The Technician Issue 2 Summer 2012

Technician• •

Thebulldogs.kettering.edu/technician

What’sInside

Greek to MeFraternies and

sororities, from A–Ω2

Where am I?Maps for every

building on campus16

Get InvolvedA list of clubs and

organizations8

KU–101Nicknames, stats,

and other fun facts

What’sInside

August 15, 2012 Volume 109 Edition 2

Around FlintArt Walk and Flint’s

Olympic gold medalist11

EntertainmentPuzzles, murder mys-tery, satire, and more

15

Sobey LectureOzzie Zehner discussed the ethics of solar cells

6

EAU UpdateTavakoli steps up to

lead program4

Kettering to Receive $15.5 Million Donation

Relay for Life Plans Underway

Summer Co-op Fair Arrives

An Interview with Tom Ayers

By Matthew WhiteAssistant Editor

With an office perched in the fifth floor of the Campus Center and sequestered away in a small hallway, it is unlikely that students have much of an idea who the Vice Presi-dent for Ad-ministration and Finance is, let alone his responsi-bilities. The job is broad in scope: it covers every-thing relating to account-ing, financ-es, human r e s o u r c e s , business op-erations, facilities, and even shipping and receiving. Clearly, everyone who visits, works, or studies on campus is directly impacted by the actions of the Vice President for Administration and Finance. In addition to these very important facets of campus life, the Vice President also sits as the Treasurer to the Board of Trustees.

Starting this term, Tom Ayers assumed the role as Vice President for Administration and Finance. Like Dr. McMahan, his bachelor’s degree is in the sciences (physics), rather than in business.

Continued on page 3

Tom Ayers, Kettering’s Vice President for Administration & Finance.

Photo courtesy of Kettering Communications

By Chloe HauxwellStaff Writer

The American Cancer Society’s premiere fund-raising event, Relay for Life, is coming to A-section. B-section has hosted it in the past, but because the event was moved to September 7 and 8 this year, it will now be available to A-section students. It is a 16-hour event, beginning at 6 pm Friday evening and ending at 10 am on Saturday morning. As of press time, the 66 participants distributed across 13 teams have already raised a cumulative $3,465. This year’s theme is superheroes, so each team can pick a super-hero as their theme.

There will be many different events throughout the day, including plenty of free food, a superhero costume contest, and a giant pillow fight. There will also be a volleyball tournament, ultimate Frisbee, and other fun games and activities throughout the night. Additionally, the Kettering Relay for Life will also feature the traditional three Relay for Life events: the Survivors Lap in dedication of the victo-ries achieved over cancer, the Luminaria Ceremony in memory of those who have fallen to cancer, and the Fight Back ceremony in a commitment to take up the fight against cancer.

For those who have not yet joined a team and would like to, registration is available at http://www.relayforlife.org/ketteringumi. Those who wish to donate to the cause or register as a survivor can also do so there. Remember, the point of the event is to raise money for cancer research, but it will also be a lot of fun for the whole campus.

By Anna CzekajStaff Writer

The job fair came to town the afternoon of August 2. Students dressed to the nines milled about the 5th floor, shaking hands, smiling, and talking, waiting for the co-op managers to open the doors; the Inter-national Room was filled with over 60 companies’ representatives, searching for the best and brightest co-op students that Kettering can offer. Between the hours of 12:30 and 3:00pm, students were free to wander about, visit with representatives, and gather information about various companies that drew their interest. While speaking, many students ended up with large amounts of logo-covered water bottles, ear buds, and bags, helping the students to remember each company.

The companies present spanned the whole range, representing almost every major on campus and a variety of industries. There were health care, com-puters, and of course automobile and automobile supplier companies. During this free roam period, select students were invited to have interviews with companies. Many of these interviews took place on campus from 3:30 to 6:00pm. Some companies were there to simply collect résumés and call back at a lat-er date, much to the chagrin of the students; many of these companies were distributing to specific de-partments or locations, letting each one handle the hiring of their own co-op students. Other compa-nies were not actually present, but had folders ask-ing for résumés of the requested majors. When sur-veyed, many freshmen received interviews, whether on campus or at a later date. Overall, the career fair was a success for students and employees alike.

Mott Foundation

Gift to be Largest in

Kettering HistoryBy Robert HayesEditor-in-Chief

On August 13, students, faculty, staff, and commu-nity members met on the lawn in front of the Cam-pus Center for a special announcement. The reason behind the announcement was kept a secret until the speakers took the stage—the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation announced a donation of $15.5 million to Kettering, to be disbursed over three years.

Continued on page 2

Neal Hegarty, Vice President of Programs for the Mott Foundation, announces the donation. Photo courtesy of Kettering Communications

The Technician

NewsAugust 15, 2012

TechnicianThe

Robert HayesE d i to r-i n- c h i ef

Kaitlin SoloveyL ayout Editor

Tyler Van EckCopy Editor

Rebeccah MacKinnonOnline Editor

Alan XiaDistribution Editor

Staff writersDevin Aryan

Erin BoyseAnna Czekaj

Chloe HauxwellAndrea Hays

Dominic JandrainCharles Mancino

John OliverChristian Pavkovich

Tylor SchramskiMarian Swagler

PhotographersMatthew HollandJoseph Stevenson

AdvisorsBetsy Homsher

Christine Levecq

Matthew WhiteAssistant Editor

Submissions PolicyThe Technician encourages all interested stu-

dents to attend staff meetings held every Tues-day and Friday over the lunch hour in The Tech-nician office (3-141 cc).

Submissions or letters to the editor are wel-come and will be published if space is available. The Technician reserves the right to edit submis-sions.

Please send any submissions to [email protected].

Continued from the front page

This donation, the largest single gift ever received by Kettering, adds to $29.6 million in grants donat-ed by the Mott Foundation to Kettering since 1983. These funds will enable Kettering to accelerate the implementation of President Robert McMahan’s strategic vision of growing the university while en-hancing our reputation as a leader in science, engi-neering, mathematics, and management higher edu-cation. To this end, the donation will enable several notable changes to Kettering, including enhanced admissions and alumni outreach programs, new aca-demic programs, and several major upgrades to Ket-tering’s campus.

The largest commitment related to admissions and recruitment came with the announcement of

a “first Community Center” which will allow high school students partici-pating in first Robotics to work on their robots at Kettering year-round. The center is expected to be built in the long abandoned gymnasium on the first floor of the Academic Building. Further enhancements to Kettering’s admissions programs are already under-way, thanks to the $2,006,000 grant re-ceived earlier this year, the first install-ment in the Mott Foundation’s pledge.

Most notable among the enhance-ments to Kettering’s facilities will come

with the announced re-placement to Elie’s Corner Grocery, commonly referred to by Ket-tering students as the “Stop ‘n’ Rob,” a less than flattering reflection on the dilapidated state of the store. The new building will be open to the community and will feature new dining options, and most importantly, a Flint Police mini station. The added police presence will augment Campus Safety patrols of Kettering’s campus, and should stabi-lize of the surrounding neighborhood as well, creating a safer atmosphere for Kettering students. Other improve-ments to Kettering facilities will come

in the form of upgraded laboratory facilities in the Mott Center, as well as the creation of new labora-

tory space in the Academic Building. Another major announcement revealed Ketter-

ing’s desire to add a new biology degree to our ex-panding portfolio of math, science, engineering, and business degrees. President McMahan empha-sized Kettering’s role in shaping future leaders in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields with the announcement of the program.

This donation from the Mott Foundation, com-bined with earlier donations, including the founda-tion’s work in enabling Kettering’s entry into the us Ignite program to bring enhanced broadband internet to Kettering, will serve as the catalyst for important changes to the university and will enable the school to continue its leadership in higher edu-cation into its next century.

Faculty, trustees, alumni, and special guests at the announcement ceremony. Photo courtesy of Kettering Communications

The Kettering community gathered for the announcement on the lawn of the Campus Center.


