Issue 124 Edition 2, 2017

The

Technician bulldogs.kettering.edu/technician

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August 20, 2017

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Volume 124

Create-A-Thon at Kettering

Issue 2

Gabrielle Feeny Copy Editor On the weekend of August 4th, Kettering University held its first Create-A-Thon. The event was hosted by a newer student organization known as Kettering University Builder’s and Innovator’s Network (KU BIN), which strives to provide opportunities for students to participate in interdisciplinary projects. It focused on one big challenge to be tackled by teams of students. Participants were given Friday night through late Saturday afternoon to work before having to present their efforts to a panel of judges.

Friday evening, students filtered into the T-Space Continued on Page 2

What’s Inside

Greek Spotlight

A Night at Factory One Megan Cox Staff Writer On the evening of August 8, 2017, Thompson Hall staff and Kettering Student Government partnered together to bring “A Night at Factory One” to Kettering students. The event was held at the DurantDort Factory One, the birthplace of the Buick and General Motors. Factory One was restored earlier this year by General Motors and is now home to Kettering’s archives. The event allowed students to see the history that the building holds as well as get a chance to hear from a Kettering alum, the university’s president, and the director of special collections and archives. It was broken up into two parts: a Q&A session for residents, and then a dinner and second speaker for all Kettering students.

The event began with Sean Duffy, a graduate from 1989, who spoke about his time at the university and his co-op.

N o a h Lukins, one of the R esident Assistants who organized the event, acted as the emcee for the night and guided conversation with a series of questions. Mr. Duffy’s words Continued on Page 3

Self-Driving Vehicles Opinion

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Firebirds Autocross

Interview with Cheyenne Chapman

Splatoon 2 Reviews

Student Dillon Frost Improves Community

Jordan Mayer Staff Writer

Adam Lecznar Editor-In-Chief

Cheyenne is the new Student Life Coordinator of Greek Life, Leadership, and Media. She just graduated in May from Bowling Green State University with a bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies. She’s from Highland, Michigan.

I started the interview by asking her to tell me a little bit about herself. She enthusiastically said “This is the fun fact I like to tell people, I competitively showed llamas for ten years.” Through this she has won multiple awards. “I know it sounds kind of weird, because I think showing llamas only really happens in Washtenaw county.”

Aside from this fun fact, Cheyenne has two nephews and a golden retriever that was supposed to be a seeing eye dog. “I also have a 4-year old brother so I’ve become quite the play-doh sculptor,” she said while laughing.

Since she had just graduated from college, I asked Cheyenne about her

Walking the halls of Kettering University, students can sometimes feel disconnected from the greater Flint community. It is easy while on the campus to dial in on classwork, studying, and student life.

But beyond the campus boundaries is a community filled with vibrant locations and residents collaborating to create a better Flint. This is something that Dillon Frost, a Senior III Chemical Engineering student at Kettering, has not overlooked.

Frost is one of three students involved in a workstudy program focused on community outreach and vitality. He and the other students involved in the program, Gabrielle Scott and Sam Daleo, work independently under Jack Stock, Kettering’s Director of External Relations. Through their work-study

Continued on Page 3 Photo courtesy of Kettering University and Factory One

Continued on Page 4

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The Technician

News Create-A-Thon Continued from front page

to meet their assigned team members, have some pizza, and listen to an introductory talk on problem solving and collaboration. At the end of it all, the challenge was revealed to the eager creators: they were tasked with designing any tool or system that would aid in sustaining life on “Planet Alpha”, a fictional world that was due to be colonized by humans within a year’s time. With the announcement of the challenge, the four teams made their way to the Academic Building, where each of them had their own designated room to work in.

Teams were encouraged to build models and diagrams of their solutions, as it was explicitly stated that PowerPoint would not be an acceptable form of presentation. They were provided with plenty of building materials including popsicle sticks, duct tape, straws, clay, cardboard, paper clips, balloons, markers, and paper. Most importantly, students were also given a sheet with a list of Planet Alpha’s specifications and background information. While the sheet offered only basic information, students were encouraged to pose questions to two “planetary experts”, event director Eric Rickabaugh and Research Specialist Gabby Feeny, who would answer them.

Throughout the allotted working time, students were very devoted to the challenge. They had many questions to ask about Planet Alpha. Saturday was slower, as some students hadn’t realized the event was meant to last roughly 24 hours. While there weren’t as many in attendance, those who did show up continued to work diligently until the first round

of “judging” at 1:30 pm, where the judges visited teams and offered feedback before the real, scored evaluation at 4:00 pm.

The panel of judges consisted of five people: Kettering professors Dale Eddy and Massoud Tavakoli, Kettering graduates Alan Xia (’17) and Andreos Kaplanov (’07), and Gabby Feeny. Teams were to be judged based on four criteria: the relevance of the problem, the relevance of the solution, the solution’s feasibility, and, of course, the solution’s creativity.

Come 4:00 pm, everyone gathered in the AB 1-214, where the order of presentations was randomly selected before the group proceeded to each room to watch them.

Because of how open-ended the challenge was, a broad range of problems and solutions were considered by the teams. The first proposed a seven year plan to support an entire civilization, having considered every aspect of what future inhabitants would require, including food, water, electricity, and shelter. They constructed a popsicle stick model of the domes they designed to sustain life and shield people from the planet’s harsh sandstorms. The second group focused on food only, suggesting a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine to take care of crops inside a greenhouse. They provided a drawn out plan as well as a Computer Aided Design (CAD) model. The third group tackled the problem of electricity.

Through drawings and calculations, they con-

The

Technician Adam Lecznar

Editor-in-chief

Rebecca Roughton L ayout Editor

Gabrielle Feeny

Copy Editor

Jacob Hankerd

Online Editor

Robert Lyman

Distribution Editor

Staff writers Jordan Mayer Khalid Foflonker Megan Cox Nathan Schleh Navardo Henry Alicia Brown Jerico Markel

Faculty Advisor Christine Levecq Special Thanks To Betsy Homsher & Debbie Stewart

August 20, 2017

veyed their plan to utilize the planet’s resources to generate power for a civilization. Finally, the fourth group came up with a small shelter, built to sustain a small number of colonizers and filter the water.

