Gustavo Arellano to attend Project Humanities lecture

ASU Spanish professor Manuel Hernandez might be a tad nervous next week when he presents his lecture on the work of syndicated columnist Gustavo Arellano. That’s because the Mexican-American humorist, best-selling author and editor of the Orange County Weekly plans on being in the audience. Download Full Image

“When I heard there was going to be a lecture on my work, I did what any good Mexican would do: demanded I be allowed to sneak into the party for free,” Arellano said. “It’s an honor to have my work discussed at ASU, and muy, muy meta.”

Arellano’s surprise visit and Hernandez’s lecture, “The Humorist Gustavo Arellano’s Work and the Human Condition,” kicks off the 2013 fall Project Humanities, a university-wide initiative to promote the importance of humanities within the higher education system and community. This year’s theme, “Humor ... Seriously!” is an examination of how humor plays an important role in our everyday lives, across disciplines, communities, cultures, professions and generations.

Hernandez’s lecture is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., Sept. 16, at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, 555 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, room 128. Following Hernandez’s presentation, Arellano will speak and sign copies of his three books.

The lecture series, now in its sixth year, is open to the general public and is free.

Arellano’s sharp, tongue-in-cheek humor combined with his historical storytelling abilities has opened up a captivating and intriguing dialogue among millions of Americans. Through his satire, he address issues such as Southwest Mexican and Mexican language, stereotypes, ethnic relations, immigration, cuisine, day labor and religion.

“Most interactions among whites, blacks and Latinos are usually very formal and surface-like but Arellano deconstructs and pulverizes misunderstandings and fears to reveal the fragility and strength of our human condition in forging, while anchored in local culture, an ever-changing national identity,” Hernandez said. “He (Arellano) isn’t afraid to take stereotypes by the horns and mixes it with both humor and history, and does it most effectively.”

Arellano is a lifelong resident of Orange County, Calif. and is the son of two Mexican immigrants, one of whom was illegal. His column “¡Ask a Mexican!” was started as a lark in 2004 and his politically incorrect humor proved so popular the Orange County Weekly made it a regular column. The column today has a weekly circulation of over two million in 39 newspapers across the United States, and won the 2006 and 2008 Association of Alternative Weeklies award for Best Column. He was also the recipient of the Los Angeles Press Club’s 2007 President’s Award and an Impacto Award from the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and was recognized by the California Latino Legislative Caucus with a 2008 Spirit Award for his “exceptional vision, creativity and work ethic.”

He was published in book form by Scribner Press in May 2007, with "¡Ask a Mexican!" followed by best-sellers "Orange County: A Personal History" (2010) and "Taco USU: How Mexican Food Conquered America" (2012). Arellano is also a lecturer with the Chicana and Chicano Studies department at California State University, Fullerton.

For more information on ASU’s Project Humanities, visit http://humanities.asu.edu/

President’s Club Scholar Chelsea Medbury has tackled a lot of obstacles in her life.

Medbury was left with a profound hearing impediment after injuring her head as an infant, and was one of the first children in the Midwest to receive bilateral cochlear implants in 2001. In addition to her hearing impediment, her mother struggled with an autoimmune illness causing her to tire easily and have difficulty maintaining a job. Download Full Image

With the expense of cochlear implants, audiology services, speech pathology, batteries and replacements for parts building up, it was difficult for Medbury to imagine how she would afford college. However, because of her determination and help from the President’s Club scholarship, Medbury is now a senior in the W. P. Carey School of Business.

­“I like being busy and maximizing my potential,” says Medbury, who is pursuing a degree in supply chain management, a minor in nonprofit management and a certificate in international business. “I want to start a nonprofit one day and become a part of its board of directors.”

This past summer she worked as a supply chain intern at ViaSat in California. She also participated in unpaid research the previous summer with the Community Action Research Experiences (CARE) in the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics. CARE focuses on improving the organization of a nonprofit and teaching participants to be leaders in social change. She was one of 12 accepted into the program.

She is also an active member of the ASU business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi and was on the executive board as vice president of service last spring. In that position she created annual events and helped make partnerships with Best Buddies, a nonprofit that aids in developing opportunities for those with disabilities.

She is especially grateful to the President’s Club for its inspiration and help to fund her school expenses. She uses the President’s Club scholarship for books, supplies, housing and health expenses. This allows her to focus on future career goals.

