TECHNICIAN
thursday july
11 2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Students, faculty fight forest sale PROTESTS CONTINUE TO STOP THE SELLING OF THE HOFMANN FOREST
Sasha Afanasieva Correspondent
PHOTO COURTESY CHRISTINA HAMMOCK
N.C. State alumna Christina Hammock worked on field instruments in Antarctica before joining NASA as an astronaut.
Astronaut alumna trains for trip to ISS Ravi Chittilla Staff Writer
Last month, N.C. State alumna Christina Hammock received the shock of a lifetime when she discovered she had been named to the 21st class of NASA astronauts. Hammock earned a degree in electrical engineering in 2001, and degrees in physics and electrical engineering in 2002. Chosen from a field of more than 6,100 applicants, Hammock is part of the secondmost-competitive class ever. According to NASA administrator Charles Bolden, the new team of eight astronauts will lay the groundwork for NASA missions to an asteroid
in the 2020s and to Mars in the 2030s. Hammock is one of four women who make up half of the ground breaking astronaut class, the highest ratio on record. “The playing field is becoming more level, and women are now in a position to really excel and follow their own dreams,” Hammock said. Growing up in Jacksonville, N.C., Hammock said she could only dream of one day of attaining heights very few before her had accomplished. As a student at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Hammock began to refine and follow her interest in the physical and
spatial sciences. It was her curiosity with spacef light that attracted the interest of Myra Halpin, a chemistry instructor who was a NASA Teacher in Space finalist in her own right. With Halpin’s support, Hammock began a seminar dealing with spaceflight and spatial sciences. During the class, Hammock and her classmates were even able to enter and compete in a science contest centered on constructing a mission to Mars. Upon arriving at N.C. State in 1997, Hammock was able to take advantage of the many research opportunities at the ASTRONAUT continued page 3
Student loan interest rate doubles, Sasha Afanasieva Correspondent
Federal lawmakers failed to reach a decision on Stafford student loan interest rates, causing them to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent overnight on July 1, but the debate isn’t over. Federally subsidized student loans are a major source of financial aid across the nation with 7 million students expected to take out loans this year. At N.C. State, about 50 percent of all students who graduated in 2012 had student loans. The increase doesn’t apply to existing loans, but loans taken out after July 1 will be subject to the new rate. Krista Dominic, the director of the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid at N.C. State, said that being responsible with money can
help ease the burden of a loan. “Responsible borrowing is very important. Students need to borrow what they need and keep their balances as low as possible,” Dominic said. According to Dominic, the standard time it takes to pay off student loans is 10 years. The higher interest rate could increase that time by several years. Richard Wolfe, a junior in economics at N.C. State, will receive his first loan in August under the new rate. “Personally, when I graduate, I am still going to look for a job that fulfills my best interests whether it’s higher paying or not, “ Wolfe said. “Depending on the true value of the dollar, plans to buy a house or car could
See page 5.
New brewery strives to stand out See page 6.
Jake Moser News Editor
It’s no secret that employers look at social media sites like Facebook to screen job applicants. However a new N.C. State study indicates they might be looking at the wrong information when searching for reliable workers. The study, t it led “Big Five Personality Traits Ref lected in Jo b A p p l i cants’ Social Media Postings,” was published July 1 and tested 175 companies. Will Stoughton, a Ph.D. student at N.C. State, is the study’s lead author.
The study was co-authored by N.C. State psychology Professor, Lori Foster Thompson and Adam Meade, an associate professor of psychology at the University. Stoughton said they were i n spi red to study the
See page 8.
employers’ side of screening process because most employees focus on the supposed wrongdoing of the applicants. “A lot of people look at the applicants side and warn them, ‘clean up your Facebook page’,” Stoughton said. “Facebook is a good place to make personality attributes that are vaguely accurate and (employers) are weeding people out for the wrong reason.” Their research tested employers to see what traits they look for in job appli-
FACEBOOK continued page 2
GRAPHIC BY SAM DeGRAVE
Treatment helps mental illness, taxpayers Jason Katz
LOANS continued page 2
Palmer on the prowl in Jacksonville
HOFMANN continued page 2
Facebook: not accurate indicator for employers
Correspondent
insidetechnician
Jay Z falls short in quest for holy grail
Students and professors alike gathered at the Raleigh Lake Alumni Center Wednesday to protest the proposed sale of the Hofmann Forest. The Hofmann Forest, located in southeastern North Carolina, consists of 80,000 acres of land, about one-fifth the size of Wake County. Fred Cubbage, a professor of Forestry and Natural Resources and Forest Economics at N.C. State, discussed the potential buyers. “We have heard rumors of buyers,” Cubbage said. “They are likely to be timber investment management organizations, which are companies that basically manage forests. They would manage the forest in a way that is not too different from the way we do, but they may take 10 to 15 percent of forest land and develop it for things like houses or crops.” Cubbage added that the other two potential buyers were rumored to be a real estate company with plans to develop the land and a farmer who may clear the forest entirely with the intent of raising crops.
The forest is a major resource for the forestry department at N.C. State, according to Cubbage. “It’s an educational research forest for the College of Natural Resources and N.C. State Department of Natural Resources,” Cubbage said. According to Dean Mary Watson, the University would be able to continue to use the land. However, opponents of the sale believe that the university and students will have diminished access to the forest over time. Sagar Patel, a junior in business administration, attended the protest yesterday along with other students. “The overall goal of the protest is to have the Board of Trustees hear our voice and that there are people who care for the forest and want it to stay,” Patel said. Currently, more than 1,000 people have signed the petition opposing the sale of the Hofmann Forest, many of them students and professors. While at the protest, demonstrators placed
Providing more outpatient treatment options for people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder could not only help people in need, but also save the taxpayers’ money. Researchers from N.C. State, R.T.I. International and the University of South Florida have found that people who receive outpatient treatment and therapy for certain mental illnesses are less likely to be arrested. Additionally, the cost of providing this treatment was found to be less expensive for taxpayers than the long-term costs of sending these people through the legal system.
The research was conducted in Florida and focused on 4,056 people who had been hospitalized for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. They were subsequently tracked from 2005 to 2012 to compare the rate of governmentfunded outpatient treatment they received to the rate of arrests. During that time, 1,263 of the participants were arrested a total of 5,477 times for a mix of misdemeanor and felony charges. Sarah Desmarais, a psychology professor at N.C. State, was among the researchers who worked on the project. “What we found was that those who re-
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