Judges got together and discussed their scores while teams cleaned up their areas. Afterwards, everyone made their way to Bd’s Mongolian grill, where they enjoyed a dinner reception and the winners were announced. The first, second, and third

place teams were the dome team, CNC team, and shelter team, respectively, and each received $500, $250, and $100 to split amongst their team members. Because the last place team was so close to taking third place, its members received a small prize as well.

Overall, participants said they were satisfied with the Create-A-Thon and would look forward to it next year.

“The goal was to encourage a creating mentality on campus,” reported Rickabaugh, and the competition certainly did so. Rickabaugh hopes whoever orchestrates the Create-A-Thon next year will improve it, keeping the original goal in mind.

Submissions Policy The Technician encourages any interested students to attend staff meetings. Meetings for Winter 2017 will be each Tuesday and Thursday over the lunch hour in The Technician office, located on the 3rd floor of the Campus Center above the Sunrise Café. Student submissions are encouraged and will be published if their material is in the public interest.

Submissions or letters to the editor from faculty and administrative entities will be published if space is available. The Technician reserves the right to edit any and all submissions for brevity and clarity.

Anonymous submissions are rarely published and will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Individuals wishing to publish anonymously should consult the Editor-in-chief.

The deadline for the upcoming issue of The Technician is 9th Tuesday at 6pm. Expected distribution is 10th Monday. Send submissions to atechnician@kettering.edu.

August 20, 2017

Factory One Continued from front page of advice to freshmen were “treat others the way you want to be treated” because he said it helped him gain respect among his co-workers and other engineers. He also advised everyone to “take the dumb little tasks, do [them], and do [them] well”, further explaining that regardless of how unimportant you felt your assignments were at your co-op, you should still put just as much effort into them as you would a bigger project. Mr. Duffy continued to share some of the lessons he learned throughout his time as a co-op student as well as when he entered the industry. Sean Duffy graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and is currently working at GM in the Lansing region as a Regional Labor Relations Manager.

The next speaker was Dr. McMahan, president of the university, who also received various questions from Noah. Dr. McMahan is currently teaching PHYS 191 Intro to Astrophysics, which was briefly discussed because the president of a university does not typically teach at it. Dr. McMahan also talked about STEM to STEAM, which is the integration of art into the typical science, technology, engineering and math curriculum. He is working on bringing STEAM to Kettering. He went on to say that studies have shown that exposure to the arts and humanities make better STEM majors. Another big thing that Dr. McMahan talked about was “building a resume versus building a eulogy”. This was something that he has said in the past and when asked what he had meant by that was that it is the difference between building a skillset and building yourself and that Kettering tries to make both. Noah’s last question for Dr. McMahan was what he’s most proud of at Kettering, to which he replied he’s most proud of the students. He appreciates the drive and good character that comes out of Kettering and all that the students have achieved.

At this point, those who were not residents of Thompson Hall were invited into the room and everyone was served dinner. During dinner, Dr. Greg Miller, Director of Special Collections and University Archives, spoke briefly about Factory One and its history. The building was built in 1880 and started out as the Flint Woolen Mills cotton textile company. Shortly after, Durant-Dort Carriage Factory was started by William Durant and Josiah Dort which led to Buick Motor Co, and then eventually General Motors Co in 1908. Over the years, the building fell into disrepair until it was bought

by GM in 2013. The renovated Factory One opened to the public on May 1st, 2017. It now houses a collection of thousands of historical documents that are found on the main floor of the building and are open for public viewing between the hours of 10:00 am and 4:00 pm. On the second floor of Factory One, you can find office and conference spaces that are frequently used by GM employees. One of the most unique things in the archives is a cranking battery. In fact, Dr. Miller said it was most likely the only one in existence now. For more information and tours, Dr. Greg Miller can be contacted at 810820-7747.

The Technician

News Cheyenne Chapman Interview Continued from front page favorite part about it. “I liked being on my own. I came from a big family and that became important to developing myself.” This played a big part in her first semester at college. “I had a bad first semester and I decided to switch majors because what I was going to school for wasn’t really for me, it was for my family,” she admitted. “That’s what piqued my interest about Kettering: people here know exactly what they want to do, whereas at a liberal arts college you’re more free to change majors.”

Cheyenne was a 4-year member of Alpha Omicron Pi at Bowling Green. It was a result of her involvement with AOII that she began overseeing media. She worked in the PR VP section and has helped her successor with the position since she left.

She has also worked in the leadership section of the sorority.

Kettering is not the first university that she has worked at. She has also worked for Bowling Green’s state fire school. “I worked on programming for them, though there it was more advancing education than here, where I’m trying to get you guys ready for the work force. At the fire school there were a lot of firemen that were coming in after years of experience and just wanting to get a degree or certificate to go further,” she stated.

“I want to develop a leadership program that works for the students here, I want to find out what your needs are and develop something special for Kettering,” she said, expressing her plans for Kettering. “Greek-wise, I want to work with leadership and I really want to work with Greek housing project. That’s something that I think many students benefit from. I’d also like to focus on recruitment to work the kinks out with that.” Cheyenne also oversees the Technician and WKUF. “I’d like to gain a better relationship with the Technician and WKUF and figure out your needs and what we need to work on,” she mentioned with a smile.

“I’m hoping to impact the people and the university and help the student population become more

Photos courtesy of Factory One

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prepared for the work force,” she said of her new job.

“Especially on interviewing skills and team skills since those are things that you guys will take past college.” She also pointed out that what was unique about her degree is that she focused on the developmental area of young kids and has applied this to older people. “I also think that because of my age and the fact that I just graduated from college I can help bring a better understanding of where Kettering students are at.”

