The Department of Math and Computer Science took two programming teams to the Association for Computing Machinery South Central Region Programming Contest at LSU on Nov. 7-8, in Baton Rouge, La.  One of the teams, consisting of students Kelson Gist, Jacob Schrum, and Morgan Sweatt, scored 24th (out of 79 teams) overall, and they scored 3rd overall among teams from schools with no graduate program in computer science (teams may have one graduate student). The other team consisted of David Luna, Tim Moore, and Nathan Roe, with alternate Tim Given. This team placed 48th overall and 8th among teams from schools with no graduate program. This is a very impressive showing, and the department would like to congratulate all of the contestants! Any students interested in competing next year should contact coaches Suzanne Buchele, Rick Denman, or Barbara Owens, and should sign up for CSC 54-301, Problem Solving for Rapid Application Development.

Heather Martin, a senior chemistry major, has been awarded the 2004 I.M. Kolthoff Award for undergraduate research by the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Analytical Chemistry. As part of the award, the ACS will sponsor Heather's trip to the ACS National Meeting in Anaheim, Calif. in March to present her research on determining phthalate ester concentrations in PET bottles exposed to UV radiation. Heather is working collaboratively on this research project with Emily Niemeyer, assistant professor of chemistry.

October 2003

Preservice teachers, Aaron Bowser, sophomore, and Manjah Fernandez, junior, and La Vonne I. Neal, assistant professor of education, will be the keynote speakers at a workshop for teachers in Austin ISD on Monday, Oct. 13, at the Delco Center. Teachers from k-12 schools will attend. Bowser and Fernandez will present their research about the cultural disconnects between traditional curriculum and societal curriculum. Their presentation is titled "Braids, Fades, and Razorblades: The Educational Function of the African American Barbershop."

Frank Guziec, professor of science, and his students, junior Michael Brinkman and seniors Kimberly Larson and Jade Hatley, volunteered their time for three afternoons last week to help the Operation Achievement students light up and get slimed. The Operation Achievement students were treated to not one but two great science experiments in the Fondren-Jones labs. They discovered polymers and got to make and take home their own slime as well as getting to watch an exciting fluorescence experiment with luminol and iron. Operation Achievement thanks Guziec for "Lighting the Fires of Knowledge" in over 60 young middle schoolers.

Sophomore Jessica Scheider has been named SCAC female cross country runner of the week. Jessica won the Texas State Division III cross country championships on Saturday, Sept. 27. The 5K race was run on SU's Kurth Landrum Golf course.

September 2003

The research lab of Traci Giuliano, associate professor of psychology, presented four papers at the national meeting of the American Psychological Society this summer in Atlanta, Ga: (1) Giuliano, Jennifer Knight '00, and seniors Kelly Turner and James Lundquist presented "Like Mike or Mia? The Selection and Influence of Elite Athletic Role Models;" (2) James Lundquist, Giuliano, and senior Krista Wilke presented "The emergence of professional female athletes as role models;" (3) Jennifer Knight and Giuliano presented "The impact of heterosexist portrayals on perceptions of male and female athletes;" and (4) Kelly Turner, Giuliano, James Lundquist, and Jennifer Knight presented "Twice as nice: The double burden of contemporary female athletes."

August 2003

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced its 2003 All-Academic Teams and Scholar Athletes, and Southwestern University received two national honors.

The Pirate women were selected as one of the top academic teams in the nation with a team GPA of at least 3.2.

Travis Bias, a senior from Austin, was named to the men's scholar athlete squad. In order to qualify, Bias had to have at least a 3.5 GPA.