The Mercury 4/11/16

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April 11, 2016

HOUSES OF THE HOLY: LATTER-DAY SAINTS

STUDENTS CREATE NEW BOARD GAME

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THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM

HUMANS OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES A&H students, faculty look to find their place in university known for STEM fields

UTD team cleared for landing Engineers build anchor to assist asteroid project

CARA SANTUCCI AND ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS Mercury Staff

UTD is known for its cutting-edge programs focusing on science, business and technology. Tucked away within the Johnson Building, however, one program has managed to thrive outside of the spotlight.

The Student Perspective

Peter Hunt, a junior double major in literature and history with a minor in political science, came into UTD as undeclared.

“I liked everything,” he said. “I still really love math, I still really love science, I still really love chemistry. I’m just more passionate about literature and screenwriting.”

Coming out of his first semester, Hunt decided to overload his schedule with liberal arts courses to test his passion. Although he said he is not sure what he will do with his degree, he really liked his new humanities classes.

“Being a professor would be great,” he said. “Or being a writer, creative writing sort of stuff. I love that, I do that in my spare time and I have aspirations of turning it into a job, but it’s not easy to make a living.”

Hunt said pursuing the liberal arts at a STEM focused school does have an effect, albeit indirect, on the history and literature departments.

“It would be difficult for me to speculate specifically on how being in that sort of STEM environment has

SAHER AQEEL | MERCURY STAFF

Senior Jordan Collins (left) and junior Craig Hartnell work in the UTDesign studio at Synergy Park North to work on the NASA micro-g NEXT competition.

NIDHI GOTGI

Managing Editor

HAMID SHAH | GRAPHICS EDITOR

→ SEE ARTS, PAGE 16

BUDGET BREAKDOWN BY SCHOOL JSOM

ECS

$33,729,831

$22,495,326

BBS $5,251,032

EPPS

NSM

ATEC

A&H

$5,230,198

$11,166,485

$3,255,458

$6,357,882

Student bikes for gun awareness

Group of 26 riders travel from Connecticut to Washington D.C. to bring lawmakers gun control petitions BHARGAV ARIMILLI Mercury Staff

Arts and Humanities Ph.D. candidate Julie Gavran was held at gunpoint one night by a male freshman in her dorm hallway when she was a senior at Ohio Dominican University. He then pulled the trigger.

“It didn’t go off. I don’t know if it was loaded or if it jammed,” she said. “But I started questioning what happened that night and (wondered) how this could have been different if I had the gun. It would have ended up deadly because he was much bigger than I was and could have wrestled it out of my hand (and) used it against me.”

In her efforts to push for gun control legislation, Gavran is using a unique platform — her passion for cycling. She started mountain biking 20 years ago before focusing on endurance cycling.

After moving to Richardson in 2006, she joined the UTD cycling and mountain biking teams.

“It’s a great way to clear your head and get lost in the repetitive motion of cycling,” she said. “Some of the places I’ve

been to on my bike are just beautiful.”

While working as a regional coordinator for the Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus, a nationwide movement created in the wake of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, Gavran learned about Team 26, a group of cyclists that rides from Newtown, CT — the location of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting — to Washington, D.C. to deliver gun control petitions to Congress.

When Gavran attended a benefit for her non-profit this past March, she met Monte Frank, founder of Team 26, and talked about her background as a cyclist and her work with the Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus. Frank subsequently asked her to join the team.

“Because of our organization and the fact that (Team 26) was (partnering) with us, I’ve actually been following their rides through Twitter over the last couple of years,” she said. “I was very familiar with the event.”

She and 25 other cyclists — one for each of the 26 people who were killed at Sandy Hook — will participate in the

→ SEE BIKER, PAGE 16

JULIE GAVRAN | COURTESY

Arts and Humanities Ph.D. candidate Julie Gavran has been an advocate against guns on campuses across the country ever since she had a gun pulled on her as an undergraduate at Ohio Dominican University.

A team of eight undergraduate UTD students has been chosen by NASA to participate in a program to construct a device that provides a solution for a recent space exploration problem.

It is called the Micro-g Neutral Buoyancy Experiment Design Teams program and teams from institutions all over the nation choose a challenge from a list of five problems. UTD’s team, Temoc Space Industries, is focused on designing and building an anchor for an asteroid.

One of NASA’s current projects includes taking humans farther than low earth orbit, specifically to explore asteroids. To counter the low gravity environment on an asteroid and remain on the surface, the teams who chose this challenge are tasked with building an anchor that will successfully grip the surface.

Mechanical engineering junior and team leader Craig Hartnell said his team’s design is like a shovel, which will penetrate the surface when pushed down. A cable attached to it can be pulled and hooked onto a payload to act as an anchor.

“It’s a perfect concept for a vehicle anchor,” he said. “The reason why the prototype is put into the soil by a person is because that’s just the way the program is set up because it all has to be tested by a diver in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (in the Johnson Space Center).”

Hartnell heard an announcement about this program in September through an email and began putting a team together through interviews. By October, they’d submitted a proposal to NASA and had been accepted by December.

The fact that NASA uses the projects to collect new ideas to apply to current space exploration programs could mean that the team’s design could be put to use on a mission.

“It makes us really want to focus on building something that is useful and not something that just works in the pool because the environment in a swimming pool is pretty different from that on an asteroid,” Hartnell said. “It makes us more conscious that we need to be working on something that’s actually useful instead of something that just tests well.”

Every aspect of the anchor has been manufactured except the piece that goes on the bottom that will penetrate the soil, but the team has experienced hardships in areas other than the construction part of the project.

“One of the overarching challenges

→ SEE ASTEROID, PAGE 16

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THE MERCURY UTDMERCURY.COM Volume XXXVI No. 18 Editor-in-Chief Esteban Bustillos

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NEWS

THE MERCURY | APRIL 11, 2016

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UTDPD Blotter March 29 • At 9:14 a.m. a UTD student was arrested for popping a wheelie and travelling at a high rate of speed on his motorcycle on Waterview Parkway.

March 29 • A UTD student found their vehicle burglarized in Lot U at 2:38 p.m.

March 30 • At 4:40 p.m. graffiti was reported in an ECS south bathroom.

March 30 • A student reported at 5:27 p.m. that his bicycle was taken without his consent. The incident was reported from The Pub in the Student Union.

April 1 • At 4:22 p.m. a student reported her MacBook Air was stolen outside of Galaxy room C when she left it unattended.

April 3 • A UTD student was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia at 10:00 p.m. in Lot T. April 5 • At 9:58 p.m. a UTD student was arressted for possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and two misdemeanor traffic warrants at Waterview Parkway.

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Contributors Vibu Anbarasan Bhargav Arimilli Saher Aqeel Jenna Bastian Eunjee Chong Thomas Grice Emma Mathes Yash Musalgaonkar Alvin Nguyenly Shannon Ramirez Tim Shirley Kevin Vanhorn

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OPINION College still vital for future success APRIL 11, 2016 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM

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Despite barriers to entry, rising cost of higher education universities offer paths to financial security, personal happiness few routes give THOMAS GRICE COMMENTARY

Our attitudes toward education affect the education we are able to get. As college students, the burden of college — the cost and chaotic nature of this period in a person’s life — makes the benefits seem like a distant jester, taunting us for our responsible decision to sacrifice some of the free time in our youth in pursuit of a degree. Despite the flaws in the American educational system, a higher education is worth getting and those flaws are worth fixing.