One of her biggest accomplishments was a STEMbased camp program directed towards 11-13-year-old girls. This work was done through the American Association of Undergraduate Women. “These girls were picked out by teachers that had seen them excel in math and science, and so I had to make this interesting for them. I wanted to perk their brains to the idea that this could be fun,” she told me energetically. This program was to help develop leadership in the young girls that attended and her program was picked up and adapted by the camp and has been implemented since.

In the next five years, Cheyenne would like to get her MBA. “It’s always been a goal, but I just wanted to make sure that I enjoyed what I was doing before going forward. After that, I’m from Ann Arbor and I’d like to work with the 4-H club and give back to them after all that they did for me growing up.” She smiled and said that these things were all accomplishable, she just needs to get started.

“Don’t slack. It’s easy and hard to get behind in your classes, especially here where your semesters are shorter. Coming from how bad my first semester was, you have to work really hard to get past it.”

This advice is what Cheyenne gave me for college students. “Get involved and make yourself known on campus. Also, try to be a role model to incoming students and try not to scare them away.”

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August 20, 2017

The Technician

News Dillon Frost Continued from front page

program, the students get to work as time allows on several projects that are aimed at improving the area surrounding Kettering’s campus.

Frost started with the work-study program in the summer 2016 term when he noticed it in Kettering’s internal Bulldog Weekly newsletter. Since then, he has been touched numerous projects started within the university and by outside organizations. He has inter viewed volunteers at Habitat 4 H u m a n i t y, provided IT advising at the DurantTu r y - M o t t elementar y school, and helped coordinate the reopening of Flint’s Factory Two building as a community makerspace.

“What impacted me the most was seeing all of the businesses and activity going on in the area,” Frost explained. “I think students sometimes think the people in the community are passive, but there’s a lot of involvement.”

Before he applied to this work-study program, Frost had been a recycling assistant in Thompson Hall. Now he is currently surveying fraternities that are housed near Ballenger Park, trying to find improvements they’d like made.

“There are companies that are interested in investing there,” Frost elaborated, while describing future work in the area. “I really like the job because I can work on my own time.”

Soon to finish his last academic term, Frost’s message to students is clear.

“Students should see what’s going on in the community,” Frost commented. “It is beneficial and helps negate the negative perception of Flint.”

Firebirds Autocross Alexander Calderon Guest Writer The Firebirds club of Kettering University hosted their first autocross event of the summer at Auto City Speedway in Clio on August 6th. Autocross is a form of time trial racing in which drivers are tasked with navigating their cars as fast as possible through a course laid out with cones. The courses are very technical, consisting of slow, tight sections and fast, open sections all in one.

Speeds rarely exceed 50 mph.

Students from the club and members of the Flint community all joined together to race the clock.

There was a wide variety of cars racing that day – from turbo hot-hatchbacks like the Mazdaspeed 3 and VW Golf R, to lightweight sports cars like the Honda S2000 and Lotus Elise, to high-power American muscle like the Ford Mustang & even a Chevrolet LT1 V8 swapped Mazda RX-7!

Of course, there is a likelihood for accidents and spins on the track, so both drivers and volunteers working the course must exercise maximum safety protocol. Prior to racing, cars must be given a safety inspection, and drivers including passengers must wear a Snell/DOT approved helmet.

For some, beating the clock was the ultimate goal; for others, it was about improving one’s driving skill. Overall, the event was an absolute blast and everyone had a great time racing!

Opinion: How to Approach a Company as the First Co-Op Eddie Schodowski Guest Writer As the first co-op a company has had, you can probably expect that they might not know how to use you best initially, but there are a few things you can do: Think of yourself like your company’s personal DevOps engineer. You may not be able to get too much meaningful work on a product right away — it depends a lot on where you work, your prior knowledge, proven capabilities, and luck — but keep trying! There's a lot you can learn by directly working on a product. However, even if you can't, know that a lot of companies have many inefficient processes that full-time employees would love to improve but can't always rationalize spending their time on. You can easily start getting a lot more responsibility by empathizing with their responsibilities in process and finding some ways to speed them up with Excel Macros, VBA, and great documentation. It’s not always sexy, but it’s very important.

Spend t h e money on a Ly n d a . com account.

Learn skills that are important in your domain quickly. Most companies don't know what skills their co-ops have until it's shown through their tasks at work.

Document all of your work. If you only have ten weeks to work on something and then you leave, coworkers can't easily ask you for questions when you're gone. Co-op projects can sometimes take an all-your-eggs-in-one-basket form and it can be hit or miss whether the project gets finished. Even if the project doesn't get finished, you can still document all of your progress. Full-time employees love this — you never know when another project will arise later on that will have similar elements to the project you worked on. Nothing is better than being able to reuse someone else’s work to get a future task done.

Really take the time to get good at communication. Many people acknowledge that communication is important, but few actively cultivate good habits of communication. There are lots of books on this: Difficult Conversations, Getting To Yes, Continued on Page 5

August 20, 2017

Approaching as a First Co-Op Continued from front page

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The Technician

News

Summer Robotics Camp Rebecca Roughton Layout Editor

From the 30th of July until the 18th of August, Kettering University hosted four different robotics camps for high school students. Between these three weeks, a total of nearly fifty students participated in team activates to build various robotics projects and compete against one each other.

The camp was led by Mr. Bob Nichols, the director of the FIRST Robotics Community Center on the first floor of the Academic Building. Together with Mark Taylor, the program leader in the FIRST It takes time to learn the ropes. Don't expect it to Robotics Community Center, and others, the team be an overnight process. It's normal to make misassisted the students in designing, building, protakes. Just keep picking yourself back up. gramming, and testing their bot. This entire process went from start to finish in as little as four and a half Good luck! days. Then, with their completed projects, the students competed with their teammates against each other to see who would come out on top.

The goals of the camp focus on promoting teamwork as well as exposing engineering to students of any experience level. This is accomplished by breaking the students into small, 3-4 member teams and giving them all the opportunity to work on the various parts of building the robot.

