MSU

RecycleMania taking place through March

Robert Bondy

February 5, 2013

While emptying trash cans at the Main Library yesterday, MSU’s Waste Reduction Coordinator Dave Smith was shocked by the number of recyclable items he found in the garbage. “I’ve been pulling trash cans today at the library, and it’s amazing how many recyclable items are in the trash,” Smith said. “We take so many things now that the vast majority of things on campus are recyclable.” Smith is trying to improve recycling as part of the 13th-annual RecycleMania, which kicked off last Sunday and will run until March 30. This will be the third year MSU participates in the event, which pits more than 500 colleges in a recycling race against each other.

MSU

Survey: Students care little about college rank when picking school

Isabella Shaya

February 5, 2013

A recently released annual survey conducted by the University of California at Los Angeles found rankings are not as important as some universities might think. The data is based on responses from about 193,000 freshmen in about 240 four-year colleges and universities. Freshmen ranked importance of 23 reasons that might influence their college choice.

MSU

Study suggests minority students work, study harder

Lilly Keyes

February 4, 2013

As a 13-year-old girl picking asparagus in the fields of Texas with her parents, food industry management senior Sonia Viera always dreamed of working in an office.

MSU

Students earn the most first-place TV, radio awards

Robert Bondy

February 4, 2013

Last Friday, MSU radio and television broadcasting students received the most first-place awards at the 2013 Michigan College Broadcast Awards. Students, some of whom were members of Impact 89FM and Focal Point television, received a total of nine awards from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters, or MAB, with 13 students involved. MSU boasted the most first-place finishes out of the Michigan colleges that participated in the event, according to a press release from the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.

MSU

School of Hospitality Business to host auction

Alex McClung

February 4, 2013

For travelers hoping to get away from Michigan’s cold weather this year, students in the School of Hospitality Business might have the trip they’re looking for. The 22nd Annual Destination Auction will take place Saturday, Feb. 9 at Kellogg Center. The event is planned, organized and presented by students in The School of Hospitality Business. The auction includes a silent auction beginning at 5 p.m. and a live auction beginning at 6 p.m. “Our theme this year is coast to coast to really emphasize that we have hotel packages, restaurant experiences spa packages, items and gift cards from everywhere,” said Kayli Delamielleure, the director of marketing for the auction.

MSU

MSU endowments increase, fundraising still essential

Samantha Radecki

February 4, 2013

To MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon, one of the biggest areas MSU can improve on is its fundraising efforts. “I worry that we have not been as successful in fundraising as we need to be,” Simon said. “We are very late in the game (for) a big university.”

MSU

MSU-bred company seeks national attention

Lilly Keyes

February 4, 2013

When Rob Privette and the rest of the researchers at XG Sciences, a spinoff company that was born at MSU, decided to combine silicon with graphene, they hoped their research would yield something useful. They didn’t fully realize this combination would help make batteries more efficient — more minutes for a smartphone’s battery and more miles an electric vehicle can travel. The engineering company is hoping for more votes through the website Future Energy, which will provide eight new energy companies the chance to get attention from the U.S. Department of Energy. If they receive enough votes from anyone who visits the site, they could be highlighted at the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Energy Innovation Summit.

MSU

Food, ads, peers make Super Bowl experience at MSU

Robert Bondy

February 3, 2013

“Oohs” and “aahs” echoed through the south-end basement of Case Hall as more than 30 MSU students watched a long pass down the field be completed, signaling the biggest day in the U.S.

MSU

UCue Billiards room to be removed for classrooms

Robert Bondy

February 3, 2013

UCue Billiards, a spot for pool in the Union, will be permanently closing after spring break. With the second phase of renovations for the Union planned for the upcoming summer, the room will be renovated as a high-tech classroom, said Tami Kuhn, interim director of the Union. “We are in the process of remodeling the ground floor, the second floor and some rooms in the third floor,” Kuhn said.

MSU

Spartan draws new Spider-Man comic

Christine LaRouere

February 3, 2013

MSU alumnus Ryan Stegman is making a stir among comic book lovers across the world with his newest project — illustrating the images in Marvel Worldwide Inc.’s latest Spider-Man series “Superior Spider-Man.”

MSU

Study abroad trip gives inside glimpse into Cuban lifestyles

Simon Schuster

February 3, 2013

Last spring, with trumpet in hand, Gibron Lockhart would walk the Malecón — a broad promenade bordering the Caribbean Sea in Havana, Cuba’s capital — and meet people. They would ask to play music with him, to sing or to dance, and along the way he learned their dances and the subtleties of their music. “They’re so open and so warm and loving,” jazz studies senior Lockhart said. “You meet them and they give you a hug and a kiss on the cheek.”

MSU

Students speed date for Valentines, experience

Isabella Shaya

February 3, 2013

The annual speed dating event hosted by the University Activities Board, or UAB, gave students a chance to find that special someone just in time for Valentine’s Day. But many of the 350 students who attended the event Saturday night in the International Center were not in search of a date.

