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STUDENT LIFE
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS SINCE 1878 VOLUME 128, NO. 77
Bio dept. offers new programs BY DAVID SONG NEWS EDITOR Next semester, Washington University will be introducing the Undergraduate Imaging Sciences Pathway, a multidisciplinary program available to students majoring in a number of fields, including biology, physics, mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering. Ralph S. Quatrano, a professor and director of the Imaging Sciences Pathway, stated that the program would seek to capture and bring together the multiple interfaces that such an interdisciplinary field would cover. According to Quatrano, plans for the Pathway began last fall. “It started with an application for an NIH [National Institutes of Health] training grant to support graduates and undergraduates,” said Quatrano. “The idea is to take already committed majors and bring [them] together to show imaging sciences as undergraduates.” Undergraduate students considering the Pathway would take
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a seminar taught by Quatrano in the fall of their freshman or sophomore year. Students in the Pathway would also take additional relevant courses in their junior and senior years. Quatrano, however, noted that the program is not a major itself. “What we define as a pathway is adding a few courses to the major, to see what commonalities there would be in imaging,” he said. “It’s similar to the PNP [Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology] program, but it’s not a major.” In addition to taking certain courses to fulfill the program requirements, students in the Pathway will participate in imaging research during their junior and senior years, working in the labs of faculty mentors. Students will also perform research in the summer prior to their junior or senior years. “We have funds to support undergraduates doing research in the summer,” said Quatrano. “It’s going to be accessed in the same way as the SURF [Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow-
ship] Program.” In addition to the introduction of the Imaging Sciences Pathway, the Biology department introduced new tracks for the biology major and revised an existing track during the course of the academic year. Biology majors not on a specific track graduate with a generic biology major. “The biochemistry and molecular biology track has been around for a number of years as a special major,” explained Paul Stein, professor of biology. “Several years ago, it was converted from a special major to a track of the biology major. This past fall we updated and revised this track.” One of the tracks, neuroscience, was added due to demand for such a track in the past. Over the past several years, the department received numerous requests for a neuroscience track. Three new tracks of the biology major were also available in December 2006: Ecology and Evolution, Genomics and Computational Biology and Neu-
roscience. Students participating in a track will have to fulfill the course requirements of both the generic biology major and the track. Although there are relatively few graduating seniors who have fulfilled the requirements for the new tracks, other biology majors will be able to declare one of these in the future. “If a graduating senior had satisfied all the requirements of a track, they had the option early in the spring semester to un-declare their generic biology major and declare their specific track,” said Stein. “There are not many seniors planning to graduate in May 2007 who satisfied all the requirements of a specific track.” For students interested in taking advantage of the new opportunities, hard copies of the track requirements are published in the Department of Biology Handbook for Majors and Prospective Majors that is available in Plant Growth 105. The Handbook is also available online.
University College prof. threatened
Professor’s book offers suggestions for enhancing memory BY JACQUELINE BRIXEY CONTRIBUTING REPORTER
LIONEL SOBEHART | STUDENT LIFE
Professor Mark McDaniel holds his book Prospective Memory in the Psychology Building on Tuesday, April 24.
For all those who have ever resented an e-mail because the intended file was not attached or those who forgot to tell a roommate their parents called, prospective memory is to blame. Washington University Psychology Professor Dr. Mark McDaniel recently copublished a book entitled “Prospective Memory: An Overview and Synthesis of an Emerging Field” with colleague Dr. Giles O. Einstein, a professor at Furman University in South Carolina. McDaniel explained that prospective memory allows one to remember to execute intentions. Prospective memory relies on attention for monitoring the surrounding environment in order to judge the appropriate moment to perform the action. “If you can execute an intention when it comes to mind, do so immediately,” he said. “For example, if you intend to attach a file to an e-mail, do it at that moment. Don’t wait until you’ve finished the message.”
