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UNIVERSITY PRESS FAU’S FINEST NEWS SOURCE FEBRUARY 17, 2015 | VOL. 16 # 12

$1.4M GONE As the budgets that pay for student events and services take a financial toll, so will the quality of campus life.

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February 17, 2015

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Table of Contents

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The Staff

TUESDAY February 17, 2015

Editor-in-chief: Wesley Wright Managing Editor: Emily Bloch Associate Editor: Michelle Friswell Creative Director: Sabrina C. Martinez

Features

News

Science

On The Cover

Business Manager: Ryan Murphy Photo Editor: Max Jackson Asst. Photo Editor: Tim Murphy Web Editor: Mohammed F. Emran Asst. Web Editor: Alexis Hayward News Editor: Jillian Melero Asst. News Editor: Lynnette Cantos Features Editor: Emily Creighton Sports Editor: Josue Simplice Science Editor: Andrew Fraieli Designers: Ivan Benavides Contributors: Gregory Cox, Patrick Martin, Ryan Lynch Copy Desk Chief: Carissa Noelle Giard Asst. Copy Desk Chief: Reimy Benitez Distribution Manager: Jake Stuart Marketing Manager: Jessica Madhukar Advisers: Neil Santaniello Michael Koretzky Cover by: Sabrina C. Martinez

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PUBLISHER FAU Student Government The opinions expressed by the UP are not necessarily those of the student body, Student Government or FAU.

Photo by Photo by Mohamed F. Emran

FERPA With the help of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, the mystery of admissions files are unveiled.

Story by Ryan Lynch

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Photo of the Week P.12

Photo by Mohamed F. Emran

UBAC Find out who’s going to be hurting after student organizations get their budgets cut.

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Story by Gregory Cox and Patrick Martin

No Credit Policy P.16

Tear out photo of the week, featuring the softball team.

FAU is giving struggling students a second chance with its No Credit Policy.

Photo by Ryan Lynch

Story by Lynnette Cantos

February 17, 2015

Photo Courtesy of Stephen Kajiura

Shark Week All Year FAU graduates study shark migration and how they perceive the world around them.

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Story by Andrew Fraieli

Sports We talkin’ bout practice? P.14 With about 40 hours a week dedicated to their sports, practice time may be affecting FAU athletes

Story by Josue Simplice UPRESSONLINE.COM

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Sports

The Recession is Gone T

and so is our money

Due to a decrease in enrollment, organization budgets are being cut back.

here may be more nights watching Netflix and playing video games for FAU students instead of attending activities around campus in the future. All Florida Atlantic student-run organizations that fall under the University Budget Appropriations Committee will have to cut their budgets by at least 15 percent due to increased services on campus.

The increase in services over the past seven years can be related to the spike in enrollment that occurred in 2008. During the recession, people couldn’t find jobs and many decided to go back to school. As the bulk of these students have graduated, enrollment has started to decline. This decrease has meant less dollars coming into FAU to help keep these services running.

The UBAC met on Jan. 23 to review which student organizations and programs would be most affected by the impending budget cuts.

Corey King, vice president of Student Affairs, said

Story by Gregory Cox and Patrick Martin

he is more concerned about services like Night Owls, extended library times and the university’s newest endeavour, the Atlantic Shuttle — a trolley system for students that live on campus to take them to local grocery stores, beaches and even bars.

“Our dollars are getting tight here,” said King. “I’m more concerned about the services.”

“I don’t think you’ll see a decrease in services, you may see less food at events, and less promotional items, maybe less T-shirts,” said King. The cut to the Program Board alone is about $70,000.

All 45 accounts covered under the UBAC met with the committee to pitch their reasonings for their requested budget. Some accounts are going to feel the blow more than others because they don’t have auxiliary accounts to dip into for emergency contingency situations like the larger accounts, including recreation centers and the Student Union.

What are some organizations that will have their budgets cut?

