USCTIMES
OCTOBER 2017 / VOL. 28, NO.8
A MOVING ISSUE
Physics at the Fair
Profiles in Motion
McNair in the Air
What goes up must come down, sometimes at dizzying speed and with lights a-flashing, page 12
Getting around campus doesn’t require a parking pass for those who bike, hike or shuttle, page 6
USC’s aerospace innovators are flying high, but they’re hardly under the radar, page 14
USC TIMES / STAFF
FROM THE EDITOR USC Times is published 10 times a year for the faculty and staff of the University of South Carolina by the Office of Communications & Public Affairs, Wes Hickman, director. Managing Editor Craig Brandhorst Creative Director Bob Wertz Designer Brinnan Wimberly Contributors Thom Harmon Chris Horn Page Ivey Megan Sexton Melinda Waldrop Photographers Kim Truett Joshua Burrack Printer USC Printing Services Campus correspondents James Raby, Aiken Kerry Jarvis, Beaufort Jeanne Petrizzo, Greenville Shana Dry, Lancaster Jane Brewer, Salkehatchie Misty Hatfield, Sumter Annie Smith, Union Tammy Whaley, Upstate Jay Darby, Palmetto College Submissions Did you know you can submit ideas for future issues of USC Times? Share your story by emailing or calling Craig Brandhorst at craigb1@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-3681.
MOTION KEEP IT IN MOTION MOTION MOTION At USC Times, things move quickly. Yeah, we only come out ten times a year, but we’re never not working, the next issue is always on deck. The September issue wasn’t back from the printer when we started interviewing folks for October, and as we prep for the printer again, we’re full-steam ahead on November, and plotting December – even though the leaves on the Horseshoe are still remarkably green. If the blur on the cover didn’t make it clear, this issue is all about movement. You might even call it a moving issue. Bodies in motion, machines in motion; physics, dance, transportation and more transportation. There’s as much to read as ever, but this one’s a real page-turner. Don’t blink. But do turn the page — at least, once we’ve got you up to speed. This month’s cover story should get you there quick. Or at a more leisurely, contemplative pace. Or in a zigzag fashion involving a shuttle ride, an impromptu smoothie stop and some casual conversation with a friend you just happen to bump into while you’re walking to class. Getting to and from campus, and from one side to the other, without use of a car, and getting the most out of the experience — that’s what “Profiles in Motion,” page 6, is all about. Our preview of this fall’s USC production of George Balanchine’s ballet “Walpurgisnacht,” staged by dance professor Stacey Calvert, is all about motion, too. After all, what is dance but that? And what is Balanchine? “He changed the face of American ballet,” Calvert told us. “He took the art form from rigid to what it is now.” “Creating the Dancer” begins on page 4. In the interest of fairness, we’ve balanced the arts with some good old-fashioned physics — at the S.C. State Fair. This October, the R.L. Childers Midway Physics Day celebrates its 21st year of bringing together Palmetto State high school students, USC students and USC faculty to learn the laws of motion in the most fun way imaginable, while riding rides and stuffing themselves silly. You’ll find “French Fries, Ferris Wheels … and Science,” starting on page 12. And the sky is not the limit. No, really — that’s the title of another science-themed feature this time around, “The Sky is Not the Limit,” page 14. The McNair Center is on the move these days, too, with a new director and a healthy dose of altitude that should keep the university’s efforts in aerospace technology moving onwards and upwards in the years to come. As always, there’s more, but that’s all we’ve got time for at the moment. There's the next issue to get out, and the one after that, and you’ve got a bunch of good, moving stories to read before you catch the next shuttle, so let’s not keep each other waiting.
The University of South Carolina does not discriminate in educational or employment opportunities or decisions for qualified persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual orientation or veteran status.
Get a move on,
CRAIG BRANDHORST MANAGING EDITOR
ON THE COVER: Office of Communications marketing technologist Paul Allen’s wheels were a blur as he crossed Gibbes Green, but we caught up with him in the garden behind Caroliniana library for a quote about why he bikes to work, page 9.
VOL. 28, NO.8 3
TIMES FIVE
GOING MOBILE Now that the summer heat has passed, get outdoors and enjoy all the natural beauty South Carolina has to offer. Faculty and staff may rent outdoor equipment such as tents, backpacks, camping stoves, headlamps, sleeping bags, canoes and cartop carriers for a minimal charge through Outdoor Recreation. For more information, visit sc.edu/campusrec.
