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Alumni
Interview with an Astronaut:
ME Grad Set to Command Next Space Shuttle
On his way to space, Rick Sturckow (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1984) is proving that with a Cal Poly education the sky’s the limit. “A lot of the lessons I learned at Cal Poly have helped me a great deal both in the Marine Corps and here at NASA,” Rick Sturckow, Commander of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, told Cal Poly Journalism Student Brittany Davis Pulley. Pulley wrote a story about her interview with Sturckow as part of a class assignment this quarter, and shared it with Update.
Read journalism student Brittany Pulley's interview with alumni astronaut Rick Sturckow
Take Courses at Home Through eAlumni College
The Cal Poly Alumni Association and Cal Poly Continuing Education and University Outreach have joined forces to offer The eAlumni College. The program allows participants
to learn at their own pace from the comfort of home or office. It also offers a world-class, comprehensive collection of online courses from top companies and authors. Through global partnerships with respected online training corporations and institutions, eAlumni students have access to more than 5,000 courses in more than 80 categories. Categories include business, healthcare, internet design, and technical programs, as well as prep courses for professional examinations and credentialing.
Read details about the new eAlumni College programs and offerings
Alumni in the News
How did Cal Poly alumni make headlines last month? For starters, an English major was inaugurated as the President of the University of North Texas -- UNT's first woman president. A Natural Resources Management alumna was named the first female state fire marshall in California history. An Ag Business Alum was named California's Undersecretary of Agriculture, and a famous Aero Engineering alum was in the headlines again -- this time for setting up a "Spaceline." Many more alumni were in the news this month -- see if you know any of them.
Read about Cal Poly Alumni in the News
Cal Poly Alumni Association Spring Events
This spring you’ll find lots of great events for alumni and their families like the annual Family Day at Baggett Stadium on Sunday, May 20. Join fellow alums, families and friends for a fun-filled day of Cal Poly baseball. Watch the game from Krukow’s Club House while enjoying hot dogs, chips, beverages and great Poly Pride. For details on this as well as many other upcoming events in San Luis Obispo and around the state, visit the alumni event calendar at www.alumni.calpoly.edu and click on “event calendar.” Events are added as soon as details are confirmed so check back often for programs in your area.
Read more details about CPAA Spring Events -- including golf tournaments
University
News
Building Boom:
Projects Rising
Across Campus
It's spring -- and new buildings are cropping up all over Cal Poly in a campus "building bloom." Several projects have recently been completed, including the Engineering IV Building, Bonderson Projects Center, Spanos Stadium, and the Center for Coastal Marine Sciences in Avila Beach.
More about Cal Poly construction projects -- including webcams
Cal Poly Freshmen Again
Most Prepared, Proficient in CSU
Freshmen who entered Cal Poly in the fall continue to rank above all 22 California State University campuses in both grade point average and proficiency in math and English. In figures released in mid-April by the CSU, Cal Poly freshman again scored high. In fall 2006, 94.3 percent of Cal Poly freshmen tested proficient in math and 88.7 percent in English. In 2005, those numbers were 95 percent for math and 91 percent in English. Cal Poly's proficiency numbers are again higher than the CSU system-wide freshman proficiency averages of 62.5 percent in math and 54.7 percent in English.
More on Cal Poly freshman proficiency
Photos:
Sun Shines on 14th Open House
An estimated 20,000 visitors toured campus April 20-21 for the 14th Annual Cal Poly Open House. Friday's showers on Admitted Student Preview Day ended in time for the Poly Royal Parade Saturday morning (April 20), allowing parents, students and visitors to spend the day viewing exhibits including the annual Design Village competition in Poly Canyon and stay dry at the same time.
Read the Mustang Daily story and see the Daily photo slide show on Open House
See the KSBY story and video
on Cal Poly's Open House
Brock Center Hosts Forum on Vegetable Grower Food Safety
Leaders of California's vegetable industry gathered at Cal Poly in April for a food safety forum in the wake of last September's e-coli outbreak in spinach. Last fall, three people died and hundreds fell ill after eating contaminated spinach. Since then, numerous California agricultural organizations have been working to prevent future outbreaks. On April 12, industry leaders addressed future farmers and others with food safety interests at Cal Poly in an event sponsored by the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and its Brock Center for Agriculture Communication.
Read more about the vegetable food safety forum
Questions and Answers: Information for Parents,
Students and Community
Cal Poly responded in many ways to the April events at Virginia Tech. The University prepared handouts for distribution at Open House April 20-22 to answer questions from parents, students and the community about Cal Poly students' safety and campus emergency communications and safety plans. Students also held a noontime memorial service and a candlelight vigil.