Given Kettering’s long history with FIRST, it is difficult to understate the importance of the robotics camps. An estimated 25% of the student population participated in FIRST Robotics. In addition, since 1999, Kettering has awarded $3.5 million in scholarships for FIRST Robotics participants. Given this, Kettering places a significant importance on seeking out FIRST members. This camp is an example of one of these searches.

Outside of the camp, typically from the hours of 5 pm to 10 pm, students participated in bonding activities, led by the four RA mentors: Jordan McMichael, Austin Pankey, Rose Joynt, and Rebecca Roughton. Activities were held in Thompson Hall’s lobby and consisted of board and video games, trips out of town to Frakenmuth, and finally painting a mural on a wall in unit 21, where many of the campers lived.

Due to the success of the camps this year, it is expected that camps will be held once again next summer term. For more information pertaining to the camp or acting as a mentor, contact Bob Nichols of the FIRST Robotics Center.

Thanks for the Feedback, How to Talk to Anyone, How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Charisma Myth, Influence without Authority, etc.

Cultivate grit. It can be emotionally isolating to be the only young person in an environment full of middle-aged or older people. This is tougher as a female or minority, especially in engineering environments. Keep your chin up.

Photos courtesy of Kettering University

Opinion: Why Isn't Kettering University a Public School?

Eddie Schodowski Guest Writer This is a very, very good question.

Kettering could likely do a lot more if it had the resources of public investment, similar to University of Waterloo and University of Cincinnati.

I don't have a definitive answer, but I hypothesize that it has to do with (1) the free market breaking down in higher education, (2) enough complexity managing a marketplace of students and professors, let alone employers to cooperate with, and (3) no one creating it.

The third reason sounds matter-of-fact, but these organizations get started by people just like you or I. If we haven't done it, will anyone?

GMI considered selling to Michigan State or University of Michigan in the 1980s after GM declared its intent to divest from the institute after Toyota and lean manufacturing disrupted American OEMs. Selling out was not an option at the time for President Cottingham (although the Board of Trustees thought otherwise), and was very likely the right decision.

For context, I recommend looking into Richard Scharchburg’s book, GMI: America’s Co-Op College — The First 75 Years. There's a copy at the Kettering University library.

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The Technician

through the camera lens

August 20, 2017

Top: Youth work together to make a water filtration system with the help of Dr. Laura Sullivan Bottom: With the combined efforts of faculty and graduate students at Kettering, research has been completed regarding electric vehicle batteries. The focus of this research was for more compact, efficient, and cost-effective batteries.

Photos courtesy of Kettering University

August 20, 2017

The Technician

around campus

Top: Masses of students attending the co-op fair on August 1st Bottom: The provost (pictured), the president (not pictured), along with other faculty and retired professor Duane McKeachie, meet with family and friends to celebrate the establishment of the McKeachie Brown Founder's Room

Photos courtesy of Kettering University

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The Technician

Greek Spotlight

August 20, 2017

ΑΦ Alpha Phi has been planning for their bi-annual Red Dress Gala to benefit the Alpha Phi Foundation. The event is planned for August 26th and more than $3,500 worth of donations have been collected already, including contributions from Lambda Chi Alpha, Delta Tau Delta, Phi Gamma Delta, and Pi Kappa Alpha

ΑΣΑ The sisters of Alpha Sigma Alpha would like to welcome everyone out for our annual Spaghetti Dinner. On 8th week Wednesday (August 30th) you can have all the spaghetti and garlic bread you can eat for only $5! All proceeds will be donated to the Special Olympics. We will also have a vegetarian option and desserts! This event will be held at the ASA Manor located at 924 E 6t St. We hope to see you there!

ΒΘΠ Brothers from the Delta Eta chapter of Beta Theta Pi attended the 178th General Convention for the Fraternity. Four delegates, including President Josh Tol, flew to Salt Lake City, Utah in mid-August.

Chapter presidents voted on national legislation, while the remaining undergraduates attended the Peter F. Greiner Leadership College. Beta Sweethearts, Friends of Beta, and Beta Brothers of all ages also joined in festivities celebrating Beta’s continued mission to develop Men of Principle for a principled life, while also enjoying the sights of the Snowbird Ski Resort and its surrounding mountains. These Betas can’t wait for next year’s General Convention in Norfolk Virginia.

ΦΔΘ This term, the Brothers of Phi Delta Theta-Michigan Delta at Kettering University are proud to present the 30th Annual Duck Race Raffle! Each ticket represents a duck that will be raced in the Flint River on August 26, 2017. The top three prizes are $200, $100, and $50, along with hundreds of dollars in other great prizes! Tickets are $2 for 1, $5 for 3, and $20 for 13. Proceeds will benefit the Michigan Special Olympics. If you would like to purchase tickets, or if you have any other questions, feel free to ask any Brother!

August 20, 2017

The Technician

Greek Spotlight

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ΣΧ The Brothers of Sigma Chi would like to thank you all for your support during our Derby Days Philanthropy Week. We are well on our way to our goal of $20,000 for the '17-'18 school year. As of our last count we stand at $18,200! We look forward to reaching the 20k Club in the coming months.

ΣΑΕ Located just one and a half blocks north from campus, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is one of the closest fraternities to Kettering University. Furnished with plenty of wide-screen TV's, high-speed internet, 300+ TV channels, an expansive library of books and online files, a pool table, and brand new furniture and commercial-grade cooking appliances, there is always something going on at the chapter house. We just have installed a brand new volleyball court for people to come over and use. The 17 current brothers of ΣAE are very fortunate for this new house and welcome everyone to come enjoy it with them.

ΦΓΔ Phi Gamma Delta, also known as FIJI, is a fraternity that is dedicated to uniting men in enduring friendships, inspiring the pursuit of knowledge, and raising courageous leaders that will make a positive impact in the community and on campus. Every FIJI is guided by the values of Friendship, Knowledge, Service, Morality, and Excellence so that they can strive to be the best person they can be. At Kettering University, FIJIs represent their values by getting involved in campus organizations and participating in many community service events.

