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(11/21/08 4:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A horde of collegiate swimming and diving teams will descend on IU’s Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center this weekend, as the IU women’s swimming and diving team hosts the Hoosierland Invite, which takes place Friday through Sunday. Competing against IU in the swimming portion of the meet are Cincinnati, Louisville, Truman State and Pittsburgh. The diving portion will feature Cincinnati, Wright State, Pittsburgh, Louisville and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis.The No. 10 women’s team comes into the meet having faced some tough competition early in the season. The Hoosiers lost to then-No. 7 Texas on Nov. 1, but have also defeated Big Ten rivals then-No. 14 Michigan and then-No. 22 Northwestern. None of the teams coming this weekend are ranked, but that doesn’t mean IU coach Ray Looze is looking past them.“The teams that are coming in many cases are going to be peaked for this, whereas we’re going to be coming in with a heavy load of training,” Looze said. “It could be a really good challenge for us, even though the rankings might not show that.”As has been the case all season, the Hoosiers are not cutting back in practice to rest up for this weekend’s meet, instead keeping their focus on the two big meets at the end of the season: the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Championships. The two-and-a-half week span since the team’s last meet has allowed for a lot of intense training, said sophomore Ashley Kranz.“We’ve all been working really hard for the past couple weeks,” Kranz said. “Some (distance swimmers) have been coming down in yardage so we can get good times in longer events like the 1,000 (-yard freestyle), but for the most part we’ve been training hard.”The Hoosierland Invite is scheduled similarly to the Big Ten and NCAA Championship meets, with a round of preliminary swims starting each day at 9 a.m., followed by a 6 p.m. session that features a final. The swimmers with the top eight times from the morning session will make up the finals heat, while a consolation heat will consist of swimmers whose times were ninth through 16th in the morning session. Relays are only swam in the evening session. Looze likes participating in the Invite because he feels it is good preparation for those end-of-season meets.“Basically, you score all your points in preliminaries,” Looze said. “So if you belong in the finals, then you’d better swim like it, or you might wind up in consols or not even in scoring position. We want to make sure the swimmers understand how to swim well in prelims, then come back at night, swim multiple events and do well.”The only difference between the Hoosierland Invite and a meet like the Big Ten Championships is the event load, Looze said. Each swimmer will be expected to compete in two events each day, plus a relay. Because every individual event is swum in two separate sessions, IU swimmers can compete in as many as four per day in addition to a relay, making this meet the most demanding one of the season.“We’re kind of taking a warrior mentality,” Looze said. “I know it’s going to be a heavy load.”
(10/31/08 2:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The No. 8 IU women’s swimming and diving team will face its toughest competition to date when it travels to Ann Arbor, Mich., this weekend to compete in a three-way meet with Texas and Michigan in a showdown between three of the nation’s premier programs. Texas comes into the meet ranked No. 7 in the nation, while Michigan currently sits at No. 14.“We’re really looking forward to the competition this weekend against some of the toughest teams we’re going to face all year,” said distance coach Mike Westphal. “We’re looking forward to going in there and making a statement.”The 2-0 Hoosiers will be returning to Canham Natatorium, the site of last year’s Big Ten Championships, where Michigan snuck by them to finish second overall. IU finished third.The team wants to prove that this year, they are the better team.“We’re going to go into this meet really aggressive,” said sophomore Amanda Smith. “Michigan beat us in the Big Ten’s last year, so we’re psyched to race them. We’re really determined.”Many Hoosiers have stood out this year, but perhaps none more than 2008 Olympian Kate Zubkova, who won all four of her events in last weekend’s meet against Northwestern. As a sophomore, she finished second in the 200-yard backstroke and third in the 100-yard backstroke in last year’s NCAA Championships. She won both events at the Big Ten Championships. Like the team, Zubkova will also be facing her biggest challenge of the year.“It’s going to be really hard for me to win,” Zubkova said. “Texas and Michigan both have really good swimmers in my events. But if I can beat such strong swimmers, I know it will be easier for me to win in the NCAAs.”The team continues to train hard despite the stiff competition, Westphal said, noting that the focus is on the end-of-year meets, the Big Ten and NCAA Championships.“We don’t rest up for anybody throughout the year until the Big Tens,” Westphal said. “We’re just approaching it like our past meets, racing our competition and seeing how many events we can win.”“(The coaches) haven’t let up at all,” Smith said. “It’s still the same intensity. It’s still grueling. We’re all sore and tired, but when we have a challenge in front of us, we won’t back down.”For the second straight week, a Hoosier has been recognized by the Big Ten as an athlete of the week. Last week, Zubkova was awarded Big Ten Swimmer of the Week for her performance against Kentucky. This week, junior Brittany Feldman was named Big Ten Diver of the Week for her strong showing against Northwestern. Feldman won the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events, leading a dominant Hoosier diving squad that took places 1-4 in the 3-meter and 1-5 in the 1-meter event.The meet begins Friday night and continues during the day on Saturday.
