Volume 124 Issue 144
kansan.com
Friday, April 27, 2012
CAMPUS
TRAVIS YOUNG/KANSAN
Wednesday afternoon at Eaton Hall Colin Davidson, a senior from Overland Park, describes his project to Zach Garber, a sophomore from Overland Park, on how it takes air through a wind turbine and transfers it into a compressed air tank.
Engineering seniors compete in showcase
MARSHALL SCHMIDT mschmidt@kansan.com
Engineering seniors competed for a $500 top prize, which was awarded to the highest-rated senior project at the third annual Senior Showcase. The event was on Wednesday evening in Eaton Hall.
Each engineering department selected their best projects for the competition, which was judged by representatives from Hemco Corporation an engineering corporation from Independence, Mo. that produces laboratory devices and appliances.
"Projects are judged on their use of the design process, their technical quality, and their implementation to society," said Megan Ketchum, a senior from Ottawa and officer of Engineering Student Council, which sponsored the event. "Some of these projects will actually be used in companies."
Ketchum said besides the judging aspect of the showcase, the event allows upperclassmen to give younger students an idea of what they will be doing for their future projects.
The showcase had two divisions conceptual design and project design in which there were five and nine entries respectively.
The jet engine design won first place in the conceptual design division. Second and third places were awarded to the airplane and petroleum designs, respectively.
In the project design division, the Jayhawk Motorsports electric car won first place. The Jayhawk Motorsports combustion car and the solar thermal heating systems won second and third place, respectively.
in the same division.
The first place projects won $500;
second, $250; and third, $100 in each
division.
Andy Petz, a senior from Lawrence, and his 10 civil engineering teammates showcased their display project — a canoe made entirely out of concrete.
The team just returned from the annual American Society Civil Engineering regional conference where it raced its canoe. The canoe, despite its concrete material, completed the 600-meter race in 5:30.
"We are showing off what we are trying to accomplish all year," Petz said.
Kim Fisher, a Billings, Mont., senior in petroleum engineering, and her two teammates won third place with their conceptual design entry. The group developed a secondary recovery for Brexco and Vess oil wells found in Thomas County.
"Usually there's at least 80 percent of oil left in a reserve after primary production," Fisher said. "Without our system, it would become uneconomical to pump the rest of the oil."
The team's proposed system would flood oil wells with water, which would push the remaining oil to the top and allows the company to double the amount of oil it produces from each well.
The team will travel to Wichita next week and present its project to companies, and it hopes the proposal will be put into production.
"We've put in countless hours working on this project," Fisher said. "We hope they choose our design," Fisher said.
— Edited by Corinne Westeman
COME FLY WITH ME
MIGRATING MONARCHS
Warm weather brings swarms of butterflies to Kansas.
MARSHALL SCHMIDT
The Monarch Watch habitat
mschmidt@kansan.com
Swarms of monarch butterflies are migrating to Kansas earlier than usual this spring because of the recent warm weather.
Chip Taylor, professor of insect ecology, runs Monarch Watch out of Foley Hall on West Campus, which acts as a preserve for the study, preservation and habitat for the butterflies of Lawrence.
"I have never seen this many butterflies before this time of year, in this garden or anywhere in Kansas," Taylor said.
Within the past week, Taylor has seen a great influx of the butterflies migrating from Texas, where fall and winter moisture provided ideal conditions for a boost in monarch populations.
contains a garden full of flowers and milkweed, which are necessary for monarch preservation. It also sees 10 to 15 butterfly species besides monarchs.
Since 2005, Taylor said, more than 5,300 similar habitats have been created and registered with Monarch Watch, with an additional 10,000 unregistered. These habitats are made in an effort to reverse eroding butterfly habitats, he said.
"We are losing so much habitat due to development — 6,000 acres everyday," Taylor said. "Monarch populations are much lower now than in the '90s."
the main food source for
Monarch Watch is hosting a plant fundraiser on May 12 from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. to sell 5,000 plants helpful for butterfly populations. Four thousand of these plants are milkweeds,
the main food source for Monarch caterpillars. Taylor also encouraged students to come to Monarch Watch to see the preserve anytime, as it's always open to the public.
