LOCAL/S TATE The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 20, 2000 - 3A ?tESEARCH U astronomers find 3 massive black holes *A team of astronomers announced at the American Astronomical Society Meeting this week that they have discov- ered three supermassive black holes. The black holes, located in galaxies NGC 4473 and NGC 4697 in the con- stellation Virgo and NGC 821 in the bonstellation Aries, increases the total iumber of supermassive black holes identified to 20. The team, led by University astrono- Prof. Douglas Richardson, has also tncluded that the formation and evolu- flon of galaxies are closely related to the presence of a central massive black hole. By using a computer model to detect abrupt changes in star velocity patterns, the team was able to support its findings. The team found support for its find because most, if not all, galaxies with bulges in their star spirals seem to have massive black holes. Secondly, they were able to deter- mine that quasars, extremely powerful 'bright objects capable of generating the lumninosity equal to one trillion suns, were developed before most star for- imation in galaxies. The team was also able to estimate the mass of the black holes based on the size of the galaxy and the velocity pattern of the stars at the core of the galaxy. The newly discovered black holes were esti- Mated to have a mass ranging from 50 *lion to 100 million suns. The computer model gets its input frdm the Hubbel Space Telescope observations and ground-based spec- troscopic data obtained at MDM Observatory. The observatory is oper- atpd by the University of Michigan, Dartmouth College, Columbia ,}University and Ohio State University. 4U receives grant 'om Dell Corp The Dell Computer Corporation awarded the University $125,000 for six research initiatives that encourage innovation in education with the use of information technology. The funds, part of a new program c~ld Dell STAR - Strategic Technology and Research - are award- ed to faculty at specific universities *ough a submission process that recog- nes projects the encourage innovation igducation and the application of infor- mation technology within a university or business environment. The other universities involved in the STAR program are Duke University, Ff6-rida A&M University Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University and the kiversity of North Carolina. his year, the program will fund the development of a course in applied port- fglio management to give students real- .world business skills, the Dell science project in urban schools that will add a scientific visualization tool to analyze (ata, and the intelligent synthetic charac- ,ter for computer games project, which ,atempts to develop human-like syntjiet- ic 6.haractcrs for video games. The program will also fund the ernet market games for e-commerce cation project that teaches students by placing them in a simulated com- merce activity, the Linux Scalability project that attempts to improve the scalability and robustness of the Linux gerating system, and the launch ready °"lternet start-ups course that will allow .,,tudents interested in entrepreneurship tlaunch actual start-up companies. linois stops live animal testing Administrators at the University of Illinois cancelled live animal experi- ments that first year students in the Zo'llege of Veterinary Medicine were sheduled to conduct this semester in an effort to avoid killing animals for the sake of education. Included in the administrators' plans for alternative teaching methods are monstrations of live animal experi- ments for students to watch. Although the school never forced vet- einary students to participate in live ani- ma l experiments, students were not offered alternatives to experimenting with live animals. More than 25 veteri- nary students chose not to conduct exper- iments on live animals last semester The university has been in the devel- 'ment stage of altering its experi- nts since last fall. - Compiled by Daily Staff'Reporter Lindsey Alpert. eents to take tour of Meical ampus By Jeannie Baumann Daily2Staf R7)c ri i The University Board of Regents will delay thir monthlymeeting today by a few hours to tour theKrege uildings on the Medical Campus. 'fh prposof this tour will be to famil- iarize the regents with various buildings, focus'ing first on the Kresge laboratories of the Medical School," University Secretary Lisa Tedesco said in a written statement. Medical School Dean Allen Richter said he hopes the tour will make the regents aware of the building's dilapidated state. "The building ha:; long lived past its usefulness and needs to be replaced," Richter said. "It has insufficient capability of supporting modern bio- medical research" Regent Olivia Maynard (D-Goodrich) said the regents are always interested in taking a hands-on lTD officials, MSA reps to present reports at meeting approach toi the campus, but a full agenda often puts a time constraint on such possibilities. "We can't do it at every meeting," she said. "But it's a good idea. It gives us an opportunity to talk to people who are actually functioning in those buildings. You always learn more when you're on the site." The meeting is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. today in the Regents Room of the Fleming Administration Building. Chief Information Officer Jose-Marie Griffiths, executive director of the Information Technology Division, is sched- uled to give a presentation about the success of the University's Y2K preparations. She said the presentation will include whether the extensive Y2K preparations were worth the effort and speculation about the future. Griffiths said the University spent about two years prepar- ing for the year 2000 rollover. "There were some minor issues, but they were not necessarily Y2K related," Griffiths said. Representatives from the Michigan Student Assembly are also scheduled to make a presen- tation supporting the Worker Rights Consortium, a group working to counter sweat- shop labor. The assembly unanimously passed a resolution