Skills Like This In addition to the many training classes offered for faculty and staff, USC’s Employee Assistance Program offers many online courses. Just log into mygroup.com using the username: USC and password: guest.
BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME
Visit the Skill Builder Center for a complete
Homecoming 2017 kicks off Oct. 26 with a free reception for the Black Alumni Council at 1801 Grille in Foundation Square from 5 to 7 p.m. Everyone is welcome. The council also will host a breakfast the following morning from 8:30 to 10 a.m. in the Alumni Center Ballroom. Tickets for that event are $30 per person with proceeds going to support the Richard T. Greener Scholarship. Other Homecoming highlights include: “History Through the Five Senses,” a talk by history professor Mark Smith; the Carolina’s Best forum, featuring the 2017 alumni award recipients discussing their experiences as Carolina students; the Homecoming Street Party; and, of course, Saturday’s football game against Vanderbilt at Williams-Brice Stadium. For more information about all events, check out mycarolina.org.
personality differences, business etiquette
list of classes. Topics include appreciating and professionalism, estate planning, caring for aging parents and effective communication.
COVER ME October means open enrollment. Employees who subscribe to the insurance plans offered by the Public Employee Benefit Authority can make changes to their coverage this month. This year, you can also change your dental coverage, which can only be done in odd-numbered years. If you are satisfied with your existing coverage, you do not
PLACE ODDITIES
need to do anything during open enrollment.
With more than 30,000 students and more than 7,000 faculty and staff members, the university is
Changes will take effect Jan. 1. You can
bigger than many towns in South Carolina. Naturally, a lot of things get lost…and found. Check out
access the open enrollment web page at
some of the finds at the McKissick Museum exhibit: “WTF (What They Found): Oddities Found on
peba.sc.gov.
Campus.” Exhibit hours are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free.
4 USCTIMES / OCTOBER 2017
Creating the dancer
USC professor brings the revolutionary choreography of George Balanchine to Columbia every year. BY PAGE IVEY Stacey Calvert has been a devotee of choreographer George Balanchine since she was a young dancer. “The choreography is brilliant; it’s beyond brilliant,” she says. "It’s super organic to dance. As a dancer, it makes perfect sense.” That is why Calvert has staged a Balanchine program every spring for the past 14 years as a dance professor at the University of South Carolina. “He incorporated streamline, quick movements. He took the classical technique a little farther, made it a little more exaggerated,” says Calvert, who attended Balanchine’s School of
American Ballet and became a soloist for the New York City Ballet that Balanchine founded. Calvert has been approved by the George Balanchine Trust to stage his works, which unlike classical ballet, don't follow a storyline. “He allowed arm movements to soften — where they normally go through a very proper position, he allowed them to move through the position,” Calvert says. “It’s the most amazing thing to dance, so amazing on your body when you’re doing it.” As part of her staging, Calvert puts her USC dance students alongside professionals from the New York City Ballet.
Calvert's own path crossed briefly with Balanchine, who established the New York City Ballet in 1948 and was its creative director until his death in 1983. “He changed the face of American ballet,” she says. “He took the art form from rigid to what it is now.” Before the spring 2018 show, for which Calvert has not yet chosen the program — “I’ll have to see what our dancers can do,” she says — she will stage Balanchine’s "Walpurgisnacht" for the USC Dance Company’s Fall Concert, which will include three other works.
VOL. 28, NO.8 5
If you're going .... USC Dance Company Fall Concert
NOV. 16-17 7:30 p.m. Koger Center for the Arts
Tickets are $22 and can be purchased online at www. kogercenterforthearts.com, by phone at 803-351-2222 or at the Koger Center box office. The "Walpurgisnacht" scene comes at the beginning of the opera “Faust,” when the souls of the dead are released to wander. “It’s wonderful,” says Susan Anderson, artistic director of the USC Dance Company. “The girls start with their hair up, and their hair is down by the end. It is light and effervescent — pure movement — there is a lot of running, a lot of arm gestures.” The fall concert will also include a new work choreographed by instructor Heather Stokes to “Suite of Old American Dances,” by American composer Robert Russell Bennett. Anderson describes this work as a fusion of several styles
including jazz, modern dance and ballet. “The music is the dictator,” she says. “It will be en pointe, but jazzy.” USC Symphonic Winds will play the score for this finale piece. The concert will include a new piece by associate professor and choreographer Thaddeus Davis, whose style combines contemporary ballet and Balanchine’s neoclassical style. “He creates pure magic,” Anderson says. In addition, guest artist Miriam Barbosa is creating a new work as a tribute to Martha Graham, whose contraction and release style became the hallmark of modern dance. T
Featured works: George Balanchine’s “Walpurgisnacht,” staged by Stacey Calvert; “Suite of Old American Dances,” by American composer Robert Russell Bennett, choreographed by Heather Stokes with Cormac Cannon leading the USC Symphonic Winds; a world premiere by dance professor Thaddeus Davis; and a tribute to Martha Graham by guest artist Miriam Barbosa.
