Daily Herald the Brown
vol. cxlv, no. 119 | Tuesday, November 30, 2010 | Serving the community daily since 1891
Grant gives new life to the virtual reality Cave By Joseph Rosales Contributing Writer
Stephanie London / Herald
The Center for Computation and Visualization is home to the University’s Cave, a virtual reality cube.
One minute it’s showing the surface of Mars, and the next there is three-dimensional poetry wrapping its walls. It’s called the Cave, but it’s really just a cube — a virtual reality universe. And it’s currently undergoing a $2 million renovation. The National Science Foundation awarded the Center for Computation and Visualization, home to the University’s Cave, a grant for renovations in Sept. 2009. The system — an eight-foot cube with images projected on walls in front, to the left and right of the user and on the floor — is now 11 years old. Cave users wear LCD-shutter glasses that allow them to view data from a variety of angles. The Cave is
equipped with tracking devices that move the projections to wherever the user is looking or touching. The grant will allow the implementation of 70 new high-definition projectors, as well as wireless glasses and a bigger space to move around in, said John Huffman, graphics systems analyst for the CCV. These renovations will give users “the ability to completely immerse yourself in ... scientific data,” said David Laidlaw, professor of computer science. “It’s sort of like going from the very first telephone ... to the iPhone 4,” Laidlaw said. Many different departments use the Cave, including a “Cave Writcontinued on page 3
Gas prices Browning ’79 changes perceptions of mental illness reach year high in R.I. By Miriam Furst Staff Writer
Nicole Browning ’79, chair of the board of Dominique’s Fund, a nonprofit organization she founded in honor of her late daughter, came to
By Caitlin Trujillo Senior Staff Writer
Gas prices broke the $3 mark in Rhode Island last week before the beginning of Thanksgiving break and continue to climb statewide. Prices are at their highest so far this year, according to the American Automobile Association of Southern New England.
METRO The average price for regular unleaded gasoline in Rhode Island is $3.041 per gallon as of Nov. 29. That price is two cents more than last week’s average, and compares to $2.66 per gallon one year ago. In the midst of travel plans and Thanksgiving preparations, state gas prices settled at 19 cents more per gallon than the national average, according to a Nov. 29 AAA press release. Despite higher costs, the price of gas has not affected University transportation services such as safeRIDE. University services already have price fluctuations accounted for in their budgets, wrote Elizabeth Gentry, assistant vice president of financial and administrative services, in an e-mail to The Herald. Continued and extreme price increases could force the Office of
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News.....1–4 Feature.......5 Editorial......6 Opinion.......7 Today..........8
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FEATURE Brown Nov. 9 to give a presentation on the stigma attached to mental illness and suicide. This is the first time Browning has come to campus to talk to students. She said her mission is to change the public percep-
tion of suicide and raise awareness about mental illness. At the lecture, Browning presented a slideshow of pictures from her daughter’s life. The point of this presentation, Browning said, was to show students that mental illness can affect anyone — the person next to them, their friend, their sister or even themselves. Browning talked about how her daughter was a very active student at Connecticut College. On the outside, she was a jazz singer, a talented writer and an involved student. Just from looking at her, Browning said people could
not tell she was suffering from bipolar disorder, an eating disorder and depression. Browning said that because there tends to be so much shame associated with mental illness, those affected turn inward instead of seeking help. Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services, said that at Brown, every effort is made to avoid that shame. “We certainly don’t stigmatize mental illness,” she said. “We try to make help accessible, but still people are not always sure because
Plagiarism detector Turnitin turns attention to admissions By Greg Jordan-Detamore Contributing Writer
Many college applicants may soon find their admissions essays electronically screened for plagiarism.
HIGHER ED The company behind Turnitin. com, the popular website used for years to screen academic writing for plagiarism, has developed a new service for college admissions essays. But according to the Office of Admission, Brown does not plan to use the service. Essays are submitted to Turnitin.com, which then compares them against a massive database which includes both current and archived
content from the Internet, books, journals, newspapers and more, as well as over 135 million students essays previously submitted to Turnitin, according to the website. For each essay, a report is generated highlighting any text that matches anything from the database. The new ser vice, Turnitin for Admissions, does the same thing, searching Turnitin’s database of written content, plus a growing pool of admissions essays that have been submitted. Though the ser vice has been used thus far only on a trial basis by several graduate programs, the company expects to see a large expansion in the field of undergraduate admissions next year.
it’s one of those things that, until you find yourself needing to access (it), you’re not paying attention to it in the same way.” Browning said that after her daughter’s death three-and-a-half years ago, people did not know how to act around her. She said when someone dies of cancer, people say things like “I’m so sorry for your loss,” but because suicide is a taboo subject, people sometimes do not know how to convey their sympathy. continued on page 4
G ood v i b rations
Max Monn / Herald
Despite the occasional vibration from machinery, students say construction on campus has not been disruptive. See page 4.
continued on page 2
On the web
Still learning
Complicated
U. offers online education classes to high schoolers
Two emeritus profs win humanities research grants
Waite ’11 analyzes student-professor relationships
NEWS, 2
NEWS, 3
Opinions, 7
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