Program Board

2014-2015 Budget: $480,000 2015-2016 Proposed Budget: $405,600

Photo by Max Jackson

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“[FAU] has done a pretty good job of booking diverse acts,” - Grayson Gibson (left) who was pulled on to stage to sing “Time Bomb” with All Time Low during the 2014 Bonfire.

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This cut could affect the quality of bands and singers that FAU will be able to hire for events such as the Annual Bonfire in the fall and the Freakers Ball in the spring, two events that have become popular with the student body.

“For the most part, [FAU] has done a pretty good job of booking diverse acts,” said Grayson Gibson, a sophomore studying management and information systems and an aspiring

February 17, February 17, 2015 2015

musician, but his favorite concert was the 2014 Bonfire. “The bands that played were still pretty relevant in their scene,” said Gibson.

In the spring semester of 2013, FAU was able to have up-and-coming rapper Kendrick Lamar perform at the annual Freakers Ball, compared to T-Pain, an R&B singer that some would argue is past his prime, who performed for FAU last semester.

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Sports

LGBTQA Resource Center 2014-2015 Budget: $2,076,000 2015-2016 Proposed Budget: $1,754,000

Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

Responsible for hosting events such as FAU Pride Fest, movie nights, bringing in various speakers and hosting other gettogethers to promote community among this group, a cut to this

Student Media Owl Radio

2014- 2015 Budget: $93,000 2015- 2016 Proposed Budget: $79,000

“That’s nothing, Owl Radio needs more than $27,000 for expenses!

We have to pay royalties and we have to pay for two conferences that change students’ lives,” said Gabby Alvarado, the station manager and news director for Owl Radio. “It cost almost $20,000 for a new automation system alone,” said Alvarado. The automation system is software that schedules what time each song and each commercial plays, which helps in the advertisement of outside companies and organizations.

The University Press

account means a decrease in the number and quality of events.

Representatives of the resource center refused to comment on what the budget cuts would directly affect.

Owl TV

2014-2015 Budget: $107,000 2015-2016 Proposed Budget: $90,500

The UP’s biggest expenditure is their salaries budget. It employs 25 students, the second-most of any of the UBAC accounts after Campus Recreation. Cutting this budget would result in fewer paid employees and could leave less money to pay printing costs for the magazine starting this summer.

2014-2015 Budget: $149,000 2015-2016 Proposed Budget: $126,000

FAU’s on-campus television station will take a hit that could affect the amount of new equipment they are able to purchase. It could also affect the amount of coverage they are able to provide for out-ofstate games.

Photo by Mohammed F. Emran Photo by Max Jackson

Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

Campus Rec. 2014-2015 Budget: $2,076,000 2015-2016 Proposed Budget: $1,754,000

Photo by Mohammed F. Emran P.P.66

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Boca Raton Campus Recreation will be feeling one of the biggest hits financially. “Facility cost and staffing both students and professionals are the most expensive portion of the Rec Center’s budget,” said Laura Johnson, director of campus recreation in an

February17, 17,2015 2015 February

email. The Rec Center is also responsible for numerous activities like intramural sports, athletic clubs, classes such as spinning and yoga, and trips like sailing and hiking in various places around Florida and out of state.

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Office of Greek Life 2014-2015 Budget: $184,000 2015-2016 Proposed Budget: $155,500 The majority of this account covers the salaries of the two assistant directors, but much of the remaining budget goes to activities and programs. This account is used for events such as

recruitment, Greek Week and antihazing week. Elaine Jahnsen, the assistant director of fraternity and sorority life refused to comment on what these cuts would specifically affect.

Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

Homecoming 2014-2015 Budget: $240,000 2015-2016 Proposed Budget: $203,000 This cut would directly impact the activities and programs such as the parade, free food events like the Ice Cream Social, and

Photo by Ryan Murphy

the caliber of performers FAU would be able to hire.

Homecoming gives students the opportunity to come together as a university.

Student Union 2014-2015 Budget: $2,073,000 2015-2016 Proposed Budget: $1,752,000 A major part of the Student Union’s budget consists of expenses. Some of these expenses include maintenance and new equipment for the pool tables and ping-pong

tables, but would also cut into events such as Wet your Whistle Wednesday, Free Food Fridays and other socials that are free to students.

