Vera Coleman, a doctoral student in Spanish literature in the School of International Letters and Cultures in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was inspired to take a new direction with her academic studies after living and studying abroad. 

Having lived in Korea, Japan and the United States as a child, Coleman says her early experiences “fostered (her) love for both urban and natural landscapes” and nurtured a deep appreciation for multiculturalism. She was inspired to pursue a degree in Spanish after studying abroad in Spain for a semester, following her sophomore year. Download Full Image

“Although I began pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology and pre-medicine, after two years of undergraduate work and one semester abroad in Spain, I realized that as much as I loved the natural sciences, Hispanic literature and culture were my true passion,” Coleman says.

Coleman’s research has examined the correlations between the natural sciences and the humanities in Latin American poetry.

“Vera's interdisciplinary master’s thesis, ‘Body and Universe: Post-humanist Approaches to Materiality in the Poetry of Cristina Peri Rossi and Cecilia Vicuña,’ breaks new ground in Latin American theory and criticism as it intertwines poetry, chemistry, biology, quantum physics and material feminism, all in plain language,” says Cynthia Tompkins, professor of Spanish and Coleman’s master’s thesis committee chair.

In support of her doctoral work, Coleman received a Graduate Education Dean’s Fellowship for the 2013-2014 academic year. The fellowship provides financial support to regularly admitted first year graduate degree students who are Arizona residents or underrepresented in their discipline, and who demonstrate academic excellence. 

The School of International Letters and Cultures offers courses in more than 20 languages and cultures, making it one of the most dynamic international humanities programs in the United States. The school offers master's and doctoral degrees in Spanish with either a literature or cultural studies concentration. With world-class faculty members from Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and other Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries, graduate students in the programs have opportunities for not only interdisciplinary study, but cross-cultural study as well. The school’s Spanish graduate programs are highly regarded by the international academic community.

In addition to Spanish literature and cultural studies on campus, the school offers study abroad programs to Seville, Spain, Barcelona and León, Spain, Mérida, Mexico and São Paulo, Brazil. School of International Letters and Cultures' study abroad programs are among the longest-running and most prestigious at Arizona State University. Founded in 1981 and directed by knowledgeable world-class faculty, the programs offer students the opportunity to experience and study international humanities and learn languages first-hand while earning credit toward their degrees.

Open to both graduate and undergraduate students, the school's study abroad programs in Spanish and Portuguese focus on the many cultural and literary differences within Spain and Latin America. Students in the Barcelona and León program, for example, have the opportunity to stay with host families while attending classes at the Universidad de León. Courses are balanced with weekend trips to surrounding cities to discover the rich cultural and literary history of the country. 

About the Seville program, former participant Hilary Delph says, “It was incredible to learn about an artist or ruler from the 17th century and then see the original work of art or the king's and queen's tombs. I have never had an academic experience like that and it really made the history and culture come alive.” 

The programs in Mexico and Brazil also offer enriching experiences with ancient (Mayan) and modern (urban Latin American) cultures through a mix of class work and cultural expeditions. 

Coleman had similar cultural experiences on her trip to Spain in 2009, where she studied at the Universidad de Granada, taking courses in Spanish literature and Latin American linguistics. “Studying abroad was one of the best decisions I ever made,” she says. “It not only gave me new perspectives on other cultures, but also encouraged me to see my own culture through the eyes of others.”

Coming back from Spain, Coleman knew she wanted to study Spanish further in a location where Spanish was a dominant part of the community. The fact that the region has a large Hispanic cultural community drew Coleman to Arizona. The outstanding graduate programs in Spanish led by faculty from a wide variety of cultures and backgrounds conviced her that ASU was the best place to pursue her graduate work. “I dreamed of living in a place again where I could hear Spanish spoken in the street,” she says. “ASU offers unique opportunities to be immersed in Spanish-speaking culture.”

Coleman plans to pursue a career in teaching Spanish and Latin American literature at a college or university while contributing to the field through further research. She plans to travel to many more Latin and Central American countries, including Mexico, Peru and Argentina.

Written by Daniel Lennie, communications intern, School of International Letters and Cultures.

The American labor movement is at a crossroads. Union density is at a 50-year low, economic inequality is staggering and corporate power dominates American politics and economic policy. Yet new and creative coalitions are challenging the status quo and forging new partnerships for social justice.

Kent Wong, noted labor attorney and director of the UCLA Center for Labor and Education, will be at Arizona State University on Oct. 8 to discuss these issues in his keynote address as part of ASU’s fourth annual Ethnic Studies Week celebration, Oct. 8 -16. Download Full Image

This year’s theme for ASU Ethnic Studies week is “What does it mean to be an ally? What does coalition-building look like?” In his talk, Wong will address the new American labor movement and the exciting seeds of resistance that are bringing unions, immigrant communities and communities of color together to achieve social change. His 5 p.m. lecture will be held in the Memorial Union, Cochise Room, on ASU’s Tempe campus, culminating a full afternoon of events to kick off the annual celebration.

