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TUESDAY
feb. 6, 2018 high 27°, low 13°
t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k |
N • Economic concerns
dailyorange.com
P • Get moving
Mayor Ben Walsh has announced initiatives to address the city of Syracuse’s budget deficit, including a summit event in partnership with Syracuse University. Page 3
S • Pulling feathers
Fight For Hearts is committed to promoting active lifestyles. Champion boxer Cam F. Awesome recently teamed up with the Syracuse nonprofit to co-coach workouts. Page 7
Syracuse surprised Louisville with a 78-73 win Monday, marking the Orange’s second ACC road win. SU barely breached 40 points against Virginia on Saturday. Page 12
veterans and military affairs
Family donates $20 million By Sam Ogozalek news editor
Researchers use a cage on the first floor of the Syracuse Center of Excellence to test drone technology. Faculty and students there focus on improving safety features of the machines. daniel strauss asst. digital editor
READY FOR
TAKEOFF
University researchers use the Syracuse Center of Excellence to improve drone safety By Daniel Strauss asst. digital editor
S
asi Prabhakaran stepped into a large, enclosed area outfitted with motion sensors and cameras down a small hallway on the first floor of the Syracuse Center of Excellence. He placed a small, insect-like drone in the center of a cage and backed away. The machine, almost mimicking a dragonfly, suddenly whizzed into the air, as eight cameras lining the top of the cage recorded its every movement. The cameras’ data filtered back to Amit Sanyal — an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, electrical engineering and computer science — and his Ph.D. students, who were raptly watching a computer screen.
“Here, they are building (on) the research side of the drone industry,” said Prabhakaran, who completed postdoctoral research at Syracuse University. He is currently the CEO of Akrobotix, a drone company. Prabhakaran was referring to the Syracuse Center of Excellence, a research facility about a mile north of Main Campus. The center opened in October 2016 and is partially funded by New York state. It’s a futuristic-looking structure built on a remediated waste site near the tangle of Interstate 690 and Interstate 81 bridges adjacent to downtown. The Center of Excellence is focused on expanding and accelerating research and development in clean energy, indoor environmental quality and other emerging technologies. That includes drones. see drones page 4
on campus
SU’s academic drop deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday By Sam Ogozalek news editor
Syracuse University’s academic drop deadline for classes is much earlier this spring than it has been in past semesters. Students have until 5 p.m. Tuesday to drop classes. Tuesday is also the financial drop deadline. The new academic drop deadline
date is five weeks earlier than it has been previously. Individual courses dropped after Tuesday will appear on a student’s transcript as withdrawals. Under rules that had previously been in place at SU, students had until the ninth Monday of the semester to initiate a leave of absence. Students who initiated leaves of absences after the financial deadline but before the academic drop deadline
had that semester’s courses wiped from their transcripts, even though the courses should have appeared as withdrawals under federal law.
Courses dropped after Tuesday evening will appear on transcripts as withdrawals
In interviews with The Daily Orange last fall, experts said the previous drop deadline used by SU was not in compliance with federal guidelines. Under university policy, students who request a leave of absence after the academic drop deadline are officially considered withdrawn. sfogozal@syr.edu @Sam13783
Almost one-third of the total estimated cost of Syracuse University’s $62.5 million National Veterans Resource Complex project will be covered by a single donation. SU alumnus Daniel D’Aniello and his wife, Gayle, have donated $20 million to the complex, the university announced Monday morning. D’Aniello is a life trustee of the university. He graduated from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management in 1968. The gift is one of the single largest donations in university history. “(SU) is deeply grateful for the D’Aniello family’s support, which has the potential to change the lives of millions of veterans and military families,” said Chancellor Kent Syverud in a press release Monday.
2022 Expected year of completion for the NVRC project
The NVRC aims to centralize a number of veterans services in one building at the intersection of South Crouse and Waverly avenues, the former site of SU’s Hoople Building. The Institute for Veterans and Military Families will be housed in the NVRC. The IVMF is a nationally recognized program that focuses on veterans research and job placement, among other things. D’Aniello is a billionaire businessman who, in early October of last year, donated $500,000 to SU for “Giving Day,” a 24-hour push to increase donations to the university. He’s also a co-chair of the IVMF advisory board and a co-founder and chairman emeritus of the Carlyle Group, a multinational alternative asset management firm. The Carlyle Group owns a stake in the company that produces popular “Beats by Dre” headphones. The Carlyle Group has $174 billion assets, according to its website. The company’s investors “range from public and private pension funds to wealthy individuals and families to sovereign wealth funds, unions and corporations,” according to its website. Construction recently started on SU’s $62.5 million project. Excavators are currently digging up a section of the NVRC site. University officials, last fall, said they expect the project to be finished by spring 2020. see nvrc page 4