last semester that endorsed the WRC. "Basically, we want to let them know why MSA thinks the University should join the WRC, MSA's understanding of the situation and that the assem- bly recognizes all of the progress that the University and students have made," MSA President Brain Elias said. Elias said that unlike Students Organizing fpr Labor and Economic Equality, the assembly is not pushing for the University to sign the WRC by the Feb. 2 deadline. "We're trying to stay out of that," Elias said. "We want the University to sign onto the WRC as expediently and intelligently as possible." Ready, aim, fire ' student wins computer, cash in online sweepstakes By Josie Gingrich Daily Staff Reporter Rodger Devine had never put much faith in contests until he was notified by VarsityBooks.com that there was $1,000 and a brand new iMac computer heading his way. Devine, an LSA junior, was notified Tuesday that he was a winner in the "Open Doors" sweepstakes sponsored by the online retailer. "I'm really shocked," Devine said. "I've never won any- thing before." Devine received an e-mail from a friend notifying him of the contest that was offered exclusively online. "I went to the Website and no purchase was required," Devine explained. "I just registered and put in the names of five friends to increase my odds," he said. When he checked the site yesterday, Devine saw his name listed as a winner of the $1,000 and a new computer. He later received an e-mail verifying his prizes. "It's a major relief," said Devine, who plans to pay for books and pay off credit card debts with the money. Devine's prizes are part of a month-long contest spon- sored by VarsityBooks in which $1,000 in cash and a new computer will be awarded to a registered student every day. "It's the kickoff to a year of scholarship programs with a million dollars worth of prizes," said Tara May, commu- nications director of VarsityBooks, "I'm eallyr shocked, I've never won anything before." - Rodger Devine LSA junior "It's also to entice people who haven't gotten on the site," May said. May said the goal of the contest, according to Meav, is to make higher education more affordable to college students. There is no purchase required to register for the contest, she said, but the company hopes to gain exposure to students who have not considered buying books online. Recently, VarsityBooks has come under fire by the National Association of Campus Stores for alleged mis- leading advertising. May said the case "is pending and hasn't been present- ed before a judge.: "We of course believe the allegations are without merit," she added. Other online textbook retailers use contests to lure stu- dents to their sites. BigWords.com recently launched a campaign called Rise Revolution that promises to give away Ford Explorers, airline tickets and free textbooks. DANNY KALICK/Daily LSA first-year student Matt Groff takes aim to throw a snowball yesterday at LSA sophomore CJ. Hayes in a West Quad Residence Hall courtyard. Sfacu olpanel debate j,,uman rgt READ THE DAILY ONLINE AT wwwmichiga~ndaily. corn. II -t Voice Your Vote Task Force reaches out to students to become more politically active By Jon Zemke D~aily Staff Reporter In an ot to register students to vote and become more politically active. the Democracy Project held a debate on human rights in front of more than 60 students in the Michigan Union yesterday. 1 l ,e Demoracy Project is a part of MSA's Voice Your Vote Task Force. The project is a series of debates intended to increase student political awareness and participation in the upcoming Novmibcr elections. "The Democracy Project is not only concerned about getting stu- dents interested in the issues, but also to get them to take action for them" said Voice Your Vote Task Fore chair Shari Katz. The debate was the latter half of a Voic Your Vot Task Force voter regis- tration drive sponsored by the Michigan Student Assembly. The tak force was able to register 50 students yesterday and registered 10 more during the debate. "They are very important and very p political science Prof. I roldiacobon, a speaker on the pItan. allows people to think for th mseivcs and see different points of view -' e said. Jacobson was one of four speakers on a panel, debating human rights and what action the nation should take. The panel specifically debated whether sanctions should be employed on nations suspected of human rights violations. The panel also consisted of Libertarian Charles Goodmanna Rackham student, Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality organizer Peter Romer- Friedman and Residential College Prof. Ian Robinson. Debate moderator Ganesh Muthappan, an LSA sophomore and member of Amnesty International, brought up issues including how sanctions have worked with South Africa and how they have not with Cuba. But a majority of the time was spent discussing whether the United States should place sanctions on China. "The major issue is not to fight World War III with them," Jacobson added. "China is the rising power in the world. They will be able to exceed us in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and machinery produc- tion," he said. Questions from the audience were taken at the end and included topics ranging from whether the "neo-lib- eral model" middle class could be supported by the environment in nations with higher populations such as China and India to whether the United States should impose sanctions on Russia because of the war in Chechlnva. "I believe the neo-liberal model works because Americans don't have problems of an elbow-to-elbow soci- ety," said Engineering graduate stu- dent Tara Javidi. "Infinite density is not possible no matter how good it sounds." 19I1 /o r _ .r S HOE , -I -o4;O i ~ Including: Cole-Haan, Allen Edmonds, Mephisto, Kenneth Cole Paraboot, A uatalia, Sebago, H.S Trask, Dona d Pliner, Areie, Paul Green Mezian, and many more LI !. . a Many Styles And Sizes To Choose From For Both Men & Women. Many Sale Prices Are At 50% Off And More!!! 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