Volume 90, Issue 25May 3, 2010

News  2Features  6opiNioN - 9sports - 10

~world headlines~scientific discoveries~geek of the week ~tech break ~minds at mines~what’s your beef?~track and field~athlete of the week

satire  12

~the undead write again

For the rst time in three years,the Colorado School of Minesattended the International Inter

collegiate Mining Competition,regarded as the measuring stick for worldwide mining universities.Consisting of seven events basedon historical mining methods, thegames were established to com

memorate the 91 Idaho miners lostin the 1972 Sunshine Mine Disaster. At this year’s competition, heldin Kalgoorlie, Australia on April 8and 9, the Oredigger team placedsecond in four events, solidifying anoverall bronze medal in the games.In conjunction with the compe

tition, the Australian Institute forMining and Metallurgy (AusIMM)held the New Leaders Conferencein the days prior. This event targetscollege students as they reach thebeginning of their careers to facili

tate their development into industryleaders of tomorrow. The CSMteam members attended, givingstudents an opportunity to makeinternational connections, build ca

reer skills and get a glimpse of thecurrent state of Australian miningactivities and technologies. Colora

do School of Mines was one of onlytwo U.S. schools represented at theconference, giving team memberstime to make friends among the Australian students and acclimateto cultural differences.Practice was scheduled thenext day for all teams, givingcompetitors time to ne-tune theirpreparations and adjust to anydifferences in competition tools.In attendance were schools fromacross the United States - includ

ing South Dakota School of Mines& Technology, Missouri Universityof Science & Technology, ArizonaState, Virginia Tech and Universityof Nevada at Reno, a team fromBritain, and many Australian uni

versities, including University of Queensland, University of Adelaide,University of Melbourne, and thehost institution, Western AustraliaSchool of Mines.Having learned a great deal andmaking some great friends duringthe conference and practice days,the Oredigger team turned theirattentions to competition perfor

mance, with many new friendsrooting them on. Third, Fourth andFifth place standings in track stand,surveying and jacklegging eventskept CSM in the running among toptier teams. Turning in many teamand personal best performancesvaulted the Orediggers to silvermedal nishes in swede sawing,hand mucking, hand steeling, andgold panning events, netting the2010 Colorado School of MinesCo-ed Team a Bronze Medaloverall.Next year’s competition will beheld in Reno, Nevada. The Colo

rado School of Mines Team is opento all CSM students, and is activelyseeking additional members tocomplete rosters for Men’s, Wom

en’s, and Co-Ed divisions which willbegin practice in the fall. For anopportunity to meet students fromother mining universities aroundthe world, learn about the historyof this exciting industry, and repre

sent Colorado School of Mines onan international stage, the Mining Team provides a unique experi

ence. For questions regarding theInternational Intercollegiate MiningCompetition or joining the Oredig

ger Team, please contact teamspokesperson Logan Ronhovde atlronhovd@mines.edu.

CSM Mining Team Brings Home Bronze

Courtesy Kristin Guerin

CSM Mining Team

CSM Mining TeamFrom left to right, back row:

Jacob Brudvig,Kelly Puzak, Kristin Guerin

Front row:

Logan Ronhovde, Sarah Jones, Jeff Shoffner

COURTESY CSM MINING TEAM

Chemical Engineering

Undergraduate

: Ron Miller

Graduate

: Tony Dean

Chemistry & Geochemistry

Undergraduate

: Mark Seger

Graduate

: Dan Knauss

Computer Science

Undergraduate

: Tracy Camp

Graduate

: ZiZhong (Jeffrey)Chen

Engineering, Civil

Undergraduate

: Joe Crocker

Graduate

: Mike Mooney

Engineering, Electrical

Undergraduate

: Ravel Am

merman

Graduate

: PK Sen

Engineering, Environmental

Undergraduate

: Junko Mu

nakata Marr

Engineering, Mechanical

Undergraduate

: Cara Coad

Graduate

: John Berger andNeal Sullivan (tie)