Read more about Cal Poly's response to Virginia Tech
Today's
Students
Student Engineering Team Wins Eco-Car Competition at 1,902-mpg
A team of Cal Poly Engineering Students competing in the U.S. Shell Eco-Car Challenge April 14 took the top prize and $10,000 for the university with their entry, a sleek vehicle which performed at an astounding 1,902 miles per gallon. The Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition offered the grand prize to the university whose student team completed the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel. Students from the across the U.S. and Canada competed April 14 at the first Shell Eco-marathon Americas in Fontana. Cal Poly's official mpg in the competition was 1902.7 miles per gallon.
Read More about the Cal Poly Super Mileage Team and their amazing win
Cal Poly Engineering's P-Pod Satellites Launched into Space in Russia
A Russian Dnepr rocket laden with 14 small international satellites -- seven of them designed and built in a joint project involving Cal Poly and Stanford -- flew out of an underground missile silo and soared into space Tuesday. The three-stage rocket lifted off 5:46 a.m. Pacific Standard Time Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Three P-POD deployment systems built by students and professors at Cal Poly housed seven miniature CubeSat payloads during launch. The CubeSats ejected from the P-POD devices a few moments after arriving in orbit. The CubeSat program - developed and run by officials at Cal Poly and Stanford University - offers universities and low-budget satellite programs an affordable way to put payloads in space.
Read the full story on the Cal Poly P-Pod launch on SpaceflightNow.com | See the KCOY Story and News Video
Business Students Raise $80,000 for Wheelchairs for the Needy
The Cal Poly student chapter of the Wheelchair Foundation raised $48,000 at its annual 'Gift of Mobility' fundraiser April 14. The benefits from the evening event bring the student team's 2006-07 charity total to $80,000 for the year. "We are still receiving donations, so that number may increase a little," said student Kelly Hurley, Media Relations Manager for this year's Cal Poly Wheelchair Foundation team. "But we have already surpassed our initial goal by almost $15,000." The club will be able to send more than 1,000 wheelchairs to Argentina this summer.
Read More about the 2007 wheelchair delivery to Argentina
Cal Poly Business Students Headed to Texas This Week for Nationals
The Cal Poly SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) Team is competing in Dallas, Texas, May 6-8, in the 2007 national SIFE competition. The team earned its way to nationals after taking top honors at the SIFE regional competition in March in Los Angeles. All competing teams gave 30-minute presentations discussing their projects. They included a business skills workshop for inmates at the California Men's Colony, with SIFE students working one-on-one with prison inmates about to reenter society. Internationally, the team helped provide funding for Seeds of Hope, which works to dig water-wells for African tribes in Zambia.
More on the Cal Poly SIFE Team and its projects and regional victory
Graphics Students
Capture Grand Prize in International Competition
Cal Poly graphic communication students captured first-place honors in an international competition for producing a research journal. The university’s student chapter of the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts (TAGA) won the grand prize award at TAGA’s annual convention. Eight students and Graphic Communication Department Head Harvey Levenson attended the conference in Pittsburgh, where they received the award. Only 25 TAGA student chapters worldwide are eligible to participate in the competition.
More on the graphics students and their grand prize award
Mustang Daily Takes More National Awards
Cal Poly’s student produced newspaper, the Mustang Daily, won several awards at the recent College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers national convention in Portland, Ore. Cal Poly business senior Elizabeth Carmo was named Advertising Sales Representative of the Year for newspapers with a combined weekly circulation of less than 40,000. Shay Swetech, an art and design major, was named Designer of the Year for the same circulation category.
More on the Mustang Daily awards
Students Spend Spring Break Working in New Orleans
A group of six Cal Poly students spent their spring break volunteering in New Orleans -- cleaning up neighborhoods still affected by Hurricane Katrina. "We spoke with displaced elderly people who are suffering psychological damage, who have been away from family, who have lost pets. We worked with ARNO, which is Animal Rescue New Orleans, and they've rescued 1,500 dogs and cats so far," said student Kara Callaway, one who made the trip. The group drove to New Orleans to volunteer with an organization called Relief Spark.
Read More about students volunteering in New Orleans
Engineering Student Wins $10,000 Google Scholarship
Jessica Kiefer, 20, is two years away from obtaining bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering at Cal Poly. In April, she won a prestigious $10,000 scholarship from Google—an award the Internet search company gives out annually to women pursuing careers in computer science and engineering. Kiefer is a strong advocate for women in technology. She's a board member for the Society of Women Engineers and does outreach with local Girl Scouts. Her ultimate goal is to get a doctorate in engineering and teach at Cal Poly, but Kiefer said she’s still exploring options after she graduates, starting with an internship at Google this summer.
