TECHNICIAN
april
5
2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
$12.1 Billion
friday
Universities battle sequestration $5 m
$15 m
$121 Million $12 m
$47 m $38 m $20 m
$2 m
$535 m
$3 m
$17 m
$9 m
This figure represents the total amount of research funding that will be cut from the federal budget due to the sequestation.
$16 m $2 m $22 m
$106,592,000 The amount of federal funding the UNC system collectively will lose due to the squestration. This represents approximately 1/8th of the system’s total federal appropriations. SOURCE: WWW.SCIENCEWORKSFORUS.ORG
FUNDING FOR RESEARCH GRANTS FROM THE TOP FIVE FEDERAL AGENCIES AT EACH SCHOOL This graphic shows each UNC constituent institution’s funding from the top five federal agency contributors at each university in million of dollars (rounded down). This data represents funding during the 2011 fiscal year, the most recent year avaliable. The funding figures were published on the UNC system’s website. The North Carolina School of Science and Mathmatics and the UNC School of the Arts are not included. Total federal funding figures were not avaliable for each institution.
STORY BY JOSUE MOLINA | GRAPHICS BY RUSS SMITH N.C. State researchers and students may see less funds when applying for federal grants or receiving financial aid because of the automatic federal budget cuts known as the sequestration. According to the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, sequestration will affect government spending and research funding throughout the entire UNC system, which is expected to be at least $106 million this year. The APLU is an advocacy organization that represents the views of N.C. State and the other member institutions in Washington and is lobbying on behalf of the Universities’ interests. The sequestration cuts were put into effect on March 1, when lawmakers failed to come to a consensus on spending policy in Washington. These hawkish cuts instituted by lawmakers’ policy may have the potential to harm students and researchers.
Economics professor talks capitalism for the people Tim Gorski Staff Writer
The Poole College of Management hosted Luigi Zingales, professor of entrepreneurship and finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Wednesday night. Zingales gave a lecture on how the innovations produced from the capitalist system benefit society and how perversions of that system led to widespread ramifications. The lecture was funded by the John W. Pope Foundation as part of the John W. Pope Lecture Series. After receiving his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Zingales became a prolific author in the field of economics and finance, having recently written A Capitalism for the People: Recapturing the Lost Genius of American Prosperity. The subjects of his works range from the minute details of economics to the broad societal implications of government intervention in the free market. In his lecture, Zingles praised American exceptionalism and individual liberty as the driving forces behind raising the standard of liv-
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Terri Lomax, the vice chancellor for Research, Innovation and Economic Development, said the cuts are visible and have impacted areas like N.C. State’s Water Research Institute, which has only received 60 percent of its normal funding this year because of the sequester. Agencies such as the National Institutes of Health have notified the University that there will be 1,000 fewer grants this year. As a result, University officials are starting to search for other sources of funding. “We have a lot of new industry friendly policies that will hopefully increase research funding for our faculty,” Lomax said. The cuts will continue to take effect over a decade if lawmakers in Washington cannot come up with a long-term deficit reduction plan that has bipartisan support. Jeff Lieberson, APLU’s vice president of Public Affairs, said the U.S.
has been a global leader in innova- mendous impact on the nation and tion for decades, but other countries helps sustain and grow its economy. like China are increasing their in“The message that we are trying vestments in research and education to get to Washington is that investwhile U.S. is losing its competitive ments in research and higher eduadvantage, resultcation are critical to ing in a slowing economic growth engine of economic and investing in growth in the Unitthem will actually ed States. create jobs and help The APLU has reduce the deficit, pa r t nered w it h but cutting fundother organizations ing will have the such as the Assoopposite impact,” ciation of AmeriLieberson said. “By can Universities cutting f unding and The Science you’re eliminating Jeff Liedberson Coalition to crethe creation of the APLU’s vice president ate a project called next big thing and of Public Affairs innovating projects. You’re also deScienceWorksForU.S. nying the ability for some students ScienceWorksForU.S. is trying to attend school.” to push a message to Washington The APLU has also collaborated lawmakers that federally funded with the Task Force on American university-based research has a tre- Innovation by addressing a letter to
“...investments in research and higher education are critical to economic growth.”
