The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, February 20, 2007 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
DEWANA, India
Fire sparked by train
bombing kills 66
Leaders of India and Pakistan
pressed ahead yesterday with their
peace process, hours after twin
bombs - apparently intended to
disrupt their relations - sparked a
fire that killed 66 people aboard a
train that links the two rivals.
The fire destroyed two coaches
on the Samjhauta Express, about
an hour after the train left New
Delhi on its way to the Pakistan
border. Officials said the attack was
timed ahead of the arrival of Paki-
stani Foreign Minister Khursheed
Kasuri, who is expected today in
the Indian capital.
"This is an attempt to derail the
improving relationship between
India and Pakistan," Railway Min-
ister Laloo Prasad told reporters.
FRANKFURT, Germany
Speculation on
Chrysler's fate
drives up stock
With DaimlerChrysler AG put-
ting all options on the table for its
struggling U.S. unit, the auto indus-
try is pondering the fate of Chrysler
and whether its parent will jettison
a brand that critics say has dulled
the sheen of the legendary Mer-
cedes marquee.
Speculation about potential part-
ners, or even a buyer, jumping in to
use Chrysler's expansive parts and
dealership network to gain entry
to the U.S. market has ranged from
a tie-up with Nissan and Renault
to talk of a link with Hyundai to
a homegrown deal with General
Motors.
The possibilities have driven
DaimlerChrysler shares up by 12
percent since it first said it was
mulling all options for the Chrys-
ler Group. Yesterday they gained
almost 4 percent more to 56.26
euros ($73.88) in German trading,
their highest level since July 2001.
DaimlerChrysler has kept mum
since announcing last week that it
had not ruled out any options for
Chrysler - which, until a year ago,
had kept the world's fifth-largest
automaker profitable amid quality
issues at the Mercedes Car Group.
BAGHDAD
Attack on U.S.
military base kills
two soldiers
Insurgents staged a bold daylight
assault against a U.S. combat post
north of the capital yesterday - first
strikingwith a suicide car bombing,
then firing on soldiers pinned down
in a former Iraqi police station. At
leasttwo soldiers were killed and 17
wounded, the military said.
Elsewhere, three U.S. soldiers
were killed and two were wounded
in a roadside bombing southwest
of Baghdad yesterday, the U.S.
military said. The military also
announced the deaths of three
Marines and one soldier since Sat-
urday while conducting combat
operation* in the western province
of Anbar.
The head-on attack north of
Baghdad was notable for both its
tactics and target. Sunni insur-
gents have mostly used hit-and-
run ambushes, roadside bombs or
mortars on U.S. troops and avoided
direct assaults on fortified military
compounds to avoid U.S. firepower.
It also appeared to fit a pattern
emerging among the suspected
Sunni militants: trying to hit U.S.
forces harder outside the capital
rather than confront them on the
streets during a massive American-
led security operation.
NEW YORK
JetBlue flights
canceled again
Low cost fares, quirky blue
potato chips and even a mea culpa
from JetBlue Airways' founder
may not be enough to ease passen-
ger anxiety yesterday as the airline
braces for another day of disrupted
flights.
The company said it would be
canceling almost a quarter of the
day's flights but hopes to be fully
operational today, almost a week
after a Valentine's Day snowstorm,
created a meltdown for the air-
line.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
13
The number of cracked airplane
windshields discovered so far at
DenverInternationalAirport,ABC
News reported. Up to 100 miles-
per-hour winds have been ravag-
ing the Colorado foothills. Since
1982, the Federal Aviation Admin-
istration has recorded 20 cases of
in-flight window cracking - 12 on
commercial airplanes. All of the
damaged planes were expected to
return to service yesterday.
QUADRUPLETS
From page 1
"With my wife's support, this is pos-
sible," he said. "We can survive."
But the family always comes
together on the weekends. They
often take trips to local parks and
museums and have visited the Tole-
do Zoo and Cedar Point Amuse-
ment Park.
Weekdays begin for the family
when the girls wake up at 7:30 a.m.
After Luisa - the nanny the Coo-
pers brought with them from their
home in Chile - dresses and feeds
them, the girls play together.
The day continues with multiple
feeding and nap sessions until 9:30
p.m., when the girls are placed in
their cribs and the house is finally
quiet.
While life with four small chil-
dren is chaotic, the Coopers don't
seem to mind.
"With kids, you have to assume
you can't control everything," Coo-
per said. "It's almost easier with four
because you're more prepared."
Cooper arrived at the Univer-
sity of Michigan in fall 2004 after
applying to several American uni-
versities.
Michelle planned to stay behind
in Chile. But a week before Andres
left, the Coopers learned Michelle
was pregnant with fraternal twins.
During a routine check-up a
month later, doctors noticed that
there were not two but four heart-
beats.
Andres Cooper remained at
the University for one term before
returning to Chile for New Year's
in 2005.
But a few days before Andres
was set to return to Ann Arbor,
Michelle began feeling ill. During
the subsequent hospital trip, the
couple learned that the babies were
supposed to be born in the next
couple days.
"We had several months to fig-
ure it all out," Cooper said. "But it
was still a shock. I mean, from zero
babies to four."
Accordingto the AmericanAcad-
emy of Pediatrics, the Coopers were
the 52nd couple in the world to have
quadruplets from two embryos.
On Jan. 6, 2005, the quadruplets
were born prematurely. The small-
est weighed 1.8 pounds, the largest
2.1.