Professor Wong, who teaches courses at UCLA in labor studies and ethnic studies, is founding president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (AFL-CIO) and a vice president of the California Federation of Teachers. Wong has written widely on the labor movement, union organizing, popular education, immigrant workers and undocumented students. An active supporter of the immigrant youth movement, he is the author of the books "Underground Undergrads" and "Undocumented and Unafraid." 

As part of his visit, Wong will also be leading an open student discussion the afternoon of Oct. 8 about the immigrant youth movement and students as leaders for social transformation. Undergraduate and graduate students are invited to join the session from 3-4:30 p.m. in West Hall 135, ASU's Tempe campus.

This year’s coordinating theme, “What does it mean to be an ally? What does coalition-building look like?” also is the focus of the panel that will open the week of events, beginning at 12 p.m., Oct. 8 in West Hall 135.

Beth Blue Swadener, professor of Justice and Social Inquiry and associate director of the School of Social Transformation, will facilitate a discussion with activists including Tia Oso, Arizona organizer, Black Alliance for Just Immigration; Daniel Rodriguez, founder, Arizona Dream Act Coalition and Arizona Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project; Ileana Meary Salinas, director of operations, Arizona Worker Rights Center; and Caroline Picker, social justice worker, Showing Up for Racial Justice.

The official Ethnic Studies week events will close out Oct. 16 with a conversation with Arlene Dávila, professor of anthropology and American studies at New York University. “What is critical about ethnic studies?” will be the focus of her session, to be held from 4-5:30 p.m. in West Hall 135.

But this year’s organizing committee has, in addition, identified a range of affiliated events going on at ASU and in the greater community that tie into the Ethnic Studies theme and celebration – from a Comparative Border Studies Colloquium by professors Rudy Guevarra, Jr. and Lily Welty at ASU on Oct. 4, to events with artist Wendy Maruyama at the ASU Art Museum and the Burton Barr Central Library on Oct. 29 and 30, to musical Performance in the Borderlands events in Downtown Phoenix Nov. 14-16.

“Critics of ethnic studies argue that the field teaches people to associate only with their own ethnic groups to the detriment of civil society,” says Karen Leong, associate professor of women and gender studies and faculty coordinator for this year’s events.

“In actuality, however, ethnic studies provides frameworks by which people may recognize and respect the different experiences of diverse communities while also finding ways to work collectively to achieve social justice based in common concerns or in solidarity for a particular community facing social injustice,” Leong says.

“We invite the ASU community as well as the larger Arizona community to attend these events and consider how we may participate in working together for sustainable change.”

The 2013 Ethnic Studies Week @ ASU events are co-sponsored by the School of Social Transformation, an academic unit of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Asian American Faculty and Staff Association.

Social scientists and others seeking insight into public opinion and behavior might benefit from Twitter-based research being conducted by two Arizona State University computer science doctoral students.

Yuheng Hu and Kartik Talamadupula are developing computer models for analytical systems that can harness massive amounts of data generated by Twitter and organize it in a rapid, reliable and efficient fashion. Download Full Image

Such a capability can help provide a sound basis for advanced statistical analysis of public opinion that develops in reaction to various events or to the emergence of social and political issues and controversies.

Hu and Talamadupula are doing the research under the supervision of Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computer, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, one of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

Kambhampati says the students’ research demonstrates how computer science can provide more sound information to help political scientists, social psychologists, linguists, journalists and others in similar fields gain more certainty in exploring societal attitudes and trends.

Gauging public reaction

Hu has created a computer model that performs a process he calls “sentiment analysis,” using data from Twitter messages to determine public reaction to various events. He tested the model during the presidential candidates’ debates before the 2012 national elections.

Hu’s system enabled him, for instance, to quickly determine whether there was a more positive or negative public reaction on Twitter to various comments made by the candidates.

Closely watched events such as political debates and campaign speeches generate thousands of tweets that indicate how the public feels about various subjects. But usually an analysis of Twitter messages is done manually, which provides only a limited sample of tweets with which to determine trends in public opinion.

Analysts “might be able to manually sort through 300 tweets to study language or analyze public sentiment, but they lose out on a lot of information and the process is inefficient,” Kambhampati explains.

Hu’s model can quickly segment and align tweets according to the content of the messages and what they express about events and issues, thus providing a more accurate gauge of public attitudes.

Twitter-based linguistics  

Hu teamed up with Talamadupula for a second project to conduct a computational linguistic analysis of the language used on Twitter. They were curious about whether the language of Twitter most resembles the way people communicate in text messages, e-mails or in the more formal language of magazines.

“All forms of social media and written publications have their own linguistic expectation,” Kambhampati says. Text messages contain language-shortening techniques, abbreviations and slang more frequently than e-mails, for instance.

“Linguists have been debating about the implications of the language of Twitter for some time, but Hu’s and Talamadupula’s research brings a needed large-scale analysis to the discussion,” he says.

Hu and Talamadupula conducted a computational linguistic analysis that took a “snapshot” from a portion of the Twitter fire hose from June to August in 2011. In this snapshot of thousands of tweets they found that the language tends to resemble e-mail and magazine language more than the language used in text messages.

