James Strait selected to manage Cosmic Microwave Background project

Matt Nerzig/Courtesy

James Strait, a physicist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, has been selected as director for the Stage 4 Cosmic Microwave Background project. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is the lead laboratory for the project.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, physicist James Strait has been selected as the next director for the Stage 4 Cosmic Microwave Background project, or CMB-S4, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, or LBNL.

CMB-S4 will deploy an array of 21 radio telescopes to detect the oldest light — photons — that were released 380,000 years after the Big Bang, according to Natalie Roe, associate laboratory director for the Physical Sciences at LBNL. She noted Strait is a distinguished scientist at Fermilab who has the required expertise for his position, adding that he has led several major scientific construction projects in the past.

“I am thrilled that Jim has agreed to serve as a CMB-S4 Project Director,“ Roe said in a press release. “This is a challenging project, both technically and programmatically, and Jim’s experience in successfully leading large projects has prepared him well to take on this important role.”

According to Roe, who described the project in the press release as an “ambitious next generation experiment,” there was an international search conducted by a committee comprising members from several national laboratories and universities to find the next director of the project. After the committee interviewed and evaluated numerous candidates, the lead laboratory — LBNL — made the final decision to select Strait, Roe said.

Roe added the project will use telescopes deployed in high, dry regions such as the South Pole and Chilean Atacama desert. She said the telescopes will be equipped with sensitive superconducting detectors to create a “baby picture” of the universe.

CMB-S4 is a “very exciting” project, according to Strait, and that he hopes to help make the project a success to uncover “deep secrets of the universe.”

Strait said when he first started working at Fermilab, he was assigned to work on the development of superconducting magnets for the Superconducting Super Collider, a megascience project in the late ‘80s. Here, Strait said he learned how to manage teams of scientists, engineers and technicians to execute complex projects.

“I started out as a random scientist and I figured out how to organize things,” Strait said. “The combination of that ability and my technical and scientific knowledge has made me reasonably successful at managing these large scientific enterprises.”

Strait said he was once named the U.S. project leader of a collaboration to build the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator and the source of a Nobel prize for the discovery of the Higgs boson particle.

Strait said CMB-S4 would be the “ultimate genealogy,” showing the universe’s origins. He noted all cultures have origin stories, adding the project is trying to conduct a scientific and fact-based study of the universe’s origins.

“My hope is to build this thing and have it collect data and to uncover incredible secrets of the universe,” Strait said.

Contact Victor Corona at vcorona@dailycal.org, and follow him on Twitter at @victorcoronas.

The Daily Californian

Ahead of Utah’s primary election on June 28, various Salt Lake community groups sponsored an event to protect democracy and voting rights. 

The June 4 event was held at Jordan Park, where speakers and performers joined together to celebrate voting rights and access. 

Volunteers from the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan group focused on empowering voters and protecting democracy, registered interested attendees to vote.

In an interview prior to the event, Celeste Dorantes, an intern with the League and the Gun Violence Prevention Center and former U student, talked about the importance of individual change, especially in current times. She cited the recent shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo as reasons why she feels so strongly about being a part of the GVPC.

“It’s just really great to be part of an organization that shows how brutal something like this is, but also how we can all come together and try to contact our legislators or just try to make a difference,” Dorantes said. “Not that many believe that just themselves can make a difference, but they can.”

Shauna Bona, the president-elect of the League, said this event is going to be a celebration of access to the ballot and the power of the vote. 

“It’s also a space where other community organizations that are dealing with issues that are extremely important and part of the ‘why’ of voting are also invited to attend,” Bona said. 

Dorantes said it is important for young people to be aware of these various nonprofit groups because it can increase their political participation. 

“Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of my friends, especially here in Utah, they don’t really understand how crucial that is to become involved,” she said. “When we see like the Roe v. Wade stuff, it’s really important to contact your local lawmaker or something because it all starts at the local level.”

Celebrating the Vote

The event began with a land acknowledgment from Ralyn Montoya of the Urban Indian Center of Salt Lake. 

“We honor the land we’re on, and its Native people who are the original stewards of this land,” Montoya said. 

Jeanetta Williams, the president of the NAACP Salt Lake Branch, talked about the significance of Juneteenth and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, saying it is important to make one’s vote count. 

Then, Kayden Denny, a senior from Highland High School, performed a storytelling hoop dance. 

After, Charlene Lui from the National Tongan American Society talked about the importance of sharing one’s own story. 

“What I’m saying today is that we represent so many others that have come before us and so I ask you and urge you that we continue that legacy,” Lui said. “Even though we may be smaller in numbers today, each one of us makes such a difference.”

Dorantes also spoke at the event. She expressed how important it is to be politically engaged. 