Activity and Service Fees

The activity and service fee is included in every student’s tuition per credit.

Currently, the fee is $12.37, compared to the state average of $15.

King does not want to raise the fee under any circumstance and suggested to cut more from student-run organizations instead.

“We need to take that remaining dollars and funnel that back into the budget,” said King. He wants to recycle the money back into the UBAC budget, even if that penalizes certain accounts that did a good job managing their budgets Cutting the budget by 15.5 percent isn’t

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Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

the only solution being considered. Two solutions King proposed, along with the help of the current UBAC, were to start the UBAC in July and to create a universitywide treasurer. The only problem with the UBAC starting earlier is that no one will be on campus.

King wasn’t the only one to recommend a university-wide treasurer. Evan Harrow — the Boca Raton campus budget chair — expressed his concern for the lack of transparency within the UBAC. “There is no university-wide treasurer, so no student can access the auxiliary accounts,” Harrow stated.

February 17, 2015

The students by law are entitled to see where their money is being spent.

“The Florida Legislature created Transparency Florida to provide the public with unprecedented access to state government spending information by posting Florida’s operating budget and associated expenditure records online,” as stated on Floridatransparency.com.

Although FAU hasn’t broken any of these laws, it is not easy to find this information.

This student position of treasurer would be able to see into all accounts and ensure that the money allocated to each account is being spent responsibly.

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Features

Sports

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February 17, 2015

Photo of the

Week

By Ryan Lynch Senior outfielder Sarah Howell writes “HOOT” in the infield dirt after her team beat LIU Brooklyn 7-0 on Feb. 8. FAU Softball went 4-1 in the FAU Kick-Off Classic, their season opening tournament.

February17, 2015

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Sports

Story by Josue Simplice Photo by Sabrina C. Martinez

“We Talkin’ ‘Bout Practice”

Too much practice time can have an adverse effect on a college athlete’s life.

C

oaches will do anything to gain an advantage, even if that means breaking an rule and leaving their athletes with little time for a social life.

Wake up at 6 a.m., go to practice, watch game film, finish classes, go to afternoon practice and workouts. A Florida Atlantic athlete’s day is a full one.

“I’d say I spent about 26 hours per week on basketball [supervised by coaches] during the season,” says a former anonymous basketball player who entered the program under former head coach Mike Jarvis.

These estimates exceed the allotted practice time for collegiate athletes and could have resulted in sanctions if reported. If found to be true, FAU could have faced a reduction in practice time, coaches and staff members.

The University of Michigan docked itself of 130 hours of practice time and released two members of its qualitycontrol staff during the 2010 season.

Those found responsible for the unreported practice time were punished, ranging from being fired to receiving a letter of reprimand.

The National Collegiate Athletics Association instituted the 20-hour practice rule in 1991. Before this, there was no cap on the hours that a collegiate team was allowed to practice.

Hours only count toward the allotted time limit if a coach is present. Any medical examinations, voluntary meetings, fundraiser events, or educational and training P. 14

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room activities do not count.

There are loopholes, however. Because game days and the preparation leading up to them only count as three hours, a team can travel and arrive early for a nighttime road game and still spend the entire day preparing. That could equate to six to eight hours of preparation. Game days at Northwestern University last for as long as 12 hours when traveling, and preparation is taken into account.

There is no limit on the amount of time that a team can practice during holiday breaks. When the semester is over, coaches can have players practice for as long as they see fit, since the rules do not apply.

In the first College Football Playoff Championship, Ohio State practiced as long as they wanted since their semester ended before Oregon’s did. Ohio State defeated Oregon 42-20 in this year’s national championship.

During former FAU head football coach Carl Pelini’s tenure, players did activities that lasted from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the activity.

