Monday, September 25. 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 3
Dinosaur display wanted
Collection needs bigger building for new exhibits
By Jason Krall
By Jason Krall writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
The Natural History Museum lacks the space to display the University of Kansas' growing collection of bones, but KU scientists say a dinosaur display hall would solve the space problem.
Craig Sundell, graduate student in vertebrate paleontology, is currently digging in Wyoming and hopes to find more of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, the head of which he stumbled upon in the spring. He thinks the T. Rex could be the largest ever uncovered.
Sundrell is also searching for the rest of what could be the largest brachiosaurus ever found. He calls it Bigfoot.
"It's three times larger than the others we've found," he said in a telephone interview from Lusk, Wyo.
These specimens would join the family of brachiosaurus,
one skeleton of a small hipsolothodon, two duck-billed dinosaurs and a triceratops head that are stored at the Natural History Museum already and could be displayed in a new building.
One option is to display the dinosaur bones in a building addition to Dyche Hall, home of the Natural History of Museum. It currently houses KU students' dino discoveries. Another proposal is to build a new facility on West Campus.
Brad Kemp, assistant director of public affairs for the museum, said there was not yet a time line or budget for the project.
"We envision it as a life sciences hall, where the lessons of environmental change of the past can teach us about environmental processes today." he said.
A discovery of a brachiosaurus family found in the summer of 1997 made the life sciences hall a possibility. The Natural History Museum possessed some dinosaur fossils prior to that, but a crew of KU vertebrate paleontologists found two complete adult skeletons and about 70 percent of a juvenile
skeleton. The find was something that would draw visitors to a hall devoted to dinosaur exhibits.
The family was originally discovered in the 1940s during a late-summer dig on a Wyoming farm by a group of Nebraska paleontologists, who covered up the fossils intending to return the next summer to continue their work. But when World War II broke out, the site was forgotten.
Larry Martin, curator of vertebrate paleontology for the Natural History Museum, pinpointed the location of the site several years ago.
The University paid the farm owner about $30,000 for the fossils, said Kemp, who went on the dig that found the family.
Martin said the University had many spectacular dinosaur.
"If we get the space, we have the potential to have a dinosaur exhibit as good or better than the ones in Chicago and Denver," he said, referring to exhibits at Chicago's Field Museum and Denver's Natural History Museum.
Jacqueline Kozisek, Stone Park, ill, junior, works on the microscopic preparation of a paleozoic tetrapod. The fossil is thought to be about 270 million years old. Photo by Justin Schmidt/KANSAN
— Edited by John Audlehelm
Jewish foundation gives students a free trip to Israel
Birthright Israel wants to encourage visits to homeland
break.
By Leita Schultes
writer@kanson.com
Kanson staff writer
Eve Kate, Birmingham, Ala., junior, went to Israel last year and was moved by the sight of a sunrise over the Dead Sea.
The cost of her trip — nothing at all — was equally amazing. The same opportunity will be available to as many as 40 students during winter
Katz took the trip through Birthright Israel, a foundation committed to providing Jewish students with a trip to a land their religion has deemed both home and holy.
"If you are Jewish, it is your right to live in Israel," Katz said. "That's the point of Israel."
But students do not have to be especially religious or involved in Judaism to take the trip. Last year, 6,000 students from around the world participated in Birthright Israel, representing a diverse group.
"If you are Jewish, it is your right to live in Israel."
Eve Katz
Birmingham, Ala., Junior
Sue Shafer-Landau, 'faculty adviser for Hillel, a Jewish student organization at the University of Kansas, said diversity was one goal of the program. She interviews students who apply for the trip and said she would try to select a cross section of the
Jewish population on campus.
"The trip was designed to reach out to Jews who are not involved," she said.
In fact, the foundation began as a way for Jewish students to maintain their identity through universal bonding.
"It's about Israel," Shafer-Landau said. "It's about Jewish identity. It's not really about teaching people an orthodox way of practicing Judaism."
She said the trip could be especially meaningful for Jewish students, who represent a minority at the University of Kansas. it
instilled pride in the 20 students who went last year, she said, and allowed them to see a world where everyone is Jewish.
The trip is funded by Birthright Israel, the State of Israel and the Jewish Federation.
Students who identify with the Jewish people and have never gone to Israel with a peer group are eligible for the trip. Shafer-Landau said. Applications for the trip are available at www.hillel.org and are due Thursday, Oct. 5.
— Edited by Kimberly Thompson
Police laptops help to extend officer mobility
By Rob Pazell
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
University of Kansas public safety officers have increased their mobility and time spent on the street with the addition of laptop computers in their squared cars.
The computers, which are set up on a wireless land system, were put in squadr cars this year as part of the Public Safety Office's long-term goal to go to a paperless system.
Sgt. Troy Mailen said that when the system was fully in place officers would be able to fill out and file reports on the laptops and send them to the main system for review, saving them time in the station.
The laptops and hardware were purchased through a $33,000 Cops More grant. Mailen said the computers were mobile personal computers selected for their ruggedness, durability and mobility, which allows officers to use them to take field notes.
"It gives greater exposure to officers," he said. "It puts the officer out on the street for a longer interval."
Mailen said one of his favorite aspects of the system was its detachable, backlit keyboard.
"You can actually remove the keyboard and set it on your lan." he said.
The backlight feature allows officers to work in the evening without turning on the lights. Mallen said the detachability and backlighting features gave officers the ability to work while maintaining visual observance of what's going on around them.
"The guys working at midnight don't have to find a well-lit lot," Mailen said. "They can pop on their backlight and go."
For now, officers can use their laptops to access e-mail in the Carruth O'Leary Hall parking lot. Mailen said the public safety office was in the process of setting up other antenna sites in two separate north and south districts. This would keep officers in their districts instead of having to move to a central location to access the system or write reports.
"Carruth O'Leary was our test site," Mailen said. "We've seen it work, and it works quite well, so we're going to expand upon them."
Officer Josh Leon said he and his fellow officers thought the laptops were great because they opened up possibilities for versatility.
"We don't want to come up here and spend an hour on a report," he said. "Being able to get things done away from the station is a big plus."
—Edited by Erin McDaniel