app being discussed are real-time mapping and directory capabilities, as well as an emergency alert system. “We are one of the few schools in the UT System that does not have an app, and being that UTD prides itself on technology, it re-

News

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OCT. 21, 2013

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ally doesn’t make sense that we don’t have one,� said SG president Liza Liberman. SG hopes to have the app completed within the academic year.

Residential Affairs chair Katie Truesdale updated the senate on the ongoing repairs and renovations taking place in Phases I-IV of University Village, the largest and most costly of those being the repair of the foundation beneath the buildings. The replacement of outdated appliances, apartment door locks and 200 water heaters, the renewal of damaged flooring and the addition of handicap doors to the buildings throughout Phases I-IV are some of the issues being addressed. Other projects taking place are the addition of handicap ramps outside the dorms and the power-washing of areas around the dumpsters and breezeways around Residential Life. t 4( WJDF QSFTJEFOU $IBSMJF Hannigan informed the senate of the upcoming “Trunk or Treat� event sponsored by Residential Life, taking place from 6-8 p.m. on Oct. 25 at the Residence Halls.

Volunteers will provide candy for trick-or-treaters as well as decorate the trunks of their vehicles with Halloween dĂŠcor for the kids to visit and enjoy. The event is aimed at providing a safe and secure environment for children to trick-or-treat in while preserving the fun atmosphere of the holiday. t 4( XJMM QBSUOFS XJUI UIF school of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences for a “Meet the Deanâ€? event from 2:45-4:15 p.m. on Oct. 24 on The Pub Patio. The event will provide an open forum for students to correspond in a relaxed, informal environment with the EPPS dean, Dennis Dean.

Coffee and donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts will be provided. t 4UVEFOU "êBJST $PNNJUUFF

member Raheel Ata reported that Facilities Management intends to address only the structural and landscape problem areas needing immediate attention on campus for now due to insufficient funding. t $PNNVOJDBUJPOT DIBJS "MJ Tejani talked about potentially doing a “Snack with a Senatorâ€? event at the Plinth. Students would be invited to come out and meet the members of SG, share a free snack and voice any comments, concerns or ideas they may have. t (SBEVBUF *OUFSOBUJPOBM "Gfairs chair Sabrina Arnold shared ideas for a possible event in the near future to address the diversity of cultures and backgrounds present at UTD. Currently titled “National Day Against Discrimination,â€? SG hopes to partner with the multicultural organizations on campus for an event geared at bolstering tolerance and acceptance on campus. t -FHJTMBUJWF "ĂŞBJST DIBJS $PSZ Sagduyu discussed a “student vs. studentâ€? debate project that’s in the planning stages. SG hopes to work with UT Arlington to host a debate between students from both campuses to address legislative policy issues such as tuition hikes and fee increases affecting students in the UT System. t 65% JO DPOKVODUJPO XJUI the city of Richardson will be placing a new water tower north of Synergy Park Boulevard featuring COR and UT Dallas logos. t ɨF TFOBUF BMMPDBUFE VQ UP $7,500 for the upcoming Homecoming tailgate on Nov. 16 to cover food expenses and a live band, as well as up to $250 for food for the EPPS Meet the Dean event on Oct. 24. t ɨF OFYU 4( NFFUJOH XJMM CF at 5:15 p.m. on Oct. 29 in one of the Galaxy Rooms.

Oct. 2 t " TUBĂŞ NFNCFS SFQPSUFE UIFGU of copper wire. t " $IBSUXFMMT FNQMPZFF SFported a theft.

Oct. 3 t " GBDVMUZ NFNCFS SFQPSUFE IJT parking decal was taken from his vehicle while parked in the parking garage. t 0ĂŻDFST JTTVFE QPTTFTTJPO PG alcohol by minor citations to three affiliated persons.

Oct. 4 t " TUVEFOU ESPWF PĂŞ UIF SPBEway and struck a crosswalk sign located at West Drive and the traffic circle. t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE IJT CJDZDMF was taken without his consent from the bike rack at the SU. The report is related to a previous one involving the theft of the exact same bike. t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE IJT CJDZDMF that was taken without his consent back in August was just found.

Caught Reading

Oct. 5 t " TUVEFOU XBT BSSFTUFE GPS DWI. t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE QFSTPO XBT arrested for possession of methamphetamine. t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE BO VOknown person trespassed into her dorm room. t " TUVEFOU XBT BSSFTUFE GPS QPTsession of marijuana. t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE QFSTPO XBT BSrested for other agency warrants.

Oct. 6 t 4FWFO TUVEFOUT XFSF JTTVFE DJtations for consumption of alcohol by a minor. t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE QFSTPO XBT BSrested for DWI. t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE IJT WFIJDMF had been struck while parked in Lot J. Oct. 7 t " TUBĂŞ NFNCFS XBT BSSFTUFE for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Oct. 10

t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE QFSTPO SFQPSUed the theft of a cell phone. t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE B UIFGU JO ECSS. Oct. 11 t 1PMJDF SFDFJWFE B SFQPSU PG graffiti on the SSB and SU exterior doors. t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE QFSTPO XBT BSrested for interfering with public duties following a traffic stop.

Oct. 12 t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE QFSTPO XBT BSrested for DWI. t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE NBMF XBT BSrested for DWI. t " TUVEFOU SFQPSUFE UIF UIFGU of his parking permit from his vehicle.

Oct. 13 t " OPO BĂŻMJBUFE QFSTPO XBT BSrested for an assault on a student.

Oct. 14 t " TUVEFOU XBT BSSFTUFE GPS QPTsession of marijuana, and a nonaffiliated person was arrested for driving with a suspended license.

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Economics senior Sean Jordan was caught reading The Mercury. He will win a $20 gift card to Palio’s Pizza, a local pizza, pasta and salad restaurant.

Thanks Palio’s Pizza!

Corrections: In the Oct. 7 edition of The Mercury, in the article titled “Water usage, conservation takes focus,� and accompanying graphic, the amount of gallons of water used and saved were in Tgals, or thousands of gallons. During the 2011-2012 school year, 178,042,000 gallons of water were used; during the 2012-2013 school year, 123,133,000 gallons of water were used and 54,909,000 gallons of water were saved from the previous year.

The Mercury regrets these errors.

Opinion

OCT. 21, 2013

THE MERCURY

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: People may buy into what pink means but not facts about disease, market CHRISTOPHER WANG COMMENTARY

Fifty percent of the world’s breast cancer deaths occur in developing nations, not high-income countries like ours, according to the World Health Organization. But in developing nations, perhaps there isn’t such a large market for pink consumer goods. Awareness of the disease may be high in the United States, but actual knowledge of it is probably as low as it is in the developing world. Unfortunately, pink doesn’t educate.

During the month of October, stores are filled with all sorts of awareness-raising products, like oven mitts and permanent markers, bracelets and watches, socks and shoes. A simple Google search for “breast cancer awareness products” returns more than 37.4 million results.

Now, it should be said that expressing solidarity with those with breast cancer is a worthy and worthwhile exercise. This disease was once spoken of only in whispers and innuendo a mere 30 years ago. Those who don a pink ribbon do so out of a genuine desire to see an end to this disease and provide succor and comfort to those afflicted.

But the rampant commercialization associated with this month, along with the nebulous concept of awareness complicates the picture.

The desire to help should be channeled into constructive avenues. Purchasing pink appliances or water bottles may not be the best way to help.

Many charities claim to help breast cancer patients and their families, but one should beware.

About a fifth of America’s 50 worst charities are cancer-related organizations, according to a report compiled by the Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative Reporting. About half of those charities are specifically breast cancer awareness and advocacy organizations. The worst offender, the American Breast Cancer Foundation, paid professional fundraisers 75 cents of every dollar donated. According to the report, the foundation raised $80.8 million from 2002-2011. During that time, solicitors took $58.9 million, the charity kept $20.1 million for operating expenses and services, and only $4.2 million went to direct cash aid.

These bad charities are bad because they spend a vast majority of their funds soliciting more funds instead of actually spending the money they raise on helping people. The same goes for merchandizing: A pink knit hat may say that part of the proceeds go to charity but not actually say what percentage or if the seller has put a cap on the amount that will be donated.

Keep in mind as well that awareness and screening campaigns can do more harm than good, no matter how well intentioned. For example, Keep A Breast, the foundation behind the “I [Heart] Boobies” bracelet, raised $3.6 million in 2011, according to the New York Times.

Keep A Breast encourages young women to begin monthly breast self-examinations as soon as they start menstruating.

