T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle MAY 12, 2011
2
A ROUND C AMPUS
Brothers in debate
Two Boston College students steer their canoe during the recent Run of the Charles.
Floating their boat It has been dubbed the “annual adventure in muscular intellectuality” by College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program Director Mark O’Connor — and this year it was back. For the glory of the golden oar, 40 students from the A&S Honors Program picked up paddles to compete in the annual 24-mile Run of the Charles, New England’s largest canoe and kayak race. Three boats – representing the freshman, sophomore and junior classes – resurrected what had been a two-decades-long hallowed Honors Program tradition. “This had always been a staple of the Honors Program, a way to unify the classes with the best motivator – competition,” said Devon Behrer ’13, head of the sophomore boat. “I think there were 75 canoes on the water that day, but we chose to ignore the other 72. It was class against class.”
Donning golden Superfan tshirts, the students rowed in teams of two over the course, broken into five legs, scrambling and hauling their vessels over several portages. “We were hoping to offer an opportunity for students to create a memory that they would always have with them,” said Lynch School of Education graduate student Katie Wostbrock, graduate resident director in charge of logistics. “When we asked for feedback, students talked first about how physically demanding this event was, but quickly followed with how they met new friends after the shared experience of paddling up the Charles, fighting through the woods and frogger-ing across the streets with the canoes.” Said Pathways Program Manager Catherine-Mary Rivera, “For years Professor O’Connor and [Assistant to the Vice President for Mission and Ministry] Tim Muldoon have been telling us what a great tradition
this is. Seeing how much camaraderie it built among the Honors House, it really proved the point. “But this event couldn’t have been possible without the manpower – faculty and staff volunteers who were able to come in and help bring back a loved tradition.” The Office of Residential Life lent support to the event by sponsoring a barbeque after the race and awarding a “golden paddle” to the winning sophomore team. “It was a beautiful day and so much fun,” said Behrer. “Students are already planning for next year, and dressing as pirates or Vikings. I hope the Boston College canoes are back for good.” Next year, organizers pledge the event will return as so long as the student enthusiasm and spirit endure. They hope to have a senior and faculty boats represented along with a larger barbeque celebration. –MB
T he B oston C ollege
Chronicle ON Recent and upcoming additions to the Boston College Chronicle YouTube channel [www.youtube.com/bcchronicle]: •90 Seconds at the Arts Festival: Snippets from the 2011 Dance Showcase. •Flash Mob: Seniors participated in a flash mob for the thousand-plus people gathered on O’Neill Plaza. •BC Says “Snow Thank You”: The University paid tribute to the employees who helped BC through a severe winter. •Piano Guy Bids Adieu: Dennis Carr ’11 — known as the “Eagle’s Nest Piano Guy” — played his last concert May 5.
Going GIS Earth and Environmental Sciences graduate student Josh Coefer and geology major Christopher Soeller ’11 are among Boston College’s exemplars of geographic information systems (GIS), which is emerging as a highly valued technology in business and government. Coefer and Soeller were the first and second-place winners, respectively, of Boston College Libraries’ second GIS Mapping Contest, highlighting the University’s campuswide geospatial research program. The awards are based on map quality, use of GIS as a research tool and originality, with special consideration given to topics depicting social implications of the research such as environmental issues. The two winners’ projects certainly fulfilled the social-significance criteria: Coefer did research on “Land Use and the Extent of Road Salt Contamination in Surface Water and Groundwater, Eastern Massachusetts,” while Soeller worked on “Potential Pollution of Water Resources in the Boston Metropolitan Area.” Coefer collected hundreds of surface water samples from streams, lakes and ponds north of Boston. After determining how much road salt was in each water sample, he used GIS to analyze the observed levels of contamination for patterns. “Road salt contamination is responsible for the death of plants and animals, corrosion to vehicles, bridges, and other infrastructure, the
Whatever else freshman Michael Maerowitz accomplishes during his time at Boston College, he’s already helped make history at the Heights. Maerowitz was awarded the Fulton Medal as top speaker at the recent Fulton Prize Debate, three years after his brother Matthew ’10 earned the honor. It’s the first time a sibling has ever won the medal in the annals of the Fulton Debating Society, which began holding its prize debate in 1890. A Phoenix native, Michael Maerowitz was teamed with last year’s Fulton Medal winner Brendan Benedict ’12 to debate for the negative side on the topic, “The US should abandon the use of military force to support humanitarian intervention in the Middle East.” Debating for the affirmative side were seniors Grant Gendron and Daniel Berkowitz. The three debate judges unanimously awarded the contest to Maerowitz and Benedict and named Maerowitz top speaker. Michael’s name will join Matthew’s on the roster of Fulton Medal winners that is painted on the wall of Gasson 305, known as the Fulton Debate Room. Debate would seem to be a Maerowitz family trait: Maerowitz’s parents were debate partners at the University of Southern California, and his two older brothers were college debaters. But Maerowitz says he enjoys debate for its own sake: “There is nothing quite like having judges tell you that you beat another person in an argument.” Matthew, now a first-year law student at the University of Arizona, congratulated Michael on his achievement and is “just as excited as I am to have our names on the Fulton wall together,” reports Michael. Naturally, being brothers as well as debaters, each felt compelled to get the last word in. “Matthew did attempt to convince me that being the first to win the award in our family warrants originality points,” says Michael. “However, that’s when I responded by noting that I had won in my freshman year, as opposed to his junior year.” —SS
The Boston College
Chronicle DIRECTOR OF NEWS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Jack Dunn GIS Mapping Contest first-place winner Josh Coefer, left, and second-place finisher Christopher Soeller ’11.
release of other deadly contaminants, and much more,” says Coefer. “It really disrupts the natural environment. “Unfortunately, most areas I investigated are severely contaminated. I was able to show that there was a strong correlation between the observed levels of road salt contamination and the density of roadways, particularly highways and major roads. I was also able to show that by purposefully reducing the amount of road salt applied to roadways, some towns were able to significantly reduce contamination levels.” To create his project, Soeller gathered Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and hydrography GIS data and used several programs to create a map that showed pollution sites in and around the Boston metropolitan area. “I learned that there are a lot of
potential pollution sites, like gas stations and dry cleaners, that are close to water bodies in the Boston metropolitan area,” he said. “Maybe in the future there might be more stringent zoning regulations that make it so these potential pollution sites are built further away from water resources. A lot of these sites are old gas stations that were built decades ago when society was just beginning to learn how widespread water pollution was.” Judges for the competition were Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Rudolph Hon, Information Technology Services Research Associate Constantin Andronache, Science Librarian Sally Wyman, Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences Librarian Enid Karr and Data/GIS Librarian Barbara Mento. —SS
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NEWS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Patricia Delaney EDITOR
Sean Smith CONTRIBUTING STAFF
Melissa Beecher Ed Hayward Reid Oslin Rosanne Pellegrini Kathleen Sullivan Eileen Woodward PHOTOGRAPHERS
Gary Gilbert Lee Pellegrini The Boston College Chronicle (USPS 009491), the internal newspaper for faculty and staff, is published biweekly from September to May by Boston College, with editorial offices at the Office of News & Public Affairs, 14 Mayflower Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 (617)552-3350. Distributed free to faculty and staff offices and other locations on campus. Periodicals postage paid at Boston, MA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send address changes to The Boston College Chronicle, Office of News & Public Affairs, 14 Mayflower Road, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. Contact Chronicle via e-mail: chronicle@bc.edu. Electronic editions of the Boston College Chronicle are available via the World Wide Web at http://www.bc.edu/chronicle.