Phlltl'suphy, Robotics And'ftid . Dr
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PASADENA, CALIFORNIA DECEMBER 9, 2002 Despite Invitation, Students Absent in Post.."Vectors Meeting nary meetings. the issue could wait no longer, oft By PHIL ~RN~T To students' deIi,ght,: Dr. BalJi- November 26th, Jo,u siqe~tepped ,' Stuae~ts \Von a majqr victort'last more ultimate!y tejected, V~etOl'S,. ~he ASCIT-mc standstill to. hand -::rifoi1fIiwilt5n Irrstitute'·Art-Corrimit-: Meanwhile, students-soughtto right select Ryan McDaniel '03 for the . z- ~"~ - ''"imn'7a6.Pl'etr'&'PeTlJna:-,:lip- "'past'wrongs- 'aQo.:this·time around. p'6~ition. There were sufficient ~Ast:I:r-,Ji'(f"mptiQn-,toIsea~-',in~r.t·a represen.tative'''ih''tfiemeet-' 'votes from the ASCIT BoD' in fa~ .... ' ", "trepJ¢se'n~Slti~e-?n ~~ d5~~' '~~gs 0ft~t?IAC alm.ed at select~ng vor of McDatliel to confirm his se- mittee',charged WIth selectmg a re- a replacement for Vectors. lection. piacement for Veciors. - ASGIT President Ted Jou '03 Last week, however, the Institute However, despite an explicit in- asked Pietro Perona, tht< temporary: Art Committee reconvened for the vitation, student leaders cited mis'- chair of the lAC, if he would con- first time since Baltimore's cancel D, Korta/The California Tech communication in their failure to sider the possibility of allowing a Humanities chairperson Jean Ensminger has rejected a second, last send a representative to last week's student to serve on the committee. Continued on Page 4, Column 1 ditch, Hail-Mary student petition to reinstate dismissed popular Rus first lAC meeting, raising concerns Dr. Perona, after debating Jou's sian literature and language professor George Cheron. among students that the snub may suggestion andreceiving a unani further deafen administrators' ears mous vote in favor ofthe proposal, VPMARSHAK to student concerns. instructed each of Jou and Gradu- , ,Ensminger Dismisses The invitation came alan a:u~pi- ate Studel}t CounCitchairr,nan Chip cious time, just after students gradu- Sllmper to:selecfa'stUdent represen- STRIVES, , TO ate and undergraduate ~roke tative. '". , 'Second Cheron Petition· Caltech's longstandinglradition of The decision was !l triumph for apathy to campaign successfully for the constant student' campaign to By ROBERT:LI Caltech ,President Baltimore to re- assert itself in administrative deci- REPRESENT 'A petition to reinstate George , feied: One year earlier, inF.ebruary ject a SCUlpture proposal by re- sion-making processes. Jou, how- 'INTRIGUE'O'BYHOUSETRAOITION Cheron, t4e popularRussian stud of2001, Cheron had received a sur nowne&modernist Richard Serra ever, was unsure ofhow to proceed ies lecturer.dismissed under conten that would have placed a lightning- in selecting an appropriate student prise letter from Professor of Hu bolt-like'~"wall"-:Vectors-across tious circumstances last year, has manities John Ledyard, the HSS representative. He believed that it Professional Administrator the center of Beckman Lawn. , was important to involve the been rejected by Professor .in An Division Chair at the time, inform A majority of undergraduates Interhouse Committee in the deci Brings NYU, U. Penn. thropology Jean EIisming'er, the ing him that t):le Russian studies spoke out staunchly against the pro- sion-making process, stating that "it current chair of the Division of progJ;am would be discontinued. posal. For many, it was not the na- was unclear where the responsibil Experience to Caltech Humanities and So'cial Sciences The sudden termination came as ture of the artwork that disturbed ity lay for appointing students to (HSS). According to Ensminger" a great surprise to Cheron as well them but a feeling of disenfran- such committees." By MARK POLINKOVSKY ''There are no plans to rehire him." as the Caltech community because chisement that ultimately encour- However, because progress Cheron taught intermediate Rus the classes Cheron taught, espe aged them to take action..:rhe lAC, screeched to a halt between ASCIT "My job is to represent the inter sian language and Russian literature cially his Russian literature course, which reviewed Vectors, convenes and IHC to establish a unified pro ests of the students," said incom ill translation for 20 years until JQne were extremely popular among stu monthly to speak about issues re- cedure, Dr. Perona sent an e-mail ing Student Affairs Vice President 2002, the hi.st term Russian was of- ' dents. Atone point, 91 students lating to public art at Caltech, but to Jou again on November 20 ask Margo Marshak about her new post. included no student in its prelimi- ing for a representative. Feeling that After spending Contirtited on Page 4, Column 1 In the more than 20 Spotlight years in high :':,FIRst~P,LACE , ranking st\ldent- ' affairs positions, Phlltl'Suphy, Robotics and'FtiD . Dr. Marshak comes to Caltech as the first full-time vice president of CODERS Student