However, the New York Times report contin-

ues, stating that breast cancer among the young, especially the very young, is rare. The median age of diagnosis in this country is 61, while the median age of death is 68. The chances of a 20-yearold woman being diagnosed with breast cancer in the next 10 years is about .06 percent, roughly the same as for a man in his 70s.

Perhaps it is Peggy Ornstein, writing in the New York Times Magazine, who best sums up the problem of today’s “awareness.”

“It has been three decades since the founding of Komen. Two decades since the introduction of the pink ribbon,” she wrote. “Yet all that wellmeaning awareness has ultimately made women less conscious of the facts: Obscuring the limits of screening, conflating risk with disease, compromising our decisions about health care, celebrating ‘cancer survivors’ who may have never required treating.”

Education and a focus on research and care is where help is most needed. We are all aware that breast cancer exists, to the point where promoting awareness is pointless, especially as a moneyraising exercise. The way forward is not to swath the world in pink, but rather to rededicate our focus to supporting the women with this disease, by improving their therapies, investing in research and ensuring accurate diagnosis. Mere visibility ought not be the goal. Eventual eradication should be. The public should be more aware of the four genetically distinct types of breast cancer, not that they could buy four varieties of pink yogurt, with an unspecified amount of proceeds going to charity.

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Comets and Craters Editor’s Note: In an attempt to expand the scope of this opinion page, the editorial board created this column to higlight the significant high and low points of campus life, administrative decisions and news at UTD. If you think we missed something or have a suggestion, we encourage you to contact us. You can find the best ways to reach us in the information box at the bottom of this column.

Parking Garage: Commuters, rejoice. The malfunctioning parking availablity sign affixed to the garage’s exterior finally displays a reasonable estimate of spaces available. We understand that the technology has kinks to work out, but at least the sign is no longer so wildly optimistic to the point of uselessness.

Activity Center: The demand for free fitness classes, like yoga, has outstripped the AC’s capacity to hold all these students. Enrollment is up, and classes are increasingly crowded. Either bring on more instructors and have more sections, or move the most popular classes into larger spaces.

Arts & Technology Building: Years of human evolution have ingrained in us a base and primal impulse to pull on handles with the expectation they will open doors. Finally, we no longer have to counterintuitively push on a handle to leave ATEC, now that they’ve been removed.

Tobacco Policy: Some zones are tobacco free. All buildings are tobacco free. Whatever your stance, the lack of enforcement has everyone questioning the point of this policy. Tobacco ban or no ban is not the question anymore. The actions should reflect the policy, or the policy should change.

AMP: AMP’s logo has been revamped and is looking cooler than ever. We get the history of the previous 18th-century scripted A Modest Proposal, but it didn’t reflect the fresh, edgy content the publication produces. Sometimes it’s better to let go of tradition in exchange for better quality.

The Pub: True, the quality of the food has gone up,and wait times have decreased, but the menu has been drastically scaled back. Surely hummus requires less preparation than spinach artichoke dip? Why can’t there be a variety of food, served quickly? UTD’s pub gets a mixed review for now.

ANWESHA BHATTACHARJEE/WEB EDITOR | LINA MOON/GRAPHICS EDITOR

“I wish students were more involved, going to events that organizations put on and take a more active role in general.”

“A focus on peace and unity and how we are part of a collective consciousness.”

Marcos Pelaez

Karen Carrasco Psychology and child development junior

“I feel that people should be more involved in community service.”

“People have no idea about water conservation, like how much water goes into irrigating landscape. Texas is about to run out of water.”

Travis Millican Computer science junior

Accounting and finance sophomore

Megan Sotelo Literary studies junior Online Content Manager Ian Pirich Editor-in-Chief Lauren Featherstone Managing Editor Sheila Dang Director of Sales and Promotions Nada Alasmi

Web Editor Anwesha Bhattacharjee Photo Editor Christopher Wang Life & Arts Editor Sarah Larson Graphics Editor Lina Moon

Ad Sales Representative Juveria Baig Media Adviser Chad Thomas Staff Writer Miguel Perez Staff Photographers Connie Cheng Parth Parikh

Contributors Pablo Arauz Animesh Chowdhury Viviana Cruz Mohammad Faisal Srayan Guhathakurta Abby Lam Joseph Mancuso Madison McCall Shaun Mohamed Parth Sampat Robert Secheli Yue Tang

Jeff Thekkekara John Thottungal Taylor Tisdale Shyam Vedantam Marcelo Yates

The Mercury is published on Mondays, at two-week intervals during the long term of The University of Texas at Dallas, except holidays and exam periods, and once every four weeks during the summer term.

Advertising is accepted by The Mercury on the basis that there is no discrimination by the advertiser in the offering of goods or services to any person, on any basis prohibited by applicable law. Evidence of discrimination will be the basis of denial of advertising space. The publication of advertising in The Mercury does not constitute an

“I think there should be more awareness of local politics because the national media focuses on national politics but not state or local politics.”

Caroline Personius Business administration freshman “I wish the community could get together more and get to know each other.”

Matthew Spositi Accounting junior endorsement of products or services by the newspaper, or The University of Texas at Dallas, or the governing board of the institution.

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Disability Awareness

THE MERCURY

OCT. 21, 2013

Experiencing life with vision loss Disability rights

transform since 1973

Landmark legislation, grassroots activism over past four decades have changed life for disabled MIGUEL PEREZ Mercury Staff

CHRISTOPHER WANG/PHOTO EDITOR

A common misconception is that people with vision impairments are completely blind. In fact, most may be able to see color contrasts. The black and white clocks are a few of the many products in Esther’s Place available for people with vision loss.

Center on Vision Loss provides blind with strategies to live independent life VIVIANA CRUZ Mercury Staff

The Center on Vision Loss, located in Dallas, is a local resource that hosts the unique learning environment, Esther’s Place.

Founded in October 2006 in order to provide resources to North Texas’s aging population, the Center on Vision loss, or CVL, began as a 300-square-foot regional office for the American Foundation for the Blind in 1981. Texas Women’s Hall of Fame member Judy Scott serves as director and led the “Preserving Independence” project, which resulted in the CVL’s establishment.

Esther’s Place is a 1,800-squarefoot model home furnished with more than 500 products to aid with vision loss located inside the CVL. All of the products are fully functional and avail-

able for demonstration. Esther’s Place combines many techniques that would be helpful for accommodating an individual with vision loss and would help them regain independence. These techniques range from low-tech to high-tech; color, texture and lighting play a key role in distinguishing each room of the model home.

Each case of vision loss differs by the individual and Esther’s Place allows visitors to find products to suit their specific needs. It is a convenient method to figuring out an appropriate level of accommodation rather than going through lots of trial-and-error.

Holly McKnight, volunteer docent at Esther’s Place, explained the one-ofa-kind nature of the facility.

“We are the only place in the nation that has Esther’s Place,” she said.

“There are several regional offices all over the nation that are focused on lit-

Center explores anxiety disorder Center for Brain Health to research possible posttraumatic stress disorder treatments among veterans coordinator for CBH’s research programs in PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury. Jones said the PTSD research Post-traumatic stress disorder is program needs 100 to 150 participants the focus of a current major research and has so far brought in about 40 project under UTD’s Center for Brain- participants. A PTSD diagnosis is not Health which is actively seeking par- required to participate in the research ticipants to partake in an innovative project, participants must speak English, be between the ages of 18 and 50 treatment plan.

The treatment plan is a blend of and be Operation Enduring Freedom cognitive processing therapy and mag- (OEF) or Operation Iraqi Freedom netic stimulation therapy. Magnetic (OIF) veterans.

Last July, Jones gave a stimulation therapy is presentation at DeSoto an FDA-approved treatPublic Library dispelment for depression, People think ling PTSD myths. and cognitive processthat individu“People think that ing therapy is a form of als with PTSD individuals with PTSD one-on-one therapy for are dangerous and vioPTSD. By combining are dangerous lent,” Jones said. “This the two the Center for and violent ... is far from the truth; Brain Health, or CBH, they are actually rehopes to lessen some of this is far from served and because of the symptoms of PTSD. the truth. their symptoms they are PTSD is an anxiety actually afraid of large disorder that develops crowds and noises.” after exposure to a trau— Cedric Jones UTD psychological matic event. PTSD may sciences graduate stube diagnosed if avoiddent Jennifer Kriegel ance of the event, intrusive recurring flashbacks and above-av- recognized the importance of research erage levels of anxiety are experienced for PTSD treatment. Kriegel began exfor longer than a month after the initial periencing the symptoms of PTSD in trauma. Men have an 8 percent chance 2001 and subsequently was drawn to of developing PTSD and women have finish a second degree at the Univeraround a 20 percent chance of devel- sity of Arizona in order to become a oping the disorder. However, returning therapist. Soon, she felt that she could male veterans from Afghanistan or Iraq impact more people through research.