6 USCTIMES / OCTOBER 2017
PROFILES IN
MOTION
LIFE ON AN URBAN CAMPUS COMES WITH LOTS AND LOTS OF TRAFFIC. BUT IT’S NOT JUST CAR TRAFFIC, ESPECIALLY THESE DAYS, AND IT’S NOT ALL BAD. WITH THE RECENT SURGE IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC-PRIVATE STUDENT HOUSING DOWNTOWN, AND IMPROVEMENTS TO BIKE LANES AND SHUTTLE SERVICE, THE CAMPUS COMMUTE DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A HEADACHE. IN FACT, FOR MANY STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF, DITCHING THE DRIVE PROVIDES A WELCOME IMPROVEMENT TO QUALITY OF LIFE. BY CRAIG BRANDHORST, MELINDA WALDROP AND MEGAN SEXTON
VOL. 28, NO.8 7
Junior international studies major and track and field standout Rougui Sow doesn’t own a car and takes the shuttle five days a week — to class, to practice and back to her apartment at 650 Lincoln. The two-time All-American long jumper from Paris, France, appreciates the convenience but also the chance to save her energy for practice. “I just wish we had
ROUGUI SOW
more busses,” she says. “Where I’m from, we have subways, busses, all that, so it’s something I’m used to.”
RAND HOUGH Freshman Rand Hough grew up in Columbia and is encouraged by the university’s embrace of cycling culture and safety. “I’m glad that they’ve added bike lanes,” Hough says. “I really like Greene Street — it’s so convenient, and it’s nice, at least in theory, to not have to worry about people turning into you. If they did more bike lanes, I’d be very happy.” But the international business major, who is pursuing a career in urban planning, does see room for improvement: “You’d have to confirm this by counting, but it really feels like all the potholes on Greene Street in front of Russell House are concentrated in the bike lane. Worse than that, it seems to have turned into a slow-crawl texting lane because that’s where the gates open.”
8 USCTIMES / OCTOBER 2017
MAIN STREET STROLL, CAPITOL STEPS It’s just .6 miles from the Hub to the Horseshoe and takes an average of 13 minutes on foot or just four by bike, according to Google Maps.
Hang out on the grounds of the South Carolina State House some morning and you’ll see them in droves — USC students, sometimes five or six at a time, strolling from the Hub to campus and back to the Hub via the bustling sidewalks of Main Street. At 21 stories, the Hub is home to approximately 850 college students, most of them from USC, many of them regular walkers or cyclists. Sophomore early childhood education major Jasmine Williamson is a perfect example. Williamson moved into the Hub at the end of the summer and doesn’t own a car, primarily for financial reasons. She relies on friends or Uber for longer excursions, but says her most frequent destinations are within easy walking distance. “It takes about 15 or 20 minutes to get to class, and then I stay on campus until my
classes are done,” says Williamson. “It’s not too close but not too far away, so it’s pretty cool.” Williamson, a Myrtle Beach native, also enjoys the lifestyle that comes with living and going to school in the heart of a midsize city. “I like the State House area because it’s super-pretty and it feels safe,” says Williamson. “And I like walking past all the buildings on Main Street and seeing everyone out talking and having a good time.” But don’t assume every student cutting across the State House grounds lives at the Hub. Restaurants, coffee shops and other amenities draw students to the increasingly vibrant Main Street district throughout the day. When USC Times caught up with freshman naval ROTC cadet Pat Byrne, for example, he was on his way to the dry cleaners.
