Missouri Western State University, 4525 Downs Drive, St. Joseph, MO 64507, 816-271- 4200

 

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A Look Ahead

Western iGEM Team Earns Fourth Gold Medal

Clean Air St. Joe Sponsors Great American Smokeout

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Student Editor:
Jenna Haecker

Staff Adviser:
 Kent Heier 

back to MWSU

Week of Nov. 12 - 18, 2010

A Look Ahead

Friday, Nov. 12

  • Library Book Sale, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Hearnes Center

  • Non Traditional Student Association Spaghetti Supper, 5-7 p.m., Mayes National Guard Armory, Woodbine and Faraon

    • Tickets are $7 (children 6 and under are free). All proceeds benefit Adopt-a-Family for the holidays.

  • Guest Artist Recital - Ilya Itin, 7:30 p.m., Potter  Hall Theater
    • Itin is an internationally renowned pianist. His 2010 concert season has been highlighted by sold-out recitals in China, Japan and the United States. He is currently a regular guest teacher in the piano department at the Julliard School and at Peabody Conservatory.

Saturday, Nov. 13

  • Senior Day - Griffon Football vs. Fort Hays State University, 1:30 p.m., Spratt Stadium

    • Griffon Football Alumni Weekend, Veterans Appreciation Day, Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day (all faculty and staff can receive two free tickets with their Western ID). The Griffons are 7-3 on the season and need a win to have a chance to be selected for the NCAA Division II national championship playoff.

  • Senior Day - Griffon Volleyball vs. Truman State University, 7 p.m., Looney Complex

    • The volleyball team fell in three sets to Northwest Missouri State on Nov. 10. They wrap up the season with a home match against 18th ranked Truman State.

Sunday, Nov. 14

  • St. Joseph Symphony Chamber Concert, 2 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 301 N. 7th St.

  • NCAA Division II football championship selection show, 2 p.m., ESPN News

    • Tune in to see if the Griffons make the playoffs!

Monday, Nov. 15

  • "Thanks for Giving" 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Blum Union lobby

    • Students are encouraged to write brief letters of thanks to donors at various locations throughout the week, in recognition of National Philanthropy Day

  • "Phantom" auditions, 7-10 p.m., Potter Hall room 109

    • The departments of music and communication studies and theatre will present Maury Yeston's "Phantom" March 3-6. Any members of the university and the community are encouraged to audition. For more information, contact Dr. Susan Carter at 816-341-1522 or scarter10@missouriwestern.edu.

Tuesday, Nov. 16

  • "Thanks for Giving" 10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., Remington Hall first floor

  • Fall Jazz Concert, 7:30 p.m., Potter Hall Theater

    • The jazz program presents "Nostalgia in Kansas City," featuring performances by the Lab Band, Vocal Jazz and Jazz Ensemble

Wednesday, Nov. 17

  • "Thanks for Giving," 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Blum Union lobby

Thursday, Nov. 18

  • St. Joseph Business Summit, 8 a.m. - 1 p.m., Fulkerson Center

    • "Growing Your Business" - the summit held by the St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce features a morning keynote address from "Bean Baron" Danny O'Neill of The Roasterie, Inc., a specialty coffee roasting company. Dr. Philip Nitse, Dean of the Craig School of Business, will deliver the lunch keynote. Click here for registration information.

  • "Thanks for Giving," 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Blum Union lobby

  • Great American Smokeout, 4 - 7 p.m., East Hills Shopping Center (see story below)

  • What Does It Mean to Be ... Native American, 6 p.m., Enright Community Room, Spratt 214

  • Fall Choral Concert, 7:30 p.m., Potter Hall Theater

    • Featuring the Concert Chorale, directed by Dr. David Benz; the Renaissance Singers and University Women's Chorus, directed by Dr. Roger Hale; and the Vocal Jazz Ensemble, directed by Kathleen Holeman.

Friday, Nov. 19

  • "Thanks for Giving," 9 - 11 a.m., Popplewell Hall 2nd floor lobby

  • Ambassadors Luncheon, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., Enright Community Room, Spratt 214

    • The Ambassadors, a group of campus and community women who provide a bridge between Western and the community, will have their annual Thanksgiving dinner. The cost is $9. Please make a reservation by Nov. 16 by calling 5646 or emailing holtz@missouriwestern.edu.