MSU

‘Talking computer’ leads to friendship

Lilly Keyes

January 31, 2013

John Eulenberg, Don Sherman and J. J. Jackson can recall every detail of the day they met 39 years ago . “It was love at first sight — even though I couldn’t see them,” said Jackson, a blind former Artificial Language Lab scientist, as he reached over to touch Sherman’s arm jokingly. Dec. 4, 1974, just two weeks after their meeting, Eulenberg and Jackson decided to help Sherman perform a simple task — ordering a pizza via telephone. Because Sherman has Moebius syndrome, which leaves his face mostly paralyzed, this mundane task was something he had never done before. Little did they know, the team of now-best friends opened the floodgates for MSU’s speech pathology program that night. “I think we all feel it was our destiny to work in this area and to remain committed to it,” Jackson said. “We still honor, love and treasure the link we established in 1974.” The video recording of the event recently went viral, giving the roughly 50,000 viewers a glimpse into the MSU Artificial Language Laboratory’s work to provide voices to those with limited speech. More than three decades later, the men still get together each year on the anniversary of Sherman’s computer-aided phone call. Although MSU’s laboratory has since been downsized, MSU still is involved with communicative disorder research.

MSU

DOE advised to keep funding FRIB project

Samantha Radecki

January 30, 2013

At a meeting Tuesday in Washington, the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee an advisory committee to the U.S.

MSU

Course drop refund deadline looming

Robert Bondy

January 30, 2013

The final day to drop classes with 100 percent full-refund is tomorrow, Feb. 1. In an email, the Undergraduate University Division, or UUD, encouraged students to check their schedule to prevent any costly errors.

MSU

Former NASA astronaut shares story with students

Christine LaRouere

January 30, 2013

Astrophysics freshman Carolyn Wendeln wants to be an astronaut, so when she heard former astronaut Story Musgrave was coming to campus, she jumped at the chance to hear him speak. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, students and residents came to the Union to hear advice and life stories from Musgrave — who worked for NASA, holds seven graduate degrees and has flown air crafts for the Marines in Korea.

MSU

Dorm fitness centers begin opening Friday

Robert Bondy

January 30, 2013

Paul Manson, Residence Education and Hospitality Services, or REHS, assistant director for facilities, announced the opening of all the neighborhood fitness centers, with exception for Holmes and Yakeley halls, no later than 8 a.m. Friday. Manson said the flooring for both Holmes and Yakeley halls’ fitness centers is being completed this weekend, and both centers are expected to be ready sometime next week. The State News reported Monday, the fitness centers were reopening in the upcoming week, but REHS Assistant Director of Communications Ashley Chaney previously was unable to guarantee the exact opening dates. The fitness centers will be similar to hotel exercise rooms with cardio-type equipment. REHS will continue to add equipment to the fitness center as equipment is updated.

MSU

South Asian student groups to hold vigil for Indian rape victims

Lilly Keyes

January 30, 2013

When the sun sets in her hometown of Karachi, Pakistan, Yusra Jafferany, president of the South Asian sorority Sigma Sigma Rho, said she would never think of going anywhere alone. Hearing about the brutal December gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh Pandey in New Delhi, which made international headlines, only reinforced her fears. By holding a candlelight vigil in remembrance of Pandey at 8 p.m. Thursday at the rock on Farm Lane, Sigma Sigma Rho and the Coalition of Indian Undergraduate Students, or CIUS, hope to raise awareness not only of Pandey’s story, but of domestic violence as a global issue that affects people across the globe.

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MSU competing in state-wide Gift of Life Campus Challenge

Alex McClung

January 30, 2013

Although many MSU students try to give back to the community through service and philanthropy, one student group wants Spartans to donate a little more than just their time. The Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostic Student Association, or BLDSA, is competing in the Gift of Life Campus Challenge. The competition pits colleges across Michigan against one another to see who can get the most students to register with Michigan’s organ and tissue donor registry. As of Wednesday night, Wayne State University was ahead of MSU by almost 200 registrants with MSU in second place overall. Jaya Gupta, BLDSA’s Gift of Life coordinator, said the goal of the competition is to increase the number of donors on Michigan’s registry. “It will potentially allow for more people who are in need of organs to potentially be reached,” said Gupta, a biomedical laboratory science senior. The competition, which began Jan. 10 and will be completed Feb. 21, awards two trophies. One trophy is granted to the school who gets the most people to register. The other goes to the university who signs up the largest percentage of its student body, Gupta said.

MSU

Simon discusses revised plan for MSU

Samantha Radecki

January 29, 2013

On Tuesday morning, President Lou Anna K. Simon met with university administrators, officials and student leaders to speak about the new initiatives of her revised strategic plan for the university — Bolder by Design.