TECHNICIAN
thursday june
16 2011
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Obama calls for 10,000 more engineers During remarks in Durham, president set goal to vie for technical innovation to spur economic growth.
Perdue vetoes, Republicans override
Mark Herring Features Editor
Governor, senators and representatives, and SBP react to approved budget.
President Barrack Obama announced an initiative to train an additional 10,000 engineers to boost competitiveness in innovation during a speech in Durham on Monday. According to the president, a strong economy depends on innovation and manufacturing stateside. “Breakthroughs…have the potential to create new jobs in other sectors of the economy as well,” Obama said while discussing the chain effect of engineering new technologies. These breakthrough require extensive research and development and the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, led by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and CEOs of major corporations, met on Centennial Campus that morning to discuss the nations future in meeting its engineering needs. “The job council is all about what we can do immediately to stimulate employment—to get more people back to work,” Chancellor Woodson said after the round-table conference. “The administration came here because they wanted to see the FREEDM Center, which is a center focused on power distribution, but there are a lot of small companies in the Triangle that are involved in this part of creation of new jobs.” According to N.C. Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, the morning conference was a way to bring the spotlight to the state’s advancements in technology
John Wall Staff Writer
BRENT KITCHEN/TECHNICIAN
President Barack Obama speaks at Cree, Inc in Durham, N.C. Monday, June 13. Obama spoke about the importance of science and engineering jobs to sustain a competitive edge in the global market.
and engineering. The president started his tour on jobs and competitiveness in January and during his stop at LED technology company Cree, Inc., Obama said STEM—science, technology, engineering and math—are the jobs of the future. “These are the jobs that China and India are cranking out,” Obama said. “Those students are hungry because they understand if they get those skills they can find a good job, they can create companies, they can create
businesses, create wealth.” Lawrence Jacobson, executive director of the National Society of Professional Engineers, said issue for the U.S. is not meeting the new expectation per se, but putting are greater emphasis on STEM training and education. “The number 10,000 is arbitrary,” Jacobson said. “We’re going to need a lot more than that. I totally agree, we need more engineers and more innovation. The country has really needs this not to just compete, but to also
replace the baby-boomer population.” According to Jacobson, the current recession has kept a majority of older, more experienced engineers from retiring. “What’s happened is the engineers working in all kinds of industry, the big bulk of them are all baby boomers and they are due to retire over a period of 5 to 6 years and most of those guys were some
OBAMA continued page 5
Raleigh deemed third cleanest city Forbes report puts Raleigh ahead of 77 U.S. cities. Justin Rose Staff Writer
Raleigh, NC Rank: #1
Orlando, Fla Rank: #16
Wichita, Kan Rank: #41
Bradenton, Fla Rank: #64
Forbes.com ranked the following cities the least toxic cities in America based on 2009 data. The following are the water quality rankings for the top 10 least toxic cities.
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Forbes.com has declared Raleigh the third “cleanest” city in the U.S. in their recently published list of the country’s environmentally clean cities. The list includes cities deemed the least toxic—based on five equally weighted measures of pollution and toxicit y— out of the 80 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA). According to The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), toxic substances are defined as “chemicals or compounds that may present an unreasonable threat to human health and the environment.” Forbes measurements, from 2009, included water quality ranking, Air Quality Index (AQI)-which monitors the number of days air quality rose above 100 on an EPA index (the EPA deems a score of 150 to be unhealthy for everyone exposed) —and Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), which gives the number of pounds of toxic substances produced, managed and disposed by facilities each year. Forbes a lso accounted for Superfund sites, which the EPA defines as “uncontrolled or abandoned places where hazardous waste is located, possibly affecting local ecosystems or people.” Superfund sites include landfills, dumping grounds for chemicals and pesticides, and
