November 7, 2012

Page 1

serving the uc davis campus and community since 1915

www.theaggie.org

volume 131, number 107

WEdnesday, November 7, 2012

Dairy Field to open winter quarter Student fees fund Dairy Field renovation, campus enhancements By JESSICA GRILLI Aggie News Writer

Brian Nguyen / Aggie

The Dairy Road Recreation Field will be fully operational beginning winter 2013. The renovation will cost $4.5 million.

Renovation on the Dairy Road Recreation Field, one of two fields on the west side of campus used mainly for intramural sporting events, is drawing to a close. Located across the street from the Hutchison Field, next to the UC Davis Dairy, the field is a common area for sport practices and informal games. The renovation is estimated to cost about $4.5 million. John Campbell, executive director for the department of Campus Recreation and Unions (CRU), said that despite some complications with overseas shipping meeting delivery dates, the overall project is expected to be completed by its scheduled date at the end of fall 2012 and it will be fully operational for the start of winter 2013. The initial estimated date of completion was October 2012. The new field will incorporate a synthetic play-surface that will allow activity during the raining

UC Davis alumnus develops DavisWiki app Aggie News Writer

In an effort to make it easier to find locations and geographical references in the Davis area, Keyan Kousha, a 2012 graduate of UC Davis with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, developed a DavisWiki iPhone app. As a nonprofit, location-based wiki, the app depends on its users to share, add and edit locations. “The app is absolutely incredible, the amount of information that it gives is fantastic. The specific details … [make] navigating the campus as a freshman who's really not that familiar with it yet much, much easier,” said Alex Parella, a first-year computer

science major. Kousha was getting sick of having to use DavisWiki at home and was having trouble finding information about local businesses and buildings’ open hours and days, their history and other details. DavisWiki is a community wiki for the city of Davis. Users can edit and add information about the local area. “It made a lot of sense, so then it clicked. Someone else wasn’t going to develop it, so I did,” Kousha said. Kousha started developing the app in winter 2011 with the help of the classes that he took as a computer science major, as well as with assistance from UC Davis professionals. One of the professors Kousha approached was Prem

Devanbu, a software engineering professor in the UC Davis department of computer science. “They [students] come bounce ideas off of me … [and] draw in my experience,” Devanbu said. Devanbu believed that it is important for undergraduate students to make their own applications and to be able to understand programming. He does not single out just computer science majors, but believes that all majors should know how to program. “I am very passionate about this; I think every graduated UC Davis student should be able to do this [programming] — you should know

See APP, page 2

See DAIRY, page 2

News iN Brief

Entrepreneurship Fund hosts expert panel today

Application has reached 700 downloads so far By KAMILA KUDELSKA

season. Because the field enjoys frequent use, both students and faculty involved in the project are eager for its completion. Students living in the Tercero residence halls often need to bike around the construction site on their route to central campus. However, according to Stephanie Saiz, a first-year civil engineering major, she and many other students are not bothered by the short-term inconveniences of the project. “No one seems to have a problem with it,” she said. With such a thorough renovation of the field, including new turf, carpeting and storage and restroom facilities, the question of where funding for this project comes from arises. According to Campbell, 100 percent of the funding for the facility is obtained from student fee reserves. “When I presented to [various student advisory committees], we had proposed numerous

Courtesy

UC Davis graduate Keyan Kousha developed a DaviWiki iPhone application to help people find locations within Davis.

An ASUCD Entrepreneurship Fund (E-Fund) panel, titled “Start-Ups, SociallyConscious Business, and You,” will be held today at 5 p.m. in Griffin Lounge at the Memorial Union. The event will feature entrepreneurs and investors that will share personal perspectives and provide advice to those looking to venture into entrepreneurship. Experts will also speak on technology start-ups, non-profit management versus a socially-responsible business and investors’ approaches to viable start-ups. Those in attendance are encouraged to meet and talk with speakers and other guests in the social mixer that will follow the panel, according to the event news release. Guest speakers will include Wil Agatstein, executive director of the UC Davis Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship; Tom and Amanda Arthur, CEO and vice president of Sales for OptTown, respectively; Hoss Bozorgzad, angel investor and founder and CEO of GCR Inc.; Roy Choi, CEO and executive producer of kollaboration and Vanessa Errecarte, former director of the California Fire Foundation. More information can be found on the ASUCD Entrepreneurship Fund Facebook page. — Muna Sadek

Davis Volunteer and Service Fair today on Quad

ASUCD Senate candidates participate in election forum All 14 ASUCD Senate candidates participated in a forum at the ASUCD Coffee House yesterday at noon. The event, sponsored by the ASUCD Elections Committee and moderated by The California Aggie, gave candidates the opportunity to explain their platforms, goals and priorities to student voters in attendance. Each candidate was given one minute to answer each question and the floor was later opened to audience questions. Questions asked included topics such as the

Today’s weather Sunny

relationship between UC Davis administration and students, maintaining transparency at the Senate table, advancement toward a greener campus, ethnic graduations and ways in which candidates planned to complete their campaign platforms. Kirby Araullo, Olivia Brown, Armando Figueroa, Lee Lo and Alyson Noele Sagala are running with the SMART (Students Matter: Activism, Retention, Teamwork) slate; Felicia Ong, Kevin Pelstring,

Forecast Get one last wear out of those sundresses and shorts, kids.

High 73 Low 45 Written by Allison Ferrini weather courtesy of www.weather.com

Jonathan Yip, Robert Helfend and Tal Topf are running with the NOW slate and Liam Burke, Maxwell Kappas, Davis Belcher and Gloria Chen are independent candidates. ASUCD Senate elections will take place Nov. 13 to 16 and more information can be found at the ASUCD Fall Elections 2012 Facebook page. — Muna Sadek —Photo by Brian Nguyen

Thursday

Friday

Mostly sunny

Few showers

High 58 Low 41

High 57 Low 38

A volunteer and service fair will be held today on the Quad from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The fair will offer students the opportunity to learn how they can contribute to the community and learn about existing on- and off-campus community service opportunities to get involved in and promotes student involvement and leadership experience. Over 60 charity and service organizations will be present at the fair. “We're all looking to expand our resumes through various jobs and internships, and luckily we are exposed to many opportunities to do so while attending UC Davis,” Emily Alice Gerhart, external affairs commission chair said. “However, the sense of gratitude and accomplishment that comes with volunteering is an experience unlike any other.” — Muna Sadek

I have a politics hangover.

Allison Ferrini


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November 7, 2012 by The California Aggie - Issuu