UAB to host 43rd Pan-Afrikan week Jessica Hatcher Staff Writer
The 43rd Pan-Afrikan week officially begins Saturday with the Pan-Afrikan Kick-Off event. The week of events, organized by the Union Activities Board, is an annual celebration commemorating African culture and heritage. The idea of hosting Pan-Afrikan pride events was inspired by Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, who took initiatives to celebrate the legacy and culture of Africa and its descendants. The celebration began at N.C. State as a “black homecoming for minority students” in 1970 to give “minority students a chance to express themselves through events, showcase their pride and celebrate their identity at a predominately white institution,” according to Lauryn Collier, president of UAB and senior in animal science. Zuqorah Williamson, senior in psychology and chair of UAB’s Black Student’s Board, described Pan-Afrikan Week as unique, saying, “I’ve been at State for four years and I haven’t seen anything quite like this.” Williamson said it was important for students to celebrate Pan African Week by going to the events because it is a “great way to learn about different cultures that they may not
be aware of.” Collier said students should come out if they want to have a good time and attending the events could give students a “different perspective that they may not have been exposed to before.” The theme of this year’s festivities is “The Essence of Our Metamorphosis.” Several cultural and historical events will be held which resonate with this theme, like the African Student Union’s Africa Night and the Society of African American Culture Pan-Afrikan Event. In total, this year’s Pan-Afrikan Week includes 15 sponsored events, most of which are free for students. On Saturday, the Pan-Afrikan Kick-Off will be held on Harris Field at 4 p.m. Food, such as hot dogs and hamburgers, and t-shirts will be given away to students, according to Williamson. Free soul food will be provided to students for Soul Food Sunday on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Witherspoon Student Center. The African American Textiles Society’s Annual Fashion Expose will be held in the College of Textiles Atrium at 7 p.m. on Monday. On Friday, April 12, the Pan-Afrikan Comedy Show will take place at the Dorton Arena at 7:30 p.m. The show will feature Cory Holcomb, Rob Stapleton and Corwin “C Dawg” Oglesby, who will open the show. Another big event is the National Pan-Hellenic Council Step Show, which will also take place in
the Dorton Arena on Saturday, April 13, at 7 p.m. The week of events will end on an inspirational note with Gospel Explosion at Oberlin Baptist Church. Collier said she was most excited about the Pan-Afrikan Scholarship Pageant because it was an event she brought back last year when she was chair of the Black Students Board. “I’m excited that it’s continuing. I saw a preview of the pageant and it looked great. Everyone is very creative,” Collier said. Williamson said planning everything was exciting, but the event planners encountered a few extra roadblocks along the way. “It was a little bit harder to find venues for everything because we normally have most of our events in Stewart Theater,” Williamson said. “Zuqorah’s done a great job planning everything. It’s superstressful, but she’s handled the stress very well. She also has a really great board of students behind her,” Collier said. Williamson and Collier both encourage everyone to come to as many events as they can. “We know that some of the things can be expensive, especially on a college budget, but it will definitely be worth it,” Collier said.
President Obama and other government officials that stresses the importance of federal research funds. The letter calls for the Federal government to cease the cuts claiming that the cuts would impede important programs the help economic growth and reminds the intended audience of successful government funded projects. The Task Force states in the letter “scientific research drives innovation, productivity, job creation, and growth. Technological advances such as the laser, the Internet and the Web, GPS, and the large-scale integrated circuit had their origins in long-term research.” Sequestration was never intended to go into effect, but it has because of the lack of government compromise, and it is here to stay unless an alternate deficit reduction plan is made that receives the support of Washington officials.
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‘Corrupting Dr. Nice’ reexamines time travel See page 5.
Madeline Pike: A straight shooter See page 8.
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