“If I have to go get something, the CVS is right up the block, or it’s just a short walk to Main Street — everything I need is within walking distance,” says Byrne, who lives on campus in the Honors Residence. “It’s a definite benefit, especially when it’s nice out.” Byrne, a philosophy and history major, came to USC from Long Island, N.Y. and credits being on foot so much with enhancing his social life. “You see people around,” he says. “You’re walking by yourself and don’t have anybody to talk to, and then you see somebody from your dorm and just start chatting. You wouldn’t have that opportunity if you were driving.” Hospitality major Miranda Fitzgerald can relate. The senior lives at The Station, closer to Five Points than Main Street, but was on her way to work at the Capital
VOL. 28, NO.8 9
City Club at Main and Gervais. Other days, she traverses the full length of campus, often in the company of one or more of her three roommates. “We take the shuttle together, and if the shuttle takes too long, we walk,” says Fitzgerald, who sees a definite health benefit to the pedestrian lifestyle. “I feel
like it’s an accomplishment every day to see how many steps I can do. Sometimes I get up to 12,000. My roommates and I have a competition.” And it’s easy to see how she racks up the steps. Mondays and Wednesdays, she walks to classes at Close-Hipp, the nursing building and the Coliseum, heads to the Strom to work out and then down Blossom Street to the Greek Village to dine with her sorority sisters.
It’s a far cry from the car culture Fitzgerald knew growing up in Fort Mill, S.C., but she doesn’t really miss her former lifestyle, especially considering the hassles and expense of parking in the city. “I don’t have enough quarters,” she says with a laugh. “My freshman year, I wanted a car because I felt the need to have transportation everywhere, but now that I know the campus so well, I feel like, to some extent, I don’t need a car.”
Office of Communications and Public Affairs marketing technologist Paul Allen rides his bike to campus whenever possible. The commute from his home near Garners Ferry Road takes 40 to 45 minutes, while going home takes about ten minutes less because it’s mostly downhill. “There’s the health benefit, there are environmental reasons, there are economic reasons — my wife and I are trying to get down to one car — but at the end of the day, it’s just something I want to do,” says Allen. “There are studies that show that, for many people, the commute is the
PAUL ALLEN
worst part of their day. I’m able to flip that. Coming in, I get to focus on the day ahead; going home, I have a chance to decompress.”
CARRIE ARMSTRONG As dIrector of Outdoor Recreation, Carrie Armstrong oversees USC’s bike shop, challenge course, climbing wall, recreational rental shop, adventure trips and the garden plots near the president’s house. As a triathlete with a 20-month-old daughter, she finds ways to combine training, motherhood and the morning commute whenever possible — even if that means jogging behind her daughter’s stroller on the way to the office. “Dakota started daycare at USC’s Child Development Center this summer, so it’s just super convenient to throw in a workout and take her to school at the same time,” says Armstrong. “I’m really lucky, too, working at the Strom, because I can easily throw in a swim at lunchtime.”
10 USCTIMES / OCTOBER 2017
Kyle Baldouf is a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering. He didn’t bring a car to campus because he felt like he didn’t need one and uses the lime green Zapp Ride Share electric scooters instead. Baldouf rides from his apartment in Aspyre to his classes on campus and back and says it’s a great alternative to hoofing it uphill. “I don’t really want to walk to school every day, because it’s a 20- to 25-minute walk, depending on what class I have,” says the Maryland native. “I’ve been using the Zapps every day because they’re so convenient. They’re pretty easy to find. Sometimes the stations are full, but mostly that’s not a problem.”
MICHAEL PEREZ
Michael Perez, a junior majoring in exercise science from Hilton Head, lives off campus, parks at the athletics garage and takes the shuttle to the Jones Physical Science Building and the Arnold School of Public Health five days a week, but he doesn’t mind the extra transit time. “It gives me time to do a little school work or just chill,” he says. “If I’m in a large city after graduation, I would definitely use mass transit. It’s a lot cheaper than having a car.”
KYLE BALDOUF
VOL. 28, NO.8 11
THE DEVINE WALK The route up Devine Street to the Carolina Coliseum from the Greene Crossing apartments is just .7 miles and takes an average of 15 minutes on foot, according to Google Maps. The same route, starting at Park Place Apartments, is just one-tenth of a mile longer and takes only a minute or so more.
