UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, February 26, 1996
3A
Darcy Coles / KANSAN
Mary Beth Moddrell,12, makes faces at a slow-motion video camera as Megan Davis,11, and Regan Ramp, 11, watch. The three girls attended the 1996 Engineering Expo Friday afternoon at Learned Hall on a school field trip from Hillcrest Elementary School, 1045 Hilton Drive.
Learned Hall exposition has fun with engineering
By David Teska
Kansan staff writer
Larry Lee jumped slightly as 22 pounds of steel destroyed his bridge.
"It held more than I expected," said Lee, a freshman from Campus High School in Havesville.
Lee and about 750 other students interested in engineering converged on Learned Hall last Friday and Saturday as Engineering Expo'96 presented the world of engineering.
With all classes canceled in Learned Hall, all six departments in the School of Engineering turned their efforts to showing the fun the side of engineering.
Tom Mulinazzi, associate dean of engineering administration, said the expo's carnival atmosphere hasn't always existed. In fact, he said, a few years ago, the expo nearly died. Mulinazzi said he told the students that if they didn't expo around, he'd cancel it.
Students would come to the expo and then choose to attend Kansas State University, he said.
Within a couple of years, Mulinazi said they'd gotten organized
and turned the once-dry expo around.
The expo's festive mood permeated Learned Hall as students competed in design contests and experimented with hands-on displays.
Shaun McCreight, Pomona High School junior, helped make an entry for the Rube Goldberg contest. The students had to design, build and operate a device that turned on a light bulb without the use of any power source. Like inventors before them, they found things don't always work as planned. When the weight dropped on the switch, nothing happened.
"We had it working really well before we got here," he said.
On the third floor, would-be airplane designers tried flying handmade gliders. In addition to earning points for the distance flown, the students' gliders had to carry a raw egg safely down the hallway.
Nate Bohannan, Campus High School freshman, took to the contest with obvious zeal. Bohannan's plane traveled about 20 feet but took out a piece of ceiling tile along the way.
Graaf generator, a device that sends an electrical charge through a human being, were interactive and educational in nature. While touching it, the students could illuminate a nearby fluorescent bulb. Despite promises of safety, some students remained apprehensive about its effects.
Other exhibits, like the Van De
"You could feel the electricity running through your body," said Meghan McCaffery, Blue Valley Northwest High School sophomore.
At the department of electrical engineering and computer sciences display on the World Wide Web, Nidal Ghosheh, Mission senior, didn't have much to do. Ghosheh was on hand if students needed any help surfing the net, but that wasn't necessary, he said.
Brad Spickert, Columbia, Mo., junior and vice president of the Engineering Student Council, said the expo couldn't have gone any better than it did.
"It seems everyone knows what they're doing, so we're pretty impressed with these kids," Ghosheh said.
Women striving to recruit more female engineers
"This year by far, has topped anything in the past," he said.
By David Teska
Kansan staff writer
and Heidi Hinman Kansan correspondent
Women engineers are normal.
That message was passed on to about 100 Kansas high school women Friday at the Society of Women Engineers Outreach Day. Held as part of Engineering Expo '96, the students met women engineering students and faculty at the University of Kansas and learned about the opportunities that exist both at the school and the field of engineering.
"Our No. 1 goal is to inform women about the different kinds of engineering programs available to them," said Leslie Cherven, Wichita senior and coordinator of KU women's engineering programs.
Cherven said a major obstacle to encouraging women to study engineering is that unlike male students, women have few role models.
Marylee Southard, associate professor of chemical and petroleum engineering and the society's faculty sponsor, said educators need to attract capable women into engineering at an early age.
"If they're not convinced they want to do this, we're going to lose them," she said.
Cherven said once enrolled, female students face the reality of how challenging engineering is. Many leave the program during their freshman and sophomore years when they start earning Bs and Cs, she said. The society works to counter that negative trend, she said.
Rita Zeimer, Leavenworth junior, said that belonging to the society had given her the support she needed to stay with the program.
Another event sponsored by the society was the Mr. Engineer Contest. Eight male engineering students competed for the title of Mr. Engineer. Seth Dunschick, Sullivan, Ill., junior, won the title.
Zelmer said the contest is a fun way to let the rest of the school know about women engineers.
Some students hadn't decided on a career and attended to learn more about engineering.
Revue closes 46th season
By Scott MacWilliams Kansan staff writer
The 46th annual Rock Chalk Revue came to a close Saturday night by playing to a standing-room-only crowd.
