Brown and White Vol. 124 no. 19

              THE BROWN AND WHITE
Lehigh University’s Student Newspaper Founded in 1894
SPORTS
Women’s lax to face Penn State
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Curtain goes up for the Laramie Project
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LIFESTYLE
Vol. 124 No. 19
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
‘All the Lehigh News First’
Photo courtesy of Flickr user NASA Goddard Photo and Video
Bill Nye, the ‘Science Guy,’ will give Lehigh’s commencement address, replacing astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Along with speaking, Nye will also receive an honorary doctorate from the university.
Bill Nye the ‘Commencement Guy’
By DANIELLE DiSTEFANO
Bill Nye, perhaps best known as ‘The Science Guy’ and host of televi­sion programs on PBS, the Science Channel and Planet Green, will deliv­er the address at Lehigh’s 145th com­mencement ceremony on May 20.
Nye, the executive director of The Planetary Society, which is the world’s largest “space interest organi­zation,” replaces astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was originally scheduled to speak, and will receive an honorary doctorate from the university.
Lehigh President Alice Gast made the announcement in an official uni­versity press release on Friday, in which she explained Nye’s achieve­ments as a scientist, engineer, come­dian, author and inventor.
“We are delighted that Bill Nye will deliver the commencement ad­dress this year,” Gast said. “‘Bill Nye the Science Guy’ introduced a gen­eration of students to the wonders of science, making it accessible, interest­ing and stimulating. Lehigh students know and admire him, and I am sure he will be an inspiring and memo­rable speaker.”
Nye is best recognized by his fans through his quirky lab coat and bow­tie outfit that he donned in the widely viewed television program, “Bill Nye the Science Guy.” The show, which won 18 Emmy Awards in five years,
CREATE club entertains with welding forum for students
By ELISSA MIOLENE
Lehigh’s CREATE club and the Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation hosted a welding workshop on Thursday for students to learn the basic skills of welding. Brian Slocum, professor and managing director of Lehigh’s Design Labs and Wilbur Powerhouse, taught the workshop.
“The goal of this seminar is to in­troduce students to the idea of weld­ing,” Slocum said. “I want to inspire students to learn more and understand how amazing it is to weld something.”
And, indeed, many were inspired.
Brian Friedman, ’14, president of the CREATE club, explained that the reason the club decided to host the workshop was because of student de­mand. More than 30 students attended the event to gain insight (and a little experience) into the art of welding. The participants later had the oppor­tunity to try out their newly acquired skills.
“The goal is to spread ‘making’ cre­ativity, innovation and entrepreneur­ship throughout the Lehigh campus,” said Marc de Vinck, an engineering professor and faculty advisor for the CREATE club.
Before the tutorial began, Slocum introduced the group to the basic
Lehigh hosts 34th annual honors convocation
By KRISTEN WILHOUSKI
and AMALIA SAFRAN
Lehigh celebrated its honors students by hosting its 34th annual Honors Con­vocation in Zoellner Arts Center’s Baker Hall on Friday afternoon.
Lehigh has honored its outstanding students with this event for decades. The Honors Convocation provides an oppor­tunity to recognize the academic achieve­ments of Lehigh’s juniors and seniors.
The students that were acknowledged achieved a cumulative GPA of at least 3.6 by December 2012, or are recipients of other academic prizes. Executive Sec­retary to the Provost, Eileen Gorzelic, said the ceremony hasn’t changed much from year to year, and that it has held to its standard.
Students from all majors attended the event, where there were remarks from the president, provost, deans and fellow students.
Lauren Uffelman, ’13, was elected to speak for the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She said, “Each college has a student speaker. Thus, each department from the engineering college submitted a nominee.”
Uffelman is graduating with a degree in chemical engineering. “Before the chemical engineering department sub­mitted my name, they talked it over with me to make sure it’d be something I’d be comfortable doing. I received an email from Dean Wu notifying me of my selec­tion a few weeks after that.”
Uffelman spoke about her experience coming to Lehigh and not wanting to be an engineer at first but then eventually changing her mind. Uffelman said, “The overall message was that you can always end up somewhere certain even if your path is uncertain and how Lehigh can help you do that.”
Courtney Weintraub, ’13, a political science major, gave the speech on behalf of the College of Arts and Sciences. The speech talked about seizing the moment as a member of the recently graduated, college educated generation.
Alana Opitz, ’13, a supply chain man­agement major, represented the College of Business and Economics. Her speech tied in personal anecdotes and how her mother’s promise to allow her to get a tattoo if she graduated with honors pushed her at school. Opitz reminisced about her time at Lehigh, mentioning Lehigh’s victory over Duke University
See WELDING Page 3
See BILL NYE Page 2
See HONORS Page 5
B&W photo by CHRIS BARRY
The 34th honors convocation featured many speakers, including Alice Gast.