Environmental Science & Engineering

Undergraduate

: Junko Mu

nakata Marr

Graduate

: John McCray

Liberal Arts and Interna-tional Studies

Undergraduate

: Toni Lefton

Graduate

: Toni Lefton

Economics & Business

Undergraduate

: John Stermole

Graduate

: John Stermole

Physics

Undergraduate

: H. Vince Kuo

Graduate

: Reuben Collins

Geophysics

Undergraduate

: David Hale

Geology & Geological En-gineering

Undergraduate

: John Curtis

Graduate

: Eileen Poeter

Mathematics

Undergraduate

: Ellie Blair-Kennedy

Graduate

: Gus Greivel

Mining

Undergraduate

: Hugh Miller

Petroleum

Undergraduate

: Jennifer Mis

kimins

Metallurgy

Undergraduate

: Kip Findley

Graduate

: Ryan O’HayreProfessor Toni Lefton of theLAIS Department has been award

ed the Outstanding Faculty Award.Every year graduating seniorschoose a professor from eachdepartment to receive this honor. This year, Professor Lefton waschosen by the undergraduateand the graduate seniors. “I can’tthink of a greater honor,” ProfessorLefton reected upon her doublewin. “To have students rememberthose moments we shared inclass…this is why I teach.”Professor Lefton’s class

es feel like communities;students are always en

couraged to feel a sense of belonging to the class, andthat leads students to pro

duce better work inside andoutside of the classroom.“I love Toni’s classes,”Sara Post, a graduatingsenior, said. “There’s noth

ing like a poetry class with20 other engineers to reallycapture what the Mines stu

dents brings to the table. Butwithout Toni to draw the art

ist and writer out of the engi

neer, you couldn’t do it. Shereally enjoys taking us out of our comfort zones and ask

ing us to think about thingsdifferently. At the same time,she’s been here long enoughto understand the engineeringbrain, so she doesn’t ght withit, she works with it. That’s whyI voted for her - not just becauseshe’s one of my favorite professorsbut because she understands theunique stresses of Mines and iswilling to work with us from thatperspective.” The award ceremony took place last week in the geologymuseum with over a hundred stu

dents and factually in attendance. Along with Professor Lefton, fac

ulty from other departments werealso honored. When asked if she

LAIS prof sweeps awards

had any advice for the graduatingseniors Professor Lefton said,“They should always trust theirvoices and to remember that weall have a poem inside of us.”Many students who take aclass or more with Professor Lef

ton know that she always pushesthem to bring forth the power of a pencil, which in the end com

pletes the structure of a successfulengineer.“The two classes I’ve had with[Professor Lefton],” Post con

cludes, “are the highlights of myMines experience.”

Abdullah Ahmed

Business Manager

ZACHARY BOERNER / OREDIGGER

See Page 5

High Grade

On April 25, faculty from all departments on campus met tohonor an extraordinary few, chosen by the graduating seniorsand departing graduate students. The awards, separatedbetween undergraduate and graduate students choices werepresented by Sara Post, senior class president and Zach Aman,Graduate Student Association vice president of communications.

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Oredigger Staff

Ryan Browne

Editor-in-Chief

Neelha Mudigonda

Managing Editor

Abdullah Ahmed

Business Manager

Steven Wooldridge

Webmaster

Barbara Anderson

Design Editor

Zach Boerner

Copy Editor

Robert Gill

Asst. Business Manager,Sales and Marketing

Ian Littman

Asst. Business Manager,Web Content

Mike Stone

Fool’s Gold Content Manager

Trevor Crane

Content Manager

Katie Huckfeldt

Content Manager

Forrest Stewart

Faculty Advisor

Headlines from around the world

Local News

Emily Trudell,

Staff Writer

Jake Rezac,

Staff Writer

Berkeley, CA

- A team of researchers have discovereda new, cheap way to producehydrogen gas from water. Toelectrolyze hydrogen gas fromwater, a stable metal catalyst isneeded; previously, platinum, anextremely costly metal, was thebest option. The new research,however, reveals a new catalystwith a much lower price. Thescientists hope their researchwill help hydrogen become anabundant and clean fuel sourcein the future.