The living groups involved in the 1996 Rock Chalk Revue combined for a total of 30,429 hours of community service. Last year's Rock Chalk groups donated 19,000 hours. The fund-raising efforts netted $29,000 for the United Way this year, up from $16,000 last year.
Smith said her favorite act up to that point had been Cabinet Fever, by Delta Delta Delta and Sigma Chi. She said there had been no event at Tulsa University that compared to Rock Chalk Revue.
Audience members of all ages took in the show. Ramona SMIT sat in the hallway outside the theater holding her five-month-old grandson, Austin Judd, whose older brother participated in the show.
"We came from Tulsa this morning, and we'll head back in the morning." Smith said.
Following the final curtain call, the Rock Chalk staff presented awards. Most charitable individual went to Debbie Zetik, Tulsa, Okla., senior
and Kappa Alpha Theta member.
Trey Hohman, Topeka junior and Sigma Nu member, won the best actor award for his "Eddie the Eagle" ski jock portrayal in Crash Mountain Capers, and Holly Hopkins, Emporia senior and Gamma Phi Beta member, won best actress for her "Georgia" in To Hell with Her.
"I just about died when they called my name," Hopkins said. Hopkins said she had been surprised to win because she hadn't done any acting since high school.
The best show award went to Gamma Phi Beta and Sigma Phi Epsilon for To Hell with Her. Best supporting actor went to Jim Williams, Overland Park freshman, and Sigma Phi Epsilon member, for his "Disco Delty."
Erica Mejia, Oklahoma City sophomore and Kappa Alpha Theta member, won best supporting actress for her "Cha-Cha Chapstick." To accept the award, Mejia had to make her way through lots of cheering fans.
"I was just shaking at first, and then I was just on top of the world," Melaja said. "I've been really nervous all week because there were so many really talented people in the show."
Tyler Wirken/KAMKAM
Matt Peters, Wichita sophomore, of *Sigma Phi Epsilon*, and Annie Newcomer, German Town, Tenn., junior; Holly Hopkins, Emporia senior; and Julie Eaton, Wichita junior, of *Gama Phi Beta*, celebrate after receiving the best show award of the Rock Chalk Revue Saturday night at the Lied Center.
Calculus professor sees teaching in a whole different way
Pam Dishman/ KANSAN
Being blind has made teaching more challenging for Norberto Salinas, professor of mathematics.
By Jason Strait
Kansan staff writer
Although Norberto Salinas can't see what he's writing on the chalkboard, he knows what he's doing.
But for those students at the beginning of each semester who have their doubts, he has a message for them:
"I say, 'Half of this class is going to think I can't teach because I'm blind, that first half will drop in the first two days. The other半 is going to give me a chance, and that's who I'll teach."
Salinas, who was blind a birth, has been a KU professor in mathematics since 1980. This semester Salinas teaches MATH 121 and MATH 963, both courses in calculus, and also is working on a new, more efficient braille system with a group of international professors. He has taught undergraduates, graduate students and doctorate candidates, published more than 75 articles and has been the host of his own radio program for KANU.
But first and foremost Salinas is a teacher, albeit a blind one.
"I went into KANU and offered my services, and they let me do a program," he said. "The program was on folk music from Argentina."
"I just tell them that being blind has something to do with nature, not with what I can do," he said. "Sometimes it is a little challenging, even sometimes not totally successful."
Salinas' classes do have their obstacles.
Mariah Classes to have their obstacles.
Many of Salinas' students said it was hard to read what he was writing on the chalkboard in the beginning. But such difficulties didn't stand in the way of the students who gave him the chance.
"We had our doubts at first," said Tai Nguye, Wichita freshman. "But we got used to him after a couple of weeks, and I think he's a good teacher. He's not letting his disability get in the way of teaching us. I'm glad I took his class."
Although Salinas admits not everything is completely successful, he tries to make the
"I find out what they're like by the noises they make," he said. "By asking questions I can tell things by their voice, like if they're bored."
Salinas said he tried to create competitions in class between the students and told mathematical jokes to keep the students interested. Salinas admits the jokes usually fall flat, but according to his students, that's not the same case with his teaching.
Salinas said one of the major problems he has faced was that it was sometimes difficult to engage students when he couldn't establish eye contact. A problem, like most, he has found a way around.
"He kind of puts you at ease, because you can tell he knows what he's doing," said Caled Midgley. Merriam freshman.
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Along with illustrating examples on the chalkboard, Salinas prints out an outline of the daily lecture for each student and uses a computer that projects graphing problems on the board. He also tries to make the class entertaining.
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