FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14. 2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Students develop leadership, network
ByLauren Airire
lairey@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Student Organizations and Leadership Development Center will host the 16th annual Blueprints Leadership Conference tomorrow.
The one-day conference at the Kansas Union focuses on leadership fundamentals to develop new leadership skills. The conference is also designed to help students make connections necessary to be an effective leader, said Erin Michaelis, event organizer and Hays senior. About 90 students, mostly underclassmen, will participate.
"For me, the main benefit of these leadership workshops is getting to know people on campus, both other students and faculty," Michaelis said. "It's a great networking tool."
The conference is planned by Michaelis and Irakli Mirzashvili, Ness City, junior, 2002 Ex.C.E.L. award winners.
The two students have been planning the workshop since last fall with the help of Rueben Perez, coordinator of leadership, and a planning committee of 10 students.
The conference will focus on small-group discussion, with two upperclassmen facilitators leading groups of 15 students. Students will talk about the 11 speakers scheduled for the conference and problems or concerns associated with leadership, Michaelis said.
Al Bohl, Kansas athletics director, will open the conference. The day is broken up into three sessions with three speakers per session.
The conference will close with Barbara Ballard, associate vice provost of Student Support and Kansas state representative.
Many of the University's most recognized student leaders have participated in the Blueprints conference, said Johanna Maska, Galesburg Ill., junior. Maska participated in the conference during her freshman year and is now Student Senate legislative director.
"It's not necessarily what the people there have to say and it's not about a particular icebreaker. It's who you meet." Maska said. "I'd definitely say it helped me."
Edited by Todd Rapp
By Amy Potter apotter@kansan.com kansan staff writer
Research tests if back belts are right fit
Back injuries account for nearly 20 percent of all injuries and illnesses in the workplace and cost the nation an estimated $20 to $50 billion per year, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The mechanical engineering student is researching if back belts really work. Because stores like Office Depot are using the belts now, she chose to research their use, she said.
To combat this expense, employers have turned to back belts. But according to Kelley Briant, Dallas junior, back belts have never been adequately tested to see if they help to eliminate back injury.
Briant places five sensors on her subjects that connect them to a computer. She has the subjects bend to a specified angle shown on the computer screen. Then they have to match the angle of the computer screen from memory without a back belt and then with a back belt on.
"We're suspecting that people can match the angle better with the back belt on, as opposed to doing it without the back belt," Brian said.
The purpose of this test is to see how people bend beyond their
limit, which is what leads to back injuries, she said.
Sara Wilson, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is Briant's supervisor. Briant's work is part of a larger set of research dealing with the prevention of lower back pain.
Wilson said the immediate impact of Briant's research would stem from finding out if Office Depot and Home Deport were doing the right thing when purchasing back belts for their employees.
"Is it useful or not useful?" Wilson said. "Then they will have some justification in buying them."
Nathan Haley, customer service manager at Lawrence's Office Depot, said all associates in his store were required to wear back belts. He said the employees have had no back injuries.
"We attribute no back injuries to extensive training on safety and the use of back belts," Haley said.
Wilson said she wanted Brian to eventually write a paper and present her research at a conference.She anticipates government agencies will be interested in her research.
"It's actually a really practical problem," Wilson said. "It's something that's going to have an impact and generate lots of interest."
For her research Briant was
Dan Nelson/Kansan
Kelley Briant, Dallas junior, uses a computer connected to sensors on the back of Jessi Wilson, Wichita sophomore, to measure the movement and curvature of the spine at a lab in Learned Hall. Briant's research examines the effectiveness of back belts.
awarded a $250 Undergraduate Research Award in January. Wilson said the equipment for her research came from other studies.
The only expense was the back belt itself.
— Edited by Michelle Burhenn
Kansas City air quality zone may include Lawrence
Bv JJ Hensley
jhensley@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
On the map, Lawrence and Kansas City, Kan., are separated by about thirty miles. A decision this spring by the Environmental Protection Agency could ensure the two cities aren't separated at all, at least in terms of air quality.
Depending on the recommendations received from Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' office in April, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could include Miami, Leavenworth and Douglas counties in the Kansas City air quality zone. Depending on the
new standards imposed by the EPA, that zone could be considered non-attainment.
Non-attainment zones are those areas where air quality falls below the federal standards for pollutants in the Clean Air Act.
The decision would essentially equate air quality in those counties with that of Kansas City. But the air quality in Douglas County isn't that great to begin with, said Karl Birns, professor of environmental studies at the University of Kansas.
"The health department did some preliminary air quality readings not long ago by the KU nature preserve," Birns said.
"that's a pretty pristine area, and we were right on the border of being a non-attainment zone then."
If Douglas County is judged to be 'non-attainment' local health officials must take steps to ensure their airborne pollutants did not exceed federal limits.
Those steps could include additional air monitoring in Douglas County and providing reformulated gasoline to motorists from April through September, said Sharon Watson, public information officer with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Reformulated gasoline reduces
emissions of ozone-forming compounds from cars during the high- ozone summer season.
In 2002, Pennsylvania motorists paid an average of two to three cents more per gallon for reformulated gasoline before tax, than they paid for regular, or oxygenated fuel, according to the US Department of Energy.
"The state needs to work with the communities to figure out what does and doesn't make sense to meet their requirements," said EPA engineer Lee Daniels. "Supplying reformulated gasoline may or may not be one of those things."
One of the steps the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has already taken to improve air quality in Douglas county is to increase the monitoring frequency in recent years, even though the increase wasn't mandated yet.
"We did it so the change wouldn't be as drastic," Watson said, referring to the monitoring increase that will occur if Douglas county is included in Kansas City's air quality zone.
The reasons for potentially including Douglas county with Kansas City rest on a few factors. Watson said, including the daily commuter traffic that streams
into the metro area from all three counties under consideration.
"The KC metro area is always on the cusp of being a non-attainment area," said Daniels. "It bounces around a lot."
Douglas, Leavenworth and Miami counties might soon join it.
Following the governor's recommendation in April, the EPA will finalize and publish the national non-attainment zones. Local and state governments then have three years to suggest a plan of action that will keep them in compliance with EPA standards.
— Edited by Anne Mantey
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