Recently, the brothers of Phi Gamma Delta volunteered at the local Food Bank of Eastern Michigan where they helped organize various food items so that they could be distributed to those in need in the community. Several brothers also volunteered in the most recent IFC event and plan on attending the upcoming Habitat for Humanity build day. No matter where you go on campus, there’s a good chance you will see a FIJI doing what they enjoy: fulfilling their values.

ΠΚΑ Every summer, we the brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha hold a cycle for life charity event on campus.

It's been a great way for us to raise funds and awareness for blood cancer. This summer we raised over $1,000 towards our cause.

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All Toyotas of the Midwest Car Show Alexander Calderon Guest Writer On Sunday, July 16th, I attended the 2nd annual All Toyotas Of the Midwest car show at JD Racing Indoor Karting in Novi, MI. As a huge fan and owner of both classic and newer Toyotas, I was ecstatic to hear that there was a Toyota, Lexus and Scion specific car show not too far away. It was a rather small show with official judging , but that’s not to say there weren’t any modified or special cars – I saw everything from single and twin turbo Supras, V6 swapped MR2s, a 7M-GTE swapped A20 Celica, a righthand drive Toyota Mark II 2.5T, and even this bosozoku style MX73 Cressida!

Bosozoku is a style that originated from a Japanese subculture of modifying motorcycles, but that style was later adopted by tuners who wanted to make their cars look like flashy 70’s Group 5 Special Production race cars. To see this unique style in the US is quite a treat.

I was personally very happy to see the turnout of Celicas, ranging from model years 1976 to 2002! I have never seen that many 5th-generation Celica All-Trac models together in one place.

Overall, it was a great show and a pleasure to have met and talked with the vehicle owners, too. I can’t wait to bring my own Celica out to this show in the near future!

The Technician

News Opinion: Predicting the Future Legality of Self-Driving Vehicles Eddie Schodowski Guest Writer When would you estimate that most states would only allow s e lf - d ri ving vehicles on public roads?

Like any other technological revolution, it’s really difficult to predict how public infrastructure will accept and adapt to change — let alone demand it — with regard to full vehicular autonomy.

A book called Magic Motorways by Norman Bel Geddes written in 1940 predicted that we would have self-driving cars within the next 5–10 years.

The pace of technological advancement in that time period made a prediction like that seem normal!

In some ways, it’s surprising that full autonomy hasn’t happened sooner. Pay particular attention to Chapter 3: “Eliminate the Human Factor in Driving”.

While deciding how to develop the highway system in Norman Bel Geddes’s day, it’s possible that up-front engineering decisions were

August 20, 2017

discussed that could have been made to poka-yoke car accidents by integrating highway design with vehicle design.

A discussion like that, however, is really what a train would be like. One of the greatest parts of the invention of the automobile was its versatility. You weren’t dictated by the train’s schedules or routes — you were free!

So, it makes sense that the highway system was developed the way it was. It’s hard enough to design a national public highway system from scratch, and it’s difficult to also play a role in intervening with the design of privately made vehicles.

An idea that gets lost a lot of the time in conversations about AVs is that the onus is not just on the OEM to deploy fully safe transportation — autonomous vehicles are just one way to accomplish the end goal of getting from Point A to Point B — but also on the cities and states!

Now that America’s roads are more fully developed than 1940, however, public and private collaboration over transportation engineering decisions are more nuanced and difficult.

While firms like McKinsey can assert that they have a good idea when full autonomy will roughly happen, full autonomy is not some model that can just simply be extrapolated on.

Full autonomy will come about from a necessarily slower iterative process of learning from safely made mistakes.

However, a lot of these lessons learned will be unique to certain cities. Different cities have different needs.

The way you commute in the state of Wyoming is different from the way you commute in the city of Los Angeles.

While there are definite benefits to every vehicle on the road being self-driving, that’s incredibly hard to mandate at any governmental level.

I’m skeptical that states requiring only self-driving vehicles will even happen.

A topic with a similar shape in automotive regulation today is whether or not to require backup cameras on all cars.

They’re an incredible innovation, save a lot of people from car accidents, but there are trade-offs to everything. Legislation like that can form a slippery slope that takes the form of “We should have infinite resources without a cost!”

Automotive customers come from a lot of financial backgrounds, and it can actually be dangerous to require all vehicles to have backup cameras because you could price some drivers out of the market.

Continued on Page 16

August 20, 2017

News

Self-Driving Vehicles Continued from page 10

That being said, I do think we will see significantly more autonomy in our lifetime, but not by way of mandate.

The way that this would happen is to let autonomous vehicle engineers refine an incredible driving experience that blends the versatility of the automobile and the safety of rail with economics that make sense.

Naturally, new business models will arise to accommodate a new branch of needs (e.g., longer commutes, long weekend road trips to different states, and plenty of other use cases).

Autonomous vehicles will triumph over conventional automobiles when their economics and versatility does too.

Expect a blend of both in the years to come (similar to how the “paperless office” never truly happened decades after personal computers went mainstream), radically better ADAS, and some interesting new problems to solve.

You may have been expecting a different answer, but the real problem to be solved is transportation, and AVs are only one more way to solve that.

For more information, see Eddie Schodowski's answer to “What are the major problems of US infrastructure?” on Quora.

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Memoirs of a Senior Khalid Foflonker Staff Writer Simply put, I asked four Kettering University Senior III’s seven questions about their experiences over the past 4.5 years. The Seniors each have different backgrounds, majors, and co-ops. Here is the interview, unfiltered: 1. What is your name and major?

Dillon: Dillon Frost & Chemical Engineering Eddie: Eddie Schodowski, BS in Electrical Engineering Erin: Erin Kneller, Chemical Engineering Khalid: BS in Business Admin, Chinese Major 2. Do you find that your undergraduate experience at Kettering was worth the time & money?

Dillon: No, I think that for the experience I was hoping to get from a university it wasn't worth it.

Eddie: 100%. It's honestly unbelievable looking back at how much I've grown, but I've also squeezed out almost every opportunity I could while here.

Kettering may not have the brand recognition outside of the automotive industry like U of M or MSU, but it has much more substance (which is really what matters in the long term).