Affairs. Besides voicing AIM Highlight Annual ME 72 Bout students' views in meetings with other administrators, Dr. Marshak By ADAM SEARS eral delicate tasks, while remain Nearly everyone agreed, how directs the extensive department of FOR WORLD ing rugged enough to rout other ro ever, that even when compared to Student Affairs. Deadly hand-to-hand combat. bots. other such campus-wide events as Selected for the position out of a TAKES FIRST PLACE IN So. CAL. ICPC Spectacular explosions. A mysteri Specifically, this year's task was ASCIT doughnut nights, this con large field of highly qualified can 0us duo that appears from the shad to remQve a fiag and plant it half test stands out. Its uniqueness didates, she has extensive experi 0'Angelo, Burnim, ows and a grizzled veteran who way across a raised table in another makes it special and its topic 1;lrings ence in the field, with experience takes newcomers under his wing. team's receptacle. AIt):lough occa in a sizeable cross-section of the in similar roles at such prestigious Paymer Prepare These are all things that go into sionally this feat was accomplished, Caltech community. universities as New' York Univer making a good Steaven Seagal more often a simple points system "There-'s nothing else like it for sity'; the'University of Chicago and For Showdown movie. centered on smaller tasks decided the rest ofthe year," noted Joy Qiu the Liiw School of the University Of course, they worked just as the victor. ByTAMMYMA well this Thursday afternoon, when Continued on Page 2, Col!!:inn 1 ' , •Contjnuedon fage 8, Column 1 p~ssess[ng' : 24' stPdeIlts fought to' the ehd in if Known for many aner :.nearly packed' Becknlan Audito~'· varied talents, Caltech students for , rium, ie'ss t):lanan hQur away from the second year in a row have also proven themselves among the top Hollywood. There, Caltech'sown programmers in the world. Caltech collection ofelite mechanical war swept the Southern California Re riors gathered .from across the gional competition of IBM-spon United States, met to ·decide once sored ACM International Collegiate and for all who was the better engi- Programming Contest (ICPC) as neer this year. • two Caltech teams took first and The annual ME 72 contest, one second place. of Caltech's most anticipated Caltech's first-place team is com events, has deep roots intradItion) posed of Nate Paymer- '03, Adam but has also evolved with the uni D'Angelo '06 and Jacob Burnim v,ersity. Fir~t conceived in 1985, ' '06, with Ben Brantley serving as the debut competition took,place COqcl]. This team wilLmove on to in the Thomas Laboratory, with , the World Finals in March, where few more than a dozen partici 64 teams' from around the world pants. Subsequent events gradu~ will converge in Beverly Hills. ated in size and audience, through, The ICPC is a worldwide com ,'i.Baxter and Ramo auditoriums, un petition established close to 30 years ago to "gather the world's til finally settling in at the current brightest computer whiz kids for an venue. all-out 'battle of the brains.", Each In preparing for the contest, each team, composed of three under team of two students-typically graduates led by a coach, faces a junior or senior mechanical engi ,series ofsix to eight complex, real neering or engineering and applied world programming challenges, all science majors-must spend hours within'a five-hour time limit. in the lab, constructing, scheming Each team has just'one'computer ~d testing several mechanical ro- : to ~oi).c .~ith,·so the probiems' ~est , botiyprotot¥Pe~.'Injact, though al,,> not orily prog'rarnrrijiig skill butalso, :readfan' iil'timid:ating IS'-credit '", ' .. :', ~ ""'. ' OJ, MiolTh'i!Califoi'ma Tech teamwork and creativity. The team course, students usually allocate Student·engin~ers,faceoffat lastThl,lrsday's annual MF.;"72 mechailical'e:ngineering contest. From "bags mates must collaborate to rank the even more time. Their creations ofjonk," competitors;hand-,crafted robots over the course ofthe term to play ~ game akin to capture-the Continued on Page 4, Column 3 must be designed to carry out sev- flag. 2 THE CALIFORNIA TECH NEWS DECEMBER 9, 2002 Capture..the..f1ag Game Sorts Caltech Study Describes Winners, Lo sers in Bot--battle Workings of,Deep Ocean' Continued/rom Page 1, Column 5 By ROBERT TINDOL Scientists know quite a bit about Meanwhile, temperature is still '03. "And even the professors go. surface conditions during the Last crucial, in that colder waters are It's like our school sport." Indeed, Glacial Maximum (LGM), a period more sensitive to salinity changes the event drew in everyone from that peaked about 18,000 years ago, than warmer water, but Dr. Adkins' alumni to athletics coaches and un when ice covered significant por- . results show thatthe deep water cir dergraduates to graduate students. tions of Canada and northern Eu- culation mechanism must have op About the only time when such a rope.