Above: Artist’s rendering of the new eatery and police mini station. Photo courtesy of Kettering Communications

The Technician August 15, 2012

Dr. Matthew O’TooleHometown: MuskegonGraduate School: Michigan State Univer-sityHow long have you been at Kettering: 2 yearsFavorite class to teach: Caculus IIFirst/current/favorite

car: Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra/Toyota Corolla/Pontiac Trans-Am

Biggest accomplishment: Finishing my Ph.D

Favorite Music to listen to: Steely DanFavorite restaurant in Flint: BlackstoneFavorite food: MexicanPet peeve with students: Can’t do their algebraFavorite book: Fahrenheit 451Favorite color(s): GreenWhat kind of phone do you have: SamsungFirst calculator: ti-81Favorite movie: Die Hard & The Shawshank Re-

demptionI don’t leave home without my: Speedway CupHow do you stay sane: Keep in touch with friendsFavorite sport to play: BaseballFavorite sport to watch: BaseballWhat do you do on your non-teaching term:

Work on my research

Favorite beverage: Diet PepsiCoffee or tea: Diet PepsiCompanies worked for before Kettering:Came straight here from grad schoolFirst job: Subway Sandwich ArtistOpinion on Ernie’s food: It’s pretty good; I go

about twice a weekFavorite TV show: Breaking BadTeam Edward or Team Jacob: Team EdwardWhat do you do for research: Neuroscience:

modeling the growth of axonsWhat was your dissertation on: The growth and

transport of materials in axons

Faculty Profiles

Prof. Art DeMonteHometown: Ann ArborHow long have you been at Kettering: 4 yearsFavorite class to teach: Introduction to BusinessFirst/current/favorite car: 1964 Chevy Impa-la Super Sport/Toyota Camry/Lincoln MKS

Biggest accomplishment: Completing a half-Ironman Triathlon

Favorite Music to listen to: Adele, Knife Party,

ColdplayFavorite restaurant: Star of IndiaFavorite food: Anything that doesn’t have moldLunch spot: Basement of the AB next to the Boiler

RoomPet peeve with students: Texting in classFavorite book: Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn RandFavorite color(s): Red, White, and BlueWhat kind of phone do you have: BlackberryFirst calculator: Programmable Texas InstrumentsFunniest memory from college: The professor

tried to sit on a desk and it brokeNicknames: Art, his daughters call him PopsFavorite movie: The Godfather: Part II don’t leave home without my: Contact LensesHow do you stay sane: Compete in TriathlonsIdeal vacation: Anywhere with a Beach

Favorite sport to play: BaseballFavorite sport to watch: Olympic Women’s Swim-

mingWhat do you do on your non-teaching term:

Went to Germany as a guest lecturer at a Ketter-ing-partnered university, but usually works with entrepreneurs

Favorite beverage: Iced TeaCoffee or tea: CoffeeCompanies worked for before Kettering:Dow Chemical in the it Department, at a Race-

track testing horses for drugsFirst job: Worked at Pathmark (Grocery Store) in

the Dairy Department and as a CashierOpinion on Ernie’s food: Not typically a favorite,

will eat it if necessary Favorite TV show: Jay Leno

Continued from the front page

In an interview with The Technician, his enthu-siasm and excitement about the future of the Uni-versity was pervasive. Spending seventeen years at his last post at Huntington University, Mr. Ayers remarked that he does not like to jump from job to job. Kettering, however, presented him with an op-portunity he had to take. The blending experienc-es of “new faces and old hands” on the President’s Cabinet allow for an effective and high-functioning team that can move the University forward.

For as important and overarching as his role is, Mr. Ayers retains a refreshing bit of humility. He says that his true goal is enablement: allowing others to do their jobs as effectively as possible. “Support has to be the mission of the University for students.” It would be his hope that all of the services under his umbrella become so consistently good that stu-dents, faculty, and staff no longer actively think about them. His example is dining: the dining ex-perience should be pleasant enough and appetizing so that there are no complaints but not so overdone that it becomes the focal point of a day. Mr. Ayers loves working on projects and looking at logistical problems like puzzles. He likes to help others think

through their own problems.There has been discussion about the future of

campus dining options for years. This term, both the Sunrise and Sunset rooms underwent overhauls. In addition, Mr. Ayers confirmed that Eli’s Corner Grocery will be closing in the near future. In its place, he offers an early-morning-to-mid-afternoon establishment serving not only the campus but also outside groups. Plans for Bj’s Lounge might include a late-night (possibly even post-midnight) offering, but Mr. Ayers holds no delusions about students’ dining habits. He knows that even if the University provided the exact same milkshakes, identical in every way to Mega or Westside Diner, the allure would not be there. He respects that, but recognizes that students may still need a late-night snack; staying on campus might be the safest and most convenient way to provide that service. Mr. Ayers would also work on the aesthetics of the space, which he finds to be lack-ing.

His dedication to the University and its mission will certainly be appreciated as more details of the Strategic Visioning Plan are released. Towards the end of his interview with The Technician, Mr. Ay-ers iterated that our purpose is to prepare for those who follow. His personality, penchant for problem-solving, and perspective will be a vital asset to the President’s Cabinet as the University moves towards its centennial.

InterviewAn Interview with Tom Ayers

Dr. Bahram Roughani (left) and Neil Sheridan (Right) welcome Tom Ayers to campus.



Tavakoli Steps up to Lead EAUBy Tylor SchramskiStaff Writer

Recently, there have been many changes to Ketter-ing University’s faculty roster. One of these changes has been to put a new faculty member as Director

of Entre-preneurship Across the University (eau) fol-lowing the d e p a r t ur e of Profes-sor Doug M e l t o n . The man to step up to the plate was Dr. Massoud S.

Tavakoli. Dr. Tavakoli has been with the eau since its inception. He was highly involved in entrepre-neurship pilot programs at the university and was also an early player in the extracurricular Kettering Entrepreneurship Society (kes). Due to personal re-search, Dr. Tavakoli was forced to withdraw slightly from the eau initiative for a time, but before Profes-sor Melton left, the two talked over making Tavakoli the Director, and the Provost agreed to it. Professor Melton moved on to become the program manager for keen, a network organization that promotes en-trepreneurial thoughts in all educational organiza-tions.

As Director of the program, Dr. Tavakoli is re-sponsible for almost anything and everything to do with entrepreneurship on campus. His main goals, however, are the same as the goals of eau itself: to

promote and instill entrepreneurial ideas and man-nerisms into the staff, faculty, and, most impor-tantly, the students. This shoulders him with the responsibilities of both developing new ways and programs to accomplish this task, and also analyz-ing and evaluating the effectiveness of current pro-grams. His current objective, he says, is “…programs that are sustainable; things that are internalized and able to be continued without extra funding…” The figurehead of these sustainable ideas is currently an innovation course for freshmen to take, teaching them how to look at products and problems cre-atively. The next step is a reworking of senior year to make it more flexible to allow for more opportuni-ty-seeking. Dr. Tavakoli says he wants to introduce the idea of an “Entrepreneurial Thesis,” which is a thesis that allows students to start their own busi-ness or create their own invention, and then write a thesis on it. These programs would promote the mindset Dr. Tavakoli is looking for, and would be internalized fairly quickly.

As for the current programs running in Ketter-ing, Dr. Tavakoli believes that they are working quite well. “It’s still relatively early for most of the programs we have instituted here at Kettering, so it’s hard to get a good feel for how well they will do in the long run, but so far there is a lot of evidence that the mindset of innovation and entrepreneurship is pervading the University.” He also says he wants to clear the air of the “fat-cat ceo” entrepreneur ste-reotype. “We aren’t strictly all about business. Sure, that’s part of it, but what entrepreneurship really is is idea development and laser-focusing your ideas into one big idea.” Dr. Tavakoli also said that Entre-preneurship applies to any and all disciplines, and is useful in any employed situation.

One of the most important programs eau has running is the Kettering Entrepreneurship Society.

This extracurricular society is dedicated to giving students interested in the eau initiative a launching point for their “big idea”. Whether a student wants to invent the next big product, create the perfect business model, or just become a 3rd-degree black-belt with gold stars in thermodynamics, kes can help them out. Basically, kes is an idea workshop. Students go to meetings with or without their big ideas in various levels of completion. They talk to their peers, bounce ideas off of each other, and help out where they can. But any old study group can do this. The real advantage is in the networking that kes offers members. kes has an extensive network of mentors and professionals in almost all disci-plines. And if students are interested in a particular area, they can meet with a mentor specific to their subject to help them along. This mentor can tell them what has been done already, what has yet to be accomplished in the field, and even offer some ideas of their own. If students get to know their mentors well enough, they will even get access to labs to test their ideas that they normally wouldn’t be able to go near. To top it all off, kes can even get them seed funding for their projects. Suppose all they need a little cash to purchase some basic building materials for a prototype or to get a web domain; kes can get them that start-up money so that they can get their brainchild off the ground.

With Dr. Tavakoli diving headfirst into kes and pulling out all the stops, new sustainability ideas being developed all the time, and a very promising freshman kes group, entrepreneurship may just have its day here at Kettering. Only time will tell if it actually takes root and succeeds, but until then, Dr. Tavakoli encourages all students to attend kes at least once, just to see what it’s about. Who knows? Innovation and opportunity may just be right up their alley.