Here’s a phrase you hear every so often: “Not everyone needs to go to college.” With the idea of free or increasingly subsidized college re-entering the American zeitgeist due to the election season, these words are being repeated more often than normal. However, if we want increased happiness and wellbeing for ourselves and others, statistics make a very strong argument for receiving a college education — even in the face of rising costs.

Although often presented as a primarily monetary decision, other markers such as health and civic engagement are positively associated with receiving a college degree. According to a University of Maine study, the likelihood of “very good to excellent” health is 44 percent higher, the probability of being jailed or imprisoned is 4.9 times less and the chance of being happy is increased significantly with a college education. Educated people also contribute more to charities and spend more time volunteering.

This isn’t to discount the monetary rewards of going to college. Though an increasingly global and complex marketplace and increased costs are affecting the return on investment of getting a college education, the financial benefits are still manifold. The aforementioned study suggests that the probability of unemployment for those who hold just a bachelor’s degrees is 2.2 times less, annual earnings

are $32,000 more and overall incidence of poverty is 3.4 times lower.

If you have a better path to being globally rich, happy and compassionate or a good argument as to why you wouldn’t want that for your fellow man, I’m all ears.

Here’s yet another pessimistic (and pervasive) sequence of words in reference to higher education: “We can’t afford it.” This statement arises in the face of proposals for a larger educational budget or free higher education from public universities (or, sadly, from families who are intimidated by the massive investment education can demand).

Our population should have imbued in them an increased ability to critically reason about and engage the world we live in ...

This is an argument that is quite worthy of examination. We should be identifying waste in public university systems and we should ask ourselves how we can offer an effective higher education experience while reducing costs.

For example, in my personal career field of software engineering, I am aware of a significant portion of individuals who are self-taught or

Debate story failed readers

Coverage of contests between Democrats, Republicans only presented one side of story ROBBY DUBE

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

A recent article published by The Mercury failed to accurately portray the Republican side of a student debate meant to be unbiased.

On March 24, the College Republicans faced off against the College Democrats. Over the course of two hours, we presented viable solutions and critiques on healthcare, affirmative action, education, gun safety, terrorism and immigration.

However, if you had read The Mercury article that came out on March 28, you would not have known that. If you were not at the debate, and had only read The Mercury’s article, you could not be faulted for assuming the debate was a Democrat blowout. This is because The Mercury had only one objective: to portray the College Republicans as frothing Trump supporters, with all the delights of racism and lack of information that comes with that.

In this, The Mercury was particularly successful by cherry picking lines and stringing together scenarios to craft their chosen narrative.

Ask yourself this: what was the Republican proposal for education?

How did the Democrats respond to our critiques on healthcare? Which group was pilloried for the use of “illegal immigrant?” (Hint: It wasn’t the Republicans).

If you had only read the article, you would have no idea. The Mercury claimed we denounced Trump, but did you know we did it twice, to thunderous applause? Unlikely. Instead, you know that we said that Muslims should be accountable for terrorism, with no details about our clarification that this meant through imams working with the FBI and

COMET COMMENTS

Muslim countries being responsible for providing ground support. The Mercury also neglected to inform you that one of our debaters is in a long term relationship with a Turkish Muslim, while another is a Marine and the son of immigrants.

That doesn’t fit into the racist caricature of us they want you to have, so it is no surprise it was left out. You know we support permanent residency status, but you don’t know our concerns about how Social Security will work with the legalization of undocumented immigrants.

In fact, it’s fair to say that you don’t know much about the debate at all. And that’s not your fault.

The point of a newspaper is to inform its readers. We all know that The Mercury has a left-leaning bias. While unfortunate, it is tolerable assuming that they at least inform the students at UTD of what was actually said and proposed.

They did not. And this is not just the complaints of a Republican who feels mistreated. Even departing SG Vice President Grant Branam is vocal about the misrepresentation of the College Republicans and feels that The Mercury failed to relay most educational information at the debate. Furthermore, Democratic debaters Maham Tirmizi and Tessa McGlynn voiced their solidarity with the College Republicans in their belief that The Mercury’s article was biased and uninformative.

If both parties and SG can agree that The Mercury failed, it is time to reconsider how The Mercury does business. Our proposal is simple: The Mercury should re-print the article with a detailed listing of the policy positions taken by both parties. Give the students at UTD a chance to really evaluate the policies and benefits from each party. Put aside the bias just once and let the students make up their own minds. I think The Mercury would be surprised by the results (and how many people would actually read it).

taught through non-traditional online courses or boot camps. Stack Overflow, a major resource in the world of programming, cites the number of solely self-taught software developers at 13 percent.

This is relevant because software developers have a culture of developing skills by any means necessary, often on the cheap. Online resources and courses, such as those offered by Coursera, Udacity and Pluralsight, offer configurable methods to upgrade one’s skillset. They are commonly backed by renowned universities and/or taught by leading industry professionals. I can get a “nanodegree” in Machine Learning Engineering from Udacity, with job guarantee options or performance-based tuition refunds, starting at $199 per month. With a few of these courses and enough elbow grease, it is not unheard of to land high-paying software development jobs.

There are even formidable free options, such as Khan Academy, which has been an excellent supplemental source for my math classes. I can take a summer linear algebra course for about $2,500 at UTD, or I can take it for free on Khan Academy, with all of the lectures available in video format, on-demand. Universities should continue to take cues from the efficiency, configurability and leveraging of technical resources that these web courses offer. Organizations looking to fill positions should also consider seeking individuals that have developed skills through non-traditional means, especially as they diversify their curriculums; hopefully, this competition will force traditional universities to evolve at a more rapid pace.

Yes, all Americans should go to college. Yes, American higher education is in need of improvement in a myriad of areas. It needs to become more efficient, preceding education must be improved and college should be a dynamic environment that produces specialists who have increasingly granular control over their educational content. Our populace should have imbued in them an increased ability to critically reason about and engage the world we live in, increased health and generosity. I still believe the American education system is uniquely qualified to be the system that produces those individuals if we demand it to adapt.

Comets and Craters Comet Cupboard low on food: The Comet Cupboard is a great tool for the less fortunate on campus to get some food to eat. Unfortunately, the cupboard has been running low lately, which doesn’t bode well for students who may not have access to a plentiful supply of food for the summer.

Sporadic loss of utilities in UV: For one reason or another, utilities such as water, power and internet access across UV have been going in and out over the past couple of weeks. This is a nuisance, especially if students are working on last minute projects or are on strict deadlines and are working from the apartments, which a great number do.

Butterflies coming to campus: Spring is a time for growth, warm weather, flowers and, at least at UTD, Monarch butterflies. Every year, thousands of these creatures descend upon the university and feast on the milkweed planted on campus. It’s truly a sight to see and one that has become an annual rite of spring.

“Do you think a college education is worth the price?”

Vote in our online poll or let us know on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the #CometComments

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NEWS

THE MERCURY | APRIL 11, 2016

GAME OF BOARDS Students create new game, get published, distributed by large firm

UTDMERCURY.COM

HackUTD turns into major event Tech event that orgininated within university hosts students from across state, world in second-annual coding contest

HACK UTD | COURTESY YASH MUSALOGANKAR | MERCURY STAFF

Tomer Braff (left) and Edward Stevenson match wits in a round of the game they made in an ATEC game design class. Circular Reasoning is a perfect information game, where all the information needed to win is on the board, with no randomization or luck involved.

