/The Sunflower WICHITA STATE’S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1896
THURSDAY, AUG. 29, 2019
@sunflowernews
VOL. 124 • ISSUE 6
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@thesunflowernews THESUNFLOWER.COM
NEW STOP SIGNS
CHICKEN WARS
NOT GUILTY
GOLD FOR YOUNG
Missed signs are leading to more traffic stops.
Neither Popeye’s nor Chickfil-a is the answers, columnist Brogan Gillmore writes.
New music professor Imani Mosley says to stop being ashamed of guilty pleasures.
Former WSU track runner was .04 seconds off the WR at the Parapan Games.
SEE OPINION • PAGE 3
SEE ARTS • PAGE 5
SEE SPORTS • PAGE 6
SEE NEWS • PAGE 2
WSU chemistry professor wins top national STEM award BY NATHAN SCHALE
Alexandre Shvartsburg, Wichita State assistant professor of chemistry, received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) this summer. The White House describes PECASE as the top award given by the U.S. government to “outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent research careers and who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology.” Shvartsburg said he felt grateful to win the award. He first learned of the recognition from colleagues before receiving official notice. “The prevailing feeling is that of validation and justice for my various efforts over many years that weren't always understood or appreciated at the time,” Shvartsburg said. The National Science Foundation initially nominated Shvartsburg for his leadership and work in ion mobility spectrometry. Ion mobility spectrometry is a technique used to separate and identify molecules in a gas phase based on their mobility in a carrier buffer gas. Shvartsburg also helped create a software that calculates for any arbitrary geometry at what speed an object would fly and under what conditions.
He first started working at WSU in 2014, and has since continued his research in the field. A Moscow native, Shvartsburg came to the United States in 1993 to get a master’s degree in chemistry at the University of Nevada. He later earned his doctorate at Northwestern University. PECASE was first established in 1996 to acknowledge contributions scientists and engineers have made to the advancement of STEM education. Each year, the award is given to several professionals across the United States. A university release says Shvartsburg is the first WSU professor to ever receive the award. Shvartsburg was the only recipient from Kansas this year, and only the third in the award’s history. U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran gave a nod to Shvartsburg on Twitter in July after Shvartsburg was first announced for the award. “Congrats to [Shvartsburg] for receiving the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers — the highest honor bestowed by the government on #STEM professionals,” tweeted the junior senator from Kansas. Shvartsburg will be recognized at a ceremony on Wednesday, Sept. 4 in the Miller Concert Hall Lobby at Duerksen. The reception starts at 4:15 p.m.
WSU settles for $50,000 with former professor candidate who sued for pregnancy discrimination BY MATTHEW KELLY
KHÁNH NGUYỄN/THE SUNFLOWER
Assistant professor of chemistry Alexandre Shvartsburg received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The Moscow native will be recognized at a ceremony from 3-5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4.
Wichita State has reached a $50,000 settlement with the Ohio women’s studies professor who accused the university of retracting a job offer last year after she disclosed that she was pregnant. A visiting assistant professor at Oberlin College, Evangeline Heiliger alleged in a December lawsuit that she inquired about on-campus childcare options in a phone call after being offered an assistant professorship. The next day, she was informed via email that she was no longer in consideration for the job. Provost Rick Muma signed the settlement agreement last month on behalf of WSU. The agreement prohibits Heiliger from seeking any future employment at WSU. “You permanently, unequivocally, and unconditionally waive any rights you may now have, may have had in the past, or may have in the future to obtain or seek employment with [the] University,” the agreement states. WSU General Counsel David Moses said after the news of the lawsuit broke that an internal university investigation found no wrongdoing. The agreement states that the settlement is in no way an admission of improper behavior. “The University does not admit, and expressly denies, any wrongdoing or liability,” the agreement reads. Heiliger originally sued WSU for more than $75,000. Court records show that the two parties agreed to settle the lawsuit after a seven-hour mediation session in May. SEE SETTLEMENT PAGE 2
WSU student reaches for the stars at NASA internship BY AUDREY KORTE
Not many students get a chance to work for NASA before they graduate from college, but Lucas Webb, 21, spent his summer doing just that. Webb, a senior studying aerospace engineering, spent 10 weeks over break working at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. "It was basically to get college engineering students to get some experience in research and in, like, the job world, and experience NASA," Webb said. The program asked a lot of its interns, Webb said, and the internship allowed him to work on projects with real-world applications. "A lot of internships kind of like walk you through baby steps and baby projects and things like that, but this one actually had you work on meaningful stuff," Webb said. "I think that was really good, but also challenging because a lot of us have come from programs where we haven't necessarily gone into that step yet." While interning, Webb worked primarily on rotorcraft, which are aircraft like helicopters that use rotors to move up and down mid-flight. Webb said he looked at stacked, co-rotating rotors on rotorcrafts to see how putting them at different azimuth angles would affect its performance.
"An azimuth angle is basically the angle between the bottom and the top rotor. Typically, they're at 90 degrees apart from each other, but we changed them to 45, 30, and 10 (degrees) to see how that would affect them," Webb said. His mentors tested rotors at different angles and collected all the data and then gave it to Webb to analyze and figure out which option was the most efficient. Webb said he thinks the work he did this summer will positively impact his academic work at WSU during his senior year. "I think I learned how to incorporate what I learned over the past three years practically," he said. Aside from the knowledge Webb gained at NASA, he said there was another perk to spending the summer in Mountain View, California. "I think the biggest perk was honestly the weather," he said. "It was significantly less humid. The last two weeks were like perfect — 75 degrees outside." Webb also had the opportunity to march in the San Francisco Pride Parade. "It was a lot of fun. We had a float and everything," he said. "I've always wanted to go to San Francisco Pride." After graduating in May, Webb said he hopes to get a master's degree in space propulsion and ultimately work for NASA on propulsions or mission design.
MORGAN ANDERSON/THE SUNFLOWER Senior aerospace engineering student Lucas Webb speaks with a Sunflower reporter during an interview about his internship at NASA over the summer.
For the time being, Webb said he’s focused on his senior design project, which encapsulates everything he's already learned in his program. "You actually have to design a plane or a rocket or whatever and then build it, test it and fly it," he said. Webb’s team is going to be working on a nationwide NASA student design competition.
“That's basically building a rocket, shooting it up around a mile or so, bringing it back down, and then deploying a rotor from it to go collect some kind of sample," Webb said. Usually, there are about 20 people working on each of these designs, but the senior design project at WSU only allows four or five students per team. When asked if he thought that
put WSU teams at a disadvantage, Webb said he was unsure. He said that small as the teams may be, they may be able to devote more time to the project throughout the year. In addition to the year-long design project, Webb has several other obligations on campus. He's an honors senator for SGA, a student ambassador, a mentor for First Strong Scholars, and an ambassador for diversity and inclusion.