(10/27/08 4:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The women’s swimming and diving team improved to 2-0 on Friday with what IU coach Ray Looze termed a “grind-it-out win” against conference foe Northwestern on Friday.Coming off the most challenging week to date in both the pool and in the weight room, the Hoosiers responded with a 172.5 to 127.5 victory against a strong Wildcat team.“We worked harder (this week), so you saw some people slow down in certain events, and we got one-two’d in a couple things,” Looze said. “But I thought the girls stayed tough and focused and kept their spirit high.”Freshman Brittany Strumbel thought her team did well after the week of work.“I think we responded really well,” Strumbel said. “Everyone tried to stay positive, and the outcome was good.”The Hoosiers were led once again by junior Kate Zubkova, who for the second straight week was victorious in all four events in which she competed. Zubkova won the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes, as well as the 100-yard butterfly and was a member of the 400-yard individual medley relay team that finished first. Other winners for the Hoosiers were sophomore Amanda Smith (1000-yard freestyle), sophomore Brittany Barwegan (200-yard butterfly), junior Brittany Feldman (one-meter and three-meter diving), junior Donna Smailis (100-yard freestyle), and senior Sarah Stockwell (200-yard breastroke).The increased level of effort in practice is part of the team’s overall plan for success, which is to be swimming its fastest times at the end of the season when the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Championships take place. That means coming into some early-season dual meets “beat up and tired,” Looze said.“Yes, it hurts us physically in the short term,” said senior Kristin Cihoski. “But in the long run, all that matters is what we do at the Big Ten and NCAAs, and this helps us.”Looze said he is happy with the way the team responded to the adverse circumstances, noting it will be good preparation for a schedule that gets harder as the season progresses. The Hoosiers compete in a three-way meet with Michigan and Texas, two top-10 teams, this Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich.“We like to schedule the hardest possible teams, so we bring it on ourselves,” Looze said. “But that gets us prepared for the end of the season, the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Championships. Here at IU, those are most important.”While pleased with his team’s performance, Looze said there are still many things the Hoosiers need to work on to compete at the highest level.“I’d like to get a few more people going,” Looze said. “I’d like to get the freshmen more consistent, because we have a good freshman class, and we’re going to really need to rely on them.”After traveling to Michigan this Saturday, the Hoosiers’ next home meet will be the Hoosierland Invite, which takes place Nov. 21-23 in the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.
(10/24/08 3:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Coming off a solid win against Kentucky in its season-opening meet last
Saturday, the No. 8 IU women’s swimming and diving team looks to
continue its strong performance Friday afternoon, when the Hoosiers
host No. 22 Northwestern at 3 p.m.
The Wildcats will present some tough challenges to the talented Hoosier team, said IU coach Ray Looze.
“They’re one of the better teams in the Big Ten this year, and I think
they’re one of the best dual meet teams in the country, so we have our
work cut out for us,” Looze said. “I’d say they’re probably favored on
paper coming into the meet. They can win a lot of events, so our girls
are really going to have to dig down and do some soul searching and
maybe win some races they weren’t expected to win.”
Looze, who describes his team as having an “end of the season focus,”
has increased the amount of yardage in training for the week to its
highest level of the season, while at the same time asking for more
intensity during the workouts. The swimmers have also had a demanding
week in the weight room.
“We just want to go into the Northwestern meet tired and fatigued, and
compete hard,” Looze said. “We want to win, and it’s going to be tough.”
The swimmers themselves feel likewise prepared.
“A lot of people are going to be tired, but I still think we’re ready
to go,” sophomore Ashley Jones said. “Everyone’s always excited when
meets come around, no matter how tired they are.”
The Hoosiers have reason to be excited – in their season-opening win
against Kentucky, the team won 15 of 16 swimming and diving events.
