Wednesday
January 22, 2003
Vol. 113. Issue No.80
Today's weather
22°
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
ANSAN
Tonight: -6°
A
Tell us your news
Contact Kristi Henderson, Jenna Goepfert, and Justin Henning at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
No bad blood as the Jayhawks face the Buffaloes tonight p.1B
Doctoral students to receive incentives
By Jessica Hood
jhood@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Graduate students thinking about coming to the University of Kansas will have more financial incentives from the Office of the Chancellor and graduate alumni.
The Graduate School will be using promised funds to support 21 new doctoral students by 2005 and two additional Chancellor's Fellowships per year throughout the next three years, starting next fall.
John Augusto, assistant dean of the Graduate School, said the Graduate School was hoping to recruit high-ability doctoral students to the University with the additional scholarships.
Being able to offer such scholarships can be an important factor in a student's choosing a program, he said. With the additional scholarships, the University can be a more The Graduate School will be using funds to support 21 new doctoral students by 2005 and two additional Chancellor's Fellowships per year over the next three years.
tractive option to prospective students.
"Some people say it is most important;
some say it's the second important after program quality," Augusto said. "But really they go together. You have to have both."
All departments offering doctoral programs can nominate incoming doctoral students for the Chancellor's Fellowship. A Chancellor's Fellowship consists of a stipend, tuition payment and a teaching assistant position paid by the Graduate School.
Departments offering graduate programs submitted proposals to obtain the supplemental scholarship funds. The American studies, chemistry, molecular biosciences and psychology departments will receive $4,000 to support new doctoral students. The Intercampus Graduate Program in Communicative Disorders will also receive the supplemental scholarship. Students chosen must also be receiving research or teaching assistant positions in their departments.
Augusto said the committee looked at a number of factors when deciding what departments received the supplemental scholarships.
"We looked at how well they recruited doctoral students,how they mentored students so they would complete the program,"he said.
The committee also looked at how visible the graduate faculty was in the area of research.
Norman Yetman, chair of the department of American studies, said he was pleased his department received one of the supplemental scholarships.
"Our biggest problem in the past has been we were a student's number one choice and then another school would offer them more money," Yetman said.
With the supplemental scholarship, the department could be sure more students would come to the University, Yetman said.
The funds being used for the supplemental scholarships were the result of a Kansas University Endowment Association campaign. The campaign targeted alumni who had received a graduate degree from the University.
—Edited by Jason Elliott
Kansan staff illustration
Illness on the rise
Flu cases spread to Lawrence
By Nikki Overfelt
noverfelt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The official flu season started in November, but Lawrence and the University of Kansas are just now starting to see the effects.
Several schools in the Lawrence area have had a large number of absences, and Bishop Seabury Academy canceled classes because of the virus last week.
Watkins Memorial Health Center had not treated many cases of the flu until KU students returned from winter break, said Myra Strother, associate director and chief of staff at Watkins.
Strother said the biggest confusion with the flu was mistaking the stomach flu for influenza. The stomach flu involves gastrointestinal problems, and the flu is an upper-respiratory infection, she said.
Flu activity should increase within
"I finally decided to get the flu shot.Ever since then I stopped getting the flu all together."
Benjamin Lissner Highland Park,Ill., senior
the next few weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Influenza is an airborne virus that includes symptoms such as fever, headache, extreme tiredness, dry cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose and muscle aches.
Strother said seeing a doctor when symptoms first occurred was important. Anti-viral medications that are given to treat the flu work best when the virus is caught within the first 72 hours, she said.
Strother said students could prevent the flu by getting the flu shot. Although
it's well into the flu season, she said it was too late for the shot to be effective.
Benjamin Lissner, Highland Park, Ill.,
senior, said he had been getting the flu
shot for the past three years at Waltkins.
"Every year I would get the flu," he said. "I finally decided to get the flu shot. Ever since then I stopped getting the flu all together."
At Watkins, flu shots are $10 for students.
Besides the shot, Strother said it was important for students to wash their hands and keep themselves well-rested.
"The healthier we keep our own bodies, the better we can fight off any virus." she said.
Elaine Houston, immunization coordinator for the Lawrence Health Department, said it was important for students to get the flu shot, especially right now with the increase of flu cases in Lawrence.
