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Contributed Photo
Freshman track and field team member Miriam Berg Hovda (left) teaches local children from an after-school program at Iglesia Luterana Cristo Rey about running
practice on an Augustana chapel service learning trip to El Paso, Texas. Six students traveled to the Mexico border during Spring Break to learn about conflict and
illegal immigration. The students spoke to border patrol and heard stories from undocumented immigrants.
Junior Averin co-authors published article
Student, professor Drew Alton included in science journal, Physics Letters B
By Sarah Hanson
Mirror Guest Writer
Third-year physics student Ruslan
Averin recently co-authored an article
published in Physics Letters B.
Of the 600 researchers listed as co-au-thors
of the paper, which appeared in the
Jan. 26 issue of the scientific journal, Aver-in
is the only undergraduate student.
"It was a great opportunity," Averin said.
"Getting a paper published in Physics Let-ters
B when you're an undergrad is not very
common."
The paper was a result of the DO Experi-ment,
which began in 2000 with the goal
of finding a new particle. Averin began his
work with the project the summer of 2007
as part of a summer research program un-der
physics professor Drew Alton.
While the DO project, which includes
collaborators from different institutions,
was funded by an external source, Averin
was supported by the Augustana Research
Artist Fund.
Their research was in the field of particle
physics, the branch of physics that studies
subatomic particles and their interactions.
The specific goal of the DO Experiment is
important because physicists believe the
current understanding of nature, or the
Standard Model, is incomplete. Although
this research did not result in the discovery
of a new particle as was hoped, Averin said
it was still a good experience.
"Very few people get to learn firsthand
about particle physics," he said, "There's no
class for it at Augustana."
He hopes that this experience will help
him with graduate school, where he plans
to get his Ph.D. in theoretical physics.
While tutoring last year, Averin discovered
he likes teaching and would like to work as
a professor in a college or university in the
future.
Alton's plans for the future include fur-ther
research in the area of particle phys-ics.
He currently has a grant out proposing
research on different particles. Included in
this grant is support for two or three stu-dents
to research for two summers each.
Research and publications are impor-tant
to any good department, said Alton,
who believes people aren't always aware of
how good Augustana's physics department
is.
Press Photo
Physics Letters B
"Physics isn't a big major anywhere, but
Augustana's physics department is actually
pretty big," Alton said. "The University of
South Dakota has no more classes than we
do, and we publish more than they do."
"It was a great opportunity. Getting a paper
published in Physics Letters B when you're an
undergrad is not very common."
Ruslan Averin
THE AUGUSTANA
Friday MIRROR Vol. XCVII
April 3, 2009
No. 16
• WWW.AUGUSTANAMIRROR.COM •
SERVICE LEARNING TRIP Augie Green,
grounds crew
back recycling
practices
By Julia Compton
Mirror Staff Writer
A recent examination of Augus-tana's
disposal policies resulted in the
find that the college produces 60,000
pounds of waste and 15,000 pounds
of recyclable materials every month.
Though Augustana has recycled
cardboard for more than a decade,
the sorting of plastic, paper and alu-minum
cans is a recent establish-ment.
Augie Green, an organization
that aims to raise
awareness of en-vironmental
is-sues,
has assisted
in the effort.
"It's important
to care for the
environment,"
sophomore Au-gie
Green secre-tary
Maren Pe-terson
said. "It's the place in which we
live and where our children will live,
and if we don't take care of it, it won't ,
be here in the future:
While the amount of waste fluctu-ates
throughout the year, statistics re-veal
that students are taking the time
to recycle.
. Supervisor of Augustana's garbage
services Perry Schempp believes that
though more time, energy and ex-penses
are put into recycling, the end
result is worth the endeavor. "Recy-cling
takes effort:' Schempp said. "It's
a good thing, and it saves space in
landfills."
The disposal process is a lengthy
procedure, as garbage services works
independently to haul waste to the
landfill and recycled items to a local
See DISPOSAL, page 12
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