Protests Come to Pittsburgh ANDY PENG Inaugural Robobowl Junior Staffwriter

Temporary art should make Visiting professor discusses Students Ethan Crystal and more frequent appearance history of and issues with Michael Dunn sing on the on campus • A6 climate geoengineering • A4 small screen • B8 FORUM SCITECH PILLBOX thetartan.org @thetartan October 17, 2011 Volume 106, Issue 8 Carnegie Mellon’s student newspaper since 1906 Local company wins ‘Occupy’ protests come to Pittsburgh ANDY PENG inaugural RoboBowl Junior Staffwriter Protests swelled within the streets of Pittsburgh last Sat- urday morning, as thousands gathered together to demon- strate against the increasing role of corporate and fi nancial interests in politics. The demonstration, Occu- py Pittsburgh, brought Pitts- burgh into the larger movement that has taken hold in cities across the U.S. after its origin in New York. Students, workers, children and their parents, and others gathered downtown, chanting and carrying signs, fl ags, and banners. Courtesy of Interbots “It’s fantastic. It exceeded The Interbots company designed their bots to interact with children. my expectations. I thought we’d max at 3,000 [people],” ELLIS ROBINSON petition series, was on robots said Occupy Pittsburgh’s orga- Junior Staffwriter designed for health care and Andy Peng/Staff nizer, Nathaniel Glosser. Anti-corporate protesters march through downtown Pittsburgh during Saturday’s protest. quality of life. The protesters represented Finalists for the RoboBowl As a result of the local causes ranging from social se- the Hill District, where a se- three, four, we declare class forgotten, like some of these competition gathered last hosting, both Pittsburgh and curity to police brutality and ries of speakers took turns ad- war.” people are being forgotten Thursday at the Posner Cen- Carnegie Mellon were well women’s rights. dressing the crowd. The rally and march co- right now,” said Mark Glosser, ter before a panel of judges represented in the competi- The main theme, however, Larry Getty, an elderly resi- incided with a larger event a web developer, as he com- to determine whose robot tion: Three of the fi ve fi nal- was protest against corpo- dent of Pittsburgh, protested planned for Saturday, in pared the protest to the 1960s would be the winner of a ists were startup companies rate power. Common signs cuts to Medicare and Social which groups worldwide were civil rights movement, “The $20,000 fi rst-place prize. hailing from Pittsburgh, stated, “Money is not speech Security. He held a sign that encouraged to participate in civil rights movement today is For someone unfamiliar with while the other two teams and corporations are not peo- read: “Who’s going to insure similar demonstrations. Ac- the underrepresented versus the competition, “RoboBowl” were from Highland Park, ple,” “Separation of bank and an 80-year-old man with cording to the Occupy Pitts- the wealthy.” may conjure up images of N.J., and Mountain View, state,” and “Bail out the stu- health problems? We need a burgh website, “Saturday The Occupy Pittsburgh robotic fi ghting matches à la Calif. Additionally, one of the dents, not the banks.” national health care system. will see Pittsburgh join the movement, which began al- BattleBots. Think again. members of RescueBotics, “My problem is that the All of Canada and Europe has hundreds of cities across the most a month ago, captured RoboBowl is a series of ro- the Mountain View team, is price of everything is going up, it. Why don’t we?” country and hundreds more the attention of the media and botics venture competitions a Carnegie Mellon graduate and the 1 percent are trying to After the short rally, overseas where the Occupy local citizens. The group is meant to “fi nd and foster student in robotics. push wages down,” said Jim protesters headed toward movement has taken hold.” gaining momentum with over start-up and early-stage com- The winner of the compe- Bonner, a laid-off bus driver. downtown carrying their In the U.S. and overseas, 6,000 members on its Face- panies seeking to develop ‘big tition was Interbots, a com- Occupy Pittsburgh’s stated banners, signs, and fl ags. As there are over 1,000 cities book page. idea’ products and services” pany made up almost entirely goal is “standing together they passed by the PNC Bank where some sort of occupa- Although the group claims that meet new needs, accord- of Carnegie Mellon graduates against corporate greed.” building, the BNY Mellon tion-style movement has be- to be “in solidarity” with Oc- ing to a Carnegie Mellon press from the entertainment tech- “The politicians and corpo- building, and other corporate gun. cupy Wall Street and have release — very different from nology and human-computer rations are all in it