pageFOCUS 13 Technique • Friday, September 14, 2001 • 13 National crisis The art of Erato.... Georgia Tech vs. Florida State matchup Have you picked up the latest edition of FOCUS postponed until December due to national Erato, Tech’s literary journal? Read the tragedy. Turn to Sports for more review in Entertainment and see just how Technique • Friday, September 14, 2001 information. Page 28 liberal us Techies can be. Page 17 Campus Research Review Fraternity pledge numbers decrease A New Economics Although fraternity pledge numbers decreased, sorority pledge numbers are on By Benjamin Small the rise. Students list numerous reasons for saying yes or no to the Greek system. Columnist By Madhu Adiga This column has previously concentrated Staff Writer primarily on science and engineering research. But we have other nationally renown pro- The first week of classes at Georgia grams at Tech. Today, we’ll focus on pro- Tech would not have been complete grams within the School of Public Policy, a without the annual fall sorority and unit of the Ivan Allen College. fraternity rush. Comprising 25 to 30 The Georgia Tech Economic Develop- percent of the student body, the Greek ment Institute (EDI) does not have banks of community has always been a major microscopes nor beakers full of solvents. They factor at Tech. do a different kind of research; they study the According to Interfraternity Council growth of small business and industry in Geor- (IFC) President Ian Carr, however, fra- gia. And the tools they use are surveys, con- ternity pledge figures this year were trol groups and other techniques ubiquitous slightly lower than usual. “Only 469 in the social sciences. guys pledged overall this year as op- As much as we “hard scientists” mock and posed to our usual 500 to 550,” said deride these studies, we shouldn’t take them Carr. “Since I have been here this has for granted. Public policy shapes how the been the first year that fraternity rush Government allocates its funding for scien- has experienced a decline in pledges.” tific research and development. By comparison, the number of so- We learned way back in economics class rority rushees improved this year. Al- about the fundamental resources required to most 45 percent of the freshman girls produce goods and services: land, labor, cap- participated in rush,” said Panhellenic ital and technology (sometimes “entrepre- Council President Susanne Hodges. neurship”). How the first three influence Fraternity rush and sorority rush business has been well studied since the In- are run in significantly different ways. dustrial Revolution and is well understood. Every night during Rush Week, the But now technology contributes very strong- fraternities on campus open their houses ly to modern business, so this is the topic of for students to come visit and to find much current economic investigation as well. out which organization is best for them. By Scott Meulners / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS Professor Philip Shapira is a member of Most of the houses have a special type After picking up bids from the Student Center, sorority rushees run down ‘the hill’ on Bobby the EDI and conducts research relating to of food event each night, like Monday Dodd Way towards their respective sorority houses to be welcomed by their new sisters. public policy that affects the utilization of Night Football and wings. Because there technology and the modernization of manu- are 31 fraternities on campus and lim- world,” said Elliot Laffey, a computer engi- philanthropies each sorority supports and in facturing. A particular project of interest in ited time, fraternity brothers try to meet neering freshman who accepted a bid to Phi what kind of projects they participate. Final- one that “assesses the diffusion of technolo- as many rushees as they can to deter- Kappa Tau. “It was just a great way to get out ly, they become better acquainted with the gy, identifies the best modernization pro- mine whom they should offer a bid. and meet people since we were all pretty sisters. During the process, the sororities be- gram and evaluates industrial and regional “I was very impressed with the rush much new here and didn’t know anyone else,” gin to narrow down the list of rushees they development impacts.” process. I loved the free food and all he said. want to invite back to their parties. On Pref- Why? Well, you see, it’s macroeconomi- the attention you got from each from Sorority rush is more structured by com- erential and Bid Days, both the sisters and cally advantageous for the businesses within a fraternity. It’s pretty great when they’re parison. Each day has its own schedule for the rushees make their final decisions. During region to operate as efficiently as possible. all fighting after you and treating you rushees. First, they visit