Hu said they found Twitter language “surprisingly formal,” revealing that people resist word shortening and slang despite having to limit tweets to 140 characters.

New social science tool

Kambhampati says both projects exemplify the emergence of “computational social science,” a powerful tool for those in social science fields to more accurately analyze large amounts of data and provide a more solid basis for identifying or predicting trends in societal attitudes and behavior.

“Human behavior is dynamic and often hard to understand, this research has been a great opportunity to know people better through social media,” Hu says.  

Kambhampati says the analysis of social media – something that is used millions of times each day – gives researchers a more vast trove of data than standard polls and surveys from which to derive empirical evidence of public sentiment.

The kind of large-scale data offered by the computational methods Hu and Talamadupula are developing “is just the beginning” of advanced analytics that can have far-reaching impacts on sociological research, Kambhampati says.

Hu and Talamadupula presented their research at the International Conference of Weblogs and Social Media in Boston in July and Kambhampati made a presentation at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in August in Beijing, China.

Emerging research field

In addition, Kambhampati recently received a $55,000 Google Research Award to support work related to the Twitter Alignment project. It is Kambhampati’s third Google Research Award.

He says the awards keep coming because Google respects the work ASU researchers are doing in this area and the company has an interest in the emerging field of “computational journalism” tied to Twitter.

“Reporting on Twitter and analyzing what is said are new and emerging areas of journalism,” says Kambhampati. “Our research clearly relates to that emerging field.”

Kambhampati plans to use the Google grant to expand research in “ways that we haven’t even fully realized yet.”

In addition to presenting the research at conferences, Hu spent his summer doing a Microsoft Research Internship in Washington state. He performed similar research focused on using Twitter to predict users engagement in local events.

In collaboration with Srijith Ravikumar, who is pursuing a master’s degree in computer science at ASU, Talamadupula began research on new algorithms to rank Twitter search results according to the interests of specific users. He reported on the research at the Annual Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) conference in Washington state in July.

Their paper has also been accepted for presentation at the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management conference in San Francisco in October.

Written by Rosie Gochnour and Joe Kullman

Eight, Arizona PBS marks the 10th anniversary of its weekly public affairs program "Horizonte" – a show created to address issues of particular interest to the local Hispanic community. The show is hosted by José A. Cárdenas, senior vice president and general counsel of Arizona State University. The Eight original production was launched Sept. 18, 2003.

"Arizona Horizon/Horizonte" coordinating producer Mike Sauceda explains the show’s genesis. “The Eight, Arizona PBS management team recognized the importance of the Hispanic perspective within Arizona's community and wanted a program that presents that perspective," Sauceda says. "A committee from Eight, Arizona PBS met with Hispanic community leaders to determine what kind of issues we would cover and who might be a good host. Download Full Image

"It was decided that 'Horizonte' would be a show that would deal with issues ‘through a Hispanic lens,’ and that the show would be produced in English so that it could have an audience not only among Hispanics, but also among the wider community, since many of the issues covered by 'Horizonte'  are of broad appeal,” says Sauceda.

To commemorate the 10-year milestone, "Horizonte" will feature a special retrospective episode on Sept. 19, including clips from the show’s archives and guests on the following topics: immigration, politics and arts and culture.

The immigration segment will include a look back at a discussion on SB 1070 before it became law, and the “Protect Our City Initiative,” which required Phoenix police officers and other city employees to enforce federal immigration laws. Featured guests include Lisa Urias, co-chair of the Real Arizona Coalition, and Daniel Ortega, attorney and past chairman for the National Council of La Raza.
 
The politics segment will feature video clips from earlier broadcasts on Senator Russell Pearce’s recall election and Ethnic Studies Law HB 2281, which targets an ethnic studies program in a Tucson school district, as well as discussion about legislation between Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and House Assistant Minority Leader Kyrsten Sinema. Featured guests include: Bettina Nava, partner with FirstStrategic Communications public affairs firm, and John Loredo, political consultant and former Arizona state lawmaker.
 
The arts and culture portion of the broadcast will include highlights from earlier interviews with Edward James Olmos and Cheech Marin, as well as current guest artist Zarco Guerrero.

The retrospective episode will also feature interviews with local Hispanic leaders and others in the community commenting on what "Horizonte" has done for the community, what topics wouldn't be covered if it weren't for "Horizonte" and why people watch "Horizonte."

Additionally, Cárdenas will appear as a guest on Eight’s "Arizona Horizon" Sept. 18, to discuss the anniversary of "Horizonte."

In the show’s 10 years on air, Cárdenas has interviewed a veritable who's who of Arizona newsmakers. Governor Janet Napolitano, Congressmen Ed Pastor, Jeff Flake and Raul Grijalva, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, Bishop Thomas Olmsted, political consultant Alfredo Gutierrez, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and his successors Rick Romley and Bill Montgomery. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Arizona Supreme Court Justice Ruth McGregor and more have all joined Cárdenas in the "Horizonte" studio to discuss issues ranging from public policy to education.

Other memorable guests include: Ray Suarez of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," Jorge Ramos of "Univision" and actor, director and Olympic gold medal winner Henry Cejudo.

