Artifact Day

Students from an archeology and film class invited the Parkland community to learn about any artifacts they might have.

Seven people, including a professional gravedigger, brought in artifacts on Jan. 25.

 “It was actually very successful. We had more people than expected and the students listened well,” said Amanda Taylor, visiting assistant professor of anthropology.

The archeology class prepared for the event by learning more about local archeology and learning the laws and rules about cultural resources in Washington.

Mark Woldseth, a PLU alum, brought in projectile points, a Native American scraper, a shard of pottery, an old Lysol bottle and a mechanical calendar from San Francisco.

Most people incorrectly call projectile points, “arrowheads,” Taylor said. Projectile points could have been used for more things than arrows and is a more general term.
Taylor showed how the Native Americans made scrapers. They took a rock and broke off a shard of obsidian.

They then jammed one end of the obsidian into an antler and used it as a scraper.
The class discussed what might have been in the Lysol bottle. It was old and looked like it was meant to be sealed with a cork.

Noel Raetc ’14 examined the mechanical calendar and said, “It tells you the date if you remember to turn it.”

The students took and drew pictures of each artifact that was brought in and recorded notes in their notebooks. The class is looking into the history of the artifacts that were brought in and will be helping the owners figure out what exactly they have.

One person brought in a weight that was used to hold down fishing nets. The hole in the middle was carved out using only rocks.

Another person brought in something that looked like it may have been a compass. The writing on it looked Chinese and looked like it may have been used at sea.

Other people brought in things that weren’t artifacts, like geodes and petrified wood.

“Those are cool,” said Taylor. “But they aren’t archeological.”

“Artifact Day was very successful and I hope to teach the class again next J-Term.”

http://www.plu.edu/news/2013/02/artifacts-day/home.php

Economics of Golf

An unconventional approach to economics that allows students to shoot lasers and travel PGA tour destinations was taught this J-Term by Mark Reiman, associate professor of economics.

This class, The Economics of Golf, was inspired by a book called Golfonomics – not Reiman’s golfing skills.

In The Economics of Golf, students met with owners of golf courses in Tacoma, Monterey, Palm Desert and Phoenix, as well as officials of the PGA tour to discuss the economics behind golf.

“I like to test economic theories," Reiman said. “But I am not an avid golfer.”

Many of the students didn’t have much experience with golf, but wanted to test economic theories. Dimitri Sammpas ’13, an economics and business major, has experience with mini golf and Wii Golf.

“One of my interests in economics is in depth economics analysis of business as well as using economic theory,” Sammpas said.

Unlike the traditional economics class, The Economics of Golf allowed students to get involved with new research, "instead of being taught something that’s existed hundreds of years,” Sammpas said.

They are able to apply economic theories not only to the course management of golf, but also to the game itself. While in Palm Desert, the class attended the Humana Challenge and had the opportunity to walk with celebrities and professional golfers as marshals.

“Our job was simple; make sure people aren’t distracting the golfers with their phones or cameras,” Kyle Parnelle wrote in the class blog. “It was truly an amazing experience walking the course that the pros were walking,”

At the Phoenix Open, the class volunteered to help run the ShotLink system. ShotLink is a device that uses lasers and GPS to stream data to on-site television broadcast partners like CBS and NBC, PGATOUR.com, print media, mobile devices and others.

The data provided by ShotLink, makes it easier to apply economic theories to the game. One specific theory Reiman mentioned was Prospect Theory, for which psychologist Daniel Kahneman won the 2002 Nobel prize in economics. It proposes that people aren’t always trying to maximize benefits, but are paying attention to a benchmark. In this case, the benchmark is par.

“Do golfers pay attention to par? Yes, they sit in it,” Reiman said.

This is in contrast to neoclassical economic theory that says that people are always trying to better their situation given the constraints they face. The Economics of Golf was split into two sections in order to maximize the number of students that could take the class.

 Hollie Lucas ’16 plans to major in Athletic Training, and Econ 287 was a perfect pairing of interests.
“I love traveling,” she said after returning from Mexico the day before leaving for Monterey. “Being able to go and experience is the best way to learn."

http://www.plu.edu/news/2013/02/pga-course/home.php

iPhoneography

IPhoneography, photography on the iPhone, is an art form that is getting more popular.

Beatrice “Bea” Geller, associate professor of art and design, taught a class on this emerging medium during J-Term.

She taught iPhoneography based on her first reaction when she bought her iPhone two years ago.
“When I bought my iPhone I had a liberating feeling – it was spontaneous,” Geller said.