After graduating from with her have a 20 percent risk of developing PTSD, according to a January 2013 bachelor’s degree, Kriegel began colstudy prepared for the Department of laborating with University of Arizona faculty advisor Aaron Tesch on a study Veterans Affairs.

UTD alumnus Cedric Jones served for emotional memory traits that may four years in the Marine Corps and currently works as the recruitment

VIVIANA CRUZ Mercury Staff

eracy and advocacy. We’re kind of a ‘try it before you buy it.’”

A fully equipped kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom all have modifications to assist with living independently. Low-tech accommodations include having raised dots on the surface of commonly used buttons or wrapping rubber bands around different types of canned foods. The hightech alternatives of these are Touch Memos, a digital voice labeler that will read aloud compatible labels.

A television set can be used to magnify books, labels or other reading material and speakers can be set up to amplify sounds. Many appliances have the option to read information out loud, and lights can be dimmed to create a noticeable contrast. Several toiletries can be found with braille labels at

Forty years ago, the United States experienced the first of many changes in the way the American public understood disability with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Considered by many as the first civil rights statute for people with disabilities, Section 504 barred public institutions from discriminating on the basis of physical or mental handicap.

Richard Scotch, sociology professor and former president of the Society for Disability Studies, said Section 504 was the basis on which policymakers crafted the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the landmark civil rights legislation prohibiting all discrimination based on disability.

“In the 1970s, in part because of the disability movement and in part because of other things that were going on in society, we had this major paradigm shift,” Scotch said. “A lot of it was because some disabled people acted collectively to challenge stereotypes and engaged in political activity including protests.”

Sabrina Starnaman, a literary studies professor with focuses on disability and gender studies, said some of the historically negative stereotypes include ones that portray people with disabilities as helpless or exceptionally heroic.

The early to mid-20th century saw the development of the “poster child,” a picture of disability used to muster up pity from the general public, Starnaman said.

“This image of a disabled person

as sort of pathetic and in need of help was made to create a sense of guilt in the viewer so that you’d give money to research,” she said. “The disability activist community has worked very hard to move away from that sort of depiction because its one in which the disabled person as an object has no agency, no power.”

Indeed, before the Rehabilitation Act passed, the civil rights group Disabled in Action staged a street sit-in that stopped traffic on Madison Avenue in New York to protest its veto by President Nixon.

The Capitol Crawl, where disability rights activists took off their assistive devices and crawled up the steps of Capitol Hill, is considered by many to have influenced the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA. The disability rights movement has shared roots with many of the groups fighting for equality under the law, especially inspired by the African American civil rights movement and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Scotch said.

“The modern disability movement started in the 1960s in places like Berkeley, California,” he said.

“Students with disabilities, some being Vietnam War veterans and some being kids with polio, started saying ‘Well, if black people can organize to get equal access to education, maybe we can organize to get equal access to education too.’”

Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, or EHA, in 1975, legally asserting the right of disabled students to equal access to public schooling.

UTD campus accessible to students from all walks of life Amenities attract students with various disabilities from other schools, countries JOSEPH MANCUSO Mercury Staff

Collaboration between Facilities Management and the Office of Student AccessAbility has yielded a campus designed to be disability friendly and has been winning over disabled students from various backgrounds to UTD. The university’s success with accommodating the needs of students has led it to attract those already enrolled in other universities.

“I received a call from a vice president to let me know that a student transferred here from another university in the Dallas area because they came to campus and were able to get around everywhere,” said Kelly Kinnard, director of physical plant services at Facilities Management.

A testament to the effort put into making the campus accessible, the Student Services Building, which is home to the Office of Student AccessAbility, or OSA, won the Accessibility award from the Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities and the Accessibility Professionals Association in January 2012. Automatic doors and accessible elevators are just some of the features installed that make the building friendly to the physically impaired.

“We even made sure that there were two push pads on our doors to assist someone who uses their feet in a wheelchair,” said Kerry Tate, director of the OSA. “We do have a gentleman who uses his feet only, and he’s given us comments saying that it was so nice that (the controls were) at his level.”

Other improvements to the SSB include rails on the walls to allow the

ABBY LAM/STAFF

blind to better gauge where they are in the building.

Facilities Management, which oversees the construction and renovation of projects on campus, and the OSA work to maintain many campus wide improvements. However, many more improvements are student-specific and taken care of on a case-by-case basis.

“We had a female student who … wasn’t able to reach out very far,” Kinnard said of a student who relied on a wheelchair. “We came up with a desk that she could take with her wherever she went. It folded to where she could just snap it into place (on her wheelchair), and we even put a

cup holder on it.”

While the OSA specializes in identifying and reporting problems students may face on campus, the relationship the office shares with Facilities Management is crucial to getting the work done. The friendly status the two offices share allows for more success on projects that allow students to easily get around campus, Kinnard said.

“At other universities, instead of being so collaborative, it is really adversarial,” he said. “It’s like (the offices) cringe when they see each other. It’s a shame, because if they had the relationship that we do, they would get a lot more done.”

THE MERCURY

The EHA was amended to become the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, which broadened the scope of educational needs for disabled students.

Scotch said an important point made in the field of disability studies is that a medical definition of disability is too limiting in a social context.

“We’ve come to use the terms disability to refer to a kind of disconnect, a mismatch between what people’s abilities are and what kinds of things the environment accommodates,” Scotch said.“If we think about disability as

OCT. 21, 2013

Disability Awareness

something that creates problems in functioning, it depends as much on the environment as it does on the actual physical or mental impairment.”

Today, disability rights advocates continue their longstanding effort to bring the rights of disabled Americans to light and to have a fair representation in the media.

Starnaman said people can also experience a sense of being disabled by society through negative media portrayals.

She pointed to well-known characters like Captain Hook and Freddy Krueger to highlight society’s history of portraying disability as villainous.

“There is a history of link-

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5

ing disability with some kind of moral corruption, but I do think that has evolved in some great ways,” Starnaman said.

“In the last 20 years, we’ve had numerous television shows with people that have disabilities of all kinds.”

In recent popular culture, television has seen increased representation of disabled actors and characters like Breaking Bad’s Walt Jr. who has cerebral palsy and little person Peter Dinklage who plays Game of Thrones’ Tyrion Lannister.

“We’ve moved towards a creation of images of disabled people as fully engaged, with agency and with voices of their own,” Starnaman said. “I think that’s really important.”

CHRISTOPHER WANG/PHOTO EDITOR

predict PTSD. About a third of the population carries a genotype that codes for enhanced memory for emotional events which could lead to a higher risk for PTSD. She hopes to continue this research while at UTD. Kriegel was inspired by her

experience with PTSD and credits it as the source of her drive to work in research to help others.

“My weakness became my strength, something that forced me to go through the very difficult work of self-healing,” Kriegel said.

It is important for Kriegel to advocate on the behalf of individuals who may be hesitant to

reveal an altered state of mental health for fear of stigmatization. She believes research is an important tool for advocacy.

“There are better solutions in research than solely medicating individuals,” Kriegel said. “There is a great deal left to research and learn from the brain, there is a social understanding that needs to be created.”

The speciality cutting board features a knife that is able to pivot from where it is attached to the board, allowing those with vision impairment to chop food safely. The black handle against the white cutting board provides visual contrast. Product information cards are available for each item in Esther’s Place.

Esther’s Place; soaps and lotions from L’Occitane En Provence, a popular mall chain store, are on display with the braille labels facing out. An organized closet makes personal grooming much easier. Whole outfits are stored together or special labels are attached to the same color groups.

Organization does not only allow one to look one’s best, but it also helps in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. An unorganized medicine cabinet could spell disaster for anyone with vision loss but there are many ways to make sure the correct dosages are taken at the appropriate times. Pill boxes with extra large print are common, and talking labels can be attached to bottles with prescription information.

McKnight uses the interactive nature of Esther’s Place to dispel vision loss myths to visitors.

“It is a common misconcep-

tion that people with vision loss need lots of bright light,” McKnight said. “Bright light washes everything out; having good contrast is very important.”

Living independently also means finding sources of enrichment. The Library of Congress sponsors the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. This service offers Braille and Audio Reading Download, or BARD, which allows eligible readers to download content from the Internet onto a flash drive to play on a compatible reader. Esther’s Place has a number of BARD-compatible readers available to test out, as well as a solar powered audio Bible. BARD also has an app available for download on the iPad, one of the most accessible modern technological products, according to McKnight.