“I think it’s important to understand that our generation is going to shape the future of this country,” she said. “So we just have to start right now and show up ready.” 

Dancers and drummers from the Ngoma y’Africa Cultural Center shared performances related to the spirit of Ubuntu, which means “I am because we are,” one member explained. 

After speakers from the Gun Violence Prevention Center, Better Boundaries and ACLU of Utah, Wynter Storm shared their poem titled “Dear Women.” 

“Although many have tried to quiet us for so long, we remain strong,” the poem read. “Black women, you are perseverance.”

Then, Montoya returned to the microphone to talk about the Get Out the Vote Campaign, which aims to increase voter registration and turnout. Montoya encouraged Native American people to use their voices and vote. 

“I like to remind many people that democracy is Indigenous,” Montoya said. “Many people don’t think it matters, but it was because of the steps that we’ve taken with being able to vote that we are able to be who we are today.”

Dorantes hopes this event will bring more youth engagement to these community organizations and their missions. 

To the people who are already registered to vote, Bona stressed the importance of the primaries. 

“Instead of thinking like, well, we all showed up and it didn’t matter, it’s like: we all showed up and it mattered, and now it needs to matter a little more to put us over the edge,” she said. 

The deadline to register to vote online or by mail in the Utah primaries is Friday, June 17. In-person voters can register the day of. Individuals in Utah can start preregistering to vote as early as 16 years old. 

k.silverstein@dailyutahchronicle.com

@chronykayleigh

The post Protect Democracy and Voting Rights Event Celebrates Power of the Vote appeared first on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

You’ve seen the car decals of the blue puzzle piece. Every year there’s an influx of fundraisers and marathons, but they’re all for show. The organization Autism Speaks claims to seek the causes and different types of autism, lower the average age of diagnosis to two years, expand services for autistic people and enhance medical treatment of associated health conditions. Such flowery language covers up the atrocious and dehumanizing way this organization treats autistic people. Autism Speaks doesn’t care about the needs of autistic people and puts money back into their own pockets while demonizing neurodivergence.

As recently as 2016, Autism Speaks touted finding a “cure,” even stating it in their previous mission statement. Parents, be warned. There’s no cure for autism; it’s a lifelong condition that will not go away. The word “cure” has since been removed and replaced with “solutions.”

It gets worse. Autism Speaks continuously funds research seeking the causes of autism. Their MSSNG Project in particular warrants concern as a global database of over 10,000 genomes of autistic individuals and their family members. The project funds researchers to identify “autism genes” with the hope of developing a prenatal test for autism. Said DNA gets extracted and utilized without the child’s permission. In essence, Autism Speaks funds a new type of eugenics.

They also support Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy, a form of “treatment” that focuses on reversing autistic behaviors. Not only does it not work for many autistic people, but it also creates traumatic experiences for many autistic children. ABA encourages masking — which teaches children to hide any autistic traits viewed as undesirable.

Further, the organization removes pieces of media and fundraising that they’ve received criticism for. One of the co-founders, Suzanne Wright, published multiple articles with outdated facts and blatantly incorrect information about autistic people. These articles have since mysteriously disappeared. Looking up “A Call to Action,” brings nothing but an error page on their website. They also removed a fundraising video titled “I Am Autism” due to the backlash it received. This video utilizes the personified voice of autism, who claims to “know where you live,” “work faster than pediatric AIDS, cancer and diabetes combined,” as well as destroy marriages and bankrupt families. This is all in the first minute of the four-minute video.

Autism Speaks raises fears about having an autistic child. In a video called “Autism Every Day,” (which has also disappeared from their site) parents talk about the difficulties of raising their children. Alison Singer, the former executive vice president of Autism Speaks, says she contemplated driving off a bridge with her daughter in the car, but didn’t because she has another neurotypical child. At this point, her autistic daughter sat in the room with her. Luckily, Singer has since resigned and has worked to rectify her actions.

Autism Speaks also partnered with Sesame Street to prepare a “100 Day Kit” for parents of newly diagnosed autistic children. It goes on to compare autism to leukemia, enforcing “mourning” as a normal response to learning of a diagnosis. This sort of rhetoric plants the idea that having an autistic child is the same as having a dead one.

For an organization so into “helping” autistic people, they don’t seem to ever consult autistic individuals. A staggering lack of autistic people sit on their Leadership Board, having only hired a handful of openly autistic individuals over the course of 17 years. Instead, most of their Leadership members represent big brand names. These include Soundcloud, New York Leasing, Goldman Sachs and Mastercard, among many others.

As Lydia Brown of Autistic Hoya states, “No reasonable person would dare suggest that an organization comprised entirely of men represents women’s interests or that an organization led entirely by white people represents the interests of people of color, yet the same standard evidently does not apply to disability organizations.”

