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The Cardinal will return to Maples Pavilion to kick off its first two-game weekend of 2010 tonight, hosting the Washington State Cougars before facing the other Washington school on Saturday, the UW Huskies. Stanford (13-1, 3-0 Pacific-10) will look to continue its perfect Pac-10 season and maintain its No. 2 national ranking.

Masaru Oka/The Stanford Daily

This weekend in particular, Stanford is playing with history – both recent and long-term – firmly on its side. The last time the Cardinal hosted the Cougars (5-10, 0-4) and the Huskies (8-6, 3-1), they ran them right off the court. They cruised past the Huskies in a 112-35 rout – the biggest win in conference history – before earning a similarly comfortable 102-53 victory over the Cougars.

Last year, both Washington schools faced the Cardinal with overall records around .500. The Huskies are faring somewhat better so far this year with just one conference loss, while the Cougars – tonight’s opponent – have yet to win in the Pac-10. The Huskies swept the Arizona schools last weekend, while the Cougars got swept themselves.

But regardless of match history and of the opponents’ recent play, head coach Tara VanDerveer is intent on staying focused.

“It really doesn’t matter who you’re playing,” VanDerveer said. “Every game we play in our league gives us challenges. Washington State has quick, penetrating players that we’ll have trouble with if we don’t stop. If you don’t come out with an aggressive mindset – remembering that we’re here at home, this is our court – then yes, you risk losing to a team that might not have a solid record right now. But records and statistics are irrelevant. You have to come out and get the job done.”

Senior captain Jayne Appel, recently named a midseason candidate for the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s Wooden Award, agrees that even a team like the Cougars can’t be taken lightly.

“They’re an interesting team, really,” Appel said. “They have a lot of young players, a lot of sophomores, especially at guard, and while they may not have done well last weekend, we have to understand that we’ve got a target on our back as the number two team in the nation. We need to remember that everyone who we play circles that game on their calendar, and they’re trying to take that away from us.”

Appel has been a major contributor during her time on the Farm, earning her way to the Pac-10 Player of the Year Award last season and essentially becoming the face of the team since the departure of Candice Wiggins. So far in 2009-10, however, the Pleasant Hill, Calif. native hasn’t had many of the lights-out performances that have characterized her career. She currently is third on the team in scoring with 13.1 points per game (and most of the conference season left to play), whereas she led the Cardinal last season with an overall 16.1 ppg – more than five points better than the second-place Kayla Pederson.

“I don’t really think I’m at the standard that I set for myself,” Appel said. “I’ve had a few games so far that I’ve played well, but I definitely haven’t had a great game. But right now we’ve got Nneka and Kayla and other players who are playing out of this world, so I’m trying to get them the ball if that’s what get’s us a W. I think that’s part of being a captain, learning how to get them the ball if that’s who’s hot.”

One player Appel will look to support offensively this weekend is guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude. The redshirt senior, long praised by her coach and teammates for her pesky defense on the perimeter, has lately been just as impressive with her offense. She had a career-high 18 points in the Cardinal’s win over UCLA last weekend, including four three-pointers, and combined with Nnemkadi Ogwumike to go 6-for-6 as the Bruins nearly closed the gap in the second half.

“I think Ros can contribute more offensively now, after putting in a lot of work on her shot over the summer,” VanDerveer said. “She’s been shooting the ball really well in practice, and I’ve been saying ‘Ros, you need to be looking for your shot more.’ So she’s been working hard in practice and playing with a lot of confidence.”

So far this season, the Cardinal has rarely had the luxury of playing for a full crowd of fans. This weekend, though, the Cardinal will play its first traditional series at Maples Pavilion while students are on campus.

“You know, it’s been really tough this season because so many of our games – whether it’s Cal, Tennessee, or Duke – have been over break, and it means a lot for the team to have the enthusiasm that the students bring,” VanDerveer said. So I hope a lot of them will come this weekend and get their chance to see our young players, and how much Nneka and our freshmen have improved. I think it will be fun for them.”

The Cardinal will host the Cougars tonight at 7 p.m., and the Huskies on Saturday at 2 p.m. Both games will be in Maples Pavilion and will be broadcast live on 90.1 FM KZSU.

Spanish car manufacturer SEAT yesterday evening announced their official quit from the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Although it was initially believed that SEAT Sport will only reduce their WTCC programme to fewer cars for the 2010 season, it now seems the series will no longer benefit from factory SEAT Leons in the sport.

However, the company will continue to supply customer teams with petrol or diesel powered Leons for the upcoming season.

After achieving all possible successes in… (read more)

I think it remarkable that bidders accepted such extraordinary targets.  They must believe that they are achievable for at least the short term.  I certainly find it hard to believe it will promote best practice.

More importantly, putting a new 12 million barrels of oil on the market over the next several years will offset developing declines everywhere else.  Thus the intent is to postpone a major decline in global oil deliveries.  This is not a real problem for the developed world since they can simply buy their way past those without the money.  It is a monster problem for everyone else who rely on oil to fuel their own industrial revolution.

