Student newspaper of the Illinois Institute of Technology since 1928

Sustainability Forum explores
future goals, opportunities

Utsav Gandhi
CAMPUS EDITOR

The Ofiice of Campus Energy and
Sustainability (OCES) hosted the first Sustain,
ability Forum of the semester on Friday, Sep
tember 06, 2013 at 12:30pm in the Hermann
Hall Ballrooml It was basically an introduction
to campus sustainability goals for the next few
years as well as an introduction to opportuni
ties for students, especially freshmen, inter,
ested in sustainability related topics, to get
involved with various campus organizations
and programs promoting similar ideas With
a deliciously catered, glutenefree as well as
veganefriendly lunch, the event also served as
the second Freshman 15 event for the semese
ter, as part of the First Year Experience pro,
gram initiated by the Ofiice of Campus Life
This program provides incentives for firsteyear
students to participate in various educational,
social, professional, athletic and academic
events, all free of cost, throughout their first
year at IIT

The event began with a listing of the
various goals concretized by the OCES for the
university pertaining to energy conservation
and sustainability The current progress being
made towards this regard, covering a broad
range of umbrella topics such as water con,
servation, electricity generation, supply chain
& waste management, transportation as well
as emissions were discussed Most goals were
within the framework of baseline 2010 levels,
to be achieved by the year 2020, for the overall
university Some of these goals include reduce

ing the annual utilities purchase by 40% and
natural gas by 25%; managing 100% of storm
water received on campus (the progress to,
wards which is already 332% in two years);
fulfilling the 79% potential recycling capacity
of the campus (we currently stand at around
30%); having 100% of IIT’s vehicular fleet to
be powered renewably; 50% emissions of base,
line 2010 levels by 2020; as well as pushing for
more organic food as well as LEED certified
buildings on campus

A variety of student groups and of,
fices are working in partnership with OCES to
assist with these goals The Wanger Institute
for Sustainable Energy Research (http://wwwI
iitledu/wiserl) was represented by Peggy Mure
phy, Assistant Directorl She spoke about how
WISER is pushing for more interdisciplinary
research initiatives and student outreach to
“establish IIT as a national leader in energy
and sustainability, complementing Chicago’s
emergence as a sustainable city" The Armour
College of Engineering Undergraduate Stu,
dent Council (http://wwwiitengineeringthe
emeslcoml) was represented by the President,
Sunny Patel (MMAE 4th year) who spoke
about the college’s initiatives within the four
Themes of Energy, Health, Water and Security
to offer research opportunities, studenteled
programs, alumni events, career panels and
field trips, many of which revolve around an
engineeringecentered approach to a more suse
tainable use of resources UFarmIIT (https://
iitlcollegiatelinknet/organizationjUFarmIIT),
the campus organization dedicated to the pur
pose of managing an urban farm on IIT’s came
pus (to complement IIT’s ecological conserva

tion measures and making the main campus
more sustainable) was also represented They
spoke about how the farm is active and alive
with fresh produce and even bees, and invited
everyone to drop by and experience the farm
The farm is located on the Greek Quad, by the
Triangle and Alpha Sigma Alpha housesl

Another organization which was
present included Engineers for a Sustainable
World (http://wwwleswiitlorg/news) , IIT
Chapter, whose President Kenneth Ruflato
(ChBE/ENVE 4th year) spoke about the two
projects they are currently involved with , a
solar powered WIFI and information com,
munication device installation projects in
developing regions around the world, along
with a high school outreach program promote
ing sustainability here in Chicago The IPRO
program (http://iproliitledul) was represented
by Mrl Tom Iacobius, Director of Operations,
who spoke about the various IPRO projects
directly related to sustainability and the new
concept of IPRO ‘clusters’ wherein one of the
umbrella themes is sustainability itself Sustain
ID, an organization at the Institute of Design
involved with similar issues; and NetImpact
(http://blogsIiitledu/stuart/tag/neteimpact/),
an organization working towards encouraging
social and environmental grassroots change in
societies, were also present

The event ended with an announce,
ment about the SMHEC Conference 2013
which is scheduled on October 18th and men,
tioned about the November Sustainability
foruml Visit http://wwwIiitIedu/campus,suse
tainability/ for more information about these
events