Esther’s Place was named in honor of Esther Smith, a longtime volunteer and CVL board member who developed macular degeneration in late 1995.

Smith heads the docent program that offers guided tours of Esther’s Place.

The CVL recently participated in White Cane Day on Oct. 15 at Dallas City Hall. Organized by the Dallas Lighthouse, White Cane Day participants walked around city hall to raise awareness of white cane safety and importance. The Dallas Lighthouse is a nonprofit organization that provides training and job opportunities for individuals with vision loss with the goal of empowering clients to live independently.

McKnight is an example of someone who has achieved that very goal.

“I was born with myelomeningocele, a type of spina bifida,” she said. “My parents were told I wouldn’t live 12 hours, I would be totally blind, probably retarded, deaf, paraplegic, possibly on a ventilator. I have a music degree with a 3.3 GPA, and I sang for the President twice and at Carnegie Hall once.”

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OCT. 21, 2013

Aviation club explores new heights New student organization gives members opportunity to experience flight training on ground, prepare for possible careers as pilots SRAYAN GUHATHAKURTA Mercury Staff

The Aviation Club is a new club at UTD aimed at generating interest and enthusiasm about aviation.

The interests of the club members include learning how to fly, maintain aircrafts and manage an airport office.

Matthew Engel, president of the Aviation club and geophysics sophomore, has been flying since age 15. He wanted to start this club to share his passion.

“Flying is one of the most exciting and positive things I have done in my life, and I want people to experience it,” he said.

I always wanted to be an astronaut, and two days after my 15th birthday my dad took me to the Harvey Airfield and I went on a discovery flight. That got me hooked, and ever since I have been crazy about flying.”

The Aviation Club also uses the name Alpha Charlie, which is the military convention for the letters A and C. The Aviation Club has seen a steady increase in membership, from just three members to more

than 50 in a few months.

Many of the club members hope to pursue flying as a career or hobby.

Interdisciplinary studies senior and member Billy Wilt is preparing to join the U.S. Air Force.

“I am joining the Air Force as a pilot to be able to see all parts of the world, but primarily to fly awesome aircraft while serving my country,” he said.

International political studies sophomore Anh Nguyen, who is the vice president of the club, aspires to become a commercial pilot.

During the sessions, the participants practice on the Microsoft Flight Simulator.

“The Microsoft Flight Simulator is a very standard software where the user can choose from a lot of aircraft models and can also practice over a lot of flight conditions,” Nguyen said. “I believe it is better than the XPlane, which is a product on the Macintosh platform, because of the features it offers”.

Currently the organization is trying to organize a flight show over UTD by the Aerobatics

Flight Company of Dallas. The aerobatics team performs aerial acrobatics and other stunts by flying in patterns.

When considering expenses related to flight training, Engel said students might have a better deal in America than they think.

“The U.S. is the cheapest place in the world for flight training,” he said. “A flight training program would cost around $100,000 in the U.K., while in the U.S. you can get the same for $8,000.”

The club has already secured a flight scholarship through Four Winds Aviation, who gave the club $400 to award one of its members.

The scholarship application, which is open to all the members, will be awarded on three criteria: the financial need of the applicant, the member’s attendance and level of participation and how the applicant says the scholarship is going to help him or her pursue aviation as a hobby or career.

Engel spoke about taking the club to a preflight inspection field trip on a Cessna 172 aircraft on Oct. 19 at the Addison

PARTH PARIKH/STAFF

Aviation Club members practice on the Microsoft Flight Simulator during the club’s weekly meetings. In addition to learning to fly, members can also learn to maintain aircraft. Some of the members are working toward getting a pilot’s license for a fun hobby, while others hope to pursue flying as a career or join the Air Force.

airport.

“What I’d like the club to learn from the pre-flight inspection is what exactly a pre-flight inspection is, why you do them and what things are of particular

notice while you do them,” he said. “On top of that, it will be the first time many of the members actually get a good look at a general aviation aircraft, so that will be a valuable experience for

them.”

For more information or to get involved, students can attend the club meetings every Friday from 2:30-4 p.m. in the Phoenix Room.

Lecture puts spotlight LGBTQIA student rights on science illiteracy New group focuses on

PABLO ARAUZ/STAFF

National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11 at the Plinth featured a door for students to walk through, symbolizing the phrase “coming out of the closet.” The Rainbow Guard collaborated with other LGBTQIA groups on campus to host the event, which also featured Brooklyn-based transgender poet J Mase III.

CONNIE CHENG/STAFF

Orgs join together to host National Coming Out Day on the Plinth

Eric Jolly (left) is introduced to the audience before delivering his lecture titled “Why Science?” in the Clark Center on Oct. 11. Jolly is a distinguished lecturer for Sigma Xi, which honors excellence in scientific investigation. He urged students and professors to take measures to deepen scientific knownledge.

PABLO ARAUZ

Students must ask better questions to ensure scientific progress

Mercury Staff

A brand new student group is helping to make campus a safer place for students of any gender orientation or identity.

The Rainbow Guard is a new student organization that advocates for a safer campus for students who are part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersexual and asexual community. The group became official this semester.

Tyler Fincannon, who founded The Rainbow Guard, said he based the title from a character in the popular television show “Game of Thrones.”

“I’m a ‘Game of Thrones’ fan so it was based off Renly when he was vying for the throne. Instead of a King’s Guard, he had a Rainbow Guard, which was kind of an obvious cliché of him being gay,” he said.

While there is already a group on campus for LGBTQIA support called Pride, The Rainbow Guard is less of a social organization and more of a political one. A big focus for the Rainbow Guard is making campus a place where students of any gender preference can be comfortable.

“One of the biggest plagues of LG-

BTQIA young individuals is higher suicide rate, greater means of depression, more often they actually drop out of school or feel like they are in an unsafe environment,” Fincannon said.

Suicide among youth in the queergendered community is roughly 20 percent higher then for those who identify as heterosexual, according to a study by National Institute of Health.

And while there hasn’t been any major reported incident on campus threatening members of the community, safety is a top priority of the group.

“It’s really just about creating a more inclusive environment and a more positive environment on campus,” Fincannon said.

One of the group’s goals is opening a safe space on campus where LGBTQIA students can go for assistance. He said the group would be collecting data on exactly how many students are on campus that identify within the community.

National Coming Out Day The Rainbow Guard collaborated with Pride and the faculty-geared LGBTQIA Education, Engagement and

Programming initiative, or LEEP, to hold an event for National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11 at the Plinth.

The celebration is meant for people within the community to speak openly about their identity.

The event featured a stage for slam poetry, a closet door for students to physically “come out,” a snow cone stand and a complimentary beverage table for students passing by.

J Mase III, a transgender poet based in Brooklyn, New York, recited his work and encouraged others to come on stage and share their stories of coming out.

“We want to take this day to acknowledge all the people that came before us and who were able to make waves in that way,” Mase said. “And that we are able to make waves for others by being a loud presence and an open presence about who we are.”

Mase’s poetry covered a variety of topics ranging from queer culture to family and religion.

Lisa Bird, president of Pride and biology junior, worked with Fincannon to organize the event and said it was exciting to bring an out-of-town poet to campus.

“You can’t change minds through

ROBERT SECHELI Mercury Staff

A Sigma Xi distinguished lecturer came to campus and spoke about issues concerning America’s science illiteracy and measures educators and students can take to curb them on Oct. 11 in the Alexander Clark Center.

Eric Jolly is a lecturer for Sigma Xi, which was founded in 1886 to honor excellence and encourage companionship in scientific investigation. As part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Science Foundation, among other groups, Jolly promotes science education and science in the public interest. He began his lecture with a short puzzle in which the audience was asked to choose a color, an animal and a country based on a number they had chosen. Most members of the audience ended up choosing an orange kangaroo from Denmark. Jolly used this problem to probe an interesting facet of scientific investigation.

“The questions you ask struc-

ture the answers you get,” Jolly said. “Our answers naturally reflect the cultures we are raised in.”

When performing the same puzzle mentioned above in other countries, such as Germany, Jolly received very different answers, such as a yellow donkey from Deutschland. According to Jolly, scientific progress occurs as younger generations ask better questions. The key to ensuring that they ask better questions that do not necessarily lead to only one set of answers is to have a diverse group of people engaged in scientific investigation.

In order to further demonstrate this point, Jolly spoke about experimental tests concerning Lasik eye surgery, a procedure that reshapes the eye’s cornea to improve visual acuity, in Europe and Canada. In Europe, experimenters paid voluntary subjects, who were predominantly people of African origin, to have the eye surgeries.