I think a lot of people don't realize how powerful our alumni go on to become; the organizations that KU alums have started or lead are incredible (e.g., Benchmark Capital, Gibson Guitar, IBM Watson), and the small alumni base means that the chances of it happening to you are greater than you think.

Erin: If you want me to be honest, no. As a chemical engineering major, Kettering has few co-ops available in the chemical industry, pharmaceutical industry, petroleum industry, etc. If you have your heart set on working in the automotive industry, then great, Kettering is for you. But from my experience, Kettering doesn't offer chemical engineers anything that they can't get at other schools.

Khalid: In short, no. Kettering’s business departPhotos courtesy of Tesla

ment has been the university’s poorly managed experiment. Extremely expensive for a subpar product that is not recognized outside of automotive.

3. What advice would Senior 3 you give to yourself during freshman I term?

Dillon: Don't dedicate your time and energy into things that aren't going to pay off. Go to office hours and get to know your profs well, it's worth it.

Eddie: Do more stupid shenanigans; you have way more leverage over higher administration than you'd think as a student; it's easier to hold to your ethics 100% of the time rather than 99% of the time; apply to Kettering LEADERS; don't let people harass women in STEM (or, obviously, women in general); follow your curiosity, not "passion".

Erin: Don't let senior boys creep on you. Just don't.

Khalid: Start an entrepreneurship in Flint. Turn your business into your co-op. Profitable by year 3.

4. What was your best experience at Kettering University?

Dillon: Getting to know the professors here has hands down been the best experience. From my engineering professors, the liberal arts professors, my chemistry profs, math profs and of course my Mandarin professor, everyone has been superb.

Eddie: When I made a web app to deliver Chipotle to Kettering students during the Summer 2015 term, I chalked the entire campus with phrases like #StudentsDemandingGuac and "Kettering: All Talk No Guac".

In retrospect, it was a waste of time to chalk the campus and it garnered a lot of visceral hate from some people (although I did make a pretty penny!).

I remember that I decided to do that because Kettering had consistently talked about wanting to become a normal school, and whenever I visited my girlfriend at the time who went to University of Michigan, I would see chalk on their campus for one thing or another and thought: why not KU too?

It got me really depressed to have people hate so much on delivering Chipotle (this was before the Chipotle on Miller Rd opened), but I eventually brushed it off. After that term ended, Muhammad Ghias and I went to meet up with Mike Duncan for coffee, a Kettering grad who started a startup that went through Y Combinator. When I told him about the whole situation, he just responded: "Didn't that same thing happen with Mark Zuckerberg and facemash at Harvard?"

Erin: Any experience involving Jose Cuervo.

Khalid: I was able to co-op in London for 7 months. Incredible working experience.

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August 20, 2017

News Memoirs of a Senior Continued from page 11

5. If you could go back, how would you better utilize your experience and education?

Dillon: I would've been more open to moving around for a co-op and possibly gone out of state for the best opportunity I could find. I also would've read more on personal development and focused on self-improvement.

Eddie: Regarding formal education: Take more computer science and statistics, and realize that passion for engineering is a long term investment. You may not like it initially (I didn't), but the harder you work, the better you get. The better you get, the more competent you feel, and the more competent you feel, the more you really start to like it. This takes a long time to pay off, but when it does, you have a very valuable payoff on your hands. Read Paul Graham's essays, too.

Regarding experience: I'm surprised at how few people hustle. Learn to do it early. I unintentionally got a co-op in Silicon Valley working on nuclear reactors after tweeting at the CEO asking for nuclear engineering book recommendations and how undergrads could better help push forward nuclear power. Also, actually subscribe to The Wall Street Journal and The Economist and read every issue (get it delivered to your fraternity!). It's important to understand the macroeconomic trends of industry, and this knowledge is like compound interest (so aggressively invest a lot very early on!).

Erin: I never want to go back... but if I had to I'd probably try to network more and utilize the connections Kettering has with alumni.

Khalid: I would take full advantage of the malleability of Kettering business. I would try to create entrepreneurships within Flint using Kettering business talent and resources. It would be a goodwill to Flint while at the same time turning a profit and giving students real world, practical experience.

6. Did your co-op provide you anything of value or vice versa?

Dillon: I did gain problem solving, public speaking, and necessary technical skills from my co-op while providing them with someone to do the work they needed to be done. That being said, I think that the co-op program is hyped up past what most students can actually expect to gain from it, which in reality is a slight advantage over other students who've completed two or three summer's worth of internships.

Eddie: I've been to multiple companies, and it felt like some did and some didn't. What's surprising

about the ones that didn't, however, was that their context was way more valuable than I had expected.

I landed some unbelievable co-op offers after having some (what I thought was) crappy experience very early on.

I have a lot more thoughts on this, so if you're reading this, feel free to email me or ask me a question on Quora.

American Life in Poetry: Column 645

By Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate

Erin: The co-op experience made me realize how much I value a work life balance. Don't get me wrong, I loved working at my co-op, but I came to the realization that the reason why I chose engineerPoets are experts at capturing those moments ing is so that I can live my life financially comfortwhen one thing reminds us of another. Here snow able while also being able to vacation and enjoy life reminds Catherine Stearns of something we can the way I want to. imagine took place years before. Stearns lives in Massachusetts, and her most recent book is The Khalid: Co-op was an incredible learning experiTransparency of Skin, (New Rivers Press). ence, but at the end of the day, your co-op employer owes you nothing. I worked my entire undergrad at one company and they did not have a position for me.

Snow in August

7. What would you study if you could do it all over again?

Dillon: Although chemical engineering is a great department and challenging major, I think I'd study electrical engineering because I think I would've been more interested in the content. Since current technology is developing heavily in hardware/software more than anything else, I would've felt more secure in applying for jobs that sound interesting to me now.

Eddie: When I got to Kettering, I wanted to study both electrical engineering and computer science, but the departments were disjointed and the classes never synced up. It wasn't until later that I only got to take CS 101, 102, and 211.