“He was real strict about it and made sure we didn’t go over because we only had 20 hours to practice every week,” says former FAU offensive lineman Jonathan Ragoo. “I’d say we practiced about 18 hours per week, with two or three days of wearing upper pads in between the weeks leading up to game day.”

There are athletes who practice voluntarily, which does not count against the 20

hours the teams are allowed.

“Me and a couple of guys, we come into [the Arena] at night and try to get in as many shots as we can. I’m always trying to work on my game and get better,” says FAU sophomore basketball player D’Andre Johnson.

Another current basketball player, senior forward Kelvin Penn, said his days start early in the morning and do not end until late at night.

“I wake up early in the morning and my day usually ends at about 11,” says Penn.

Athletes like Seattle Seahawk cornerback Richard Sherman and ex-NBA player Rashad McCants say that while they were able to obtain a free education, their constant practice schedules did not permit them to put all of their effort into gaining a valuable education that they could rely on after college.

This past fall, the FAU men’s basketball and football teams both had low GPAs relative to other FAU programs. Football, with an average 2.66, had the lowest and men’s basketball had the third-lowest with an average of 2.78. Those numbers are cumulative for the fall 2014 semester.

Sherman said before Super Bowl XLIX, “No, I don’t think college athletes are given enough time to really take advantage of the free education that they’re given, and it’s frustrating because a lot of people get upset with student-athletes and say they’re not focused on school and they’re not taking advantage of the opportunity they’re given.”

February 17, 2015

All of the following count toward the 20-hour practice limit: - Field, floor or on-court activities - Meetings with coaches or administration - Setting up plays - Watching film - Weight training and conditioning - Practicing during the offseason to work on individual skills with coaches - Participation in camps, clinics or a physical activity class for student-athletes taught by a member of the coaching staff

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News

Story by Lynnette Cantos

No Fail Zone Starting immediately The first time that sophomore architecture major Anne Clerisse Volcy took English Composition 2 (ENC1102), she didn’t make the grade.

“One of the reasons I didn’t pass is cause I focused on my major,” noted Volcy. “I felt like my major was more important than English. If I failed, I have to wait a full year for architecture class.”

Failing and retaking a class is not fun, especially when it’s a class you don’t have an interest in.

The No Credit policy hopes to make it easier for students to keep their options open without too much stress.

As previously reported by the UP’s website, Florida Atlantic students enrolled in lower-division courses will automatically receive a “No Credit” (NC) in their transcripts if they don’t pass the course.

“The system automatically converts that [grade] to an NC if the student didn’t make the minimum requirements for the grade,” said Dean of Undergraduate Studies Edward Pratt.

Effective this spring semester, it will count for current FAU students, both in-state and out-of-state transfer students and incoming freshmen for summer and fall 2015.

“It allows students in their initial year to treat education as a discovery, because that’s what I think it should be,” expressed Faculty Senate President Ronald Nyhan. “The IFP courses are really discovery courses, and I think that’s what college is all about.”

The No Credit policy is automatically added in a student’s transcript and allowed on classes under the Intellectual Foundation Program (IFP). The ‘NC’ grade can be applied a maximum of four times during a student’s academic term at FAU. Students who have Florida’s Bright Futures scholarships benefit from the

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No Credit policy because they must maintain at least a 2.0 GPA to keep their funding.

The existing forgiveness policy, that most students know as “freshman forgiveness,” allows a student to retake a failed class and use the new grade towards their academic transcripts. To apply the policy, students must fill out a request form and get adviser approval.

“Assuming that you improved, both remain on your transcript but the grade that’s calculated in your GPA is the higher grade,” said Nyhan.

The core of both policies’ purposes is to preserve a student’s GPA to their advantage during their academic term within FAU. The No Credit policy is connected to new advising programs and triggers an alert to both the student and adviser that they received an NC grade, designating them for additional counseling and assistance.

Pratt mentioned how most freshmen arrive at FAU and have some missteps, yet sympathized with students’ distractions during their first year at college.

“There are certain courses that are very difficult. Some students don’t do very well and that sets them back not just in terms of their GPA, but psychologically,” Pratt mentioned.