Students from across campus and the state competed in HackUTD ’16 on March 26. The event has grown from a local event that focused mostly on the local UTD community to a regional one that even draws international students and talent.

BHARGAV ARIMILLI Mercury Staff

CARA SANTUCCI News Editor

A new board game with origins on campus may soon be available on store shelves across the country.

ATEC junior Tomer Braff and senior Edward Stevenson created the chess-like board game Circular Reasoning in a game design class on campus. In 2014, after submitting their work to IndieCade, which is like the Sundance Festival for independent games, the company AdMagic decided to pick up the game for publishing.

Braff came up with the original idea for the game in the class. Stevenson joined the project late, but said he instituted changes to streamline and simplify the gameplay.

“I came along and tweaked and balanced a lot of things,” Stevenson said. “There were a few mechanics that didn’t exist until after I joined.”

After the class responded positively to Circular Reasoning, Braff said he decided to take it to the professional world.

“I asked all the rest of the group members, ‘Hey, I’m going to try to go as far as I can with it.

If you want to join me, sign this paper,’” he said. “(Stevenson) was the only one who signed with me.”

Braff said the professor of the course, Steven Billingslea, encouraged the two ATEC majors to enter in the IndieCade competition.

“He was a really good help with this,” he said. “I kind of want to stress (this), because I really appreciate the help that he’s given us.”

Three or four months after submitting Circular Reasoning for judging, Braff received an email announcing their acceptance to IndieCade. “(We thought) is this real?” Stevenson said.

Shortly after, the two-man design team made their way to Culver City, Calif. to attend the exhibition.

“We met some really cool people there … including AdMagic, who eventually published us,” Stevenson said. “We sent them (a copy of the prototype) and the CEO played it with her daughter or something and was like, ‘I love it.’”

AdMagic was looking into publishing their own line of games, instead of just being a third-party manufacturer for products used in games, such as the cards for Cards Against Humanity and Exploding Kittens.

They wanted Circular Reasoning to be one of the

HOW TO PLAY CIRCULAR REASONING - Two to four players choose a set of colored tokens - Tokens move spaces based on the number of sides they have (e.g. squares move four) - Players take turns going first in a round. A round consists of each player entering the starting ring with one of their pieces.

- The idea of the game is to move tokens through the entrance gates, which allow passage to the next ring - There are three rings to pass through using the purple pieces that act as entrance gates - The entrance gates move based on how many tokens are on the board in the corresponding ring - The first player to get all four tokens to the center wins

→ SEE GAMES, PAGE 16

How Toyota came to UTD University, international company partnered for campus exhibition ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS Editor-in-Chief

The array of corporate flags and cars that accompanied Toyota’s on-campus celebration were all part of a large campaign to announce the company’s plans for the future as it moves its North American headquarters to Plano.

What members of the UTD community may not realize, however, is that the partnership to host the event took over a year to set up.

Last February, Monique Wedderburn, the director of the UT Dallas Asia Center, was at a JapanAmerican Society event Simon Ngata, the executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Toyota North America, was attending. She took the opportunity to talk to the businessman about the possibility of coming to UTD. “I just essentially approached him and asked if he could speak at the University of Texas at Dallas,” she said. “And he agreed.”

Wedderburn said as the director of the Asia Center, she thought it would be great for the university to

get the opportunity to host Toyota since it will soon become a large part of the community when it opens its headquarters here next year.

Although Wedderburn made the initial contact with Toyota over a year ago, the agreement wasn’t made official until Ngata WEDDERBURN met with President Ad Interim Hobson Wildenthal, who extended Ngata a formal invitation just a few months ago.

Ever since the university officially welcomed Toyota, Wedderburn has been busy preparing UTD for the company’s visit.

This included getting multiple departments across campus involved, including members of UTD police to coordinate Toyota’s cars driving

→ SEE TOYOTA, PAGE 16

A 1-year-old tradition on campus is quickly becoming a staple of the UTD community thanks to the dedication of students and professionals from across North Texas.

More than 400 hackers, sponsors and volunteers gathered in the ECS building on March 26 for HackUTD ’16, North Texas’ largest university hackathon and UTD’s Association for Computing Machinery’s annual flagship event.

Hackathons, which are weekend-long events in which college students gather in teams to work on software and hardware projects from scratch, have exploded in popularity in recent years. According to Major League Hacking, an international network of university hackathons, more than 400 hackathons are hosted on North American college campuses every year.

HackUTD was established last year by UTD’s ACM chapter after its members noticed that UTD lagged behind peer institutions, such as the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston, that have been hosting hackathons for some time.

“They’re something that nearly every university with a computer science program offers,” said Izuchukwu Elechi, a software engineering senior and President of ACM. “We wanted to start HackUTD because we saw a vacuum in North Texas.”

The first HackUTD had 150 attendees and was restricted to UTD students due to limited resources. After a successful run, ACM decided to expand the scope of HackUTD 2016.

“Our vision this year was to get more sponsorships and include non-UTD students,” said biology senior and Director of HackUTD ’16 Zakariya Ahmed.

Part of the expansion included instituting an application process. At first, ACM only expected applications from Texas and neighboring states, but ended up received submissions from University College London to the University of California, Berkeley. Of the nearly 1,000 applicants, 600 RSVP’d and 360 attended the event. Because the hackathon took place on Easter Sunday, turnout was slightly lower than expected.

In addition to expanding geographical reach, HackUTD ’16 marketed itself to experienced hackers as well as novices to challenge the notion

of hackathons as “expert only” events.

“There’s a pretty common misconception about hackathons,” said software engineering junior and Vice President of ACM Tahir Aziz. “Anyone is welcome to come, there’s no minimum experience or technical background required. … You can just come in and learn stuff on the fly.”

Another major component of HackUTD ’16 was the sponsor and industry mentor interaction.

In between hacking sessions, students were free to network with company representatives and get help on projects from mentors.

“It’s a sort of a reverse career fair because it’s very casual,” Aziz said. “Students get to hang out with sponsors and learn about internships and jobs.”

In addition, some sponsors gave “tech talks” — informative presentations about specific developer tools and software — to provide insight into the role of technology in their organizations. For example, State Farm, the primary sponsor of the event, discussed the role of its mobile app in its business of helping people save money on car insurance. Other major sponsors included Google, Verizon, Fidelity, Wolters Kluwer and the NSA. HackUTD organized various events throughout the night, including video game tournaments, raffle drawings and an Easter egg hunt. Many hackers stayed awake to finish their projects. At 12 p.m. on March 27, the judging panel received 31 completed projects, ranging from sushi-making games to internet-controlled robots, and evaluated them for technical difficulty, uniqueness and utility outside of the hackathon.

“Students can see what they’re capable of in such a short amount of time,” Elechi said. “A lot of students were introduced to the hackathon community for this first time and they’ll be able to apply these skills at other hackathons.”

Given the success of this year’s event, ACM has already begun planning for HackUTD 2017. Ahmed said he hopes to host the event in the soon-to-becompleted SSB extension in anticipation of higher attendance. Beyond expansion in size, Elechi noted that HackUTD ’17 will be aimed at students of all career paths.

