Filed under: Arizona, Arizona State University, ASU, City of Tempe, City of Tempe News, Community, Tempe, Tempe Arizona | Tags: Arizona, Arizona State University, ASU, az, Phoenix, Phoenix Arizona, Tempe
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY News Release
January 28, 2008
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY JOINS LARGEST TEACH-IN IN U.S. HISTORY
Thousands of campuses help focus nation on global-warming solutions
TEMPE, Ariz. — On Jan. 30 and 31, 2008, Arizona State University (ASU) will participate in Focus The Nation, an unprecedented teach-in on global-warming solutions.
Focus The Nation has created a teach-in model centered on the three most essential pillars needed to embrace solutions to global warming — education, civic engagement and leadership.
“Today’s college students are truly the greatest generation,” said Lewis & Clark professor of economics Eban Goodstein, author and project director for Focus The Nation. “No other generation has ever had to face this kind of challenge. We as educators would be failing if we did not prepare them with the tools to meet this challenge.”
“Arizona State University is delighted to take part in Focus the Nation,” said ASU President Michael Crow. “All of these efforts represent education at its finest. Our students have enormous power to use their education and passion to create positive change in the world.”
Focus the Nation activities at ASU include a pre-recorded web cast of the “The Two Percent Solution,” produced by the National Wildlife Federation. The web cast (which will be held at 6 p.m., Jan. 30) includes a four-minute segment on ASU’s School of Sustainability, the first school of its kind in the nation. The four-minute video will showcase what ASU is doing on Focus the Nation day and tell the larger story about sustainability at ASU.
The segment will come after a focused discussion about the “The Two Percent Solution” (reducing carbon emissions two percent every year to reach an 80 percent reduction by 2050), led by actor Edward Norton, climate scientist Steve Schneider, author Hunter Lovins (CEO, Natural Capitalism) and environmental justice leader Van Jones (executive director, Ella Baker Center, Oakland, Calif.)
The next day, Jan. 31, will include a range of global warming curricula presented by faculty members and guest speakers, flashlight tours at the Nelson Fine Arts Center, followed by a festival on Hayden Lawn from 11:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Student groups will host interactive activities, continuous viewings of “The Two Percent Solution” and the ASU video, and hear the “recycled” of The Sustainabillies band.
As a key part of Focus the Nation, students, faculty and staff will participate in the Choose Your Future vote and select what they think are the top five solutions for global warming. Participants can vote online (www.focusthenation.org ) or at the event. Voting results will be presented nationally to congressional offices on Feb. 18. All students who vote on the Choose Your Future ballot will be eligible to win a $10,000 leadership scholarship for a project to be completed by end of August 2008.
For more information on ASU’s Focus The Nation events, visit http://schoolofsustainability.asu.edu/events/focus2008.php.
# # #
Focus The Nation is an educational initiative on global warming solutions for America occurring at more than 1,000 universities and colleges and in all 50 states on Jan. 31, 2008. As the largest teach-in in U.S. history, Focus The Nation is preparing millions of students to become leaders in the largest challenge any generation has faced. For more information, visit http://www.focusthenation.org .
Contacts:
Lauren Kuby, ASU, (480) 730-8457
Lauren.Kuby@asu.edu
Garett Reiss Brennan, Focus the Nation, (503) 768-7990
garett@focusthenation.org
Skip Derra
National Media Relations Officer/Science Writer
Arizona State University
Media Relations
(480) 965-4823
(480) 965-2159 (fax)
skip.derra@asu.edu
Filed under: Arizona, Arizona State University, ASU, Science | Tags: ASU, Community, Earth, explore, Science, scientists, Space
TEMPE, Ariz. – Kids of all ages, and their parents and teachers too, are invited to learn more about Earth and space through hands-on activities, experimental demonstrations and public lectures by ASU scientists from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 3, in the Bateman Physical Science Building, F-Wing, at ASU’s Tempe campus.
The annual Earth and Space Exploration Day, hosted by ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, provides a variety of educational activities “for kids ages 5 to 95,” says professor Tom Sharp, a mineralogist and associate director of the NASA Arizona Space Grant Consortium.
“The purpose of this event is to provide an up-close opportunity for the public to see some of the great science we do at ASU, while we engage students of all ages in fun, hands-on scientific learning activities,” says Sharp. “There is plenty of depth for adults too.”
For example, ASU planetary scientist David Williams will present a lecture on solar system exploration at 10 a.m., and give an overview of results from NASA’s and the European Space Agency’s 2007 planetary missions. Other lectures on black holes, volcanology, the Mars rovers and whether there will be an energy crisis are scheduled on the hour throughout the event.
In conjunction with the day of exploration, ASU’s Space Photography Laboratory is hosting an open house and will show the latest NASA planetary images.
There also will be special shows in the planetarium, including one on “Stars over Arizona.” Other educational activities include learning about minerals while panning for gold, examining rocks and meteorite sections under a microscope, viewing the sun with a solar telescope, and learning about volcanoes and their explosive eruptions.
The public can “take a tour” of Mars with the aid of a GeoWall 3-D projector. Children, and adults can bring in rocks for “Dr. Rock” to identify or water samples for “Dr. Water” to analyze. Minerals, gems, fossils from around the world, the only active seismograph in central Arizona, a six-story Foucault pendulum, and Columbian mammoth bones from Chandler, Ariz., will be on display in the Dietz Museum of Geology.
Also scheduled is a geology field trip to “A” Mountain (Hayden Butte) to learn about sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks and geological structures exposed in Tempe.