each of the six soror- We all benefit from local companies compet- like you’re the coolest person in the ity houses, and then they find out about the See Greeks, page 16 ing successfully and realizing their potential. And technology generally helps. Therefore, the State government takes much interest in helping enterprises to disseminate and inte- grate technology into their business struc- ture. The groups with which Dr. Shapira is involved acquire information through sur- veys and other means; they indicate programs the local government should establish in or- der to improve commercial productivity. A great example of such a project is the LaGrange Internet Access Research Project. The government of this city in western Geor- gia has established public, easy-to-use Inter- net access for all citizens, in an attempt to “increase its online population and overcome barriers to online take-up.” The goal is to By David Ziskind / STUDENT PUBLICATIONS remove the traditional obstacles to acquiring Dan Buckland (left), and David Indech this technology including the high cost of the (above), crash after an exhausting round connection, the low penetration of comput- of studying. Suffering from sleep-depriva- ers into households and the perception of the tion is common at Tech, with academic Internet as being hard to use. Image that— rigors driving them on until early morning. free bandwidth. But even though it’s difficult for us techies to fathom, not everyone is quite so fast to embrace the technology. This fact is something on which the study focuses. The Sleep deprivation common occurrence at Tech researchers are also trying to determine the By Shantan Pesaru recommends that adults get eight hours of ditions that keep you awake? 5) Could any effects of increased connectivity—whether it Staff Writer sleep per night for good health, optimum over-the-counter or prescription drugs be will improve education, work skill, civic in- performance and safety. In fact, the NSF interfering with your sleep? volvement and so on. …BBBBNNBMMMMMMBBBBMM… also claims that sacrificing sleep is highly Before attempting to fix poor sleeping Professor Shapira also compares the rate If you have ever woken up to a comput- counterproductive. habits, it is necessary to understand why at which U.S. businesses incorporate novel er screen that contains pages and pages of So how do you know if you really are lack of sleep is so harmful. technologies and modernization to counter- the above line or one similar to it, you may sleep deprived? If you answer “yes” to any In a study published in Occupational parts in other industrialized nations like Ger- suffer from Abnormal Tech Sleeping Pat- of the following questions, it would be very and Environmental Medicine last year, re- many and Japan. terns (ATSP). The good news is that you beneficial for you to reassess your sleep searchers claim that sleep deprivation can The means by which data is acquired for are not alone, and you can do many things habits: 1) Do you feel groggy or anxious have some of the same hazardous effects as these sorts of public policy studies include to counteract sleep deprivation. especially when you are less active? 2) Do being drunk. Sleeping less than six hours surveys of companies, case studies of specific With Tech’s demanding classes and pro- you find yourself dozing off in class or per night can affect your reaction time, grams of study, it is not always easy for craving naps during the day? 3) Do you coordination and judgment, just as alco- See Research, page 16 students to make time for sleep. have more colds and flu bugs than normal? The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) 4) Do you suffer from other medical con- See Sleep, page 16 14 • Friday, September 14, 2001 • Technique FOCUS Tech Up Close It’s not as light as you think email: [email protected] Last week’s Tech Up Close: campus call box FOCUS Technique • Friday, September 14, 2001 • 15 The wonderful world of LEGOS Word to the Wise By Craig J. Davis The world of LEGO is almost computer environment. LEGO Lore Staff Writer limitless. Boats, trains, airplanes, LEGOS are so popular with An abbreviated history of the world’s most popular building blocks houses, cars, spaceships, trees and Americans that in October 1999, 19321932: Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish carpenter, starts a business Engineers might as well start entire towns can be made of them. the McDonald’s fast food restau- creating stepladders, ironing boards, and wooden toys. The somewhere. Childhood engineer- All of these are illustrated in the rant chain included them in their ing development begins with blocks, LEGOLAND theme parks in Eu- Happy Meals. LEGO also promot- toys become Ole’s most successful product. then Lincoln logs and finally one of rope and in Las Vegas, Nevada.