The Oklahoma Daily

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TUESDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2010

TTHE HE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT VOICE

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news ne R Read more about out a student who rrecorded snow w in aall 50 states. See ppage 3.

Weather

Read The Daily’s take on some recent music releases. See page 5.

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The OU women’s basketball team faced No. 1 Connecticut last night. See page 8.

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owl.ou.edu

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OU, EXXONMOBIL DEDICATE ENGINEERING BUILDING New practice facility designed to give OU students a head start, ExxonMobil official says CASEY WILSON Daily Staff Writer

R e p re s e nt at i v e s f ro m O U and ExxonMobil dedicated the ExxonMobil Lawrence G. Rawl Engineering Practice Facility on Monday. OU President David Boren said the new facility will only reach its

full potential with students’ innovation and inventions. “As great as the physical faculties may be, it will not greatly add to the benefit of our society; it’s what goes on inside it,” Boren said. “It’s the vitality of what goes on inside it.” Donald Humphreys, senior vice president and treasurer of ExxonMobil Corporation, said the company has a long history of a great partnership with OU, and it relies on engineers for almost every part of its business. “Today, I think it’s clear that

our highly technological society depends enormously on good engineering and good engineers for prosperity and progress,” Humphreys said. With a facility that is the first of its kind, OU is serious about preparing its graduates for the worldwide stage, he said. Getting a head start in preparing all students for the global community, the facility also will host school-age children to teach them about engineering, Humphreys said.

“We must do a better job of preparing our children for the 21st century,” he said. Tom Landers, dean of the OU College of Engineering, said the practice facility is a place where students can experience a learning community. “Here, students will learn to invent, to create jobs and enhance our quality of life,” Landers said. The university will provide the students at the practice facility with mentors and tools, and it also will challenge student teams

to compete at the championship level, he said. Nicholas Goree, petroleum engineering senior, said he is excited for the possibilities the building will provide for all engineering students. Goree said everything in the building is geared toward handson engineering, including the large project bay that will allow students to work on project designs and implementations. “All of these factors combine to make the Lawrence G. Rawl EXXON CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

Professor tests weight-loss supplement

AN UNLIKELY LEADER EMERGES

Tri-pepper blend is ‘no magic pill’ but may increase resting energy expenditure, professor says MATTHEW MOZEK Daily Staff Writer

A new weight-loss supplement burns the same amount of calories as a 20-minute walk, according to a recent study done by OU. Joel Cramer, assistant professor in the Health and E xercise Science Department, said General Nutrition Centers gave OU an external grant to test the weight-loss benefits of the nutritional supplement called the tri-pepper blend. The supplement contains black pepper extract and niacin, also known as vitamin B3, Cramer said. The supplement also contains 200 milligrams of caffeine, which is equivalent to two cups of coffee, and a concentrated form of capsaicin — the ingredient that makes red peppers hot. “There’s not a lot of scientific data available on black pepper extract and niacin, ... but the general thought is they might boost metabolism,” Cramer said. “There are a great number of studies on caffeine and capsaicin, separately, that have shown increases in resting energy expenditure.” To test the effectiveness of the weight-loss supplement, a clinical trial was performed on an equal number of men and women between the ages of 18 and 25, Cramer said. The 28 subjects were tested twice over a two-month period — once with a placebo and once with the active ingredient. To lower the subject’s rate of energy expenditure, the participants were asked to lie down for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, Cramer recorded the subject’s blood pressure and heart rate, sampled the subject’s respiratory gases and analyzed them for carbon dioxide and oxygen, he said. “Knowing the ratio of carbon dioxide and oxygen will allow us to calculate how many calories they are expending,” Cramer

ZACH BUTLER/THE DAILY

Cade Davis, junior guard, poses for a picture. The Elk City native has found the ball in his hands more and more as his hard work and leadership have made him a valuable piece of this year’s men’s basketball team. For more, see page 7.

UOSA seeks transparency with new Web site Students will have access to documents and opportunity to give feedback on new site, officials say TROY WEATHERFORD Daily Staff Writer

Students will soon have access to Student Congress agendas and meeting minutes through a new Web site, a UOSA representative said. “This is going to provide students with access to all of our information online,” said Spencer Pittman, Student Congress spokesman. “Rather than have to refer to the media to understand what’s going on in Congress, people can hear directly from us.” The Web site, congress.ou.edu, will have a list of all representatives, agendas, meeting minutes, Student Congress bylaws and other documents pertinent to student government, Pittman said. “It’s going to be very user-friendly so that students can recognize who their representatives are,” Pittman said. “It’s going to show who we are as individuals.” The site will also have a blog for each committee to help make it easier for students to find out what’s going on in each group. “We want people to be as involved as possible and this will allow a forum for feedback,” Pittman said. The Web site would have been up sooner if

JALL COWASJI / THE DAILY

Matthew Gress, Undergraduate Student Congress vice chairman, and Brett Stidham, Congressional Appropriations Committee chairman, check attendance at the UOSA meeting Tuesday evening in Adams Hall. not for delays, Student Congress Vice Chairman Matthew Gress said. “Basically we had a few viruses that were hacking our password inserting a virus into the code,” Gress said. “We had to change the password four

UOSA CONTINUES ON PAGE 2

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or five times.” He said the problem has been fixed and there is no risk of personal information being stolen. “We think it was just a random program causing mischief,” Gress said.

© 2009 OU PUBLICATIONS BOARD

VOL. 95, NO. 98


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