We have posted a lot on the solutions that will work in North America.  Unmentioned was the reality of these solutions been much more difficult to implement elsewhere.  Their best solution initially is to simply divert the oil industry to the third world preferentially as the developed world swiftly transitions out of the business.  Then once the developed world has completed the transition it is simple for the rest to follow.

I think that the necessary solutions are presently to hand or certainly will be in this decade.  This Iraqi oil surge will provide the necessary cushion.

It obviously also provides convincing evidence for the war conspiracy types that the major motivation for disposing of the inconvenient former government was this oil and our present clear need of it.

However, if EEStor or its equivalent emerges shortly, then oil will be worthless in a decade or so and it does not matter at all.  Besides, who wants to go to war over a completely uneconomic goal like peace in Afghanistan.

Contractual Incentives and Penalites to Motivate Oil Companies Increase Iraq Oil Production to 12 million barrels per day

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VyTCyizqrHs/S0eP8GC94RI/AAAAAAAAGOE/BKj8XM6MSjM/s1600-h/iraqoilss.jpg

1. Iraq may choose to comply with an OPEC quota at less than 12 million bbl/day. The TSCs expressly permit MoO to take less than the PPT. This triggers certain other consequences under the TSC to protect the Contractor’s interest (such as relief from the penalties associated with failing to acheive the PPT, and the right to extend the contract term so that the expected total remuneration fees can ultimately be earned at lower production rates). There is now an active debate in Iraq regarding what might happen with its OPEC quota. Some Iraqis think that OPEC will give Iraq a generous quota in recognition that it has underproduced for more than a decade. Personally, I think that is an unrealistic expectation– I don’t see Hugo Chavez cutting back Venezuelan production rates to compensate Iraq for problems of its own making. Other Iraqis think that they will quit OPEC if they don’t get all the quota they need; but others point to the fact that Iraq was one of OPEC’s founders, so quitting will not be a decision to be taken lightly.

USB devices that also double as aromatherapy are nothing new but the USB Scent Flower differs because it is just too cute! Designed to look like a flower with petals each one has 3 refill cartridges and comes in 4 four different colors. each one also has its own scent – Ocean Breeze, Purple Lavender, Pink Jasmine, and White Chamomile. Each one retails for $9.99 and is certainly a lot cuter and economical than the Febreeze or Glade plugin.

It looks like Renault is facing an unexpected level of opposition to its (rumored) decision of producing the Clio’s succesor exclusively in Turkey: French president Nicolas Sarkozy has summoned Renault’s Chief, Carlos Ghosn, to a meeting on Saturday in order to debate this issue, as Reuters writes.

As we’ve previously reported, after the French magazine La Tribune published the rumor last week, the French Government, who owns 15% of the carmaker, reacted by warning Renualt not to cut any jo… (read more)

Dead Space 2 has been confirmed to get a Collector’s Edition, this according to Visceral Games’ press wire.
 
 
 
 

Google Maps is a wonderful tool and with the number of features now available, things like traffic reports, public transit maps, Maps Navigation, Street View, it is staggering. If you live in the US and some parts of the developed world, that is. But when Google Maps lists just a couple of international roads in your entire country, the too… (read more)

SGN, a mobile gaming platform and publisher based in Silicon Valley, has named former EA and LucasArts executive Randy Breen as CEO. Founder and former CEO Shervin Pishevar continues at the company as executive chairman. Breen first joined the company in 2009 as COO.

SGN is one of the top gaming publishers on the iPhone, with 15 million unique installs of games like F.A.S.T and Skies of Glory. Revenue in this market will almost certainly explode this year with the October 2009 launch of in-game payments for free Apple appstore applications.

Companies like SGN, ngmoco and Tapulous are all in a prime position to tap into that growth. 2010 may be as good for these companies as 2009 was for the social gaming companies like Zynga, Playfish and Playdom – big financings and acquisitions across the board.

The press release is below.

SGN NAMES RANDY BREEN CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Founder Shervin Pishevar Continues as Executive Chairman

Palo Alto, Calif. – January 14, 2010 – SGN, a leader in mobile social gaming, today announced that Randy Breen has been named SGN’s chief executive officer. Shervin Pishevar will remain focused on SGN in his day-to-day role as founder and executive chairman.

Since joining SGN in an interim role as chief operating officer, game industry veteran Breen has been pivotal in providing leadership in all aspects of corporate operations including game production, business development, marketing, strategy and executive management.

“Over the last five months, Randy has done an incredible job leading the company and I look forward to continuing to work closely with him,” said Pishevar. “With the industry preparing for explosive growth this year – resulting from massive expansion in the iPhone, Android and tablet marketplace – I strongly believe that Randy’s experience and knowledge will be instrumental in building SGN into the largest mobile social gaming company of 2010 and beyond.”

SGN entered into the iPhone market in 2008 and has since had more than 15 million unique downloads – resulting in an average of one in three iPhones and iPod Touches that run at least one of SGN’s games. To date, the company secured $15 million in one round of funding and has expanded globally with more than 100 employees worldwide.