In Canada, the voluntary subjects were predominantly of Na-

tive American origin. Once the surgery had passed through the experimental phase and became open to the general public, doctors found that there were many complications for Caucasians having the surgery. It surfaced that Caucasians had a different corneal thickness than the African or Native American test subjects. No one had thought to ask any questions regarding the lack of diversification of the test subjects.

“Science is a process, whereby you try to understand how the world works,” Jolly said. “We have created a science curriculum that is far too broad.”

According to Jolly, too many facts are taught and then abandoned. This emphasis of “teach and abandon” rather than “teach and build,” results in a content overlap of only about 20 percent. Jolly said that studies have shown that a more focused, narrow study in a few subjects is far more effective than a broad

THE MERCURY

OCT. 21, 2013

News

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Debate weighs paid versus unpaid internships Students discuss merits of unpaid internships, value of work experience and whether interns who do same work as employees should be paid MOHAMMAD FAISAL Mercury Staff

Several lawsuits filed by unpaid interns have caught national attention and sparked debate on the merit of unpaid internships.

According to Forbes, two unpaid production interns, Eric Glatt and Alexander Footman, filed a lawsuit against Fox Searchlight Pictures for violating the New York state’s minimum wage laws. The federal judge in New York ruled in favor of the interns and said Fox Searchlight Pictures had not offered proper compensation. He stated that even though the interns gained experience and connections, it was not enough to compensate for not paying them minimum wage.

Although Glatt and Footman have taken extreme measures to show their opinion of whether unpaid interns should be paid, there

are others who see value in unpaid internships.

Biology senior Usman Asad is a pre-med student who decided to do an unpaid internship at Medical City to give him a better understanding of a health care setting.

He shadowed the different types of doctors and observed them diagnose and treat patients.

“The hospital setting was a great experience, he said.” I was able to see how all the areas of the hospital work together and make everything flow properly.”

Asad believed he did not need to be paid because he was shadowing doctors and was doing so to show to make sure he knew what he was getting himself into if he continued to pursue medicine.

“It would have been nice (to be paid), but I wasn’t doing any work, so it doesn’t bother me that I was paid,” Asad said. “Shadowing doctors is meant to give me a clinical

exposure to medicine and help me make my application stronger.”

A paid internship at a doctor’s clinic allows students to be more actively involved with the doctor and the nurses. It stresses the importance of social and analytical skills, which is an importance skill to have if one wants to continue working in the health field.

Anisa Ahmed, a pediatrician who has a clinic called Renner Pediatrics said, “I believe both a paid and unpaid internship are beneficial for students. I currently have five students who are unpaid interns who shadow me, two are students from UTD.” Ahmed offers both paid and unpaid internships to college students who want to increase the strength of their resume. Although Ahmed has all unpaid interns currently, she said she is aware of the job opportunities for the students who do those positions.

“Unpaid interns do have a less chance of getting a job offer compared to paid interns; however, the people who are interns in my clinic are students who want to become doctors,” Ahmed said. “It is important for these pre-med students to get clinical exposure; a paid or unpaid internship does not make a huge impact on their application.”

Although Asad valued his unpaid internship, there are others who believe paid internships are more prestigious and have different views on unpaid internships.

“An unpaid internship shows that the student was more of a student rather than an employee,” said finance junior Hannah Steiner. “A paid internship adds more credibility to a student’s resume because it shows that he or she was working as an employee.”

Steiner worked as a paid intern in the accounting department for a golfing company called PG Profes-

YUE TANG/STAFF

sional Golf. She had the luxury of being paid, but she did the same work as the employees at the company. This required her to take her job more seriously and be discipled about completing her work on time.

“It was my job to make sure all the transactions were correct. I had to do everything in a timely manner, but the end result was great because I got a practical approach to the accounting field,” Steiner said.

In Brief Radio UTD wins two awards from College Music Journal yelling, you have to change minds by being the example of cognitive dissonance,” she said.

During the event, Bird and other students and faculty shared their stories of struggle and support for other members of the community.

“On the grander scale of things, coming out is always a choice and never mandatory because we understand that sometimes it’s not safe,” Bird said.

Justin Keeling, student worker at the Galerstein Women’s Center and computer science and software engineering junior, was there to support fellow students and faculty he knew who organized the celebration.

Keeling said The Rainbow Guard was incremental in funding the event by working with the Student Organization Funding Advisory Board. Overall, it is meant not only to make students in the community more visible but also more proud and open, he said.

Ally Training and Transgender Awareness In collaboration with the same groups, The Rainbow Guard is promoting Ally Training on Nov. 2 for those interested in becoming allies to the LGBTQIA community. Allies are individuals who may identify as heterosexual but dedicate themselves to helping those who don’t.

“It’s learning about how to be in the background of everything, it’s not about you,” said Gabriella Sosa, emerging media and communications junior and employee at the Women’s Center.

Sosa is working on spreading word about the workshop and informing anyone who’s interested.

She said the training helps individuals to be supportive of students or faculty in the community if they hear or see anything offensive.

“Making sure not to let those

PABLO ARAUZ/STAFF

J Mase III, a transgender poet from Brooklyn, New York, recited some of his work that included topics such as culture, family and religion.

things kind of pass by; it’s the little things that kind of build up internally,” she said. “It’s basically fostering a safe environment for people to express their gender and orientation.”

Fincannon said The Rainbow Guard is also holding an event for Transgender Day of Rememberance on Nov. 20. A memorial will be held for transgender people who have died or been affected by the negative public perception of them known as transphobia.

Mase said the life expectancy of transgender persons is somewhere around 37 years. A report by NPR quoted psychologist Graciela Balestra, stating the life expectancy is lower, somewhere around 30 to 32 years.

“People often times have much harder talk and time discussing

what it means to see your gender as something different than what the outside world expects and wants it to be,” Mase said. “So I think we need to get better as an overall community talking about [transgender] people and just talking about the fluidity also existing in the community.”

As student population grows, there will be more of a need for a safe space and a group like The Rainbow Guard for all LGBTQIA students, faculty and staff, Fincannon said.

“Our organization is set up so students can come in, find something that they want to change, or find something that they want to pursue in regards to creating something on campus and get the resources and get the know-how of how to get it done.”

The Radio UTD management team brought back two awards for the first time from the College Music Journal Music Marathon Festival in New York City that they attended from Oct. 15-19 for five days of music, college radio sessions and competition.

Out of more than 30 radio groups from around the country, Radio UTD was nominated for “Best Student-Run, Internet-Only Station,” “Best Use of Limited Resources” and “Biggest Improvement” this year.

After voting from College

Music Journal attendees and music promoters who work closely with college radio groups, Radio UTD won in the categories of “Best Student-Run, Internet-Only Station” and “Biggest Improvement,” which is a first for the campus’ student-run radio station.

Eric Martinez, Radio UTD music director and emerging media and communications junior, said the awards go hand-in-hand in representing the hard work of Radio UTD and its DJs. “We’re in a Dallas market,

and there are a lot of radio stations,” he said. “We want to be something different that sets us apart. So if we have strong relationships with music promoters and other radio stations, then we get our name out there to win someone’s vote.”

Only 10 years old, Radio UTD had consistently been nominated for awards by College Music Journal, but had never brought home an award until now.

study of multiple subjects. He also mentioned a National Science Foundation survey that found that only 40 percent of high school graduates knew that the earth’s orbit around the sun takes one year. In order to curb this science illiteracy, Jolly said educational programs must first engage students, give students capacity, or the ability to progress from easier to more difficult material, and lastly, be more continuous. He stated that given that the educational gap between America and other countries is now the highest it has ever been in the last decade, the greatest economic investment America can make is in education.

Chemistry professor Paul Pantano also attended the lecture. He said that the current educational curriculum is rig-

idly set on teaching many topics in order to prepare students for state tests. The teachers are not necessarily untrained, just kept to a predetermined curriculum that, according to Jolly, is not as effective as educators think. Pantano said that he offered to speak at his children’s school because of his role in bioanalytical chemistry and bionanotechnology research but was turned down by teachers who were overjoyed by the idea but didn’t have any free class time.

On a trip to China, Jolly learned that the students there had a special motto: With knowledge of chemistry, physics and math, I can stand anywhere without fear.

America’s cultural disconnect with science began in the 1970s when scientists were set apart from the average man or woman as geniuses working in lab coats, he said.

However, science isn’t a process restricted only to scien-

tists.

“Public policy issues require a basic foundation in science,” Jolly said. “The power of science is to stand without fear.”

By knowing basic science and utilizing the skills of observation and reason that are critical to science, ordinary men and women can empower themselves to make better decisions and ensure that their politicians are making better decisions.