The leafy stretch of Devine Street between Gadsden and the Carolina Coliseum cuts between two city blocks of parking and bisects the 650 Lincoln residential complex, but it’s also the route of choice for students traveling to and from several new student housing developments along campus’s west end. They walk, pedal bikes or disembark from shuttles. They carry smoothies and subs on the way to class or back to the Park Place or Greene Crossing student apartments, chatting on phones or with each other. “It’s awesome,” says senior Dakota Danay, an accounting and global supply chain major from Philadelphia who lives at Greene Crossing. “I’m off campus, but I’m still three blocks away, so even though I have more space and more privacy, I’m still able to get to class in 11 minutes.” Danay spent his first three years on campus and as a resident mentor on the
South Quad. He says he walked about the same amount then as now, but his new route offers benefits in addition to keeping him fit. “I applied to the University of Pittsburgh, and one of the reasons I didn’t want to go there is it just seemed so dirty,” Danay says. “I think part of that was because everybody drove to all their classes. All you could do in the city was drive.” In Columbia, he does drive to the grocery store and to work, but he goes pretty much everywhere else on foot. “I’ll leave an hour and a half early, get lunch with somebody, and then go to class from there, just because I can, because everything is within a mile radius,” he says. That lifestyle also appeals to freshman accounting major Zorian Smith, who moved to Columbia from Spartanburg. Smith now lives on campus at South Tower but often visits friends at Park Place and says he walks a lot
more than he ever did in high school — and it’s paying dividends. “I do feel better, health-wise. I feel like my legs are stronger. I breathe better,” Smith says, though he admits to missing the convenience of having a car. “If I wanted to go to Target or something, I’d need my car. I think I’m going to bring it next semester.” Jasmyne Taylor, a sophomore psychology major from Charleston, doesn’t have a car, either, but enjoys the exercise she gets walking to and from her Park Place apartment and keeps regular track of her steps. Her daily goal is 7,000. Taylor also enjoys being able to combine exercise and socializing. “A lot of times when you think that no one would be out walking, you see people,” she says. “You’re just like, ‘Hey, where are you going?’ And then you just have a conversation.” T
12 USCTIMES / OCTOBER 2017
FRENCH FRIES, FERRIS WHEELS
… AND SCIENCE
BY MEGAN SEXTON
VOL. 28, NO.8 13
I
t’s not all corn dogs, blue ribbons and roller coasters at the South Carolina State Fair. There’s some science education going on, too. For the 21st year, faculty and students at the University of South Carolina will spend a day at the fair with 2,500 high school students from every corner of the state, helping them understand more about physics – while learning to be better teachers themselves. Dave Tedeschi, a professor of physics and astronomy, says the confluence of fun, science and teaching is what draws him back each year to the R.L. Childers Midway Physics Day, named for a long-time Carolina physics professor. Tedeschi will join other physics professors and graduate students to serve as guides for high schoolers in the physics tent and on the Midway. He may, for example, ask a graduate student to explain why, if you’re twirling on a platform, you spin faster if you pull your hands close to your body, and slower if you stretch out your arms. “I tell our graduate students, ‘Can you explain that to someone with no physics knowledge? Go.’ And at first, they can’t,” Tedeschi says. “It’s not because they’re unable, but they’ve never been trained for that. This is a perfect opportunity, a laboratory. This is the out-of-the-classroom training that the university wants to formalize in many ways. “We give them a little taste of that so they understand teaching takes time and effort. They need to think about, ‘How do I communicate something to someone who doesn’t have the same tools as I do at the moment?’ That’s a teaching exercise, and that’s one of the things I really love about the day.” Once the rides open, the high schoolers flee the tent for their first taste of physics fieldwork – aboard the Mega Drop or the Bullet Train roller coaster – measuring and thinking critically about topics like conservation of energy. While the early physics at the fair days featured measurement gadgets and home-made instruments, now data can be captured with a cell phone. Yet students soon learn that experiments done in the field don’t mimic the controlled atmosphere of a classroom lab. “You get out and the sun is too bright, and you can’t read your computer screen, or you run out of batteries. Who knows what’s going to happen in the field? Science is not always perfect like in a textbook; in fact, it usually isn't,” Tedeschi says. “To get out of the classroom is great. This is a first taste of field work for the high school students. But it should be fun. They should have curly fries and ride the rides to go with the hard work.” For Carolina professors, the connection made with high school teachers is key, and the work begins early, with USC hosting workshops for teachers in the weeks leading up to the fair. “If we affect the teacher who becomes a better teacher or who can have those couple of units of science be more effective because of the way we help, then our reach is broader or deeper,” Tedeschi says. “Sometimes people think physics is complicated or boring, but in fact it’s exciting and interesting. And this gives us a megaphone for the day and allows us to give back to the community and talk about science. I love the fair. And this is a wonderful marriage of being in that atmosphere and combining it with teaching. Why would I not go?” T
14 USCTIMES / OCTOBER 2017
THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT USC’S MCNAIR CENTER GAINS ALTITUDE IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION By Chris Horn
I
f the McNair Center for Aerospace Inno-
most entrepreneurial professor in the Neth-
vation and Research magically sprouted
erlands in 2010. I know how a startup works;
and one that’s close to being realized — is
wings, it would probably
I know how to write a business plan and raise
the creation of an undergraduate degree
be some kind of cool experimental air-
money. And here, at least, there was a start-
program in aerospace engineering within the
craft with an advanced composite
up donation to get things moving.”