“We’re planning for a more interdisciplinary focus by not just looking at computer science, but looking at computer science combined with areas such as art or music,” he said. “We’re bringing this … experience and getting it out there so everyone, regardless of field, can have a part in it.”

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THE MERCURY | APRIL 11, 2016

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Fallen Comets remembered

Family, friends, faculty gather on April 7 to commemorate the loss eight students who passed away this academic year NIDHI GOTGI

Managing Editor

Nine students who passed away this academic year were commemorated at the annual Comets Remember memorial service.

Family members, friends and faculty attended the event on April 7 in the Student Union Galaxy Rooms to offer condolences and share fond memories of the loved ones they lost.

Scott Wuensch’s father, Michael Wuensch, reflected on the talents of his son, who died in a hiking accident in Washington state a week before the academic year started.

“I think everyone is given gifts and abilities, but not everybody cultivates those gifts and abilities,” he said. “Scott did that across the board. He excelled in music and he composed music.”

Michael Wuensch said his son enjoyed swing dancing and played the piano, among other instruments.

In addition to the arts, Scott Wuensch was also invested in studying math and science. Wuensch said he wanted to pursue a career that involved music and technology.

“He was on the launchpad,” Michael Wuensch said. “Scott was a planner. I’ve described him as somebody that evaluates, plans and executes. When Scott says it’s done, it’s done.”

The Wuensch family is working to set up an endowment to award scholarships for students in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. Meanwhile, Michael Wuensch said Mark Spong, the dean of the school of engi-

ETERNAL COMETS Josiah Butso, Psychology April Collie, Psychology Collins Chima, Neuroscience Robert Hoyle, Marketing Jim Leddon, Jr., Finance Renan Maramba, Business JENNIFER CHI | MERCURY STAFF

President ad interim Hobson Wildenthal (left), Vice President for Student Affairs Gene Fitch, Student Government President Caitlynn Fortner and and Dean of Students Amanda Smith welcomed the attendees of the service and honored those who passed away this year.

neering, has set aside $2500 for a scholarship called the “Scott Wuensch Memorial Scholarship” for the upcoming fall semester.

Student Government president Caitlynn Fortner comforted Wuensch and other families at the ceremony by reminding them their loved ones will not be forgotten.

“UTD is a community and a family,” she said.

“When one person or family experiences a loss, we all do. Each student remembered here today has certainly left their mark on our campus and has made a significant impact on our lives. We are very lucky to have had them as part of our lives and their memories will always shine bright in our hearts.”

Administration Evan Chad Stafford, Literary Studies Scott Wuensch, Electrical Engineering

Comet Closet set to open soon in JSOM Service collects gently used professional attire, redistributes to students in need after they meet certain number of requirements

COMET CLOSET | COURTESY

The Comet Closet has collected 1,200 pieces of business professional clothing to hand out to students in need. The service is free and users must attend workshops at the Career Management Center to take advantage of the resources.

A new service on campus has been collecting donations of professional attire to redistribute to students who need them to land jobs or internships.

The service, called Comet Closet, was set up in 2015 and will be free of charge once it opens. Users also don’t have to return the clothing they are given.

Student volunteers and interns will be operating the service, with four volunteers currently on staff.

“We have the (Comet Cupboard) so that students who don’t have food have a place to go,” said Associate Dean of the Jindal School of Management Marilyn Kaplan. “And secondly here at JSOM we had recently put in a requirement for internships, and if students did not have the money for food, how could they afford a suit for an interview? Most of us in our faculty and staff have a few items in our closets that we could donate.”

The Comet Closet is related to the Career Management Center.

“We have a requirement,” said JSOM Undergraduate Student Programs Coordinator Dee Goines. “The Comet Closet is for students who need business professional attire for a job interview

or the first day of work, but in order to participate, you have to attend three events by the Career Management Center. Those sessions are related to job interviews and skills.”

After attending the sessions, students choose one to write a reflection on and reach out to the Comet Closet to take advantage of their services.

Goines said the service could potentially open up campus-wide, not just to JSOM. “The reality is that we are all Comets,” Goines said. “The same requirements would apply, but we probably wouldn’t turn down any of our students.”

The Comet Closet has collected over 1,200 pieces of professional clothing, and although the service is growing, there are hurdles in maintaining it.

“The main challenge is having a physical space to store all the donations,” Goines said. “We have reached out to some communities, but we are a little behind on where we had hoped to receive donations from those venues. As long as we have the space to put our items and as long as they are in decent condition,

→ SEE CLOSET, PAGE 16

Q&A: MARIA CLAWE On April 8, Maria Clawe, the president of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., gave a lecture on the importance of recruiting more women into the tech industry. Klawe, who was ranked 17th on Fortune’s 2014 list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders, has spent a large portion of her career as an advocate for women and other minorities in the STEM field. The Mercury had an opportunity to talk to Klawe and get her take on why what she’s doing is so important.

How did you get involved in working in tech?

Clawe: So my Ph.D. is in mathematics and then (I) went back to grad school to do a second Ph.D. in computer science shortly after I finished my first one and never finished it. I got tired of the computer science department 10 months after I started, so I’m both math and CS and most of my research is in theoretical computer science, but I’ve also worked in areas like gender issues with computer and video games, educational technology, assistive technology — so lots of different things.

From what you’ve seen, why aren’t women going into the tech field in large numbers?

about 10 percent female in the major. The average across the country is about 14 percent. We changed the intro course to make it much less intimidating and more interesting, but we also started taking our female students, particularly first year students, to the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. What we knew is they would go and see thousands of women who are happy and excited about their technology careers and they would come back realizing there were lots of women in the field.

Each year, we take between 40 and 60 of our students to Grace Hopper and that’s a lot because we only have 800 students in total. But it only took us 10 years to move from 10 percent female to 40 percent female in the CS major.

Forty? That’s amazing.

Clawe: I think it’s very straightforward. One, they don’t think they’ll like it. Two, they don’t think they’ll be good at it. And three, they don’t like the image of computer scientists and they don’t feel like they would be happy working in that environment. It’s relatively easy to fix because all you really need to do is, first of all, make it interesting, secondly, remove the intimidation factor so they can learn that they actually are good at it and three, build community for the women so they feel that they are part of a community and they enjoy what they’re doing.

So I guess to have that community, you have to first have women within the industry that are laying the groundwork for others to come in.

Clawe: Yeah. When I arrived at Harvey Mudd, the computer science department had already started trying to attract more women to the major, but we’re

Clawe: We’re a little between 40 and 50. So we have three CS programs. One is CS, one is a joint CS/math program and that tends to run about 30 percent female and then a joint CS/math-bio program that tends to run two-thirds female. And the CS program itself will be anywhere from 40 to 55 percent female. So the overall mix tends to be 40 to 55 percent female. The deal is that if you can start changing it, then the experience that every student is having is, “Oh, yeah, it’s fine for women to be here.” And they don’t know that within the tech industry it’s different, but at least for the four years they’re at Harvey Mudd they’re feeling like, “Yeah, of course women do this!” And of our 14 faculty, six are female, so they’re seeing it among the faculty as well.