“We all thought we had a really good week last week, and we’re looking
to work hard this week,” said senior captain Abby Cooper. “We’re
counting on our hard work to get us through.”
Junior Kate Zubkova’s performance against Kentucky earned her Big Ten
Swimmer of the Week honors. Zubkova, who won the 100- and 200-yard
backstroke events during last year’s Big Ten Championships and also
competed in the 2008 Olympics, was victorious in the 100-yard
backstroke, 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard individual medley and was
part of IU’s first-place 200-yard medley relay during Saturday’s win
over Kentucky.
Despite the overwhelming victory last Saturday, Looze said the team has
put the past behind it and is concentrating on the task at hand.
“(The win over Kentucky) is in the past, so we’ve sort of forgotten
about it,” Looze said. “We’re just focusing on doing a good job in
practice, swimming fast in practice and having that carry over into our
competition.”
Today’s meet will be the last home meet for the Hoosiers until the Hoosierland Invitational begins on Nov. 21.
(10/20/08 4:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU women’s swimming and diving team put on a dominating performance Saturday in its first meet of the season, defeating Kentucky handily in a meet that was never closely contested. The Hoosiers won 15 of 16 events, taking first and second in six events and first, second and third in two events. They also took places one through four in the 500-meter freestyle.IU Coach Ray Looze said he is treating the victory with cautious optimism, noting that the team is talented, but still has much to prove.“We have siege mentality,” Looze said. “There’s a group of people in the castle shooting arrows, pouring hot burning oil on us, rolling rocks off, and we want to take it ... We don’t have anything. We’re sitting out in the cold, and we want to be in the castle.”IU’s strong performance was led by Junior Kate Zubkova, who won the 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter backstroke, and 200-meter individual medley. Senior Sarah Stockwell won the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke, and freshman Nikki White won the 200- and 500-meter freestyle. All three were members of a winning relay team as well.“I’m really happy with my swims,” White said. “I’m just glad I was able to score a lot of points for the team.”The 200-meter breaststroke was one of the events that the Hoosiers went 1-2-3 in. Stockwell placed first, followed by senior Abby Cooper and junior Amilee Smith.“Before the race I talked to Ray,” Stockwell said. “He told me to swim a smart race. I went out very smooth and really brought it home at the end.”Other winners for the Hoosiers were sophomore Amanda Smith (500-meter freestyle), sophomore Brittany Barwegan (200-meter butterfly), freshman Margaux Farrell (50-meter freestyle), junior Donna Smailis (100-meter freestyle), senior Christina Loukas (1-meter diving) and sophomore Christina Kouklakis (3-meter diving). Besides the 200-meter breaststroke, the Hoosiers also took the top three spots in the 3-meter diving. Behind Kouklakis were junior Brittany Feldman and Loukas. In the 500-meter freestyle, White was followed in order by Amanda Smith, senior Allison Kay and junior Cassie Luhrsen.The 100-meter butterfly was the sole event that Kentucky was able to win Saturday. “I’d really like to have the 100 fly back,” Looze said Looze. “I think Donna (Smailis) could have won that race. She gets really down on herself, but that is what makes her such a good swimmer.”Stockwell, one of three team captains, said that the dominating performance her team put on in nearly every event against Kentucky was not necessarily a surprise.“I had a feeling we could do it,” Stockwell said. “We are a young team but we are a powerful team.”The Hoosiers will be put to the test again Friday as they take on Big Ten rival Northwestern, a team of which Looze is wary. The meet will begin at 3 p.m. at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.“Northwestern is going to be very tough,” Looze said. “We could come right back down to reality.”
