1994_10 Insight October 1994

              Review Guru
looks at
'The Specialist"
Page 4
Wednesday, October 12,1994
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO
Volume 26, Issue 5
Media consultant hired
to spiff up CSUF image
INSIGHT
In an effort to secure national media exposure for its faculty, CSUF
has outlined an ambitious plan to attract attention with help from a national media consulting firm.
Many faculty members' accomplishments have not been recognized
by national media, thus leaving the
campus community unaware of faculty accomplishments.
Dobisky Associates, a New Hampshire-based consulting firm, was
hired to make CSUF a household
name.
Operations like this one do not
come without a lofty price tag.
Dobisky Associates charges $2500
a month for their media services.
Dobisky Associates has been hired
for four months to work in conjunction with Jim Miller, the director of
information and publications for
CSUF.
Many of our faculty are legitimate
"newsmakers" whose accomplishments have simply not been brought
to the attention of those who report
and write the news at the national
level," said Dr. Peter Smits, vice
president for university advancement, who was integral in selecting
the consulting firm. Smits stated his
concerns in a memo to Provost
Alexander Gonzalez and the Deans
Council last month.
"Funding for this project will come
directly out of my operating budget."
said Smits.
The firm's extensive contacts with
national news outlets include the
New York Times. Ihe Wall Street
Journal, the Washington Post,
Newsweek, Time magazine, USA
Today and the Los Angeles Times.
Dobisky Associates' prestigious
collegiate clientele include Yale, the
University of Texas, University California Los Angeles, the University of
Tennessee and the University of Illinois.
CSUF is the newest member of the
firms select group of clients.
According to Smits. "the firm only
takes on 20-30 clients per year."
Dobisky Associates' mission is to
assist universities in attracting media
attention, according to a press release
issued to CSUF.
"Wc work in a number of ways, including proposing story ideas from
campuses to writers, editors and
See CONSULTANT, Page 8
Geology prof travels world
INSIGHT
While Stephen Spielberg was busy filming the exploits
of archaeologist Indiana Jones, Fraka J. Harmsen, a
CSUF geology professor, was busy with real adventures
of her own.
Harmsen has twice trekked the Antarctic, found a previously unknown species of ancient shark, and has applied for entrance into NASA's astronaut program.
Harmsen has been teaching at CSUF since 1985. Between classes she has traveled every continent researching, teaching and attending international conferences.
Harmsen journeyed to Antarctica during the six-month-
long summers of 1988-89 and 1992-93. She and two other
scientists explored the Trans-Antarctic Mountains for
specimens the first humans to do so.
"It's a unique place to work," said Harmsen in her strong
New Zealand accent. "Beautiful landscape, but it can also
be quite hazardous."
So hazardous that one member of the four-person team
specializes solely in survival. One scientist fell into a
mountain vice and was buried up to his neck by an avalanche of snow.
Harmsen and paleontologist John A. Long discovered
fossils of Aztecodus harmsenae, a shark from the Devonian period named in Harmsen's honor. She and Long
arc currently writing a book together.
Dr. Robert Merrill. Geology Department Chair, is
puzzled by Harmsen's frequent Antarctic adventures.
"She prefers warmer climates," he said. "For her first
South Pole trip she bought a pair of battery-operated
socks. Then she forgot to pack them!"
Meteorite specimens she found in Antarctica are dis*
played at the Museum of Perth, Australia, and on ihe
second floor of CSUF's McLane Hall.
Two years ago Harmsen taught a summer course sponsored by the United Nations. For one week at sea and
five weeks in Suva, Fiji, she instructed geologists from
nations throughout the Pacific Ocean.
The walls of her office are covered with Fiji posters
and artifacts. Her favorite decoration is the "Kangaroo
crossing- next 10 km" traffic sign.
Harmsen was born in Amsterdam. At the age of three,
her family moved to New Zealand. She received her doctorate from the University of Wellington.
Harmsen's future plans are as busy as her past. On October 6-9 she leads students on the bi-annual Death Valley geology trip.
Later, she will accompany two CSUF graduate students
to the remote Canning Basin in north western Australia.