  • Emergency Notification Drill, 2 p.m., Wilson Hall

    • Wilson Hall will be evacuated as part of an emergency notification drill.

  • Griffon women's basketball vs. Northern Michigan University, 5 p.m., Quincy, Ill.

    • The 2010-2011 season begins for the Western women at the Quincy Tournament. The Griffons return 11 players from last year's team that finished 7-20 overall and 5-15 in the MIAA last year.

  • Griffon men's basketball vs. Avila University, 7:30 p.m., Looney Arena

    • The Griffons open play in the Hillyard Tip-Off Classic. Western is coming off an 18-12 season that saw them make the NCAA Division II Tournament, their 11th playoff appearance under Coach Tom Smith. The first game of the evening, at 5:30 p.m., will feature Rockhurst against Michigan Tech

Saturday, Nov. 20

  • Griffon womens' basketball vs. Quincy University or Upper Iowa, 3 or 5 p.m., Quincy, Ill.

    • If Western wins their game Friday, they'll face the winner of the late game at 5 p.m. If they lose Friday, they'll face the loser of the other game at 3 p.m.

  • Griffon men's basketball vs. Michigan Tech, 7:30 p.m., Looney Arena

    • The first game of the evening features Rockhurst against Avila at 5:30 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 21

  • Start of Fall Break, no classes until Nov. 29. Happy Thanksgiving!

Western iGEM Team Earns Fourth Gold Medal

A team including six undergraduate students from Missouri Western State University earned a gold medal for the fourth straight year at a synthetic biology competition Nov. 5-7 featuring 130 teams and more than 1,900 participants.

The international Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) Jamboree is an undergraduate synthetic biology competition held annually at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. The Jamboree is a showcase for undergraduate research teams working in the field of synthetic biology, which seeks to use engineering principles, mathematical modeling, and molecular biology techniques to design and construct novel biological devices with applications in areas such as medicine, the environment, energy and technology. 

The Western students and faculty from biology and mathematics worked collaboratively with students and faculty from Davidson College in North Carolina to design a biological computer capable of solving a mathematical puzzle called the Knapsack Problem and to investigate foundational advances in synthetic biology.  The team presented their work in the form of a Wiki page and in both oral and poster form at the iGEM Jamboree. For their project, the team earned a gold medal, a designation received by fewer than half the projects.

The team presented their work alongside teams from prestigious U.S. institutions like Cal-Berkeley, Harvard, MIT and Stanford, as well as international competitors from Tokyo, Slovenia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia and Stockholm. More information about iGEM and the 2010 Jamboree can be found at http://2010.igem.org/Main_Page.   

Western’s 2010 iGEM students are also taking their presentation “on the road.” They have made campus presentations as part of the computer science, mathematics, and physics colloquium series and to a genetics class, and will present as part of the biology department seminar series. They are travelling to Moberly Area Community College to give a presentation and engage in discussion with students and faculty on synthetic biology and their research. Two of the students will be giving a presentation to their high school in Bethany, Mo.  These outreach activities showcase student accomplishments in applied learning at Missouri Western and serve to educate the public about the promising new field of synthetic biology.

This is the fifth consecutive year that Missouri Western has fielded an iGEM team.

Team members this year were Stacey Holle, Kansas City, Mo.; Bridget Janssen, Scandia, Kan.; Curtiss Lane, St. Joseph; Jeffrey Stevens, Bethany, Mo.; Jeska Testa, Cameron, Mo.; and Danielle Wagner, Bethany, Mo. Team leaders were Dr. Todd Eckdahl, professor of biology, and Dr. Jeff Poet, associate professor of mathematics.

The Missouri Western synthetic biology research training program is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Support to the Missouri Western students is also gratefully acknowledged from the Student Excellence Fund, the Blake Scanlon Applied Learning Fund, the Student Government Association, and the Missouri Western Foundation.

