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Show www.utahstatesman.com Logan, Utah Utah State University Innovation focus of new building Today is Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008 By LISA CHRISTENSEN Breaking News copy editor The new engineering building is finished and ready to use sometime next month, said college of Engineering Dean H. Scott Hinton. The $12 million David G. Sant Engineering Innovation Building, named for the late David Sant, was dedicated June 13 and was designed as a research building. Unlike the other two engineering buildings, there are no classrooms, just labs. However. Hinton said, this isn't necessarily detrimental to education. "There will be a lot of learning going on," he said. The purpose of the building, he said, is innovation, coming up with new ideas and technologies. Hinton describes the building as "modern," having no specialty labs specifically designed for one grant project as is common in most labs. It is designed to be very modular, he said, to allow for many grant projects throughout the years. A lot of turnover in projects is expected, he said, as bringing in money to the college by those grants is a condition required of all faculty. An estimated 30-50 projects of varying size are expected to be studied by US has canceled aid to Georgia for the time being. Campus News Hillary Clinton speaks at Democratic National Convention, urging her supporters to vote for Barack Obama. Page 3 the end of the semester, he said. Among these are studies on bridge performance in the West, seismic protection in structures and sustainable energy and biofuels. The building is set up almost identically throughout all three stories, he said. The north and south walls are lined with labs and the middle "core" has a conference room, work room, storage room and restrooms. Workspaces are also on the upper two floors above the entrance. The labs are unique in that they can not only change use for different grants but can alter size, as well, he said. Pillars in the labs allow for a large lab to be split into two or three small labs, he said. "This allows us to put up or take down walls fairly inexpensively," he said. The labs also have glass walls facing the hallway, so students walking by can "hopefully pick up on the excitement of the research," he said. No floor of the building belongs to one department, he said, instead having all five departments represented on each floor. The building was completed almost ENGINEERING DEAN H. SCOTT H I N T O N showcases IJ See ENGINEERING, page 4 new research areas in the new David G. Sant Engineering Innovation Building. DEBRA HAWKINS photo Big cheese at the Ag Building Features New program prepares for emergencies By LINDSAY ANDERSON news senior writer Big part of Aggie pride is cutting the cheese. ^5F *A ': ',C"'>V- : > Page 10 Sports U T A H GOV. J O N HUNTSMAN.center, joined by USU Ag Senator Braden Jensen, Ambassador to the College of Agriculture Amy Petersen, ASUSU Administrative Assistant Bill Munns and Rural Affairs Advisor to the Governor Gayle McKeachnie (right) after a question and answer period with President Stan Albrecht regarding the different outreach programs that the university offers. The governor and his Executive Cabinet visited the University as part of their rural tour of Utah. Below President Atbrecht led the governor on a tour of the new Sant Engineering Building and the Merrill-Cazier Library. CAMERON PETERSON Aggies fine tune their game for trip to Las Vegas. photo Opinion "Although we think of ourselves as rational and meritocratic, the role of social networks in our behavior and decisionmaking reminds us that we are still in many respects tribal beings, even in the halls of power." • jV r .SvY;. ; :-v: %£*• e.-K¥m . Page 16 Almanac Today in History: In 1883 the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history occurs on Krakatau (also called Krakatoa), a small, uninhabited volcanic island located in Indonesia. High: 83° Low: 50° Skies: Sunny, sunny, sunny breaking news In response to school shootings and other emergencies, USU has implemented a new program called Connect Ed, a mass notification system that sends out electronic emergency information to students, faculty and employees on campus who provide their contact information. "Connect Ed allows us to send out messages over telephone, cell phone, text messaging, e-mail and TTY in a quick, efficient manner," said Steven Mecham, USU Police Chief and executive director for public safety. Mecham said last year's tragedy at Virginia Tech really got the ball rolling. "It changed the world of public safety on campuses," Mecham said. "We want to ensure that everyone on our campus is safe." FreshmEn who took connections, had the opportunity to fill out a form asking for home and cell phone numbers, emergency contact information and email addresses. Taylor Wells, freshman majoring in chemistry, filled out a Connect Ed form at Connections. "I think this is a good program," Wells said. "If there is an emergency, then they can contact your family and get them updated as soon as possible." Mecham said the feedback at Connections was positive. "Students and parents mentioned they were happy that we were going to have this kind of system in place," he said. For students who did not attend Connections, this program will soon be available through Access, Mecham said. H See EMERGENCIES, page 3 ASUSU president seeks student voice ByDEBRA HAWKINS news editor Some students may not know what ASUSU stands for, and ASUSU president Grady Brimley is looking to change that. After being elected president by 366 votes in March, Brimley said one of his biggest goals was to stay in touch with the student body, something that four months later he says is still his number one priority. "We just want the government to be for the students rather than student government being a sepa- rate clique group like it has been in the past," Brimley said. "We want it to be one and the same with the students." Some of projects currently being worked on to bring the students and the elected officials closer together include a revamp of ASUSU's Web site and a remodel of the third floor space to help make it more student friendly, Brimley said. Part of the remodel will also be used as a hands-on learning experience for an interior design class, with the final plans being left up to the students, he said. "We will be able to have the students pick the best plan so that the third floor will be more friendly and people will just automatically want to come up here, and that way there can be more interaction," Brimley said. In addition to the third floor remodel, Brimley said he thinks the revamped ASUSU Web site will help keep students involved and up to date on what is happening / around campus. There will will be information on all of the activijes and on ASUSU, he said. f Brimley said he feels part of,' bringing everyone together is understanding all the views of students around campus, something he said he is trying to do by diversi- fying his cabinet and relying on the student-elected advocate to bring more feedback from the students. It is the job of the student advocate to form a committee and find the "true voice" of the students, which Brimley said he feels has been underutilized in past years. "It is the job of this position to go out and find out what the students' voice is and so when we do have a controversial issue we can go out to the student body, not just here in the TSC, but everywhere and find out from the different colleges HlSee VOICE, page 4 \ |