“Working with Shervin and the team over the past five months has exceeded all of my expectations coming into the company,” said Breen. “I’ve witnessed the birth of EA and Lucas Arts’ gaming business, but I’ve never seen such an immense opportunity in gaming as SGN has ahead of it.”

“This is a great day for SGN as Shervin Pishevar – one of the most dynamic, passionate and innovative entrepreneurs I’ve worked with – has joined forces with one the most experienced gaming leaders to help take SGN to the next level,” said David Sze, Greylock Partners. “Shervin has been instrumental in taking SGN from being just an idea to one of the leading mobile social gaming company’s in the world. Breen and Pishevar are a dynamic duo that will push SGN forward in the mobile social gaming space.”

Breen brings over two decades of industry gaming experience to SGN including fifteen years at EA. Starting off in production roles, Breen moved into the lead executive producer and creative director position for EA. His next five years were spent at LucasArts Entertainment, a subsidiary of LucasFilm, as vice president of product development where he helped build and scale their gaming business. For more information, please see http://www.linkedin.com/in/RandyBreen.

About SGN
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California with offices in Beijing and Argentina, SGN is one of the largest developers of mobile social games. SGN’s current stable of advanced games has led to more than 15 million unique downloads on the iPhone and iPod Touch. SGN specializes in advanced games such as Skies of Glory and F.A.S.T. that have console quality graphics and live multiplayer features over 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth. F.A.S.T, the company’s new 3D jet-fighting game, was listed as #5 on Apple’s App Store Top Paid Games list for the iPhone and #6 on the Top Paid Apps list in the U.S. within the first two weeks of its launch. SGN’s games are on 1 in 3 iPhones and iPod Touches. For more information, please visit www.sgn.com or www.twitter.com/sgn_tweets.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

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When we last wrote about the problems with the new 27-inch iMac’s screen a few weeks ago, there were over 1,600 replies on Apple’s support board about the issue. That’s 110 pages of replies. And the thread had been viewed some 260,000 times — much, much more than any other thread. I’m fairly certain more than all of the other ones combined, actually. Those numbers now? Try 2,860 replies, 191 pages, and over 400,000 views. Yeah, this problem is not going away.

Amazingly, Apple still has yet to reply to these messages piling up. Yes, they issued what they said was a fix for the problem, but that was actually before our post. Obviously, for many people, it did not work. I happen to have one of these affected Macs, and randomly, I think I’ve stumbled up an easy, but janky fix. It doesn’t solve the issue, but it does seem to eliminate for a while.

If you go to Settings, click on Expose & Spaces, and locate the Active Screen Corners portion of Expose, you’ll have an option to set one of the corners of your screen to “Put Display to Sleep.” Set one corner to do this. The next time your screen starts flickering, activate this hot corner and put your display to sleep for a few seconds. When it comes back on, it should be okay (for at least several hours in my experience).

Alternatively, I’ve found that if I restart my computer it helps too. But that’s a pain since you have to close everything you are working on, obviously. The resolution appears to work because the problem would seem to be related to overheating. Several commenters in the forums noted this, and I’ve noticed it as well. If you put your hand behind the iMac when the flickering problem is going on, you’ll notice it’s hot. Really hot. Almost scalding hot.

Again, it’s a somewhat janky temporary fix, but sadly it’s all we have now. Or you could try sending your iMac back. But I’ve done that once too — the iMac I got back still has the issue.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

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The schedule and details for this year’s Goodwood Breakfast Club have been announced, with the meetings set to take place on the first Sunday of every month, from March to December, with the exception of July and September, that have been rescheduled due to the preparations for the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival.

As in previous years, the Goodwood Breakfast Club meetings for 2010 will also be held at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in West Sussex. Moreover, the December… (read more)

Victims of the earthquake in Haiti struggle to find aid and regroup in the aftershock. It is estimated that the devastating quake killed thousands and injured tens of thousand more. (MATTHEW MAREK/American Red Cross)

A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti late Tuesday afternoon, inflicting major physical damage and causing what its ambassador to the U.S. called a “catastrophe of major proportions” for the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation. According to multiple sources, Haitian leaders fear that tens of thousands may have died in the event and its aftermath.

Professors Dissect the Quake

Civil and environmental engineering Prof. Anne Kiremidjian said several factors made the earthquake devastating to the island nation and its capital, Port-au-Prince.

“First, it was a 7.0 earthquake — a major earthquake — which means there is strong shaking near the fault,” Kiremidjian said. “[This type of earthquake] causes 30 kilometers, maybe even 40 kilometers of fault to move relative to one another, and the epicenter was roughly 15 kilometers from Port-au-Prince, which implies that the city was subjected to very strong ground vibrations.”

To make matters worse, much of the construction in Port-au-Prince was done with poor materials, compounding the damage caused by the earthquake.