There will be handouts and outreach information for teachers from the School of Earth and Space Exploration and other academic and research units in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, including the Institute for Human Origins and the School of Geographical Sciences.
“We hope the event will encourage children to learn that science is fun as they learn about how the Earth works and how we study it,” Sharp says.
For more information, contact the School of Earth and Space Exploration at (480) 965-5081 or http://www.sese.asu.edu <http://www.sese.asu.edu/> .
Filed under: ASU, City of Phoenix, City of Tempe | Tags: air traffic controller, ASU, Aviation, FAA, Federal Aviation Administration
FAA sanctions air traffic controller program at ASU
MESA, Ariz. – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave Arizona State University’s thumbs up on Oct. 16 to receive the Air Traffic Controller Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) designation for its new air traffic controller degree program. The designation as a CTI program is highly coveted and only select institutions are awarded such status.
The FAA works with schools and universities all over the country as part of the CTI, which designates an institution as an FAA partner. Such a designation gives preferential hiring to students who successfully complete the degree program.
ASU’s program is unique in that it was designed by current and former air traffic controllers and faculty members. Students graduating from the program will have a combination of academics, theory and practical application, said Michael Pearson, clinical associate professor in the Department of Aeronautical Management Technology and an air traffic controller at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
“The program has been specifically designed to greatly reduce the time required for ASU students to enter the workforce and obtain full performance level (FPL) status,” said Pearson. “The first graduating class of CTI students is expected by spring 2009.”
The FAA estimates that over the next 10 years, more than 17,000 air traffic controllers (ATC) will be needed to replace retiring ATCs.
Mandatory retirement is part of the profession. And many of the ATCs hired by the Federal Aviation Administration in the early 1980s are coming up on retirement.
To help meet the expected demand, the Arizona Board of Regents approved the Air Traffic Management bachelor’s degree in June 2006. As a new program, the aeronautical department in the College of Technology and Innovation continues to develop relationships with the aeronautical industry as well as professionals in the ATC field.
“The CTI program is evolving, and it is likely in the near future that it may be possible for graduates of these programs to move faster through the FAA training than they have in the past,” said Richard Charles, chair and professor of the Department of Aeronautical Management Technology. “Graduates would still be considered trainees but they will be able to go to actual employment sites quicker.”
The program is tailored for traditional age students and those wanting a career change. Applicants for ATC jobs must be hired prior to reaching their 31st birthday due to federal law.
Students like Matt Bell, a junior in the program, started out as a professional flight student and is almost finished with his pilot ratings, but decided to switch his major. As part of the program, he is gaining first-hand experience through a three-semester internship in the air traffic control tower at Sky Harbor International Airport. It’s the only program in the country that offers an extensive internship as part of the curriculum, he said.
“Seven students are currently working in the tower or in the radar area,” said Bell. “As a tower intern, I’m learning the operation at Sky Harbor to become a controller, as well as doing other support functions like creating training materials and working with the simulators. At any other institution, I would not have this opportunity.”
If this internship program is successful, the FAA may use it as a model and implement it at other CTI designated colleges and universities.
“The CTI designation is a tremendous opportunity for our program, and the ancillary opportunities beyond the training of air traffic controllers are only limited by our own performance,” said Pearson.
For information about the program at ASU, visit www.poly.asu.edu/aviation or call (480) 727-1021.
***
ASU’s Polytechnic campus, located in southeast Mesa, offers bachelor and graduate degree programs, unparalleled by other Arizona state universities, through the Morrison School of Management and Agribusiness, the School of Applied Arts and Sciences, the College of Technology and Innovation, and the School of Educational Innovation and Teacher Preparation. Visit us online at http://www.poly.asu.edu.
Filed under: Arizona State University, Art, Artists, Arts, Arts and Entertainment, City of Tempe, City of Tempe News, Community, Community Service, Entertainment, Tempe, Tempe Arizona | Tags: Ariz, ASU, ASU Gammage lawn, Exhibition, Gammage, Mighty Manimal March, Tempe
TEMPE, Ariz. – “Mighty Manimal March,” the second of a two-part temporary,
shared-terrain public art exhibition was installed on Friday October 12
Friday on the ASU Gammage lawn, at the northeast corner of Mill Avenue and
Apache Boulevard.
Seattle artist Nicole Kistler, formerly of Tempe, will install a more than
160 commercially produced plastic, latex and fiberglass animal lawn
ornaments, such as deer, flamingoes and coyotes on the Gammage lawn. The
menagerie features 64 flamingoes, 30 penguins, five pelicans, seven iguanas
and lizards, two pythons, 10 chicks, a baby elephant named “Bessie,” 11 wild
boar, 20 rabbits, four squirrels, six reindeer and three bears. She intends
to arrange this “river” of animals so that they appear to be on a protest
march or leaving class together and chatting about the course material.
The installation will be on display through December (date pending).
Shared Terrain exhibitions are intended to explore the blurred territory and
shared history where the university meets the city. Pedestrians and
passengers of the thousands of vehicles that pass through this area can
receive a new perspective on the familiar territory and expand their
awareness of site-responsive artwork.
This exhibition furthers the arts district concept of Mill Avenue, which
begins at Gammage Auditorium and includes the Music Building, ASU Art Museum
and the Ceramics Research Center and several School of Art galleries.
Shared Terrain information:
http://herbergercollege.asu.edu/public_art/temporary/sharedterrain.html
Nicole Kistler information: www.nicolekistler.com
<http://www.nicolekistler.com/>
Phoenix Arizona 