Freshman biology major Andrew Thomson attended the lecture to hear more about the state of scientific progress in America.

“I’m surprised by how little people know about science,” Thomson said. “I can’t imagine not knowing or trying to know.”

Jolly said he hopes he’s given students, like Thomson, the impetus to not only become better scientists, but also to become better spokespeople for science.

-Sarah Larson

JEFF THEKKEKARA/STAFF

Pi Kappa Phi hosted “Puppies for PUSH” on Oct. 17 at the Plinth. For a minimum donation of $3, attendees were able to play with dogs from Petland with all proceeds going toward the fraternity’s philanthropy, Push America, which assists those with disabilities. More than $500 was raised.

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THE MERCURY

OCT. 21, 2013

Life&Arts

Short flick disappoints with typical storyline SHYAM VEDANTAM COMMENTARY

ACESHOWBIZ.COM/COURTESY

Richie, played by Justin Timberlake, and Ivan, played by Ben Affleck, become unlikely partners in the movie “Runner Runner,” out in theaters now.

“Runner Runner” isn’t anything new. However, any scene with Ben Affleck (“Argo,” “The Town”), is so fun to watch it’s worth getting through the sluggish and predictable scenes with Justin Timberlake (“In Time,” “The Social Network”).

It’s classic Hollywood storytelling: A young, attractive and smart man who tries his hardest gets sucked into the false promises of a charming mentor, only to learn later on that the mentor is just using the protégé. Richie, played by Timberlake, is a student at Princeton getting his master’s degree in finance after being ripped off by Wall Street. The high cost of tuition is forcing him to become involved with gambling websites, and one of his obligations is recruiting other students. This gets him in trouble with the dean, which forces Richie’s hand. Richie wagers everything on a virtual poker match and ends up losing everything.

Unable to believe how he lost the match, Richie gets a campus computer expert to analyze the results. It turns out that Richie had been cheated, so he travels to Costa Rica to talk to the website owner Ivan Block played

by Affleck, who is on the FBI’s most wanted

list. He is able to arrange a meeting with Block through Gemma Arterton (“Quantum of Solace,” “Prince of Persia”), Block’s ex.

If that wasn’t unbelievable enough, Block apologizes to Richie and offers Richie a job working under him. However, this entire Internet company is built like a house of cards, so when it all starts to crumble, everyone scrambles to get out — financially, legally or even just alive.

Screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien (“Ocean’s Thirteen”) have written an extremely barebones script with a lot of clumsy dialogue. Timberlake does heavy-handed voice-over narration as he doles out observations, saying, “at Princeton, you’re either bred for it or you bleed for it.”

Unfortunately, Timberlake’s acting isn’t great enough to overcome this paltry script.

He’s done good work before, but “Runner Runner” doesn’t showcase his acting strengths.

Timberlake isn’t quite believable as a genius mathematician.

Arterton is stunning and beautifully bronzed, but her character doesn’t amount to much compared to the male characters she is surrounded with. Anthony Mackie (“The Hurt Locker,” “Million Dollar Baby”) and John Heard (“Big”) are strong character actors, but they are shoe-horned into their stereotypical roles as the hard-nosed FBI agent and the gambling-obsessed father, respectively.

It’s Affleck who really carries this movie. His

acting is on point and so duplicitous, the audience is kept on its toes as to where the tone and direction of the scene will be going. Affleck makes every scene he is in funny and dangerous at the same time.

While “Runner Runner” is rated R, other than an out-of-focus sex scene and some strong language, there is nothing hard or unnerving in this movie — which is one of its biggest problems. There’s a promise of danger around the corner, but when the film reaches those points, it avoids them at all costs. People are merely beaten up instead of killed, even though this is constantly threatened and implied. As the movie reaches its climax, every twist and turn is expected and plays out like anyone who has seen more than a few thriller movies would expect.

“Runner Runner” is flashy. The Costa Rica setting makes the film’s backdrop beautiful and rich with color. At a 91-minute runtime, director Brad Furman (“The Lincoln Lawyer”) has a fast and quickly edited movie. Unfortunately, it isn’t very deep, it feels familiar and subverts to genre convention whenever possible. Furman forgoes the edge of the R rating he was given and turned in a soft version of what could have been immensely more engrossing. “Runner Runner” is worth watching to pass some time on an afternoon, but isn’t quite worth running out to go see.

5/10

Gallery uniquely combines art mediums SHAUN MOHAMED Mercury Staff

The “Construction_site” art exhibit featuring the uniquely built work of 10 artists opened on Oct. 11 in the Visual Arts Building.

The exhibit, which runs through Nov. 16, is curated by art professor John Pomara.

The name “Construction_site” came from the idea of combining media that are not traditionally used together and calling attention to the fact that the pieces are constructed.

The idea for the exhibition came during a Skype call to Dallas-based artist Nathan Green, who curated a CentralTrak Artist Residency gallery show.

Green joked that the show, which featured many paintings that use and incorporate different types of media, was very much like a construction site, Pomara said.

Pomara wanted to find younger artists to see how they make art in ways that are not traditional to their medium, just like how Picasso used to incorporate cut out collages

with his paintings. There are many artists that use multiple materials and break traditional rules in a bigger way, Pomara said.

“Instead of collaging cutouts there are (artists) collaging all sorts of weird materials from carpet to sheetrock and putting them together to make a painting,” he said.

The work featured in the exhibit includes photography, paintings, sculptures and videos that call attention to the fact that they are constructed.

One of those pieces is a painting done

by Green called Drop Patchwork. Green used low-grade construction materials such as wood, carpet, screws and even drywall from an old DMA exhibit to produce a unique effect.

“My hopes are that a person would see my work from afar and read it as a painting and the closer they get to it the more they realize that it’s something built out of everyday low-grade construction materials,” he said.

Green said he also wants people who see his work to ask themselves what they could make.

Another artist featured in the exhibit, Arthur Pena, also mixed painting with the visuals of sculptures. Pena is a Dallas-based artist who has four pieces in the exhibit named Attempt 86, Attempt 87, Attempt 88 and Attempt 89. Pena said that each of the attempts not only came from something that happened before in the work, but are in fact the same painting only differing in the way and attitude each was made.

“Looking at what has happened in the work previously and figuring out where I should focus my attention is the real work,” Pena said.

He has just finished Attempt 100.

Pena said he names his pieces attempts because each attempt is a concentrated effort with no specific end.

“An attempt is more than trying but less than doing,” Pena said. “There is no goal other than to make work. No one single piece is the final answer to a question; rather, they are new problems to consider, possibly forever. I think of it as a phone forever ringing.”

JEFF THEKKEKARA/STAFF

A video display as one of the pieces in the “Construction_site” art gallery.The gallery opened Oct. 11 and will run until Nov. 16 in the Visual Arts Building.

Holiday cheer, events shared with int’l students JOHN THOTTUNGAL Mercury Staff

ANIMESH CHOWDHURY/STAFF

Jennifer Smith, program coordinator of the International Student Services Office, invites new students to the U.S. to learn about the traditions of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day, along with the local holiday events.

International students learned the spirit, traditions and nuances of the American holiday season during the How to Celebrate “The Holidays” workshop on Oct. 18.

Jennifer Smith, program coordinator for the International Student Services Office, led a one-hour interactive presentation that detailed Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. The workshop dealt with the history, traditions and good places to celebrate these festivals in Dallas.

Qingyun Wang, a computer science graduate student from China who’s in her first semester at UTD, quickly pointed out the importance of knowing local traditions.

“I did not know that the pumpkins kept outside were for sale, and now I know,” Wang said.

The superstitions behind Halloween and its current practices elicited curious questions from the attendees. Smith presented tips on trick-or-treating, giving out candy and visiting haunted houses. In addition to tips, she also

stressed safety measures such as handing out individually rapped, unopened candy.

Nimisha Gupta, a first-year computer science graduate student from India, said it is good to know about places to visit during the holidays.

“I am definitely going to be visiting a haunted house now and see if they are scary,” Gupta said.

Halloween was followed by Thanksgiving and along with the explanations, Smith pointed out that ISSO and Residential Life services will be hosting a free Thanksgiving lunch at 11 a.m. on Nov. 28 at the South Residence Hall.

The meal will feature all the traditional items and a vegetarian option as well.

Students are encouraged to come early, as the event is popular amongst those who are on campus during the holiday.

Black Friday, its amazing shopping deals and the fervor of the shoppers were briefly explained. Students were told of long shopping lines in the cold as shoppers eagerly wait for fantastic deals.