“There has been a lot of growth in Port-au-Prince in the past 10 years — [a growth of] close to two million people,” she said. “People built quickly, used raw materials and built in any way they could. These structures provided very little strength against the earthquake.

“Given the strong ground vibrations, this problem was compounded by the lack of seismic codes,” she added. If there are any seismic codes, she later clarified, they were certainly not enforced.

Even engineered structures like hotels, office buildings and bridges were not built for earthquakes, according to Kiremidjian.

Geophysics Prof. Paul Segall also attributed the major damage in Haiti to poor construction.

“I read this morning that the mayor of Port-au-Prince had said many of the buildings just collapse [even] without earthquakes shaking — that’s just a recipe for disaster,” Segall said.

Segall cautioned, however, that even more damage could follow in the days after the initial seismic activity. In an earthquake of this magnitude, he indicated that aftershocks are a cause for concern.

“You always have aftershocks after these kinds of earthquakes,” he said. “As a general rule of the thumb, the largest aftershocks are about 1.5 times smaller than the original earthquake — so, in this case, about a 5.0 [aftershock].

“But even with an aftershock of a smaller magnitude, if the buildings are already damaged, you don’t want to take a chance with being in that building,” he added.

While the Caribbean is not usually considered a seismic danger zone, earthquakes have struck in the area in the past. Major seismic activity in the region, however, is separated by hundreds of years. With high levels of poverty, a poor economy and a particularly active hurricane season, the Haitian government was more concerned with being hit by a hurricane — not an earthquake.

Regardless, Kiremidjian believes scientists should have anticipated an earthquake before Tuesday’s disaster struck.

“Seismologists should have been worried about it, given that the country is right at the border of the Caribbean plate and the North American plate,” she said. “There were no earthquakes for a long time — conditions were ripe for another earthquake.”

Geographically, most of Haiti lies on the Gonave microplate, a thin slice of the earth’s crust between the North American plate to the north and Caribbean plate to the south. The fault, according to Segall, is very similar in structure to the San Andreas Fault along the Californian coast.

“It’s a strike-slip fault, which means that the motion is horizontal,” Segall explained. “And the earthquake was reasonably shallow, which means it is close to buildings and causes a lot of damage.”

Drawing a local comparison, Segall said Tuesday’s quake in Haiti was very similar to the Loma Prieta earthquake that Stanford and the Bay Area experienced in 1989. “Even though current undergrads are too young to remember, it’s still fresh in our minds as professors,” he noted.

But, while the Loma Prieta quake killed 63 people, casualties stemming from Tuesday’s earthquake are estimated to be in the tens of thousands. The main difference is that construction in California is much more resistant to ground shaking, Segall said.

While Kiremidjian stipulates that current efforts will focus on search and rescue, she emphasized that proper construction will be critical when Haiti begins to rebuild. “It’s not a question of just pouring money in,” she said. “They need proper structures and education to help local people build these proper structures, which is not a small challenge.”

For now, however, she said Haiti faces a dire situation.

“The main problem is that there is no emergency response system, and hospitals have been damaged,” Kiremidjian said. “Local United Nations forces have been trying to help, but it’s just not enough because the problem is so widespread. They need many more people to help them out, but it won’t be until first response teams get there that the major relief efforts will begin.”

Stanford Lends a Hand

Only hours after disaster struck, the events in Haiti drew tremendous student response across the Stanford campus. With family members still in Haiti, several students found themselves personally affected by the quake.

“I found out [about the earthquake] Tuesday afternoon, and it was a really hard time for me and my family — we had to wait to get phone calls from our relatives in Haiti,” said Patricia Arty ’10.

“I was really lucky to have gotten confirmation and to know that all my relatives are alive, but this was not the case for most people in the country,” Arty added.

“I haven’t heard anything particularly bad, but I haven’t heard good news either,” said Elijah Frazier ’12, who has relatives on the island. “It’s still a touchy subject for the family.”

While some students anxiously awaited phone calls to find out if their family members were even alive, others made headway in an effort to amass funds for the forthcoming relief efforts.

“The Caribbean Student Association is holding a focus group on Friday at noon to figure out a plan of action — I’ll be there,” Frazier said. “Alpha Phi is also taking some steps to help out in the relief effort, but aside from that, I’ve taken some steps of my own. I’ve texted and donated to the Red Cross and Yele Haiti.” He noted that students have donated money to relief efforts simply by texting “Haiti” to 90909.

Arty also indicated that Dance Marathon is asking its participants to donate to Partners in Health, which was founded in Haiti.

Sylvie Rousseau ’10, whose family lives in Haiti, drew attention to the aftermath of the earthquake and the nation’s plight.

“The very fact that the loss of life cannot be quantified as it can be in any other place is telling,” she wrote in an e-mail to The Daily. “The U.N. headquarters, the airport control tower, the presidential palace, hospitals, my cousins’ schools and even our churches are destroyed. Even before the earthquake, there was no reliable water, phone or power service.”

While Rousseau was shocked that so much bad luck could strike one place, she concluded that “immediate foreign relief and support is the only hope if ever development is to be resuscitated there.”

