OPINION Troops pull out of Iraq. What’s your take? Pg. 2 CAMPUS Urban Worm Girl makes worms cool again. Pg. 3 A 8 E iPhone vs. Android: is i055 a game-changer? Student newspaper of Illinois Institute of Technology since 1928 TUESDAY October 25, 201 1 Volume 171 I Issue 6 technewsiit.com Opi ion 2 Campus 3-4 AErE 5 The Slipstick 6 Sports 2 Students Speak survey expands into new departments By Mike Purdy DISTRIBUTION MANAGER With the midpoint of the fall 2011 semester upon us, it is once again time to evaluate student satisfaction and university departmental effectiveness through the imple7 mentation of the annual Students Speak sure vey Administration of this survey began on October 21 and will continue until Friday, No, vember 41 All students, both undergraduate and graduate, are encouraged to participate in the Students Speak, as it is perhaps the most ref spected and consistent conduit for change and improvement on campus Students can take the survey at any point over the next two weeks 7 it is easy to navigate and takes anywhere from 5715 min, utes to complete depending on how many departments one decides to evaluate A link to the survey is available through the “student life" tab on the myIIT portal, and laptop kiosks will be on hand each day on the MTCC Bridge to provide ease of access for those passing through The Students Speak survey has prove en itselfto be apowerful tool in the assessment and modification of many aspects of IIT over the past few years, and this year should be no different Along with the general evaluation of main campus departments, such as Finane cial Aid, Bursar, Registrar, and Housing & Residential Services, the survey also addresses Public Safety, Student Health Services, and the Student Center for Diversity and Inclusion Each departmental evaluation in, cludes traditionallyeformatted survey ques7 tions, as well as an area for students to provide specific feedback and concerns New to the survey this year is a large section concerning student life, as well as a specific portion for the evaluation of Student Government These two dimensions of the survey hope to gauge the student outlook on such topics as onecampus events, the Student Activities Fund, Student Government functions, and even neighbor, hood improvements Bruce Fisher, director for the Center of Research and Service, and IIT’s Leadership Academy, is once again heading the Students Speak project, and has been working alongside other campus leaders since mideSeptember to ensure a quality survey Following a successful year in 2010, the Students Speak committee is hoping for an even better student participation rate this time around As an incentive, those students who complete the survey will be automatically en, tered into a drawing for numerous gift cards including Global Grounds, the campus book, store, bowling parties at The BOG, and AMC movie tickets Data analysis of the survey re, sults will take place from November 5711, fol, lowed by a publication in TechNews and a pre sentation to the President and Provost in late November A detailed report of the survey and its effectiveness will be presented at the Stu, dents Speak Summit in January STUDENTS SPEAK Students Speak Survey Voice your Opinion iit. edu/stu dents_speak Complete the survey and you can win movie tickets, bowling parties and gift cards Prizes sponsored by ”T Dining Services, HT Bookstore & the BOG Great Lakes By Swasti Khuntia TECHN EWS WRITER On October 18 and 19, leaders from around the globe gathered at the Illinois Insti7 tute of Technology’s Herman Hall to discuss best practices, new technologies, and the ideas that are making the smart grid a reality The interactive agenda showcased smart grid best practices from around the country along with innovative technologies and ideas that are spurring innovation, growing state economies, reducing emissions and empowering consume ers to conserve and save Participants had the opportunity to engage leaders on key policy questions, iden7 tify investment and job creation opportunities, and learn about projects already underway Participants also had the opportunity to tour S&C Electric’s Chicago campus and visit their new Smart Grid Solutions Demonstration Center for a live demonstration of technolo gies that can be used to improve power reli7 ability and performance The highlights of the symposium included: . Path to Perfect Power track, showcase ing microgrid and other consumer, centric approaches that are improve ing reliability and