College of Engineering and Computing.
fiber fuselage.
That $5 million gift from USC alumna
One of van Tooren’s ongoing goals —
A small master’s program is already in place,
Darla Moore laid the groundwork. Zafer
and a full bachelor’s degree program will
ination considering the roster of aerospace
Gurdal, an aerospace engineer and the cen-
create a pipeline of students to make the
talent the center has attracted and the
ter’s first director, van Tooren and business
center’s activities sustainable.
collective energy of 50 undergraduate and
manager Martin Keaney got the center ready
graduate students who rub elbows there
for takeoff. After acquiring a fiber placement
the Introduction to Engineering course that
every day. But rewind the tape four years to
machine, robots and an induction heater, and
emphasizes aerospace engineering, and
when the center had only a couple of offices,
outfitting a large research lab in the S.C. Re-
there are 50 freshmen who indicated during
four people and no research equipment.
search Authority building on Catawba Street,
enrollment that this is their goal — to be-
Imagining the McNair Center as anything
the center took flight.
come aerospace engineers,” van Tooren says.
That wouldn’t be a stretch of the imag-
more than a paper airplane would have required a leap of faith. “When I arrived, basically, there was
“By the beginning of 2016, people started seeing what we were going to do in terms of a research agenda,” van Tooren says. “That
“We now have a specialized section of
“This could be our first cohort of aerospace engineering majors.” Through the McNair junior fellowship
nothing,” says Michel van Tooren, who
got Boeing interested, and we signed our
program, an initiative of assistant professor
started out as the McNair Center’s second
first big contract [$5 million] with them to
Ramy Harik, undergraduates commit at least
tenured research professor and was recently
look at manufacturing technology, especial-
five hours per week to research activities at
appointed the center’s director. “But when I
ly fiber placement, induction welding and
the center, working under the supervision
was teaching at Delft University of Technol-
non-destructive evaluation.”
of graduate students, faculty and lab staff.
ogy, I had been recognized as the second
Those who complete three semesters get a
VOL. 28, NO.8 15
Michel van Tooren
certificate and internship experiences, and can then apply for summer jobs at the center.
“We’ve focused in the beginning on com-
McNair Center’s plans to grow with it, van
posites manufacturing because that’s what
Tooren says. He references a recent eco-
Boeing is using at their Charleston plant,
nomic impact study released by the South
contract with the McNair Center grabbed
but we need to give our students some
Carolina Council on Competitiveness shows
attention, but the center has been inking
exposure to aircraft design, as well,” van
that the impact of aerospace on South Car-
deals with many other aerospace partners, as
Tooren says. “We need to go way beyond
olina’s economy has grown to $19 billion, an
well, including Fokker, NASA, GE Renewable,
materials design.”
increase of $2 billion since 2014.
On the research front, Boeing’s big
Carbon Conversions and Ingersoll, which pro-
To that end, the center’s director envi-
vided the automated fiber placement equip-
sions building a wind tunnel in the laboratory
cation that the industry is diversifying and
ment. Many of Ingersoll’s customers rent the
and a flight cage for experimenting with
trending towards sustainable growth. We
McNair Center’s machine and harness the
drones. He also points to the broadening of
see that the majority of firms continue to
center’s technical expertise, or contract with
disciplines from which new aerospace faculty
be small businesses with fewer than five
the center to build sample parts for testing.
are coming — not just mechanical engineer-
employees,” says Joey Von Nessen, a re-
ing but also electrical, chemical and integrat-
search economist at the Moore School of
ed information technology.