Beijing, China

- A new study shows that certaindinosaurs changed the appearance of their feathersduring adolescence. Somewhat like modern birds,who molt while growing, the study suggests thatthe basic structure of dinosaur feathers changed asthey grew. The study’s authors analyzed two 125million-year-old fossils of the feathered dinosaur,

Si- milicaudipteryx

. One of the dinosaurs, presumed tobe younger because of its size and skeletal struc-ture, had ribbon-like bases on its feathers. The olderdinosaur, however, had quilled feathers along thebase. It is presumed that this change took place af-ter the animals molted and their feathers grew back.

Bath, U.K.

- A new typeof wound dressing has beendeveloped which intelligent-ly targets harmful bacteriagrowth. In some types of wounds, burns for example,bacterial growth is a commonand dangerous problem. Thenew dressing, however, con-tains things which, from thebacteria’s perspective, look like prime infestation targets.However, they are in realitycapsules of an antibacterialagent which kills the bacteriaattacking it. The device is stillin its prototypical stages, andwill not be in use in hospitalsettings for some time.

Rochester, NY

- New re-search suggests that humansuse multiple areas of their brain tocomprehend language. The studylooked at how the brain analyzedtwo different grammatical struc-tures common in world language- one in which word order deter-mines meaning and one in whichword endings determine mean-ings. The study found that differ-ent sections of the brain are usedto handle each of these. The fron-tal cortex, which also helps deter-mine informational sequences inother contexts, is used for wordorder grammars. The temporallobe, which also helps categorizeinformation, is used for word end-ing grammars.Democratic Denver Mayor,John Hickenlooper, has raisedabout

1.1 million dollars

towardshis campaign since he entered therace for Colorado governor in Jan-uary. His campaign began whenincumbent Bill Ritter announcedthat he would not seek reelection. The

unemployment rate

inSpain was reported to be up to20.05 percent from 19 percent inthe last quarter. Spain has the sec-ond highest unemployment in Eu-rope after Latvia, and the govern-ment says that there are 4.6 millionunemployed people in the country. A three day

immigration en-forcement

sweep in the South-east lead to the arrest of nearly 600immigrants with criminal records. The operation, lead by the UnitedStates Immigrations and CustomsEnforcement, was the largest of itskind. It focused on arresting im-migrants with criminal records anddeporting these criminals.China opened the

WorldExpo 2010

in Shanghai, whereover 250 countries are nowshowcasing their culture. Tornadoes in Arkansasleft

3 people dead and25 more injured.

The Arkansas Departmentof Emergency Man-agement has deployedteams to search formore people who maybe trapped under dam-aged buildings.Five women werekilled in India during astampede outside of areligious center where60,000 people had as-sembled for a retreat.

Stampedesof people

are often deadly inIndia, and the occurrence is at-tributed to the volume of peopleand lack of facilities to hold largecrowds.Director of the Oscar winning

Lord of the Rings

series wasknighted in his home country of New Zealand for his services atthe Premier House in Wellington.Jackson was knighted by Gov.Gen. Sir Anand Satyanand in pal-ace of Queen Elizabeth II. As a price for the recent bail-out, the country of Greece willbe required to

cut the salaries

of civil servants and change taxrates, among other cuts. Greek civil servants have planned a strikefor the fth of May in response tothe cuts. The United States Air Forceprepared to spray the oil slick off the coast of Louisiana with oil-dispersing chemicals. Recentweather reports say that strongwinds could worsen the

oil slickproblem

by blowing the oil into in-lets and river systems by the coastof Louisiana. A study reported in the Lancetmedical journal found that peopleliving in the United Kingdom had a