Annual skydiving adventure thrills studen 5

Will Syvongsa
TECHNEWS WRITER

Iould I u jump out of a perfectly

‘plaI the thought runs acr s
the minds of many individual en they en,
counter a s ' Sk dIving Is the act'

the use of a par mg def
I E Lhty IIT students participated int

ac 1V1 I on Monday, September 2, V\

spoI ored by Union Board and the Student

Ac ties Fund (SAE)

Students ere up earl to leave IIT
at 7 am in order to Get to Otta 1, Illinois
before 9 alml Upon I
a 30 minute
fore signing waIveIs and forming groups of
five to six people

Skvd e Chicago is an experienced
training facility for first time jump
tandem jumps, or jum} where an i
go ‘ long V th you, are detailed and thore
ought Students net up with their instructor

'ho guided them through every motion nece
for the jump The emotioI nged
. r to excitement, nervousn II o . '

When
experience, tIme jumper and fourth year
student, Alexander Kosmas id that when he

The only complic ion during the

ather delay 11 led to almost

w hours of During this

time, IIT studentt re able to I ocialize; meet

new studeI om they may not have ever

gotten a chance to meet and some devoted

Iool w k After the de all ‘tue
re able to complete th

‘e back on campus b I

Are you interested

pm and 30 pin

ng and

Photo courtesy ofthe Office ofCampus Life

checking this item otf of IIT’s bucket list?
' ing is traditionally a Union Board
ally hIppeIL on

I weekendl For Information about

and other IIT e\ the uni
calendar can be V1 ed as well as HaV
‘11 has almost all student organization
ents on the front page
The Union Bo; d events are al
posted on the Facebook, T\ ter and HI
Link pages The General Body MeetiI
also be attended and Union Board can be
contacted at ub'@iitledul

 

technewsiit.com

OPINION 2
CAMPUS 3-4
AErE 6

 

MSI-IIT _
Internship
program

Kori Bowns
BUSINESS MANAGER

The Museum of Science and In,
dustry (MSI) is the largest science museum
in the western hemisphere, holding over 35
thousand artifacts and almost 14 acres of in,
teractive exhibit space MSI is contained in
the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893
World’s Columbian Exposition, and opened
in 1933 under philanthropist Julius Rosene
wald’s vision to create a handseon industry
museum in the United States The museum
celebrated its 80th birthday this summer in
achieving its mission to “inspire the invene
tive genius in everyone" along with the help
of some IIT students

This summer, eight Illinois Tech
students were hired by the museum as full,
time Guest Programs Interns at the Museum
of Science and Industry The students came
from a variety of different backgrounds, both
personally and academically

During the internship, the eight
students learned and presented a variety
of live science demonstrations to museum
guests on a daily basis In total, the students
learned seven different programs over the
summer, and facilitated them with over 30
thousand guests throughout the duration of
the twelve week internship

Interns work alongside a team of
nine other yeareround, fulletime facilitators
at the museum, including two lead interns,
as well as other IIT students who have for,
merly completed the internship and take on
a leadership role as they help the new interns
learn demonstrations and improve commu
nication skills The yeareround facilitators
assist the IIT interns by observing their deme
onstrations and offering constructive critie
cism and feedback in regard content, style,
and delivery

Their programs included demon,
strations from across all realms of science,
from astronomy to biology One show, Hap,
py Brrthday, is an interactive mock birthday
party for a famous scientist or inventor that
features several experiments with liquid ni
trogen and culminates in making liquid ni
trogen ice cream for the audience Another
program, Bangs, Flashes, and Fire, MSI’s
most highlyeattended show, involves a series
of explosive chemistry experiments where
the audience learns about matter, combuse
tion, and chemical reactions

“I became interested in the intern,
ship through the stories of previous MSI
volunteers and summer interns," said Trevor
Wasserzieher, an intern from this summer
and a second year biomedical engineering
student at IIT “After hearing about all the
cool stufi’ that I could possibly do, there was
no way I could pass up on such an opportue
nity"

Wasserzieher also commented on
the growth he experienced while completing
the internship: “There were so many skills
that were utilized and strengthened through,
out the internship that I carry with me for
practical use in my future careerl My public

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