They were kept under obser-
vation in incubators for several
months after their birth. Eight sur-
geries later, they were ready to go
home.
Cooper took the next year off
from the University to stay at home
with his family.
In December 2005, they relocat-
ed to Ann Arbor so he could finish
his studies.
The Coopers say things are bet-
ter here. While they speak fondly of
Chile and their families, they agree
that life in a quiet three-bedroom
house on North Campus is better
than the noise and pollution of city
life back home in Chile's capital,
Santiago.
After he completes his PhD and
his contract as a GSI expires, Coo-
per and his family plan to return to
Chile.
There, he will work for the gov-
ernment, which is currently help-
ing to fund his education.
Although both parents said they
would love to send their children to
daycare, they said the average cost
is too high at $1,000 per child per
month at local centers.
"It feels like we already have our
NINTENDO POWER
SHAY SPAsIOLA/ooily
Customers buy Japanese cartoon stuffed animals, imported fruit flaoored candies
and collectibles at Wizzywig on East Liberty Street yesterday.
MATH
From page IA
study began.
Sekaquaptewa said that high
levers of unintended stereotyping
could remove the protection from
low performance offered by low
levels of gender identification.
Low levels of both factors were
necessary to predict higher exam
performance. But either low gender
identification or low implicit ste-
reotyping was enough to predict an
increased desire to pursue a math-
related career.
The study, published in last
month's issue of the Journal of
American Psychological Science,
notes that it might be easier to
reject stereotypes in the conscious
setting of making career decisions
than in the behavioral context of
taking an exam.
Sekaquaptewa said implicit ste-
reotypes contribute to the under
representation of women in math
and related fields like science and
engineering.
Lower-level college math classes
have roughly equal gender repre-
sentation, Sekaquaptewa said. But
that changes at high levels.
"As we go up, something hap-
pens along the way," she said. "By
the time we get to women faculty
in math and engineering, we're
looking at about 7 percent women."
Thirty-two percent of actuarial
math majors and 30 percent of
mathematical science students are
women. Only eight of 69 (around 12
percent) honors and pure math sub-
plan students are women. These
are the fields most likely to lead to
graduate research in math or sci-
ence, said Carolyn Dean, the math
department's chair of outreach and
recruiting.
Faculty figures mirror the stu-
dent population. Just eight of the
University's 68 tenure-track math
professors are female.
SOLUTIONS
Dean expressed surprise at
the low numbers of female math
majors.
She said that up until about five
years ago, the department was
approaching gender parity, at least
atthe undergraduate level. Butthen
the numbers hita plateau.
Dean said she encourages infor-
mal mentoring of female students
to encourage their mathematical
ambitions.
"Those efforts add up," she said.
"Mostly because the numbers are
so small."
While formal welcome recep-
tions for women in math were
important five or 10 years ago,
Dean said that many incoming
female graduate students now see
such events as perpetuating a ste-
reotype.
Cinda-Sue Davis, the direc-
tor of the Women in Science and
Engineering program, pointed to a
chilly climate that she said is "not
particularlywelcoming" forwomen
in science and math fields.
The WISE program conducts
outreach to elementary and high
school students to encourage
them to consider math and science
careers. It also holds workshops
for undergraduate and graduate
own day care center here," Andres
Cooper said. FlI
- Sara Kase contributed
to this report. (M g S f "
women.Th
Davis said women's performance
in science and math classes often
exceeds men's. Sekaquaptewa and
Davis both emphasized that wom-
en's underrepresentation in science
and math fields is not due to a lack
of ability, but is the fault of social-
psychological factors.
Administrators looking to
encourage more women to go into
math might learn from the case of A BRAND NEW FESTIVAL
Breanna Turcsanyi, who gradu- ' O .. GRA E U hEATEf
ated from the University in April . NIMATED
with a degree in math. S
She said she was one of only two
other female students in the pure
math program that year. At first, T TA T[ H ORT F[LMS
she wasn't planning on pursuing THE LT NIM SHORT FILMS
a career in advanced math, but
instead considering becoming a 4 _= . E
high school math teacher or com-
puter programmer.
Her summer research in the
math department as part of the
Research Experience for Under-
graduates program changed that.
Now she is waiting for responses
from math doctoral programs
where she hopes to do research on
number theory.
"Once I experienced (research),
it made me realize it's not as impos-
sible or scary as it sounds," she
said.
A math department-sponsored /
trip to a women's undergradu-
ate mathematics conference also
helped convince her to apply to -TUESDAYF[B
doctoral programs.Jp,20 INDaB2
"It was really cool to see so many
girls as interested in math as I am
and just to realize that (graduate
research) really was a possibility," THEATRE n I I .
Turcsanyi said. TICKETS 10.00--ON SALE NOW AT MAIN ART BOX OFFICE
OR MOVIETICKETS.COM 888-440-8457
Michigan Classics
Need more news
in your life?
Check out the Daily's blog at
michigandaily.com/thewire
Ad l
Zl
11
i1mmar oftbal
Please call
734.764.0515
for
information
Competitive and Recreational Leagues for
Men's, Women's and Co-Rec Teams
$650 - 10 games plus playoffs
$1300 - Men's doubleheader - 20 games plus playoffs
HALF SEASON CO-REC LEAGUE.
5 GAMES for $300! Call for details.
Registration and Manager's Meeting
will be held on
REC]Monday, February 26th at 6:00 PM
SPORTS Intramural Sports Building
606 East Hoover, Ann Arbor
'-I