Rousseau reported that all of her immediate family is safe — some having escaped the earthquake by only hours to fly back to school — although the homes of her neighbors are demolished. One great-aunt perished in the aftermath, and her survivors scrambled to arrange for a funeral in the midst of coping with homelessness.

“It is uncertain how burial of the dead can even happen under these circumstances,” she said.

Here’s a selection of yesterday’s stories:

DIY: Build your own vacuum tube Tesla coil
Someone obviously wants the crowd-developed Cable Caps, but I don’t
Forget the whack-jobs, the NASA photos don’t show trees
Finally! USB-powered latte foamer
Disgusting: The GUMMI-X toy kit is an edible insect maker

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Two years after entering MBA programs, business school graduates are now finding that the job market they left holds little similarity to the one they’re returning to.

A declining economy and changing employment opportunities have more and more graduates of even the most prestigious business schools waiting longer for job offers after graduation. Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) is consistently ranked in the top five business schools in the nation, but employment statistics for its graduates have shown a sharp downturn in the past year for the Class of 2009.

For the Classes of 2005 to 2008, the percentage of GSB graduates seeking employment who accepted offers by three months after graduation has stayed steady around 94 percent, with 98 percent of the Class of 2008 receiving job offers and 93 percent accepting offers by three months post-graduation.

The Class of 2009, however, had less optimistic prospects. At graduation, 74 percent of graduates seeking employment had job offers and only 69 percent had accepted positions. Three months later, still only 90 percent had offers and only 85 percent had accepted employment.

The near-eight percent drop in three-month post-graduation employment rate from 2008 to 2009 reflects a drastic change in an economy that may not rebound for several years. The change is similarly evident at the prestigious UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business — three months after graduation, just 85.4 percent of the Class of 2009 had received job offers, when the number had held steady at 95 percent since 2006.

“Obviously, the fundamental hiring environment deteriorated throughout the year in response to the uncertainty around the economic crisis,” wrote Pulin Sanghvi MBA ‘97, assistant dean and director at the GSB’s Career Management Center, in an e-mail to The Daily. “A greater proportion of MBA recruiters moved their recruiting processes toward ‘just in time’ hiring, which left fewer opportunities that could be secured by students months in advance.”

Sanghvi also said that, in the hopes that the economy would improve and in order to avoid companies’ hiring freezes, many graduating students postponed their job searches from fall to spring. The crisis, however, only heightened in the spring; as a result, many 2009 graduates were forced to push their job searches until much later in the year, often undertaking short-term or entrepreneurial projects in the meantime.

Current GSB students agree that the economic crisis played a role in the drop in employment rate. But they also suggest that students, in this uncertain economic climate, are tending to wait longer for a “dream job” than accepting whatever comes along.

First-year GSB student John Krzywicki explained that the economic downturn resulted in fewer students with multiple offers and fewer students with desired offers, leaving more students holding out longer for a specific job.

“People come to the GSB with high expectations,” Krzywicki said. “They think, ‘Why should I settle?’ and they extend their search a bit longer.”

Krzywicki predicted that despite the drop in MBA graduate employment rates, prospective students would still seek the degree. “Most people think that bigger trends [in employment] wouldn’t apply to them,” he said. “More people are considering startups and taking less traditional approaches to careers.”

Second-year GSB student Ann Wessing echoed the same opinion about students willing to postpone immediate employment for a more desirable position. “This is a tough economy, but I know people who had job offers that didn’t take them,” she said.

Wessing also explained that although an MBA now carries less of an employment guarantee, she doesn’t expect that to deter most prospective students. “People at the GSB are here for a lot of reasons — for jobs, yes, but also for academic resources and new experiences,” she said.

“We’re all assuming that this issue will be resolved by the time we graduate,” she said, adding that she herself has had job offers but hasn’t yet accepted any.

Sanghvi believes the GSB graduates’ problems will be present for at least a few more years, noting that many economists expect the national unemployment rate to remain high for several years to come. However, he noted that the Class of 2010 is adapting by beginning the job search sooner and recognizing the need for greater flexibility in industry and function.

Indeed, the GSB’s employment reports reflected a need for more flexibility in job areas for graduates, with 73 percent of the Class of 2009 reporting a change in industry from their pre-MBA positions. In past years, the corresponding statistic was usually around 55 to 65 percent, peaking in 2008 with 81 percent.

Sanghvi emphasized that while the future may seem more bleak, future graduates of the GSB can rest assured that, at the very least, the two recent major industry busts — the dot-com crash and the recent crisis — have already passed, and the economy has room to improve.

“The Class of 2010 will be graduating into a more difficult job market initially, which will require greater flexibility on their part,” Sanghvi said. “However, the two economic dislocations that my class had in front of us will be behind them.”

It took one-and-a-half years for Stanford’s 48-member Mental Health and Well-Being (MHWB) Task Force to evaluate campus mental health issues. Addressing these issues is likely to take years more.