(04/08/08 4:54am)
The power of one of the world’s fastest supercomputers is now being harnessed to aid Indiana’s economy – and it’s taking place at IU.\nThe computer will allow businesses to conduct large-scale simulations quicker and more efficiently than they were previously able to, said Brad Wheeler, vice president and chief information officer for information technology at IU. \nThe computer will also benefit sectors such as life sciences and medicine, said Mitch Frazier, director of public relations of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. \nFor example, multiple images of an organ or body part can be fed into the supercomputer and a 3-D model can be created from that raw data.\n“(These simulations) can take hours or days to run, even on large systems,” Wheeler said. “The scale of and tools available on the IBM BladeCenter bring supercomputer power to commercial firms for meritorious research projects.”\nThe computer, able to complete 20 trillion mathematical operations in one second, was developed by IBM and utilizes IBM BladeCenter technology. It was first used on campus during summer 2007 and has only recently been made available for commercial use. It was brought to the state with the help of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and is co-managed by both IU and Purdue University.\n“The supercomputer is a power tool for furthering specific areas of the economy, which will in turn benefit the economy as a whole,” Frazier said.\nIU, Purdue and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation will partner to seek out Indiana businesses that could benefit from the technology, and also will evaluate requests from businesses that wish to use it.\nPurdue has already used the computer for research in nano-electronics, molecular dynamics for material science, jet engine models, modeling arterial blood flow in the human body, climate modeling codes and computational chemistry. It will continue to be used for academic purposes by both universities.\nIU is one of the few universities in the nation to have this technology on campus. Most universities are dependent on national computing centers or smaller \ndepartmental equipment, Wheeler said. \nThe fact that the technology is now being used to foster economic growth along with academic research makes the IU supercomputer unique, said Dave Turek, vice president of deep computing for IBM.\n“Indiana is among a leading group of states harnessing the power of these machines, once used solely for academic research, for commercial purposes and development of new industries,” Turek said.\nThe Indiana Economic Development Corporation was created by Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2005 to replace the Department of Commerce. It is overseen by a 12-member board headed by Daniels. Its goal is to attract businesses to Indiana and help foster the growth of businesses already located in the state. Since it was created, the state has had three years of record-breaking job creation.\nThe supercomputer is located at the Wrubel Computing Center adjacent to Big Red, the supercomputer that IU obtained in 2006. The new machine is an expansion of Big Red, and they will be used concurrently for large operations, Wheeler said. The machines will be moved to a new Data Center when it is completed in 2009.\nIU was chosen to be the home of the new supercomputer because of the University’s history with cutting-edge computing technology. In 2001, it received what was at the time the largest university-owned computer in the nation. Big Red has been here since 2006, and uses the same software tools as the new supercomputer. Additionally, IU has a number of specialists who will be able to assist those who wish to make use of the new technology.
(02/01/08 5:04am)
Informatics majors may have the largest amount of job security, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.\nThe fastest-growing occupation in the next eight years will be network systems and data communications analysis, according to a Department of Labor press release concerning the 30 fastest-growing U.S. careers. Computer software engineers came in fourth.\n“Job prospects for students are absolutely outstanding,” said Jeremy Podany, career services director for the School of Informatics.\nThe School of Informatics provides a wide range of computer and information technology education, and prepares students for careers in a variety of technology-related fields, including data, research, design and computing.\nCreated in 2000, the School of Informatics has more than 40 tenure-track professors and hundreds of students, according to its Web site. The growth will likely continue, said Bobby Schnabel, dean of the School of Informatics.\n“Students pick a major for two reasons,” Schnabel said. “One, because they think it’s fun and interesting stuff, and two, because of the job market ... \nWe like to think that informatics is fun and interesting, and the job market is certainly very positive. Demand far exceeds supply.”\nIn fact, the school has three jobs available for every student, Podany said, and there are plenty more that the school isn’t contacted about.\nThe rise in demand in the computer and information technology sectors can be attributed to a number of factors, Podany said. As baby boomers leave the workforce, companies are becoming more technologically-savvy. Also, Podany said, the growth of tech companies such as Google and Apple has resulted in a greater need for computer engineers and IT personnel. At the same time, growth in technology-related academic programs has not matched the growth in the job market.\n“Over 50 percent of Google’s employees are computer engineers,” Podany said. “Big tech giants need a lot of talent.”\nIU was the first university in the nation to establish a school of informatics, Podany said, though schools with similar programs existed elsewhere previously. Podany said he considers the school one of the top in the nation. Its main competitors are schools at Carnegie Mellon, the University of California-Berkeley, Georgia Tech, and Cornell, Podany said.\nThe School of Informatics differs from its competitors, Schnabel said, because it incorporates “a wide variety of applications and implications.”\nInformatics is defined on the school’s Web site as a discipline that “develops new uses for information technology in order to solve specific problems in areas as diverse as biology, fine arts, and economics.” Informatics also looks at how people interact with technology, according to the Web site. Podany said because of this, the School of Informatics is unique.\n“If Carnegie is an apple, then we are a kiwi,” Podany said. “Or perhaps even a star fruit.”