Business. “We also see growth, not just in
The McNair Center will soon lease more space in the SCRA building to welcome the Center for Predictive Maintenance, a long-
“The state of South Carolina has more
“This year’s research shows a clear indi-
aircraft manufacturing, but also in engine
term research project led by mechanical en-
than 400 aerospace-related companies that
manufacturing, instruments manufacturing
gineering professor Abdel Bayoumi that has
cover the whole supply chain,” he says. “It
and other types of firms.”
focused on Army helicopter maintenance.
makes a lot of sense to widen the range of
All of that translates into more opportu-
McNair Center engineers have contrib-
engineers we train here. There are so many
nity for the McNair Center to fly higher and
uted to the design of an unmanned aerial
companies and so many potential opportuni-
farther, van Tooren says. “We’ve still got a
vehicle, one that can be folded and deployed
ties for our graduates.”
long way to go,” he says, “but we’re growing
from the wing of a larger aircraft.
The future looks bright for the aerospace industry in South Carolina — and for the
every month.”
T
16 USCTIMES / OCTOBER 2017
BREAKTHROUGH BREAKOUT
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE The stakes are high for developing better ways to clean water for consumption.
VOL. 28, NO.8 17
By Chris Horn
It might make you want to hold your nose before taking a
Her lab is also testing water from saltwater desalination
sip, but “toilet to tap” is the nickname for a process that
plants in San Diego, Tampa, Fla., El Paso, and the United
turns wastewater into drinking water, and the technology is
Arab Emirates. The team is looking for residual contaminants
catching on in places like El Paso, Texas, where freshwater is
and the best ways to remove them.
a scarce commodity.
“We discovered a few years ago that bromide and iodide
Other cities, like San Diego and Tampa, are turning to
shows up a lot in seawater, but it can also be in river water,
desalination plants, which turn seawater into fresh water. But
particularly when it’s close to the coast,” she says. “So you
making wastewater and saltwater fit to drink is trickier than
can have sodium bromide and sodium iodide that form these
you might think. The devil — in this case, potentially harmful
very toxic brominated and iodinated byproducts in drinking
contaminants — is in the details, says Susan Richardson, a
water treatment. We’ve had a major focus on these to learn
USC chemistry professor.
how they’re formed, with the goal of getting rid of them.”
“Our research is aimed at knowing what’s formed when
The world’s largest wastewater-to-potable reuse water
you use different kinds of disinfectants to treat water for
facility in the world is in Orange County, California, where
drinking,” she says. “You never remove 100 percent of what’s
water treatment officials use reverse osmosis and a
there, no matter what you do. But once you know what’s
combination of ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide to
being formed and what the different disinfectants produce,
oxidize waste contaminants in the water.
you can tweak the treatment.”
In a related wastewater reuse project, Richardson’s team
Before joining USC’s chemistry faculty four years ago,
is studying 21 compounds that the state of California has
Richardson was a research chemist at the U.S. Environmental
identified for monitoring in the potable reuse of wastewater.
Protection Agency. Her research at Carolina focuses on
Each of the compounds poses a threat to human and
regulated and unregulated compounds found in potable
ecological health if their levels are too high, and for two of
water, including harmful byproducts of disinfectants used to
the compounds, it doesn’t take much.
make water safe for consumption. In 1974, chloroform was discovered as the first such toxic byproduct of the water disinfectant chlorine. That compound and 10 others are now regulated in water treatment plants
EE2, a synthetic hormone found in birth control pills and excreted by humans, can have serious environmental effects,
“You never remove 100 percent of what’s there, no matter what you do. But once you know what’s being formed and what the different disinfectants produce, you can tweak the treatment.”
across the country, but scientists have identified about 700
Richardson says. Experiments have shown that levels of EE2
other disinfection byproducts, some more toxic than the 11
as low as five nanograms per liter can cause fish population
currently regulated, Richardson says.
collapse due to feminization of male fish.
Richardson’s team is collaborating with researchers at the
Nitrosodimethylamine is another compound on the
University of Cincinnati and N.C. State University to develop
wastewater-to-potable water list that’s toxic at very low
even better treatment methods. One involves granular
levels — as little as 0.7 nanograms per liter is the health
activated carbon, the same medium used in Brita water
reference for causing human cancer.
filters, to capture natural organic matter precursors that
Richardson’s team is working with engineers to develop
form disinfection by-products. Natural organic material is
better oxidation methods to treat water for these and other
mostly caused by decaying vegetation in waterways.
compounds found in water. Solving these sorts of water
“Our research has shown that granulated activated carbon
contamination problems will continue to be challenging
can reduce organic matter by 50 percent, and if you pretreat
as freshwater consumption levels rise with increasing
the water with chlorine, it can reduce the organic matter
populations and authorities are forced to turn to saltwater
levels even further,” she says. “But GAC itself causes other
and wastewater conversion to meet demand.
byproducts. Nothing is ever perfect, but we think this is the best way to go for now.”
