WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
5
www.ufvcascade.ca
NEWS
SCIENCE ON PURPOSE
Curiosity’s sends back its first images in LED illumination
ASHLEY O’NEILL CONTRIBUTOR
NASA’s latest Mars rover, Curiosity, sparked curiosity of its own when it sent back pictures for the first time on January 23. Curiosity is fitted with a Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a camera which captures high-definition 13.9 micrometers per pixel resolution images and includes its own LED lighting system. The photos Curiosity sent to Earth last month depict back amazingly clear images of a Martian rock called “Sayunei.” NASA scientists are taking particular interest in this rock and these images; prior to Curiosity snapping the photos, the rover’s wheel scuffed the corner of the rock which caused a fresh, sand-like sample to come loose from the ground. The scientists at NASA are filled with anticipation as to what this sand-like material may be, and think it could take them one step closer to finding out more about our closest planetary neighbour.
Two different LED settings were used for picture-taking that night: white LEDs and ultraviolet LEDs. Each illumination provides a different view. The image lit up by white lighting allows the viewer to see textural detail and surface features cast by shadows. As for the ultraviolet light, Ken Edgett, the MAHLI Principal Investigator of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, explained on the NASA site that the light would pick up any fluorescent minerals. If they find the colours green, yellow, orange or red under the ultraviolet LEDs, there may be traces of fluorescent material on Mars – which would point to the presence of vegetation. NASA is not stopping at just collecting photographs for evidence and observations. When Curiosity was deployed on November 26, in 2011, NASA also intended for the rover to collect soil samples. This will be the first time any rover has attempted to collect a physical sample from a planet. On January 27, the rover just
finished preparing drills and carrying out “pre-load testing” around Sayunei to make sure the ground is secure enough to drill in. “We are proceeding with caution in the approach to Curiosity’s first drilling,” said Daniel Limonadi, lead surface sampling and science systems engineer for Curiosity (again quoted on the NASA site). “It will be the first time any robot has drilled into a rock to collect a sample on Mars.” Eventually, Curiosity will try to assess the amount of radiation in the environment from the sample. For now, though, Curiosity will just be testing the surface of the planet. This way scientists can observe how the rock reacts to the sudden temperature drop overnight and how the robot’s machinery deals with the stress of drilling. NASA is expecting to start drilling in early February, but it could take weeks or months until Curiosity has anything more than photos to share.
The numbers behind the degree
Clubs, associations and campus happenings
O’Heron on the development of the graduate BEAU O’NEILL
TAYLOR JOHNSON
CONTRIBUTOR
For the last 60 years it has been an accepted fact that those with science degrees will be the first to be hired by employers upon graduation, and that those from the humanities will be looking in the “Help Wanted” section the night of convocation. To counter this belief, Herb O’Heron (director of research and policy analysis at the association of universities and colleges of Canada (AUCC)) provided empirical evidence that any degree is a good degree. His presentation on the afternoon of January 28 was part of the President’s Leadership Lectures, arranged by UFV president Mark Evered. Using figures and charts drawn from Statistics Canada data, O’Heron presented his findings to an audience containing many of the directorial and presidential members of post-secondary institutes of the Lower Mainland. After an introductory speech by Evered, O’Heron began his presentation with an auspicious title: “The Skills and Talents of University Graduates are in High Demand.” O’Heron presented charts that gave factual support to this claim: the number of jobs in Canada for university graduates has doubled since 1980, from 1.9 million to 4.8 million, and the number of women in that category has grown faster than the number of men. To make this data more meaningful, O’Heron showed that the number of jobs for those with a high school education or less has decreased over the same period. Earnings have increased for university graduates as well. Though the cost of study increases with the level of education, the curve of earnings is favourable to graduates of all levels. The highest earning jobs are in the
Image: NASA Goddard Photo and Video/flickr.com
The Curiosity rover will begin drilling for samples this month.
