T H E
U N I V E R S I T Y
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T E X A S
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A R L I N G T O N
Wednesday March 30, 2011
Volume 92, No. 96 www.theshorthorn.com
Since 1919
It’s Baseball Time
Facebook Faux Pas
Columnist says get your claws and antlers out - the Texas Rangers opening day is Thursday. SPORTS | PAGE 5
Columnist lays down some social-network rules OPINION | PAGE 4 following a professor’s online rant.
ENGINEERING
Rocketeers blast off for competition Team’s rocket should reach 11,000 feet with new design, says president. BY JOHN HARDEN The Shorthorn senior staff
Maverick Rockets President Jason Brown hopes his team will get the lift it needs to bring home bragging rights Saturday. The team finished the final touches on its two rockets Tuesday with little time to spare before it departs Thursday for Culpeper, Va., to compete in the Battle of the Rockets, a competition for university and high school students
“I feel like this is what I was meant to do. My whole goal was to learn as much as possible and dive right in,” Paul Aslin, health care administration graduate student
across the U.S. “We’ve put a lot of time and sweat into building these rockets,” Brown said. “It’s all coming together, and we’re confident we’ll come in first.” Brown, Josh McGuire and Shawn Edwards, team co-founders and aerospace engineering seniors, began working on this year’s models immediately after the 2010 competition, in which they placed second. New, sleek rocket designs and hardware, like a GPS system for one of the rockets, will give the team an edge over the ROCKETS continues on page 3 The Shorthorn: Sandy Kurtzman
Graduate student Paul Aslin works at his dining room table Tuesday in north Fort Worth. Aslin wrote the winning essay for a $3,000 scholarship. He said his daughters, Gracie Claire, 6, and Sydney, 4, were sitting in his lap during most of the time he worked on it.
SCIENCE
Asst. professors develop nanochip to detect diseases The chip would test genes for predispositions to illnesses like cancer. BY VALLARI GUPTE The Shorthorn staff
Cancer detection might be as easy as a prick of the finger with a nanochip gene detection technology designed by UTA. Biology assistant professor Shawn Christensen and Samir Iqbal, electrical engineering assistant professor, came up with an idea to combine their expertises to use a nanochip to detect cancer genes using electrical signals.
“The electrical test allows us to test for certain spellings of genes that are known to predispose someone to a particular disease, for example cancer,” Christensen said. Using the nanochip, a blood drop test is interpreted by electrical signals that work to determine the genetic tendencies of an individual to contract certain diseases. Christensen said thousands of genes can be tested through the nanochip machine and someone at a health institute or private company can use the technology and create a device. NANOCHIP continues on page 3
DAD ON A MISSION
Paul Aslin returns to school and wins national essay competition BY EDNA HORTON The Shorthorn staff
Winning an essay competition about health-care leadership is just a part of Paul Aslin’s journey. The health care administration graduate student recently won an essay competition given by the American College of Healthcare Executives for his essay on new health-care policies. He said his determination has come from his family. For the 34 year old, the decision to return to school came when he was laid off from a management position at an investment firm. His wife was a stay-athome mom at the time, and Aslin said he and his wife made a deal. Whoever got a job first would work, and the other one would return to school. He said his wife got a job the same day he was accepted to UTA’s master of science in health care admin-
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
Associate professor gets real with students in ‘last lecture’ Allan Saxe says ‘thought police’ on campuses suppress creativity. BY JOEL COOLEY The Shorthorn staff
Allan Saxe sat on the middle of the Lone Star Auditorium’s stage Tuesday night and jokingly referred to himself as a combination of Charlie Sheen and Cal Ripken Jr. The political science associate professor, who has never missed a class in his 46 years at the university, boldly addressed a crowd of about 100 students on his thoughts on life. The lecture was a part
of the Last Lecture Series, in which professors address the student body as if it’s their last speech ever. The series was started after Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Pausch delivered his final lecture in 2007 titled “The Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” Saxe said he did not want to give a watered down version of a so-called “inspirational” speech that would misinform students as to the ways of the world. “If the world was so wonderful, why do you need in-
spirational talks? Shouldn’t they already be inspired? I’m saying give up,” he said. Amanda Russell, Omicron Delta Kappa member, said the honor society invited Saxe to present the Last Lecture Series’ first lecture because they felt it would be a good start. “We wanted to bring in a prestigious member of the college to be the first speaker,” the history junior said. While existing in the academic realm for most of his life, Saxe feels education takes the guts out of learning. LECTURE continues on page 6
istration program. “I feel like this is what I was meant to do,” he said. “My whole goal was to learn as much as possible and dive right in.” With his bachelor’s degree in business management, Aslin chose healthcare administration because he felt it was an industry in which he could make the biggest difference by working directly with people and their lives. He said he knew if he wanted to help his wife and three daughters, he would have to network with professionals and make a name for himself. “I’m not just going to get my degree and expect employers to come knocking on my door,” he said. He heard about the Richard J. Stull Essay Competition, which invites health-care administration students from across the country to submit essays covering various health-care man-
ABOUT ALLAN SAXE
agement topics. Aslin said he thought someone at UTA could win this competition. “I thought students in our program are just as smart as the ones from the bigger schools,” he said. “I was really putting my money where my mouth was, I didn’t expect to win.” Aslin’s essay, “Unveiling the Unicorn: A Leader’s Guide to ACO Preparation,” won first place. He received a $3,000 scholarship and an all-expenses-paid trip to Chicago for the Congress on Healthcare Leadership held last week. This summer, the essay will be published in an issue of the Journal of Healthcare Management. Aslin wrote the essay about how to prepare for a new leadership policy effective January 1, 2012 as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care ASLIN continues on page 3
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
SC approves computer lab for nursing students Student Congress votes to pass all of the resolutions at meeting.
ONLINE For a breakdown of other resolutions voted on at the meeting, visit theshorthorn.com.
BY BIANCA MONTES The Shorthorn senior staff
Graduated from: University of Oklahoma Years taught at UTA: 46 Teaches: political science courses Quoteworthy: “Academics make simple things complex and make complex things simple.”
Student Congress met Tuesday night for a generalbody meeting to vote on six resolutions, including nursing senator Caitlin Wright’s request for the University and the Office of Information Technology to find labs for nursing students to take computerbased exams. Wright, who currently serves as Nursing Constituency Council president, said since the closing of Ransom
Hall last year, nursing students have limited locations to take computer-based exams. Nursing students are able to take the exams anywhere, but because they need to be under the supervision of a proctor, she said finding adequate space is a challenge. “The issue we are facing is that there are computers on campus but they are not set up for testing,” she said. CONGRESS continues on page 6