Dr. Masoud Tavakoli Photo courtesy of Kettering

By Tylor SchramskiStaff Writer

According to a nationwide study of fraternity and sorority members, by belonging to a fraternity a student’s chances of graduating are increased by up to 10 percent. As incoming freshman start col-lege, going Greek is always a big topic that comes up. Whether or not joining a fraternity or sorority is right for them, if it will benefit them, and what they hope to gain from going Greek; all these ques-tions run through these new-comers’ heads as they consider going Greek. And if they decide that going Greek is right for them, it’s the question of which fraternity or sorority is right for them. There seem to be a few key factors that determine where they decide to go. Things like the people in each frater-nity and if there are similar interests, housing and living situations, meeting everyone from a specific fraternity or sorority, and just getting to know the people. It seems as though the fraternity and soror-ity recruiters are doing their jobs well this term at Kettering. In order to obtain a good idea of how students were responding to Greek life on campus, a survey was taken of roughly 50 freshmen on wheth-er or not they were considering going Greek, and if they were, which house they were considering.

Of the students interviewed, only 14 said that they were staying independent, while 28 said they were for sure going Greek and the remaining 8 are sitting squarely on the fence. When asked which fraterni-ties they wanted to pledge to, they responded with a good mix. The first place position was tied between Delta Tau Delta and fiji, each with 6 students de-claring their intent to pledge. Five students said they planned to join Phi Delta Theta, 4 said Delta Chi all the way, 3 students are Beta bound, and two students each for Sigma Nu and Sigma Chi. Don’t let this ar-ticle discourage the unmentioned fraternities, how-ever. There is still plenty of time to change minds, and this was only a small sample of the student population to begin with. Either way, Greek life is taking hold quite well with this incoming class.

Think Greek

Students decorate Delta Tau Delta member Joe Stevenson’s car with chalk at the Greek Week Barbecue.


Right: Students participate in Alpha Phi’s Alphatraz.



Spotlight on FlintFlint Crepe Company

By Dominic JandrainStaff Writer

A wonderful addition to Flint’s small selection of independent restaurants, the Flint Crepe Com-pany is a dapper little restaurant in downtown Flint. The Saginaw St. location, distinguished by the fixie adorning its overhang, opened in November of last year. Mouthwatering food and a cool, casual atmo-sphere make the Flint Crepe Company a great place for a delicious meal or just a quick snack.

The restaurant has a friendly, laid-back vibe to it, with order-at-the-counter service and a variety of both indoor and outdoor seating options. The flat cap-clad staff are very friendly, making food to order on the crêpe grills right at the front counter. The menu changes with the seasonal availability of locally-produced ingredients and includes both gluten-free and vegetarian options. A sizable list of their local food suppliers is prominently displayed on a chalkboard near the entrance.

The decor is perfect for the restaurant’s vibe, fare, and location. A mix of modern style and antique ac-cents is established with clean, plain concrete floor-ing, chalkboard menus, and white walls with occa-sional framed photographs and various furnishings evocative of the farms of yesteryear. The lighting ties it all together with the implementation of plain vintage light bulbs above the counter and strands of lights spanning from wall to wall.

The crêpes are available with a wide variety of fill-ings. Sweeter options include Nutella, berries, and cheesecake sauce, to name a few. Heartier crêpes are also available, such as their popular Reuben crêpe, the Applewood (a Mediterranean-style crêpe), and egg and cheese breakfast crêpes. Prices are quite rea-sonable, between four and nine dollars for a crêpe, depending on the filling. The coffee is a bit pricy, but whose isn’t? The crêpes are indeed delicious, I was quite impressed by the weekly special, the Caprese crêpe, which was filled with fresh basil, tomatoes, ba-con, mozzarella, and lightly topped with a balsamic vinaigrette sauce. The presentation was also nice; the crêpe was cut into sections and stacked tastefully on a white plate, garnished with fresh basil leaves and sauce drizzled in an elegant zig-zag. The meal was well worth the quick trip downtown, and I highly recommend the Flint Crepe Company as a unique, delicious dining option against Flint’s usual fare.

Address: 555 Saginaw Street Flint, MI 48502

A crêpe topped with cinnamon, sugar, cream cheese, and Nutella. Photo courtesy of Flint Crepe Company

By John OliverStaff Writer

The summer semester is a busy time for most clubs, and Kettering’s Student Government, ksg, is no ex-ception. They have been working hard on a variety of different projects to make the school a better place for both students and faculty. To start the term off, ksg’s Student Senate started recruiting new mem-bers by having a ksg day with ksg trivia and ksg members on hand to answer questions about Sen-ate; the only requirement to get food was to take an application. This has gotten many new students in-terested in getting involved in ksg, which has been a problem in the past.

Student Senate is also focusing on many upcom-ing events that need to be planned. The Safety Com-mittee is working on putting together a presentation informing students on how to pick safe housing. This would be a follow-up from their presentation “The Talk” with Jim Benford last semester, which gave helpful advice to students about campus safety and other safety matters regarding Kettering. There will also be a Constitution Day on September 17 to commemorate the signing of the constitution and inform students about the importance of the docu-ment.

Operations Council is planning a presidential de-bate for the ksg presidential nominees. They hope that students will be better informed to make their decisions when the time comes to vote as well as get an idea of who the candidates are and what changes

they want to make for the University. They have also set up Wings Night at Buffalo Wild Wings for 6th week Wednesday and the annual Late Night Break-fast to be held on Reading Day (11th week Wednes-day), events that students look forward to every term.

Academic Council is currently looking into the co-op system and seeing if providing a set of guide-lines to employers could better the co-op experience for all students. They are also trying to see if profes-sors could offer midterm evaluations for the course, so they could have feedback to make the class better before the term is over.

Finance Council is busy getting ready to plan the budgets for next term amidst ongoing budget cuts and trying to use the money that they do have as ef-fectively as possible. Finance Council is also work-ing on developing a more concrete policy for the Connie John Funds that have gone largely unused in years past because of lack of overall policy. The Connie John Fund is open to all students to request from to assist them in planning and paying for large, all-campus events such as concerts as well as requests for items like outdoor tennis courts and basketball courts. Be sure to look out for more information re-garding how to request consideration for this fund-ing in the near future.

Kettering’s Student Government has been work-ing hard to make student life here even better. To ensure that ksg keeps up the great work, student participation in the election that will be held all 8th week on Blackboard will be of great importance.

Exciting Plans for KSG

By Chloe HauxwellStaff Writer

The rha, or Residence Hall Association, has now had three meetings. So far, they have hosted view-ing parties for the Olympics, including a barbecue for the closing ceremonies last Sunday. They are also hosting a movie night later in the term. Last week, they also started planning a block party so the entire hall can get to know each other better. Each floor will have different activities and the party will be 8th week Wednesday, so Thompson Hall residents should talk to their resident advisors to start plan-ning. Some hall improvements currently in the works include fixing the laundry card reader, getting a new pool table, a ping-pong ball dispenser, and more.

Rha President Jade Carson noted, “rha is what the freshmen make of it. The events change based on what they want to do.” Whatever the Unit Rep-resentatives come up with at meetings is what the association runs. Hunter Casbeer, Vice President, also stated, “Any Thompson Hall resident who has an idea, don’t hesitate to come to an rha meeting to explain it.” If rha likes the idea and thinks it is fea-sible, they will set up a committee and try to make it a reality. Students living in the dorms can also go to their Unit Representative with any issues or ideas. That is a big part of their job, so students can feel free to talk to them with any ideas or improvements they want rha to pursue. The meetings are held ev-ery Sunday at 8pm in the ksg Room, located on the 3rd floor of the cc. All Thompson Hall residents are welcome to meetings.

RHA Update Crim PreparationBy Christian PavkovichStaff Writer

The Crim Festival of Races is quickly approaching and at a record-setting pace. This August 25 marks the 36th annual running of the Festival, ranked na-tionally as the 4th largest race of its kind. Runners all around the area will get a chance to test their mettle against some of the greatest runners from around the world. For Kettering students, the draw is obvi-ous. Those who signed up by the August 6th dead-line are able to run in the race for free. People are often seen running around campus, preparing them-selves for the race. Described as a “10-mile party” by race director Patricia Ball, there are water stands, bands playing, and crowds of cheering fans all along the course. One Kettering student, Cody Grant, hopes to finish the race in less than 70 minutes, pre-paring for the big day by “running close to 10 miles most days.” He laments that Kettering has “no real routes” for long-distances, having to run “the same 2 miles over and over again with no partner.” When asked what he plans on wearing, Grant said, “mostly naked except for a thin line of running shorts.” So when the big day rolls around in its brand new Nikes, many students will be preparing to run or to support their fellow students as they strive for victory. There are 6 races going on at Crim, ranging from a Teddy Bear trot to the 10-mile run. The 10-mile starts at 8am in downtown Flint.