Leslie Reece, a senior from Manhattan, has been working as a researcher at Monarch Watch since August. Reece helps raise monarch caterpillars and butterflies in the lab and is researching the respiration rates of male and female monarchs.
"My favorite part is learning about the species and the preservation of the habitat," Reece said. "We need to take care of their habitat and environment."
Chris Elniff, a senior from Baldwin, helps coordinate efforts to plant milkweeds as part of the
"Bring Back the Monarchs" campaign, which is a
part of Monarch Watch.
"I like having the opportunity to promote monarch preservation, because it's such a visible species," Elniff said.
He also noted how the unseasonably warm weather is bringing monarchs to Kansas earlier than ever, because the flowers are blooming earlier.
Taylor said the monarchs' livelihood in Kansas this year will all depend on the weather.
"If the weather patterns that we have now continue, this is going to be a boom year for pollination, and monarchs will bounce back," he said.
- Edited by Corinne Westeman
FILM
Documentary prompts race discussion in schools
XIN LI/KANSAN
Patrick Monroe, a senior from New Berlin, Wis., looks through a lens to focus a shot for his documentary. The documentary features the "Can We Talk" program at Free State High School, which focuses on racial issues in public schools.
XIN LI
Sylvia Yimer, a graduate student in the School of Social Welfare, went to visit the program "Can We Talk" at Free State High School. "Can We Talk" is a localized part of a national program. Yimer said her visit was driven by her interest in race equality in public schools.
editor@kansan.com
CLASSIFIEDS 7      CRYPTOQUIPS 4      SPORTS 8
CROSSWORD 7       OPINION 5      DUDOKU 4
A group of University students is producing a documentary called, "Courageous Conversations about Race," a program encouraging high school students to face racial issues.
Yimer said the program was meant to facilitate understanding of different races and reduce the academic performance gap between white students and students of minority groups. She said she was surprised by how unrecognized the program
Last September, Yimer brought the documentary idea to a University student club, the Documentary Film Society. The student club was just established by then. The president of the club, Patrick Monroe, a senior studying film, was excited to hear about the idea.
"Film can be used to make change and be the outlet for voices that are marginalized to be heard." Yimer said. "These kids wouldn't get an opportunity to get their stories heard without someone giving that to them necessarily."
Monroe said it was great to know that Sylvia was as dedicated as he was to filming and directing.
II contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
"It was easy to tell how passionate he was about his work and how eager he was to help us," Yimer said. "The interview with Glenn is by far the most important interview for the film."
The program is inspired by the book "Courageous Conversations about Race — a Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools," by Glenn Singleton and Curtis Linton. In February, Yimer and Monroe flew to San Francisco to interview and film Singleton.
was. Yimer decided to make a documentary to raise awareness of the program.
Yimer said Singleton was person- able. The author set aside more than four hours of his day to meet exclusively with Monroe and Yimer.
"Since we started, we were focusing on funding and didn't have
anything solid to work on," Monroe said. "Then Sylvia called me with this golden idea"
Monroe said a lot of work needs to be done to make the documentary successful and he hoped they could eventually send the documentary to film festivals. He hasn't yet announced a release date.
Monroe said the project would expand through the school year and develop into a 70-minute feature.
"As a filmmaker, I hope this will be a calling card not just for me, for the club, but for KU," Monroe said. "We want to show people what KU students are capable of"
During spring break the team conducted an interview with a Free
State High School student who said to have benefitted from the program. Yimer said their next goal was to set up an interview with Tim Wise, one of the leading authors on race and racism in America.
Don't forget
Edited by Anna Allen
Today is the Brown Bag Drag Show sponsored by SUA, Queers & Allies and Kicker. This is the last Tunes @ Noon of the year.
Today's Weather
净
Showers and thunderstorms are likely, otherwise mostly cloudy.
HI: 67
LO: 54
don't get struck by lightning