THE CASCADE
O’Heron: numbers prove that an education is worth it. architectural, engineering and technology fields, but even those with visual and performing arts degrees have seen an increase in income since 2000. O’Heron went on to explain that “demography is not destiny.” Although the population of people age 19-21 has decreased as the country’s population ages, enrolment has increased threefold. In addition, the number of aboriginal students in 1981 was a mere two per cent of the total aboriginal population, versus the 8.1 per cent enrolment in the population of non-aboriginals. As of 2006, that percentage has increased to 7.7 per cent, with non-aboriginals jumping to 23.4 per cent. Within a series of facts that shed a positive light on any graduate, O’Heron showed that BC graduates, though only accounting for 25 per cent of the taxable population, contribute towards 40 per cent of the province’s income. Those with a high school degree or less, though making up nine per cent of the population, contribute four per cent of tax revenue. This discussion of financial matters led to a conclusive point by O’Heron. “Canada needs to raise produc-
Image: UFV.ca
tivity to support rising dependency and drive economic growth,” he stated, delving into the mechanics of what makes Canadian institutions successful. He went on to discuss the idea of “connected faculty” within institutions, showing that 40 per cent of faculty members come from abroad. He also discussed institutions’ international and intranational academic partners like India, China and the aboriginal communities. Another important aspect of the Canadian system is agricultural development, an especially significant topic here in the Fraser Valley Finally, O’Heron commented on the benefits of schools like UFV, where smaller class sizes and student-directed seminars can enrich the student experience. Later, in response to a question asked by an audience member, O’Heron also spoke to the benefit Canadian students have in the opportunity for mobility within the system of the nation’s institutions, a feature which is mainly lacking in the United States. Next in the lecture series to speak is former Detroit Red Wing Sheldon Kennedy, who will be at the university Wednesday, February 27.
Ask anyone in the hallways “what’s going on tonight on campus?” and you’re most likely going to get a blank stare and a shoulder shrug. But if you know who to ask and where to go, there are tons of things going on here at UFV. Martin Kelly has worked at UFV for a little over six years, and is currently a programmer at Student Life. In those six years, he says the number of clubs and associations has grown from 15 to a little over 30. For a school of 17,000 full-time students, that’s still pretty low. “Students just don’t know because there is no communication,” Kelly says. Students honestly do not know what is going on at UFV, because clubs and events are not advertised widely, if at all. Kelly states that by about third year, students begin to get involved. That gives them a couple years to settle in, form a club and help it grow. Unfortunately, in such a short time span they typically do not name a student to follow in their footsteps and keep the club running, and this leaves the club up in the air without a single person to structure it. Kelly says that there are 60 groups in writing at UFV, but only 30 of those groups are currently up and actively running. Many groups simply phase out, Kelly says, or the students running them “hit a wall and give up.” Kelly explains the technicalities involved with running a group are quite time-consuming, but Student Life is open to supporting all sorts of groups. To become an official club on campus simply requires a one page document that requests 10 names of students who will be participating in the
group. This insures that the university knows who and what is going on within their facilities. Associations are slightly different. Instead of a simple document, associations are linked with university departments. They require a faculty member’s involvement and students involved with the department are typically members immediately. Looking at the last couple years, Kelly finds the growth at UFV quite impressive, since a large association like BCSA can take up to three years to gain momentum. The main reason for associations and clubs falling apart, Kelly finds, is that students run into a lack of time or effort. “Students really don’t know what they’re in for, the amount of work it takes to run meetings, hold elections and go to school,” he says. In the near future, the management of clubs and associations will become part of SUS’s duties. Kelly is looking forward to this shift and has been promoting the shift for some time. His concern regarding the shift is communication. He does not want the current problems to transfer over, and in order to prevent that he says that he and SUS are hoping to sit down and rule out the problems that keep groups on campus from moving forward. In the meantime, Kelly encourages any student with a passion or a curiosity to get involved on campus, or to start something new. The application for a new club or association can be downloaded from the SUS website, and Student Life reps in U-House are always willing to lend a helping hand.