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OU HIRES NEW DIPLOMAT IN RESIDENCE Former State Department member encourages students to get foreign service experience TROY WEATHERFORD The Oklahoma Daily
Ed Wehrli’s 26-year career in the U.S. State Department has allowed him to work in Jamaica, China, Thailand, Germany, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It’s now brought him to Oklahoma, to serve as OU’s Diplomat in Residence. Wehrli said he has three goals as the Diplomat in Residence: Identify students interested in foreign service, inform them of opportunities in the State Department and encourage them to apply for those positions. “We’re sent out primarily to recruit the best and the brightest students to the State Department,” Wehrli said. Wehrli said that his major goal is to encourage students seriously interested in a career in the State Department. “I want to mentor and encourage them, provide the insights that I have personally and tap into the resources at my command to help them along in the process,” Wehrli said. Julia Mills, a third-year law student, participated in an internship in Washington D.C. with the Bureau of Democracy, Human
Rights and Labor this past summer, after being encouraged to apply for the internship by the previous Diplomat in Residence Rick Roberts. While working in Washington, Mills said she helped organize human rights training, read and interpreted treaties and met with a number of high-ranking officials. “It was a great opportunity to see how foreign affairs is developed and implemented,” Mills said. Wehrli is one of 16 diplomats in residence in the United States. OU provides him an office in Hester Hall room 170A, but his salary is provided by the State Department. “Factors considered in the identification of potential Diplomat in Residence sites include regional diversity, academic curriculum, size and composition of student population, and level of institutional commitment to preparation of students for careers in international relations and public service,” according to the State Department Web site. The State Department also provides him traveling expenses to visit other colleges in his region, which includes Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota. Wehrli will utilize technology and social media to keep in contact with other universities he is serving, which will allow him to spend most of his time at OU, he said. Wehrli said that students interested in the State Department do not need to know a foreign language. “One thing I want to do is dispel rumors
MICHELLE GRAY/THE DAILY
Ed Wehrli stands in front of a display of flags from different nations near his office, which is located in Hester Hall. Wehrli is the new Diplomat in Residence for the University and is the main career officer and recruiter for the U.S. State Department for students from Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. ... in the American State Department you need not be fluent in a foreign language to enter,” Wehrli said. “We will train you. There is tremendous training available in the State Department. People shouldn’t feel discouraged or dissuaded because they don’t have high competence in a foreign language.”
Darwin series continues into new semester Anniversary of historic naturalist sparks evolution debates on campus KALI CARTER The Oklahoma Daily
TEEKO YANG/THE DAILY
Stephen P. Weldon from University of Oklahoma lectures on Darwinism Thursday night at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History.
Stephen Weldon, history of science professor, continued the Darwin 2009 series of events into the fall semester with a lecture Thursday at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Weldon based his lecture on why the debate has become heated in America over the last few decades, as well as the political and religious views behind the people and the groups involved. “In 1968, a much more radical form of creationism came to be,” Weldon said. “This was a form of scientific creationism, which believed in a young Earth model, or a belief that the Earth was created in only six days.” He attributed this new form of creationism to some of the decade’s central ideas, including evangelicalism and environmentalism. Weldon’s lecture also focused on the differences between creationism and intelligent design. “A creationist is a person who rejects the theory of evolution and believes instead that each species on Earth was put here by a divine being. A creationist might accept micro-evolution [or] changes in the form of a species over time based on natural selection, but rejects the notion that one species can, over time, become another species,” according to the Web site Exploring Constitutional Conflicts, produced by the University of Missouri at Kansas City’s School of Law. In a Feb. 3 interview with The Daily, Bartlett said of DARWIN CONTINUES ON PAGE 2
Molecule discovery could lead to quantum computers Research will have lasting effects on science community JARED RADER The Oklahoma Daily
Fans of “Star Trek” might know of quantum science as a plot device writers created for the Starship Enterprise, but a recent discovery by OU researchers have moved that science fiction one step closer to science reality. James Shaffer, associate professor of physics and astronomy, said researchers at Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy recently discovered the existence of Rydberg molecules. Shaffer said the discovery of these molecules and the study of their properties is an important step toward creating quantum computers. “[Quantum computers] can explore all the possibilities of certain problems at the same time,” Shaffer said. “That’s a very different way to do computing.” Donald Booth, physics graduate student, said the U.S. military has a special interest in quantum research, because quantum computers could crack any encryption method currently used for
