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Eleven Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology students received this year’s
Greek Leaders of the Year Awards for their involvement and support in
their fraternities and sororities. The awards were presented by
President Matt Branam and Pete Gustafson, vice president of student
affairs, at a special dinner on March 30.
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Greek Leaders of the Year: Recognized for their involvement in Greek
organizations were (front row, from left) Amanda Rupp, Darius Samz,
President Matt Branam, Sara Telezyn, Peter Goodwin and Elizabeth Malola. In
the back row are (from left) John Alexander, William Gerth, Peter Westrick,
Michael Rooney, Austin Davis and Andrew Kruth. Not pictured is Tyler
Kimbrell. |
The award winners were:
Amanda Rupp, a four-year member of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority who was
active in organizing several charitable activities.
Tyler Kimbrell, former president and house manager of the Alpha Tau
Omega fraternity.
Sara Telezyn, former president and new member educator of the Chi Omega
sorority. She has also been an Operation Catapult counselor, Career Fair
Team member and New Student Orientation leader.
Elizabeth Malola, a Delta Delta Delta sorority member who served as
president of the Panhellenic Council in 2010-11.
Michael Rooney, a former rush manager and chaplain of the Delta Sigma
Phi fraternity. He also served on the residence life staff for two
years.
Darius Samz, helped stabilize the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity as the
chapter’s treasurer. He also gained leadership skills through the
college’s Leadership Academy.
Austin Davis, served as president, treasurer and risk manager of the Phi
Gamma Delta fraternity. He helped organize the group’s successful
football run charitable event for the American Red Cross.
Peter Westrick, was a valuable member of the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter as
head educator for new members. He was also a Sophomore Advisor on the
residence life staff.
John Alexander, helped organize several home improvement projects as
house manager of the Sigma Nu fraternity.
William Gerth, a dependable and trustworthy member of the Theta Xi
fraternity.
Andrew Kruth, former activities director and pledge class president of
the Triangle fraternity. He also has been a Resident Assistant and
soccer team member.
Peter Goodwin was also recognized as president of the Interfraternity
Council in 2010-11.
Mitch Braddock’s Paper Earns Top Biology
Honor
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology applied biology student Mitch
Braddock earned the best presentation/best paper in biology award at the
University of Evansville’s Math, Engineering and Science Undergraduate
Research Conference. His abstract has also been accepted into an
international conference on applied phycology (algae), and he will make
a poster presentation at the conference this summer in Nova Scotia,
Canada.
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Mitch Braddock |
Braddock, a junior from Parkersburg, Ill., joined Rose-Hulman professor
Peter Coppinger in assessing the low-cost media alternatives for the
cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris for the production of microalgae-based
biodiesel.
Industrial-scale biodiesel production by lipid-producing microalgae is
currently limited by the availability of inexpensive sources of media.
Research by Braddock and Coppinger focused on the development and
assessment of potential media sources from otherwise unusable waste
products. Chlorella vulgaris, a photosynthetic microalgae currently used
for small-scale biodiesel production, requires nutrients such as
nitrates, phosphates, and iron for optimal lipid production.
Three waste water solutions were examined as potential low-cost nutrient
sources for Chlorella. Primary effluent from local sewage treatment
facility, swine livestock waste, and wetland run-off were collected.
Chlorella was cultured in each solution for two weeks in homeostatic
growth chambers under ambient carbon dioxide concentrations and 24-hour
lighting. Cell densities were determined and verified using direct
counts, viable counts and optical density measurements.
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‘Rosie’ Statue: John Martin Jr. (left) and Eric Schepman show off their
Elephant Statue that has been selected for this year’s National Science
Foundation’s Engineering Art Contest. |
Students’ Elephant Statue Selected for NSF
Competition
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s “Rosie” elephant mascot served as
inspiration for a statue featuring different engine components and scrap
steel that has been selected for the National Science Foundation
Division of Engineering Education and Centers’ Engineering Directorate
competition.
The statue was designed and fabricated by Eric Schepman, a senior
mechanical engineering major from Brownstown, Ind., and John Martin Jr.,
a junior mechanical engineering major from Charlotte, N.C. Assisting in
the project was former student Jonathan German.
The statue, created as the final project for a winter quarter Creative
Design course, currently is on display in the Root Quadrangle near the
Logan Library on campus.
Erin Davey Recognized for Improving Grades
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Mitch BraddockD.J. Angus-Scientech Award: Erin Davey received the annual award for
making the greatest grade point average improvement between the freshman
and sophomore years. Presenting the honor was Pete Gustafson, vice
president of student affairs. |
A substantial improvement in her grades has earned Rose-Hulman Institute
of Technology’s Erin Davey the DJ Angus-Scientech Club of Indianapolis
Award. The honor, plus a $1,000 award, is presented annually to the
student making the most significant improvement in cumulative grade
point average between the fall quarter of the first and second academic
years.
Davey, a sophomore biomedical engineering major from St. Charles, Mo.,
improved her grade average 1.13 points over the course of the three
academic quarters.
“I just had to learn to be a student and become focused in excelling
during college,” she said. “Everything came so easily in high school.
Rose-Hulman was an awakening experience.”
