LIL WAYNE TICKET GIVEAWAY PAGE 11 dailygamecock.com
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2017
VOL. 109, NO. 45 ● SINCE 1908
Parks reflects on Student Government legacy, anticipates return to USC
South Carolina awarded NSF grant
Mike Woodel
Mary Ramsey and Thom Barnes
@GETHISDOGONETOO
@THEGAMECOCK
Despite where he’s worked in the past and where he works now — 1100 Gervais Street — Michael Parks laughs when asked if he sees the governor’s chair in his future. Parks served as USC’s student body president for the bulk of the 2016-17 school year. Over the course of his term, he oversaw the introduction of Cockstock to the Homecoming itinerary and the addition of new student offices, including the secretary of veteran affairs, in addition to increasing emphasis on the It’s On Us sexual assault awareness campaign. Now holding degrees in fi nance, insurance and risk management, Parks will return to USC next fall when he enters the School of Law. SEEPARKSPAGE4 Kamila Melko / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
Lake’s team shapes USC’s social image Mary Ramsey @MCOLLEEN1996
Lisa Falta / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
Lori Ziolkowski is the first woman and North American to win the renowned Baillet Latour Fellowship grant.
Professor studies life in Antarctica John Warrington @JMDUBS6
Tw o t h o u s a n d miles from the nearest hospital, USC professor Lori Ziolkowsk i spent t he beginning of 2017 i n A nt a rc t ica u nder some of the most extreme condit ions on Ear t h, reach ing t he environmental limits of life. Her t r ip was a ver y international affair. She took a Russian military plane from Cape Town, South Africa to Antarctica and was then f lown by Canadians in a small plane “circa 1950” to the station she stayed at. At t he stat ion in A ntarct ica, t here were mainly Belgians, French and Swiss. “The operating language was in French ... t he n t he y k i nd of converted when we arrived to try speaking English, not everybody could, so language was a problem for a little bit,” Ziolkowski said.
CJ Lake can recall the exact moment she realized she could make a career out of social media. “I was sitting on the front porch of Preston right here on campus in one of the rocking chairs browsing my Twitter timeline,” said USC’s social media strategist. Lake was drawn in by a Tiffany and Co. ad, and before she knew it she had made an impulse buy. “After I made the purchase, I closed that tab and landed back in my Twitter timeline, right back on the tweet that got me through that sales funnel.” That “ah-ha moment” set in motion a sequence of events that would lead Lake right back to her alma mater, where she
has made a career for herself as a social media guru since March of 2016. “There was no stopping after that. I began then relentlessly pu rsu i ng oppor t u n it ies i n profe s sion a l so c ia l med ia management,” she said. Since Lake took over, USC’s online brand has been on the rise. A 2017 report on the social media accounts of institutions of higher education ranked the universit y No. 1 in Twitter engagement. The same report ranked USC second overall across all social media. Lake describes herself as a “dot con nec tor ” w it h i n t h e u n i v e r s i t y ’s o v e r a l l communications apparatus, and she strives to create diverse feeds of content tailored to SEELAKEPAGE2
I n a place t hat is in total darkness for half of the year, with well below freezing temperat ures, a nd w it h no “i nput s” such as aerosols or trees, the biochemistry, geochemistry and climate change expert wanted to know how it is possible for microbes to survive under extreme circumstances. Ziol kowsk i pla ns to answer this question using a 150,000 grant from the prestigious Baillet Latour Fellowship. This award is given to one scientist every two years, and Ziolkowski is the first non-European and first female winner. Ziolkowsk i describes A ntarctica as, “a sheet of ice over a continent. Some places there is ocean underneath the ice and most of it is not touching the ocean.” However, she warns, Antarctica as we know it is changing. As the climate warms, open lakes are beginning to appear in sub-freezing temperatures allowing for SEEANTARCTICAPAGE2
Adam Orfinger / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
I nst it ut ions across t he Pa l met to St ate have been awarded $20 million in National Science Foundation f unds for new research, a nd USC w il l b e o n t he r e c e i v i n g e nd of approximately $5 million of that grant. USC is one of three researchba sed i n st it ut ion s i n Sout h Carolina that will spearhead the project. Clemson University and the Medical University of South Ca rol i na w i l l a lso help lead the charge. Seven other South Ca rol i na schools, i nclud i ng South Carolina State University and the College of Charleston, are also involved. P r a k a s h Na g a r k at t i , v ic e president for research, noted that the research funded by the grant will help increase and expand business opportunities in the Palmetto State. “A l o t o f i n d u s t r i e s a r e mov ing to t he state of Sout h Carolina, and particularly the automobile industry as well as the aeronautical industries and all that,” he said, “so we want to make sure that they come here to a state where there’s advanced research going on.” University of South Carolina Pre sident H a r r is Pa st ide s echoed a similar sentiment in a statement. “I a m proud t hat a l l of the Palmetto State’s research universities are working together along wit h ot her inst it ut ions across t he state to have such a p o s it i ve i mp ac t on S out h Carolina’s research capacity and industrial prosperity for years to come,” he wrote. Th is g ra nt money w ill be targeted towards t he development of “new materials.” This includes everything from metals for safer, more energ y efficient cars to a 3D printed pancreas that could cure diabetes and improved artificial joints. South Carolina was one of five states to receive an NSF grant. State officials including Rep. Ja mes Clybu r n a nd Sout h Carolina Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt praised the statewide benefits of the grant. “I am proud to support research and development as important building blocks for our future,” Clyburn said in a statement. “This is a big deal for the University of South Carolina a nd a n i nvest ment t hat w i l l create good paying jobs utilizing USC’s unique capabilities. Nagarkatti also explained that in addition to the partnership between academic institutions within the state, researchers will reach out to businesses such as IBM and Boeing to augment the grant. St ude nt s w i l l a l s o h ave a chance to reap the rewards of t he g r a nt i n t he cla s sroom. Some of the f unds will be directed towards new engineering, physics, chemistry and mat h classes available to undergraduates and graduate students. “There is actual collaboration and participation by the students w it h t he f ac u lt y to de velop and expand that education to students across the state of South Carolina,” Nagarkatti said. The award is currently slated to fund research for fi ve years, but could be ex tended if t he research proves fruitful.