Prior to his tenure as senior vice president and general counsel of ASU, Cárdenas was chairman of the law firm Lewis and Roca LLP, where he practiced in the areas of commercial and civil litigation, and transactional/international law. Cárdenas is a longtime member of Los Abogados Hispanic Bar Association, having served on its board for several years and as president for three years, and is a graduate of Stanford Law School.

He has been appointed to various committees, commissions, task forces and boards by the Board of Regents, the Arizona Supreme Court, the Arizona State Bar and various Arizona Governors. He is also a member of the boards of Xico Inc. and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), having served 10 years as chairman of the TGen board.

Sauceda’s voice may be as familiar as his work on "Horizon." In addition to his full-time duties as a "Horizon" producer, he is a well-known news anchor on KTAR radio. Sauceda has been with "Horizon" since 1990. He arrived with many years of local radio experience. Sauceda is an Arizona native and favors the classic style of reporting: to truly dig up what’s behind a story and then craft it into a segment the community can understand and learn from.

Laarni Fernandez-Nuez is the Producer of "Horizonte." Prior to producing for "Horizonte," Fernandez-Nuez was a special projects producer and assignment desk manager at the CBS affiliate in Phoenix. She also worked at the ABC affiliate in Phoenix and for television stations in Chicago. Laarni earned a master's degree from the University of Phoenix and a bachelor's in Mass Communications from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

How do religious leaders affect the ways people think about big social issues?

Some of the Catholic Church’s recent moves to influence policy, including Pope Francis leading hours of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, got KJZZ's Nick Blumberg thinking about how, and how much, religious leaders can affect the way people make decisions on hotly contested social issues.

Blumberg interviewed Linell Cady, director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, to learn more about religious groups’ involvement in influencing immigration reform and policy on abortion, capital punishment and war.

Cady emphasized some of the difficulties religious leaders face when speaking about social issues.

“It’s a fine line between being, let’s say partisan, which creates enormous divisions within a congregation and a religious community, and trying to have a moral voice that speaks to the public issues of the day,” Cady said.

“I think religious leaders have to be careful about making decisions about when one becomes deeply involved in divisive issues.”

Cady also pointed out that people get their news from a variety of sources, even if they do belong to a particular “religious flock.”

“And that imagery, of a flock of sheep with the shepherd stating a position is just a caricature of the situation,” Cady said.

According to Cady, “members of religious communities have multiple identities and they do not just simply take the views of religious authority, although there does seem to be evidence that religious leaders have significant trust and respect accorded them.

“So there’s a way in which they can have perhaps greater influence than someone writing an op-ed column or a pundit in the newspaper,” she added.

Respecting your priest, however, does not mean you always follow his guidance. Cady pointed out that many Catholic women do not follow the church’s teachings about abortion and artificial contraception.

Cady also explained that faith leaders bring unique perspectives to public discussions of these types of issues.

“Different vocabularies and different perspectives that are not focused narrowly on self-interest, whether it’s political or economic ... can tap the imaginations of people, whether they are participants in a particular religious community or not,” Cady said.

In addition to serving as director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, Cady is also Dean’s Distinguished Professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies. Her most recent book is the co-edited volume, “Religion, the Secular, and the Politics of Sexual Difference,” published by Columbia University Press.

The Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict is an interdisciplinary research unit of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences that examines the role of religion as a driving force in human affairs.

Many students in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering are as busy on their summer “breaks” as they are during semesters when they’re taking full loads of courses.

That’s especially true for those who land sought-after summer internships with leading high-tech companies, government agencies and research institutions that put their budding engineering skills to the test. Download Full Image

Pressure, challenges and time-consuming work come with such intern assignments. But the reward is the opportunity to take valuable first steps on promising career paths.

Here, four ASU engineering students tell about their recent summer internship experiences:

Brittney Reyman is on course to graduate from ASU this semester with a degree in industrial engineering. Reyman grew up in Mesa, Ariz., where she graduated from Red Mountain High School in 2007. She worked a summer internship with IM Flash in Lehi, Utah. The company, which employs about 1,600 people, is a joint venture of major semiconductor manufacturers Intel and Micron.

Getting the job: I made contacts at the ASU Career Fair events that got me connected to people at IM Flash who were involved in the recruiting and hiring process for the company’s internships.

I learned that IM Flash wanted to hire only one industrial engineering intern for the summer and the company was collecting résumés from students at several universities. I ended up being the right fit for that one industrial engineering position.

Job duties: My assignment was with a small team that defines and manages quality standards for the entire operation. I led small teams from each of the semiconductor fabrication areas through various problem-solving exercises. The goal was to address root causes of deviation reports and reduce the quantity of those reports from these fabrication areas.

Deviation reports document product quality defects. It would be misleading to say I was striving to reduce the quantity of product defects because the reports document instances of potential defects – not necessarily defects, scrap or downgraded material quality (which are all different categories). These reports are filed to note a deviation that occurred in the process so that a decision can be made as to what to do with the product.