Mitch Pettigrew Becomes Student Body
President
The spring quarter brought a new role for Mitch Pettigrew on campus:
President of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s Student Government
Association. The electrical engineering/mechanical engineering student
from Delaware, Ohio, has been president of his class during the past two
years, a Resident Assistant for two years and has co-chaired the
homecoming bonfire assembly committee. He will now represent students’
concerns to the college’s administration.
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News Student Leaders: Serving as new leaders of Rose-Hulman’s Student
Government Association are (from left) Derek Archer, executive director;
Douglas Selby, treasurer; Mitch Pettigrew, president; Nick Addante, vice
president; and Ross Schneider, secretary. |
Other 2011-12 SGA officers are Nick Addante, vice president; Douglas
Selby, treasurer; Ross Schneider, secretary; and Derek Archer, executive
director.
Addante, a sophomore civil engineering major from Addison, Ill., is a
Sophomore Advisor in residence life and a member of the Interfraternity
Council, Student Activities Board, Student Alumni Association, Alpha Tau
Omega fraternity and American Society of Civil Engineering chapter.
Selby has spent the past year as a member of the SGA Senate and finance
committee. He also helped organize the three career fair events. The
junior computer engineering major from West Chicago, Ill., has also been
a teaching assistant in the Department of Computer Science and Software
Engineering.
Schneider, a junior computer engineering major from Liberty Township,
Ohio, was junior class president and served on SGA’s concert organizing
committee. He also is a member of the Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu and
Alpha Lambda Delta honor societies.
Archer will be executive director for the second straight year. The
junior biomedical engineering major from Washington, Ind., has been a
Learning Center tutor for Percopo residence hall and member of the Alpha
Chi Sigma chemistry fraternity.
Students Selected Resident Assistants for
2011-12
Twenty-seven Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology students have been
selected to serve as Resident Assistants in the college’s residence life
staff for the 2011-12 school year. The students were selected by the
Office of Student Affairs following personal interviews and
faculty/staff recommendations.
Resident Assistants are junior and senior students who provide
supervision and leadership on each residence hall floor. They not only
assist in rule enforcement, but they also help with homework, act as a
campus resource, provide peer counseling and encourage students to get
involved in campus life.
Next year’s Resident Assistants, by residence hall, will be:
Blumberg Hall: Steve Stoops and Emily Eckstein
Baur-Sames-Bogart Hall: Brent Gregory, Andrew Bower and Whitney
Baenziger
Scharpenberg Hall: Chris Horsley and Dominic Gates
Speed Hall: Jeremiah Cole, Jake Sheard and Eric Liobis
Deming Hall: Eric Fiedeldey, Andrew Bomar, Robert Gilbert and Ezekiel
Hoehn
Skinner Hall: Russell Webster II and Spencer Fox
Percopo Hall: Michael Lester, Ashley Kohls and Nadini Hettigei
Mees Hall: Doug Mann and Morgan Dumm
Apartment Style Hall: Kayla Pence, Chris Pete, Caleb Eiler, Ben
Deschaine, Alisa Dickerson and Clay Condol
Phillip Rodenbeck’s Poetry Earns Local
Honor
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Phillip Rodenbeck |
Phillip Rodenbeck’s literary skills earned the Art Spaces Inc. Choice
Award in the inaugural Max Ehrmann Poetry Competition at the Halcyon
Gallery of the Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute. He was one of 17 Wabash
Valley poets honored among 308 poets entering the contest, which was
sponsored by Arts Illiana.
Rodenbeck, a senior mechanical engineering from Valparaiso, Ind.,
submitted “At Young Indiana,” a poem inspired by his grandparents’ farm
being bought by subdivision developers. (See poem below)
“Poetry is a personal endeavor of mine. I find great reward in it and
hope to make an engineer/poet double-life work in the future,” he said.
Ehrmann was a Terre Haute native who wrote such classic poems as
“Desiderata” which made people think about their surroundings and
conditions.
At Young Indiana
I awoke before the crowing
in a fragile dream,
fishing on sandless banks, a lake
that flashed with bluegill and sunnies—
a bright reptilian water.
The sun-copper corn field echoed
at my back the grinding metal
of mechanical gods,
a slow dust behind them.
I awoke before the crowing
and scrambled up the stairs
which permanently smelled of old bones,
old creaky grandma bones,
used to flexing their knuckles around
the wooden handle of a hay hook
and the rough utter,
used to brushing blonde hair behind the ear
and making supper for twelve.
At young Indiana,
at home we are young.
I came in before the cooing,
tired from racing grasshoppers
down the Spartan rows, bending in a tepid wind,
with splinters of barn wood
stuck into my fledgling hands.
It is marvelous to behold
a tire five times taller than yourself.
Father comes in from the fields.
I came in before the cooing
of suburban mothers,
with houses and fences in firm grid
spread over streets of thematic
and forgetful name in thick
elliptic butter knife paths
of apple butter grandma preserved
to serve us on toast from within
the copy-paste home
she purchased on settlement assets.
We’re all old enough.
The young boys run in from blacktop games
for supper.
At young Indiana,
at home we are young in our memories.
There is no sadness, it is good,
it is better that young men
have a home.
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