Aniket Hadge, a first year computer science graduate student from India, was happy to hear about specific events

that go on during these holidays. “(The workshop) helped us because it told us where we needed to go to celebrate these festivals in Dallas and on campus,” Hadge said.

Christmas was next and required the least explanation, as most students were well aware of its traditions due to the influx of Hollywood movies on the subject. All attendees had seen many Christmas themed movies such as “Home Alone.” The workshop participants also engaged in a lively discussion of how Christmas was celebrated in their own countries, which had different traditions and local customs. One student talked about a unique custom in Mumbai, India that involves dressing up a mannequin and placing it outside the house with a donation box. All of the contributions from each home are donated to charity.

The big New Year’s Eve celebration at Victory Park in Dallas rounded off the workshop with video clips from the past.

Students were told of famous American traditions such as the ball drop in Times Square, kissing someone lucky at the stroke of midnight and toasting New Year’s by drinking champagne.

Sports

OCT. 21, 2013

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9

Men’s soccer reaches top 10 ranking After wins over LeTourneau and UT-Tyler, the Comets rose to No. 7 in NSCAA rankings and look to host ASC championship PARTH SAMPAT Mercury Staff

The men’s soccer team extended its winning streak with a 2-0 win over LeTourneau on Oct. 11, a 4-1 win over UT-Tyler on Oct. 12 and a 6-2 win over Mary Hardin-Baylor on Oct. 17.

The Comets (10-0-3, 4-0-2 ASC) scaled new heights in rankings as they climbed to No. 7 in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America Top 25. The spot, awarded after the wins over the Oct. 11-12 weekend, is the first top 10 spot in program history.

“It’s nice to be recognized,” said head coach Jason Hirsch. “It’s not our objective at the moment, but it’s good for the players to be recognized.”

The win against LeTourneau was a routine one for the Comets, as goals from junior forward Omar Jaroun and senior forward Michael Darrow secured the win.

The first goal came in the 17th minute when Jaroun picked up a pass from Darrow and slotted the ball past the goalkeeper into the lower left half of the goal, taking his tally of the season to seven. Darrow had a couple of opportunities to extend the lead in the first half, as he managed to hit the post in the 18th minute and the crossbar in the 45th

minute.

The defense shut down the Yellow Jackets’ offense in the first half, as the opponents failed to shoot a single ball on target.

LeTourneau started the second half strong with a couple of saved shots in the first five minutes. They looked to turn the match around until the Comets were awarded a free kick in the 58th minute. Darrow rose to meet junior midfielder Travis White’s free kick in the center of the box to head the ball past the goalkeeper.

Nicknish was forced to save a couple more shots to secure another clean sheet for the team, recording a personal 18th career clean sheet, surpassing former Comet Jake Brandon’s record of 17 career clean sheets.

“It’s cool. I didn’t really know it happened until someone told me,” Nicknish said. “In the end, it’s the whole team. We are pretty solid, and I can’t do it without my defense.”

The team faced the Patriots and recorded an easy 4-1 win on Oct. 12.

Darrow broke the deadlock in the 25th minute when he scored from a direct free kick. The team doubled its lead seven minutes later, when White picked up a blocked shot and passed it to senior forward Benjamin Tijerina, who made no mistake in slotting it past the goalkeeper.

The Patriots cut the lead in the

second half when their forward scored off from a long pass, making this the fifth goal scored against the team all season. The team didn’t wait long to retain its two-goal lead, as White struck off a blocked shot.

With 45 seconds left on the clock, sophomore forward Michael Matthews scored off an assist from Jaroun to put the match beyond all doubt.

“Yes, I was happy with the performance,” Hirsch said. “We played well. We were sloppy initially in the second half and gave up a countergoal, but we came back and played well after that.”

The team set a new program record for consecutive games without a loss with its 6-2 win over Mary Hardin-Baylor on Oct. 17.

The Comets had a bumpy start to the game conceding twice in the first 17 minutes. This was the first time this season the team conceded two goals in a match. The Comets trailed for most of the half until the 41st minute when junior midfielder Robert McGinnis found himself one-onone with the Crusaders’ goalkeeper after receiving a cross from freshman midfielder Connor Crabtree. McGinnis kept his cool to slot the ball past the goalkeeper.

“We were lacking concentration, focus and intensity in the beginning,” Hirsch said. “We were not

MARCELO YATES/STAFF

Junior forward Omar Jaroun scored the first goal of the game against LeTourneau on Oct. 11. On Oct. 17, the men achieved a new program record for consectutive games without a loss following a win over Mary Hardin-Baylor. With four regular season matches left, the Comets hope to top the league.

sharp and made a couple of mistakes, and when you make mistakes against good teams they punish you.”

The Comets pushed in the second half and took less than three minutes to find the equalizer. Sophomore midfielder Jordan Rubel attempted a header from a White corner, and was saved by the opponents’ goalkeeper, but Rubel was quick on his followup and slotted his next header into the net.

The Comets finally secured a lead when Matthews shot the ball past the goalkeeper from another White

corner in the 57th minute. The team then inflicted more pain in the next 19 minutes than the opponents did in the initial 17 minutes, finding the back of the net three times to seal the match.

Sophomore forward J.T. Hawkins doubled the lead when he beat the goalkeeper from a pass from senior midfielder Bryan Shiba. Jaroun scored a goal in the 76th minute, taking a deep free kick from Rubel.

Darrow finished the match off with a goal in the 86th minute, making him the sixth different goal scor-

er for the team that night. Nicknish had a busy night as he made eight saves from 11 shots.

With four matches left in the regular season, the Comets look to be favorites to top the league and host the American Southwest Conference Championship at home.

However, they face two stern tests against Louisiana College on Oct. 24 and Mississippi College on Oct. 26.

The Comets will play the last match of the regular season against Ozarks on Nov. 2 at home.

Women’s soccer dominate LeTourneau, win 6-0

Team follows easy win over LeTourneau with tougher back-and-forth struggles in matches against UT-Tyler, Mary Hardin-Baylor PARTH SAMPAT Mercury Staff

The women’s soccer team recorded a 6-0 win over LeTourneau on Oct. 11, a hard-fought 1-0 win against UT-Tyler and a heartbreaking 0-1 loss against Mary Hardin-Baylor on Oct. 18.

The Comets (4-2) faced an undermanned LeTourneau squad and managed an easy win.

The first goal of the match came with just 61 seconds into the first half. Senior forward Eboni Udenze passed a neat ball, which opened up the defense, to soph-

omore midfielder Gisselle Miller, who did not fail to find the goal.

The second goal came deep into the first half at the 31 minute mark when junior forward Jeri Mills scored off an assist from sophomore forward Juli Saba.

The team scored four goals in just over seven minutes in the second half to seal the match.

Junior forward Carli Beckett scored two goals in 19 seconds at the 52:07 and the 52:26 mark to extend the lead to 4-0. Beckett then turned to assisting junior forward Sarah Borg for the fifth goal of the match, before Miller

set up Udenze for the final goal.

The Comets ended the night with 41 shots, 23 on goal, while the YellowJackets failed to record a shot.

The team won the match against UT-Tyler deep into double overtime, after playing neckto-neck the whole match. The teams matched each other in all aspects of the game.

Senior defender Krysta Howard scored her first goal of the season with 1:47 left on the clock off a corner from Beckett.

After inflicting heartbreak on UT-Tyler, the Comets faced

a similar ordeal against Mary Hardin-Baylor, when they lost in the last minute of the match.

The team put up a brilliant display at the back restricting the opponents to only four shots on target.

The Comets dropped to fourth position in the conference rankings, tying with Mary HardinBaylor.

The team will face Louisiana College on Oct. 24 and Mississippi College on Oct. 26 and play the final match of regular season at home against Ozarks on Nov. 2.

Volleyball grabs two victories Team adds to excellent 14-1 season record, holds onto first place conference ranking MADISON MCCALL Mercury Staff

The volleyball team continued its winning streak with two wins against Mississippi College and UT Tyler on Oct. 12.

The Comets breezed through the Mississippi game with a win in just three sets. UTD broke through in the first set at 5-5 and ended the match at 25-11. The next two sets followed suit with a final score of 25-15 in the second set and 25-16 in the third match. Junior hitter Taylour Toso led in kills with a total of 11 kills and had a hitting percent of .409. Sophomore setter Kayla Jordan was leader in assists with 29 in the match.

UT Tyler put up a fight during the Comets’ second match of the day. The first set was a back-andforth struggle between UTD and Tyler. UTD put on the pressure at 11-11 when they quickly raked in the points to reach 11-15. The set finished at 17-25 with a Comet win. The Patriots started the second set strong with a lead at 6-3.