More than a year has elapsed since the 88-page MHWB Task Force Report was first released, and the University is still in the information-gathering phase. In that time, “mental health” has become a buzzword, the Wellness Room has sprung up and students seeking counseling have increased, according to Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Director Ronald Albucher.

Still, tackling the report’s list of 18 wide-ranging recommendations has proven to be a sluggish process. While the MHWB Oversight Committee, the body formed in October 2008 to monitor the report’s implementation, has made gains in certain areas, many of the proposals remain in the discussion stage.

“The Oversight Committee is focusing on qualitative and quantitative measures to assess progress at this point,” wrote MHWB Initiative Project Manager Ralph Castro, also the manager for Health Promotion Services (HPS) Substance Abuse Prevention Program, in an e-mail to The Daily.

“A lot of the year has been building a new framework for looking at the recommendations and gathering information,” said ASSU student representative and Undergraduate Health and Wellness Co-Chair Alisha Tolani ‘10.

The Committee, whose progress can be tracked on its Web site, is comprised of health professionals, faculty members and students, who meet two to three times throughout each quarter. The body is subdivided into three work groups that gather more frequently: Faculty and Academic Initiatives, Education and Outreach, and Policies and Practices.

Quantifying Progress

Against the odds, the Oversight Committee has been able to post several gains.

Many proposals have already solidified: a change in the Academic Calendar aimed to reduce stress, a new course to promote happiness and stress-reduction, the addition of a staff position to mentor first generation and low-income students and the continuance of suicide prevention QPR counseling through CAPS.

Mental health has also become less of a fringe issue, with candidates for student government often making mental health a part of their platforms.

“I think that mental health issues are something that people are becoming more and more aware of, which is great,” wrote undergraduate student committee member Sandra Yen ‘10 in an e-mail to The Daily. “It is not an easy topic to talk about.”

Castro also cited the critical importance of the maintenance of CAPS resources throughout multiple rounds of budget cuts in supporting mental health efforts, as well as the increase of funding to the gradate Community Associate program, which supports graduate students living in on-campus housing.

“We did take a minor hit [in funding], but overall, in terms of clinical time, there was no impact,” Albucher said. “The University really wanted to prioritize staffing and funding for mental health.”

CAPS has undergone the most changes since the formation of the MHWB Task Force in 2006. Using additional funding from the University’s general fund, CAPS hired more staff people, a case management official and a new director — Albucher — in November 2008.

According to Albucher, CAPS currently has 16 full-time equivalent positions, along with three psychology trainees, three psychiatry residents and three child psychiatry fellows.

With the increase in personnel, CAPS also shifted focus to raising intake capabilities.

“Our goal for most students is to get them in within a week’s time of first contact,” Albucher said. After an initial screening, CAPS will then refer the student to the appropriate service if necessary.

CAPS has been succeeding in achieving this goal. According to case intake data from October 2009, 84 percent of students were seen by a clinician within a week of contacting CAPS. Reasons for the 16 percent of delays included students’ requesting specific therapists and scheduling conflicts. In one to two percent of cases, CAPS was unable to identify a reason for the delay.

In the past year, there has been a 10 percent increase in requests for counseling and a 30 percent increase in requests for medication evaluation and medication management, according to Albucher. Every week, CAPS receives between 50 and 60 requests for new evaluations — the same rate Albucher told The Daily in November of 2008.

CAPS services, from triage to intake to counseling, are provided free of charge to students, paid for by the Vaden health service fee instituted fall quarter.

Due to resource constraints, however, CAPS is unable to offer long-term counseling for most students.

“Under Review”

But not every initiative has met with success.

For many of the recommendations, the current progress merely reads, “Under review,” and the Web site does not include updates from the 2009-10 academic year.

Tolani defended the pace of the changes. “We’re checking in frequently enough — I think [the outreach working group] had four to five meetings last quarter — and we’re going as fast as we can, keeping in mind faculty schedules,” she said.

“Though there doesn’t seem to be a concrete deadline, the Oversight Committee is holding to a tight deadline,” she added.

Part of the difficulty stems from the lack of a single, proven solution for improving mental health. According to Yen, the Oversight Committee has also been looking at how other universities are combating the same issues.

“I think the biggest problem is that there is still a lot of stigma and people are afraid to talk about it because they are afraid how their peers will respond,” said ASSU Undergraduate Health and Wellness Co-Chair Jen Hawkins ’11.

“Often, CAPS sounds like a good idea to students until it comes time that they are the ones who need it,” added committee member and Earth Systems Prof. Julie Kennedy.

Student Involvement

If all else fails, the lasting contribution of the MHWB task force may be the collaboration between groups working to support and raise awareness for mental health issues. In particular, cooperation between Vaden, HPS, CAPS and student initiatives is on an upward swing, according to Tolani and Hawkins.

Student groups like Stanford Peace of Mind, the Stanford Theater Activist Mobilization Project, the Bridge Peer Counseling Center and Project Love, along with the Wellness Room, are all targeted at raising student awareness and de-stigmatizing the issue. These groups often work with CAPS and HPS, bringing clinicians into dorms and hosting panels. Personal accounts of students who have sought counseling are some of the most effective methods of outreach, say Hawkins and Kennedy.