“We’ve got very limited water resources in general, and climate change will probably make that worse,” Richardson says. “There’s just not enough fresh water.”
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SYSTEM EQUATION
USC PALMETTO COLLEGE: A VIRTUAL DIFFERENCE BY PAGE IVEY
Palmetto College professor becomes a mentor in the ‘virtual’ world of online learning Shelley Jones grew up in a family of educators, so finding mentors was fairly easy as she pursued her dream of becoming a college professor. As a professor in the University of South Carolina’s Palmetto College, however, finding someone to mentor among her students, whom she rarely sees in person, has been a little more difficult. That is, until she met Angela Henry. “She really helped me guide my research,” Henry says of working with Jones both in the digital classroom setting and beyond. “I am graduating in December, and she has really helped me map out my next steps.”
Henry, originally from Charlotte, N.C., came to Palmetto College after completing an associate degree at Trident Technical College in Charleston, where she has lived for about 13 years. She works as a nanny while her husband works in information technology. “Going to school later in life has helped me really focus on my studies,” Henry says, adding that she has a 4.0 GPA and is in three honors societies. “Shelley really went out of her way to help me find internships on my way to realizing a career working for a nonprofit. “I had never even considered that as a career. But I am very interested in social justice issues.” Jones helped Henry identify a specific issue “THE DEGREE HAS OPENED INTERESTS AND POSSIBILto take on for her capstone course, one right ITIES THAT SHE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW SHE HAD. SHE IS in her own backyard: the impact of the pleasure cruise industry on the residents in LOOKING FOR A JOB THAT IS REWARDING AND historic Charleston. IS IN LINE WITH HER ETHICAL BELIEFS.” “My research-based solution was to bring Jones, who also volunteers through USC’s Women’s Mentor stakeholders together as a negotiating tool against cruise lines rather Network on the Columbia campus, says being a professor in the than have cruise lines dictate their terms to Charleston,” Henry says. virtual world has made finding students to mentor a little different. “Shelley even encouraged me to send it to the Army Corps “It’s really about embracing the digital technology to foster the of Engineers.” mentor relationship,” she says. “Because I never see them in person, Jones says Henry, like many of her students, has discovered her that face-to-face, formal structure is not there. But in the digital arena, interests as she progressed through her classes. connection is available at any point, which can lead to “The degree has opened interests and possibilities that she didn’t more interaction.” even know she had,” Jones says. “She is looking for a job that Jones teaches the service-learning course for students earning is rewarding and is in line with her ethical beliefs.” bachelor’s degrees in liberal studies or organizational leadership Being in Charleston in the aftermath of the racially motivated through Extended University, a division of Palmetto College. She shooting at Emanuel AME Church has been a motivator, recently received a Garnet Apple teaching award, in part, for creating Henry says. a service-learning course for her students who work full-time. She also “I would feel honored to be part of the change that I hope is teaches a capstone course — a project class that pulls together all the coming,” she says. “I am very grateful for the opportunity Palmetto pieces of students’ education. College has given me to help fulfill that dream.” T
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“Going to school later in life has helped me really focus on my studies. Shelley really went out of her way to help me find internships on my way Angela Henry
to realizing a career working for a nonprofit.”
“Because I never see them in person, that face-to-face, formal structure is not there. But in the digital arena, connection is available at Shelley Jones
any point, which can lead to more interaction.”
TUNEUPS The USC Bike Shop, located at the Blatt Physical Education Center, offers free bike tune-ups and bike maintenance to students, faculty and staff from noon to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. You have to provide your own parts, but in most cases the nine-person staff can get your wheels spinning again in no time, says shop manager Alex McKenna, who discovered the bike shop when he came in to do some maintenance on his own bike as a freshman. Now a senior, the finance and risk management major manages a shop that services approximately 90 bikes per month.
“Biking is one of the greatest ways to get from your home to work or to class. I think bike culture is on the rise in America in general because it’s a healthy lifestyle. It’s good for the environment, and it’s also good physical stimulation, which helps with your mental game as well.”