Around CampusOzzie Zehner ‘97 Delivers Sobey Lecture

By Liam GrahamGuest Contributor

Better cars and faster phones are just a few staples of a continually-growing American paradigm: in order for Americans to be satisfied, there is a con-tinuous and frequent demand to replace material possessions with a better successor. It’s no secret that energy is needed to support the material possessions that Americans covet. It’s also no secret that fossil fuels, which have reliably powered various forms of transportation and buildings for nearly a century, are quickly depleting. To compensate, Americans have been looking for cleaner alternate sources so they can continue to support this constant rise in demand; they believe that in order to quench their high demand, they need to explore alternate energy sources for more efficient energy less harmful to the environment. But what if more energy is actually causing the problem rather than solving it?

Last Thursday, Ozzie Zehner, a graduate of Ket-tering and author of Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environ-mentalism, gave the inaugural Sobey lecture entitled “Ethics of a Solar Cell.” One of the takeaways from his lecture was the argument that Americans will be happier using less energy despite its unrelenting demand. As an example of the above, he presented a graphic of the total energy usage in the United States during 1940 and the present day, represented as buckets with holes in them: the holes symbolized all the wasted energy. As the bucket size expand-ed over time, so too did the holes and their num-ber. The U.S. energy crisis was put thus: from what source can Americans find enough energy to offset the amount being leaked? Hydroelectric power was once a innovative, viable source of energy, ac-counting for nearly a third of America’s total energy production; it has since dropped off from the large scale in favor of the current-generation paramour: solar energy. But are solar cells truly the answer to

America’s energy woes?Zehner spoke of one of his experiences as an ar-

chitect, when he was hired to add solar panels onto a house in Washington, D.C. In order to successful-ly add the panels, he would need to remove an old oak that stood near the house. The tree was a great source of natural insulation from the harsh heat of summertime D.C.; because it was positioned on the southwestern side, its leaves could shade the house during a summer sunset, while at the same time al-lowing light to pass through its leafless branches during winter. Although this natural insulation was more cost-effective, the homeowner was adamant about installing the solar panels and Zehner would eventually be fired for advising against it. He went on to discuss how modern buildings that use solar panels to harness the sun’s energy could be designed much more efficiently; rather than using passive so-lar techniques, architects will instead thoughtlessly equip buildings with many solar panels, despite the fact that some of them will never face the sun or that the system overall is implemented in an environ-ment with little incident light due to cloud cover or other factors. In this sense, Zehner claims they are not building energy-efficient buildings, but are in-stead “building temples to the energy source itself.”

The argument most Americans have for using so-lar energy is quite a common one: it’s both plentiful and clean, to say nothing of the PR credit it pro-vides. But while solar energy is inarguably plentiful, there is a misconception that it is clean. In the pro-cess of converting solar energy into electrical energy, solar cells release a number of harmful greenhouse gases like sulfur hexafluoride which, according to Zehner, are potentially more harmful and far worse than the carbon dioxide released from fossil fuels. This was not to say that solar cells should be avoided like an environmental plague, however; America’s energy woes arise from the thoughtless use of solar cells with the mindset of its conventional brand as the clean, efficient energy source of the future. Cur-rently, energy from solar cells accounts for less than a tenth of a percent of the United States’ total en-ergy produced: a mere droplet in the massive energy bucket.

Zehner then argued that Americans should fo-cus on altering their lifestyles for the sake of energy preservation and would be happier in doing so. They should build living spaces that can reduce the need for automobiles as transportation throughout; they should encourage pedestrian and bike routes, and develop solid, efficient, and desirable public trans-portation systems. Many other countries, mostly in the European Union, have implemented these systems with a marked degree of success. Simple lighting tricks, as with the sunlight filtered through the old oak leaves, could be used as a far more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly solution for lighting and temperature control in the extreme sea-sons than what the current sense of conventional “al-ternative energy” technology could provide. Simply put, it would be far more beneficial to Americans to use natural systems to achieve energy efficiency, rather than rely solely on alternative energy sources.

After his lecture, Zehner spoke about how to con-

vince people that they would actually be happier using less energy. He described the idea of congru-ency, a Dutch political philosophy stating that de-veloping policies should always benefit the policy’s stakeholders. Essentially, if there is some incentive to benefit the people involved with the policy, it has a chance to work. The question that now needs to be asked is not what we need to do; rather, how can the American people be convinced that less energy will lead to a happier lifestyle? How can they break the paradigm of the ever-increasing demand for energy? If these questions go unanswered, then America will be doomed to use expensive, more hazardous alter-natives to fossil fuels when a more energy-efficient and happier lifestyle is within our reach.

Ozzie Zehner poses with Al Sobey. Photo Courtesy of Kettering Communications

Dr. Eugene Hynes and Dr. Karen Wilkinsonexamine Zehner’s book.


Ozzie Zehner lectures in the Cribathon.Photo courtesy of Kettering Communications


Automotive

Revolution or the

Death Toll of Driving?By Charles MancinoStaff Writer

When regarding the future of the automobile, many people have questions. Some ask what auto-mobiles will run on in the future, some ask about flying cars, and some just ask who let the dogs out. Most of these questions were answered on Thursday, July 26, 2012 when Dr. Lawrence Burns ’75 spoke about “Driverless Cars and the Mobility Internet” in the Cribathon, a presentation sponsored by the Student Alumni Council.

Dr. Burns is a former corporate vice president for General Motors’ Research and Development de-partment. Because of his position, he has ventured into the world of the future of the automobile. This includes what automobiles will run on, what they will look like, and how they will communicate with each other.

Dr. Burns first stated that the automobile has, up to this point in time, proven that Darwinism in con-sumer goods is just a theory, unlike other products such as the cell phone. The automobile has retained its basic shape ever since Carl Benz patented for his first automobile in 1886. Ideas to change the auto-mobile have become reality—the steering wheel, windshield, doors, and power equipment, just to name a few—but the essentials of the automobile have not changed up to this point in time.

To address what future automobiles will run on, Dr. Burns showed a chart of all the different fuel op-tions that are available now. The chart included fossil fuels, electric motors, alternative fuels, geothermal energy, solar energy, and hydrogen energy, among others. On another chart, Dr. Burns confirmed which fuel source was the gold medalist: hydrogen. Hydrogen was the most fuel-efficient fuel source out of the group, which explains why General Motors has built an army of newer vehicles powered by the Equinox fuel cells.

Dr. Burns also said that there were over a billion vehicles in the world. Take every vehicle and line them up bumper-to-bumper and it could circle the world many times. That is a lot of space that is used. Then consider how often those vehicles are driven. In other words, most people are paying for expensive pieces of fiberglass and metal just to have it sit and look pretty in their driveways. But what if there was a way to lower the cost of a vehicle, the cost of own-ership of a vehicle, and to get rid of what Dr. Burns considers the most distracting thing to do inside of a vehicle-driving? That is what many companies have worked on.

In order to eliminate the human error in driving, many companies have tried to build autonomous cars. The two most famous examples are the “The Boss”—a Chevrolet Tahoe that was made by Gener-al Motors that won the Defense Department-spon-sored contest for self-driving cars in 2007—and Google’s self-driving Toyota Prius. These unpiloted vehicles are smart enough to avoid accidents and therefore would not only save many lives but would also weigh less compared to their drivable counter-parts since little to no safety equipment would be re-quired for them because of the “mobility internet.”

The mobility internet means that all of the ve-hicles of the future would be connected with each other and would know where another vehicle was and where a human, building, or Fido is. The mo-bility internet would therefore stop acci-dents from happening. The mobility internet would also allow for vehicles to follow each other if more room is needed, causing the family vehicle to resemble The Magic School Bus, perfect for a family vacation.

These autonomous vehicles will also be small enough to make a Smart ForTwo seem like the Titanic and will resemble a mix be-

tween Doctor Who’s phone booth and a Segway. According to Dr. Burns, these vehicles will be small enough to fit into one’s closet, will seat only two people, and will greatly reduce the cost of owner-ship. By making the same vehicle for different pur-poses, carmakers would be able to produce cheaper, lighter, and more general-use vehicles, which would translate into cost savings for the customer.

