SCIENCE
Students experience zero gravity in a plane
KU group one of 20 teams chosen by NASA to conduct experiments in zero gravity while flying on a Boeing 727
BY KEVIN HARDY khardy@kansan.com
Several KU students had the opportunity to do something few have done before — defy gravity.
Five students participated in the NASA-sponsored Microgravity University in Houston from March 6 to April 4. The students designed, built and performed their own experiment that was tested in micro- and zero-gravity environments.
The students called their team SMART-HAWKER2. They sent their experiment proposal to NASA in October and were one of 20 teams chosen from more than 200 research proposals.
heated up the wire while it was inside the robotic arm, causing it to retract back to its original shape and move the arm.
Lake Wooten, Mission Hills senior, said the experiment tested shape memory alloys, wires that can bend and contract but still remember to return to their original shape. They stretched the wire and placed it inside a robotic arm. They then
The team tested the robotic arm while flying under unusual conditions in a Boeing 727 to experience zero gravity
From left,
Stephen Hinton,
Olathe junior,
Karen Ohmes,
Hutchinson junior,
Bowe Neuen-
schwander, Hoxie
senior, and a NASA
flight official
experience zero
gravity while testing
their robotic arm.
Five KU students
participated in the
NASA-sponsored
Microgravity
University, in which
they designed, built
and tested their own
experiment.
"I tried to stand up during that part of the flight and I couldn't because I was so heavy."
"Basically we werejusttesting the range of motion of our robotic arm." Wooten said.
The plane rapidly ascended and descended from an altitude of 24,000 feet to 32,000 feet. While descending, the plane's into-
part of the flight and I couldn't because I was so heavy," Wooten said.
Wooten said that because of how difficult it was to work with a constant change in gravity, the team fitted the robotic arm with mechani
"I tried to stand up during that
LAKE WOOTEN Mission Hills senior
rior experienced zero gravity for 20 seconds, causing the passengers to feel weightless. While ascending, the passengers felt the opposite — extremely heavy.
cal instruments.
Karen Ohmes,
Hutchinson junior
and aspiring astronaut, said it was harder to work in microgravity than it was on the ground.
"It's amazing how pushing a button will send you flying in the opposite direction because you don't
Contributed photo
ber with fighter pilot masks to simulate flying at a high altitude and to experience hypoxia, the body's reaction to a lack of oxygen. Wooten said everyone reacted differently — some acted intoxicated, some acted happy and giddy, and one person blacked out and had to
receive emergency oxygen.
The students also toured Johnson Space Center to see where NASAs astronauts train for missions. As part of the tour, the five students were put in a cham-
have gravity keeping you still."
"I started moving really slow,' Wooten said. "Time passed faster while you didn't have enough oxygen, which is kind of interesting."
Ohmes said the group's experiment could eventually help to replace gears on aircraft and spacecraft with more economical malleable wires.
"We can decrease costs and the weight," Ohmes said. "It works well in a microgravity environment."
Ohmes said the group's trip and
'ONE-STOP WITHDRAWAL'
SEE NASA ON PAGE 6A
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN
Betty Childers, the Veterans Affairs certifying official for the Office of the Registrar, places a binder containing guidelines for working with student veterans on a shelf in her Strong Hall office. Childers assists veterans with many aspects of student life at the University, including easing the transition when active-duty and reserve personnel are called up to deploy with military units while enrolled in classes. "One-stop withdrawal" allows students to remain enrolled while deployed. Childers said she would like students to be more aware of the services her office provides.
Office serves those currently in service
Students in military can remain enrolled if they are deployed while at University
At about this time three years ago, Felix Zacharias, Wichita junior and Marine Corps sergeant, was preparing to take final exams. For him, the tests fell between spending two weeks
bpfannenstiel@kansan.com
At the time of his deployment, the only option for students who were serving in the military during the semester was to drop out of school.
in California for basic training and been deployed to Iraq.
He said his e-mail account was deactivated and he was removed from the University's system. He said he didn't understand why students in the military were treated differently than students who studied abroad.
"At the time, it didn't really matter if you had orders in your
hand or not, you had to drop out." Zacharias said.
"The way the policy was being implemented was a little unfair to veterans," Zacharias said. "It wasn't intended to be, but it was. Within some part of the administration there was some misunderstanding."
SEE MILITARY ON PAGE 6A
CLAS to accept language classes
BY DAVID UGARTE
dugarte@kansan.com
In an attempt to encourage students to study less-popular languages, the University will allow some of them to fulfill the CLAS foreign language requirement.
Marc Greenberg, chairman of the department of Slavic languages and literatures, said the University's new Center for Global and International Studies was trying to find ways to entice students to try learning less-commonly taught languages, LCTLs, available at the University. He said the
Maggie Childs, chairwoman of the department of East Asian languages and cultures, said that two weeks ago the heads of foreign language departments met to discuss changing the requirements for students studying obscure languages. They agreed that some languages should be allowed to fulfill the requirement with a four-semester sequence of three-credit hour courses.
William Tsutsui, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, led the meeting. He said it would be up to individual language departments to determine whether the change could be made. Students studying a foreign language are usually required to take two 5-hour classes and then two three-hour classes for a total of 16 hours. He said most languages, including Hindi, which will be offered for the first time in Fall 2009, would continue to use that model.
SEE LANGUAGE ON PAGE 6A
index
Classifieds. 4B Opinion. 5A
Crossword. 4A Sports. 1B
Horoscopes. 4A Sudoku. 4A
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2009 The University Daily Kansan
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPRINT SEES GAINS
Despite subscriber losses, Sprint gained prepaid customers. BUSINESS I 6A
weather
TODAY 71 55
WEDNESDAY
Scattered t-storms
THURSDAY
AM showers
81 59
weather.com