Fortunately, the Comets stepped up their game and had two four-point streaks in a row and ended the second set at another 17-25 win.

The third set was a rough match with a final score of 25-22 and a win for the Patriots. The Comets battled closely through the end of the match but couldn’t take the lead in time. With the third set loss fresh on

MERCURY FILE PHOTO

The Comets easily defeated Mississippi College, winning in just three sets. The game against UT-Tyler on Oct. 12 was a harder fight, but the women broke away to win after a back-and-forth struggle.

their minds, the Comets came into the fourth set revived and ready to win. The score was tight until UTD finally broke through at 13-13 and finished off the set at 19-25.

On Oct. 11, the team brought in wins against LeTourneau and East Texas Baptist. East Texas Baptists proved to be a tough fight with a four-set match. East Texas Baptist is currently ranked as fourth in the conference but falls short to UTD, currently ranked first.

UTD swooped in on the first set with a five-point streak right

after 2-2. Soon, the Tigers stepped up their game but fell just short of taking the lead and the Comets won the set at 25-21. Hurt by the loss from the first set, the East Texas Tigers fought hard in the second set and won at 17-25. The women proved they deserved their No. 1 spot in conference and defeated the Tigers in the next two sets. The third set ended at 25-14 and the fourth at 25-22. Sophomore hitter Meredith Crawford led the team with 15 kills, 2 aces, 1 block and a .234 hitting percentage.

The volleyball team defeated Le Tourneau in 3 sets. The first set finished at 25-15, the second at 25-18 and the third at 25-9. The team finished the game with an impressive .366 hitting percentage, which cast LeTourneau’s .115 hitting percentage in the shadow. A highlight of the game occurred in the second set when the Comets gained 7 kills in a row, a great feat for any team.

The Comets are crushing their conference season with an overall 14-1 record. The women will play again on Oct. 22 at Austin College.

MARCELO YATES/STAFF

After defeating UT-Tyler during double overtime on Oct. 11, the Comets suffered a hard loss against Mary Hardin-Baylor in the last minute of the match on Oct. 18. The next home game is on Nov. 2 against Ozarks.

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Comics&Games

OCT. 21, 2013

Super Love

by Justin Thompson

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OCT. 21, 2013

Comics&Games

Hats - New Friends

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Sticks & Stones

by Emily Grams

by Miguel Perez

by Cedric Davis II

by Rahat Ahmed

by Sarah Larson

by Ali Khanian

12

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Disability Awareness

they can do the communication in their mind and not verbally. They don’t have to worry about social skills, and they don’t have to worry about facial expressions.”

Students with Asperger’s have the option to take their tests in a room where they are less likely to be affected by anxiety issues, such as other students completing the test before them or noise, said Abby Morris, assistant director of OSA. Without the provision for these alternate tests, Creamer said his grades would have suffered, and he found Tate and her team’s ability to resolve other behavioral issues very helpful during his four-year stay at UTD. “I think (students with Asperger’s) also feel some of the personal touch here,” Tate said. “They don’t feel like it’s overwhelming here, even though

we’re still a large campus, you still have a lot of personal touch. They can come in and see me … there’s a lot of that small town atmosphere.”

A student diagnosed with Asperger’s can also meet other students with autism spectrum disabilities and Asperger’s through The Adult Social Communication Group that is run by the Callier Center and the OSA. The group meets in the Callier Center so that students can remain inconspicuous and still be able to draw support from others facing similar conditions, Tate said.

In his sophomore year, Creamer was able to meet two other students with Asperger’s, when Tate, impressed with his grades, asked Creamer to mentor them. The experience was not only mutually beneficial, but one of them also turned into a long-lasting friendship, Creamer said.

Despite the growth in the Accessibility program, one of OSA’s biggest challenges continues to be educating

other students on how to interact with students with disabilities, Tate said.

However, UTD is moving forward as disabilities are increasingly being treated as a form of diversity, and communities nationwide are using universal designs like automated doors to accommodate those that are differently abled, she said.

The demographic of those with disabilities is changing on campus, and more students with disabilities start attending UTD directly in their freshman year instead of transferring in their junior year like they did in the past, so that freshmen orientations now include accessibility awareness, Tate said.

Tate’s goal is to be able to help those with disabilities blend in with the rest of the student population so that disabilities are perceived as a part of life.

“I like the attitude that we have at UTD — everybody wants to include everybody, no matter what,” she said.

“We want them to feel empowered and ready to be a leader when they leave (UTD),” Tate said.

Rebecca Jones, student worker in the Office of Student AccessAbility and Speech-Language Pathology sophomore, recommended that

disabled students to reach out to the AccessAbility team for a support system.

“They’re really accommodating to every student,” she said. “The students feel really comfortable around Abby (Morris, assistant director of the Office of Student AccessAbility) and Kerry and feel really at home here.”

Tate said she approaches disabil-

ity needs on a case-by-case scenario.

Each student receives the personalized attention to best suit their situation. Although the school does provide basic accommodations, Tate strives to offer each student a personalized transition into college life.

“Disabilities are such a wide spectrum,” Tate said. “Even though the disability may be the same, their needs are going to be different.”

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OCT. 21, 2013

20 years ago, people steered them into a different direction thinking they would not be educated.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990, guaranteeing equal opportunities for people with disabilities in public and commercial facilities.

This law has been integral in bettering the employment field for those affected.

Although Texas is experiencing a technological boom, it shouldn’t forget about the auxiliary positions that need

to be filled, Tate said.

“We still need those services like child care aids and guard crossing, which would be great jobs for someone with a disability because they are so rule-driven,” she said.

Tate said that not only is employment among people with disabilities changing, but that there is a growing attitude among professors and employers to be more proactive about employment, rather than reactive as it has historically been.

According to Tate, disability was not considered a part of the area of diversity until only about five or 10 years ago. There is currently a shift

in attitude about employees with disabilities and how they give back to society.

The best way to raise the employment statistics for those with a disability is to support the changing attitudes among employers. Not only are there practical accommodations that can be made for someone, but there are also benefits to employers down the road, Tate said. “(People with disabilities) are the ones who want to work so badly, that they want to give back to society,” she said. “People have believed that they would be a hindrance not realizing it can benefit both ways.”

heart failure, which was an experience that inspired his current work.

“He needed a heart transplant, and I was essentially living in a hospital for two months and I thought to myself, ‘Now that I’m at a crossroads, I think I could do something medical to really help people,’” Gregg said. “That was the tipping point.”

He decided that he could take concepts from robot walking to try and improve the performance of wearable robots for people with impairments.

Dario Villareal, a doctoral candidate in biomedical engineering, said the lab’s research is grounded in bringing robotics into the biomechanical world.

“I think that the work we’re doing and the ideas that Dr. Gregg has are an improvement,” Villareal said. “What we’re trying to do is use a control approach to reduce the price of prosthetic legs and in some ways make them more intelligent, which is something I think will make a dramatic change in prosthetic legs.”

Plenty of prosthetics for lower-limb amputees are available in the market, but they’re passive mechanisms without any onboard intelligence, Gregg said.

The biological leg is more complex in terms of creating forces that propel a person’s body to help them walk and run. Leg muscles create positive power whereas passive elements slow you down and don’t have the ability to thrust.

Apart from ensuring a robotic leg meets its purpose, developers have to take into account comorbidities, or secondary health issues that appear as a result of prosthetic use, Gregg said.

For example, people with diabetes may experience sores at the point of contact, and people who use static prosthetic legs can also get very tired because one sound leg is essentially doing the work of two legs, Gregg said.

The lab is also working on exoskeletons for stroke rehabilitation.

“Using these control theories, we’ll be able to use (the technology) for different applications,” Villareal said. “With stroke patients, we only need to augment

their ability.”

When someone has a stroke, the cortical pathways from the brain to the limbs can be altered, like an engine missing a gas pedal. The goal is to be able to augment the behavior of the leg to help it act more efficiently with the input the patient can provide, Gregg said.

“Within the past decade, we’ve seen some remarkable advances in walking robots that can run, climb stairs and do amazing things,” Gregg said.

“They’re efficient enough to actually put all that stuff into one wearable prosthetic leg.

Currently, experiments are confined to the lab and there aren’t prosthetics with both a powered ankle and knee. Getting them to work together in a coherent manner is still ongoing research, Gregg said.

Villareal said the research is still very much in an experimental stage and that it will be some time before it reaches any markets.

“Hopefully, our research will help people that have mobility problems in their daily life,” Villareal said. “That’s a really big motivator for me, and I think about it everyday.”