2 IE:!ilii:i!E UTSAVGANDHI campus@technewsiit.com Techflews | TuesdaySeptemberZO, 2011 SGA’s biggest week of the year TechNews STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SINCE 1928 McCormick Tribune Campus Center Room 221 3201 South State Street Chicago, Illinois 60616 E-mail: editor@technewsiit.com Website: http://www.technewsiit.com TECHNEWS STAFF Editor-in-Chief Assistant Editor Karl Rybaltowski Hannah Larson Utsav Gandhi Ryan Kamphuis Graeme Port Campus Editor AbE Editor Sports Editor Art Editor Adin Goings Financial Advisor Vickie Tolbert Faculty Advisor Gregory Pulliam GENERAL INFORMATION TechNews is written, managed, and edited by the students of, and funded in part by, Illinois InstituteofTechnology.The materialherein does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Illinois Institute of Technology orthe editors, staff, and advisorofTechNews.Therewillbe no censorship of TechNews publication by the faculty or staff of IIT. 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NATIONAL ADVERTISERS To place an ad, contact Mediamate at orders@mymediamate.com CLASSIFIEDS To place a classified ad, contact us via email at business@technewsiit.com. .1 ILLINOIS INSTITUTE IV OF TECHNOLOGY By Kelly Lohr SGA VP OF COMMUNICATIONS It’s less than aweek until thebeginning of SGA Week, and campus is abuzz about Senate elections and Finance Board selections: Student Government Association gets pretty active around this time of year because it’s time to raise awareness of the reach of student government and get new members and fresh ideas for the coming academic year: SGA Week starts next Monday, September 26 with a lunch out on Perlstein Park It’s a lunch where everyone is welcome to get some free pizza and chat with members of SGA about what we do and what they think we should be doing to improve the school: On Tuesday from 9 am: to 7 pm:, election stations will be inthe MTCC Welcome Center, the MTCC South Lawn, in front of Crown Hall, and in Front of Stewart Building: Make sure to stop by and cast your vote for which of the representatives from your college should be in Senate: There should be some tough competition this year, so check out each candidate’s bio before voting: You are welcome to volunteer to help at one of the polling stations by visiting bitly/sgapolls: At 9: 1 5 that night, the results of the election will be announced during Senate in Stuart Building room 113: Wednesday will have another lunch with SGA in Perlstein Park, but this time, you’ll get the chance to meet your new Senators voted in the night before: Thurs day will include a Student Discount Fair on the bridge: Vendors from around the city of Chicago who currently offer discounts with our Student Discount Cards will be offering samples to students: And to tie up the week, join SGA in the BOG at 9pm on Thursday for Trivia Night and see how your knowledge stacks up to the competition: You might be surprised what you’ll learn: CMC hosts career fair in HUB By Ryan Hynes TECHNEWS WRITER This Thursday, the Career Management Center will be hosting its annual Fall Career Fair from 12:00 a 4:00 pm: in the HUB (Herman Hall): This year’s fair will be one of the bigger ones in recent years, with over 160 different employers participating, and over 3600 jobs up for grabs: Despite the prolonged recession plaguing the economy, the CMC has brought out multiple firms recruiting for all of IIT’s 57 different majors: This fair isn’t just about jobs, though: There are a number of firms looking to hire interns for the fall, spring, and summer; so underclassmen should come out and participate as well: Internships are invaluable experiences for future work in any industry, and always stand out among other achievements in your resume: Last year, only about 1200 students participated, so the odds are in your favorl To be an effective competitive participant in this year’s fair, look over your resume and be sure it is up to date and professional, and bring several copies to leave with potential employers as you network with all the different firms: The most important thing you can do to set yourself apart is to dress professional: Remember, this isn’t simply a casual way to meet with potential employers a in many cases; this is a formal interview, so dress accordingly This year should prove to be the best ever for the fair: With 3600 jobs available from over 160 different firms, there will be plenty of opportunity to get your big break in this otherwise dismal job market Come and see for yourselfthis Thursday from 12:00 a 4:00 pm: in the HUB! Engineers work to redesign plastic bottles By Utsav Gandhi CAMPUS EDITOR IIT’s Armour College of Engineering kicked off the Armour Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series on Tuesday, September 13, when they welcomed Gautam Mahajan (MS MEC ‘70), an expert in strategy, general management, and globalization, who presented the lecture “Back to Engineering Basics: The plastic soft drink bottle" A long time ago, probably around the time our parents went to college, IBM had computers where you had to punch holes in 7x4 cards with digital information in holes with predefined positions: Now an obsolete recording medium, they were widely used earlier for input, data processing and storage: Those who developed them may not even have imagined the progress that has been made today What do we learn from this? That things now considered simple were complex once upon a time: To render them simple we had to resort to the fundamentals periodically Mr: Mahaj an frequently touched upon some secrets of his success a it’s important to be imaginative, it’s important to have a vision, and to take risks: Business will always have a say in engineering, and entrepreneurial changes will always be rejected initially if they aren’t exactly sticking to the formula of raking in the profits: Inhis presentation, Mahajandiscussed how returning to engineering basics helped to develop a new petaloid base, which is found on the bottom oftoday’s soft drink bottles: He also discuss ed the business component of developing new products, including the introduction of the halfeliter PET bottle (since the challenge was to replace the 2 liter bottle that expanded and exploded after prolonged exposure to sunlight): Later challenges included ensuring the bottle would hold pressure, not lose gas, not contribute to the taste/ flavor of the liquid inside, not expand/shrink, not be carcinogenic, wouldn’t contribute to leaching in the soil, be economical and recyclable: Mahajan currently serves as president of Inter, Link Services Pvt: Ltd:, an international consulting firm that helps companies become established in Asia and India, specifically regarding entry strategy, technology transfer, marketing, business development, and operations: For 17 years Mahajan ran the plastics businesses of Continental Group, which was the world’s largest packaging company In addition to his master’s degree in mechanics and PhD: coursework at IIT, Mahajan received an MBA from Suffolk University as well as fellowships from Harvard Business School and HT He was the recipient of the 2000 IIT Distinguished Alumni Award: He holds 18 US patents: Did you know... ...You can close the recycling loop? We know you recycle already, but what happens to that recycled paper? It gets made into high quality paper, 50 support the market for recycled paper and buy only recycled. "tThe Office of Campus Energy Er Sustainability (OCES) and the Institute of Psychology Cognition Lab would like to know more about sustain— ability beliefs and attitudes on campus. Please complete our survey at http://wwwsurveymonkey.com/s/8FRF6DN by October 29, 2010 for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift certificate’ Awesome people? A little cash? Real world experience? 'TeclINews 'TeclINews 'TeclINews 'TeclINews Write for us!