higher risk of death

than peopleliving in other developed, wealthycountries. Researchers cited ahigh occurrence of smoking anddrinking as potential reasons forearly death in the UK. This Thursday at ASCSM, thenew ASCSM Senate will vote onStudent Body Parliamentarian,Student Body Secretary, andStudent Body Treasurer. Ian Lit-tman has been recommendedby the ASCSM Executive Coun-cil for Student Body Secretary,Mike Ashwood has been recom-mended by the Executive Coun-cil for Student Body Parliamen-tarian, and Ann Lott has beenrecommended by the ExecutiveCouncil for Student Body Trea-surer.Oredigger baseball split apair of games Saturday againstCSU-Pueblo. Mines won 8-5 inthe rst game and lost 7-8 in thesecond game.Women’s softball lost a pairof games in Saturday’s double-header versus Regis University. The lady Orediggers lost 0-1 inthe rst game and 4-12 in thesecond game.Fellow Mines students KeriKuhn, Mark Malinowski andShay Robinson built a cosmicray detector alongside profes-sor Fred Sarazin and electronicspecialist Orlen Wolf. Beginningnext spring, the Mines tank willbe used by physics majors tomeasure the muon lifetime aspart of the Advanced LaboratoryII class. The bridge over West 6th Avenue near Kipling and UnionBoulevard for the upcoming lightrail project, slated for a 2013launch, was successfully rolledinto place on Saturday. Thebridge weighs 600 tons.

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You may think of Liberal Artsand International Studies (LAIS)as a Division that offers somewriting classes but no majors,masters programs or real valuefor a Mines graduate. But thatold reputation is rapidly changing.LAIS still offers required courseslike Nature and Human Valuesand Human Systems, but it alsohas growing offerings in minorslike STEP (Science, Technology,Energy, and Policy), LSE (Litera-ture, Society and Environment),Humanitarian Studies, IPE (Inter-national Political Economy), andan outstanding masters’ pro-gram called MIPER (Masters inInternational Political Economy of Resources). MIPER has no GRErequirement and can be complet-ed with a Mines undergraduatedegree in as little as an additionalyear. The LAIS Division at Mines is