(01/22/08 5:13am)
A 2007 study by CareerBuilder.com and Harris Interactive found that 87 percent of hiring managers and human resource professionals believe that employees age 29 and under “(exhibit) a sense of entitlement that older generations don’t.”\nThis includes expecting a higher salary, a more flexible work schedule, more benefits, more vacation time and company-provided technology.\nThe survey, conducted among 2,546 employers in the United States, quantifies some common complaints among employers regarding “born 1980-95,” a term used to describe people in their teens and 20s. But some students and faculty see these expectations as perfectly reasonable.\n“We put a lot into our education,” said senior Matt Wint, an informatics major, “so we expect to get some of it back.”\nThe price of attending a public university has risen an average of 4 percent a year since 1987 after adjusting for inflation, according to CollegeBoard.com.\nEconomic uncertainty also plays a role, says Patrick Donahue, director of the Career Development Center.\n“This generation has seen parents downsized, watched the Internet bubble burst and perhaps had family members lose stock funds in Worldcom or Enron, so wanting to build a sound financial base is to be expected,” Donahue said.\nMany recent college graduates believe they deserve a higher salary because they come into the workforce more prepared than their older counterparts, mostly because of a meteoric rise in the popularity of internship programs. A 2006 study by Vault, Inc. reported that 62 percent of college students planned to take an internship in 2007, compared with just 41 percent the year before. \n“It used to be that internships were of secondary importance to students, right behind finding a job as a beach lifeguard or bartending,” Donahue said. “Now, internships are not only strongly encouraged, but they are often required by academic departments.” \nSome companies appear to be making concessions to their “Generation Y” employees. According to the CareerBuilder.com and Harris Interactive survey, 15 percent of employers “changed or implemented new policies or programs to accommodate Generation Y workers.” Some of these changes included access to state-of-the-art technology, more flexible work schedules, and, to a lesser degree, increased salaries and bonuses.\nPut in historical context, young job seekers have reason to expect higher starting salaries than those who entered the workforce decades before them. The average household income has risen steadily in the United States as the economy has grown. It hovered around $15,000 in the first two decades of the 20th century, and reached $33,338 in 1967. It is currently at $43,318, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. \n“Each generation expects higher salaries and better benefits than the generation before them had, so that’s not unusual,” Donahue said.
(12/10/07 4:19am)
Coffee lovers will soon be able to help disadvantaged people throughout the world while getting their daily caffeine fix.\nSherwood Oaks Christian Church plans to open a coffee shop at 315 E. Kirkwood Ave. in January called “The Pour House.” All profits will go to poverty relief programs.\n“If you buy a cup of coffee from Guatemala, money will be sent to help people in Guatemala,” said John Robertson, Sherwood Oaks college minister. “By buying coffee, you can help make the world a better place.”\nThe church had been looking for a good location near campus to center its college-outreach ministry when Roberston discovered the property on the corner of Kirkwood Avenue and Lincoln Street.\nThrough prayer and meetings with students, Robertson said he began to envision how the 2,500-square-foot space could \nbe used.\n“There are already 21 coffee shops in Bloomington, so we are looking to set ourselves apart,” Robertson said. \nThe main room will have a high-definition TV, and will show sporting events in the evenings. Roberston plans to have various live musical acts on the weekends.\nRobertson said he expects to have some Christian rock as well as local performers from the Jacobs School of Music. He said he is also looking forward to getting jazz groups \nto perform.\nThe coffee shop will be painted with a mixture of browns and blues, and will have a spacious back room with large windows and a fireplace for studying. The basement will host Bible studies and community \nservice meetings.\n“(The coffee shop) will be a good place for fellowship,” said Don Rader, a member of the board of directors for the project. “It should have a nice, friendly atmosphere.”\nRobertson said he believes the coffee shop will bring energy to the downtown area. He said its size, with multiple rooms for patrons to enjoy, sets it apart from other Bloomington coffee shops.\n“Whether you just want to stop in for a cup of coffee, get some studying done, socialize with friends or enjoy good music, you can do it all here,” he said. \nBesides going to Guatemala, profits will also support programs that help build wells in African villages where people are suffering from lack of clean water. Robertson would like a percentage of the profit to go back into the Bloomington community as well. \n“This is going to be a great outreach opportunity,” \nRader said.\nThe Pour House is scheduled to open Jan. 7, the first day of second-semester classes. It will be open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.