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computers. people in the world don’t have access to Jonathan Tallant, physics graduate computation schemes like that, and we student and a researcher on the proj- do,” Tallant said. ect, said the Department of Defense, While quantum research still has a the Air Force and the National Science long way to go, Shaffer said the discovFoundation fund quantum research. ery made at OU will have lasting effects Researchers used lasers to manipu- on the science community, physics stulate electrons in a cesium atom, cooling dents, and the world. the atoms to extremely low tempera“This experiment shows we can do tures, Tallant said. They then used elec- internationally recognized world-class tric field plates to rip off the outermost research,” Shaffer said. “It also gives an electron, allowing a detector to confirm opportunity for undergraduates to rethe existence of a Rydberg molecule. ally see top research and to take part in “One of the good things about being it here.” on the cutting edge of physics is you get really expensive toys,” Tallant said. Shaffer and his team theorized the existence of Rydberg molecules before finding they existed, said Tallant. This was due largely to the use of a computer at OU, which Tallant said is JARED RADER/THE DAILY the 91st fastest com- Physics students Jonathan Tallant, Arne Schwettman, and puter in the world. Donald Booth, all researchers who contributed to the discovery “Lots of people in of Rydberg molecules, stand around the setup Tallant calls “The the U.S. [and] lots of Machine,” which helped determine the existence of the molecules.
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Wehrli wants to use his personal experience as a recruiting tool as well. “One of the reasons why I’m here is to share my personal experience,” he said. “To illustrate what a great career the Foreign Service is; not just a job, not just a paycheck, but a great career, a great lifestyle.”
OU VS UT FOOTBALL TICKETS AVAILABLE OU vs University of Texas football tickets will go on sale for student season ticket holders online at 7 a.m. Tuesday. Only Category I students, those who purchased season tickets during the spring sale April 27 through May 15, are eligible to purchase tickets. Student price for tickets is $95 and tickets will be charged to student bursar accounts. To purchase online, sign into SoonerSports.com using the e-mail address and password previously set up for the site. Category II students, incoming freshmen and transfer students, will be able to purchase remaining tickets at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Group request forms will be available at the Athletics Ticket Office beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday through 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4. Groups are limited to 20 or fewer students. Tickets will be available for pick-up from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 8 through Oct. 14 at the OU Athletics Ticket Office. For more information visit www.soonersports.com. -Staff reports
TV4OU CHANGES NAME WITH PROGRAMMING MOVE TV4OU changed its name to OUTV Thursday, as part of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication moving its programming to Cox digital cable Channel 124. “We feel that since TV4OU has been so successful, there was no need to incorporate the new channel number in the name,” said John Hockett, assistant dean of the Gaylord College. The former TV4OU moved its programming from Cox’s Channel 4 to its new spot at Channel 124 Thursday, a move that will allow its programming to be seen in more than 180,000 homes statewide. -Charles Ward/The Daily
College of Engineering gets new professor and director Two former professors from the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta have recently been appointed to the OU College of Engineering faculty. Farrokh Mistree has been appointed as the L.A. Comp Chair and Director in the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. Janet Allen will serve as the John and Mary Moore Chair and professor in the School of Industrial Engineering. Mistree started his career as a lecturer at the University of New South Wales FARROKH in Sydney, Australia and comes to OU MISTREE with more than 30 years of experience in academia. He has taught courses in engineering design, naval architecture, solid mechanics, operations research, computer science and professional development. He has co-authored two textbooks, one monograph and more than 325 technical publications. Mistree said he looks forward to working with his colleagues and others in the OU community to realize the strategic plan of the College of Engineering and help create opportunities for highly motivated and talented people to learn how to define their dreams. Allen is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and JANET serves as an associate editor of the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design. She is ALLEN also a senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. From 2001 to 2007, she was the director of Georgia Tech’s Systems Realization Laboratory. -Staff Reports/The Daily
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