Autism Speaks also raises a ridiculous amount of money. According to their fiscal report from 2018, 49% of their funds went towards “understanding and acceptance,” (read: promoting stigma and fundraising) while only 20% went towards services for autistic people and their families. They actively lobby against amendments that would help autistic individuals. In 2014, they heavily lobbied against an amendment to the Autism Cares Act. The amendment aimed to set policies in place for the inclusion of autistic people in policy and research decisions.

Autism has never been “on the rise.” It’s not a new thing, so why do big name organizations not handle it better? This organization and others like it perpetuate the idea that autism is scary, like a death sentence for your child. It causes fear and mistrust of autistic people, and actively inhibits equality for disabled individuals.

Public stigmatization of autistic people has led to tragedy. Back in 2020, a 13-year-old boy on the spectrum was shot by Salt Lake City police after his mother called for help transporting him to a hospital. Police shot the unarmed boy 11 times. In Massachusetts, police pinned a 10-year-old boy to the ground and kneeled on his neck and legs. In Louisiana, the cops killed an autistic 16-year-old by sitting and using a chokehold on him until he died. Violence against autistic people continues, and fear-mongering tactics help it along.

Autism Speaks constantly talks over autistic people and refuses to acknowledge their actions. Aside from dehumanizing autistic individuals, this organization treats neurodivergence as an epidemic and spreads misinformation to the general public. Autism Speaks doesn’t care about the needs of autistic people and actively works against self-advocacy, harming people in the process.

It’s time to let autistic people speak for themselves, instead of this large and money-hungry corporation.

k.lien@dailyutahchronicle.com

@kaylahlien

The post Lien: Autism Speaks Doesn’t Care About Autistic People appeared first on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

USFL charges into summer

Thomas/Creative Commons

Photo by Thomas under CC BY-SA 2.0

Just as one wouldn’t expect a Thanksgiving turkey in June, to expect a football season to come to a head at the beginning of summer seems a little out of place.

But this is the case with the United States Football League. Commonly referred to as the USFL, this particular league is a football league with a 10-week, 10-game season accompanied by playoff games and the USFL championship. The league started its inaugural season in late April 2022. All of the league’s regular season games are being played at Protective Stadium and Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. 

The league has eight teams: the Birmingham Stallions, Houston Gamblers, Michigan Panthers, New Jersey Generals, New Orleans Breakers, Pittsburgh Maulers, Philadelphia Stars and Tampa Bay Bandits. 

At this time of year, football is usually on hiatus. The NFL — National Football League — and college football teams take this time to rest and prepare for their seasons in the fall. The most recent televised live games the nation had been privy to have been the NFL’s Super Bowl in early February and the slew of college bowl games that occur before that in January. 

Now we have a football league that fills in the summer gap that provides an opportunity for football fans to watch the sport at a different time. The USFL season kicked off April 16 and featured the New Jersey Generals taking on the Birmingham Stallions at Protective Stadium.

This is technically a start in the spring, but the USFL season gains traction in the summer months of May and June. The championship is being played July 3 of this year. 

At this point in time, Week Seven has just wrapped up and the league moves forward into Week Eight with the New Jersey Generals leading the North Division with a 6-1 record. In the South Division, the Birmingham Stallions stand undefeated at 7-0. 

With just three weeks left in the regular season, it’s crunch time for the teams that aren’t doing so hot at the moment. The USFL takes the top two teams in each division with the best record and has them compete in a playoff game in order to earn a spot in the championship. This means that the first- and second-place teams in the North and South divisions will compete in a playoff game for the right to play in the championship.

This differs from the NFL, which gives teams with the best record behind the division winners a wild-card spot. This gives teams a chance to play in playoff games and potentially the Super Bowl, even if they don’t win the division.

Meanwhile, the USFL has proven to be different from the NFL in the case of how it organizes playoff and championship opportunities. Even football itself is played a little differently in this respective league.

Many of the USFL’s game rules differ from that of the NFL, with some standouts, including two forward passes behind the line of scrimmage being allowed and the existence of three different options for an extra point — or points — after a touchdown is made.

As the weather heats up, the rules in place heat up the game as well. Even rules that involve offensive plays and extra points provide a sense of volatility for those new to the league.

With more potential for miraculous plays and phenomenal comebacks to be made, the unique angle the USFL has taken on football provides new entertainment for fans in the summer months.

Nicolas Chacon is a columnist. Contact him at nchacon@dailycal.org.