My project required multiple meetings to take place between each step, so I was given an additional assignment to better utilize my time between project meetings. That assignment was to develop a site-wide training document regarding a documentation system that is being introduced at the company.

Challenges: One of the more challenging things was managing where each team was in the problem-solving process and making sure I had made the appropriate adjustments to my strategy prior to meeting with each team.

The teams went through a series of meetings to complete the problem-solving exercises, and sometimes they did not work as well as I had intended, or the teams had constructive feedback to give me. I then adjusted what did not work well and integrated the feedback into my approach for the next team. This sometimes meant I had only a few hours to adjust my strategy before meeting with the next team. Managing this successfully required me to rely on skills I learned in my project management class at ASU, which included documenting my project thoroughly.

Best part of the job: The best part of my internship experience was being able to meet so many different people at various levels across the company. I worked closely with many of them to achieve a goal that would benefit both of our departments. I believe building that type of relationship as an intern is a huge stepping-stone to being successful, especially if I have the opportunity to return to the company full-time after graduation.

I also had the opportunity to meet others outside of those teams, largely because many of the employees at this site were open to talking with interns and sharing their insights with students. It was easy for me to ask for a few minutes of someone’s time and ask questions about their schooling, career background and life planning.

Lessons learned: One of the most important things I learned from this internship is how to manage a project involving a large number of people, how asking the right questions is the key to getting the answers you want and how important it is to network.

It was important that I understood the challenges each team faced in its area so that I could ask relevant questions, and sometimes gaining that understanding meant asking some dumb questions. If I were afraid to do that, eventually I would get too lost to be able to do my job effectively.

I also learned about the value of networking. Getting to know so many people in the company and learning what they worked on helped me to connect the bits of information I was learning about the manufacturing processes. Knowing more about those interactions helped me understand the bigger picture and how everything fit together.

My advice on making the most of an internship is to get to know people and to be a little fearless about it. Don’t be fearful because you are only an intern. Be confident in your skills and kindly ask your coworkers to share their insights with you.

_____________________________

Nick DePalma is a senior computer systems engineering major, with a focus on information security. He grew up in Gilbert, Ariz. and graduated from Mesquite High School in 2010. DePalma’s summer internship was in Phoenix, working with the technology division of the multinational financial services company, American Express.

Getting the job: Before the spring semester Engineering Career Fair, I was applying like crazy for jobs. My father, who is an engineer, suggested that I apply to American Express. At the career fair, I was about to leave when I noticed the American Express booth was not that busy, so I spoke with the representative and gave her my resume. A week later I got an email offering me an interview.

The interview consisted of two 45-minute behavioral interviews at the Engineering Career Center at ASU. I got an email a couple of days later saying that I made it to the second round of interviews. There were about 40 students at the second round of interviews; 12 of us got offers, so you could say the hiring was competitive.

Job duties: I was part of the Network Operations Performance and Availability business group. We were responsible for the overall health of the American Express network and infrastructure. My role consisted of working with the Tools team and the Wireless team.

For the Tools team, I worked with Network Alert Monitoring software that would push alerts whenever some part of the network was not functioning correctly. I taught myself Visual Basic and wrote a script to automate a process that used to take 10 hours, but now takes 10 minutes.

For the Wireless group, I helped with the rollout of the new wireless standard for all of Phoenix and the New York World Financial Center. I performed baseline tests of the old system in Phoenix and then, when the team implemented the new wireless system, I performed the same tests to prove that the new system is an improvement over the old one and was a wise investment.

Work environment: People in the group I worked with were extremely welcoming. From my first day, I was treated as a full-time employee and included in vital business decision-making.

The interns didn’t work on the same projects as each other, but when I was doing my wireless testing I enlisted the help of a couple of other interns to test the conference-call qualities of a specific application. We all got along well, and the internship leader organized various events for us, including bowling, a cooking class, a Diamondbacks game, a volunteer event and happy hours.

Challenges: The most difficult part was during the systems testing. I had to rely on other people for certain performance metrics and it was tough making sure I got all the data I needed before the deadline.

Best part of the job: The best part was being exposed to the different kinds of things being done by my coworkers in the technical group. If I wasn’t particularly busy, members of my group would take me to different engineering labs or give me tours of the data center.

Another great part was that it was immediately apparent that the work that I was doing was critical to the group. The Tools group work I did drastically saved time and changed the work landscape, and the Wireless group work I did established a new standard and paved the way for a more mobile work environment throughout American Express.

Lessons learned: The main thing I learned was how to leverage other people to help with my work. ASU gives me all the technical skills I could want, but on-the-job experience is the thing that will give you the tools you need to work with other people.

This internship will open up many doors for me. I believe that the work I did and the connections I made make me a hot commodity within the engineering world.

My advice for other students is to never stop applying for jobs and to never get discouraged. If you cast a wide net, companies will come to you. I had four interview offers after I accepted the American Express internship and that was because my resume had been in the system since November.

I also highly suggest getting professional resume help from someone in ASU’s Engineering Career Center.