So their entire sort of idea of what it’s like to be a CS major is, “Yeah, that’s something women do.” But we’re also the same in engineering, between 40 to 55

NIDHI GOTGI | MANAGING EDITOR

Maria Clawe, 17th on the list of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders in 2014, according to Fortune, discusses how she's made strides in encouraging more women to enter the tech field and how she will do the same with other underrepresented minorities in the field.

percent female in our engineering program and this year more than half of our physics seniors are female.

It’s basically gotten to a point where you can major in anything and people wouldn’t think it’s weird that you’re female. Now we’re working on race. That’s the next one.

So has that been one of your big goals, is changing that culture there?

Clawe: Yeah, for sure. I mean, my primary life goal

is to change the culture of science and engineering so it’s welcoming for everyone: people with disabilities, LGBTQ, just everybody. It’s not so hard to change one institution, but the question is how do you actually scale so that it affects institutions more broadly? One of the reasons I’m at Mudd is that I think it’s a great place in terms of changing relatively rapidly because they’re a relatively young institution.

This is their 60th year, and from day one they’ve

→ SEE CLAWE, PAGE 16

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LIFE&ARTS

THE MERCURY | APRIL 11, 2016

UTDMERCURY.COM

INTERNATIONAL WEEK

LAYOUT BY ANDREW GALLEGOS | PHOTO EDITOR PHOTOS BY YASH MUSALGAONKAR| MERCURY STAFF

E

C D

D E

F

C

A Passport to the World - To start off International Week, student groups set up booths in the Visitor Center Atrium to display the different tastes, sights and sounds of the world on Monday, April 4.

B Table Tennis and Badminton Tournaments - Students gather at the Activity Center Main Gym to compete in this year's tournament on Tuesday night.

C Diversity Games - Bingo, Family Feud and more were played Wednesday night in the Student Union Faculty Dining Hall. Students enjoyed snacks and drinks as they played for prizes.

D International Tea House - Students learned about different teas and rituals from around the world at Thursday’s event in the Student Union Faculty Dining Hall.

E International Talent Show - Students showcased their talents through song, dance and more in this year’s talent show on Friday night in the Activity Center Main Gym. F World Beats Dance Party - After the talent show ended, students headed to the Galaxy Rooms for a dance party featuring music from around the globe.

B

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UTDMERCURY.COM

HOUSING GUIDE

THE MERCURY | APRIL 11, 2016

THE MERCURY'S 2016 HOUSING GUIDE College is tough on pocketbooks. From tuition to meals to car payments, bills stack up quickly. This is especially true for students who have to get an apartment and live on their own. It’s no secret living on your own is expensive and can be stressful on several levels.

Thankfully, the staff of The Mercury feels your pain and is here to help! The ads team has been busy putting together this housing guide to help you find the best housing near campus and the most affordable apartments around.

There are going to be several options for students to choose from next year, including on campus apartments from University Village and the new expansion of luxury apartments at Northside at UTD. This means it’s more important than ever to know what options you have when you’re searching for a place to stay. We hope this guide helps you on your search for the perfect abode for the upcoming academic year.

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HOUSING GUIDE

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LIFE&ARTS

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APRIL 11, 2016| THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM

HOUSES OF THE HOLY: latter-day saints Mormon senior finds peace, happiness at temple

SAHER AQEEL| MERCURY STAFF

Interdisciplinary studies senior Mikaela Johnston attends the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Dallas. Johnston said worshipping in her temple helps her feel closer to God. NIDHI GOTGI

Managing Editor

Editor’s note: This is the fifth part in a five-part series.

The towering white marble walls of the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Dallas are covered in crawling gray veins that hold special meaning for interdisciplinary studies senior Mikaela Johnston.

“I just think how that is kind of symbolic of the body of people,” she said. “We’re all different and none of us are exactly pure white, but we come together to make this beautiful structure, and you can take that in an analogy as your family unit. You can take it as the body of church members, recognizing that out of many veined, imperfect pieces comes this amazing whole that has great power within.”

For Johnston, the changes in her physical surroundings impacts the state of mind she assumes while praying.

“We’re creatures made of both the spiritual and the physical, and so when we do something physically, that affects where our minds are and where our spirits are,” she said.

In the temple, which is located in a secluded, forested area nestled in Dallas, Johnston said she comes to know God and His plan better. She said the area is a place for quiet contemplation and deeper understanding.

However, it’s not just the walls that hold meaning for Johnston. The golden statue on the temple’s

premises represents the angel Moroni, who Latterday Saints believe is the guardian of the golden plates, which were the inspiration for the Book of Mormon.

“He represents the message of joy, good news and the heralding, and he’s one of the potent symbols of the powerful things that we know and sometimes take for granted in our lives,” Johnston said.

The interior of Mormon temples is primarily white décor with pictures of Christ adorning the walls. The

When everyone comes there and they bring their own happiness to it, there’s a good feeling there.

— Mikaela Johnston, interdisciplinary studies senior local flora is usually represented, with pictures of bluebonnets on the walls of the Dallas temple and desert landscapes in the temple in Idaho that Johnston attended when she lived there.

Upon arrival, worshipers are expected to change into all-white attire at the temple. It’s to represent oneness, Johnston said.

“We’re all God’s children,” she said. “We’re all pure, we’re all equal. I love that part because you can take a moment to breathe, to change into the white

Batman v Superman disappoints Movie suffers from uneven storytelling, mediocre acting VIBU ANVARASAN COMMENTARY

Zack Snyder’s latest filmmaking endeavor is an unfinished puzzle of jumbled ideas. Jesse Eisenberg’s neurotic Lex Luthor is a portrait analogy of Snyder’s vision. Eisenberg’s character focuses on his plan of pitting the two caped vigilantes against each other for his own ulterior motives. Snyder’s master plan with this film is to setup for the upcoming DC releases through the means of $250 million. The cohesion of storytelling seemed to be much less of a concern. The scenes are quite literally stripped from a comic book or graphic novel, but fail to be bound together by anything.

The only redeemable quality of this film, however, is the casting of Jeremy Irons as Alfred. His pairing with Ben Affleck’s brooding Batman is a fitting complement. Henry Cavill’s sloppy Superman continues. His attempt at a morally conflicted character comes off as uncomfortable. Beyond one dimensional compliments to the actors and their supporting cast members, the shared screen time among them seems unnatural and forced. Wonder Woman, played by Gal Gadot, is nearly nonexistent in the film. The final battle with all three superheroes is watchable, if one can sit through this

and resettle yourself.”

Just as the temple brings Johnston closer to God, church meeting houses, another place she visits to observe her faith, bring her closer to the Mormon community. They offer a place for a congregation to host recreational activities, cultural celebrations and religious classes.

“When they’re kept clean, when everyone comes there and they bring their own happiness to it, there’s a good feeling there,” Johnston said.

Johnston attends church meetings every week and previously took part in the young, single adult congregation. After getting married in the summer of 2015, she and her husband have joined the family congregation and teach the 3-year olds.

“We believe that the central unit in the eternities, this life and after and forever, is the family,” she said.

“We believe that we’re not just God’s creations, but literally His spirit children.”

Johnston said the church reinforces the family values that she and her husband practice at home. They both do family scripture study every night, because she said they both believe the home is the second closest place to heaven, next to the temple.

Johnston is active in the temple, the church and the home in observing the tenets of her religion because she said they all serve a different purpose and offer a different perspective.

