Volume 124 Issue 84
kansan.com
Friday, January 27, 2012
the student voice since 1904
CAMPUS & TOWN
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT...
ANTHROPOLOGY IN PERU: INTERESTING RESEARCH BEING DONE BY A KU GRADUATE STUDENT
Peru is rich in information about humans and biodiversity. It is full of different cultural groups, linguistic groups, undiscovered archeology and regional history. Despite Peru being filled with everything an anthropologist dreams about, there isn't an anthropology department at the Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Tarapoto (UNSM) in Peru.
// KELSEA ECKENROTH
This is where Sydney Silverstein, a graduate student studying cultural anthropology, and a team of researchers from the KU department of anthropology come into the picture.
Silverstein and the other researchers are trying to collaborate with UNSM to eventually create a relationship between the two universities, one similar to the relationship between KU and the University of Costa Rica. "Our goal is that eventually the university has some sort of anthro department and that students from that university can do an exchange semester at KU and KU students can go down there and study," Silverstein
says.
The partnership will allow Peruvian students to obtain student visas and come to the United States to take courses that their universities don't offer due to lack of resources. KU students interested in Latin America, students wanting to study Quechua (an indigenous language spoken in South America that is offered at KU) and other languages, and students wanting to go to one of the most biodiverse places in the world will be able to do so.
For students interested in anthropology, the KU Office of Study Abroad offers a summer ethnographic field school in Peru. The program gives students the opportunity to study in the Peruvian Upper Amazon. Besides being an awesome learning experience, Silverstein says the field school is an important part of forming the relationship between KU and the UNSM.
// JOHN GARFIELD
In many senses, the technological growth of a nation is now measured by how much it can shrink its phones computers, mp3 players and the like. Keeping up with Moore's Law, to double the processing power and cut prices by half, is a pursuit that has forged the epicenters of modern technology. Meanwhile, one of the most advanced applications of this pursuit has been taking place right here in Lawrence. Carey Johnson, a KU professor of Chemistry, and Rongqing Hui, a KU professor of electrical engineering and computer science, have been steadily closing in on a method of making the cutting edge of laser imaging available to society as a whole. According to Johnson, Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Spectroscopy (CARS) is a method of laser imaging used in biomedical science to directly observe DNA and the other building blocks of life.
CARS works through triangulating the unique resonant frequencies of elements by emitting variable wavelengths of light, a method that both preserves the sample and eliminates unnecessary steps.
"CARS has been around for a long time, but it's been developed based on $300,000 laser systems that take up large optical tables," Johnson says. "It's not a very usable method of microscopy for everyday clinical use - it requires a very specialized lab and a system that's not portable."
By making use of a $156,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health Johnson and Hui stand a chance to revolutionize biomedicine and clinical work by re-engineering CARS to fit inside a shoebox. The project, scheduled for completion by 2014, could mainstream methods of DNA analysis and testing previously available only to the wealthiest and most prestigious institutions.
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM:JOHNSON AND HUI ARE PUSHING THE LIMITS OF OPTICAL ENGINEERING IN PURSUIT OF THE NEXT LEVEL OF IMAGING TECHNOLOGY. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
face.
"I wasn't meeting people," she said. "I was kind of going through people withdrawals."
Determined to overcome her situation she turned to the Internet. Jankord began to scour through blogs and websites in search of a solution to her problem. Her search first brought her to the 365 Project, an initiative in which participants take one photograph each day for an entire year.
"A lot of people I knew were doing the 365 Project so I decided to do something more original," she said.
Unlike the 365 Project, 100 Strangers is a project that requires socialization. The first objective of
Relentlessly, she continued to search until finally she came across something that was new to her and grabbed her attention.
class," Jankord said. "An elderly couple that I met by Potter Lake told me their life story"
She had hoped to be admitted to the School of the Arts to study photography, but was declined. 100 Strangers became an opportunity for her to pursue her love of art as well as to build confidence and overcome the difficulties of meeting new people.
The second half of the project is taking the photo (with permission) of the strangers who shared their story. While meeting new people and collecting the stories of strangers was appealing to Jankord, it was the second half of the project that intrigued her most of all.
"This project stood out to me because I wanted to do something that involved photography," Jankord said.
Setting out and onto campus
Often times it is this fear of rejection that stunts our bravery and keeps us from meeting new people. Overcoming her nerves, Jankord has continued to collect strangers and has now documented the photographs and stories of nearly twenty strangers.
"It really helped me get out there and meet people," she said.
"It was when I got my first rejection that I first got nervous," she said.
Jankord is not the only student on campus participating in the project.
She remembers not being very nervous in the beginning.
"I think what she's doing is pretty courageous, daring," Teron Gaumer said after sharing a story with Jankord and becoming one of her strangers.
Collin Baffa, a senior from
"In day to day life you walk past so many people and you just have a brief encounter, you don't even notice them," he said. "Now I'm stopping people and getting to know them and it's interesting because they're often a lot more friendly than you would think."
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Baffa, much like Jankord, began the project as a way to grow as a photographer and to break out of social timidity.
For more information about 100 Strangers, including portfolios of the project's participants, you can visit www.100strangers.com and www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers
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from them."
According to the 100 Strangers page on Flickr, there are currently more than 7,000 participants.
TYLER BIERWIRTH/KANSAN
Kody Collins, a sophomore from Overland Park, enjoys a non-alcoholic White Russian while dressed in character as "The Dude" during The Big Lebowski night at Jaybowl on Thursday. Students enjoyed free popcorn and bowling while watching the movie
Edited by Anna Allen
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contents, unless stated otherwise. © 2012 The University Daily Kansan
Don't forget
They've got shoes, but if you've got your own, bring 'em. Cosmic bowling at 10 p.m. at the Jaybowl in the Union.
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A. Break out those wellies!