For more on the research project, see http://2010.igem.org/Team:Davidson-MissouriW.

Two previous iGEM projects have been published in the online Journal of Biological Engineering, and have received a lot of attention. The two papers are the two most accessed articles in the Journal’s history. Media from around the globe have reported on the research.

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Veterans Day Ceremony

 
The Pony Express Battalion of the Army ROTC and Griffon VETS, a student organization, held a Tribute to Veterans on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, in the Blum Union Lobby. The salute to veterans continues Saturday, with a free tailgate before the Griffon football game against Ft. Hays State. Veterans can pick up two free tickets to the 1:30 p.m. game at the tailgate, in the service lot next to Wilson Hall. 

Clean Air St. Joe Sponsors Great American Smokeout Event

http://cleanairstjoe.com/images/302_CLEANAIR_Stjoe_20smaller_original_logo.jpgClean Air St. Joe will hold a health and wellness event on Nov. 18 at East Hills Mall from 4 - 7 p.m. to spread awareness about the risks of tobacco use in conjunction with the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout. The event is free and open to the public.

The event will include activities such as a smoking is ugly fashion show put on by local children, a marshmallow shooting event, Tobacco Fear Factor and Zumba by Mark Gomez, Missouri Western’s Mystic Dance Team and cheer squad as well as a opportunity for smokers to pledge to quit or make plans to quit.

Clean Air St. Joe’s mission is to create several health communication campaigns to spread awareness about tobacco use throughout St. Joseph, including Western.

"We want to help the St. Joseph community to enact smoke-free public places. . .but we want to do more than that. We want to help individuals to become tobacco-free. This event at East Hills Mall will help us accomplish this by educating the children and adults of St. Joe," said Dr. Christopher Bond, chair of Clean Air St. Joe and professor in communication studies at Western.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the adverse health effects from cigarette smoking account for an estimated 443,000 deaths, or nearly one of every five deaths, each year in the United States.

The Great American Smokeout officially began in 1977 as a way to encourage smokers to quit for a day in the hope they may quit for good. In 1971, Arthur P. Mullaney challenged the citizens of Randolf, Mass., to give up cigarettes for the day and to donate the saved money to a high school scholarship fund. Mullaney coined the term Smokeout.

"We want tobacco users to know that they have been targeted by large tobacco companies. We want these tobacco users to know that it isn’t their fault, and through health education and proper communication, we can assist our community members in educating them in the risks of smoking and second hand smoke," Dr. Bond said. "As a previous user myself, I know first hand how tough it is to quit. We have all been duped by Big Tobacco to smoke and use other tobacco products. Nicotine is an addictive drug."

For more information on this event and others, please visit Clean Air St. Joe’s website at www.cleanairstjoe.com or follow them on Facebook.

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International Fair

The international student services office, the study away and exchange programs office and the Western Activities Council sponsored an International Fair on Nov. 10 in the Spratt Hall atrium and Kemper Recital Hall.

ADS

INTERN WANTED: The St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce is seeking an MWSU student to fill a Government Relations Internship. Applicants must have at least 60 credit hours with a minimum GPA of 3.0. Application materials are due by noon on Nov. 19. Contact Beth Wheeler for additional information, wheelerb@missouriwestern.edu or 4887.

PLYOMETRIC BOX FOR SALE: One 20" plyometric box for sale. It is made of 3/4" plywood. Nailed, screwed & glued together. 3/8" solid, non-slip, rubber top. Excellent condition. Rarely used. I bought this at BiggerFasterStronger.com for $129 plus s/h. Asking $75 or best offer. 816-390-5443

ENTERTAINMENT CENTER AND TV FOR SALE: Oak Entertainment Center and a 52" Sony TV for sale. Would prefer to sell them together, but would be willing to separate. Entertainment center is adjustable for TV size, has lights, glass doors with adjustable shelves, sliding storage compartment and bottom storage cabinet. Entertainment center is currently at 115" width including the TV and 75" height. Smoke free, pet free home. Price is negotiable - WE WANT THIS GONE ASAP! Cash only. Will need to bring help loading. No delivery. 816-390-5443

 

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