“Sunday meetings are to share with everyone who wants to come and to learn and to feel that joy, and, (in) the temple, you feel the love of God and your relationship (with) Him.”

FACTS ABOUT THE RELIGION

Mormons believe in continuity from Adam to the modern day.

Johnston said there’s been a regular cycle of God revealing truth to His children and them rejecting it.

“After Christ died, there was that fracturing and that fragmenting and that subtle and deep ongoing changes to his doctrine as people are getting scattered. . . .

The great message and belief that we have is that God lives and His church and those principles as he originally taught them have been restored,” Johnston said.

“So we believe that Joseph Smith was the instrument to help bring about Christ’s church and his fullness back to the Earth today.”

TED x UTD

WARNER BROS.| COURTESY

Zack Synder’s most recent film features Henry Cavill as Superman and Ben Affleck as Batman.

Gal Gadot makes a small appearance as Wonder Woman in the movie.

movie until then.

“Batman v. Superman” is subpar filmmaking by any standards. The dumbed down, universal appeal modem that Hollywood has been enlisting of late is doomed. No one should take it upon himself or herself to witness this puzzling mess.

YASH MUSALGAONKAR | MERCURY STAFF

Braden Herndon, a graduate student in computer science, hosted the third annual TEDxUTD event, which took place on April 3 in the Jonsson Performance Hall. Herndon introduced talks from students and faculty that covered topics ranging from healthy eating to the intersection of music and medicine.

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THE MERCURY | APRIL 11, 2016

LIFE&ARTS

UTDMERCURY.COM

PINPOSSIBLE

Watercolor Mugs LINDA NGUYEN | MERCURY STAFF I’ve been on a huge watercolor kick lately. I love the imperfection of using watercolors because they make everything look so much more real, rather than something that’s mass produced. The small problem is, however, that I’m terrible with watercolors or any other kind of paint for that matter.

Wire, x-acto knives, yarn, etc., I’ve totally got it. It may not be perfect, but I’ll figure it out eventually. Put a paintbrush in my hand and everything will turn out terribly, so while I like the watercolor look, I know that I can’t really pull it off.

When I was scrolling through Pinterest and found a DIY for watercolor mugs, I was curious and also wondering if it was as easy as water, nail polish and a mug. Spoiler alert: it is.

WHAT YOU NEED - Small to medium bowl - Nail polish - Water - Mug

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Fill the bowl two-thirds of the way full with water or however high you want the watercolor to go on the mug.

2. Add a few drops of nail polish to the bowl. The longer

you let it set, the more the polish will spread out.

3. Dip the cup into the water and the nail polish will attach to the side.

4. Allow the mugs to dry for several hours.

I actually went out and bought new nail polish for this DIY because I was worried that I would be using a lot of nail polish, but in reality it’s more like just a couple drops of the nail polish. In addition, some of the DIY’s recommend using a toothpick or something to swirl the nail polish a little. When I did that, I actually ended up picking up most of the nail polish on the toothpick and then had to add nail polish to the water again.

The biggest caveat about these mugs is that they’re not dishwasher or microwave safe, so you have to handwash them.

Additionally, I’m not quite sure I would suggest going all the way to the top with the mugs because it might not be the safest thing to put your lips directly in contact with. Otherwise, it’s an incredibly easy DIY. I went to Target and bought cups with cute silhouettes, but this can be done with simple dollar store or thrift store mugs as well — whatever cup needs a little bit of sprucing up. They also make really great gifts filled with some tea or hot chocolate. I really like these cups, and they're so simple that I can make a bunch of them, which will be so great for my already over-filling cabinets of coffee mugs.

Every issue, The Mercury’s craft connoisseur will scour Pinterest and craft blogs in search of the best and worst DIY projects. Show us your results on social media using #pinpossible and @utdmercury.

SPORTS

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APRIL 11, 2016 | THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM

Softball team’s luck looking up New coach’s approach leads to team built around aggressive offense, needs to maintain success to turn program around ESTEBAN BUSTILLOS COMMENTARY

The softball team may finally be turning a corner in its quest to rise from the mediocrity that has been plaguing it since last year, although fans may not realize it just by looking at their record so far.

Ever since head coach Rich Wieligman took over the program at the start of this season, there has been a clear difference in the team’s approach to playing the game, resulting in a more positive result on and off the field. “(The players) are working hard,” Wieligman said.

“They’re showing up for practice ready to go. They’re not taking days off as far as mentally and physically where we should continue to work hard and to get better. That’s the key. They know they need to improve in areas and they’re willing to put in the time to do that.”

Although that sounds like the words of a coach working with a team just trying to tread water, the Comets have indeed improved, already matching their win total from last year and holding steady at fourth place in the conference. Looking at the numbers, however, there’s a greater trend towards improvement than has been seen in the past.

One stat in particular is indicative of this trend, with the number of steals skyrocketing this year for the Comets. Last year as a team, UTD only attempted to steal a base 44 times, with 37 successful attempts.

This year, UTD has taken a total 180 on the trend and is doubling-down on nabbing bases when opponents aren’t looking, with a head-turning 99 stolen base attempts coming this season. On her own, freshman outfielder Melissa Livermore leads the team with 35 steal attempts, with 34 successful attempts.

Although that’s a huge step forward in only a single category, it’s indicative of a larger progression the team is taking in becoming more aggressive on offense and trying to take fate into its own hands.

While the progress may seem slow, it’s still a huge change from the past year, especially when the team has taken on some of the top competition in the ASC like UT Tyler. Even though the Patriots took home each of the three games they played against the Comets this year, UTD showed a resiliency against UT Tyler that hasn’t been seen in quite some time, losing the last game by only one run. Last year, on the other hand, two of the games against the Patriots were lost by a combined 21 runs.

Looking forward, the Comets can only go up.

Even though it may seem like a slow climb, the team has reason to be optimistic for the road ahead. UTD teams don’t stay down for long and softball has been long overdue for its time to shine. Looking at nearly any other program in the university, where trips to ASC and NCAA tournaments are the norm, it’s clear it’s the softball team’s time to catch up.

To do that, it’ll need to stay on its current course.

NUMBERS ON THE BOARD: BASEBALL/ SOFTBALL

CHAD AUSTIN | ASSISTANT GRAPHICS EDITOR

More importantly, it will have to utilize the talent that Wieligman brings to the table. During his time at Oklahoma State, Wieligman coached the Cowgirls to a 2011 College World Series appearance. This is no small feat at any level, especially at the highest echelon of college athletics.

That’s the kind of talent that will be needed to

help turn the program around, but it’s also the kind of experience that has become commonplace for the other teams at the university. Finally, it looks like the softball team has gotten a coach that can match the talent of others and it’s already proven to have paid off.

The key will now be to see how Wieligman can

SPORTS QUICK HITS

03/29-@SOUTHWESTERN

Men’s tennis set to host ASC Tourney

BASEBALL

After taking down conference rival Hardin-Simmons 6-3 on April 9 to win the ASC West crown, the men’s tennis team is set to host the ASC tournament at UTD for the first time in program history.

The Comets, who are now 6-1 overall and 4-0 in ASC West Play, will host teams from across the conference at the UTD Tennis courts on April 28-30.

Volleyball senior set to travel with U.S. team

Senior middle blocker Michelle Toro will be spending part of her summer in Brazi as part of the USA D-3 Volleyball Team Brazil Tour this June.