To further reduce cost-savings, Dr. Burns also ex-plained that private companies could rent out these vehicles. This would cause vehicles to go public and reduce the number of people who own vehicles. However, according to Dr. Burns, a vehicle would be ready to use within seconds and all one would need to do is to use a smartphone to call for one. Then the customer would only need to pay for the rent and other charges that the company would have to use the vehicles. That not only translates into cost sav-ings for the customer but also that vehicles would be used more often, greatly opening up parking spaces and driveways that could be used for cookouts.

Just like the meteor strike that caused the dino-saurs to become extinct, autonomous vehicles are slowly taking over the world of internal combustion engine, gasoline sucking, drivable vehicles. The fu-ture of the automobile is still mostly unknown, but one thing will be true: the automobile is about to evolve into something that Carl Benz never thought it would be.

Driverless Cars and the Mobility Internet

Dr. Larry Burns ‘75 talks with students after his presentation. Photo courtesy of Kettering Communications

Distinguished Faculty Speaker SeriesBy Chloe HauxwellStaff Writer

As part of the distinguished faculty speaker se-ries, Dr. Rabago-Smith presented “Research at the Frontier of Chemistry and Biology.” The lecture in-cluded cutting-edge processes being developed in the biochemistry field. One such topic is prostheses. The industry standard right now is a core of steel surrounded by a polymer. This combination inhib-its the regrowth of the bone, however. The current research suggests a biodegradable magnesium alloy may be the answer. The existing bone grows around the magnesium and then to where the alloy is de-grading.

Another topic discussed was the interaction be-tween pharmaceuticals and the proteins in the hu-man body. This research has led to the cytochrome-

complex. This complex is in the mitochondria, and helps to produce proteins, including the proteins to block cell growth. These proteins are being re-searched heavily as possible cancer cures. If the right medication is created, one could make the mito-chondria make an abundance of the cancer-killing proteins, halting cancer growth before it even starts.

Overall, the presentation was a success. Those in attendance seemed very interested. The distin-guished faculty speaker series continues 9th Thurs-day with Dr. Jeffrey Hargrove from Mechanical En-gineering presenting “Current Understandings and Research in Treating Chronic Central Pain”

Dr. Rabago-Smith presents Kettering innovations in chemistry and biology.



In Pictures

Student Alumni Council hosts Darren Heartwell ‘00, Clark Bailo ‘81, and Benjamin Coon ‘00.


Students look over materials before entering the co-op fair.


Students at the co-op fair talk to Tesla Motors.


The Technician

Students gather for a picture in the pool at Dog Days of Summer.


August 15, 2012

Noah Gagnon shows off a Maker Bot at Dog Days of Summer.


Freshman Andrea Hays talks with a prospective employer.


The Technician

KSG UpdateAugust 15, 2012

The Budget DebacleBy Kaitlin SoloveyLayout Editor

On the Thursday of zero week, Finance Council Treasurer Scott Builta showed up to get the budget allocation for the year. Deborah Stewart in Student Life gave him a number she got from Kettering’s Fi-nance Office. The budget was lower than hoped for, so Finance Council slashed food budgets for clubs to make up the difference, assuming it was just a lower-than-usual budget, caused by the change from student activities fees to fixed-rate tuition.

But fixed-rate tuition is not to blame for clubs’ sig-nificantly lowered food budgets. That blame actually goes to the number that Deborah Stewart gave Scott

Builta: it was the wrong number, at least $5,000 less than the actual budget allocation for student activi-ties. But that is not the worst of it.

Throughout The Technician’s investigation, ev-ery administrator that was contacted gave a differ-ent story. They simply did not know anything was wrong. The budget was going to be lower anyway, so it made perfect sense that serious changes had to be made. But the numbers still didn’t add up to the de-gree of $1,500. Finally, Scott Builta reported that the number he got from Deborah Stewart for the year’s budget allocation was around $344,400, which is $5,600 less than the $350,000 Betsy Homsher re-ported as the student activities allocation for the

year.So what does all this mean? Technically, the stu-

dent activities budget has access to the $350,000 total (which is divided among all four terms), but not all of it is being used. It is like having up to $100 to fund an event, but only needing to use half of it while the other half would go unused. Scott Builta told The Technician that any funds not used this term would be used in the winter, but that does not help students now. Clubs are still hurting for food money now, and some events will not happen be-cause they could not be budgeted for. In short, the money is there, but no one is using it right now; that is why clubs can’t feed all of their members.

KSG Hosts Election Kick OffBy Kaitlin SoloveyLayout Editor

This past Monday, ksg held their Election Kick Off event in the pool at lunch. There was food, music, and a lot of students there. As students ap-proached the tables with the food, they were handed an application to Student Senate.

During the lunch time rush, food came off the grills at an increasingly slow rate. There were hot-dogs, hamburgers, and even cookies. There was lem-onade and water to drink.

Applications were handed out for Student Senate and current Student Senate members were available to help students with their applications.

Grilling was done by a number of campus fraterni-ties. They supported ksg by providing their grilling expertise.

Students were encouraged to fill out their applica-tions and return them to Debbie Stewart by 5th week Wednesday. Voting for ksg will occur 8th Monday, with results posted 9th week.

Two members of Delta Chi work the grill. Photos courtesy of Kettering Communications.

Two members of Lambda Chi Alpha flip burgers. Photo courtesy of Kettering Communications

Elizabeth McLean and Emily Thompson handing out applications. Photo courtesy of Kettering Communications


Around Flint

Claressa Shields, Flint Native, Wins GoldBy Kaitlin SoloveyLayout Editor

On August 9, Claressa Shields, a native of Flint, won the Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing in London. Shields was born and raised in Flint, at-tending Flint Northwestern High School, where she is currently a student. She is, after all, only 17 years old.

This was the first year that there was a women’s boxing competition in the Olympics, and Claressa won. She is currently undefeated in all her matches.

One of Claressa’s classmates had this to say to mlive.com: “It really tells me that even though you have a negative community or come from a negative situation that you can go to the Olympics and win a gold medal.” And that’s a good lesson to learn from Claressa. Her father, Bo Shields, was himself an un-derground boxer, and he was in prison from the time

she was 2 until she was 9. Origi-nally, he would not let her even try boxing, but by the time she turned 11, he finally caved in and allowed her to join him at the gym. And now, she has already won an Olympic gold medal be-fore even legally entering adult-hood.

Claressa is sure to become an example and role model for many Flint residents. She grew up in Flint in an average house-hold and won a gold medal in the Olympics before she turned 18. That’s more than enough proof that success stories like Claressa can happen anywhere, even in Flint.

Fans cheer Claressa on at Blackstone’’s on Thursady, August 9.Photo Courtesy of The Flint Journal.

An Art Walk to RememberBy Tylor SchramskiStaff Writer

This past Friday, the artists of Flint took to the streets in a celebration of individuality and show-ing their stripes, whatever various colors they may be. And even though the rain tried to wash out their work, they simply kept calm and carried on indoors. Spread out among some of the little shops in down-town Flint, various styles of art got themselves all dressed up and put on display for the world to see. And boy, did they get an audience; every corner of each little store was occupied by a curious face or in-terested eye. No emotional painting went un-appre-ciated, no cute craft was left un-adored, and every artist seemed to enjoy having their worked gawked and stared and ogled at. One of the more crowded spots was a little tavern by the name of Churchill’s Food and Spirits. Many an artist could be found packed into this little bar, but three stood out in particular.

Paul Everett is an oil painter with a strong tenden-cy towards vibrancy. All of his works are bright and lively, showcasing the rainbow facets of nature, and even tossing in a political statement here or there. Most of his work seemed to be inspired by graf-fiti artists, as his pieces displayed many features that mimic spray-paint artwork. Chiefly, he used the oil paints to imitate dusting, which is lightly passing the can over the canvas to create a kind of colored misty look, and puddling, which is what happens when you continuously spray a spot until the paint starts to drip down. These touches lent a distinctly urban appeal to his work, which attracted him a lot of at-tention. The centerpiece of his display was a 2’ by 4’ epic painting of 4 macaws perched on a branch. Every feather was more vivacious than the next, and they looked as if they were about to fly off the can-vas. The reds, greens, yellows, and blues blended per-fectly to give form to the tropical birds and the brick wall they perched in front of. If nothing else, these feathered beauties certainly caught more than their fair share of attention.

