OCR Text |
Show Tuesday, March 26, 2013 DAILY www.dailyutahchronicle.com • CHRONICLE The Universi dent Voice Since 1890 li ALSO INSIDE: ICTORY ri Vol. 122 I No. 127 I ©2013 Columnists debate about whether the climate crisis should be solved politically or by human effort » 5 Utah beats San Diego in the second round of WNIT » 6 New design program materializes ideas Topher Webb ASST. NEWS EDITOR The College of Architecture + Planning is introducing an interdisciplinary product-design major aimed at helping students take products from an idea to completion. "The overall goal is to give students the tools to be able to take an idea from a concept — from the very initial idea — through understand- ing what the needs of the user are to the customer," said Jim Agutter, director of the design program. The 74 credit hour program features classes in business, communication, engineering and psychology as well as design. The college already offers an interdisciplinary design minor. Elpitha Tsoutsounakis, an architecture professor who teaches design, said product design is more than prettying up previously designed products. "Designers should be brought in from the very beginning," Tsoutsounakis said. The idea for the program came from Agutter's work with developing medical software. He noticed that products needed good marketing and sound engineering as well as good design. There was not a program at the U that combined these facets. "[For] the products to come to fruition, it took a whole bunch of ideas and different skill sets to move them into actuality," Agutter said. "It was not enough to have a clever, beautiful design." Bob Hitchcock, a bioengineering professor who also teaches design, helped the program start at the U. "All disciplines can benefit from partnerships with design," Hitch- cock said. Hitchcock also said engineers make products effective and safe, while designers make the engineers' products more functional and userfriendly through ergonomics and the "human element." "We work with designers all the time to add dimension to our products," Hitchcock said. See DESIGN page 4 Curious minds U Facebook confessions are an outlet for students Marjorie Clark NEWS EDITOR Multiple universities in Utah have followed in the footsteps of San Diego State University, Harvard and others to create their own Facebook confession pages, giving students the opportunity to confess their "sins," feel a sense of community and vent frustration to the group of people who would understand them the most. Research shows the purpose of expressing this type of information is not for shock value, but for students to find out if they fit into what is considered normal, said Lisa Aspinwall, a professor of psychology at the U. "Where people are describing all the things they've done to find a date, and they've been unsuccessful, [they] are pleas for what it would take to be socially acceptable on this campus," she said. "[They are] looking for advice, not validation." Researchers have done studies that show repetitive confession or disclosure of information about a stressful situation allows a person to have greater insight to their personal experiences and helps coping and assisting people with finding meaning in their experiences. This type of disclosure has been found to have a positive impact on the person's immune les ° 4, 111&141. KIMBERLY ROACH/The Daily Utah Chronicle See CONFESSIONS page 3 RECENT CONFESSIONS University of Utah Confessions Saturday • "I feel like my life would be so much easier if I were blonde, skinnier, with blue eyes. But instead I'm just me. Great." University of Utah Confessions Saturday • "I strive to meet people and make friends so I can do nice things for them in the hopes that maybe someone will give a shit about me later." Rose Creek fifth graders attempt to get robots to follow tracks at Engineering Day on Monday in the Union. SCIENTIFIC FUN The U peaks elementary kids' interests in the sciences by letting them have hands-on experiences Carolyn Webber STAFF WRITER Throwing food in a classroom would get most students in trouble, but this week, 24 elementary schools brought their students to the U to test catapults by launch- ing marshmallows. The College of Engineering is hosting local fifth and sixth graders for the annual Elementary Engineering Week to help boost interest in the field. There were various activities for students to explore, such as building straw towers, using artificial arms and working with tracking robots. The main event was a marshmallow launching competition, for which individual classes brought their catapults and shot at a target to see who could get the most hits. Tara Moore teaches sixth grade at Hayden Peak Elementary School, and this was the first time she brought her class to the event, Capturing nature See March 20 STEFFI LIETZKE/The Daily Utah Chronicle Students from a nature photography class visited Bryce Canyon National Park last weekend for their class trip. SCIENCE page 3 NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS Photographers to receive fellowship 2013 VISUAL ARTS FELLOWSHIP University of Utah Confessions I honestly feel like killing myself at least once a day. I'm in antidepressants and they don't help. I wont do it because I'm not selfish enough. Everyone thinks I'm so happy but no one really knows who I am." which is going on its 15th year. Her class is learning about the medieval age and its weapons, so catapults fit right into the curriculum. "We want to get these kids more involved in science and peak their interest," Moore said. "The STEM subjects are really struggling, so we want to support it any way we can." The Utah Division of Arts & Museums has announced Christopher Gauthier and Mark Finch Hedengren as recipients of the 2013 Visual Arts Fellowship. Both recipients are photographers and were chosen from 66 applicants. They will each receive sio,000. Gauthier is a professor at Utah State University and has had exhibitions at Johns Hop- kins University and the U.S. Autism and Asperger Association World Conference. He is an advocate for autism education, and his recent project called "Evidence and Artifacts" has sparked conversation about the impact of the environment on our health and development. Hedengren is a resident of Provo and has worked on projects focusing on the how people experience recreation, See AWARDS page 4 |