“We want to give them a wake up call.”

While your GPA won’t be brought down by the NC, it also doesn’t go up any higher. Failing one class is ok, but you can still get in trouble for failing more than one class in a semester.

“A student gets an ‘A’ in one course and then NC in three courses, does that mean the student gets a 4.0 for the semester? Of course not,” Pratt commented about students abusing the policy.

Despite the minor stipulations that might stop a low-GPA student, the No Credit policy works in the favor of incoming freshmen at FAU looking for a second chance.

February 17, 2015

The No Credit Policy provides

second, third and

fourth

chances to maintain your GPA.

PROS • No Credit is automatic • The No Credit grade is gone • Forgiveness does NOT affect GPA • No Credit can be used four times • No Credit does NOT affect GPA • Forgiveness is repeat of same curriculum hours • No Credit can choose new class as replacement

CONS • Forgiveness needs approval • Forgiveness can be used two times • Forgiveness grade is still on record • Forgiveness must retake same class • No Credit counts as extra curriculum hours

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News

Find it with

FERPA. It’s the law

How a federal law can give you access to what’s inside your admissions file.

Story by Ryan Lynch Photo by Mohammed F. Emran

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February February 17, 17, 2015 2015

R

emember how you felt during the college admissions process — all the fear of being rejected from your top school along with the worry of what your high school teachers wrote in your letters of recommendation? Or why admissions might have picked you? The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act can help answer your questions and put your residual worries to rest.

Enacted in 1974, FERPA is a federal law designed to protect the privacy of a student’s education records, including transcripts and admissions files. These files can be accessed by a student if requested from the admissions office.

What does that mean?

By requesting these files, a student can see comments from admissions officers, criticisms of their application, and how their status as a legacy (if you have family alumni history), athlete or minority may have affected the admission process.

“I didn’t know we could do that,” said Florida Atlantic freshman and pre-business major Derek Donev. “I’d like to see if they said anything interesting.

Usually you only hear about the acceptance or rejection.”

I was also unaware that you could do this, and after going through the stress of waiting for a college admission myself, I wanted to see what the file said. So, like any curious student, I requested my admissions file.

All it took was a short email conversation with an admissions representative, in my case Mary Edmunds, to gain access to my files. She took about a day to reply to my request, asking whether or not I wanted my admissions file or transcript (transcripts are available through MyFAU), and the file was available five days after sending the first email.

What do you say in the email?

Being straightforward and professional is the way to go when trying to obtain your file. Here is a simplified version of FERPA’s suggested template that I used: Hello,

I was wondering if I could have access to all files pertaining to my admission at

Florida Atlantic held by FAU’s Office of Admissions. Under the Family Education and Rights and Privacy Act, I understand I’m allowed to ask for admissions files to be released to me. I also understand FERPA prohibits an imposition of fines for said documents. If you hold back any documents or information, I would like a written explanation as to why they are being withheld.

Thank you very much, Your Name Here Z-number

“FAU has a longstanding tradition of serving the local area and recruiting throughout our diverse South Florida community.”

- James Capp, FAU assistant provost for academic operations

What is in the envelope?

The brown envelope sat on the admissions office front desk for me, holding the answers to the musings of my high school senior mind. And while it didn’t cost any money for the files themselves, there was a $1.50 copy fee payable by check or money order only.

I did not know this and had to go to the BB&T on campus — I ended up paying $5 for a $1.50 money order.

On the first page, you see the Office of Admissions evaluation sheet presenting the criteria that officers judge applications with — SAT scores, high school credit hours, class rank and grade point average.

“Admission to the freshman class is competitive and based largely on the potential for success in university-level coursework as evidenced by academic performance and student aptitude,” said James Capp, the assistant provost for academic operations at FAU. “Character and student conduct are also considered.”

There were also sections to denote if you are a first generation college student, legacy or planning to participate in college sports. Lastly, a comment section was at the bottom of the page for additional notes.