The ASSU will be hosting a wellness week in February, bringing together various student organizations and formal health services to promote mental health.

“We want to stress that taking positive steps in addressing mental illness is really a sign of strength,” Tolani said.

Updates on the progress of the MHWB Oversight Committee can be found on its Web site, www.stanford.edu/group/mhwb/.

An Air Force veteran and a Navy veteran led a lecture on military organization, different services, values and stereotypes Wednesday night in Tresidder Memorial Union. Sponsored by the Truman Service Initiative, the bipartisan event was hosted by SIG, the Stanford Democrats and the Stanford Conservative Society. (JUSTIN LAM/Staff Photographer)

“Military 101,” a lecture held at Tresidder Memorial Union, brought together students “confused by headline news,” interested in foreign policy, experienced in military action or just generally curious.

Attendees came to learn the workings of the military from military veterans, courtesy of the Truman Service Initiative. The program is run out of the Truman Security Project Educational Institute and is being piloted in its first year at five elite universities across the country in hopes of helping “future leaders of the U.S. bridge the civil-military divide.”

The lecture, led by an Air Force veteran and a Navy veteran, discussed the framework of military organization and the key differences between the different services, as well as focusing in depth on military values and difficult questions and stereotypes that are often raised.

Students came to learn more for a variety of reasons, from the personal to the professional.

“I’m here for general interest,” said Nailah Spruill ’12 before the event. “My dad was in the military and I never really understood what he did, so this should be enlightening.”

Attendee Sebastain Gould ’11 left Stanford after his freshman year to join the Marine Corps, where he became a Lance Corporal. He said the event addressed concerns that were important to discuss.

“You could make a whole class on these questions — the moral questions really do affect us all, like, ‘Should you join, should your children join?’” he said.

Gould emphasized the usefulness of a basic understanding of the military, equating the lecture to the Global Community general education requirement that every student has to fulfill.

“All students should have exposure to these ideas,” he said.

Kelly Gleischman ’10, a Truman coordinator, said that because of the relevance of the military for foreign policy, a knowledge of its workings is important. “Students at all levels are leaning about these issues, and the military is a critical part of foreign policy,” she said. “That’s not limited to any one interest, background, major or political party.”

“We value open dialogue and discourse on this campus, so we’re trying to provide the vocabulary to talk about these things,” added fellow organizer Jessie Knight ’10.

Gould said the event was at its best when students were able to discuss the ideas presented. “It was kind of what I expected,” he said. “The direct information approach is helpful because a lot of people don’t know anything, but the second half was better because it helped further the conversation.”

The event was hosted in conjunction with Stanford in Government, the Stanford Democrats and the Stanford Conservative Society.

Organizer Will Treseder ’11 said the Truman Service Initiative events, especially the Military 101 lecture, provide students with “military literacy.” This year is the first in a three-year pilot program that will “subsequently be larger as they get the [Truman Service Initiative’s] name out there.

“It’s really interesting to see the range of people who are interested,” Treseder said. “You’re always surprised by who might show up.”

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Potential constitutional revision dominated Wednesday’s GSC meeting, with a proposed bill to reduce special fees spending and talk of clarifying the ASSU staff confirmation process with members still upset over the rejection of Farah Abuzeid ’10 to the position of co-chief of staff.

The meeting began with funding requests from two student groups. The GSC approved $250 for the Pakistanis of Stanford and $4,221 for the Stanford Africa Business Forum. After approval of these requests, GSC funding committee chair Ping Li raised a concern about fund use.

According to Li, some student groups may be lying about funding an event for the well-being of the student body when instead they are simply buying food for their officers. Li proposed a transfer of $500 from the food account to the internal account. The money would be used to hire an auditor to keep student groups in check.

“If we find they did anything to abuse the funds, then they can’t access funds for the rest of that fiscal year,” Li said. The pilot project will be implemented immediately and will be continued in following years.

“We’ve been doing it by honor so far,” said Justin Brown, deputy chair of the funding committee, “but people have been screwing with the system.”

In an attempt to curb special fees spending, the GSC also discussed a possible Special Fees bylaw change to prevent groups from increasing their budgets by ten percent without oversight. The bill, entitled “A Bill to Reduce Growth in Special Fees Spending,” was also discussed during Tuesday’s ASSU meeting.

Currently, student groups requiring special fees get an automatic budget increase of ten percent each year, plus inflation.

“If you want to increase your special fees budget, then you have to do it the way everyone else does it — which is to petition,” Brown said.

According to co-chair Eric Osborne, existence of the student groups will not be affected, but their funding may be decreased due to GSC oversight.

“They shouldn’t be able to add ten percent willy-nilly to their budgets every year,” Osborne said.

School of Education representative Eric Shed agreed with Osborne on the special fees bill.

