Students Win CSULB Innovation Challenge

Photo by Ken Saxton, from Daily 49er website.

Students Ryan Beck and Matt Martin won  $10,000 in an innovation challenge at CSULB.

The College of Engineering and the College of Business Administration hosted the contest  in the Walter Pyramid on April 3.

The product that won is used to make sliding doors easier to slide. The product is called GlydeTech, and uses magnetic gliding technology. The duo also won sponsors for their company for one year, making it an excellent opportunity and opening the door to expand the idea, and their company. 

CSULB and The Port of Los Angles Making "Green" Strides in the Shipyard

 The CSULB engineering department, and the Port of L.A have teamed up to produce a Seawater exhaust scrubber that will help cargo ships reduce the harmful emissions.

The scrubber, if correctly executed, will have the ability to reduce emissions by 85 percent. this scrubber will use salt water to essentially filter/scrub contaminants [mainly carbon] from the ships engines before the exhaust is released into the atmosphere. The solid carbon will be stored and eventually disposed of.

CSULB began testing the system in October, and is in month seven of it's 36 month trial  on a Horizon Lines container vessel that makes monthly calls between Los Angeles and Shanghai. 

Hamid Rahai, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering it the one of the two principal directors, along with Rolls Royce Marine, a world renowned ship engineer.   

According to a press release put out by the port of L.A, Rahai said, “One of CSULB’s missions, in addition to its primary mission of providing high quality education, is to support community needs economically, environmentally and in other ways.  Pollution is not only a global issue but also a significant local problem.  If we as a university can help with that, I believe we have made a very significant contribution"

CSU Online

Going to class may become a thing of the past with the plan to develop an online education system for the CSU system.

The new venture has already coined the name CSU Online. Ruth Claire Black, the director of the project who was appointed in December spoke with the daily 49er and said, "I'm really committed to online education and I'm really committed to technology, like the optimization of graphics and tablet technology," Black said. "I'm going to work hard to make sure that all of that is well embedded in Cal State Online."" 

CSU Online will have courses that are entirely online, and will also have the ability to work into a students schedule, completely. 

Business major, Katie Sullivan said, "I work almost every week day and have two children, and coming to school can sometimes be inconvenient, so I think for people in my situation would really benefit from a system like that." 

The site is set to be launched in fall 2013.  

BeachCon

BeachCon, the annual gaming event will be held at the Walter pyramid on Saturday. 

Unlike the world famous Comic Con that happens in San Diego every year, BeachCon's main focus is on gaming. The event will sponger tournaments, and will have many gaming consoles available. 

Photo from the BeachCon website

The Con will be equipped to accomidate PC gamers,who are encouraged to bring their own laptops, and games to participate, and Non PC gamers are asked to bring their own gaming consoles, to avoid anyone not being able to participate.

This is the sixth year BeachCon will be held. It started as a 10 person thing in the dorms, and has now branched out into a full blown gaming event. In the Daily 49er the events marketing representative Cole Peterson said, “Basically, the event was an excuse for people who enjoy electronic gaming to get together and have a great night doing what they love.”

The event will be sponsored by Gaming/Tech companies like GamePlay, TrendNET, and Velocity Micro.

There is a $10 fee for non-residents, and to register go to beachcon.org. There is a limited amount of space so register soon.

CSULB Meme Page is no Longer a Feud Page.

Meme Posted by Robert Barker

The CSULB Memes page on Facebook started off as a place for students to post their favorite memes with a CSULB twist, and a place to fuel a feud between CSULB and CSU Fullerton, but as time went on the page became less of a Meme war, and is now a place where students make jokes about the state our school is in when it comes to funding, and graduation.

The page has 4,454 likes, and what started off as a place to taunt CSUF during the basketball season has evolved to a place where students can air out their frustrations with the new 13 unit cap that has been set in place for the fall semester. 

Meme Posted by Daung Nguyen

Dung Nguyen posted a meme that shows a bunch of old men laughing at the "graduation begins today" motto CSULB has. Most students posting on this meme agree that this depiction of the "higher up's" is accurate. 


Nicole Sequeira said, "Dude that's such bullshit! " and along with other students, and even former students liked the post. 


CSULB students may have found a way to express their grief, and annoyance with the CSU system, and the economy forcing the students at many colleges to take fewer courses, and also force the schools to reduce class availability.  

New Outlets Now Available in Library

New electrical outlets are have been added to the library, thanks to ASI. 

According to a article written by the Daily 49er David Salazar, the associated vice president for physical planning and facilities management said that students have a need for more outlets, especially during finals week.

Students in the library can often be seen searching for outlets to plug in their dying computers, but often find themselves out of luck. 

Communications major Jessica Wang said, "Almost every time I try to study in the library it's like a silent battle field of student trying to claim their outlet, students are sitting on the floors, and just waiting for someone to leave."

Biology major Alex Nielsen said, "I practically live in the library during finals, and new outlets will definitely help a bunch of students stay longer, before their computers die." 

The new outlets are now accessible, just in time for finals week. 

Study Finds Radioactive Kelp off the Coast of California

A study conducted by CSULB two professors, and grad students found radioactive kelp off the coast of Calif. after the devastating earthquake in Japan damaged the nuclear reactors last year.

Photo taken at the Aquarium of the Pacific

Professors Steven Manley, and Chris Lowe conducted the study about a month after the nuclear waste was released into the atmosphere and the seawater. Professor Manley said, “kelp is the ideal testing subject because the canopy is not only affected by the water, but the radioactive material in the air also lands on the top. Kelp is like a sponge for the material we were looking for.”    

The sample kelp was taken from seven different locations up and down the coast places like, Corona Del Mar, Monterey Bay, Palos Verdes, an several places in Orange County.

In Corona Del Mar the level of radioactivity was 250 times higher that it should be, making it the highest radioactive material. Manly said this could be due to a few things, the first is the weather pattern. If the rain was heavier in the area when the radioactive material was in the atmosphere, the next possibility is the run off from Huntington Beach, which flushes all the material right into the canopies.

Graphic Art’s student, Tatiana Maldonado said ”I’d be worried that the radioactivity could harm not only people but also the animals in the ocean.” This concern, although valid, is unnecessary. The amount of radioactivity was small, and only has a half life of eight days, which means it was gone within a few weeks after the study.  

More studies are being performed to see if any other radio active material is present in the kelp.