The rest of the pages included materials sent in during the application process like transcripts and letters of February17, February17, 2015 2015

recommendation. I had not seen the letters before getting the file, and it was interesting to read and see what my teachers wrote about me. Lastly, included in the back of the file were documents from the college like requests for minor and major changes and accepted financial aid offers from the school.

Two things glaringly absent from the evaluation sheet were race and gender.

This is notable, as the role race plays on college applications is controversial in academia.

Last year, Harvard received a lawsuit because of allegations of race-based application processes and discrimination against Asian applicants.

The lawsuit alleged that Harvard admissions held Asian applicants to a higher standard than white applicants.

As a private school, Harvard’s admission process by nature is more secretive and selective than a public university like FAU. “I feel like someone shouldn’t be judged by their race or gender,” said Monica Hester, a freshman nursing student on the application process. “Everyone should get a fair chance.”

FAU is ranked as the most diverse school in Florida’s state university system.

Minority and international students make up 49 percent of our student body, according to the State University System of Florida’s website.

“FAU has a longstanding tradition of serving the local area and recruiting throughout our diverse South Florida community – but applicants must have a proven track record of academic success in order to obtain admission.” Capp stated.

How can you obtain your records?

You can request your own admissions file by emailing admissions@fau.edu. Make sure that you include your Z-number in the email for identification purposes.

FERPA mandates that you must be given your documents in a maximum of 45 days, but based on my experience, it shouldn’t take that long.

When you are emailed that your file is prepared, make sure you fill out a check or money order in the proper amount for the copy fee paid to the order of FAU Admissions. Go to the undergraduate admissions office located on the first floor of the Student Services building to pick it up.

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Science

ALL YEAR

FAU professor and his students study sharks all year long to find out how they work and why hundreds of thousands of them vacation in Palm Beach County in the winter.

Story by Andrew Fraieli Photos courtesy of Stephen Kajiura

A

s FAU biology professor Stephen Kajiura flies over Palm Beach County, he looks to the shore and sees sharks, but not just a couple. There are hundreds of thousands of them up and down the coast migrating to their winter home, a stone’s throw away from the beach.

While that many sharks offshore seems like the plot for a JAWS 4 movie, it is actually a researched reality.

Kajiura’s research on the Boca Raton campus examines this migration. FAU’s location near the ocean is ideal for him and his graduate students to research how sharks perceive the world around them and why so many of them (most of which are black-tips and avoid humans) migrate to Palm Beach County every winter.

In 2011, Kajiura started doing the first systematic survey of this migration by flying over the shore from Boca to Jupiter.

He saw hundreds of thousands of sharks close enough to shore that you “could stop your car, throw a stone and hit a shark,” as Kajiura puts it. The Gulf Stream carries the sharks along closer to Palm Beach County than anywhere else on the East Coast.

According to Kajiura, some think it would be good if sharks stayed up north. These opinions are like those about snowbirds, but sharks are top-level predators, they “clean up the sick fish [...], alike to spring cleaning,” says Kajiura.

He elaborates that the sharks eat a lot of sick fish, and the lack of their diet

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Students pull in a black-tip shark on their research boat off of the coast of Palm Beach County (top image).

Aerial shot of sharks over Palm Beach County (background image).

February 17, 2015

Continued on P. 22

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Science

could dramatically hurt the ecosystem around our home. Without the Florida coast’s sharks, our maids of the ocean, the ecosystem could go into a decline, affecting all ocean life in the area and cause student fishers to catch these sickly fish rather than a suitable dinner.

To track the sharks and their numbers, the lab takes advantage of receivers nailed into the seafloor all up and down the East Coast, put there by other research labs to be used by everyone. These receivers pick up signals from small transmitters put into shark abdomens by the graduate students, relaying where the sharks are.

Beth Bowers, one of Kajiura’s graduate students, explains that black-tip sharks actually avoid humans. “When you touch their skin and see them, they don’t seem as scary, just another fish.”

Eloise Cave, another graduate student, thinks differently, “Every time I catch a shark I am always excited [...], I’m like a little kid, it’s so cool.”

