UIC For the community of the University of Illinois at Chicago VOLUME 31 / NUMBER 25 www.uicnews.uic.edu NEWS facebook.com/uicnews twitter.com/uicnews youtube.com/uicmedia Wednesday, March 20, 2013 Joel Demuth follows his dreams on land and water More on page 2 INSIDE: Profile / Quotable 2 | Campus News 4 | Calendar 8 | Student Voice 9 | Police 10 | Sports 12 On July 1, new policy will make UIC smoke-free More on page 3 Photo: Joshua Clark Medical school classmates Shrinal Vyas and Janai Carr celebrate their good news at Match Day Friday. It was a day of tears and cheers for UIC fourth-year medical students when, like others all over the country, they received their residency placements through the National Resident Matching Program. Vyas will train in pediatrics at Advocate Lutheran General; Carr, who is completing an MD and Ph.D., will be a resident in internal medicine at the University of California at San Francisco with plans for an oncology fellowship. Read more about this rite of passage for medical students on page 6 and watch the video at youtube.com/uicmedia. UIC robots crush the competition at Midwest contest More on page 11 Medical students meet their match Postseason tourney tonight: Flames vs. Chicago State More on page 12 “I’m looking forward to starting the next chapter — finishing up the school part and actually start practicing.”
Transcript
UIC For the community of the University of Illinois at Chicago
VOLUME 31 / NUMBER 25
www.u icnews.u ic .edu NEWSfacebook.com/uicnews
twitter.com/uicnews
youtube.com/uicmedia
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Joel Demuth follows his dreams on land and water More on page 2
On July 1, new policy will make UIC smoke-free More on page 3
Photo: Joshua Clark
Medical school classmates Shrinal Vyas and Janai Carr celebrate their good news at Match Day Friday. It was a day of tears and cheers for UIC fourth-year medical students when, like others all over the country, they received their residency placements through the National Resident Matching Program. Vyas will train in pediatrics at Advocate Lutheran General; Carr, who is completing an MD and Ph.D., will be a resident in internal medicine at the University of California at San Francisco with plans for an oncology fellowship. Read more about this rite of passage for medical students on page 6 and watch the video at youtube.com/uicmedia.
UIC robots crush the competition at Midwest contest More on page 11
Medical students meet their match
Postseason tourney tonight:Flames vs. Chicago State More on page 12
“I’m looking forward to starting the next chapter — finishing up the school part and actually start practicing.”
“I tell my students, don’t trust anything you read in the popular press. Even if there is a [peer-reviewed scientific] paper, there’s often a disconnect between what is in the paper and in the popular press.”
Peter Doran, professor of earth and environmental sci-ences, on later-discredited reports by Russian scientists that they had found a new form of bacteria in an Antarctic lake, March 12 Christian Science Monitor
quotable
“This was a good time in my life to do what I thought was interesting. I didn’t mind taking an adventure. I didn’t mind going someplace new.”
Rachel Ressler, a recent graduate of the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs who is working as a city planner in the fracking boomtown of Williston, N.D., March 17 Chicago Tribune
Joel Demuth puts heart into swimming, serving country By Gary Wisby
Joel Demuth is a Division I athlete — a swimmer — and an ROTC cadet, a rare combination.
He first made a connection between the two pursuits at age 10, when he at-tended a swim camp at West Point, N.Y.,
home of the U.S. Military Academy.“Seeing all that [military] stuff at a young age piqued my
interest,” Demuth (pronounced “d’-mewth”) said. “I thought the whole Army thing was cool.”
As a UIC student, he was interested in the Reserve Of-ficer Training Corps, but “I never thought I would have time for it because of my swimming,” he said.
When he approached ROTC officials at the beginning of his sophomore year, “they said we can work around that.”
It will require a fifth year of school — he’s a junior now — that’s all ROTC, no swimming. Both programs provide Demuth with a scholarship, so between them, he has a full ride.
He swims freestyle at distances of 50, 100 and 200 yards. UIC’s team was 6-4 in dual meets last season, with Demuth winning eight first-place finishes.
At the conference meet, he won the 100 free and placed third in both the 50 free and 200 free. With him leading off, his relay team won the 400 free.
Demuth also swims in Puerto Rico, where his mother was born, in competitions organized by the Puerto Rico Swimming Federation. Last May, he finished third in one race and second in two others.
“The guy that beat me went to the Olympics,” he said. Demuth will race in Puerto Rico again this May.“In July, there are Central American and Caribbean
championships they want me to compete in,” he said.While attending Naperville North High School, Demuth
coached swimming and water polo for park district teams.He swims 20 hours a week — “The NCAA says you can
do 18, but I do extra on my own,” he said — and lifts weights for three to four hours.
He played lacrosse from age 10 to 15, and water polo from 13 to 18.
