March 5, 2018
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THE MERCURY | UTDMERCURY.COM
SG proposes constitution amendment to election
Professor, research team isolate stem cells Investigation focuses on breast cancer treatment
Proposal might allow any non-SG student to run for presidential seat
ANUPAM GUPTA | MERCURY STAFF
A group of professors collaborate to create Scaffolded Training Environment Physics Programming, an interactive learning environment for integrating physics and computer science. Associate ATEC professor Midori Kitagawa (center) spearheaded the concept for the STEPP program and received a $1 million NSF grant for the project. ANUPAM GUPTA | MERCURY STAFF
Assistant professor of chemistry, Jiyong Lee, reviews isolated cancer stem cells with a member of his team. Lee’s research focuses on utilizing nanoparticles and lasers to destroy cancer cells.
MERCURY FILE PHOTO
Student Government President JW Van Der Schans proposed the constitutional amendment allowing any student to run for a presidential seat. DONIA BOSAK-BARANI Mercury Staff
In a proposed amendment to the Student Government constitution, students would no longer be required to hold a position for one term in SG before running for office. On Feb. 20, SG President JW Van Der Schans independently introduced an amendment to the organization’s constitution that would remove current restrictions on running for office and modify transition protocol. The proposal is a result of other universities, namely UT Austin and Texas A&M, employing this strategy to elect their student representatives. Van Der Schans said the modification would have two main benefits, including the promotion of student involvement in SG and broadening the pool of people who can be involved in the organization. Currently, any student can run for a senate seat, but presidential ticket candidates require one full term in SG, which Van Der Schans said is an arbitrary term because it can be interpreted by semester or year. “We feel that more people will be involved in the process if there was a better way for you to directly be involved in running for that, so right now, in a certain way, it feels like voting for another organization’s president, which naturally a group wouldn’t do or feel inclined to do,” he said. “The other main idea … is just a general more cohesive student body interaction with Student Government. We feel that right now, there’s already a limited pool of people that can run in the first place.” Van Der Schans acknowledges the weaknesses of his suggestion, but he said he is willing to assess them in the discussion. “There are drawbacks, so the idea of a joke ticket running, or the idea of people really not knowing what’s going on in the transitions, people not really being held to the standard we need them to be for SG to be successful next year, but these are all different points of discussion,” he said. SG members will discuss the proposal in the coming weeks and a final draft will be submitted to the dean of students, the vice president of student affairs, the SG advisor and others before it is voted on by senators, and, if it can garner a two-thirds majority vote, introduced to the student body. If the changes are approved by both the senate and student body, Van Der
→ SEE CONSTITUTION, PAGE 11
NOUMIKA BALAJI Mercury Staff
UTD group develops program to teach high school students physics, coding CINDY FOLEFACK News Editor
One UTD professor joined with students and faculty members to develop a new teaching tool after experiencing learning difficulties in her high school physics class. The team has since received a seven figure research grant to develop a computer-based program that simplifies the learning process. Associate professor of arts, technology and emerging communications Midori Kitagawa is the principal investigator for the Scaffolded Training Environment for Physics Programming, a project with the goal of simplifying physics education for high school students nationwide, while also teaching them computational thinking skills. Kitagawa received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to fund her research into STEPP, which allows students to go through modules where they build models simulating vari-
ous scenarios in physics problems, and then use those models to understand physics concepts. She plans to conduct testing with two Richardson ISD computer science and physics teachers, as well as 160 students, to gather feedback on the program for further development. The professor initially came up with the idea about four years ago while driving and listening to NPR. Kitagawa said she realized that synergistic learning could help students understand concepts more easily. “If kids are learning French and ... learn some other subject like math in French, their understanding of math and acquiring of French are much better than learning the two separately,” Kitagawa said. “I thought, well, computer programming is a language, so teaching physics using programming language might help students learn physics and programming better than learning them separately.” Computer science graduate Monisha Elumalai
→ SEE STEM, PAGE 11
A UTD professor and his team had recent progress in isolating cells that are believed to be the root cause of most cancers. Jiyong Lee, an assistant chemistry professor , and his team of student researchers have developed a unique method to isolate aggressive cells called cancer stem cells, which are thought to be the source of many metastasized cancers. “Every summer, we have to mow the lawn,” Lee said. “We just cut the top part of the weed, but we know that it’s going to come out eventually because the root is still there. You can think of the cancer stem cell as the root of the weed.” These cancer stem cells are resistant to chemotherapy and radiation, and even a small population of these cells is enough to initiate tumor growth again. The main limitation Lee and his team faced was in detecting these cells to isolate them. Luxi Chen, a chemistry research associate and part of Lee’s team, said their primary work was to locate cells that can identify cancer stem cells.
→ SEE CANCER, PAGE 11
Program provides community for first-gen students New Living Learning Community addresses 15 percent lower graduation rate among first-generation freshmen ANNA SCHAEFFER Mercury Staff
UTD will add one more living space to its current eight academically-focused areas. Rather than have a major-specific focus, however, this living space is designed for students whose parents did not complete a four-year college program in the United States. The university administration hired Mary Jane Suarez Partain in 2006 to launch Living Learning Communities, a predominantly freshman program based on career interest or specific degree programs. She is the leader of an effort to ease the transition from high school to college for individuals who are the first in their family to attend college in the United States. According to a study by UCLA in Forbes, first-generation students are 15 percent less likely to graduate college than students who have parents with higher education, a distinction Forbes calls an “Opportunity Gap.” Partain said the new First Generation LLC is meant to create a clear path for firstgeneration students so they can be just as successful as their peers. “There are many folks who might’ve gone to school elsewhere, but it’s a different experience than coming to
AMBARINA HASTA | MERCURY STAFF
Infrmation technology freshman Trenton Moore (left) and zfinance freshman Abby Flores study in the Elbow lounge of Residence Hall South for midterms. The new First Generation LLC is meant to aid students in achieving success on the same level as their peers.
university in the U.S.,” Partain said. “We realized that a lot of the services we were providing to first-generation students still weren’t relevant to folks whose parents hadn’t gone to school in the United States. Because what it’s really about is not understanding the landscape of a university.” Partain is also a first-generation student. Her family is from the Phil-
ippines, and neither of her parents attended college. She said she did not know what resources were available to students. “When I started at university, I had no idea what financial aid was,” Partain said. “I worked and went to school full-time, and I could’ve gone to school for free. I had no idea that I could’ve worked out for free or that there was a
career center or a health center, because there was nobody to go before me who knew that stuff. Something that’s common sense to you isn’t common sense until someone teaches it to you first.” The First Generation LLC allows students to live in a community in
→ SEE LLC, PAGE 11