The next artist turning heads at Churchill’s was Jay Rowland. His paintings are more along the fres-co side of town, and feature some deeply creepy yet deeply interesting scenes. Exactly opposing Everett’s high-saturation infatuation, Rowland prefers mut-ed, subtler colors. Sweeping strokes and wide brush movements also abound in his pieces, many looking like a scene from a foggy nightmare. One in particu-lar was an image of a doorway in a brick wall. The windows were dark, alluding to the mystery that lay on the other side of this small but imposing door. The rain is also coming down heavily in the mem-ory, as shown by the faint gray-blue brush-strokes swirling about the left side of the canvas. Whether it frightened them or intrigued them, people couldn’t help but notice this piece by Jay Rowland.

The final star of the bar was a young woman by the name of Ariel Sammone. Her pieces were gener-ally bipolar; either dark scenes of humanoid figures in various poses or flowers. The humanoid paint-ings displayed figures lounging about without a care in the world, displaying their vague and fuzzy physiques. Though painted in dark colors, they still seemed to exude life. The flowers, on the other hand, positively overflowed with natural beauty and greenery. Painted in a combination of watercolor backgrounds done over with acrylics, it was like looking at an actual flower, only shinier. The inter-esting contrast of the softer watercolor backgrounds combined with the intensity of the acrylics (as well

as the actual physical thickness of the acrylic paints) really made the roses, forget-me-nots, lilies, and tu-lips pop off of the canvas.

Also popular was the Lunch Studio. This small lunch spot was dominated by an exhibit called “Art from the Heart,” a crafts display with everything from bows to bunny rabbits and headbands to fin-gerless gloves. They were all hand-made and all posi-tively precious. Beema’s Snack Shop and Deli also housed a few more pieces of eye candy, with Ariel Sammone displaying some nature photograph’s creatively altered by Photoshop and Jay Rowland showing more of his trademark muted nightmares. In short, Flint is in no need of creative talent. The artists mentioned above in particular, but certainly all others at the Flint Art Walk, proved that this weekend with their amazing displays. This event was perfect for anybody who wanted to see the more colorful side of Flint for a change.

Visitors check out a local crafts stand at July’s Art Walk. Photo courtesy of Kettering Communications

An artist at work during July’s Art Walk. Photo courtesy of Kettering Communications

Art on display at July’s Art Walk.Photo courtesy of Kettering Communications


Automotive & Technology

The Rise and Fall of

Sweden’s Strangest

AutomakerBy Robert HayesEditor-in-Chief

Earlier this month, Spyker Cars, owner of the as-sets of the failed automaker Saab, filed suit against General Motors, claiming damages in excess of $3 billion related to gm’s refusal to allow the sale of Saab to a consortium of Chinese investors late last year. Faced with mounting debt and falling sales, Spyker attempted to sell the Swedish company mul-tiple times in 2011 but was stopped every time by gm, who retained ownership of much of the intellectual property in Saab vehicles. That last ditch attempt to put Saab back on its feet was a dismal failure, and ended with Saab filing for bankruptcy protection in December of 2011, closing 64 years of history at the Trollhättan firm.

Faced with dwindling fighter plane or-ders at the close of World War ii, Swedish aircraft maker Svenska Aeroplan ab (saab) needed to find a new way of making money, and decided to enter the automobile business. Saab’s first car, the Model 92, hit the road in 1949, and start-ed the company down the path of making quirky cars for people who wanted to stand out. Powered by a 25 horsepower two-stroke inline two cylinder engine, the aerodynamic 92 was far from perfect, with the two-stroke engine leading to oil starvation issues during engine braking, and the sleek teardrop shaped body prevented the inclu-sion of a trunk.

Saab’s breakout hit did not come until years later with the Saab 99. Launched in 1968, the 99 brought growing sales to Saab, but the real success came with the image-boosting 1978 Saab 99 Turbo, one of the first mainstream cars to adopt forced injection technology. Available with such perfor-mance-boosting technology as water injection, the 99 Turbo gave Saab a high performance car that was fuel efficient, and provided the company a promis-ing first step into the 1980s.

Saab rode the wave of their success in the late 1970s well, launching the replacement for the 99, the Saab 900. The 900 would become Saab’s best-selling

model ever, with almost one million 900s produced when the last 900 rolled off the line in 1998. Faced with rising development costs, Saab partnered with Italian automaker Fiat to produce the ill-received 1985 Saab 9000 on a platform shared with Fiat, Lancia, and Alfa Romeo models. Disagreements between the partners led to the Swedes practically redesigning the entire model to enhance occupant safety, long a Saab concern. Forced to try to stem years of perpetual losses, Saab ab entered into an agreement to sell Saab Automobile to General Mo-tors in 1989.

Saab’s new American owners tried to drill fiscal sense into Saab, combining platforms and launching new Saab models based on platforms from Adam Opel ag, gm’s German subsidiary. While successful at first (Saab turned a profit in 1995), further prod-uct planning decisions at General Motors meant that Saab’s individuality was soon lost. Between the Subaru Impreza-derived Saab 9-2x and the badge engineered Saab 9-7x suv, Saab vehicles quickly lost their individuality in exchange for lower production costs.

When the global financial crisis hit General Mo-tors in 2009, Saab found itself in jeopardy. Desper-ate to shed any loss-making divisions and raise des-perately needed cash, gm agreed to sell Saab to the Dutch supercar manufac-turer Spyker Cars nv in 2010. Spyker’s attempts to revive Saab through the launch of the 2011 Saab 9-5 flagship sedan fell short, as the car never lived up to sales expectations. The Saab 9-4x crossover, assembled by General Motors in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, similarly failed to catch on. gm pulled the plug on 9-4x assembly amid con-cerns Saab would fail to pay for the vehicles, end-ing the model’s incredibly short 573 unit run. After months of mounting losses, Saab filed for bankrupt-cy protection in December 2011.

While all attempts to save Saab through restruc-

turing the company have failed, Spyker remains dedicated to restarting production. Even though all attempts by Spyker to sell a stake in Saab to Chi-nese investors so far have been have been blocked by General Motors, new hope has arrived in the form of a newly formed company. National Electric Vehicle Sweden ab has been created by two invest-ment firms to develop battery electric vehicles on the platform intended for the next generation Saab 9-3, completely independent of General Motors technology. Whether this effort ever restarts vehicle production in Trollhättan remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain, Saab’s history has been just as unique as the cars they produced.

Saab’s Struggle

1949 Saab Model 92. Photo Courtesy of Saab Museum

1978 Saab 99 Turbo. Photo Courtesy of Saab Museum

Swedish advertisement for the car intended to be Saab’s savior, the 2010 Saab 95

Photo courtesy of Saab.

The Chevrolet-derived Saab 9-7x. Photo courtesy of Saab

2011 Saab 9-4x crossover. Photo courtesy of Saab


The Cold MonthBy Devin AryanStaff Writer

July is usually a slow month in the video game market. With no major gifting holidays, sales tend to be down, and releases, compared to other times of the year, are generally few. July 2012 is no exception, with the fewest releases for the year.

Starting things off, July 3 was the release of The-atrhythm Final Fantasy for the 3ds, a rhythm game featuring a variety of characters and the entire musi-cal score taken from across the main series (i-xii). The game is split into stages; each stage features field, battle, and event music segments. The game has received generally positive reviews, though it has been noted that fans of the Final Fantasy series will enjoy the game more.

July 4 was the worldwide release of the game Spe-lunky for the Xbox Live Arcade. Being a port of the Windows freeware version of the game released in 2008, the Xbox version offers nothing new. Despite this, Spelunky has received mostly positive reviews thus far.

Let the games begin! July 10 saw the first of many sports releases for the upcoming seasons with ncaa Football ‘13. Being exactly what one would expect from a game with this name, it is very straightfor-ward. Including the two new ncaa rules for the 2012-2013 season, only minor gameplay changes were made. The game has received mostly positive reviews, though it should be noted that ign criti-cized the game for being too similar to ncaa Foot-ball ‘12.