“I’ve enjoyed ... attending the events and hearing President Crow speak,” Medbury says. “It made me proud to be a Sun Devil. It is awesome to hear so many different members speak and be able to apply it toward my knowledge.”

While the President’s Club’s primary focus is transforming education by supporting ASU President Michael M. Crow through intellectual and financial resources, the group recently recommitted to supporting ASU students who embody its ideals of excellence and service.

“It was great listening to Crow speak about all the ASU initiatives. I have become a lot more informed about ASU,” Medbury says. “It is impressive to know what he has done with the university. As an alumna, I plan to be part of this club.”

ASU students have the opportunity to study ancient Greek and Roman language, history, culture and archeology – the roots of modern academic programs in the humanities – with the School of International Letters and Cultures in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Classroom study is enhanced by guest lectures about the classical world deliverd by prominent scholars.

This semester, the school is teaming up with the Archeological Institute of America, Central Arizona Society and ASU’s Project Humanities to present a lecture series exploring art history, with lectures on ancient Greek and Roman art, rock art and ancient Roman visual humor. Download Full Image

All events are free and open to the public.

The School of International Letters and Cultures offers majors in classics and classical civilization, a certificate in classical studies, as well as a study abroad trip to Naples, Italy, where students have the opportunity to explore Pompeii and some of the best-preserved Greek architecture in the world. On this study abroad trip, students “often have their perspectives broadened in unexpected ways,” says classics professor Mike Tuller, “and are able to see the world from a new angle. In conjunction with class work, a trip abroad to walk where the ancients walked and see through their eyes enables their world to come even more vividly alive.”

The mission of the Archaeological Institute of America is to promote “archaeological inquiry and public understanding of the material record of the human past to foster an appreciation of diverse cultures and our shared humanity ... The AIA educates people of all ages about the significance of archaeological discovery and advocates the preservation of the world’s archaeological heritage.” Advancing this premise, the Central Arizona Society is dedicated to encouraging active involvement and interest in the archaeological community both locally and globally.

Events in this series include:

Michael Hoff, Athenian art and architecture under Roman domination
6-7:30 p.m., Sept. 19, Life Sciences Tower E, room 104, Tempe campus

Professor Michael Hoff has been teaching art history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1989. His research specializes in Greek and Roman archaeology, specifically the history of Roman Athens and the archaeology of Asia Minor. In this lecture, he traces the topographical and architectural changes Athens underwent during the formative period of Roman control, which occurred during the late Hellenistic period and to the mid-first century AD. Based on his research, Hoff will place a particular emphasis on the role Augustus played in the civic transformation.

David Lee, Australian and North American rock art
6-7:30 p.m., Oct. 24, ASU’s Deer Valley Rock Art Center, off-campus

David Lee is an independent rock art researcher, focusing on the function and context of Native American rock art in the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert. He is a founding member of Western Rock Art Research, a non-profit organization dedicated to the study and management of rock art. For the last seven years, he has been documenting rock art and associated traditional stories in northern Australia. In this lecture, he will investigate the rock art of Australia and North America, focusing on environmental and cultural context, ethnography and current research trends.

John R. Clarke, ancient Roman art and humor
6-7:30 p.m., Nov. 7, Murdock Lecture Hall, room 101, Tempe campus

John R. Clarke earned his doctorate in ancient art history at Yale University in 1973 and has taught at the University of Texas at Austin since 1980. His teaching, research and publications focus on ancient Roman art and archaeology, art-historical methodology and contemporary art. This lecture examines a broad range of objects, from wall paintings to ceramics, emphasizing the dual context of the built environment and the social status of viewers. Archaeological sites, as well as a range of ancient texts, inscriptions and graffiti, provide the background for understanding the how and why of humorous imagery, one of Clarke’s most recent areas of research.

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

The School of International Letters and Cultures is an academic unit of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

This fall, the School of International Letters and Cultures is pleased to announce the return of its International Artists Lecture Series. Now in its second year, the school welcomed novelists, activists, filmmakers and other artists from Japan, Austria, Mexico, Italy, Romania, Brazil, Egypt and the U.S. last year. This semester, the series will include actors from Romania, a photographer and a guitarist from Argentina, and a poet from the U.S. All events are free and open to the public.