_____________________________

Daniel Oliden is set to graduate this semester with a master’s degree in aerospace engineering, with a focus on aerodynamics and fluid dynamics. He’s an Arizona native who graduated in 2004 from Desert Vista High School in Ahwatukee. He did a summer internship with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Getting the job: I applied online through a NASA application web page called NASA Academy. I heard about it by looking online at NASA’s opportunities for graduate students. I had a connection with NASA through experience I got at ASU, including research and leadership experiences with student clubs. Oliden is a past vice president of the Air Devils, a student aeronautics team. The hiring was very competitive; thousands of people applied and only 19 were accepted.

Job duties: I worked on computational fluid dynamics of complex three-dimensional geometries of ice-accretion on aircraft surfaces. I worked in the Icing Branch at NASA Glenn Research Center, running in-house NASA computational fluid dynamics codes. I worked closely with two mentors. A famous icing research wind tunnel is located in the building I worked in, which is where the ice-accretion geometries I was working on were laser-scanned.

Work environment: NASA Academy is strongly based on team building and group projects. Therefore, we had two projects: one was a team project, which involved my research with the icing branch, and the other was a group project, which was worked on by all the Aeronautics Academy interns. We designed a methane-breathing aircraft to fly in the atmosphere of Titan (the largest moon of Saturn). We worked closely and built strong friendships with each other. The group members were from all around the country, from New York to Albuquerque.

Challenges: The most challenging thing was managing my time. The NASA Academy internship is an intense experience, particularly because of having to work on two big projects. The team project was worked on during regular business hours, but the group project was worked on during our own time after work. Besides that, we attended frequent presentations by speakers from NASA and the Ohio Aerospace Institute and went on tours of such company and government facilities as General Electric, Rolls Royce, Astrobotics, Parker Hannifin and Wright Patterson Air Force Base. All this kept us extremely busy.

Best part of the job: The best part was keeping us busy. Even though it was intense, it was packed with many learning activities and opportunities to network with professional engineers.

I met many amazing and intelligent people from all areas of engineering. I toured the latest and greatest aerospace laboratories and facilities.

I also very much enjoyed having a close relationship with all the other NASA Academy interns. We learned a lot about each other, shared experiences, debated about the future of aerospace and became close friends.

My previous internships have never emphasized team building as much as this one, and I appreciate that it did.

Lessons learned: Read up on the kind of work you will be expected to do in your internship before you start the job. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Socialize with other interns and coworkers, both at work and outside of work.

_____________________________

Andrew Dobos is a senior majoring in biomedical engineering. He graduated in 2010 from McClintock High School in Tempe, Ariz. He did a summer internship with the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), conducting research at the University of Arizona Center for Applied NanoBioscience and Medicine in Chandler.

Getting the job: I got the internship through TGen’s Helios Scholars summer internship program. The program is open to Arizona high school seniors, college graduate and undergraduate students, and medical school students. I was told that almost 500 students apply to participate each year and that I was one of 45 selected this year.

Job duties: TGen focuses on creating and optimizing techniques for diagnostics and treatments. It is at the forefront of personalized medicine, which aims to diagnose and treat diseases based on each individual patient’s needs. I worked, along with my mentor Dr. Cedric Hurth, on characterizing the effects that certain biomolecular interactions have on the drying mechanism of liquid droplets. This involved depositing microdroplets onto a coated and a noncoated microscope slide via pipette and observing the changes in the drying process due to the presence or absence of the slide coating.

I also constructed polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) flow cells, into which the solution in question was flushed. The solution contained beads coated with a vitamin or a protein. The beads were allowed to deposit onto the coated-slide surface of the flow cell and flushed with water at increasing rates to determine the adhesive force that each solution (bead) had with the coated-surface. Various techniques were employed and numerous flow cell devices were created. The method used to visualize the interactions was florescence microscopy, as the beads were fluorescently tagged.

I worked in a standard laboratory setting. The device I became most familiar with was the microscope, which I used to observe all the experiments. I constructed the flow cells in a class 100 clean room, which required wearing a hair net, face mask, goggles, lab coat, gloves and shoe covers. I also worked with a piezoelectric droplet dispenser, a plasma treatment chamber and an ultrasonic cleaner.

Challenges: My experiments consisted of a lot of trial and error. It was often days, and even weeks, before I would obtain results that my mentor and I found sufficient. The experimental process was often slow and it required much patience. However, this is necessary to avoid making redundant errors.

Best part of the job: I was excited to gain hands-on experience in such a welcoming environment. I was constantly surrounded by scientists who are working to make a positive impact on the lives of others. I feel I am walking away not only with the skills to work in a laboratory, but also the knowledge of why such work is useful and necessary. I have gained a deeper appreciation for the work conducted by these men and women, and am glad that I could be a part of it.

I now also have many new colleagues and friends in my field, many of whom I look forward to seeing and working with in the future.

Lessons learned: This internship taught me a lot about the nature of scientific research. I hope to apply this knowledge, along with laboratory skills I’ve gained, in future lab work.

The advice I would give to other students about working internships is to ask questions of people in your field and people you are working with. Many students avoid this. They think it makes them appear unintelligent. I have found that the opposite is true. Asking questions shows mentors that you are truly curious and engaged, and focused on the task at hand.