“After playing lacrosse and swimming my freshman year
of high school, I really had to make a choice to commit to one sport or the other, or else I was not going to be able to excel at both,” he said.
“As much fun as lacrosse was — and I was pretty good — I decided to go with swimming.”
He realized he’d made the right choice at his first state meet junior year.
“Walking on the pool deck and seeing hundreds of swimmers walking around and warming up, it felt like I was a professional,” he said.
“It was awesome. And then swimming in front of hun-dreds of screaming fans was a very exhilarating feeling.
“I feel more comfortable with a Speedo on than I do with any other clothing. The pool is where my heart is.”
Demuth lived in Naperville until he was 9. The family moved to New Jersey when his father got a job transfer, re-turning to Naperville when Demuth was 12.
Now he lives in an apartment near campus with two gymnasts and a track and field athlete.
After graduation comes military service. If he’s in the top 50 percent — his score determined by grade point average, Army physical fitness test and ROTC grades — he’ll spend the next four years on active duty with the Army.
If not, he’ll be attending monthly meetings in the Army Reserve or National Guard for eight years.
“My main interest in serving is the thought of being able to represent my country,” he said.
“I love that I’ll be out there serving my country in what-ever way I’m needed.”
Demuth is majoring in criminology and may end up in the military police.
If he doesn’t choose a career in the military, he may go to grad school or get a job in the criminology field, anything from being a police officer to working for the Drug Enforce-ment Administration or FBI.
“Or I could definitely see myself pursuing a career as a collegiate swim coach if the opportunity came up,” he said.
Joel Demuth found his passion for the Reserve Officer Training Corps after attending a swim camp at the home of the U.S. Military Academy.
“It was disappointing that, with such clear evidence about the effects of carrageenan on inflammation, the FDA did not restrict the use of carrageenan, particularly in infant formula.”
Joanne Tobacman, associate professor of clinical medi-cine, on the safety of carrageenan, a food additive, March 18 Chicago Tribune
Joel Demuth won eight first-place finishes for the Flames last year.
3MARCH 20, 2013 I UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu
Higher ed likely to face decline in state supportBy Sonya Booth
The American economy is gradually im-proving, but it’s too soon to stop worrying about Illinois’ grave financial circumstances — and the effect on higher education fund-ing.
That was the message from campus ad-ministrators and economic experts at a town hall meeting on the university’s budget Mon-day in Student Center West, sponsored by Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares.
Another budget town hall meeting will be held today, 1 to 2:30 p.m., in the Illinois Room, Student Center East.
“As a result of the state’s continuing finan-cial challenges, it appears that public higher education will face yet another year of declin-ing state support,” Allen-Meares said.
The state is about $9 billion behind in pay-ing its bills, said David Merriman, professor of economics and public administration and associate director of the Institute of Govern-ment and Public Affairs.
As of last week, the state owed the U of I $494 million of its contracted payments. The direct state appropriation for operating costs for this fiscal year is $667 million.
“It’s a really significant problem not to be able to pay your bills — when you literally don’t have enough in your checking account to pay for the services you’ve contracted for,” Merriman said.
“Each year, the state has made its pay-ments [by Dec. 31],” said Frank Goldberg, vice provost for resource planning and man-agement, who presented an overview of the campus budget process. “The fear is, one of these days, that won’t happen.”
Two clouds loom on the horizon, Mer-riman said: the state’s pension liability and the possible end of the income tax increase passed in 2011 and set to expire in 2015.
“The situation will be really bleak even if the tax increase stays,” Merriman said. “If the tax increase expires, nothing will make up for that.”
If the General Assembly does not pass pension legislation by June 1, he said, bond ratings that have already been “downgraded and downgraded and downgraded” will con-tinue to drop.
Merriman briefly outlined the most likely pension changes for state employees:
• increased employee contributions (“probably close to a certainty”)
• increased retirement age to 67• requiring retirees to choose between an
automatic cost of living adjustment or health benefits
• shifting more of pension costs to univer-sities and school districts
• increasing income tax rates.The town halls are moderated by provost
Lon Kaufman, vice chancellor for academic affairs, who said additional forums will be held when next year’s state budget has been finalized.
Effective July 1, UIC will become a to-bacco-free campus, prohibiting all forms of tobacco: cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco, electronic cigarettes and smoke-less tobacco products.
The new policy, available online at http://bit.ly/15mmr2b, will mean a healthi-er campus, administrators say.
“UIC is committed to creating and maintaining a healthy, productive envi-ronment for all its students, faculty, staff, patients and visitors,” Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares and vice chancellor for ad-ministrative services Mark Donovan said in a March 15 email to the campus com-munity.
The Urbana-Champaign campus will become smoke-free in November.
Administrators consulted with the uni-versity president, UIC vice chancellors and deans, campus senate, graduate and under-graduate student government and student organizations before enacting the policy, Donovan said.
“The consensus was that we should move on this, especially because of the fact that we’re a medical campus,” he said.