Students in the School of International Letters and Cultures are provided with a variety of educational experiences that prepare them for life and citizenship in the modern world. In addition to attending courses taught by world-class faculty in both ancient and modern languages and cultures, students are exposed to a wide variety of world languages and cultures via study abroad programs, full-year or semester long language and cultural immersion programs, on-campus international guest speakers, international student organizations, opportunities for intensive study through language flagship programs and mentorship by international faculty. Download Full Image

Events in this semester’s International Artists Lecture Series include:

Adriana Lestido, photography, 1-2 p.m., Sept. 13, Hayden Library, room C-6, Tempe campus - PLEASE NOTE THE ROOM CHANGE.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1955, Adrianna Lestido is best known for her photographs of women and children, including her project, "Women Imprisoned with Their Children," in Prison No. 8 los Hornos, la Plata, Argentina in 1991. In 1995, she became the first Argentine photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship. Whether it's the condition of women in prison or the relationship between a mother and a daughter, Lestido's work poses deep questions about the human condition. An exhibit of several of Lestido’s works will also be on display in the Hayden Library rotunda (4th floor) from Sept. 17 to Oct. 31.

Lestido's visit to ASU is co-sponsored by the School of International Letters and Cultures, the Institute for Humanites Research, The Design School, the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and ASU Libraries. 

Néstor Benito, guitar, 7-8:30 p.m., Sept. 17, Katzin Concert Hall, Tempe campus

Argentine guitarist Néstor Benito will be performing at Katzin Concert Hall in Tempe. Beginning his professional career at the age of 17 in 1973, Benito has traveled the world performing original compositions and tributes to his masters, as well as playing in many orchestras all over Argentina. Since 1993, he has been leading the project “La Guitarra en Argentina" (The Guitar in Argentina), which he created with the purpose of promoting important Argentinean composers and rarely known or unpublished works for guitar.

Benito's visit to ASU is co-sponsored by the Repúplica Argentina Ministerio de Relaciones de Exteriores y Culto and the ASU School of International Letters and Cultures.  

Tino Villanueva, poetry, 4-5:30 p.m., Oct. 18, Language and Literature building room 102, Tempe campus

Tino Villanueva is the author of six books of poetry. He received his doctorate in Spanish from Boston University in 1981 and now teaches in the Department of Romance Languages at the university. His book, “Scene from the Movie GIANT,” won a 1994 American Book Award. "Primera causa/First Cause," a bilingual chapbook of ten poems on memory and writing, was published by Cross-Cultural Communications in 1999. His poems have been translated into French, German, Greek, Italian, Korean and Portuguese.

Villanueva's visit to ASU is co-sponsored by Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores de Mexico, Mexican Consulate, Yuma, Arizona and the ASU School of International Letters and Cultures.

Eugene Ionesco’s “The Bald Soprano,” theater, 7-8:30 p.m., Nov. 8-9, Empty Space Theater, Tempe campus

In collaboration with the National University of Theatre and Film (UNATC) of Bucharest, Romania's foremost theatre and film institute, ASU's School of International Letters and Cultures welcomes Romanian actors to the U.S. to perform Eugene Ionesco's "The Bald Soprano." This production of “The Bald Soprano” will be held at the Empty Space theatre, at the northwest corner of University and Rural. The performance is co-sponsored by the Romanian Cultural Institute.

The School of International Letters and Cultures is an academic unit of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. 

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

The 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech on Aug. 28 offers an opportunity for reflection on the nature of the speech itself. Why was it effective? And why does it continue to stir us today?

ABC News interviewed several top scholars on this issue, including Arizona State University professor of English Keith Miller, as part of its coverage of the anniversary.

According to Miller, who is an expert on the rhetoric and songs of the American civil rights movement, King excerpted pieces of other famous texts – including the Declaration of Independence, Emancipation Proclamation and the song “America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee)” – as a way of tying the civil rights movement to other great moments in American history.

"He's appealing to the most sacred touchstones that there are in the United States," Miller is quoted as saying. "He's incorporating these other voices that are more or less unimpeachable."

King also referenced multiple biblical passages, many from the book of Exodus, for example, which paralleled the struggle of those fighting for greater rights in the U.S.

"So [the speech] is a revamping of Exodus, or a later chapter of the Exodus," said Miller in the article.

Miller’s latest book is “Martin Luther King's Biblical Epic: His Final, Great Speech,” published by University Press of Mississippi in 2011.