Editor's Note: This story is part of an ongoing series about student excellence at the university. To read more about some of ASU's outstanding students, click here.

Aaron Atchison is one of the 10,149 academically distinguished students who joined Arizona State University this year as part of its 2013 fall incoming freshman class. The 18-year-old Chicago native joined the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication to answer his true calling: storytelling. Download Full Image

Atchison got his start in his senior year of high school when a chance meeting with Linda Lutton, an education reporter at Chicago’s public radio station WBEZ, led to his first internship this past summer.

As the station’s first high school intern, he worked under Lutton’s mentorship, recording sound for stories and programs at school policy events and Chicago Public School budget hearings, and even helping her break news. Atchison also participated in an on-air panel discussion regarding racial profiling of young African-American youth, especially males, in Chicago.

“Aaron showed tremendous initiative and a strong interest in journalism during his time at the radio station,” Lutton said during a phone conversation. “We wanted a young person who could be representative of the challenges and emotions students experience when they are transitioning from school to college. He proved to be that voice.”

As part of his public radio internship, Atchison also produced a feature called In their own words: Fear of freshman year. The radio story focused on the anxieties, excitement and dreams of college-bound high school students ready to embark on perhaps their greatest adventure yet.

“It took about a month to produce, and blood, sweat and tears were involved,” he says, laughing. “It was stressful but a great learning process.”

And Atchison will continue to scale that learning curve during his time as a student at Cronkite, one of the top three journalism schools in the nation.

“I applied only to ASU and the University of Missouri,” he says. “I ultimately chose Cronkite because of its excellent reputation, faculty and opportunities. Also, Walter Cronkite is known for ethical journalism. I hope to model my career after him.”

Even though he misses family, Atchison loves being in sunny Arizona and on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus.

“I look forward to gaining new experiences, understanding everyone’s point of view on different issues and working on my biases,” he says. “I also wish to study abroad and visit maybe Norway or Sweden.”

The journalism freshman hopes to translate his penchant for storytelling into creating documentaries on social issues for a living.

Every turn in a conversation with Atchison reveals layers of maturity, drive and awareness – self and outward – that surpass his age.

“I don’t like to fool around with time because time is money,” he says. “I want to have fun but I’m here to figure out what my purpose is.”

Atchison says his mother’s struggle and determination to provide her four children with a good education and deep roots have shaped his perspective on life. Growing up in Chicago also has played a part.

“Chicago still needs to overcome many of its challenges related to economic, social and racial status,” he says. “Just observing these differences inspires me to draw attention to them and tell stories that are not usually heard.”

And this sense of responsibility toward others is why, according to Lutton, Atchison stands out in the crowd.

“Aaron is ambitious, dedicated to the craft of journalism, a great person and has a genuine awareness and concern for social conditions – even those outside of his social sphere and experiences,” Lutton said. “At this age, most young people are looking inwards but Aaron looks outwards, around him, to find compelling stories and address issues. That is remarkable for someone his age.”

To enhance friendship and economic cooperation between the United States and China, Arizona State University’s Confucius Institute will host a symposium, titled “Working with China in the Global Market” from 3 to 5 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 22.

Now in its fifth year, the forum is part of the Chinese mid-autumn harvest Moon Festival and National Day celebrations that take place every year at the ASU Memorial Union on the Tempe campus. Download Full Image

According to Madeline K. Spring, director of the Confucius Institute, the event has featured speakers from business, academic and government agencies in the past, and provides students, academics, and business and community leaders the opportunity to keep up with the current business trends related to China in the global economic realm.

“The growth of the symposium since its inception signals a growth in awareness regarding China’s increasing influence over the global financial markets,” Spring says. “The speakers share insights about their own experiences and about the complexities of developing and maintaining professional interactions with China in the 21st century.”

Fannie Tam, assistant director of the institute, says more than 200 attendees participate in the event every year.

“Foreign direct investment in China has seen a phenomenal increase during the last couple of years,” Tam says. “Through the forum, our Confucius Institute hopes to provide business and community leaders an insight into China’s diverse marketplace in the context of the Chinese culture and language.”

This year, the forum will feature three speakers; namely, Chuck Gray, district director of Rep. Matt Salmon's congressional office, “China: Strategic Partner or Economic Competitor?”; Briand Greer, president of Honeywell Aerospace Asia Pacific, “Commercial Aviation in China: A Close-Up View”; and Steven Tu, chief architect of mobile product line at Intel Corporation, “Intel’s Next Pivot Point: Mobile in China.”

Gray will represent Salmon, who has visited China on more than 30 occasions and is the chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. In his talk, Gray will discuss the need to improve U.S.-China relationship and push for trade policies to strengthen American economy and increase the number of jobs.

According to Intel’s Tu, a W. P. Carey School of Business alum, China is the great story that has fueled Intel’s growth in the past decade and continues to do so.

“As Internet growth continues, the mobile industry is building its aggressive momentum around the world, and it is especially evident in China,” Tu says. “This momentum is impelling a computing paradigm shift from PC to mobile. My presentation will reveal the mobile growth trend in China, Intel’s product development and manufacturing shift into mobile, the effect of China’s ecosystem to a new computing paradigm, and comments about why mobile is important to Intel in China.”   

