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Thursday November 15, 2012
The Daily Illini www.DailyIllini.com
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 142 Issue 59
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University graduates make prosthetics for developing countries BY KLAUDIA DUKALA STAFF WRITER
JEAN-LUC GODARD FILMS
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DROPKICK MURPHYS
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PEANUT BUTTER LOVERS
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MICHAEL BOJDA THE DAILY ILLINI
Urbana officials and contractors involved in the Boneyard Creek beautification project — including Alderman Dennis Roberts, Ward 5, center — break ground Wednesday afternoon near the corner of Griggs and Race streets in Urbana.
Boneyard Creek gets beautified Urbana holds ceremony as part of $7.9 million improvement project BY ILYA GUREVIC STAFF WRITER
The city of Urbana held a groundbreaking ceremony at Boneyard Creek, a stormwater-catching waterway that runs through Champaign-Urbana, on Wednesday. “This creek has been industrialized. It looks like a drainage ditch or something, but it’s really a natural creek,” Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing said to city officials, contractors and business owners present at the ceremony on Griggs and Race streets. “And when we get done with this, you’re going to be very happy.” The groundbreaking marked the beginning of the city’s $7.9
million three-part improvements project. The plan includes beautification of a segment of Boneyard Creek between Griggs Street and Broadway Avenue and improvements to the street and sidewalk areas on Race Street and Broadway Avenue. “Don’t you think that Urbana can do better than barbed wire?” Prussing said, referring to the current fence that surrounds portions of the creek. Some of the beautifications include creating a gathering place and plaza on the east and west sides of Race Street, increasing greenery, applying decorative tiling to walls, imprinting nature-related images into stones along the
Ad-free college radio station plans to launch this January BY ATOOSA SAYEH STAFF WRITER
A group of University students is gearing up for a January launch of a new college radio station that aims to expose listeners to lesserknown music. Slated to stream music out of Room 66 of Allen Hall, the creators of Pizza FM said they focused on the commercialfree aspect because it allows them to broadcast their program online without guidelines from sponsors or advertisers. Evan Rogers, sophomore in LAS, said the lack of advertisements will bring new music to students they wouldn’t hear otherwise. “College radio essentially means that we don’t play commercial hits,” he said. “Part of the big focus of Pizza FM is exposing people to music they’re not familiar with.” Pizza FM members want to make searching for music easier by having DJs rotate genres
INSIDE
during their shifts, giving listeners exposure to a variety of music. “College radio provides a fi lter for people who are searching for music they like,” said Adam Barnett, executive director of Pizza FM and senior in Media. “It makes the search less stressful, and that’s what Pizza FM wants to be. We want to promote this underexposed music to people who want to hear it.” By not having sponsors, the station can operate without certain constraints. But Rogers and Barnett have a rule that Pizza FM cannot play popular music such as the Top 40 hits, including Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” or Maroon 5’s “One More Night.” By being free-form and commercial-free, Pizza FM has time for student talk shows and promoting local artists. Rog-
creek and adding site lighting improvements. These improvements make up the bulk of the budget at $5.4 million, including the replacement of the bridge on Race Street. This project comes after Urbana officials identified four other segments of the creek that were in need of work, though they had been planning improvements since late 2006, according to a December 2011 memo. “It’s probably the grandest of all five of the segments,” said Brad Bennett, senior civil engineer. “It has the most green space; it probably has the most impressive features.” Many members of the business community with locations in the vicinity of the project have been complimentary of the city’s initiative. “We’re excited for it — it’s been trying to happen for many
years,” said Rick Orr, artistic director of the Station Theater, 223 N. Broadway Ave. “It’ll be a plus for many vendors around here.” Allen Strong, owner of Silvercreek Restaurant, 402 N. Race St., and Courier Café, 111 N. Race St., has taken part in city planning initiatives in the past and said he feels positive about the project, which he said has a “winning concept.” Community members also touched on the citywide impact of the project. “I think it’s going to be a nice project (with) ... nice green space (and) walking connections between areas of downtown,” said Don Owen, assistant superintendent of Urbana School District 116.
Ilya can be reached at gurevic2@ dailyillini.com.
A nonprofit start-up founded by University graduates is now selling its first product — lowcost, one-make-fits-all prosthetic arms — to people in developing countries. The design studio, called bump, develops products for other nonprofits, which distribute them to those in need. Adam Booher, president of bump, said he is looking to rebrand the organization as an international project, which is why he changed its name from Illini Prosthetic Technologies to bump. He said, “As much as we liked more having theon allegiance to our uniREADBUZZ.COM versity, we felt that this new name, bump, was a much more natural growth and a much more appropriate name for a young organization that is seeking to be innovative and is seeking to give other nonprofits a bump or a boost in what they are able to do.” Booher said the project began in 2008 when he and five other sophomore Engineering students sought to develop a prosthetic arm that would be affordable and not require a custom fit. In 2010, the group traveled to Guatemala to test out several of their designs. While in Guate-
mala, the team noted faults in those designs, and, after several modifications, the team settled on its current Open Socket design in 2011. That same year, the team traveled back to Guatemala to test out the existing plan and revise any fi nal imperfections. The team finalized the design and began distribution at the beginning of November. Richard Kesler, graduate student in bioengineering, has been bump’s director of biomechanics since its founding. “I’ve always had an interest in helping those less fortunate and saw that there was a need for developing low-cost prosthetic devices,” Kesler said. “I came into Engineering at Illinois interested in designing medical devices and saw this as an amazing opportunity to combine my engineering education with realworld application in ways that make an impact on others’ lives.” Bump’s Open Socket design doesn’t require a custom fit, but it operates the same way a custom-fit arm does. “We have a plastic tunnel, and then we have a rigid-and-flexible, plastic-and-cloth structure that allows you, through the use
See PROSTHETIC, Page 3A
SUBMITTED PHOTO COURTESY OF ILLINI PROSTHETIC TECHNOLOGIES
Miguel Perez, of Jutiapa, Guatemala, wears a prosthetic arm designed by bump, formerly known as Illini Prosthetic Technologies, a nonprofit started by University alumni.
Flushing donations down the toilet
EMILY OGDEN THE DAILY ILLINI
On Wednesday, Charles Blath, left, graduate student in Engineering, Amber Neal, freshman in DGS, Benjamin Lewis, senior in LAS, and Jennifer Speaker, junior in FAA, sit under a makeshift shelter set up on the Quad to raise awareness and collect donations for Habitat for Humanity. Because their slogan is “Give a crap for habitat,” donations are collected in the blue and yellow toilet set up next to the shelter.
See PIZZA FM, Page 3A
Po l i c e 2 A | H o r o s c o p e s 2 A | O p i n i o n s 4 A | C r o s s w o r d 5 A | C o m i c s 5 A | G r e e k s & C a m p u s 6 A | S p o r t s 1 B | C l a s s i f i e d s 4 B - 6 B | S u d o k u 5 B