The Department of English is an academic unit in ASU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

At three-years-old, President’s Club scholar Winnie Lau immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong with her family. Her parents were not well-educated and struggled to speak English. Essential tasks such as communicating with doctors, bankers and the mailman proved to be difficult.

Despite the challenges, her parents wanted a better life and the shot at a college education for their children. Their determination and persistence inspired Winnie to achieve her dreams of attending a university. Download Full Image

“I consider myself extremely lucky to have hardworking and brave parents who always have my best interests in mind,” says Winnie. “Following my parents’ mentality, I work hard in academia. Often times I think to myself if my parents, who cannot speak English and have no high school education, can somehow help me get into college, then I, who can speak English and graduated from high school, can study hard to achieve a college degree.”

It seemed like a no-brainer for Winnie to find a job when she started college. In high school she worked as a secretary in a podiatrist’s office to make things easier on her parents, financially. Her freshman year of college she became a part-time tutor for America Reads/Counts and was a server for a Japanese restaurant. Soon, the fatigue of maintaining two jobs and school caught up with her. That’s when she discovered the President’s Club scholarship program.

“I quit both part-time jobs and I was able to truly just focus on being a full-time student,” says Winnie. “It's hard to express how satisfying the feeling was to not have to constantly worry and be stressed about finances, and just focus on school for the first time in years.”

Winnie is now an honors student pursuing a degree in chemical engineering with a minor in Mandarin Chinese. She hopes to be accepted into ASU’s accelerated program in which she can receive her master's. She is particularly interested in energy use and preserving the environment.

“I think there are a lot of worthwhile and interesting sectors, such as finding novel ways to generate energy, maximizing the efficient use of energy and maintaining the environment by using alternate means of energy,” says Winnie.

She participates in a research lab under Mary Laura Lind, assistant professor in the School of Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy. Members of the lab study advanced membrane materials used for water purification, energy production and environmental remediation. Previously, she interned for the City of Phoenix Water Services Department, volunteered for a non-profit called Vive Peru and was a community assistant at Barrett, the Honors College.

While the President’s Club's primary focus is transforming education by supporting ASU President Michael M. Crow through intellectual and financial resources, the group also supports funds, separate from those directed to Crow, that provide scholarships to a select group of students.

Winnie says being part of the President’s Club has improved her communication and public speaking skills. She also receives advice about possible careers and interesting places to travel. Winnie admires President Crow’s belief in an inclusive university.

“Hearing his words and seeing the support from not only the President's Club members, but also from ASU faculty members gave me a great sense of pride to be a part of ASU,” says Winnie. “I really enjoy being a President's Club scholar and I truly believe it's a positive and important contribution to my experience at Arizona State University.”

Eight, Arizona PBS will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic 1963 March on Washington – a pivotal day in the Civil Rights Movement that helped usher in sweeping civil rights legislation and a sea of change in public opinion – with a week of programming dedicated in remembrance, leading to the premiere of the landmark PBS documentary "The March" at 8 p.m., Aug. 27.

“Viewers turn to PBS to provide great programs that explore our nation’s history,” said Beth Hoppe, PBS chief programming executive and general manager of general audience programming. “The 50th anniversary of this major milestone provides the perfect opportunity to examine the legacy of the original March.” Download Full Image

The film, which airs on the eve of the anniversary, recounts the dramatic events that took place not only in front of the cameras, but behind the scenes, revealing how one of the most important events in the Civil Rights Movement almost didn’t happen – told by key players, such as Jack O’Dell, Clarence B. Jones, Julian Bond and Andrew Young. The film includes testimonials from Harry Belafonte, Diahann Carroll, Roger Mudd, Peter Yarrow and Oprah Winfrey, in addition to historians, journalists, authors and ordinary citizens who joined some 250,000 Americans who thronged to the capital on that momentous day to peacefully demand an end to two centuries of discrimination and injustice.

“The story of people who suffered profound injustice in America and fought it with sacrifice and courage is something we should never forget,” executive producer Robert Redford said. “I hope the generations who see this film will be inspired by it.”

The event, which will forever be remembered for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s stirring “I Have a Dream” speech, endures today as a symbol of unity and monumental impact.