LAIS expands program opportunities

Courtesy Cortney E. Holles

Instructor, LAIS Department

answering the call for more lib-eral arts education for engineersas the leaders of the future. Dr.Shirley Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institutesays, “As engineering and thetechnological revolution continueto transform our world, we mustassure that those who steer thesechanges understand the totalityof the human condition, and thatbrings us back to the liberal arts.” This is why campuses across thecountry are beginning to empha-size humanities and social sci-ence courses for engineering andscience degrees. Mines studentscan set themselves apart from thepack of technical graduates bypursuing any of the LAIS minorsor the MIPER graduate program. The International PoliticalEconomy (IPE) minor focuses onthe interplay between economicand political forces that shapeand affect relations among theworld’s developed and develop-ing areas. The coursework is par-ticularly focused on the dynamicinteractions between politics andeconomics, both within countriesand on a global scale. The MIPERprogram applies these discus-sions to resource use in particu-lar. For more information on theIPE minor, contact Dr. James Je-sudason at jjesudas@mines.eduand you can contact Dr. Hussein Amery at hamery@mines.edu re-garding the MIPER program. The STEP minor (Science, Technology, Engineering, andPolicy) focuses on science andtechnology in a societal context:how science, technology, and en-gineering (STE) inuence society,politics, and policy and converse-ly, how society, politics, and policyinuence STE. The courses pro-vide historical and analytical ap-proaches to questions confront-ing professionals in the public andprivate sectors. Students study,for example, intellectual propertyrights, science policy formation,regulatory regimes, assessmentsof social impacts, and the rolesof technical innovation in eco-nomic development or interna-tional competitiveness. ContactDr. Carl Mitcham at cmitcham@mines.edu or Dr. Jason Delborneat jdelborn@mines.edu to designa course sequence for this minor.Literature, Society, and Envi-ronment (LSE) is a minor for stu-dents with a passion for literatureand an interest in exploring rela-tionships between literary tradi-tions and the broader social andenvironmental processes. Stu-dents will develop forms of intel-lectual creativity and sensitivity tosocial and environmental dynam-ics increasingly expected of 21stcentury scientists and engineers.Contact Dr. Gianquitto or Dr.Straker at tinagian@mines.edu or jstraker@mines.edu.Finally, the Humanitarian Stud-ies minor focuses on the inter-section of science, technology,and engineering in humanitarianprojects. Scientic, technologi-cal, and engineering-oriented hu-manitarian projects are intendedto help marginalized communitiesmeet basic human needs (suchas food, water, and shelter) whenthese are missing or inadequate.Students take LAIS 320 Ethicswith Sandy Woodson, amongother LAIS and technical elec-tives. Please contact SandyWoodson for enrollment informa-tion at swoodson@mines.edu.Overall, the LAIS departmentis providing an array of value-added degrees for Mines stu-dents with varied interests andfuture careers. These programsare supported by a talented anddiverse faculty, with expertise inelds such as communications,development, policy studies, eth-ics, literature and lm, water re-sources, political relations, andregional integration, to name afew. We look forward to helpingyou design a minor or classes tot your needs and help you standabove the crowd at graduation.Graduates from the ColoradoSchool of Mines are well trained inthe science of moving mountains.But on October 2, Mines alumnusand celebrated author Mr. RobertWaterman will lead one of manyplenary sessions that will helpMines students learn how to mo-bilize people and teams to movethose mountains. They will belearning how to apply engineeringprinciples to the art of leadership. Along with co-author Tom Pe-ters, Watermanpenned the lead-ership tome “InSearch of Excel-lence”, which hasbeen heraldedas the “greatestbusiness book of all time” byBloomsbury UK.Students, fac-ulty and alumniwill have the op-portunity to hearfrom Waterman at the 2010 MinesLeadership Summit. “The Leader-ship Summit provides an oppor-tunity for us to work toward be-ing more than engineers, to work toward being both leaders andengineers,” said Alec Westerman,Student Body President for the2010-2011 academic year.“It was early in my career when[Waterman] and Tom Peters pub-lished ‘In Search of Excellence’ towide acclaim,” said Mines Presi-dent M.W. “Bill” Scoggins. “Thebook, which became one of themost widely read business booksever, helped dene the characteris-tics that make for successful orga-nizations and successful leaders.” As a Mines student, Watermanworked hard to develop his ana-lytical and intuitive problem solvingabilities. “Much of the job of beinga leader has to do with one kind of problem solving or another,” he ex-plained. “Mines is a great teacherof problem solving.”When analyzing leadershipthrough a scientic lens, the chal-lenge remains one of an under-con-

Mines alumnus returnsfor Leadership Summit

Courtesy Serena Stickney

Associate Director of Geo-graphic and Special Programs

strained system. “In my courses inmath and physics, I was used tolooking for the right answer,” saidWaterman. “In business and orga-nizational settings, there are lots of right answers, lots of ways you canget things done. But what I didn’tappreciate was the multiplicity of seemingly right answers. So thebest approach turns out to be …the answer that is both technicallyright and most appealing to thosewho work for you [and] to thosewho buy from you.”Waterman noted that globalthinking is the most importantlearning objective for today’s engi-neering student.“Minerals and oil,for example, aresold at prices thatare determinedby productionand transporta-tion costs fromevery corner of the globe,” hesaid. “Other cul-tures in the worldhave different val-ues than our own;other people see things differentlythan Americans.” The notion of connecting lead-ership through diverse perspec-tives is also a signicant goal forMines. “Developing leadershipqualities in our students is clearlypart of our mission to develop‘global engineers’ who are pre-pared to hit the ground running,”said Scoggins. “At Mines, we tryto inculcate these skills throughoutthe curriculum and through specialopportunities such as this Leader-ship Summit.”“I am looking forward to hear-ing what [Waterman] thinks aregood management practices,” saidWesterman. “I am also looking for-ward to hearing how, as a Minesstudent, he made the transitioninto management. I’m sure that I’mnot alone in hoping to follow a simi-lar path.” The Peters-Waterman book, “InSearch of Excellence”, is availabletoday at the Mines Bookstore. Formore information, visit the Leader-ship Summit website at leadership.mines.edu

