Mustang Daily 03/06/09

MUSTANG dAILY TOMORROW: Mostly Cloudy High 65˚/Low 41˚

CA L I F O R N I A P O LY T E C H N I C S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y Damon Castillo Band performs benefit concert.

Thousands rally outside California’s highest court.

IN ARTS, 4

IN NEWS, 2

See what’s ahead for Cal Poly athletics. IN SPORTS, 8

Friday, March 6, 2009

Volume LXXII, Number 106

www.mustangdaily.net

PBS show to use Cal Poly facilities to test possible amelia Earhart plane remains Genevieve Loggins mustang daily

PBS’ “History Detectives” are coming to Cal Poly to test the remains of what might be one of the planes Amelia Earhart flew. The piece will be tested in an engineering lab facility on campus. Part of the landing gear was found from a plane off the coast of Hawaii, perhaps one of Earhart’s practice flights, materials engineering department chair Kathy Chen said. “The show will be about if this piece of the plane could really be the same one that Amelia Earhart flew,” she said. The metal will be tested to see if it is a piece of one of Earhart’s practie planes, Chen said. “We’re looking for copper, magnesium elements in the aluminum, and we have that capability in one of our labs using a scanning electroscope,” she said. “We can tell whether this university archives, california polytechnic state university material is what it should be, Amelia Earhart (fourth from left) came to Cal Poly in 1935 where students helped repair her Boeing 100 aircraft. but if it’s the plane Amelia EarShe is shown in front of Cal Poly’s Aeronautics Unit with (from left) aeronautics instructor M.C. Martinsen, colhart flew, they’re going to figure league and Hollywood pilot Paul Mantz, student Phillip Jensen and student Harley Smith. that out on the show.”

Earhart brought her Lockheed Electra 10-E airplane to Cal Poly for repairs in 1936, where students repaired her Boeing 100 aircraft. “Cal Poly is one of the first colleges at the time to design and build our own aircraft,” library assistant Catherine Trujillo said. “She needed to get some repairs done on her plane, and this was the closest place to come.” Earhart’s goal was to travel more than 34,000 miles around the world, and in July 1937 she set out for Howland Island for another 7,000 miles. Despite the unresolved radio frequencies and series of storms, she flew to her destination only to disappear, according to the University Archives. The piece of aircraft being tested at Cal Poly is not from the same plane Earhart disappeared in, but it will reveal what the piece of aircraft is, University Archives Director Ken Kenyon said. “History Detectives” investigates modern technologies and solves historical mysteries in order to help solve myths existing in today’s history. It airs at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday on PBS.

Students solve Texas housing problem, win prize Chris Jagger mustang daily

Construction management students once again proved they could compete with some of the top construction programs in the nation. Cal Poly’s student team took third place in the four-year school division at the Residential Construction Management Competition in Las Vegas, hosted by the National Association of Home Builders. “A lot of people were impressed with our work this year,” said construction management senior Caitlin Hickey. “All in all it was an awesome experience that provided groundwork for a career in the residential industry.” According to Hickey, the team was given documentation of a large-scale residential project in San Antonio and had to apply their knowledge about the home building process to solve a residential construction problem. Two of the

team members even flew to Texas to survey the chosen housing development area. The team put together a 275page proposal that included a detailed construction plan, marketing plan and financial allocations. As chief analyst, Hickey was in charge of creating a marketing strategy. Her business-oriented work involved researching the demographics of the area as well as determining the spending power of the residents. Cal Poly competed against 39 other universities. Many of these schools, including first place Brigham Young University and runner-up Middle Tennessee State University, have a full time residential curriculum. Despite the fact that Cal Poly only offers one residential class, the team is a perennial contender and won in 2006 and 2007. To assemble the group, faculty adviser Scott Kelting selected construction management students

with good grades and a high level of interest in residential construction. Starting in mid-October, these students devoted three months to the intensive project. Seven students participated; Hickey, Chris DeHaan, Matt Anderson, Patrick O’Neill, Darrin Bigus, Josh Hoffman, Hannah Salling and Kelting. “The time commitment was crazy,” Hickey said. “We spent almost all of Christmas break working on it.” The group traveled to Las Vegas to compete during the third week of January to give an oral presentation regarding their proposal in front of a panel of actual project managers from NAHB companies. For three days they presented their work, answered questions and defended their findings. “Las Vegas was crazy,” Hickey said. “Apart from the construction aspects, I learned a lot about how to talk in front of people and look professional.” The Home Builder’s Association

of the Central Coast sponsored Cal Poly’s team. Jennifer Phillip, the executive officer of the Central Coast NAHB, raised $2,000 to support the team’s efforts. Half of the money came from Phillip’s annual golf tournament.

“We had been looking to get involved because many of our members are coming out of Cal Poly,” Phillip said. “It’s a natural symbiotic relationship I suppose. We are certainly going to try to support the student chapter in years to come.”

courtesy photo

The construction management team from Cal Poly won third place in the Las Vegas Residential Construction Management Competition this year.