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THE TUFTS DAILY
TUFTSDAILY.COM
TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015
VOLUME LXVIV, NUMBER 37
Where You Read It First Est. 1980
Tufts Dining spices things up on theme nights by Aaron Pomerance Assistant News Editor
Recently, student organizations including GlobeMed, Tufts Timmy Global Health and BUILD: India worked with Dining Services to host an event at Carmichael Dining Center called “A Taste of Global Health,” according to Dining Services’ Nutrition and Marketing Specialist Julie Lampie. With the help of senior Matt Ryan, who serves on the executive board of Tufts Timmy Global Health, the dining staff at Carmichael Dining Center put together a meal featuring Guatemalan, Nepalese and Indian cuisine on March 5. Dining Services puts together many theme nights at both DewickMacPhie Dining Center and Carmichael Dining Center during the school year, working alone or in coordination with outside groups, as was the case for “A Taste of Global Health.” Theme nights expose students to foods and cuisines they may not have tried otherwise, according to Patti Klos, director of dining and business services. Lampie said that the theme nights generate a
lot of enthusiasm on campus and offer students the opportunity to try new cuisines together. “Food is about socialization,” she explained. “Not everyone is well-traveled or [has] tried new things.” Lampie also explained that students and staff have the opportunity to try more unusual foods during these themed nights, such as oxtail and goat. Klos added that theme nights encourage students to socialize together around a special event. “[ Theme nights] provide an opportunity for students to rendezvous at the dining halls,” Klos said. Klos explained, however, that theme nights are more than just an opportunity to try new foods and socialize on campus — they can provide a space for dialogue about different issues and events. “[ The dining halls] are trying to be part of a collective experience because the students are so interesting,” Klos said. “[ The students] make it possible to do other kinds of things and be creative.” Previous theme nights have included “Balance your see THEME, page 2
Two assistant professors receive NSF CAREER awards Remco Chang and Qiaobing Xu, assistant professors in computer science and biomedical engineering, respectively, received the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award, giving them grants to pursue research in their fields. Chang is an assistant professor of computer science who received the award for his research on how users interact with computers. He said that his goal of his research is to improve interaction between people and computers in order to make the analysis of large data easier to understand and visualize. According to Chang, the way users interact with a computer is unique to each individual, a pattern he described as “almost like a fingerprint.” Chang explained that he started to realize how rich this user interaction pattern was about six or seven years ago, when the financial crisis began. He said that our ability to collect data is rapidly increasing, and with huge amounts of data, analysts are
not sure how to approach it. Chang wants to focus on what the computer can do to help make this data more digestible so that analyzing millions of records of data is less overwhelming for analysts, he said. Xu, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, received the award for his research on new proteinbased therapies for diseases such as cancer. He is trying to find a new approach to deliver the protein-based drugs into the cells to stop cancer from growing and prevent other diseases. He started the research four years ago, he said. Chang explained that in order to qualify for the award, one has to be an assistant professor, tenured within five years. Each qualified applicant is given a maximum of three tries to win the award, and protects the interests of young starting faculty, according to Chang.
—by Meagan Adler
Evan Sayles / The Tufts Daily
The central heating facility as seen on Sunday, March 22. Construction on a new Central Energy Plant (CEP) is currently underway.
Construction on new, more efficient energy plant begins by Jei-Jei Tan News Editor
Tufts has begun construction on a new Central Energy Plant (CEP), which will use high-efficiency cogeneration technology and will be located beside the existing one next to Dowling Hall. According to Lauren Martin, communications specialist at the Office of Sustainability, the 2013 Campus Sustainability Report outlined sustainability goals for Tufts in the three areas with the greatest environmental impact: energy and emissions, waste management and water. The university realized that it needed to look thoroughly at the energy situation on campus, Vice President for Operations Linda Snyder said. She added that the university commissioned an energy master plan which featured three recommendations for improving the areas highlighted in the original report. According to Snyder, the plan recommended that the university pursue a comprehensive energy metering system, a central energy plant and a central chilled water plant. The new CEP will address the last two of the three recommendations by using natural gas to produce steam alongside electricity, Snyder noted. According to Director of University Energy Programs Randy Preston, the CEP will
Inside this issue
not only generate electricity for the Medford/Somerville campus, but will also generate steam for heating and chilled water for cooling. “Through cogeneration, the heat waste derived from energy production will be harnessed and used for heating and cooling purposes on campus,” Betsy Byrum, education and outreach coordinator at the Office of Sustainability, told the Daily in an email. “This is not only more efficient, but will also lead to a reduction in the university’s greenhouse gas emissions, thus moving Tufts toward its goal of reducing emissions by 10 to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.” “It’s an opportune time for Tufts to make that kind of investment,” Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell said, adding that otherwise the current central energy plant would need to be repaired. Snyder explained that the current energy plant was built in the early 1960s and had been nearing the end of its useful life. According to Snyder, it has a lot of facility liabilities, and at least one of its boilers urgently needs to be replaced. “We realized that the university could pay itself back for its additional commitment within about 10 years,” Snyder explained. “The overall cost is about 46 million dollars, and we project savings of between three and four million dollars
a year. It became really clear that this was a good investment.” Preston added that the CEP’s on-site energy generation will reduce the university’s greenhouse gas emissions by about 12 percent. “When you buy power off the grid, it’s not very efficient,” he said. “There’s a lot of line losses between where it’s generated and here … We’re generating our electricity right next to where it’s being used, so there’re not big transmission losses.” Preston added that the CEP is also more efficient at generating energy than many plants that are currently being used. “The overall plant is more efficient, because we’re not only getting power out of this, we’re also getting heat as a byproduct of it,” Preston said. “Whereas a typical power plant throws that extra heat away, we’re going to use it to heat buildings or to cool buildings.” The CEP would produce up to 80-90 percent of the electrical requirements of the Medford/Somerville campus, Snyder said. Preston explained that it would be able to cover the campus’ energy load during 80 percent of the year. As a central chilled water plant, the CEP would also produce chilled water and distribute it to buildings around campus for air conditioning purposes, according to Snyder. This would replace see ENERGY, page 2
Today’s sections
“Seymour” documents the life of the former concert pianist and celebrates his love of music.
As reigning champions, members of the softball team look to dominate this season.
see ARTS, page 5
see SPORTS, back
News 1 Features 3 Arts & Living 5 Editorial | Op-Ed 8
Op-Ed 9 Sports Back