environmental performance Speakers included Eric Dresselhuys, Chief Marketing Officer, Silver Spring Networks; John Kelly, Executive Director, Galvin Electricity Initiative; and Mark Hura, Commere cial Leader for Smart Grid, GE Digital Energy symposium on new energy economy Midwest Policy Summit, addressing key environmental and economic op, portunities available through smart grid; speakers included Doug Scott, Chairman, Illinois Commerce Com, mission; David Kolata, Executive Director, Citizens Utility Board; Mate thew Summy, President, Illinois Sci, ence and Technology Coalition; and Miriam Horn, Director, Smart Grid Initiative, Environmental Defense Fund . Innovation Marketplace, a smart grid starteup investor “elevator pitc " event . Midwest Smart Grid Innovation Awards . Lunch Plenary Session with executive panel featuring Jim Buckman, Owner, James E Buckman & Associates; Mi, chael Niggli, President and CEO, San Diego Gas & Electric; Anne Pramage giore, President and COO, ComEd; and Teri Ivaniszyn, Senior Director of Corporate Excellence, Florida Power & Light . A chance to contribute to the Smart Grid Regional Roadmap currently being developed by the Illinois Smart Grid Regional Innovation Cluster Starting the forum off, DrI Mohame mad Shaliidehpour, Director of the Robert W Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation at IIT, paid tribute to the late Robert W Gale Vin, chairman and CEO of Motorola and a major benefactor to IIT Shaliidehpour then flagged off the ceremony by welcoming all the attendees to one of a kind event that broke new ground in smart grid design and develop, ment The welcome speech was delivered by Hon. Ralim Emanuel, mayor of Chicago Emanuel said Chicago and the na tion should focus more on an energy source that he called lowehanging fruit: conservation He committed Chicago to doubling its al ready record number of energyeeflicient pub, lic buildingsl Emanuel said the city promotes technologies such as energyeeflicient homes and water meters, and more efficient mass transit “I want everybody in your field to see Chicago as a center for new companies, new technology, collaboration between the public and private sector," said Emanuell “So we con, tinue to lead the effort in new companies that are looking at energy conservationinot just alternative energyibut energy conservation as the next fifth energy source?’ The noneconservation energy source es being nuclear, coal, gas, and alternatives, such as wind and solar The welcome speech was followed by a splendid keynote on “Smart Grid and the New Energy Economy" by Ellen Alberding, President, Joyce Foundation; Scott Lang, President and CEO, Silver Spring Net, works; and Luke Clemente, General Manager of Metering and Sensing Systems, GE Energy’s Digital energy Servicesl Elaborating the con, cept of smart grid to the gathering, they dis, cussed the usefulness of this important discove ery It concluded with a coffee break The morning session continued at the expo center as well as in the auditorium The expo center witnessed “Midwest Policy Summit, the topic being “How can Smart grid technologies increse the efficiency between transmission and distribution?" The commit, tee then turned over to the attendees and their questions At the same time, the auditorium witnessed the Consumer track Path to Peri fect Power, the topic being “Leading Practices for Ensuring Consumer Empowerment” The lunch session, “The Pursuit of Quality and In, novation," was held in the Herman Hall ball, room The afternoon session had three infore mative discussion sessions The second day started with an in, spiring delivery by Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club The morning session included Midwest Policy Summit: Developing good smart grid policy and Developing great midwest Smart Grid Strategies; a Consumer track Path to Perfect Power, Leading prac7 tices for Interpreting clean and efficient power; and Innovation and Economic Opppurtunity track Growing the Smart grid regional in, novation cluster workshopl It followed by the “Midwest energy leadership Awards" and a tour of the Perfect Power Microgrid at IIT Followed by the symposium, Under, writers Laboratories, the Galvin Electricity Inie tiative and S&C Electric Company organized the firsteever Perfect Power Seal of Approval Academy (PPSoA)I The Academy was an in, teractive opportunity for grid professionals from across the country to learn performance measures and design criteria that would help [continued on page 3]