W E D N E S D A Y
August 2, 2017 Vol. 35, No. 50 ONE DOLLAR
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of Oak Park and River Forest
Albion: Building will block most winds
Cool Down Oak Parker Marisa Munoz and her son, Nathan Munoz, 3, take time to cool off at the Ridgeland Commons Recreation Complex pool on July 27. More photos on page 3 and online at www. oakpark.com.
Proponents take turns voicing support for tower proposal By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
The Oak Park Plan Commission continued its deliberations last week on a proposal for an 18-story mixed-use residential building on Lake Street in downtown Oak Park. The proposed building by Albion Residential, which would be just west of the 21-story Vantage apartment building at 150 Forest Ave., has faced fierce opposition from some residents, primarily because of its potential impact on Austin Gardens, a public park immediately north of the Albion site. Among other things, opponents have argued that the building would worsen the so-called wind-tunnel effect created by the Vantage tower, which was built last year. Albion issued a wind study as part of its planned development application, arguing earlier in July that its proposed building would reduce the increased winds that roll down the side of Vantage, blasting pedestrians on the sidewalks below. Hanqing Wu, technical director and principle of Canadian-based wind and microclimate consulting firm RWDI, appeared before the commission Thursday, July 27, explaining that the proSee ALBION on page 14
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Neuroscience a draw at Dominican
More than 100 educators nationwide attend workshop By THOMAS VOGEL Staff Reporter
Oak Parker Bob Calin-Jageman, a professor of psychology at Dominican University and director of the school’s neuroscience department, premiered a new computer program July 27 to a dozen or so professors in a lab on the university’s River Forest campus, as part of a national conference with educators and
researchers from across the country. The group included some of the more than 100 college faculty from universities across the country who gathered on Dominican’s campus last weekend for the 2017 Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Workshop, a four-day event with educational discussions, feature presentations and lab demonstrations. Attendees came from all over the nation, including Emory University, Cornell University, Harvard University and the University of California-Berkeley. The program, dubbed “Cartoon Network,” took Calin-Jageman a few days to design and is open-source, free and available online at github.com/rcalinjage-
man/cartoon_network. “We want college instructors to use it, we want elementary and junior high school students to use it,” Calin-Jageman said. “We hope it’ll get out there and people will use it.” Cartoon Network allows users to manipulate animated neurons — the basic building blocks of brain systems — on screen to create communication pathways in a mockup of a central nervous system. Then, a small white robot wired into the computer responds — it drives in circles, lights up, or turns a certain direction — based on the users on-screen See BRAINS on page 15
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