“The March is the watershed moment of the Civil Rights Movement, the culmination of a hundred years of activism against segregation and social injustice for people of color in the U.S.,” director John Akomfrah said. “Re-telling this story is my small contribution to that monumental struggle.”

In addition to the broadcast of "The March," Eight, Arizona PBS will air an encore of "American Masters James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket" at 8 p.m., Aug. 23, which marks the 25th anniversary of Baldwin’s death. Preceding the premiere of "The March" will be an encore broadcast of "In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement" at 7 p.m. Immediately following the broadcast of "The March" will be an encore presentation of "Soundtrack for a Revolution: American Experience" at 9 p.m., which tells the story of the American Civil Rights Movement through its music.

Eight, Arizona PBS social media will present PBS Black Culture Connection, a resource and guide to films, stories and voices centered around Black history and culture, as it hosts a full day of special events and activities on the anniversary – including live chats, film screenings and hosted discussions on a variety of issues and topics. Eight will highlight PBS Black Culture Connection’s unveil of "The March @50," a provocative five-part web series exploring whether America has delivered on the original demands of the marchers for jobs and freedom. With a new episode debuting each week for five weeks, "The March @50" will explore the March’s legacy through the lens of contemporary issues ranging from minority incarceration, disproportionate minority unemployment, the re-emergence of public school segregation and voting rights.

Eight will also share "Memories of the March," a series of video vignettes debuting on PBS Black Culture Connection. The 1963 March on Washington was created by community activists and dedicated people from every state in the country. The series will include fascinating first-person stories of original participants who made the trek to the nation’s capital, as well as others who were instrumental in working for the cause in their communities.

“PBS is offering many different ways to engage with the meaning and legacy of the March through this multi-faceted initiative,” said Hoppe. “These programs provide a deeper understanding of our history, preserve testimony from those who were there and offer a chance to take stock of whether progress has been made.

Christine Chee, a graduate of ASU’s Counseling Psychology master’s and doctoral program in the School of Letters and Sciences, will receive a national award from the American Psychological Association next month in Hawaii.

Chee will be the recipient of the 2013 Outstanding Early Career Award for Ethnic Minority Psychologists in Trauma Psychology. She will receive the award on Aug. 2, at the APA Annual Convention in Honolulu. Download Full Image

“Our faculty is very proud of Christine. She is an exceptionally caring person who is dedicating her life to helping others,” said Sharon Robinson Kurpius, professor and interim faculty head of counseling and counseling psychology in the School of Letters and Sciences. “Even as a doctoral student she was sensitive to how race and culture influence the health and wellness of her clients, and she is now using this sensitivity and caring to help veterans who have experienced the trauma of war.”

Chee graduated from ASU in December 2008 and did her APA accredited pre-doctoral internship at the Southwest Consortium Predoctoral Psychology Internship at New Mexico Veterans Affair Health Care and Indian Health Services in Albuquerque. For her post-doctoral internship, she was a Clinical Psychology Postdoctoral Fellow at the Biomedical Research Institute of New Mexico Veterans Affairs Health Care Research Service. Currently she is employed at the Women’s Stress Disorder Clinic in Albuquerque, N.M., where her duties include mental health assessment, individual and group psychotherapy, psychoeducation services and continued professional development.

Her academic career started at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where Chee received her bachelor's degree in psychology. Chee has participated in approximately 25 presentations on a variety of topics, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Native American Veterans’ Military Service and Historical Trauma, Education and Training Opportunities for Native American Evaluators, Issues and Strategies for Counseling Native American People, and Ethnic Identity and Self-Esteem Among Native American Students.

Chee has been published several times, including in the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development and through the National Science Foundation.

Despite the accolades and achievements, Chee is giving credit to others for her success.

“I have been so fortunate in my studies and career to have had plenty of people mentor me along the way,” Chee said. “I also have a very supportive spouse, family, in-laws and extended family from on and off the Navajo reservation. Having that support system in place is vital to achievement.”

Native American students from nine states will participate in a digital journalism program this week at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

The student program was developed as part of the National Native Media Conference, which will take place July 18-21, in Tempe, Ariz. The students will get training in multimedia and journalism fundamentals at the Cronkite School, then produce multimedia stories for the Native American Journalists Association conference newspaper and its website. They also will produce a TV news broadcast. Download Full Image

The 20 Native American students come from high schools and colleges in Arizona, California, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota and Utah. The students, who were selected by a committee of professional Native American journalists, will be housed in the Taylor Place residence hall on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus.