Once the students settle into their masters project.
Harmsen will return to Fresno.
Harmsen applied for NASA's astronaut program. She
has the required pilot's license and doctorate. However,
her Dutch citizenship makes her ineligible to do so. She
has applied for US citizenship.
Merrill jokingly calls Harmsen "the resident alien"
because of her green-card status. They keep each other
alert by playing practical jokes on one another.
The theater has become Harmsen's new passion. She
See HARMSEN, Page 8
CSUF student, Maiisa
The sculpture is part of an
a( right) imitiates a work of art (left) from the Phebe Conley Art Gallery.
>lt titled "The Celebration of Women's Art" appearing Oct 5-28.
Fresno to New York City
on only 2 gallons of gas?
INSIGHT
Imagine driving 1,500 miles without having to stop for gas.
Now imagine going thai far with
only one gallon of gas in your tank.
Sound far fetched? It isn't. For the
members of the CSUF chapter of the
Society of Automotive Engineers,
this is only one of the feats once
thought impossible that they continue to accomplish year after year.
Quietly, they arc reinventing the
wheel in terms of automotive technology.
The club, made up of students
mainly from the industrial technology and engineering programs, designs, constructs and tests vehicles
that are then tested against other
schools from around the country in
various competitions.
Currently, the club operates five
separate vehicles: the super mileage,
mini Formula One and Baja racers,
a radio-controlled airplane, used to
test aeronautical designs, and the Saturn Ultra Low Emission vehicle.
The underlying purpose of the club
is to give students an opportunity to
actually put to use concepts they are
studying.
"We learn a lot of stuff in our
classes," said Jim Ettaro, one of the
club's advisors. "But a lot of times,
you may draw a part in your [Computer Assisted Drafting] class and
you may never build it It may never
go to anything. Now, when you draw
a CAD drawing of a part in here, you
see it on the drawing. Then we go
down and build it. Then we go mount
it on the car or airplane and then we
test it."
"It's one thing to design a cylinder
head and another thing to build a cylinder head and see it go down the
road powering a car," Ettaro said.
All of the vehicles, with the exception of the low-emission car, are designed completely from scratch by
the students.
"It usually takes two years to actually design, build and construct a
vehicle," said Dennis Hooper, another of the club's recently graduated advisers.
"The main goal is to educate students with (he knowledge from going from a design to a prototype to
an actual working vehicle." he said.
"All of the aspects of what wc study
in class are put to use in our cars or
airplanes." Hooper said.
Parts for Ihe cars come from a variety of sources. Some arc machined
by the students themselves. Others
have been cannibalized from cars
donated to the school.
When the need came for wheels
for the super mileage vehicle, the
call went out to Fresno-based
Quickie Wheelchair Co., experts in
wheelchair racing.
For the Ultra Low Emission Vehicle, Saturn donated a new car to a
handful of schools across the country. "They (Saturn) take a car that
they think that they would like to
make into a hybrid and give it to 15
universities," said Hooper.
"They let them design and build a
project and test it for three years,"
he said.
Hooper said there were some limi
tations on changing the cars modifications, however.
"They set up the competition rules
so you can't move any of the seats or
take them out. You can't mess with
the safety factors, and you have to
be within a certain weight limit. If it
is a good vehicle and it works well,
then it would be easier to go into production," he said.
For the project, CSUF students designed a hybrid motor that employs
electricity at low speeds.
At higher speeds when emissions
are significantly less, the engine
switches over to conventional gaso-
Mark Darula said the project gives
CSUF national exposure.
"If we're able to take a first, second or third place, we bring a lot of
attention back to the university," he
said.
In the coming year, the club will be
working towards improving on last
year's results, especially in super
mileage. They plan to not only take
first place in design, but in the mileage category as well. "It's kind of the
mission," Ettaro said. "Wc don't see
second or third. We shoot for first"
Matt Soby/INSIGHT
Expressing thanks for the funds allowing Jim Etyaro, Mark Darula,
Thomas Yen of the SAE to construct a 1^00 mpg car, President Welty
gets a rundown on the inner workings of the Psycho.
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