Toro, who played in all 34 matches last year for the Comets and earned third-team All-America honors, will be one of 10 players from the United States to travel with the team this summer. Before traveling to Brazil, the team will spend two days in Orlando, Fla. for orientation and practice.

From there, the team will fly to Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro to compete against Under 22 Brazil clubs from June 8-12.

UPCOMING04/01-HOWARD GAMESPAYNE (DH)

04/15 - @McMURRY

SOFTBALL

04/15 - OZARKS

04/16 - @McMURRY (DH) 04/16 - OZARKS (DH) 04/19 - SOUTHWESTERN 04/22 - @LOUISIANA COLLEGE 04/22 - SUL ROSS

Golf teams prepare for ASC Championships

As another season comes to a close, the men’s and women’s golf teams are prepping to finish out the year at the annual ASC championships. The women’s team will play on April 18 at the Tierra Verde golf course in Arlington while the men’s team will play on April 11 at the Comanche Trace golf course in Kerrville.

take the softball program to new heights. So far, it hasn’t been bad. But that’s never been what teams at UTD have strived for.

If the softball team wants the same level of success as the other programs on campus, players will have to take what they’ve done and make it even better in the upcoming years.

(DOUBLE-HEADER)

04/23 - @LOUISIANA COLLEGE 04/23 - SUL ROSS

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APR. 11, 2016 | THE MERCURY

BEGINNING VS. END

COMICS&GAMES LIFE OF TEMOC

SHANNON RAMIREZ | MERCURY STAFF

KEVIN VANHORN | MERCURY STAFF

YURI CHOI | MERCURY STAFF

ALVIN NGUYENLY | MERCURY STAFF

IT'S ONLY HALFWAY INTO THE WEEK...

THE REAL ENEMY

FANIMALS

SHANNON RAMIREZ| MERCURY STAFF

JENNA BASTIAN | MERCURY STAFF

KEVIN VANHORN | MERCURY STAFF

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COMICS&GAMES

THE MERCURY | APR. 11, 2016

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NEVER AGAIN

COLLEGESOULS

#WORK4MERC

TIM SHIRLEY| MERCURY STAFF

SUDOKU

Difficulty: EASY

Difficulty: HARD

SHANNON RAMIREZ| MERCURY STAFF

EUNJEE CHONG| MERCURY STAFF

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NEWS

→ ARTS

“Basically there’s been a growing tendency of students to realize they need to get in and out in CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 four years,” he said. “As majors grow more complex and demanding, there’s fewer elective hours and changed the actual substantive material that we’re students say sometimes, ‘Maybe it’s better to take a handling,” he said. “But I feel like maybe it has in a pre-req for one of my other courses.’”

Despite that struggle to get that focus, Kratz menlittle way in that it feels like there’s a more practical, tioned a number of opportunities for A&H students material approach to what’s going on. … Here it’s more like, ‘You’re going to get a degree, figure out to pursue after graduating with a degree from UTD. From law schools to major companies, students what you’re going to do with it. Have some more have gotten offers after graduation, even though a material job expectations for it.’”

He said part of what drew him to literature and degree from A&H may not be what people most history was the process of engaging with an idea that associate with those positions. Kratz said the reason for this is how well rounded A&H students the disciplines require.

“Communication. That’s the essence of what you’re end up becoming.

“If you look at interviews with CEOs and doing in Arts and Humanities,” Hunt said. “It’s finding some idea or some concept and trying to articulate it or employers, what do they say they want? They say they want people who can solve problems, who can put it into a form that other people can understand.”

Senior Virginia Beam describes the arts and perfor- communicate, who can collaborate effectively and mance degree as a “choose your own adventure” pro- productively with other people, who have imaginagram, where a lot of the courses required are patched tion and logical skills,” he said. “Well, that’s the together based on the concentration — which, for essence of the education we give.” her, is in creative writing.

Kratz said a number of humanities majors have gone She said she has always wanted to do creative writing. on to law school, medical school and other endeavors Once she found out she’d be attending UTD, she said because of the diverse education A&H offered. the arts and perforOne student in mance plan was the particular was able only option for her to use his educaI think that’s what all the arts people to pursue that dream. tion to take the here have in common is we all want to highest position at “(UTD) wouldn’t have been my first one of the largest create something and put something choice, but things university systems out there that represents us. like the distance in the state. and price and things Brian McCall, — Virginia Beam, the current chancame in to play,” she said. “(I said), Arts and Performance Senior cellor for the Texas ‘Would I rather take State System, gradcreative writing at a uated from UTD really good creative school, or take creative writing with a Ph.D. in philosophy in 2006. at a school not known for being artistic, but is still a He said people aren’t surprised when he tells them good school and is a lot closer?’” he has a Ph.D in the humanities and that he would Despite the school not having a ranked creative bet most chancellors have doctorates in similar fields. writing degree, Beam said all of her professors have “I just think a liberal arts educations is good for been good and that she’s had nothing but positive anyone, in any field,” he said. “Whether they’re forexperiences in her classes. mally trained at it or not, the reading of literature, “I think because the program isn’t micromanaged, the study of art, philosophy, history is a good thing.” there’s a lot of flexibility,” Beam said. “There are He said as long as Fortune 500 companies are some pros to not being the high priority.” deliberately seeking out liberal arts candidates, then Although she has not had trouble taking all the the field will open paths for growth. required classes to complete her degree, Beam said “A liberal arts degree trained student is creative, she did wish there were more options. She has taken can write, can think critically, knows history, just some classes that one can take multiple times for has a broad understanding,” he said. “I’m not in credit — like Creating Short Stories and Creating any way denigrating other types of degrees, but a Poetry — a handful of times each. liberal arts degree is not a telescope that teaches “Writing of all kinds is what I’m drawn to,” she you something very specifically about what’s on the said. “I think that’s what all the arts people here have other end, but rather causes you to think broadly in common is we all want to create something and about the bigger issues historically in all fields. So put something out there that represents us.” it’s not a specialization, it’s a broad, good study.”

As the starting date for Richard Benson, UTD’s The Practicality of A&H new president, looms closer, Kratz said he will emphasize to him how critical a role A&H plays in One of the main allures UTD has for incoming furthering UTD’s vision. students is its strong STEM-based programs. For “We already have first rate people and first rate A&H Dean Dennis Kratz, however, one of the main programs,” he said. “A culture can’t exist without draws should be the School of Arts and Humanities. thinking about doing why it’s doing, without litHe said there’s a growing tendency across the country erature, without the arts. We all have a philosophy. to view education as focusing on immediate goals rather I’m very confident President Benson will seize this than looking at learning as a whole —something he opportunity. … So I think this is a great time to believes is detrimental to universities nationwide. integrate and enlarge our vision of the university.”

→ HACK

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

“Students can see what they’re capable of in such a short amount of time,” Elechi said. “A lot of students were introduced to the hackathon community for this first time and they’ll be able to apply these skills at other hackathons.”

Given the success of this year’s event, ACM has already begun planning for HackUTD 2017. Ahmed said he

→ TOYOTA

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

onto the campus mall, facilities management and members of the university’s media staff, along with employees from other departments.

“It takes a university to host an event at this level,” Wedderburn said.