Studying the black-tips all year long and using the trackers, Kajiura’s lab has found out that black-tip sharks come to Florida in the winter, and go back home to the Georgia area in the summer. As the ocean’s temperature rises, the sharks won’t have to go as far south to stay warm.

The goal of this research, said Kajiura, is to have a baseline comparison for the ecological effect of the oceans warming and to see how this warming could affect the sharks and therefore our own ecosystem. Kajiura says this research is important because the last study was in 1948, and according to Bowers there is “virtually no data on migration.”

Bowers studies the shark’s dumpster diet to get a hint about how they affect the ecosystem. She does so by extracting and examining their stomach contents using

a PVC pipe while out on their research boat. As she describes to her friends, she “fishes through their puke” and identifies as much as possible.

Kajiura and his graduate students gather their data on a small research boat, tossing a long line with 60 hooks to catch their bitey subjects, with the students diving as close as 70 feet away from a school of them.

Eloise Cave holds a line on the FAU research boat (corner right image).

Migrating sharks a stone’s throw away from the beach (background image).

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February 17, 2015

T

he focus of the research lab is the sensory physiology of sharks, or how they perceive the world around them. One example of a sense sharks have but we don’t is electroreception.

Kajiura says people may ask about their research in electroreception and say, “What’s it good for?” His response is that the biggest threat to sharks is us, and his lab may be close to fixing that.

Imagine being able to tell when a flashlight was turned on or off without seeing it. Kajiura explains that they have an organ called the ampullae of Lorenzini that allows them to sense a small electrical field created by living beings in saltwater.

If humans had this sense, they could play hide-and-seek and be able to find the person even if they were under the floorboards. “Even if [the shark’s prey] is out of sight, smell, or hearing, the shark can find it as long as it is alive and therefore emitting these charges” Kajiura says. The prey would have to be dead for the shark to be incapable of hunting it down.

Most shark deaths are accidental. Fishers catch them regularly without wanting to and kill them to get them off the boat before someone gets hurt. With so many sharks offshore, fishers can easily catch them by accident as well. Kajiura says that since sharks have electroreceptors and other fish don’t, they could make a shark repellant.

Kajiura and his students found that by using zinc and graphite put in saltwater, they could create a small field that would repel sharks. Putting this on the end of a line near the hook, they found that there was an 80 percent reduction in the amount of sharks caught. The FAU graduates and Kajiura have already filed for a patent as well. Kajiura says that it “saves the sharks, but saves the fisherman as well.”

Electricity and magnetism are considered the same force in physics because one can create the other and vice-versa. One of Kajiura’s students, Kyle Newton, decided to test further with their senses and see whether this “sixth sense,” or electroreception, can detect magnetic fields as well.

Shark Myth Kajiura explains that Isaac Newton tested this using stingrays who also have this sense. By burying magnets and identical looking non-magnetic control objects and letting the stingray run loose, they found that they can indeed sense magnetic fields by watching it attack everywhere where there were magnets and avoid the identical-looking controls.

This is something never before studied, according to Kajiura, and is making history.

As Kajiura mentioned, we need the sharks to help our ecosystem. Hundreds of thousands of sharks, the bulk of which are black-tips, may come off as threatening, but that immediate panic from seeing sharks is something that goes away with exposure as well. “Over time you get used to it” Cave says.

February17, 2015

BUSTED

One idea that was tackled by one of Kajiura’s graduate students is a longtime shark myth.

People say that sharks can smell blood a mile away, but since Kajiura and his students found no factual evidence for this, they decided to test this myth themselves by measuring the shark’s sensitivity to smells.

To do so they put an electrode in a black-tip shark’s nose, put different organic chemicals in a water stream going through its nose and slowly decreased the amount until the sharks didn’t respond to the smell.

What they found busted the myth.

When compared with average fish, their sensitivity to smell was the same. Kajiura exclaims that “FAU is making history by addressing these long-standing myths.”

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