TECHNICIAN
monday september
9
2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Africana studies gains interest despite rumored decline Cody Long Correspondent
Local Natives perform in Memorial Auditorium for Hopscotch Music Festival on Friday, Sept 6.
KATHERINE HOKE/TECHNICIAN
Hopscotch Music Festival delivers Will E. Brooks Features Editor
Despite several cancellations, Hopscotch Music Festival reeled in an estimated 20,000 people last weekend, according to Grayson Currin, alumnus and Hopscotch co-director. Hopscotch, which finished its fourth consecutive festival this weekend, saw several artist cancellations that were
quickly patched. Currin said it is often difficult to gauge how many artists might cancel a festival and this year there happened to be several, including headliner Big Boi. “When you are dealing with almost 200 bands, inevitably things are going to come up last minute,” Currin said. “It’s a huge unknown for us when things like that happen.” But the directors of Hopscotch worked
University encourages students to think sustainably Katherine Kehoe Correspondent
September marks the beginning of the University Sustainability Office’s new Change Your State campaign, a program promoting environmental awareness and sustainable action throughout the N.C. State community. “As the world’s population grows rapidly, many of the natural resources we need to live have not, so there’s a challenge to do more with less. By being smarter about how we travel, eat, use resources and spend our time, we can create a better N.C. State and world,” said Rebekah Dunstan, an N.C. State alumna and program coordinator for the University Sustainability Office. The campaign uses monthly
themes, such as food, energy, zero waste and travel, to encourage students to make small, sustainable changes to various areas of their lives. September’s theme, food, stresses the importance of eating locally and reducing food waste. The Sustainability Office is also incorporating a new digital aspect to the campaign, an app called JouleBug. Developed by N.C. State alumni, the app helps users keep track of sustainable actions in a way that feels as if they are playing a game with friends. According to Grant Williard, an N.C. State alumnus and creator of JouleBug, the app lets users earn points, pins and badges for acting sustainably, which are incorporated
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quickly to replace acts at the last minute. Big Boi, the festival’s original headliner, canceled more than a month prior to the festival and will play a make up show in Raleigh on Saturday, Sept. 21. Holy Ghost! and A-Trak performed in place of the Outkast-famous rapper. San Francisco experimental group Sal Mineo canceled its Thursday per-
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The University of Illinois recently released a study revealing that African-American studies may not be as unpopular as previous studies reported. Out of 1,777 universities surveyed, researchers found that 76 percent of institutions have a program in either African-American studies or Africana studies. According to Darryl Lester, assistant director of the N.C. State African American Cultural Center, these types of programs can benefit students well beyond their undergraduate careers. “I do think though if you were able to track students who took classes in Africana studies, five or six years later they would argue that it was very influential and beneficial to their professional career,” Lester said. “It is very important and helpful to take the opportunity to learn about
someone else’s journey.” Lester, who has been part of the faculty at both UNC-Chapel Hill and Shaw University, a historically black college, joined N.C. State’s faculty in February. Since then, he has overseen the Africana culture program, which is housed on second and third floors of the Witherspoon Student Center. Lester said he believes in the importance of the program, despite arguments that Africana and African-American studies create racial boundaries. Lester said it is possible to learn and celebrate one culture without knocking another down. “It is possible to lift one aspect of the salad without crushing another aspect of the salad,” said Lester. “By doing this you are adding value to the entirety of the salad. The old model of highlighting one culture or ethnic group by turning one against another is simply outdated.”
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VOLLEYBALL TEAM REMAINS UNDEFEATED, SEE PAGE 8
SAM WHITLOCK/TECHNICIAN
Junior outside hitter Nikki Glass serves the ball against the Binghamton Bearcats Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013. The Wolfpack won three sets to none at Reynolds Coliseum.
Scientists pioneer new method of data-sharing in energy models
Convocation kicks off peer mentor program
Sasha Afanasieva
Siri Smits
Staff Writer
Joseph DeCarolis, a researcher in the Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering department at N.C. State, has developed a computer-based energy optimization model designed to streamline energy technologies and systems. Unlike other existing models, Tools for Energy Model Optimization and Analysis (Temoa) is designed to easily
share information. “A lot of the models that are out there are commercial models so you have to pay a lot of money–anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 minimum,” DeCarolis said. “Modelers that are doing the work of inputting the data, when they develop the data they tend to not share it.” Kevin Hunter, a doctoral student in civil engineering, also worked on the project. Hunter said energy models are typically divided into two
parts: the equations and the data. Scientists or mathematicians work out the equations, while research groups create data. Each can get complicated. Hunter said the energy optimization model has 13 classes of algebraic equations that work out to have millions of variables. The data from research groups often inform environmental policy decisions and therefore need to
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Correspondent
The Peer Mentor Program hosted its Mix and Match: Annual Convocation last Friday in the Witherspoon Student Center. The event kicked off the Fall 2013 semester, welcoming its student mentors and mentees to the new academic year. The Peer Mentor Program is organized within the Department of Multicultural Student Affairs and serves hundreds of N.C. State students each year. It is designed to promote support for first-year students from culturally diverse backgrounds by developing mentoring relationships.
The program began in 1982, and its network continues to grow with recognition. In the last three decades it has grown stronger and more effective in aiding the academic, emotional and social adjustment of all culturally diverse first-year students. Currently there are 80 mentors involved in the program and more than 120 mentees. The program is still accepting mentees. Any first-year student can request to be served by an upperclassmen mentor through the Peer Mentor Program. Mary Medina, the Peer Mentor Program advisor, works alongside Rob Bradley, the
insidetechnician FEATURES
SPORTS
SPORTS
Up-and-comers take the lead at Hopscotch
State scores in overtime, beats Pitt in home opener
Spiders scare Pack, Sade saves game
See page 6.
See page 8.
See page 8.
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