Quantum Conundrum, released June 21 for Win-dows, July 10 for PlayStation Network, and July 11 for Xbox Live Arcade, is a first-person puzzle-plat-former hybrid. Designed by Kim Swift, formerly the lead designer on the critically-acclaimed Portal, Quantum Conundrum is often considered the spiri-tual successor to Portal. The gameplay involves the player changing between four different dimensions, each affecting the objects in the room differently,

to solve each puzzle. The Fluffy dimension causes object to weigh 10 times less, the Heavy dimension causes ob-jects to weigh 10 times more, the Slow dimen-sion causes time to move 10 times slower, and the Reverse Grav-ity dimension, well, reverses gravity. The

humor for the game, unlike in Portal, is much more hidden, such as the names of the stage referencing pop culture, as well as the titles of all the books that litter the house. Some such titles are “Time-Lord of the Rings” (The Lord of the Rings and Doctor Who), Jurassic Quark (Jurassic Park), “The (0,0,0) of the Species (The Origin of the Species), and “To Kilowatt a Mockingbird” (To Kill a Mockingbird). The game received positive reviews, with many reviewers say-ing something along the lines of “missing Quantum Conundrum is a mistake no one should make.”

July 10 also saw the release of Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure for the 3ds. Taking place in Par-is, the game is centered on Ralph, an art thief who steals forger-ies and replaces them with the originals who finds himself in a mystery involv-ing Napoleon Bonaparte and a mysterious girl named Maria. Receiving favorable reviews, the game was praised for its score, but criticized for its shortness.

July 18 was the release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater hd for the Xbox Live Arcade, a rerelease featuring classic levels from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. The game features seven levels

selected from the two original games, and also only includes the tricks available in those games to try and keep the gameplay the same. Some of the music is also from the original games, and a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 dlc has been announced. The game has received heavily mixed reviews, from 4.5/10 to 9/10. The PlayStation Network and Microsoft Windows will be seeing a release in the future.

Kingdom Hearts, a series known for having en-tries on a multitude of consoles, and more recently consisting of filler, side-story games, has released an-other installment. Kingdom Hearts 3d: Dream Drop Distance was released for the 3ds on July 31. Unlike the recent string of filler plots, D r e a m Drop Dis-tance is a c o nt i nua -tion of the story left off from the e p i l o g u e of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, with Sora and Riku taking the Mark of Mastery exam to become Key-blade Masters. It was also stated that the gameplay and plot of Dream Drop Distance are meant to give a glimpse of what Kingdom Hearts iii, an upcoming game, will be like. Receiving positive reviews from American as well as Japanese reviewers, fans of the series who have been keeping up with the games, as well as those who have been holding out for story continuation, need to get this game.

July 2012 was not chock-full of games, but it did end with a bang. As far as Julys go, July 2012 did fairly well. The best part about July, though, is that it precedes August, and with games like Darksiders ii, Guild Wars 2, and Madden ‘13 coming out soon, August is sure to be a great success.

Science Fiction Turned RealityBy Devin AryanStaff Writer

Fans of the popular sci-fi television series Star Trek surely remember well the Holographic Envi-ronment Simulator, or holodeck, the iconic virtual reality room. First seen in the episode “The Practical Joker” of Star Trek: The Animated Series, but under the name “Recreation Room,” the holodeck became a staple in Star Trek technologies. A team based at the University of Southern California, however, feels that the holodeck should no longer be science fiction, and thus began work on a virtual reality project implementing body tracking, binaural audio systems, and other forms of haptic feedback. From this, Project Holodeck—a dream of making an af-fordable virtual reality play space and bringing a Star Trek fantasy to reality—was born.

Reality has its limitations, though, and Project Holodeck is not without special peripheral devices. Using the Oculus Rift headset for visuals, PlaySta-tion Move for head tracking, and the Razer Hydra to monitor body movements, the holodeck room is almost functionless except for the fans that are

plugged into the system to simulate wind, and even though this is not true holodeck technology, it is still a remarkable simulation.

A concept video showcasing the capabilities of Project Holodeck is currently circling the internet. Using the video game Skies of Arcadia, the video is meant to show how Project Holodeck would func-tion while running a program. Unfortunately, the video uses a cutscene from the game in which the players have absolutely no control, so the concept video fails to give a true representation of exactly how Project Holodeck would work in terms of play-er interactivity.

The team is currently developing a game to fully showcase the project’s functionality called Wild Skies, in which players will fly an airship as well as partake in some sword-wielding, gun-slinging ac-tion. Project Holodeck has plans to be taken on the road and showcased at various technological venues in the near future, including Maker Faire. Should the project become successful enough, holodeck rooms might become a commonplace in the future.

usc students demonstrating their holodeck technology. Photo courtesy of Project Holodeck


Alumni Voice

An Exposition

on Postfratum*

DepressionBy Trent Sutherland ‘10Alumnus Contributor

The real world, the forever work term, work ever after; no matter how hard we try, we all end our time as undergraduates, one way or another. Some gradu-ate, some drop out, some delay the transition with graduate school or elongated tenures, but the transi-tion is inevitable. Kettering prepared me well for the working world, for interacting with co-workers, for managing problems and triaging issues. However, I do not recall a single class on dealing with the non-work aspects of post-collegiate life. I don’t think that is a bad thing, however, but I will get back to that.

Kettering, as most who read this already know, is a college with a co-op component. Drawing prospec-tive students in with the lure of making money while in college, of gaining real world experience as well as a degree, of likely securing a job after graduation. All of these are true. I had my first interview with Ford Motor Company at the Kettering Co-op fair in Au-gust of 2006 and as I write this, the Ford chartered plane upon which I sit astride is hurtling back to Michigan from Hermosillo, Mexico. I spent each of my co-op work terms in a different functional group at Ford: Climate Control, engine calibration, ve-hicle durability, wind tunnel testing, hydrogen fuel cell development, eventually completing my thesis on new ways to detect low refrigerant charge in air conditioning systems. Without the Kettering co-op experience, I would not have gotten to meet so many caring, compassionate, capable, and occasion-ally cantankerous co-workers. Yay, alliteration! But, none of those experiences would have been possible

without Kettering. The classes, to a small extent, and the extracurricular activities, to a massive extent, help me on a daily basis while working at Ford.

Upon graduation, and after a three-month hiatus during which I drove around the continental U.S., I started a pretty standard desk job at Ford, design-ing AC system components for the 2015 Ford Edge. I moved into an apartment close to work, found a roommate, and settled into a routine. Wake up, breakfast, shower, work for 8-9 hours, play some rac-quetball, read a book, screw around on Facebook, etc. The weekends became the refuge of my sanity, the time to see friends or go on lengthy adventures. Finding a routine one enjoys is key to the post-colle-giate transition.

My experiences since January of this year, howev-er, have been some of the dualistic of my life. Days, and often weeks straight, of 14-hour days at work,

punctuated by a day or two here and there of explor-ing the Mexican countryside and mountains. Ford is currently launching the 2013 Fusion and I am the sole responsible Climate Control engineer in Mex-ico. Any issue with part assembly, supplier quality, system functionality, weird noises, damaged com-ponents, and did I mention weird noises, are all my responsibility. As there are many different parts, and many different variants within that specific subset of parts, this job can get rather trying at times. My per-

sonal record is being at the plant (and awake!) for 31 hours straight before my boss “politely requested” that I leave and drove me back to my apartment. But, the opportunity to have a hand in shaping a product that will be reproduced millions of times, and driven by millions of people, is quite unparal-leled, as are some of the natural beauties I have come across in my time in Mexico. Being on launch has allowed me the chance to climb several mountains in and around Hermosillo, nearly fall off of not one but two different cliff faces whilst trying to climb down them, get attacked by a flock of carnivorous birds, and see Carlsbad Caverns National Park. My time in Mexico has been lucrative, stressful, sleep-depriving, and invigorating at times, and my co-op experiences through Kettering are largely to thank.

Maybe it’s seeing the sunrise from a seat on Ford’s chartered plane, maybe it’s seeing the wealth dispar-ity blatantly obvious on the streets of Hermosillo, maybe it’s being swept up in the single-minded in-tensity of a production plant atmosphere, or maybe it’s all the Neil deGrasse Tyson I’ve been reading in my “spare time”, but my time in Mexico has also given me perspective. Our lives are what we make of them. The decisions that we make every day de-fine who we are and what course our lives take. It is not just our right but our responsibility to de-cide on and stand by our values and our priorities. And that’s where my point from the first paragraph of this slightly readable soliloquy comes in. Co-op doesn’t really prepare you, or at least it didn’t pre-pare me, for the other part of the forever work term: what to do with oneself when not at work. Co-op work terms were survived until reunion with friends at Kettering. There is not such reunion in the “real” world. Opportunities must be taken, and this is hor-rifyingly clichéd but, to live life to the fullest, to visit friends, to make new ones, to have new and different experiences, to learn new things and see new sights. Happiness will not just happen upon you one day; it must be doggedly pursued. Life may be long and occasionally tinged with disappointment, but it is what you make of it.