According to McDaniel, a relatively automatic retrieval process that brings the intention to the mind supports prospective memory; specifically, one must encounter an event that has previously been associated with the intention. In other words, when you finally encounter your roommate, you will be reminded to give them the message. McDaniel offers another memory suggestion: “In forming intentions, create a strong association between the intention and a concrete environmental event that you anticipate will be present when you want to execute the intentions. This will help bring the intention to mind more automatically at the appropriate moment.” Dr. Robert Koff, director of Cornerstone, agreed that strategies for better remembering skills need to be tailored to the individual. The numerous training programs that Cornerstone offers is to help students find the method that best helps them recall obligations or information. According to Koff, the
See MEMORY, page 2
JENNY SHAO | STUDENT LIFE
A professor in the University College English Department was threatened via e-mail by a student in the professor’s class in response to an academic integrity issue. WUPD officers were stationed outside Duncker Hall on Monday as a result.
BY SAM GUZIK SENIOR NEWS EDITOR WUPD officers were stationed outside of Duncker Hall on Monday in response to a threat made against a professor in the University College English department. According to Executive Director of University Communications Steven Givens, a student in one of the professor’s classes made the threat, which was related to issues of academic integrity. WUPD has identified the student but has not released a name to the public. “The student we thought was involved has been identified and admitted his involvement when questioned by WUPD,” stated Givens. “At this point, there is no perceived threat to the campus community.” Although WUPD confronted the student late Tuesday afternoon, there were not officers stationed
outside Duncker during the day on Tuesday. Givens elaborated that the student has been asked not to return to campus because, after failing out of his class due to academic integrity issues, he no longer has any connection to the University. The involved professor, whom Student Life chooses not to identify due to privacy concerns, declined comment, citing the sensitivity of the situation. According to sources in the English department, who preferred to remain anonymous, the threats were made using an e-mail account created explicitly for the purpose of sending the e-mails. The incident arose after the professor accused the student of plagiarism. “This is between a faculty member and a student,” stated Givens. “University policy is to not comment on academic integrity issues.”
Students turn activist for the 2008 primary elections BY SCOTT FABRICANT CONTRIBUTING REPORTER Students are getting involved in the 2008 election season early this year. Students For Barack Obama (SFBO) participated in a conference call with Senator Obama regarding the summer campaign season last Thursday. The conference call, in addition to similar events by College Republicans, comes as part of an effort by presidential campaigns to mobilize young voters. During the conference call, Obama and members from national chapters of
SFBO discussed issues such as student fundraising and future campaign plans. Senator Obama also took questions from a number of students. “SFBO is a national organization that originally formed to encourage the senator to run for president. Once he decided to run, SFBO became the official student branch of his campaign,” said campus chapter president Sophie Cohen. “One of our main goals right now is to educate people on campus about Barack and try to rally as many interested students to the cause.” While the College Democrats is not associated with
See Sagartz swing Follow Laurel Sagartz’s softball career here at Washington University. This senior pitcher will be missed. Sports, Page 6
SFBO, the organization does support this sort of student involvement in politics, according to College Democrat President Meredith Sigler. “We promote our students to go ahead and be politically active at this time. This is one of the main points of being in a group like this,” said Sigler. “It’s a learning experience that you really can’t get in any political science course.” On April 4, the College Republicans sponsored former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee to speak at the Assembly Series. “We bring in speakers from
the opposing side to widen dialogue,” said former College Republicans president Stacey Goodwin. “We just try to make ourselves visible and provide a conservative voice on campus.” While neither College Democrats nor College Republicans officially endorse candidates until after the primaries, both encourage activists from their respective parties to get involved with candidates of their choice. A recent poll by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics has shown that Barack Obama and former New York
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U.S. Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-IL) See OBAMA, page 2 at a forum hosted by the AFL-CIO Building, Wednesday, March 28.
Who loves WU? We do! Wash. U. works hard to look great. But Dan Milstein tells Wash. U. how much we love it, for more reasons than just the freshly planted flowers. Forum, Page 5
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