WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2015
THE SUNFLOWER
VOLUME 119 ISSUE 60
Photo by Kevin Brown
Wichita State doctoral student Georg Schirmer shows graduate student Kiran Rajaram a flight-tracking application for smartphones called “CFItrack.” Schirmer developed the application in conjunction with his company, GoodFlight LLC and was a finalist in the WSU Ventures competition.
WSU student’s flying app takes off By Courtney Holmes STAFF REPORTER @itstheintern
W
ichita State doctoral student Georg Schirmer has always grown up around flying. Last month, Schirmer was one of a handful of entrepreneurs and developers awarded in Wichita State’s Ventures program for his
smartphone flight application called “CFItrack.” The competition was part of WSU’s Office of Research and Technology Transfer. This is the first year for the competition, which was designed to assist students and staff in commercializing their ideas to benefit the WSU community, the public and industry. Overall, the competition awarded seven innovators with
more than $100,000 to help them progress their projects. Schirmer was awarded $14,600. About 15 years ago, he came to Wichita as part of a foreign exchange student program from his home in Germany. His host family just happened to live next to the airport in Valley Center. “They exposed me to flying,” Schirmer said. “Naturally, I heard the planes overhead and learned
about Wichita aviation.” Six years later, Schirmer came back to pursue a degree at WSU. After completing his undergrad in 2011, Schirmer decided to go after his master’s and become a flight instructor. That gave him the idea to create the Fairmount Flying Club with other students to share his love for flight and get more students into planes. Members of the club can learn to fly at a much less
expensive rate than what most flight schools charge. Last year, as part of his master’s thesis, Schirmer came up with the idea to track his students’ flights via a smartphone application. His idea was to create a smartphone and tablet application with some associated technology to track and record flight data for review and debriefing. See APP on page 4
Campus goes red for heart health By Brittany Ponds STAFF REPORTER @brittany_forev
Photo by Kevin Brown
Blading machines are used by the Department of Landscape and Maintenance at the Gaddis Physical Plant to clear snow and ice from sidewalks and driveways. The blading machines are Hustler mowers converted for the winter.
Shockers on ice: a task of safety By Kevin Brown STAFF REPORTER @krbrownjr
Freezing weather brings thoughts of holiday cheer with friends by a warm fire. It also brings thoughts of frozen cars, cold walks between classes and the ever-looming thought of slipping on ice-covered sidewalks between classes. In order to keep members of the Wichita State community safe, the job of tackling the accumulated snow and ice has to be taken care of. “Everybody has a designated area,” said Arlan Klocke, landscape technician at the WSU Physical Plant. “I have campus divided up and everybody knows what buildings they need to do. It is pretty well organized.” Although the department of landscape and ground maintenance work year-round, their work can be primarily viewed in the green, colorful flowerbeds and trimmed grass throughout campus. As the weather turns in the fall, a few extra duties become primary, such as sowing flower seeds for the spring, leaf cleanup and concrete repairs.
“If we didn’t pick up leaves in the fall, they would be three feet deep, covering other shrubs and walkways,” said Kari Ossman, landscape technician. However, the weather does not stop changing in the fall — snow and ice is inevtiable.
A typical day On a typical snowy day, campus preparations begin long before students and faculty begin to arrive. “The turf area depends on if we have snow or ice — and, if we do have snow or ice, we try to be here two hours early,” Klocke said. As landscape department employees arrive at work, preparations are made for the next eight hours of their shifts. Bags of ice melt are opened and dumped into spreaders. A rock salt and sand mixture is loaded into the payload area of two large dump trucks. Large mowers — normally used to cut grass during the warmer months — are converted into blading machines. Mowing decks are removed, replaced with a large scraping blade and a cab is placed over the seat to keep the operator out of the elements. See ICE on page 4
When someone thinks of heart health, they may think of the elderly. But Whitney Middendorf, a Wichita State integrated marketing student, is testament that cardiovascular diseases can affect anyone at any age. As a teenager, she was diagnosed with a rare type of cardiac arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat. Middendorf was one of two guest speakers Monday at the Campus Activities Center Theater for a discussion on the No. 1 killer of women — heart disease. The talk was hosted by WSU’s Alpha Phi chapter and the American Heart Association as part of the sorority’s second annual “Go Red Week.” All week long, Go Red Week aims to raise heart health awareness among students. In the United States, one in four women die from heart disease, a disease more deadly than all forms of cancer. Although some types of heart disease can be hereditary, women — as well as men — can take charge of their health and fight the disease. When Middendorf was a child, she was involved in several sports. Soccer, however, was her least favorite, because it involved the most running. At a young age, Middendorf said she realized she would run out of breath quickly while playing sports, and she couldn’t keep up with her other friends. She visited her family doctor and was diagnosed with asthma, so she switched to dance and cheer. After blacking out during a light run in her freshman gym class, Middendorf was then referred to a cardiologist. After numerous tests and ultrasounds, the doctor told Middendorf that nothing was wrong and to go home. After going back to dance and feeling like her condition was getting worse, she went back to her
Photo by Kevin Brown
Randee Lipman, a local cardiologist, speaks to a crowd about heart health on Monday. The discussion was part of Alpha Phi’s Go Red Week.
family doctor. “‘Look, this cardiologist said that nothing was wrong, but I know something is not right,’” Middendorf remembered telling her doctor. “I’m a 15-year-old girl.” After seeing an electrophysiologist, Middendorf was finally diagnosed with inappropriate sinus tachycardia. “It was the biggest relief off of my shoulders,” she said, “like I finally had an answer, we finally knew what was wrong.” The final solution to Middendorf’s condition was a pacemaker. It took a few doctors appointments for her parents to agree to the pacemaker, but during spring break of her senior
year of high school, Middendorf received the surgery she desperately needed. Middendorf described her scar to the crowd. “It’s about an inch on my chest, you can feel it,” she said. “My friends think it’s weird and cool at the same time.” Middendorf’s pacemaker is not a life-and-death pacemaker. It is there to raise her heartbeat above 120 beats per minute when exercising, so she can lead a normal, active lifestyle. Middendorf said she now has no restrictions on life. “It’s given me my life back,” she said. See GO RED on page 4