“The Cronkite School is proud to host these young aspiring journalists,” said Anita Luera, director of the Cronkite School’s High School Journalism Institute. “We want to share the best of what we have to offer at Cronkite with the students who will be the future storytellers of their communities.”

The National Native Media Conference is hosted by NAJA in partnership with Native Public Media. About 250 media professionals from around the country are expected to attend. The conference features workshops and panels designed to improve reporting on and delivery of Native news and opportunities for networking among Native American media professionals.

Prior to the conference, the Cronkite School’s Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism will conduct a seminar on computer-assisted watchdog reporting for conference attendees.

Mary Hudetz, vice president of NAJA and an editor at The Associated Press’ West Regional Desk in Phoenix, said the student program is reflective of NAJA’s “deep commitment to creating opportunities for the next generation of Native journalists, and we are proud the Cronkite School is a partner in our efforts this year as we prepare to welcome an especially outstanding class."

The NAJA program is one of several training institutes held at Cronkite each year. Earlier this summer the school hosted high school journalism teachers in the Reynolds High School Journalism Institute, high school journalism students in digital and broadcast camps, and college journalism students in a Dow Jones digital journalism training program.

The Cronkite School, located in a state-of-the-art media center on the ASU downtown Phoenix campus, is home to 1,400 students who study broadcast, digital and print journalism, and public relations. The school has been recognized as a leader and innovator among journalism educators by The New York Times, The Times of London and American Journalism Review.

The Native American Journalists Association, based on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, supports Native Americans in journalism, works toward better representation of Native Americans in the media and defends challenges to free press, speech and expression on Native lands. The organization has more than 350 members nationally.

Native Public Media’s mission is to promote healthy, engaged and independent Native communities through media access, control and ownership. The organization offers training in digital journalism and storytelling, hosts an annual Native Media summit and issues the Native Media Landscape Report, providing an overview of Native radio, television, print and new media.

Current and future Arizona State University engineering students teamed up for a winning performance earlier this summer in an international robotics contest.

Team 0x27 won a second-place award at the fifth annual SparkFun Autonomous Vehicle Competition in Boulder, Colo. Eighty teams participated in various categories of the competition. Download Full Image

The squad members were: Erica Neuperger, a mechanical engineering major in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering; her brother, Alex Neuperger, an incoming ASU freshman engineering major; Marcus Schaller, a junior at Highland High School in Gilbert, Ariz.; and Ronald Chao, a senior at the same school.

They were mentored by professional electrical engineers Frank Neuperger and Russell Schaller, computer scientist James Cotter and ASU electrical engineering graduate student Borna Emami. Cotter and Emami are alumni of Team 0x27’s past competitions.

Accuracy in action

The SparkFun competition requires teams to build a vehicle that can drive itself through a course without human control or interference. Team 0x27 won its award for the performance on the course by its all-wheel-drive vehicle with an electric motor.

“Others had big, powerful cars as well. The difference was the accuracy of our navigation system and the control software that guided the car,” Frank Neuperger says.  

The team designed and fabricated its vehicle, including components of its electronics system.

The vehicle was a revamped version of the robotic car Team 0x27 used to in the 2012 SparkFun AVC competition, when the car was the top performer, completing the course in half the time of the other cars – even beating the speed of an aircraft on the same course for the first time in the SparkFun competition history.

“Our vehicle was uniquely equipped with an accurate differential GPS (global positioning) service from a company called OmniSTAR,” Erica Neuperger explains. The system allowed for differential GPS corrections from OmniSTAR’s satellite and doubled the accuracy of last year’s system.

“We also used an advanced GPS receiver we got from our sponsor, Hemisphere GPS,” Alex Neuperger said.
This GPS receiver allowed for accuracy in small movements, such as avoiding obstacles, maneuvering through a small hoop and hitting a ramp with all four wheels down to avoid a rollover.

Overcoming setbacks

The category of the competition in which Team 0x27 won its award is open to both student competitors and professionals. Vehicles are required to maneuver on their own through an obstacle course, dodging obstacles such as 45-gallon drums, driving through a hoop and jumping off a ramp.

After a shaky start, the team rallied for a classic come-from-behind victory.