UIC will launch a public awareness campaign to promote wellness and smok-ing cessation treatment.
“We’re hoping that people will take the next step and quit smoking,” Donovan said.
Employees and students who want help quitting can contact the Tobacco Treat-ment Center at the Outpatient Care Center, 312-996-1682, or the Illinois Tobacco Quit Line, 1-866-QUIT-YES.
“My approach is to help patients on an individual basis,” said Tobacco Treatment Center director Lori Wilken, “depending on what they’ve tried in the past, medica-
Campus becomes tobacco free this summer
tions that they’re taking or what they have in mind.
“We find a safe and effective approach to quitting smoking.”
The process of quitting is difficult, Wilken said, but it can be done effectively within a few months.
“Nicotine is known to be as addictive as heroin and cocaine and it can be very chal-lenging for people to quit cold turkey,” she said.
“If somebody is motivated to quit smok-ing right now, start medication treatment and come up with behavior changes — change up their routine after meals or during breaks — it takes about three months for a behavior change to work.”
UIC’s tobacco-free policy sends a positive message, Wilken said.
“We’re struggling with our patients or visitors who see their nurses or physicians outside smoking and say, ‘Why should I quit
smoking when they’re out there?’” she said. Greg Maddix, a junior in English and a
smoker himself, said he wasn’t sure the policy would stop people from smoking.
“I just don’t see how they’re going to en-force that,” he said.
Repeated violations of the policy could lead to discipline of students and progressive discipline of employees, up to termination, according to the policy.
“Hopefully, people will be respectful of it, either through peer pressure or we’ll send the appropriate staff over to remind people of the policy,” Donovan said.
Meagan Kowalski, a sophomore in chem-istry and a nonsmoker, said she supports the new policy.
“There’s nothing worse than walking to class and breathing in smoke the whole way,” she said.
A new instant Illinois Lottery game, called MS Project, announced Monday at UIC will generate over $1 million this year to support multiple sclerosis research pro-grams in Illinois.
Douglas Feinstein, research professor of anesthesiology, participated in a news con-ference in the College of Medicine Research Building with Michael Jones, Illinois Lot-tery superintendent, John Blazek, president of the National MS Society Greater Illinois Chapter, and LaMar Hasbrouck, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, to discuss the importance of research funding for MS.
Feinstein was awarded an Illinois Lottery research grant to investigate a new therapy that could help restore function in patients with MS. The treatment, which may slow nerve damage and enhance nerve growth and myelin repair, is being conducted in animal models. Initial results have shown promise in reversing the consequences of the disease.
“If you take these mice and let them get ill and you start treating them with this drug, they actually start to recover, really signifi-cantly,” said Feinstein.
Multiple sclerosis is an often-disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symp-toms range from numbness and tingling to
blindness and paralysis. The symptoms and severity of MS vary greatly among individu-als.
Meghan Melone, 23, has lived with MS since she was diagnosed at age 14. She has experienced temporary blindness, pain and paralysis, but said she has a mission to help others with the disease.
“MS is just a curveball that life throws at you, but it doesn’t mean that you stop living,” said Melone, who spoke at Monday’s press conference.
“I feel that I know the reason I was diag-nosed. It’s to make our stories be heard, to give back to others who have it worse than I do, and to give those who feel like they’re fighting this battle alone hope. No one is in this fight alone,” she said.
About 20,000 people in Illinois have MS.Since 2008, the lottery has raised more
than $5.7 million from the sale of MS instant tickets. The new MS Project ticket costs $2 and includes potential top instant prizes of up to $20,000. Tickets are available at Illinois Lottery retailer locations across the state.
Food for thought Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser will give the key-
note address April 4 at “Food Justice: Interdisciplinary Per-spectives,” sponsored by the Institute for the Humanities and the Chancellor’s Initiative in the Humanities.
Schlosser, an investigative journalist and author, will speak at 5 p.m. in the Illinois Room, Student Center East.
Urban agriculturists Laurell Sims and Seneca Kern will discuss local solutions to issues of food production and con-sumption at the conference’s kickoff event, “Think Global/Garden Local,” presented earlier that day by the UIC Global Learning Community. Sims, production and marketing man-ager for Growing Power Chicago, and Kern, co-founder of WeFarm America, will speak at noon in 613 Student Center East. Food will be served. RSVP to [email protected].
For more information, call 312-996-6354.
Freedom of speechA discussion Thursday focuses on the complexities of free-
dom of speech at universities. “Freedom of Speech in an Urban Public University” takes
place from noon to 1 p.m. at the African American Cultural Center, 207 Addams Hall. Light refreshments will be served.
The event is sponsored by the Office of Diversity and the Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change.
For more information, call 312-355-1308.
Thinking about retirement? UIC will host a free retirement planning conference from
8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. April 20 in Student Center East. Registration is required at http://bit.ly/yxwWKA
Shaving their heads for a good causeBy Matt O’Connor
There will be plenty of heads shaved and money raised April 5 when Campus Housing hosts its annual St. Baldrick’s event in the Student Center East atrium.
Over the past three years, Campus Housing faculty, staff and residents have raised more than $20,000 for the St. Bal-drick’s Foundation, which funds childhood cancer research. This year, they increased their goal by $5,000.
Event organizer Gavin Quinn will go bald for the fifth year in a row — he even schedules his haircuts around the head-shaving fundraiser. Quinn often plays the bagpipes at the annual event, but this year decided to take a more modern approach by acting as DJ.
“It’s a real easy way for people to be involved in a good cause,” said Quinn, a resident assistant in campus housing.
“For people like me who could never run a marathon, shaving my head is not that big of a deal.”
Fellow resident assistant and event treasurer John Lullo will join Quinn. Influenced by his parents, who work in health care, and his girlfriend, who is pursuing a degree in nursing, Lullo decided St. Baldrick’s was a worthy reason
to give up his hair. “You’re shaving your head for a good cause,” Lullo said.
The event starts at 6 p.m. Whether you donate, volun-teer, or simply go to the atrium and watch the hair shower the floor, Quinn encourages everyone to get involved.
“If we can get people together to raise money to fight kids’ cancer and shave our head and have fun, why not?” Quinn said.
To sign up or donate, visit www.stbaldricks.org/events/[email protected]
Photo: John Quinn
Ryan Tan (left) and Nick Schiller shaved their heads last year to benefit St. Baldrick’s.
5MARCH 20, 2013 I UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu
6 UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu I MARCH 20, 2013
By Christy Levy
Four years ago, if you asked Justin Fiala where he’d be this summer, he never would have predicted it.
Fiala was one of 166 fourth-year Chicago campus medical students gathered Friday at the Mid-America Club at the Aon Center to learn their fate: where they will train for their medical residency program.
Fiala matched at his first choice: internal medicine, Mayo Clinic.
“Mayo Clinic has world experts, and the opportunity to learn from them and hone my skills at a place like that is just fantastic and really beyond my dreams,” Fiala said.
Since last summer, medical students all over the U.S. have been preparing for Match Day, applying and interviewing with medical programs across the country. They rank their top programs and the medical programs rank their top candidates.
With a mix of nerves and excitement, the students opened envelopes at 11 a.m. Friday to find out where they were headed.
“The magic of Match Day is because you really feel like you have not all that much con-trol over the situation,” Fiala said. “It’s a huge relief to feel like the past four years plus have been leading up to this.”
Nearly 16,400 students at medical schools nationwide were matched to residencies this year through the National Resident Matching Program.
Of UIC’s Chicago campus students, 39 percent will stay in Illinois for their residency programs, with the rest off to medical centers in 26 states. The top specialties for the UIC match were internal medi-cine (16 percent), family medicine (16 percent), emergency medicine (9 percent), anesthesiology (7 per-cent) and general surgery (7 percent).
Fifty students from the College of Medi-
cine’s Rockford campus, 48 from Peoria and 24 at the Urbana-Champaign campus re-ceived their placements on Match Day.
The top five hospital placements for stu-dents from the Chicago campus were UIC,
University of Chicago, Northwestern, Loyola and Rush.
Nathan Stackhouse is one of the 16 percent of students who will stay at UIC. He’s excited to start
his training in family medicine.“UIC was, for me, by far the best in Chi-
cago,” he said. “I get to be at a big academic center with a bunch of other residents. UIC
Photo: Joshua Clark
Fourth-year medical student Kimberly Sokol celebrates her match in emergency medicine at the University of California Irvine Medical Center.
“Match Day 2013” View video at youtube.com/uicmedia
Envelope holds key to future for medical students
Rockford student Kandace Walker hugs her mom after learning of her match: pediatrics, University of Missouri. Dean Dimitri Azar congratulates Justin Fiala, who’s headed to the Mayo Clinic to study internal medicine.
just does a great job, I think, of serving the underserved, which is something that was really important for me.
“I definitely feel ready to get going.” Celeste Cruz will stay at UIC, training in
general surgery for five years. “I get to work with a very diverse popula-
tion in an urban setting and it’s always been my goal to work with a diverse community,” she said.
She’s expecting an “intense” first year of training.
“I’m just really prepared to work hard and learn,” she said.
“I feel really excited to start my intern year and finally use that MD that we’ll get in May.”
Al Yang received his top choice: training in radiology at University of California, Irvine. He felt good about his chances after hitting it off with program directors during his inter-view.
“I felt like I was at home there,” he said. Janai Carr is happy to be headed back to
California after matching in internal medi-cine at the University of California at San Francisco. Carr, who graduates with an MD/Ph.D., plans to complete an oncology fellow-ship after her residency program.
“I’m looking forward to starting the next chapter — finishing up the school part and actually start practicing,” she said.
A key part of UIC’s mission is “to create knowledge that transforms our views of the world and, through sharing and application, transforms the world.”
A new interdisciplinary program, the Social Justice Initia-tive, was established to further that objective.
“The Social Justice Initiative represents a very organic coming together of faculty, students, staff, administrators and community partners committed to various aspects of social justice research, teaching and practice in collaboration with community partners,” says Barbara Ransby, director of gender and women’s studies and head of the initiative.
The new program, based in the Office of the Vice Provost for Planning and Programs, builds upon ongoing socially conscious research and interests across different disciplines on campus, improves connections with external partners and
serves students interested in social justice work.
For example, its next event will be a collaboration with WBEZ-FM Chicago Public Radio on April 6.
The Social Justice Initiative will co-host the station’s sixth an-nual Global Activism Expo, an all-day event at the UIC Forum featuring scholars and civic leaders involved in global service and activism.
The idea for the Social Justice Initiative began to develop during campus discussions more than three years ago.
Since its formal launch last year, the initiative has become a conduit for faculty, students and the community to explore the meaning and practice of social justice in relation to the environment, health disparities, violence, racism, poverty and immigration, among other issues.
There are nearly 200 faculty and more than 200 courses offered at UIC that focus on some aspect of social justice scholarship, Ransby says.
“We have a rich and robust community doing life-altering work that expands the boundaries of ‘justice,’” she says.
While the challenges of social justice may have personal significance for many in UIC’s diverse student population, the variety of projects gener-ated by the initiative intends to benefit students of all backgrounds and majors.
“We want to help our students build critical thinking and research skills that will make them more effective social change agents and ethical and socially conscious professionals,” says Ransby, who is also a professor of history and African-American studies.
The program has already hosted a variety of campus events, including the Pop Up Just Art Space, 729 W. Maxwell St, and a human rights discussion last fall featuring civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams, UIC’s first Jane Addams distinguished social justice fellow.
Earlier this month, the initiative hosted a panel discussion with filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, director of “Jai Bhim Comrade,” and a session on “Archive, Historiography and the
Interdisciplinary program puts spotlight on social justice
Photo: Joshua Clark
UIC’s Social Justice Initiative, a new interdisciplinary program, sponsored a human rights event last fall that featured civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Global Activism ExpoUIC Forum, April 6Free with RSVP http://bitly.com/XWWUwO
Black Radical Tradition: New Histories and Stories,” with An-thony Bogues, director of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University.
Send information about campus events to Christy Levy, [email protected]
For more UIC events, visit www.events.uic.edu
HIGHLIGHT MARCH/APRIL
S M T W T F S
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31 1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
“Food Justice and American Injustice”
April 4March 20, 1852: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, is published, selling 300,000 copies in three months.
Stowe met future slaves while she lived in Ohio and wrote the novel in reaction to tightened fugitive slave laws.
Exhibits
Through March 23
“Body Doubles”Exhibit features the work of master’s of fine arts students Joshua Albers, Daniel Bennett, Lauren Edwards and Kera MacKenzie. Artist talks, 5-7 p.m. March 20. Opening reception, 5-8 p.m. March 22. Exhibit hours, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Fri., noon-6 p.m. Sat. Gallery 400, ADH. 312-996-6114
April 2-6
“A Strange House in My Voice”Exhibit features the work of master’s of fine arts students Cam-eron Gibson, Ben Murray and Tina Tahir. Artist talks, 5-7 p.m. April 3. Opening reception, 5-8 p.m. April 5. Exhibit hours, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Fri., noon-6 p.m. Sat. Gallery 400, ADH. 312-996-6114
Through May 31
“Commerce in Human Souls: The Legacy of the Atlantic Slave Trade”Exhibit includes 18th and 19th century documents from the UIC Library’s special collections including letters, government reports, diaries and slave ship drawings. 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Tues. and Thurs.-Fri., and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Wed. Third floor, Daley Library. 312-996-2742
LECtUREs/sEMiNARs/ CONFERENCEs
March 20
Budget Town Hall MeetingProvost Lon Kaufman hosts discussion on the FY2014 budget outlook. 1-2:30 p.m., Illinois Rooms, SCE
“Telling About Violence: Narrative Payoff in Violent Acts and Violent Careers”Curtis Jackson-Jacobs, professor of sociology, UCLA. Sponsored by the department of criminology, law and justice. 3 p.m. 4011 BSB
April 3
“Making Crime and Criminals: Policing Citizenship on the Arizona-Sonoran Border” Patrisia Macias Rojas, Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy visiting scholar. 2 p.m. Latino Cultural Center, LC B2. 312-996-9145
April 11
“The Effects of Race, Gender and Sexual Orientation on the Experience of Hate Crimes in Chicago” Paul Schewe, associate professor of criminology, law and justice, and Alicia Matthews, associate professor of health systems sci-ence. Sponsored by the Institute for Research on Race and Pub-lic Policy. Noon-1 p.m. 330 CUPPA Hall. 312-996-9145
sPECiAL EVENts
March 20-21
Blood DrivesPhi Sigma Sigma drive, March 20, SCE atrium. Interfraternity Council drive, March 21, SCE atrium. All drives from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Appointments required; email [email protected]
March 20
Music Master ClassJoel Spencer, drums. 3 p.m. L060 EPASW
March 21
“Absolutely Safe”Film screening. Discussion follows with filmmaker Carol Cian-cutti-Leyva and Our Bodies Ourselves co-founder Judy Norsigian in discussion on women’s health topics, including breast implant safety, body image and activism. 5:30-7:30 p.m. SPHPI audito-rium. Register at http://go.uic.edu/safe
Tour de Farms Information and RegistrationInformation about June 22-23 bike ride to raise money for Mul-tiple Sclerosis Society. Sponsored by the Chicago Campus Cyclers. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Hospital lobby. [email protected] or http://bit.ly/YCCHef
“Measuring Your Impact”Online library workshop. Noon-1 p.m. Register at http://library.uic.edu
“RefWorks”Online library workshop. 1:30-2:30 p.m. Register at http://library.uic.edu
March 29
“How to Find Full Text”Online library workshop. Noon-12:30 p.m. Register at http://library.uic.edu
MARCH 20 IN HISTORY
Anti-slavery novel published
Featuring investiga-tive journalist Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, Chew on This and Reefer Madness. Part of the Chancel-lor’s Lecture Series. 5-6 p.m. Illinois Room, SCE.
Eric Schlosser
“Body Doubles,” on display at Gallery 400.
9MARCH 20, 2013 I UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu
student voice Want to contribute a story? Email Christy Levy, [email protected]
By Rana Khatib
If you’re watching NBC’s “Chicago Fire,” you might see some familiar sights.
Several episodes of the drama series, which follows the lives of firefighters, paramedics and a rescue squad at the Chicago Fire Department, have been filmed at locations on and around campus.
UIC has been a perfect place to shoot some episodes because of its locations and buildings, said Robert Hudgins, location manager for the series.
“There is such a wide variety of buildings on campus and UIC is so great to work with that we scout for as much as we can there,” Hudgins said.
If the exterior of the show’s fictional hospital looks familiar, that’s because it’s actually the School of Public Health, at Taylor Street and Ashland Avenue. The Feb. 20 episode of the show featured a scene shot in the College of Medicine courtyard.
Campus rooftops of the parking lots are an excellent asset when filming takes place, Hudgins said.
UIC campus sets stage for NBC firefighter drama
“We’ve used the rooftop of the building at Roosevelt and Halsted for the roof of the Fire Academy,” he said.
“Most recently, a hallway was converted to a psychiatric ward. We also rely on support areas like parking lots for our crew parking.”
Show representatives originally contacted the hospital with their interest in filming on campus, said Mark Dono-van, vice chancellor for administrative services.
Show staff members contact UIC every few months to discuss filming on campus, he said.
“There is a standard use agreement that is used to make sure we meet all insurance requirements, indemnity, etc.,” he said.
Although the UIC area is a busy area filled with curious students, Donovan said filming has not proved difficult.
“So far, we have not had any difficulty in scheduling a filming; we do work with any departments that may be im-pacted to make sure that there are not any issues,” he said.
The Feb. 20 episode of “Chicago Fire” featured a scene with actor Taylor Kinney filmed in the College of Medicine courtyard.
By Nathan Oelker
Elliot Fineman’s life changed forever on Dec. 31, 2006.That morning, a Chicago policewoman told Fineman that
his son had been murdered, shot dead in a San Diego restau-rant while dining with his wife.
Overcome with emotion at this sense-less act, Fineman was appalled by the fact that the gunman had a history of mental illness and had purchased his gun legally. Through a loophole in our country’s gun laws, because this person had twice com-mitted himself voluntarily, his gun rights were not infringed.
Following this tragedy, Fineman thought it would be trivial to spend his time “helping corporations make more money,” and gave up his strategic communications firm to found the National Gun Victims Action Council in 2010.
Fineman’s organization and mission were the subject of a talk given to a UIC media class Feb. 19.
“Our gun laws are utterly insane,” said Fineman, explain-ing loopholes such as that individuals on the No Fly List can
legally buy guns, gun show exhibitors are not required to run background checks and background checks are not required for online purchases.
Fineman discussed how gun dealers who knowingly sell guns to customers who fail background checks cannot be prosecuted. In all, 40 percent of private sales don’t require
this research, he said.“We give immunity to virtually every-
one in the gun industry,” Fineman said.A person cannot defend himself with
a gun because the element of surprise always trumps defense, he said.
“If someone sneaks up behind you to rob you and puts a gun to your head, will you move to retrieve your gun? Carrying a gun offers no chance of protec-tion unless you do it first,” Fineman said.
The NRA’s influence is primarily economic, Fineman said, because its leadership pushes for protective legislation to promote sales.
After explaining the problems, Fineman turned to so-lutions, presenting his strategy of “Tell and Compel,” with which governments can be influenced to change legislation
through economic means. For example, to influence gun laws in the state of Florida, first “tell” the legislators that a U.S. survey shows that 100 million people support changes to gun laws. Then “compel,” by threatening the absence of eco-nomic involvement for 100 million people.
As Fineman put it concisely, “For 100 million people, Florida doesn’t exist,” and that boycotting would damage tourism and economic growth.
In Fineman’s view, action through economic means can more easily effect change. The problem, he explained, is mo-bilizing millions to action.
Fineman said that can be accomplished by showing how gun violence can affect them.
He recalled how reports connecting smoking to lung can-cer affected only smokers, but reports about the dangers of secondhand smoke affected everyone. This realization led to mobilization that created current smoking laws.
Fineman hopes that similar realizations, resulting from the deadly shootings in the U.S., can cause a similar effect for gun legislation.
Arrests by UIC PoliceMarch 11: A man and a woman were arrested
on narcotics charges at 6:55 p.m. at 320 S. Ashland Ave.
March 13: A woman was arrested at 1:11 a.m. for DUI at 931 S. Ashland Ave.
March 16: A woman was arrested on a warrant at 9:04 a.m. at the hospital.
March 17: A man was arrested for DUI at 4:51 a.m. at 2000 W. Roosevelt Road.
For more information on police activity, visit the UIC Police crime map, www.uic.edu/depts/police, and the Chicago Police CLEAR Map, http://gis.chicagopolice.org
Published on Wednesdays during the academic year (monthly during summer) by the Office of Public Affairs of the University of Illinois at Chicago. 1320 University Hall (MC 288), 601 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607-7113.http://www.uicnews.uic.edu
Robots designed, built and operated by UIC engineering students demolished the competition in a two-day contest for Mid-western universities.
UIC’s Engineering Design Team took home top prizes at the 26th annual Jerry Sanders Creative Design Competition, spon-sored by AMD Inc. and held March 8-9 on the Urbana-Champaign campus.
Every March, robotics teams from universities across the Midwest test their skills and creativity at the challenge. This year’s challengers included UIC, Valparaiso, Northern Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Il-linois Institute of Technology and College of DuPage.
The UIC team entered three robots to win first-place, second-place and demolition champion honors at the competition.
“Each robot takes about six months to make,” said Zachary Quinn, president of UIC’s team and a senior in electrical engi-neering.
“All three were made in unison with each other. About two months are spent on design, one month for manufacturing, two weeks for assembly, and the rest for planning and prototyping mechanisms, which is the most important part of the robot.”
The tasks for the robots this year involved picking up Nerf, bocce and ping pong balls, then depositing them in basins. They could
UIC’s Engineering Design Team put their three robots to the test this month and won top prizes.
UIC’s robots crush competitionperform other tricks to obtain extra points.
The naming of the robots is crucial to the building process, Quinn said.
This year the team opted for powerful name choices: Thanatos, the demon personi-fication of death, and Lamashtu, the female demi-goddess who menaces and kidnaps children.
They changed it up a bit for the last robot, named Richard.
“Richard was the wildcard. It was an ex-perimental robot that did not want to follow the typical naming scheme,” Quinn said.
The design team has about 40 members, most of them majoring in mechanical engi-neering, electrical engineering or bioengi-neering.
“This year, we added a lot of new freshman and sophomore members to the team,” Quinn said.
“This success has fueled their interest in the team, and will help us be competitive for our next competition in June.”
The students’ success reflects their talent, said College of Engineering dean Peter Nel-son.
“This interdisciplinary project with con-strained resources, tight deadlines and tough competition is great career preparation,” Nel-son said.
“One of my messages to companies is that they can hire UIC engineering students who will match or exceed the quality of students from any university in the country.”
UIC students will dance for eight hours straight April 6 to raise money for patients at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
UIC hosts its own dance marathon as part of a nationwide event at more than 1,000 high schools and colleges across the country.
Participants will receive pledges to stay
on their feet through dancing, games and entertainment from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Inner Circle, Student Center East. More than 150 people have registered, raising more than $6,000 so far.
“People want to save lives and people want to have fun — here’s a chance for them to do both,” said Arjun Arya, event organizer and sophomore in economics.
Sign up to dance or donate at http://www.dmuic.org
Staying on their feet to help kids
12 UIC NEWS I www.uicnews.uic.edu I MARCH 20, 2013
For more Flames sports, visit www.uicflames.comsports
By Brett McWethy
The first round of the CollegeInsider.com postseason tour-nament will feature a little Chi-town flavor.