— Edited by Erin Chapman
Vandals tear down anti-war sign
Bv Kevin Wiqs
By Kevin Wriggs
kwiggs@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
An anti-war sign that Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave., had displayed to passers-by had been torn down.
The 20-by-4-foot sign that had been constructed by four University of Kansas students and put up Monday night had been ripped from the ground and folded over. No permanent damage had been done and the sign was put back up.
When the Rev. Thad Holcombe went to work yesterday morning, he saw something he could only describe as discouraging.
The sign, which says "No War in Iraq:
Not in Our Names" in thick black lettering,
is supposed to be autographed by those who oppose the anticipated war in Iraq. It was put up around 5 p.m. Monday.
"It was polite vandalism," Holcombe said. "They could have taken a knife to it or used graffiti or something. But it's still frustrating."
Mike Lee, Lawrence senior, said that the goal of the sign was to attract attention to the issue of the war. Lee, who helped build the sign, said the vandalism did not surprise him.
"I was hoping for civility," he said. "It was obviously someone who feels strongly, and I have no problem with somebody disagreeing. But it was still inappropriate."
"I expected it," he said. "It just displa- plays a difference of opinion."
Lee said he wished that whoever vandalized the sign could instead use the energy for a more productive solution.
While Holcombe didn't anticipate vandalism, he did expect a variety of responses.
"It will definitely motivate us to keep it up, even if we have to take it down at night," Holcombe said. "We will probably attach it more securely, but it will be up even if there is a war."
Holcombe said the incident would not cause the church to take the sign down early.
— Edited by Erin Chapman
Lindsey Gold/Kansan
The Rev. Thad Holcombe and administrative assistant Kara Holcombe work to put back a sign created by four KU students after it was torn down Monday night or Tuesday morning. Ecumenical Christian Ministries will keep the sign up but may take it down every night.
Professor aids NASA supernova research
By Amy Potter
apotter@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Claude Laird, adjunct professor of physics and astronomy, has never seen the movie Armageddon. He admitted he hadn't watched the majority of Hollywood pictures glorifying the potential harm of asteroids or any other falling debris from space.
What he does know is that Hollywood might be a tad disappointed to read about his latest research on supernovae, which Laird said wouldn't make for an exciting movie.
Laird
Laird teamed up with NASA which
gave $70,000 in funding for the project. The scientists determined that a supernova — a massive star explosion would have to be much closer than previously thought to have devastating effects on the earth.
"I was initially disappointed when we came up with a regular result. Actually, of course, no news is sometimes good news." Laird said.
For Laird's part of the study, he used the Space and Physics Lab at the University of Kansas to create a model. He used gamma rays from the most recent supernova, SN1987a, which occurred outside the Milky Way galaxy in 1987.
Past studies indicated that a supernova 55 light years, or 55 times the distance light travels in a year, from Earth could release gamma and cosmic rays that would be harmful to the ozone layer. Laird and his colleagues found that the number could be lowered to 26 light years.
"We knew how far away it was. So we used physical laws," Laird said. "As we moved it closer in our model, you could see what the impact would be."
Neil Gehrels, an astrophysicist for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said he selected Laird for the project because he was one of the best in the country.
John Cannizzo, a contractor for Goddard Space Flight Center, has worked on the project for the last two years. He studied the effects of supernovae on the ozone layer.
"The main upshot of this is that it looks like supernovae don't have a very powerful effect on the depletion of the ozone," Cannizzo said.
Laird said if a supernova reached a distance of 26 light years from Earth, it could result in a 50 percent depletion of the ozone layer.
"It's not an absolute distance. We think it's in the ballpark." Laird said.
The odds of a supernova reaching 26 light years is one in 670 million.
For Laird and his colleagues, seven years of research is drawing to an end. Their research will be published in the March 10 edition of the Astrophysical Journal.
"It is exciting because we are telling our colleagues and the public about the results now," Gehrels said. "It's interesting to hear their comments and reactions."
Two weeks ago, they presented their findings to the American Astronomical Society.
"We only got five minutes," Laird said. "We got several questions, more than most presenters."
—Edited by Christy Dendurent
V
答
1
0