Geller and her students are learning this art form together.

"It is nice when the professor puts you on an even playing field," said Bradford Lum '15, a business major and photography minor. "If the professor is on the same level, we both learn."

In the class the professor and students shared with each other what they knew about this emerging practice.

"No matter what it's a collaboration," Geller said. "We are making some exceptional discoveries."

She quickly learned that smartphone apps could be integrated into conventional photography, even replacing expensive equipment.

The first thing students usually learn in photography is how to get correct exposure, but with iPhoneography students can focus entirely on technique. They don’t need to worry about what their aperture, shutter speed and ISO are, or even what those are. With the technology, the students were able to focus on concept rather than be burdened by technique.

Without having to worry about exposure, students “can get to the substance of photography and experience their world. IPhoneography is about having an adventure and a willingness to explore,” Geller said.

Unlike many courses, the articles students were assigned to read were written while Geller taught her class. With this field of photography being developed right now, the most current articles are the best.

Geller discovered that iPhoneography has even been on the cover of Time magazine.
As part of the class, she had her students post photos to Flickr and had her past students critique the class’s images online.

“The mobile revolution is incredible,” Geller said. “Students are getting comments about their art and are now published.”

http://www.plu.edu/news/2013/02/iphoneography/home.php

Snow much fun - photos

A group of PLU students went snowshoeing at Paradise, Mt. Rainier with Outdoor Recreation.

CSCE team sets sights on next year

A group of nine Computer Science and Computer Engineering students competed at an international computer programming competition Nov. 3.

First time competitor, Ben Landes ’14, described the Association for Computing Machinery
International Collegiate Programming Contest as “sports for nerds.”  They were divided into three teams, PLU-3, PLU-2 and PLU-1, and took fifth, 11th, and 16th respectively at the University of Portland. Within the entire region, PLU-3 took 42nd, PLU-2 took 66th and PLU-1 took 82nd out of 111 teams.

“I’m so proud of the job they did,” Kenneth Blaha, professor of CSCE

The contest is held over five hours across six different campuses in British Columbia, Oregon, Hawaii, California, and Washington. Unlike sports, these competitors don’t need to be in the same room or even the same country to compete with one another. During the five hours, competitors must solve as many problems as possible, as quickly as possible.

Winners are decided by which team solved the most problems. In a tie, whichever team solved the problems the quickest wins.

“You would think that five hours would be more than enough time,” said Nick DeVoll ’15, who competed last year. “But in reality, we only solved two last year.”

With a group of mostly new students and only one returning member, Blaha said before the competition that he “would be happy if they finished in middle of the pack.”

That is exactly what happened. Each team solved three problems this year, which is as many as the winning team at the University of Portland. Last year, the best PLU team only solved two.

“They are convinced that they were within minutes of solving a fourth problem,” Blaha said, which would have clinched first place for any of the PLU teams at their site.

Last year competitors were given a scenario in which mines had a variable blast radius. They had to calculate the blast radius needed to kill all of the zombies in the scenario. To prepare for the competition, the students had spent the last several weeks solving problems like this.

“Some problems are super easy while others are pretty hard,” Landes said.
Blaha predicts there will be eight returning students next year and said he hopes to get into the 25th percentile.

“They are convinced that next year they can get first place at their local site in Portland,” Blaha said. “I think they have a good shot.”

PLU’s top group took 42nd place and that’s “not that far away,” Blaha said. The three teams had prepared since the third week of the semester by solving practice problems. The team overall hasn’t taken many of the upper division courses that would have helped them in this contest.

“This is kind of a trial year [for me],” Landes said. “Next year I can contribute a lot more.”

Despite the lack of upper division courses, DeVoll said, “the team is really capable this year. They were solving problems that have left me scratching my head.”

This isn’t the only limitation though. PLU has to compete against large schools like Stanford, University of Washington and University of British Columbia. This is similar to a division three team competing against a division one team. These large universities send up to seven teams and typically have a graduate student on each team, Blaha said. The other schools also tend to have more creative names.

The winning team at University of Portland was ICan’tBelieveIt’sNotBabbage! and the runner ups were the Cybermetic Dinosaurs.

The PLU students discussed an idea for a name for next year on the drive back from Portland.

Their idea was LUt=e, which is a play on the decomposition function LUx=b. Blaha said advanced programmers would understand the joke.

Not only are they talking about names for next year, but are discussing how to do better. This includes working over the summer to prepare for next year’s competition. They would like to attend qualifying tournaments over the summer that are designed for the larger schools to pick which teams they send to the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest.