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The Voice of the Colorado School of Mines, a Superior Education in Applied Science and Engineering
Volume 88, Issue 19February 19, 2008
News - 2Features - 4Sports - 8Opinion - 9Fool’s Gold - 10
 The inner workings of the tril-lions of cells making up the stu-dent ‘body’ have been a mysteryfor years. At Tuesday’s PhysicsDepartment colloquium, some of these unknowns were revealed.Paige Shaklee, a CSM alumnusin Physics (BSc ’03), presented the
ndings of research she is conduct
-ing as a graduate student at the Uni-versity of Leiden in the Netherlands.She and a group of scientists arestudying the mechanisms by whichcells move material around inside.“We call it the cell’s messageand receiving service,” said Shak-lee, with a hint of the Dutch accentshe has picked up while at Leiden.Using powerful microscopes
and inserting uorescent chemicals
into the test cells, Shaklee andher group were able to observe
intracellular material owing along
lines, to and from the nucleus. The group divided the systeminto three mechanisms: Microtu-bules, Motors, and Membranes.
 The rst function as the ‘roads’ on
which material travels, appearingas spindly polymer strands radiat-ing outward from a source. Thesecond are the movers along thesehighways, tiny protein ‘vehicles’. Thethird component is characterized byglobs of lipids (fatty matter) that pro-vide the material to be transported.“We can see material movingalong these polymers, but what’smoving them?” asked Shaklee. “Weknow these motor proteins exist, butwe want to know how they work.” Throughout the talk, video foot-age (both real and conceptual)illustrated her points. The mem-branes could be seen in real time,their structures diffusing outwardalong thin lines, the motors carryingthem away across the microtubules. To understand these dynamics,Shaklee’s group grew their ownmembranes, tubules, and mo-tors. In a controlled environ-ment, they scrutinizedthe motor behavior.“We can studythis simple model-ing system whenthese things all work together,” said Shaklee. Two kinds of motorswere found: processive (P)and nonprocessive (NP). Theformer carry membrane mate-rial along, looking like minisculebipeds, putting one protein foot infront of the other, marching downthe tubule. The latter type doesthe same, but, after one step,they detach from the tubule anddiffuse back into the membrane.P motors carry membrane mate-rial forward, keeping the lengtheningstring in tension. NP motors, asthey fall off, release the tension,and the thread retreats towardsthe source. Thus far, experimentshave shown the P and NP motorsto work together in transportingmembrane material, explainingthe back-and-forth processionas these membrane lines move. The data gathered has generatedsome conclusions about cell function-ing and the nature of cell development.“A long time ago, we thoughtmembrane material was all different
Physics colloquium shedslight on cellular journey
throughout the cell,” said Shaklee.“Now we think it all might be thesame, coming from the same place.” The former Physics under-graduate was receivedwarmly by the at-tending faculty.“It was a verygood presen-tation, oneI would
Jason Fish
Content Manager 
 
Climatechange expertvisitsNHV seminar 
“It’s going to take collabo-ration to solve our problems,”asserted Brad Udall, directorof NOAA-funded Western Wa-ter Assessment, located at theUniversity of Colorado, Boulder.Udall presented on Feb. 11 and12 to Nature and Human Valuesstudents about the impact of cli-mate change on water policy in thewest. In his lecture, Udall spokeabout climate change in general,but focused on how well knownwater features in the west – suchas Lake Powell and Lake Mead– are affected by climate changeand how the distribution of wateramong places that depend on theColorado River would be changed.Udall began his lecture by brief-ly showing how climate change– which he prefers to call “globalclimate disruption,” because “cli-mate change is a change in pat-terns” – is indeed occurring. Hisdiscussion included both commonevidence of climate change, suchas the warming of the atmosphere,and less common evidence, suchas how lags in climate change af-fect scientists’ abilities to success-fully predict future climates. As anexample, he said, “ocean sinksaren’t doing as good of a job ab-sorbing carbon anymore,” whichis something climate models musttake into account if they are to pre-dict the future climate successfully.Having presented his case onthe existence of climate change,Udall began discussing what itwould do to the west in general.He cited the example of Phoenix inthe summer of 2007, where “in the90 day summer period… we had
47 days above 109˚F.” This sort of 
event is indicative of the future, hesaid. “Warming tends to eat up oursnow pack,” which greatly affectsthe Colorado River: recent warm-
ing, for example, reduced “ows…
from 100% of the normal to70%.” In terms of impacts closerto home, he commented, “Colo-rado’s elevation will be somewhatprotective of its snow pack.”Udall continued his discus-sion of the west, focusing moreon water policy. “Lake Mead haslost almost half of what it startedwith… this is by far the worstdrought in the historical period.” The drought is very worrisomefor those living in the West andSouthwest, who get their waterfrom the Colorado River. Thisincludes Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego, amongothers: “30 million people areserved by the basin.” Furthermore,the water from the Colorado Riveris legislated to go to certain states,
in specic amounts. This makes it
so that in a given year, states in theColorado’s upper basin, includingColorado, don’t know for sure howmuch water they will be getting. The outlook is unnerving formany climate scientists. “Annualmean warming is likely to exceedglobal mean…” he said. “Conti-nental areas warm 1.5 times theglobal warming.” Thus, whenmid-range projections for global
temperature by 2100 are 7˚F, the
warming in the west will very likelybe even higher. However, Udallbelieves that the problem can stillbe solved. If states work with eachother, and large cities such as Las Vegas – whose only logical watersource is the Colorado River – areallowed to get the water they need,then the effects of climate changecan be mitigated. “Our ability toadapt is going to be a function
of our willingness to be exible.”
Jake Rezac
Staff Writer 
   C   O   U   R   T   E   S    Y     W   I   K   I   M   E   D   I   A   C   O   M   M   O   N   S
PATRICK BESEDA /OREDIGGER
 Onthe Run:
Red andwhite bloodcells capturedby a scanningelectron microscope.
expect from a professional in the
eld,” said Dr. John Scales, a profes
-sor in Physics. “It’s very impressivefor a Mines undergraduate studentto go off to a top university andEurope and succeed like this.”During the question and answersession following her talk, Shakleetold the audience how she par-ticipated in a Biology internshipprior before beginning graduatestudies to familiarize herself withthe concepts and basic knowledge.“Physics has a lot to offer inthe biology and medical com-munities,” said Dr. Scales. “Forstudents who want to get in-volved, this is a great opportunity.”
Inside This Edition 
Companies recruit based on quality
Jean Manning-Clark
Career Center 
 This year, Colorado School of Mines hosted its largest Spring CareerDay yet. With over 175 companies inattendance, the Student Recreation
Center was lled with excited employ
-ers and eager candidates. Many of these companies have scheduledadditional on-campus interviewsand information sessions. A listing of these events and company interviewsessions can be found on DiggerNet.In addition to the employers par-ticipating in the Career Day Event,over 30 companies were on the waitlist hoping for a chance to attend,and 4 new employers (Gambro BCT,Northlands Resources, Arista Midstream, and In-tellection) came as guestcompanies looking toexpand their relationshipwith CSM as well as theirexposure to the students. Already the CareerCenter is receiving inqui-ries about registering forthe Fall 2008 Career Day,scheduled on Tuesday,Sept. 9. The fall eventis expected to be an-
other huge event, llingup by June. To keep on
top of all the recruitingevents, students shouldlog onto DiggerNet.
COURTESY CAREER CENTER
SEE “DISCUSS” PG 2 
NIU Shooting - Pg 2Prof. Chuck Stone WinsAAPT Award - Pg 3Tech Break - Pg 4Wrestling - Pg 7World News - Pg 2Geek of the Week - Pg 4Blackwell Award Winner - Pg 6Valentines Recovery - Pg 10
 
February 19, 2008
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Abdullah Ahmed,
Asst. Business Manager 
ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES: A 27-year-old student atNIU opened fire on thecampus in the afternoonof Feb. 14. The disturbedgunman entered a filledlecture hall and shot into thecrowd. Of the twenty peo-ple who were injured, sixdied, including the gunman.Investigators still don’t knowthe motive of the crime.KOSOVO - After years of strugglewith Serbia, Kosovo’s parlia-ment declared independencefrom Serbia this past Sunday.Lawmakers have sent lettersto many countries asking themto recognize the Republic of Kosovo as a state, which is con-sidered the newest nation in theworld. The new administrationhas vowed to make Kosovo a“democratic, multiethnic state.”UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: A license plate that bears only thenumber “1” was sold for a recordof 14 million dollars at a charityevent. The proceedings will go
to help victims of trafc accidents
at rehabilitation centers. Thelatest event has fetched over24 million dollars from auction-ing about 90 plates. The oil-swollen UAE started auctioningunique plates for charity last May.PAKISTAN - Amid oneof the country’s worstsecurity crises, voters inPakistan began hittingthe polls. With fears of violence and voting fraud,the election opened to aslow start, especially inmajor cities. The poll hadbeen delayed since thekilling of politician BenazirBhutto last December.
Oredigger Staff 
Zach Aman
Editor-in-Chief 
Hilary Brown
 Asst. Editor-in-Chief 
Sara Post
Copy Editor 
Andrew Aschenbrenner 
Opinion Editor 
Josh Elliott
Business Manager 
Cericia Martinez
Prospector Editor 
Richard Walker 
Webmaster 
Cathryn Greene
 Asst. Copy Editor 
Meave Hamm
Lead Prospector Photographer 
Ryan Browne
 Asst. Business Manager 
Abdullah Ahmed
 Asst. Business Manager 
Mike Stone
Fool’s Gold Editor 
Jason Fish
Content Manager 
Kevin Duffy
Content Manager 
Lily Giddings
Content Manager 
Matthew Pusard
Content Manager 
David Frossard
Faculty Advisor 
This Week at
Mines
 As of late January, well-known CSM professor
Wendy Harrison has ofcial
-ly stepped in as AssociateProvost for the institution. The Rocky Mountain Newsreported that a barber-shop quartet from CSM“blew the socks off” law-makers in Colorado’sHouse of Representatives.CSM was honored in theWestminster Windowfor a new program thatbrings graduate studentsinto Westminster’s 50 el-ementary classrooms.CSM researchers havefound a “unique mate-rial behavior” that couldexpand the potential of ceramics: the addition of lithium aluminum silicatehalts crack propagation.One of six American uni-versities honored with thetask, CSM will host a semi-nar with 15 local citizens inlate March to discuss thefuture of nanotechnology.
 The gunman at Northern Il-linois University that wound-ed 15 and killed six has beenidentified as former studentStephan P. Kazmierczak.Kazmierczak was armed withthree handguns and a shotgun
when he opened re in a lecture hall
on Thursday. He arrived ten min-utes before the end of the geologylecture, dressed in black and wear-ing a ski mask to cover his face. The shooting lasted only a fewminutes, and authorities wereon scene within 90 seconds. The University then proceeded
Shooting at Northern Illinois University
JAPAN
- Ofcials in Japan are plan
-ning to build an underwater trainthat stretches nearly 80 miles toSouth Korea. The main goal of the project is to “promote” dip-lomatic relations with South Ko-rea, which has yet to be informed.to send email messages to theentire student body that therehad been a shooting, and that
students should nd a safe place.
Friday classes at NIU werecancelled.Kazmierczak was a formersociology student at NIU, andgraduated in 2007. People whoknew him said that there wasno indication that Kazmierczak would do something like this,as Kazmierczak had been wellliked by both the faculty andpeers while he was a student.Head of Police at NIU, DonGrady did mention that Kazmierc-zak had recently stopped takingmedication. Officials have not
Emily Trudell
Staff Writer 
released the name of the drug.NIU president, John Peterspraised law enforcement andemergency services for their quick response, and mentioned that thecampus had instituted protocolin the event of such an attack.Due to the series of deadly at-tacks at schools and universities,such as the infamous Columbinemassacre, the Virginia Tech shoot-ing, and this most recent inci-
dent at NIU, ofcials at Colorado
School of Mines have decided thatthe dormitory doors will remain
locked at all times, indenitely.
Until further notice, only studentswho have Blastercard access willbe able to enter the dormitories. The Coulter HealthCenter at the Col-orado Schoolof Mines was“pleased to an-nounce a new se-cure messaging sys-tem” in accordance with theHealth Insurance Portabil-ity and Accountability Act(HIPAA) passed in 1992. This act specifies thatthe Department of Healthand Human Services mustmeet “national standardsfor electronic health caretransactions and nation-al identifiers for providers,health plans, and employ-ers.” These standards now
Health Center changes confidentialcommunication procedures
Lily Giddings
Content Manager 
require all health care centersto provide secure transmissionand privacy protection for clients.For the CSM student healthcenter, it means thatstudents nowhave an easyway to sendin any health-related question,without worrying aboutunintended third-party re-cipients. Depending on thequestion, students will hearback from either a nurse,in response to a generalhealth question, or doc-tor, for a more complexquestion. If the questionrequires further examina-tion, they may be asked tocome in to the health center. This system also makes iteasier for the health center tocontact students. For instance,lab results can now be sentvia email, saving both the stu-dent and the health center time. Though the new system iseasy to use, Kate van Susante,the Administrative Assistant in thehealth center, has not noticed achange in the number of studentvisits to the health center. “Butstudents have already started touse the system,” said Susante.In order to use the program,students must subscribe to theweb-based system at https:// csm.wordsecure.com. Studentsmust use their school email ad-dress to register. While studentsmay still send in health-relatedquestions via regular email, it isrecommended that they use thenew secure messaging system.HIPAA info from: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaageninfo/ 
COURTESYWIKIMEDIACOMMONS
 
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“Downtown Golden -Where The West Shops” 
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Wine of the Week:
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•GREAT PRICES•HUGE SELECTION •SUPER SERVICE
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
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 New Ownership
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
 Although he is relatively new tothe Mines campus, physics pro-fessor Chuck Stone has broughtmore than just knowledge to CSM.Professor Stone has a backgroundin Nuclear Engineering and Ap-plied Plasma Physics, but has alsoworked with several organizationsto improve andadvance sciencecurricula acrossthe nation at everylevel of education. This past yearStone came toCSM, enticed bythe school’s stew-ardship-mindedapproach to edu-cation. “It wouldbe one thing toteach anything atany school, but it
has a totally different avor when
you know that the larger structurehas a bigger mission geared to-ward responsible stewardship of the Earth and its resources,” saidStone. “When you have students,faculty and staff that are focusedon that fundamental philosophy,it’s totally different than teaching ata school with a different objective.” There are two major physicsorganizations in the United States:the American Physical Society,focused on research endeavors,and the American Associationof Physics Teachers, focused oneducation. Stone, who has beeninvolved with the AAPT at an execu-tive level, was awarded a citationfor “Distinguished Service” by theorganization this past month. Whennews of the award reached Stone’s
ofce in mid-January, he sought
the advice of Physics DepartmentHead Tom Furtak. Although Stonewas worried about the logistics of leaving his lecture duties so early
Physics professor recognized for service by the American Association of Physics Teachers
Tim Weilert
Staff Writer 
in the semester, he attended the
meeting in Baltimore on January 23.
“The Physics Department is proudto have Dr. Stone on the faculty,”Furtak explained. “He is an ener-getic and exceptionally dedicatedteacher who works tirelessly tohelp students learn more effectively.He’s very deserving of this award,which was presented not only forhis excellent teaching, but alsofor his work atthe national level,on the Execu-tive Committeeof the AAPT.” The awarddid not sim-ply recognizeStone, but hadimplications thatreached to thePhysics Depart-ment and theMines campusin general. “Itwas a very humbling experience toreceive this, because I know someof the people who have receivedthis award in the past and thesepeople are my mentors,” saidStone. “It is something I would havenever expected to have received.”He explained that a person’s natu-ral abilities are often overlookedby the individual, but others cansee something special within thatindividual. Although it is a majoraward, Stone did not know exactlyhow his accomplishment would beimportant for the school; “I haven’tseen dancing girls come down thestreet, or the grass get any greener,or a truck full of money show up,but I realized that [the award] mustbe a big deal, because we wereall wearing ties [in Baltimore].”Stone did not take full respon-sibility for the award, but thoughtthat the solid leadership systemand community within the PhysicsDepartment needed recognitionas well. “Everyone has differentstrengths and characteristics,but everyone respects every-one else for what they bringto the table, and you don’talways find that,” he said.“Sometimes departmentscan be competitive, but noone here seems to have anego, there is a collegiality, andreally a friendship betweeneveryone here.” The ideas of community and support werethe driving passions for Stone.“It is satisfying to help peoplestrive and accomplish theirown goals,” he explained. “If I can transfer to others thefact that what they are doingis just as important as what Iam doing, and they take thatinto their life, then they willbe able to do great things.”Stone wants to help bringthe Physics program at CSMto a new level. He believes thatby maintaining and growingthe undergraduate enrollmentthe department can continueto improve. One aspect of this goal is “giving students agood experience in introduc-tory physics courses.” He isalso a proponent of updatingthe research and teaching fa-cilities, which would make theMines physics program morevisible on a national level.Stone has emphasized theideas of sharing accomplish-ments with others, maintain-ing a vibrant non-academiclife, and being a well-roundedperson. “A college campusoffers so many things that youcan participate in, that maynot be available to you laterin life,” said Stone. “All thedifferent clubs are great forpersonal growth and friend-ships. These relationshipscan last a lifetime and canhave impact on a person asa student and an individual.”
 “Stone has emphasizedthe ideas of sharing ac-complishments with oth-ers, maintaining a vi-brant non-academic life,and being a well-roundedperson.” 
Students interested in humani-tarian efforts in local communitiesand third-world countries gath-ered last week in Berthoud Hallto take part in a presentation onwater treatment and sustainability.Organized by Dr. David Munozand the Humanitarian EngineeringProgram, the presentation featuredOskar Cole and Cleo Woelfe-Erksine,authors of 
Dam Nation: Dispatchesfrom the Water Underground 
, anessay anthology on water issues.“Design is the most crucial andcritical aspect of these humanitar-ian engineering efforts,” said Cole.“The goal is to equalize a standardof living worldwide.” Good design,however, does not just incorporategood technical sense, but alsoconsiders the social and culturalneeds of the community. The prob-lem we face today is an unequaldistribution of finite resources.“Both ends, from extreme povertyto extreme luxury, have to meetin the middle,” said Cole. Thisleads to successful sustainability.“We feel that sustainable wa-ter systems are an importantway to achieve these ends,” saidWoele-Erksine. It applies not onlyto third-world communities, butto sprawling urban centers aswell. Thus, Cole and Woelfe-Erk-sine went on to expand on theirown research and experience. They noted problems with the Three Gorges Dam on the YangtzeRiver in China and the levees on theMississippi River system. Stagnatewater in China kills the marine life
and breeds disease, while ood
-ing has displaced thousands. Thereceding wetlands, combinedwith the deficient levee systemin Louisiana, contributed to theflooding after Hurricane Katrina. They talked of rainwater har-vesting and greywater systemsand their applications from lawnsin California to villages in Africa.Displaying several designs, theyshowed water storage systemsthat utilized the soil and the naturalshape of the landscape.Cole and Woelfe-Erksinewent on to explain otherefficient resource alloca-tion techniques, includinga double vault toilet thatconverts human waste intousable compost. This sys-tem has come in handy incountries lacking sufficientfertilizer or soil nutrients, inaddition to dense urban areaslacking intricate plumbing.On the whole, these in-dividual ideas contribute toa larger belief. “We want toshow the connections be-tween our own resource useand the larger political andcultural issues,” said Cole. The presentation endedwith a reading from
DamNation
. It spoke of the spiritof the earth and the need toreturn to it what is used fromit. It spoke of the balancewith the environment thatthe western world has lostin the course of its progress.
Dam Nation |
 A darn good time
David Sommer 
Staff Writer 
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