“Developing leadershipqualities in our studentsis clearly part of our mis-sion to develop ‘globalengineers’ who are pre-pared to hit the groundrunning.”

On Monday, April 26th the Col-orado Alpha Chapter of Tau BetaPi Engineering Honor Society ini-tiated 61 new members into theorganization. To be eligible for TauBeta Pi membership, you must bein the top eighth of the junior classor top fth of the senior class. Can-didates for Tau Beta Pi must alsodemonstrate good character andintegrity by completing an inter-view process. Tau Beta Pi is anactive honor society on campusand sponsors the annual E-DaysCardboard Boat Race and Trebu-chet Contest. Tau Beta Pi mem-bers also participate in a numberof community and campus serviceevents, including the Castle of Cans food drive, EPICS II Judging,and Engineering Futures sessions.Please congratulate the fol-lowing new members of Tau BetaPi: Kevin Albrecht, Nadiah Anasir,

Tau Beta Pi initiateslargest class in history

Courtesy Ashley Young

Tau Beta Pi President

Nabilla Arief Tham, Brett Arpin, Na-than Bade, Jennifer Bollig, RobertBroman, Andrew Corman, Jes-sica DeBlois, Oliver Dewey, KristaD’innocenzo, Jordan Douglas,Frederick Garcia, Adam Goering,Gary Goesch, Amanda Graninger,Cathryn Greene, Scott Greensides,Judson Greenwood, Daniel Har-rison, Heather Hunt, Hilary Hurst,Harris Ibrahim, Joseph Jennings,Rebecca Johnson-Paben, ScottLang, Samantha Lawrence, CallenLiles, Michael Lutz, Andrew Maul,Connor McDonald, Michael Mid-dleton, John Moseley, David Mut-nick, Ryan Neilson, Anh Nguyen,Dieu Linh Nguyen, Michael Paris,Marie Patton, Brian Peterson, Mi-chael Plampin, Samantha Pou-pore, Bradley Price, Bryce Rob-bins, Zachary Robertson, Mark Robinson, Paul Schietinger, JordanShoemaker, Charles Slavin, KyleSmith, Keith Stevens, Matthew Stil-well, Evan Suazo, Theresa Sung, Allen Thomas, David Underwood, Timothy Weilert, Patricia Weisger-ber, Barry Wilkinson, Patrick Wil-liams, and Tim Wilson. Tau Beta Pi also elected sevennew ofcers for the 2010-2011academic year: Tim Douglas (Pres-ident), Brett Eagle (Vice President),Robert Wright (Treasurer), HilaryStamp (Activities Secretary), MariePatton (Corresponding Secretary),John Sherohman (Recording Sec-retary), and Andrew Renehan (His-torian). Dr. Ravel Ammerman willalso join current advisors Dr. Rob-ert Knecht, Dr. Matthew Liberatore,and Candy Sulzbach as our new-est chapter advisor. Thank you to our 2009-2010outgoing ofcers: Ashley Young(President), Chris Sabaka (VicePresident), Chris Peters (Treasurer),Heather Oertli (Activities Secretary),Rachael Madland (CorrespondingSecretary), Melissa Rhodes (Re-cording Secretary), Wade Rosen-steel (Historian), and Dr. JeffreySquier (Advisor).