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Cooking in the kitchen Whip up quick and easy dishes this weekend features, page 5
Ready to go MSU sports teams will be active over Thanksgiving Tori break Freshman guard Jankoska Margaux Forster/ The State News
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BUSINESSES EXPECT TO SEE WINTER SALES DROP
Facilities VP nom. will have large shoes to fill
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The new vice president of Strategic Infrastructure Planning and Facilities, who recently was recommended by MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon, will be charged with filling Dawkins the rather large shoes of his predecessor, who has worked at MSU for more than 50 years. Simon recently appointed Kemel Dawkins to take the place of Ron Flinn. Dawkins will start his job on Jan. 1, if the MSU Board of Trustees approves. Si mon ac k nowle dge d that there will be a learning curve, but said she’s confident in Dawkins’ abilities. “We’re making a recommendation for Dawk ins based on his experience and what we believe he can bring as a (new) perspective for moving us forward,” she said at the University Council meeting last week.
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New microscope being developed allows in-depth look at molecules THE STATE NEWS nn
A new microscope being developed by MSU researchers will be powerful enough to capture the movement of atoms and molecules down to one millionth of a billionth of a second. “What if there was a camera precise and fast enough that we can take snapshots or make movies of atoms moving and chemical reactions as they’re happening?” physics graduate student Jenni Portman said. “We would be able to understand what causes materials to behave in a certain way or why certain reactions work the way they do.” Portman is one of the students assisting MSU associate professor of physics and astronomy Chong-Yu Ruan and his team in creating a microscope powerful enough to study complex chemical interactions. High-resolution electron microscopes are powerful but can’t capture molecule movement, Ruan explained. This
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Nationa l of cellp research show ho s changin nes in classro use o g stude nt learn ms ing
The VP position is in charge of hundreds of milions of university budget dollars
By Celeste Bott
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Dawkins currently is the executive vice chancellor for administration at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Before that, he worked at Duke University, Yale University and Stanford University. The position has oversight of the entire physical being of MSU’s campus, including dorms, classroom buildings, roads, landscaping and underground steam tunnels. The budget for the department is about $400 million a
By Geoff Preston
To explore an interactive package about texting and its impact on learning in classrooms, visit statenews.com.
As the holiday season approaches, East Lansing businesses are buck ling down for winter and preparing for the annual sharp decline in sales that occurs when students head home for break. For the Student Book Store on Grand River Avenue, the season is marked by decorations that adorn the front of store. With the end of the semester comes the rush of students flocking to the bookstore to sell their books, and the start of spring semester brings a rush of students looking to buy for their new classes. After that, business slows down considerably, SBS assistant manager Mike Wylie said. “It’s no secret we’ll come into our slowest months out of the year in February and March,” he said. “Partly, it is a function of weather and darkness — also, kids might be saving up to go somewhere for spring break.” Wylie said because the store sells a lot of apparel t hat isn’t necessa r ily focused on students, the store does OK during winter break, when students aren’t in East Lansing. He said SBS also sees an increase in sales during winters when Spartan basketball is thriving. “A little bit depends on the basketball team,” he said. “A good basketball team can make the winter end a lot earlier.” Different industries experience a similar correlation bet ween the success for MSU at the Breslin Center and their sales during the winter months. Michael Mansour, the owner and general manager of Spartan Spirits, a liquor store on Albert Avenue, said
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Int’l students reach out to children
“When you want to study molecules moving around and binding, it happens at high speeds in the frames you look at.” Martin Berz, MSU professor
makes it difficult to study the relationship between cell structure and function, he added. The technology his team is developing is electron-based imaging technology in femtoseconds, or one millionth of a billionth of a second. Today’s microscopes don’t operate that quickly, said physics and astronomy professor Martin Berz, who works on Ruan’s team. “When you want to study molecules mov ing around and binding, it happens at high speeds in the frames you look at,” Berz said. “You’re so zoomed in, and (molecule movement is) happening so fast. But this microscope can capture very fast processes with a very quick exposure time. You can see molecules bind together without any blurring; a super sharp image.”
The microscope can help scientists and engineers build better electronics that take up less space and use less power, because they can tailor their microscopic properties to do whatever they want, according to Portman. “We could better understand all the complex chemical interactions that go on inside our bodies every day, and maybe find ways to prevent whenever these interactions don’t go the way they’re supposed to,” Portman said. A device that allows scientists to study molecular behavior will be applicable to students and researchers in the fields of physics, engineering, medicine, chemis-
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Biology freshman Hanan Alalwan goes through a presentation with 2nd grade students at Marble Elementary School on Monday. Students were shown different Saudi Arabian celebrations and clothing. —Khoa Nguyen, SN See EDUCATION on page 3