together,” headquarters, they expressed “I want to live in a world similar goals, participants BattleBots indeed. The focus interaction programs. The Bonner added. their anger, chanting things where I know that, if I had said they are a separate move- of RoboBowl Pittsburgh, the Around noon, marchers like “Banks got bailed out, we misfortune, [if] I was not fi rst in the RoboBowl com- See ROBOTS, A4 rallied at Freedom Corner in got sold out” and “One, two, well off, I would not just be See OCCUPY, A3 Annual Relay for Life event beats weather, raises cancer awareness BRENT HEARD This year’s top three fund- cleared; a rainbow was the Junior Staffwriter raising teams were Pi Kappa only remnant of the previous- Alpha, Sigma Alpha Iota, ly inclement weather. As the sun began to set on and Alpha Chi Omega. The Like all Relay for Life last Friday evening, Carnegie top fundraising participants events, Carnegie Mellon’s ef- Mellon students took to the were Jennie Tang, a senior fort contained three key tradi- Cut to begin the 2011 Relay economics and modern lan- tions: the Survivor’s Lap, the for Life. guages double major; Sarah Luminaria Ceremony, and the Running from 6 p.m. Fri- Gorman, a junior design ma- Fight Back Ceremony. day evening to 6 a.m. Satur- jor; and James Owens, a se- Starting off the relay, the day morning, Relay for Life nior electrical and computer Survivor’s Lap is a tribute to was held to benefi t the Ameri- engineering major. all of those who beat cancer, can Cancer Society. It aims to Despite initial concerns in which local cancer survi- fund cancer research and pro- over rainy weather while the vors and their families com- vide outreach to current pa- event was being set up, coor- plete the fi rst lap. Shortly af- tients, with the eventual goal dinators still made prepara- ter, the Luminaria Ceremony of fi nding a cure for and a way tions. Prerak Patel, a junior was conducted; lighted bags, to prevent cancer. biomedical engineering and created in memory of cancer Last year, Carnegie Mel- electrical and computer engi- victims, were lined around lon helped raise an estimated neering double major, was the the track. Finally, the Fight $38,000 for the American logistics coordinator and said Back ceremony had attendees Cancer Society. This year, that the relay was “a rain-or- make a personal commitment there were 37 teams regis- shine event.” to fi ght against cancer and to tered with 362 participants, However, by the time help those who are suffering Jessica Sochol/Staff with the goal of raising the participants took to the Local cancer survivors and their families walk the Survivor’s Lap, the fi rst lap of Relay for Life. $39,500. Cut, the weather had largely See RELAY, A3 Navy physician speaks to students about medicine and the military SONIYA SHAH to medical school and was ac- chance to deploy abroad. “most interesting orthopedic Junior Staffwriter cepted; again the Army sup- “It gives students the op- case,” in which he attached plied his tuition and books, portunity to build a résumé four fi ngers back onto a man’s Captain Eric Hofmeister, and even paid for him to be once they do choose to do hand after they were chopped M.D., of the United States an offi cer in the military as he their residency,” said Kelleigh off by a crabber. Navy, spoke last Wednesday studied to become an ortho- Cunningham, a Navy recruit- Hofmeister also spoke to students enrolled in the pedic surgeon. ing offi cer at the lecture. Cun- about the medical school ex- Health Professions Program. According to Hofmeister, ningham believes that the perience in general. The fi rst The lecture centered around his medical school ambitions Health Professional Service year of medical school, he Hofmeister’s story as a medi- were possible because of the Program Scholarship is a good said, was a huge eye-opener cal offi cer in the military. Health Professional Service choice for many students in- — the volume of work was Hofmeister grew up in a Program Scholarship. terested in entering medical just mind-boggling. small town in Wisconsin, with The scholarship pays for school. “A lot of students faint,” no military exposure but an medical school, scrubs, books, Hofmeister, who switched Hofmeister said. “It’s very interest in human science. He and a monthly salary for stu- from the Army to the Navy to common, and it’s okay.” became associated with the dents to live on. After com- be closer to his wife, said that After the lecture ended, military when he accepted pleting four years of medical he loves being a military doc- fi rst-year Mellon College of an Army scholarship, which school, students owe four tor because he gets to do what Science student Dominic Ak- paid for four years of tuition at years of military service.

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