The Flames will host crosstown rival Chicago State for the opening round of the postseason CollegeInsider.com Tourna-ment today in the UIC Pavilion.
Game time is 7 p.m. Tickets start at $10, available by calling 312-413-UIC1. Students are admitted free with i-card.
UIC (17-15) garnered an at-large berth in the CIT, giving the Flames their first postseason appearance since 2004.
Chicago State (10-21) claimed the Great West Conference automatic berth after capturing the tournament title with a 75-60 victory over Houston Baptist Saturday.
By Laura White
The men’s gymnastics team won four events, captured three first-place finishes and posted a season-high score Sun-day in a 412.550-407.650 win against No. 13 Temple at the Physical Education Building.
David Ishida, Justin Maxwell, Bryan Pusateri and Daniel Zerbel were honored in a senior ceremony following the meet after garnering a collection of top scores on the day.
“I am so proud of the guys,” head coach Charley Nelson said. “It is really starting to come together, they are believing in themselves and what we are able to do, and we are moving in the right direction.”
The Flames came away with wins on floor and pommel horse, before besting Temple on parallel bars and horizontal bar, taking first place in three of the four events.
“To take a win from one of your conference rivals, it cer-
By Robbin Cooley
The softball team (6-16) won its third straight game Saturday in a 6-5 comeback victory over Toledo during the second day of the Hoosier Classic.
The team then fell to Indiana, 8-0, in five innings for a 3-1 record through two days of play.
The Flames posted nine total hits against Toledo. Senior Melissa Preish had two hits and two RBI. Junior Jacki Fletcher had two hits and the game-winning RBI.
With a bottom-of-the-seventh inning surge, UIC lifted its way to a tie game at 5-5.
The Flames placed a run on the board in the bottom of the third inning when junior Courtney Heeley hom-ered for a 1-0 lead.
The Rockets went on a scoring spree in the sixth in-ning to produce five runs against UIC starting pitcher Bridget Boyle. Senior Devin Miller then entered during the inning and pitched the remaining 2.1 innings.
The Flames couldn’t score in the bottom of the sixth but held off the Rockets in the top of the seventh inning to keep the score at 5-1.
Junior Jenna Marsalli led off the seventh inning for UIC and singled through the left side. Senior catcher Teresa Aguilar and Heeley posted back-to-back walks to load the bases with one out. Junior Natalie Hernandez singled to right field to score a run for Marsalli. Senior Kara Komp’s hit scored a run for Aguilar, pushing the score to 5-3. Preish collected two RBI to tie the game at five in the bottom of the seventh.
The Flames held off Toledo during the tie-breaker inning. In the bottom half, freshman Alex Wyss entered to pinch run for senior Coryn Schmit at second base, before freshman Laura Swan singled to advance Wyss to third base. Marsalli reached on a fielder’s choice that rung up Swan at second. Junior Fletcher produced the game-winning RBI to secure the 6-5 victory over Toledo.
UIC hosts Green Bay Saturday and Sunday.
Softball sees success at Indiana competition
Wednesday’s game marks the first time the Cougars have advanced to the postseason as a Division I member.
UIC head coach Howard Moore orchestrated a turnaround this season: an increase of nine wins over the 2011-12 cam-paign with a winning percentage increase of 26.46.
During the regular season, UIC posted notable wins over 2012 postseason foes Mercer, Iona, Northwestern, Colorado State, Cleveland State and Milwaukee.
The Flames were picked as No. 5 seed in the Horizon League Tournament, their best regular season finish since 2008.
The UIC-Chicago State rivalry dates back to the 1947 sea-son, but today’s game is the first time the teams have competed since 2005. The Cougars lead the all-time series, 34-28.
Photo: Steve Woltmann
Jackie Fletcher scored the game-winning RBI Saturday.
Photo: Alex Rauch
This year was a turnaround season for the Flames, including (L-R) Jake Wiegand, Hayden Humes, Gary Talton and Marc Brown.
tainly helps make a statement to everyone else and a statement to ourselves about what we can do and what we can accom-plish at a conference meet,” Nelson said.
Zerbel led the team with top scores in three events. He took first on floor (15.200), first on parallel bars with a season-high 14.650 and second on the horizontal bar (13.900.)
Joseph Hodges collected a first-place finish on pommel horse (14.150) and took the all-around with a combined score of 83.200.
Fighting through a torn ACL injury, Ishida also competed on pommel horse to bring in a score of 13.200.
Pusateri and Maxwell placed third and fourth on rings, following a first-place tie for Temple. Pusateri scored a season-best 14.150 and Maxwell scored a 14.100.
The Flames head to Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday to take on No. 2 Michigan at Cliff Keen Arena. The meet is set to start at 6 p.m.