Although the university did not receive any compensation for Toyota’s visit, Wedderburn said the company paid for all major expenses associated with their stay.

Additionally, she mentioned the possibility for future collaborations, like the one the university has with Texas Instruments, between UTD and Toyota stemming from the partnership. “(We’ve) had a meeting with Toyota to begin to discuss what that partnership looks like at the university and from their words, there’s definitely some touch points, but again that conversation has just begun,” she said.

For Wedderburn, the hardest part of the endeavor was organizing all of these moving pieces and keeping the focus on the event.

→ CLOSET

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we will put them to use.”

The clothes are currently being stored in a small office in JSOM I. The closet is always looking to improve with more donations, especially for women’s clothing. In fact, JSOM is going to hold a Spring Clothing Drive Extravaganza on April 21 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.,

hopes to host the event in the soon-to-be-completed SSB extension in anticipation of higher attendance.

Beyond expansion in size, Elechi noted that HackUTD ’17 will be aimed at students of all career paths.

“We’re planning for a more interdisciplinary focus by not just looking at computer science, but looking at computer science combined with areas such as art or music,” he said. “We’re bringing this … experience and getting it out there so everyone, regardless of field, can have a part in it.”

“We wanted to make sure that it wasn’t just about bringing cars on campus, that the educational component was clearly laid out,” she said. “And if you look at all the placards that were beside each of the vehicles, (those were) clearly educational. So it’s not about just the car itself, it’s how do you create the technology behind the cars? So that aspect was critically important as meeting our educational needs as a university.”

Although the university has policies against solicitation on campus, Wedderburn said because Toyota was not directly selling any products and was focused on education, the exclusion did not apply to its visit.

“Toyota did not benefit much,” she said. “There was no dealership on campus, that wasn’t part of why we invited them on campus.”

As the opening of Toyota’s Plano headquarters draws closer, Wedderburn said she hopes the partnership between UTD and the company continues.

“We do a great job of just telling our story already, this just helps expand,” she said. “We need that for organizations to recognize how great our students are and just how great our organization is.”

so students can bring their professional items and donate them.

The Comet Closet will be having a special opening event soon, and Kaplan said she is optimistic that the Closet can be of use to anybody who reaches out for help.

“I think one worry that we all have is students might not feel comfortable coming in and asking for a handout, but there should be something for everybody,” Kaplan said. “We would like to be able to outfit somebody from head to toe.”

UTDMERCURY.COM

and Team 26 are starting to gain national attention. Several prominent figures will be joining CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Team 26 on parts of their journey from Newtown to Washington. Jack Markell, Governor of fourth Sandy Hook Ride on Washington, a four Delaware, will ride alongside the cyclists for a few miles. State repreday, 400-mile ride. sentatives from New Starting on April 9, It’s about those who have lost Jersey, Delaware and Team 26 will host their lives to gun violence. I was Pennsylvania as well a rally in Newtown as the mayors of before the sendlucky to get a second chance.

Philadelphia and the off. The cyclists are scheduled to — Julie Gavran District will also be a part of the event. make stops in New “This isn’t about me York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland for rallies and benefits or the 25 other riders, it’s about those who have lost their lives to gun violence,” she said. “I was lucky to get before arriving in the District on April 12.

The Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus a second chance.”

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→ ASTEROID

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throughout the entire project has not necessarily been the engineering aspect of it, but NASA very much likes the team to participate with each other as if they are an actual company and the bureaucratic process of operating the team as a company has been a little bit challenging,” said Alessandra Sealander, a geology junior.

The team’s members serve as chief executive officers, accountants, marketing and outreach managers and engineers in order to operate as a business or as a small subcontractor. This includes providing NASA with analysis reports on how they’re functioning.

“It needs to be thorough and researched and properly analyzed before we submit anything to NASA,” Sealander said. “We’re not necessarily looking at this just as a school design project.

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first in that new line.

Although AdMagic took over the manufacturing, distribution and production costs, the company stayed in contact with Braff and Stevenson to get their opinions on the design of the board, pieces and box. “(When) someone gives you an offer to just basically give you money for publishing your game at no effort or cost to you, you don’t say no to that,” Stevenson said.

While the publishers are currently pushing for retail distribution right now, purchasers can find Circular Reasoning on Amazon.

To promote the board game, Braff and Stevenson have gone to several conventions. The team went to PAX South — the penny arcade expo — twice over

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We’re presenting ourselves as future employees perhaps to NASA.” The team has built an online social media campaign to teach people about their company and co-hosted a lecture series with the Space Exploration Society of UTD. They also organized lectures with James Carter, a geophysicist who spoke about lunar simulants and John Hoffman, a physics professor who worked on the Phoenix landers project for Mars and the Apollo program.

The team’s product will be tested in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab during the week of May 23. This will be the second year that UTD participates in this challenge.

“This year we wanted to go with what we thought was the hardest (challenge),” Hartnell said. “We feel like we’d learnt a lot from the previous challenge and we kind of really wanted to test ourselves.”

the past two years.

“It’s actually a lot of fun,” Stevenson said. “Since we don’t actually have to be there, as it turns out, because they have employees there manning the booth … (we) go off and do convention things for a while.”

Going forward, the two students are both hoping to continue to create different types of games with their ATEC degrees.

“The most relevant thing right now for me is I’ve been working on a mobile game,” Braff said.

“It’s a kind of dodger-kind of game. It’s called Dot Matrix Dodger.”

This year, Braff submitted his new gaming app to IndieCade to start to make a dent in his long list of goals.

“It’s hard for me to really say what I want to do, because I want to do a lot of things,” he said. “I want to do all of it.”

It sounds like Harvey Mudd is a lot like UTD in that they’re both young institutions trying to move forward with tech in all aspects. So for students here who feel like the CS and tech industries are too hard to get into for a number of reasons, what would you tell them?

been committed to innovation. And so if you’re at a place that has always been trying to make science and engineering education better, it’s a place where, if the community decides that they’re interested in doing something, they can do it much more quickly than a place like Princeton, which 260, Klawe: So the reality is that tech companies really want to hire women and also people 270 years old. It’s a place where of color. It’s still true that the culture it’s easier for change to happen.

Don’t let anythat you encounter once you’re actuThe second thing we’ve been realally in it, there’s going to be a range ly working on is how do we scale one discourage of challenges and opportunities. So to other institutions? Right now you. Stick with one of the things I would say, you we’re doing that in computer science with a project called BRAID, (the tech indus- know, first of all create a network of your peers. First of all, create a good which we do jointly with an Anita try). support group for yourself. Make sure Borg-organized institute, which when you’re interviewing that you is the organization (that) runs — Maria Clawe, actually get a sense of what the culthe Grace Hopper Celebration.

And the idea of BRAID is to take President of Harvey ture of the place you’re going to go something that worked well at a Mudd College to is like, because it varies greatly and I know that for both our male and number of different institutions female students they tend to want to that have tried to increase the go to companies that are committed number of women majoring in computer science and then try to replicate that at to diversity. Because they come from Harvey Mudd, a group of other institutions. Mostly public, some one of the reasons they may have decided to go to very large, some much smaller, but see whether you Harvey Mudd is because we’re very committed to can replicate it at a more diverse set of institutions, diversity. And then what I would say is don’t let anyone discourage you. Stick with it. so that’s what we’re doing right now.