With a flick of her wrist, she broke the chicken's neck and set it on her lap where my sister's head had just been. Over her bare knees dangled waxy yellow bird feet, while the white feathers she began to pluck fell all around us.

This is a great sign that the ECE Department and CS Department should merge. Both disciplines are essential for building incredible products, and it's a We do not accept unsolicited submissions. Amerimajor disservice to EEs to not guide them to take can Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry more CS. Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by I also wish Chinese were offered when I was a the Department of English at the University of freshman!

Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2015 by Catherine Stearns, “Snow in August,” from The Cortland Erin: I don't regret choosing chemical engineer- Review, (Issue 66, 2015). Poem reprinted by permising, but maybe I would consider studying some- sion of Catherine Stearns and the publisher. Introthing along the lines of computer sciences, since so duction copyright ©2017 by The Poetry Foundamany companies are looking for software engineers tion. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served right now. However, I am kind of computer illiter- as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry ate (I own a MacBook) so I should probably stick to to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. chemical engineering.

Khalid: Creative writing, flight school, computer science. In that order at a different university.

August 20, 2017

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The Technician

News Review of Splatoon 2 Nathan Schleh Staff Writer One of the largest hit games for the relatively unsuccessful Wii U was Splatoon, Nintendo’s first venture into the popular multiplayer shooter genre.

With over 4 million copies sold, it was obvious that a sequel would come following. Now the squid-kids are arriving on the Switch, bringing new weapons, levels, and modes to play, all of which give a fresh take on the still young franchise. But even after two years and a brand new system, can this game really stand out on its own, or is it just an enhanced port of the original?

From the very start, the game looks much more polished than its previous-gen counterpart. It is obvious that Nintendo has increased the budget for the presentation of this game, with an extra layer of polish added to every model, texture, environment, and even the ink itself. Characters are much more vibrant with the details in how they move, and because of this, they are able to show off much more character in even the slightest of movements, whether that be a simple bow or a record scratch.

The new hairstyles as well offer a surprisingly large window of customization, giving the player many ways to stand out from the rest of the squids in the world. The ink, too, has been given much more detail since the original, with a more detailed texture map that really makes it shine, or in single player, adds a layer of glitter to every splotch, making it look all the more dazzling.

The single player has also been upgraded headand-shoulders above the first, however not without setbacks of its own. The story, for one, is almost a carbon copy of the original, with the great Zapfish, the power source for all of Inkopolis, having been stolen by the Inklings’ sworn enemy, the Octarians,

once again. It is not all the same, however, since this time you are accompanied by Marie, one of the hosts from the first game, to save her friend Callie.

Marie basically takes the place of Cap’n Cuddlefish from the first game, and adds much more personality to it. The gameplay has received a much-needed revamp from the first game, with almost every level giving you an opportunity to use a different weapon and giving you lessons in how to use all of them, as opposed to being stuck with using the standard assault-rifle type gun in the first game. That all being said, while the campaign was short but still fun to play, I couldn't help but wish there were a little bit more story content to experience.

The game really shines when it comes to battle mode, and despite not having all that much more than the first game, adds a few details that really do start to change the way gameplay works. The main mode, turf war, remains mostly unchanged from the first, still being a battle over territory in a competition of covering the most amount of space you can in your color ink. The ranked modes consist of three modes, two of which have been modified from the first installment. Splat zones function mostly the same, as something of a king-of-the-hill match where the players are trying to cover a specific area with ink and hold it for as long as possible. Tower control is still your basic payload type battle, with each side trying to take control of the tower and ride it to the other team’s base, but now has three added checkpoints along the way that the teams must continue past. Rainmaker is something of a capture-theflag mode, with both teams going after the weapon known as the “rainmaker’” and carrying it to the opposing team’s spawn, which now fires something of an ink explosive rather than the tornado projectiles of the first game. The maps as well have improved, now with many new maps and some returning maps remixed, containing hazards and gameplay elements from the single player campaign. The largest change to the main gameplay, however, functions as something completely different than anything else in the

Photo courtesy of Nintendo

game, but might just be the best part of Splatoon 2.

This new mode comes in the form of Grizzco, a sort of horde mode where you and three other players go up against the ink monsters known as the salmonid in an attempt to get objects known as power eggs, which the powerful boss salmonid drop. Unlike the normal grunt-like salmonid you face, each boss salmonid has a specific attack style, as well as a unique way of defeating them. This is where the real fun of this mode shows itself; you and some friends working together to find where the salmonid are coming from, and how you go about defeating them. But don’t get overconfident from how simple it seems -- this mode is hard. You only have one life, so if you’re splatted you can only be revived by one of your teammates, who are constantly being bombarded with more salmonid to take care of. If all four team members go down, it’s over, and you’ll be brought back to the menu. Overall, this mode gives a new challenge to what was once familiar, and offers a new way to play with others cooperatively like never before. However, this is still a Nintendo game, and the developers messed it up in a very Nintendo way. You can only play this mode online during select times, and there can be moments where 3 to 4 days pass with no openings, which makes little sense in the grand scheme of things.

Even with all of its high points, there are still many things about Splatoon 2 that I just can’t help but raise an eyebrow at. The game modes and stages are still only available in a cycle, though it has been changed from 4 hours to 2, and you aren’t forced to watch a cutscene and be booted to the menu every time the rotation changes. Even with these changes, I still would like it more if I didn't have to wait a few hours just to play my favorite mode, since sometimes it could take hours for the right mode to be available. In addition to this, Nintendo has done their best in including some kind of voice chat, but it is still hindered by Nintendo’s reluctance to adapt to modern systems. For one, all voice chat must be done through an app on your smartphone, forcing

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August 20, 2017

Kettering University Fire, Smoke, and Explosion Evacuation Plan All fires must be reported to Campus Safety (810)-762-9501, including those that have been extinguished. Do not hesitate to activate the fire alarm if you discover smoke or fire.