Representatives of the Consulate General of People’s Republic of China in Los Angeles, government dignitaries and community leaders will join in the celebration hosted by United Chinese Alumni Associations, Confucius Institute and the School of International Letters and Cultures. 

In addition to the China Forum, the roster of events includes a poster design competition for children in grades K-8 and a photography contest open to middle to college students. Participation is free and open to all Arizona students.

A reception for guests will take place from 5-7 p.m., inside the Memorial Union’s Arizona Ballroom.

For more information on contest registration, directions and parking, visit http://confuciusinstitute.asu.edu/portal/chinaforum2013.

The N-word: You know what it is and what it means – or do you? Neal Lester, Foundation Professor of English and director of Project Humanities at Arizona State University, tackles why this word continues to “wreak havoc on our American popular psyche” in an opinion piece in the Ahwatukee Foothills News, on the Teaching Tolerance website, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

He writes: “American adults know the N-word’s history of violence, intimidation, and disparagement of black bodies, and most folks know that it has not shed its inherent connection to black/white racial bias and hatred even today. Entire websites are devoted to mocking and brutally attacking blacks across the globe and daily Google Alerts verify that the word is prevalent in public and private circles. The word travels across oceans in the form of hip-hop music and a hip-hop store in Malawi carries as its name this single word. Recently as a radio panelist on this “unforgiven” word, I was lumped with the old folks who can’t understand how the word has allegedly been coopted or appropriated by some younger folks to take its sting out, to be a “term of endearment.” My young accuser was right. It is impossible for me to imagine that this word – deemed “the most toxic in the English language;” “the most inflammatory, shocking and historic word in the English language;” “the filthiest, dirtiest, nastiest word in the English language;” the word that “occupies a place in the soul where logic and reason never go;” “six simple letters that convey centuries of pain, evil and contempt” and “the all-American trump card, the nuclear bomb of racial epithets” – can be termed one of endearment, and if the word is like “homey,” “man,” or “dude,” why is it used instead of these words?” Download Full Image

Major lawsuits defined to address “black-on-black racial harassment” are being discussed in courts in New York and on university campuses in Alabama, but the end result, Lester says, is this: “There is really no double standard in which Paula Deen can’t say the word, but any black person can.”

What is it that makes this word continue to hold such power, he poses? Individual choice.

ASU President Michael M. Crow and dignitaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints turned gold shovels this week in a symbolic groundbreaking for a new 24,000-square-foot LDS Institute building on ASU’s Polytechnic campus in the East Valley.

An unusually rainy day moved the ceremony indoors to the Student Union where a packed room was welcomed by the church’s Elder Neil L. Andersen, a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. He introduced Crow, who noted that the integration of academic teaching and religious teaching on the 600-acre Polytechnic campus in southeast Mesa helps to advance a complete set of knowledge. Download Full Image

“We don’t focus on the spiritual education or spiritual development of the person,” Crow said. “We work with groups such as this church to advance this institute so we can provide in one environment the complete and total education that we think a person needs to have.”

Calling ASU “our friend,” Andersen asked the group to share photos of the event with LDS members and youth.

“There is every bit of an advantage, and maybe more, to stay and go to Arizona State as it would be to go off to some of those universities in that barren country of Utah,” he joked. “Many of you have known Dr. Crow for many years. We are thankful to him. He has been a friend since he came to ASU and very inclusive of us.”

The new ASU Polytechnic campus-LDS Institute will be located on the northwest corner of Innovation Way North and South Sterling Avenue. The facility includes a chapel for worship services, a large cultural hall for activities and sports, classrooms for religious instruction and offices. The first phase of construction, scheduled to begin by year end, involves demolition of some existing structures on the parcel. Project completion is expected in mid-2015.

The 2,500 LDS Institutes worldwide provide opportunities for religious instruction, community service, social interaction and leadership training for single and married students. Approximately 350,000 students are currently enrolled globally. The institute at Polytechnic will serve students from the Polytechnic campus, Chandler-Gilbert Community College and ASU Preparatory High School, located on the Polytechnic campus. Visitors/students from the surrounding community also will be welcome.

Other dignitaries taking part in the groundbreaking included Ira A. Fulton, namesake of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and founder and owner of Fulton Homes, Inc. (The university’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College is named for his wife.) Also grabbing a shovel were Mayor John Lewis of Gilbert and Mayor Gail Barney of Queen Creek, along with a number of state legislators and East Valley elected officials. Emcee for the event was Roc Arnett, long-time East Valley leader and founding CEO of East Valley Partnership.

The ASU Polytechnic campus is home to programs in aviation, business, education, engineering, math, science and technology, and is complemented by arts, humanities and social sciences curricula. As a polytechnic-focused campus, its emphasis is on professional and technical programs that prepare students in a hands-on, project- and team-based learning environment. Students can earn ASU bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in an environment characterized by intimate class sizes, an integrated curriculum and accessible faculty.