ASI board candidates focus on outreach News Thursday March 5, 2015
Seeing space through sound
The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton
Baseball to host No. 5 Texas Tech Red Raiders 3
Sports
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Volume 97 Issue 21
Bringing ‘Magic’ to campus
Black holes lead to new research and discoveries EVAN LANCASTER Daily Titan Students involved in Cal State Fullerton’s Gravitational Wave Physics and Astronomy Center are not merely stargazing. Established in 2012, the center is the university’s primary hands-on research laboratory for studying the universe through the dynamics of gravitational waves generated by cosmic events. Geoffrey Lovelace, Ph.D. assistant professor in the Department of Physics at CSUF and one of the center’s founding professors, explained that knowledge about gravity and spacetime comes from light. Gravitational waves, can be used to make discoveries about the universe from a new perspective, he said. “The idea of gravitational waves is a whole new spectrum of stuff, it’s like a new way to see the universe, except, I’d say, it’s a new way to hear the universe,” Lovelace said. Sean Hatcher, a physics major and research assistant at the center, is working toward an academic career in physics. He explained that his interest in gravitational waves is bridged by his curiosity about the universe and a passion for research. “(Gravitational waves) are a brand new field that nothing has been discovered in yet, it’s also an entirely new way to look at the universe,” he said. “Everything we see is on the same spectrum, which is electromagnetic, light, radio and microwaves and gravitational waves are a completely different spectrum that is not electromagnetic.” Specifically, the center is the hub for researching the behavior of gravitational waves produced by one of the most immense, violent and distant phenomenons in the universe—black holes. More specifically, students at center are hunting regions of spacewhere two black holes are colliding. A black hole develops when a dead star collapses. This process creates a massive, invisible region of curved space with a gravitational pull so powerful not even light can escape it, according to Lovelace. “There are some things, though, that don’t emit light, that you can’t see— like a black hole,” Lovelace said. “It’s invisible, so how do you see it?” He explained that scientists are able to hear the frequencies produced when two black holes collide. These frequencies, which Lovelace refers to as a “chirping sound,” can fluctuate in pitch, which can determine the size of a black hole and its proximity to other massive objects in space. SEE SPACE
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AMANDA SHARP / DAILY TITAN
Magic Johson addresses students in the Titan Gym Wednesday. During his speech, the Lakers player turned businessman gave students advice meant to help them become successful in their own lives. He advised students to ask questions continuously and keep up a constant search for knowledge.
Athlete turned businessman gives advice to students KATHERINE PICAZO CECILY MEZA Daily Titan Earvin “Magic” Johnson brought words of advice to Cal State Fullerton students Wednesday during “An Evening with Magic Johnson,” part of Business Madness Week. Johnson addressed the students as “young people” throughout the night and emphasized the importance of over delivering. “I grew up poor—six
sisters, three brothers, my dad had to work two jobs his whole life to put food on the table,” Johnson said. That upbringing, and the opportunity to make a better life, factored into his decision to sign with the Lakers, he said. Even after his time with the Lakers, he said, he had to decide how to use the money he had earned to help better others’ lives. “I had to decide what I was going to do with the money that I had saved while playing with the Lakers,” Johnson said. “So I decided I was going to invest in urban America.” That decision led Johnson to open movie theaters in urban communities—just one of the efforts Johnson made
to reach out to minorities, he said. He chose to open movie theaters because urban minorities had been priced out of other events, including Laker games. He went on to open six theaters in various communities, including one in Harlem and another in Los Angeles. His Los Angeles theater became a top-ten highest grossing Sony theater in the country within its first year, he said. Taking a jump start to his business life, Johnson approached Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, and told him about his idea to build Starbucks in places that investors thought would not bring money. SEE JOHNSON
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AUSTIN WALLACE / DAILY TITAN
Students snap a selfies with Johnson following his speech and a Q & A session Wednesday.
Softball mauled by Wolverines
The Titans were overmatched by No. 3 Michigan
SOFTBALL
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RUDY CHINCHILLA Daily Titan The Cal State Fullerton softball team entered its Wednesday game against the University of Michigan looking for an underdog victory, but the Wolverines instead handed them a drubbing. The focus of the Titans was containing the Wolverines’ big hitters. “We knew they’re a good hitting team, so we were just going to keep the ball low and work the corners,” Fullerton Pitcher Desiree Ybarra said. Head Coach Kelly Ford gave the nod to Ybarra in the circle, the redshirt junior leading her team in earned run average at 3.57. Things started off shaky for Ybarra, as she gave up a double to center field and then walked Michigan’s
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9 Sierra Romero. Catcher Kylie Padilla had to have some words with Ybarra to calm the pitcher’s nerves. Ybarra responded with a strikeout of Tera Blanco before the Fullerton defense closed out the top of the first inning. Ybarra continued to produce mixed results in the circle. She stuck out two more batters through the next three innings, but also produced three walks in the same timeframe. She seemed nervous in the circle, Padilla having to leave home plate on multiple occasions to have words with her pitcher. SEE SOFTBALL
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ABRAHAM WILLIAMS / DAILY TITAN
Pitcher Desiree Ybarra fires a pitch in the second inning of the 9-0 loss to the No. 3 Michigan Wolverines Wednesday at Anderson Family Field. Ybarra gave up five runs in six innings pitched. VISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COM