contaminated wells. One such site in Raleigh is a lot owned by N.C. State near Carter-Finley Stadium, where, from 1969 to 1980, the University disposed of solvents, pesticides, heavy metals, acids and some low-level radioactive laboratory wastes, according to the EPA. A clean-up plan was issued in 1996 and soil remediation, or correction, was completed in October 1999. Construction of the ground water remedy was completed in September 2006. Ground water treatment is ongoing, and the treated ground water is being sampled on a monthly basis. There are several organizations on campus dedicated to helping Raleigh stay at the top of the list. A few include the Inter-Residence Council Sustainability Committee, the Wolfpack Environmental Student Association (WESA) and the Campus Environmental Sustainability Team (CEST). In addition to sustainability rese a rch, orga n izations like the sustainability team have been involved in initiatives like creek restorations, tree restorations and storm water systems engineering. N.C. State’s Student Senate also passed the Campus Sustainability Continuous Improvement Act in 2008, which outlined an action plan with various ways in which the University would make an effort to be greener and cleaner. The plan pushed adoption of energy-efficient appliances, use of electricity from renewable sources, further waste reduction and recycling initiatives and encouraged use of and access to public transportation for all faculty, students and visitors. One major concern for sustainability team is the University’s energy
consumption. According to N.C. State’s Office of Sustainability, the University is the second largest consumer of energy in buildings in the state—a problem exacerbated by the increasing student enrollment. In response to the State Energy Plan, N.C. State established a commitment in 2008 to reduce the annual energy consumption per square foot by at least four percent over a 10-year period. The Wolfpack Environmental Student Association—a student organization—has similar goals, including “promoting campus environmental awareness and environmental protection, forming net works w it h t heme s related to the environment and natural resources within N .C . S t a t e ’s c ol le ge s a nd engaging with other universities endeavors to manage environmental a nd natura l resources,” according to its website. WESA’s Co-Presidents Sonum Nerurka, senior in environmental technology, and Katie McKnight have both won the annual “Think Outside the Brick Competition” and implemented sustainable projects on campus. Nerurka is building a solar gazebo on campus and McKnight completed the Students For Organic United Living (SOUL) Garden, located on Centennial Campus. In Forbes’ report, the two cities that beat out North Carolina’s capital were Little Rock, Arkansas at number two, and McAllen, Texas, the “cleanest” city in the U.S.
One major concern for sustainability team is the University’s energy consumption.
North Carolina Republicans prevailed Wednesday as they overrode the governor’s veto of the state budget. The House and Senate, both GOPcontrolled for the first time in a century, each voted to bypass Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue’s budget she says cuts too much from education and other public services. According to the governor’s office, Perdue’s proposed budget would have invested approximately $561 million more in public education than the newly approved budget — $236.1 million more in public universities, $68.9 million in community colleges and $256.7 million in K-12. Republican leaders claimed the governor’s office is not being honest in its assessment of budget differences. “Despite the governor’s frantic media campaign, apocalyptic rhetoric, and creative accounting, the facts are clear: our $19.7 billion budget will do more for public classrooms and help the economy create more jobs than her own proposal,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger in a statement after the Senate voted to override the budget. Perdue was the first governor in North Carolina’s history to veto a budget. Berger saw political motive in her move. “On this historic day, the will of the voters and the representatives they elected prevailed over the governor’s desperate attempts to defend the status quo and appease her liberal political allies,” Berger said in a statement. The Senate’s vote of approval was the last step before the budget, called House Bill 200, becomes law. It will take effect July 1. The year-long process of creating, revising, and approving the budget will then repeat itself. Although Perdue no longer has a say in the budget process, the governor said in a statement that Republicans have dealt a severe blow to the state’s education system. “Tonight, the Republican-controlled legislature turned its back on North Carolina’s long-standing commitment to our people to provide quality schools, community colleges and universities — all to save a penny,” Perdue said. Perdue vowed to defend education. “Tonight they may have cut our prek programs and turned our education system backwards. But tomorrow, the citizens of North Carolina and I will resume the fight for what we believe in — that education must be the one priority we never turn our backs on,” Perdue said. Student Body President Chandler Thompson has spent time at the legislature speaking with representatives. Along with UNC-Chapel Hill SBP Mary Cooper, they have been communicating student views, concerns and opinions. “We tried to tell them how important education and financial aid is to our students,” Thompson said. Chancellor Randy Woodson, UNC System President Tom Ross and the Board of Governors have stated they will not suggest an increase in tuition, according to Thompson. She said the chancellor’s realignment plan placed the University ahead of the curve. “N.C. State has been doing a good job preparing because we knew cuts were going to happen,” Thompson said. With the budget set to become law, Thompson is organizing a group of 50 N.C. State students with the goal of maintaining a presence at the legislature during the fall.
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