“Our first official run was a disaster,” team mentor Frank Neuperger says. “The car turned immediately left and hit a wall, then ran into several of the obstacles. The crowd loves disasters.”

Despite a score of zero after the first run, then temporarily losing the vehicle’s memory card and processor in the grass, and then having to modify the vehicle’s coding, on its second run, Team 0x27’s robotic car scored all the points possible and ran the fastest time of the competition. The result was the highest total of points awarded for any heat at the event.

After adding the cumulative score of the three heats, Team 0x27 came in second to a team called NetBurner, led by Paul Breed, a prominent engineer in the rocketry field.

Abandoned unicycle

The competition is intended to mimic the stresses of creating and developing a small startup technology company, Frank Neuperger says. That means working with little time, little money, few resources or a lack of information, and a lot of trial and error. Team 0x27 faced many of those challenges as they worked 16-hour days leading up to the competition.

The team had planned to enter a second vehicle – a unicycle called UniCyclone – in the non-traditional vehicle category. Unfortunately, the unicycle developed structural problems two days before the competition and the team chose to abandon the unicycle so that it could focus more energy on its robotic car.

“Ninety-eight percent of our time preparing for the competition was spent on the unicycle, so it was a painful decision. But we hope to get it up and running for next year,” Frank Neuperger says.

The unicycle was based on the final project of a graduate-level digital control systems course at ASU that team mentor Borna Emami and Erica Neuperger took. They designed a unique control system for a unicycle prototype that used a helicopter tail rotor to stabilize the side-to-side motion of the unicycle.

Team 0x27 enhanced the prototype by adding a second helicopter rotor to aid steering, upgrading the drive motors and adding precision GPS navigation and crash-protection features to protect the precision components in case of a mishap.

Valuable experience

“Participating in competitions like SparkFun is well worth the experience, even if no awards are won,” Erica Neuperger says. “The design-and-build process is a great learning experience and it’s fascinating to see what other teams come up with.”

Experiencing the SparkFun competition has made Alex Neuperger eager to start his first semester studying engineering at ASU.

“The world needs people to fix it and make it better and I want to be one of those people,” he says. “Engineering is the perfect field for me and competitions like SparkFun helped make that clear.”

Team mentor Emami, a past member of Team 0x27, currently works as a control systems engineering intern at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.

“Without participating in competitions with Team 0x27, my chances of receiving an internship like this would have been very unlikely,” Emami says. “These projects have broadened my skill set and made me more competitive for internships and consulting work.”

Team track record

The roots of Team 0x27 were formed in 2008 after students and mentors from Highland High School in Gilbert had earlier formed Team 39 to enter a FIRST Robotics Competition. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an educational organization that sponsors student robotics competitions throughout the world.

Team 39 won four FIRST Robotics state championships, from 2007-2009, with a squad that included some current Team 0x27 members.

The group later became Team 0x27 to differentiate themselves from their high school team as they began competing in summer competitions. The name 0x27 honors the group’s roots. It’s derived from the way computer programmers and engineers would express the hexadecimal equivalent of 39.

With some of the same members, Team 0x27 also won the 2009 and 2010 National Underwater Robotics Competition.

Cast of contributors

In addition to their technical efforts, team members have worked to get sponsors to support their endeavors. Current sponsors include Simrex Corporation (based in Buffalo, N.Y.), Hemisphere GPS (Scottsdale, Ariz.), KVH Industries (Middletown, R.I.), Ramtech-RC (Phoenix) and OmniSTAR.

Frank Neuperger is the founder and owner of SIMREX Corporation. He also helped found SATLOC Inc, the company that later spun off Hemisphere GPS. Simrex also provides internships for many of the robotics club members and alumni.

Others also have made important contributions to the team’s successes at SparkFun competitions. The team continues to use planning software developed in large part by current team mentor James Cotter when he was studying to earn his 2012 degree in computer systems engineering through ASU's School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering.

Other significant contributors have been Geoff Clark, a recent graduate who focused on robotics in earning a bachelor's degree through the engineering program in the College of Technology and Innovation (CTI) at ASU's Polytechnic campus, and Jeff Rojo, who is pursuing his undergraduate degree in the same CTI program and also focusing on robotics.

“Most past team members are still considered current, since we conscript them as needed for the various challenges we undertake,” Frank Neuperger says.

Written by Rosie Gochnour and Joe Kullman