It is important that you take the time to familiarize yourself with the following fire evacuation policy: Upon notification of an alarm of fire, immediately take the following steps: • Alert people in the immediate area of the fire and evacuate the room.

• Confine the fire by closing doors as you leave the room.

• Activate a fire alarm by pulling on an alarm box.

• Notify Campus Safety of the location and size of the fire by calling 911 from a campus phone, or (810)-762-9501 from a cell phone, or using a Blue Light or Emergency Telephone. Always call from a safe location.

• Evacuate the building using your nearest exit. Instruct your students to report to the pre-determined meeting site. (See the attached Fire Alarm Evacuation Assembly areas sheet.) Do not use elevators to evacuate unless directed to do so by emergency responders.

• Assist disabled persons with the evacuation process as outlined in the Emergency Response Guide.

• Notify emergency responders of the location, nature and size of the fire once you are outside.

If you have been trained and it is safe to do so, you may attempt to extinguish the fire with a portable fire extinguisher. Attempt to extinguish only small fires and make sure you have a clear escape path. If you have not been trained to use a fire extinguisher you must evacuate the area.

If clothing is on fire: • • • •

Stop - drop to the ground or floor and roll to smother flames.

Smother flames using a fire blanket.

Drench with water from a safety shower or other source.

Seek medical attention for all burns and injuries.

Fire Extinguishers • If you have not been trained to use a fire extinguisher, you must evacuate.

• All fire extinguishers are inspected and maintained by Campus Safety.

• Any fire extinguisher that has been used at all, even if it wasn’t fully discharged, needs to be reported to Campus Safety so a replacement can be provided.

Once outside each instructor is to conduct a roll call to account for all students. Immediately contact Campus Safety (810)-762-9501 if there are students not accounted for.

Fire Equipment Fire equipment is to be used only in the event of a fire. Any use or misuse must be reported to Residence Life staff immediately so it can be restored to useful condition with no unnecessary delay. Tampering with fire horns, alarms, extinguishers, extinguisher covers, exit signs, instruction signs, sprinkler systems, smoke detectors, heat detectors, and other equipment is unlawful and may be punishable by restitution for repair/replacement costs and expulsion from Kettering University.

When evacuating during an alarm, students are expected to stand clear of all building exits, regardless of weather, so that emergency personnel can freely access the hall. For students who choose to use the campus tunnel during evacuation, the minimum distance acceptable for building clearance is beyond the second set of double doors, located at the basement elevator lobby of the Campus Center. Residence Life staff will inform their students of the assigned location for their unit in the event of an evacuation.

Lack of cooperation during drills, either by failing to evacuate or by not evacuating to a safe distance, will result in disciplinary action.

Students will be processed through the discipline system for creating or reporting false alarms. In the event an alarm is pulled or tampered with in any fashion and the result is a building-wide evacuation, students of the building will be assessed a $25.00 charge to their account for each false pulls. Fire drills are performed every term by Campus Safety and Residence Life staff.

Emergencies •If any kind of alarm sounds, EXIT the building immediately

–Failure to evacuate may result in judicial sanctioning

–Go as far away from the building as possible •Thompson Hall staff NEVER pull a false alarm

–For every prank false alarm, EACH resident is charged $25.00 unless we find the person who pulled the alarm •During a Tornado Alarm evacuate to the tunnel

August 20, 2017

Splatoon 2 Review Continued from page 13 you to choose which audio you want to hear. Another problem with the app is in order to continue to stay connected, you must have the app running at all times, awake and active. This means if you want to respond to a text message, or your phone goes to sleep after a short amount of time, you will have to go through the connection process all over again.

It’s things like these that make me wonder just why Nintendo is so reluctant to accept things like ingame voice chat, since all this app is doing is hindering their progress.

The sequel to the hit squid-kid multiplayer shooter definitely has its problems, but it shows that Nintendo is still capable of making a worthwhile game.

Even early on I had spent hours playing through salmon run mode, trying with my team to defeat wave after wave of salmon monsters and reaping the rewards that came with it. Playing multiplayer is still a wonderful time splattering the environment with ink, allowing everyone to feel like they are contributing to the success. And with more content to come in the coming months, this will definitely be an exciting game that is able to keep you occupied and entertained for the foreseeable future.

The Technician

News

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Review of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Michael Millmine Guest Writer I’m a little late to this review, writing it weeks after its initial release date on July 21, 2017. As such, I was inevitably subjected to the biases and opinions of friends who had seen the movie before I me. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is about a special operative duo named Valerian and Laureline who travel the galaxy fighting crime and completing assignments given by the Ministry of Defense.

At the beginning of the movie, a brief introduction to the universe is given before getting thrown right into the thick of it. For someone who hasn’t read any of the comics, this felt quite off-putting. From the very beginning I didn’t connect with the two main characters played by Dane DeHaan (Valerian) and Cara Delevingne (Laureline). Their characters were introduced quite brashly and their personalities felt like they were missing something. The duo’s backstory was rarely touched upon, only giving us a look into their relationship and explaining why they were partners. I had no reason to care for these charac-

Photo courtesy of Stx Entertainment

ters; they had no dynamics except for their generic love cliché. The story itself is also guilty of being hollow. It was just your typical hero movie story.

However, the thing I took away from the movie wasn’t how cool the characters were or how awesome the story was, it was the visuals. The whole movie is eye candy. Every scene had my eyes and imagination wanting more. The CGI was colorful and vibrant and left you wanting to know more about the universe and what other beautiful worlds are out there. From the very beginning of the movie you’re hit with gorgeous scenery from alien worlds.

Even in the vast openness of space the screen was filled with gorgeous galaxies and nebulas.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets lacked a lot. The plot of the story wasn’t very interesting or unique, and the characters were very static. However, walking out of the theater I still enjoyed the movie. Would I go see it again? No. Was it worth the price of a movie ticket? Absolutely. The gorgeous visuals stimulated my imagination and left me wanting to know more about the comics that this movie originated from.

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Entertainment

Photo: A shot of the Mott Center at sunset

Puzzles courtesy of puzzles.ca

August 20, 2017