Third grader Thomas Gore has the coolest ride in his class at Henry H. North Elementary School in Lansing, said MSU mechanical engineering seniors. A metallic red bike, which sports silver flames on a faux gas tank, was designed and built by Laurie Emerson, Neal Koenig, Kelly Stahley, Jeff Staniszewski and Tim Strand as part of the Shell Humanitarian Project.
In the face of large money contracts from soda companies for exclusive "pouring rights" on campus, MSU continues to provide both Pepsi and Coca-Cola to students. More than half of all Big Ten universities have exclusive contracts with either PepsiCo, Inc. or the Coca-Cola Company, with some contracts totaling more than $20 million. But MSU will continue to provide soda from multiple companies, said Marta Mittermaier, manager for MSU Food Stores and the official in charge of beverage contracts. "This gives us more opportunities to meet our customers' needs," she said.
The Food and Drug Administration is considering a patch that increases female sexual desire and pleasure, but it's too early to tell who will benefit, said Elaine Plummer, spokesperson for manufacturer Procter & Gamble. "We hear from women loud and clear that there is this medical need and we are committed to answering that need," Plummer said.
Nell goes nuts when she's kept indoors. But when the 7-year-old border collie spied a pen of four nervous sheep in the Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education arena, she got down to work. Owner George Good swept an arc in the air with his arms, and with a "whooshing" whistle, Nell shot into the pen.
ASMSU's Web site has been inoperable for the past two weeks because its Web designer is awaiting information from ASMSU's staff, Student Assembly Chairperson Andrew Schepers said. He added that the Web designer has given a personal commitment to the Web site so it will be working by the first of the year. "It's awful that we don't have a Web site," Schepers said. The Web site has been awaiting improvement since October, when the Student Assembly passed money for a new Internet server. The Web site would contain information about representatives, passed bills and general activity of the student government.
As she prepares to hand out free blue books at Berkey Hall on Thursday afternoon, Michelle Beaujean, a psychology junior, watches another student go by.
Students might think twice about pulling all-nighters for final exams with the news that sleeping for five hours or less per night could cause weight gain, according to a psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor from Stanford University. Emmanuel Mignot, who conducted the study in connection with the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study, said the study included about 1,500 subjects divided equally by gender.
Students planning the Pow-wow of Love for February 2005 say raising funds is especially stressful this year because the event is being held a month earlier than usual.
This winter, a newly designed snow-removal plan is aiming to help students with disabilities effectively make their way around campus. The plan includes adding two new MSU grounds maintenance staff members and earlier snow-removal shifts.
Five men sat around a square table in the basement of the MSU Hillel Jewish Student Center, 360 Charles St., betting chocolate coins wrapped in gold tin foil. "I'm a seasoned veteran of dreidel," said Aaron Ellias, a James Madison sophomore.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, and former state senator Dan DeGrow, R-Port Huron, will be the commencement speakers for the fall undergraduate ceremony.
MSU graduate students who attend the advanced degree ceremony can learn from the struggles of South African Ambassador Barbara Masekela, said David Wiley, a professor of sociology and director of the African Studies Center. "She's a woman who is a veteran of the struggle for a free South Africa," said Wiley.
Judith Njogu smiles at strangers since her arrival to the United States from Nairobi, Kenya. In Kenya, people are friendly and hospitable only after having their initial introduction, said Njogu, a medical technology and premedical senior.
Finals can cause students to stress out, but for people who perpetually feel pressured beyond coping capacity, the anxiety can actually cause their bodies to age. A recent study by Elizabeth Blackburn at University of California in San Fransisco has linked chronic stress to rapid cellular aging in women. The research could be relevant to college students who think they do not have the resources to cope with school and work, said Blackburn, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics. "Short-term acute stress is not bad for you - it's when it is day in and day out and you don't have the resources to deal with it," Blackburn said. According to the 2004 National College Health Assessment, 78 percent of students reported feeling stressed.
About 2,000 people have ticking time bombs inside of their hearts. Students at the MSU College of Engineering are looking for a way to defuse them. Graduate students Naveen Nair and Michael Chan are working with five other students to develop detection methods for faulty heart valves implanted in thousands of patients from the 1960s until the mid-1980s.
Those bringing issues to the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety Parking Office will have to stop in a half hour earlier on afternoons starting Jan.
The Red Cedar chapter of the Michigan Botanical Club will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. today in room 168 of the Plant Biology Laboratories. Beginning at 7:30 p.m., students who attended the 2004 Spring Foray will discuss their experiences.
In its continuing effort to institute undergraduate minors to MSU's degree program, ASMSU decided to lobby the administration for a more rigorous credit workload with minors. MSU's undergraduate student government's Academic Assembly decided to push for minors that would require 15 or more credits of work in a subject area. The assembly was divided on whether to institute a system similar to the University of Michigan's 15-18 credit load, or follow MSU's teaching program and its more than 20-credit minors. Academic Assembly Chairperson Dan Weber prefaced the assembly's debate on minors, saying that ASMSU doesn't have the wherewithal to institute new minors, but could encourage them. "If we go 15 credits, we'd encourage new minors, like in Spanish and Japanese," Weber said.
Providing a support system for transgender individuals is the primary focus of a new campus group established this semester. Phi Tau Mu, the Greek letters FTM in English, stands for "Female to Male" and allows those in the transgender community to hold serious discussions about issues they deal with on a daily basis. There are five members in the group who have formed a brotherhood and understand each other on levels other people cannot, said T.J.
The 2004 presidential election and its outcome was the focus of former senator, professional basketball player and former Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley's speech Friday.