“This strikes me as a fair, practical, and effective solution, and that is an irregularity in legislature,” Shed said. “I just want to acknowledge that.”

Voting will be delayed until next week in order for GSC members to familiarize themselves with the proposal.

ASSU Announcements

Following the discussion on special fees reduction, undergraduate outreach chairs Adrienne Pon ’12 and Britt Kovachevich ’09 were unanimously confirmed as legislative liaisons for the ASSU.

The next announcement was an introduction to a new initiative that aims to help student groups by offering free technology consulting services for maintaining their websites. Basic website techniques will be taught at Old Union on Jan. 15 and Jan. 22 from 4-6 p.m.

Other ASSU announcements included a salary/benefit negotiation workshop called “MAANuary: MAAN Mustache Challenge” and the “Hack-a-thon” for coders as an alternative to the Dance Marathon.

The Mustache Challenge involves Stanford men growing out their facial hair and then accepting bids to shave them, in order to raise money to prevent violence against Stanford women. The “Hack-a-thon” allows for students not keen on dancing to still participate in the marathon.

“If you have computer science or software development skills, you can code for 24 hours instead of dancing for 24 hours,” said ASSU President David Gobaud ’08 M.S. ’10.

Constitutional policy revisited

The confirmation of Abuzeid to the co-chief of staff issue was revisited as Osborne asked Parker for an update of the pending positions. According to Parker, there will be no case to clarify the issue. GSC members were not satisfied with the statement.

“We want to get this issue cleared up,” Osborne said.

The GSC debated the possibility of claiming that harm is done by not confirming Abuzeid. According to parliamentarian Robert Hennessy, harm needs to be done in order for the GSC to bring the issue up to the constitutional council.

“I can honestly say that the GSC is harmed because Andy [Parker] is overworked,” Osborne said in reference to Parker taking up both positions of vice president and co-chief of staff in the meantime.

“Arguably, every student at Stanford can bring up a case,” he added, “because they are all affected by Andy being overworked.”

Members proposed the idea of draft to clarify the voting procedure regarding ASSU confirmations in the bylaws.

According to Adam Beberg, doctoral candidate in computer science and former GSC member, the Senate may be acting against their constitutional power in attempting to prevent Abuzeid from being confirmed.

“It’s a staff position, not [an] employee,” Beberg said. “It’s not something we should be voting on.”

The dry season in sub-Saharan Africa is a brutal six months of minimal rainfall, widespread malnutrition and community dislocation. However, according to a study by Jennifer Burney, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford’s Program on Food Security and the Environment (FSE), solar-powered drip irrigation systems may provide a viable long-term solution.

Burney has spent the past three years studying the effectiveness of a pilot project involving photovoltaic (PV) irrigation installations in two villages in rural Benin. Burney worked with her co-authors, Marshall Burke of UC- Berkeley and Lennart Woltering and Dov Pasternak of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Niger.

Benin’s Kalalé district has 42 villages and a population of approximately 104,000 people and 95 percent of them depend on subsistence farming as their primary livelihood. During the dry season, a six-month period between November and April, the region may receive as little as 20 or fewer inches of rain. For the 80 percent of Kalalé villages not near a water source, this shortage takes an enormous toll on crop production, income, health and nutrition and can cause community dislocation when families are forced to relocate to urban areas and search for jobs.

Burney, who spent most of 2007 working in Benin, initially became involved with the project because of her involvement with the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a non-profit organization whose self-proclaimed purpose is to fight “climate change and global poverty with solar power.” They first began funding the installation of solar-powered drip irrigation in fall of 2006 and by 2007, the technology had been implemented.

Burney said SELF took a great deal of time during the installation process to train as many locals as possible in the construction and maintenance skills associated with the irrigation system. According to Burney, the purpose was to foster involvement and attachment to the system, as well as to ensure its sustainability.

Three systems were installed altogether: two surface-level pumps in the village of Bessassi and one submersible pump in the village of Dunkassa. The advantages of PV technology are its immunity to fuel shortages, a lower long-term cost than traditional diesel generators and saved labor.

Burney’s study of the project’s effectiveness showed incredible results: all three systems produced 1.9 metric tons of produce per month, vegetable intake increased to 3-5 servings per day during the dry season and 17 percent of people living in the villages reported feeling less “food insecure.” Additionally, families using the systems increased their income by selling a large portion of their excess produce, the size of plots cultivated experienced a dramatic visual difference, the effort needed to cultivate them decreased and nutrition improved dramatically.

However, one of the project’s most striking results goes beyond the realm of the quantitative. Independent of any efforts by SELF, education programs developed in the participating villages to teach young people about the system.

“One of the schools developed a whole curriculum. Kids do calculations about how long it would take to water a plot of a certain size by hand versus with an irrigation system and they go visit the site,” Burney said.

The sense of community pride that has arisen in response to the new technology came as a pleasant surprise, according to Burney, who said her greatest fears going into the project came from hearing “all these terrible stories about development projects gone bad.

“This has been nice to see, that it’s a prized sort of community possession,” she added.