* Note: Credit for the phrase “postfratum depres-sion” goes to my Fraternity brother, and fellow Ket-tering Alumnus, Eric Bumbalough. It refers to the adjustment period between leaving friends/Frater-nity brothers at college and making new friends in the “real” world.

Opinion: Life After Kettering

Trent exploring the mountains outside Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Photo courtesy of Trent Sutherland

“Take that, cactus!” Relieving frustration after work.Photo courtesy of Trent Sutherland

View of Hermosillo from a mountaintop. Photo courtesy of Trent Sutherland


Entertainment

By John OliverStaff Writer

To the acclaim of faculty and the joy of students, the position of Vice President of Interdisciplinary Conceptual Focus has been filled. This is replac-ing the Office of Transitional Reengineering Focus that has been disbanded, rebanded, quadbanded and finally sold off to Michigan Tech. While this may seem confusing, the President wants to assure students that reorganization may seem confusing at first, but in the end, we will all be much more con-fused and everything will then seem normal again.

If we look at the reorganization in a scientific light, we know that from Newton’s first law, an ob-ject in motion stays in motion until acted on by an outside force. This can be applied to positions as well, since objects (faculty and staff ) occupy those positions. A position shifted will continue to shift until it collides with a different position, at which point a third position will be created. This obvi-ously will continue until only one super-position is left. This is known as a black hole position. A black hole position is when one person does the work of roughly fifty. For an example, see Deborah Stewart in the Student Life office.

To avoid the creation of black hole positions, Kettering is trying to keep all positions in motion, which will either help avoid collisions or make them

much worse. To implement this system, Kettering has created a hamster wheel of science to help select new positions and remove existing positions. The way the hamster wheel of science works is that two hamsters are placed in two different cages with one wheel each. One hamster is in charge of deciding which positions are kept; the other is in charge of which positions are dissolved. The individual ham-ster wheels of science have a new position on each of the rungs. Once the hamster stops running, the position on the highest rung is created or removed depending on which hamster is on the wheel.

While it may seem disheartening that our school is having hamsters make many important decisions, it is important to remember that this tactic has been around since before recorded history, which is why there is no record for it ever existing, so don’t ask questions and just go with it. Kettering is also think-ing about implementing this system for grading. The idea would be very similar, but with guinea pigs in-stead of hamsters and a track instead a wheel. It has been rumored that several professors have already started using this strategy.

For those interested in helping out with the pro-cess, there is a spot open as the secretary for the Department of Position Change and Hamster Ef-fectiveness, but unfortunately, the head and all the other positions in that department have been re-moved, so it may be a lonely job.

Explanation of Kettering’s Reorganization

Mayor Murdered in the Morning

A Technician Murder

Mystery PuzzleBy Rebeccah MacKinnonOnline Editor

Bunchy, the Rabid Squirrel, was about to sit down for a nice breakfast when a call came in from his longtime friend and business partner, Ana, who worked the homicide division in the city’s police de-partment.

“Bunchy,” she said, “we need your help. The mayor is dead and we don’t even know where to start look-ing for a suspect.”

“I’ll be right there,” said the Squirrel.He arrived to a dreadful scene. Blood was splat-

tered everywhere in the mayor’s study. The patio window was broken, glass covering the deck outside. A large rock, probably used to break the window, lay half under the desk. The decapitated politician lay in a pool of his own blood. After pausing for a moment of silence, Bunchy headed over to Ana. “What do you know?” he asked.

She gestured over to a young man in the doorway who was staring at the scene in a daze, holding his foot in a bloodstained handkerchief. “That’s the mayor’s nephew, Andrew,” she said. “He was the only other one in the house when the murder oc-curred. Says he was in the study, talking with his uncle, when he heard breaking glass and then was hit over the head. He woke up to this.”

Bunchy walked over to Andrew, who still seemed to be in shock. “Andrew,” Bunchy asked, “is there anyone who would want to hurt your uncle?”

The boy shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know. I was the only family he had left after my parents died. I just can’t believe he’s gone.”

“You called the police right after you woke up?”“Yeah. Then I went out back to see if I could find

anything after seeing the patio door. I saw a trail of footprints leading up to the patio. I guess that’s how he got in; he probably threw that rock through the glass door. I cut my foot on all the glass on the patio. After that I figured it was best if I just didn’t touch anything.”

“Thanks, Andrew,” said Bunchy, leaving the boy to attend to his foot. The squirrel went over to window, dodging blood stains on the otherwise clear floor to avoid tampering with the evidence. After examining it and the surrounding area, Bunchy headed back to Ana. “Take Andrew in for questioning. I’m pretty sure he murdered his uncle!”

What made Bunchy so suspicious of Andrew’s story?

Editor’s note: Answers will be provided on-line at bulldogs.kettering.edu/technician

The Mott Foundation Grant and a Dark Future

By Tyler Van EckCopy Editor

From the outset of the Summer 2012 term, many students at Kettering soon became aware of the bud-get disparity by means of the slashed food budget. From The Technician’s investigation of the issue, the cause was determined to be just an accounting error, but this editor wishes to assert that such an allega-tion of simple accounting mistakes was in no way an accident. It is instead preparation for a darker time.

As many have doubtlessly noticed, recent years have seen society’s dominant fetish du jour take in-creasingly darker turns at every given opportunity. The future of the optimist has been devoured by a dark world of existential despair, pitting a human race reduced to rubble against the multifarious fears lingering in the dark corners of the human mind. Yet among the settings of an Earth beset by an egregious adaptation of a classic tabletop game and sadistic vil-lains running amok in a metropolis protected by a man who dresses up in his spare time, one setting stands out as the dominant representation of the derelict future. This future, of course, is the future of the zombie apocalypse, and not even Kettering Uni-versity can outrun the influence of its undead touch.

Kettering’s fears were only recently confirmed during President McMahan’s announcement of the $15.5 million endowment by the Mott founda-tion and the projects toward which they would be put to use. As a leader in stem universities with a

rich, storied background in mechanical engineering programs, the decision to imbue Kettering with the multimillion-dollar potential was wisely made. One does not need to look far in order to see their imple-mentation as countermeasures against the impend-ing zombie apocalypse.

Before these new programs even began, the origi-nal intent for slashing the food budgets was to accli-mate students to an environment in which resources were scarce so that they may better acclimate to a hostile future. The new Biology program will serve to create the foundations on which Kettering stu-dents and faculty alike can build their understanding of the functional zombie and the most effective ways to destroy it. The new first Robotics program not only serves as an outreach program to high school students potentially willing to join the technical side of the fight, but any breakthroughs made in creat-ing or repurposing robots with offensive capabilities will provide a much-needed reduction in both hu-man casualties and the risk of human combatants becoming infected. This assumes, of course, that the potential horror of robot zombies is out of the question. Naturally, the other newly-constructed fa-cilities will also provide better fortification than the portion of Kettering’s aging infrastructure.

With this new grant, the Mott foundation has placed upon Kettering’s shoulders the cross that will shine through the dark fifty-shades-of-coffee-filter-brown future. Let it guide the way toward a new era of innovation.

Crossword - Kettering Landmarks

Crossword HintsBy Erin BoyseStaff Writer

Across2. You might feel like you’re underwater if you

study in here3. Provost4. Kettering’s current president5. Grassy area in front of the dorms

7. Where to go if you want a midnight snack, or need some money

12. Everyone is his favorite student15. Largest room on campus16. Site of a current phytoremediation project17. You could go here to swim, but there isn’t any

water18. Technician Meetings are held in this building19. Official name for our mascot20. Connie & Jim John’s crowning achievement

Down1. Our university is named in honor of him6. 2-225 AB8. Named after Betty Jane’s Bar9. Newest building on campus, where great ideas

take shape10. Houses most of the Mechanical Engineering

department11. Where most classes are located13. Statue that gets painted almost every day14. Freshmen are required to live here

“Osmosis” Comic provided by Andrea Hays

By Rebeccah MacKinnonOnline Editor

“R’ud tdhpldi xvhx ydzytd qrtt

szpedx qvhx fzk chri, ydzytd

qrtt szpedx qvhx fzk iri, okx

ydzytd qrtt ldudp szpedx vzq

fzk bhid xvdb sddt.” – Bhfh

HledtzkNote: The cryptoquote can be solved by letter replacement. Each let-

ter in the quote corresponds to a different letter in the alphabet. Hints will be provided online at bulldogs.kettering.edu/technician

Cryptoquote

The Technician Issue 2 Summer 2012

Documents

Transcript of The Technician Issue 2 Summer 2012