Read the SLO Tribune story on Google Scholarship winner Jessica Kiefer
Faculty
& Staff
Music Professor Wins $20,000 CSU Award
Cal Poly music professor, master performer and composer Craig Russell has been selected by The California State University to receive a prestigious award for excellence. Russell was among four CSU faculty members and one administrator to be named a 2007 recipient of the Wang Family Excellence Award. The Wang award, which includes $20,000 to each annual winner, was established in fall 1998. Former CSU Trustee Stanley T. Wang provided $1 million to reward outstanding faculty and administrators.
More on the CSU award for Professor Russell
Professor Working to Save Bees from Mystery Disease
Professor Scott Jeffreys teaches beekeeping at Cal Poly and heads the Cal Poly Honey project. Jeffreys is working to genetically select mite-resistant queens to repopulate California beehives -- and save the state's bee industry. Bees in California and throughout the United States are falling victim to a mysterious mite. “In the last year we have identified queens that express a resistance to the mites,” Jeffreys says. “We plan to breed these queens to create new colonies that will not be as susceptible to the colony collapse disorder.”
Read more about Professor Jeffreys' work with bees
Helene Finger Receives Fellowships for Research
Helene Finger has led the Cal Poly Women's Engineering Program for nearly a decade. Among other accomplishments, she has played a vital role in the university's Society of Women Engineers being named “Best in Nation” for the last six years. Now her sights are set on improving ocean water quality – and earning her Ph.D. in the process. Finger has been awarded a Doctoral Scholars Fellowship by UC Santa Barbara, supporting her pursuit for a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering in the area of environmental engineering.
More on Helene Finger
Professor Profiled for His Work to Sweeten International Chocolate Trade
The Pacific Coast Business Times profiled Cal Poly Food Science Professor Tom Neuhaus in an April article. When you ask Tom Neuhaus what he does, he will tell you that he is “linking the world through chocolate.” Neuhaus, a food science professor at Cal Poly, is also the owner of Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates, one of only a few certified organic and Fair Trade chocolate companies in the United States. While teaching about the politics of "why we eat what we eat,” Neuhaus said he became interested in notions of Fair Trade, a social movement that strives to promote equity and improve economic security for goods producers in underdeveloped nations.
Read more about Professor Tom Neuhaus
Assistant Vice President Explains Cal Poly's Pioneering E-Admissions
Cal Poly's admission process has been all digital, all the time since 1996. James L. Maraviglia, assistant vice president of Admissions, Recruitment and Financial Aid, explains that surveys done in the early 1990s indicated students didn't want to use paper. So the university launched a DOS-based electronic application in 1992. From there, the university has developed an entire electronic admission strategy that now includes personalized web portals, streaming video, e-mail, and phone messages. Communications are tailored depending on which stage of the process a student is in. There are even special messages for parents and alumni.
Read more about Cal Poly's electronic admission process
Animal Science Professor Evaluates
Meat Processing Plants in Africa for USAID
Animal Science Professor Bob Delmore recently traveled to Ethiopia as part of a project for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project involves setting standards for the Ethiopian livestock industry and meat processing plants, plus a marketing effort for that African nation's meat products. The USAID project in Ethiopia is managed by Texas A&M University on behalf of the foreign aid organization, which invited Cal Poly's professor Delmore to travel to Africa to evaluate seven meat processing plants for their potential to develop a beef export program to countries in the the Middle East.
Read more about Professor Delmore's trip and report
Coming
Up
Coming Up on Campus in May 2007: Plenty
May is bursting with arts and entertainment on campus. See students' best artwork in the annual juried student art show in the University Art Gallery, hear Roseanne Cash in concert at the Cohan Center, listen to the Arabic Music Ensemble founded by Professor Kenneth Habib,
see the Theatre Department's production of the haunting "Beauty Queen of Leenane," hear the Cal Poly Choirs and the Cuesta Master Chorale join voices, listen to the Cal Poly Early Music Ensemble at Mission SLO, catch some "Hairspray" on stage thanks to Cal Poly Arts, and get ready for June, when Claudia Villela guests with the University Jazz Bands and the Cal Poly Symphony performs. And don't forget to save room for Chef Ian McPhee's gourmet cooking at the 8th Annual Mustang Madness Silent Auction June 2, and the artisan breads and wines at the next gourmet fundraiser for Cal Poly's Sustainable Agriculture Resource Center June 3.
Read details about events & entertainment at Cal Poly in May and early June
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