The Daily Californian

America’s Diner brings the comfort of Denny’s to guests’ homes with new line of apparel and gear SPARTANBURG, S.C., June 3, 2022 – The new Denny’s Social Stars Influenced Menu co-created by TikTok* content makers hit restaurants in February as part of the brand’s new limited-time menu options. Today, just in time for summer, Denny’s […]

USC Hospitality made changes to the meal plans offered for student dining, with the 2022-2023 Cardinal Plan allowing unlimited meal swipes at any of the three on-campus residential dining halls and a limit of two weekly swipes at the Ronald Tutor Campus Center, a court popular among students for its quick-service restaurants, such as Mexican grill Verde and smoothie bar C&G Juice. 

The Cardinal Plan, required for all freshman living in USC Housing and sophomores, juniors and seniors living in Housing Residence Halls and Suites, previously allotted 19 weekly swipes to be used at most campus dining facilities, including the RTCC, Popovich Cafe and the Law Cafe in addition to the three residential dining halls — Everybody’s Kitchen, Parkside Restaurant & Grill and USC Village Dining Hall. The unlimited dining program in place before the coronavirus pandemic began was temporarily replaced with the limited 19-swipe plan, now reversed. 

“As in pre-pandemic years, the unlimited plans support the Residential College Experience, which provide an opportunity for students to create new connections and bridge learning through conversations over a meal in the various dining halls,” USC Hospitality said in a statement to the Daily Trojan. 

In an Aug. 23 email to students ahead of the fall 2021 semester, USC Hospitality introduced the RTCC’s function as a “fourth residential dining hall.” Located near the unofficial center of campus — the Tommy Trojan statue on Trousdale Parkway — RTCC serves as a hub for students who prefer a quick meal or smoothie over a sit-down meal at one of the residential dining halls, from which students may not take away any food except for pieces of fruit. 

The meal plan modifications also include a new Cardinal Flex Plan “for students who need more flexibility,” USC Hospitality said, which will cost $3,715 a semester compared to the Cardinal Plan’s semesterly price of $3,465. Compared to the Spring 2022 Cardinal Plan price of $3,315, the new plans are a hike of $400 and $150, respectively. The Flex plan includes 50 meal swipes per semester to be used for special meal combos at Seeds Marketplace, The Kitchen, Verde and Burger Crush on top of unlimited admission to the three dining halls. The Gold Plan, which includes 500 Dining Dollars that can be used on any items sold at all USC Hospitality retail venues, was brought back for the coming school year. 

The reintroduction of unlimited swipes under the Cardinal Plan elicited some uncertainty from meal swipe donation groups such as Meaningful Meals and Trojans Give Back, which recently incorporated a Dining Dollar donation mechanism into the USC Mobile Order app. In the past year, the organizations collected weekly donations from students with unused meal swipes that would otherwise become null and void when the 19-swipe count was reset. Meal swipes were then used to buy transportable meals and snacks to donate to students in need and residents of the surrounding South Central community. 

Founder of Trojans Give Back and Undergraduate Student Government senator Yoav Gillath said the change puts into question the organization’s ability to conduct its operations, as it relies on meals and snacks from campus quick-service restaurants, including the RTCC. 

“We’re hoping to be able to get some sort of swipe donation mechanism going,” said Gillath, a rising sophomore majoring in political economy. “That’s gonna have to probably be more through institutional means now that USC is kind of taking away our ability to do it on our own. But I am optimistic — I think there is an appetite for this.”

Preston Doll, a rising sophomore majoring in business administration and a member of Meaningful Meals, said he found the timing of the meal plan update during the summer and without any official communication to students “very cheeky.” Though he said he doesn’t want to overthink the University’s motive for the change, it is “confusing” to him, and he said he’s somewhat concerned about dining hall capacity with the unlimited swipes program.

“We only have three dining halls, and they’re always almost full,” Doll said. “Cafes are hardly ever occupied to the same capacity. So I can’t imagine how much more traffic that would be for the dining halls if students with that meal plan are being limited to two swipes [at the RTCC] per week.”

The new basic Cardinal Plan may pose inconveniences and impracticality for students who enjoyed the flexibility of the 2021-2022 meal plans, said Jacob Young, a member of Meaningful Meals and a rising sophomore majoring in political science and political economy. 

“I’m pretty disappointed because you’re just so significantly limited to where you can eat now. And let’s say you want to study and just grab a burrito from Verde and take it back to your office, that’s no longer an option — you have to go to the dining hall and wait in the lines and those places are going to be a lot more crowded now … because it’s not spread out over the campus,” Young said. “It just makes the whole meal process a lot more difficult.”

The post University changes Cardinal meal plan appeared first on Daily Trojan.

After a Change.org petition, BU’s Board of Trustees will review a proposal to divest from civilian firearms industry

ASUU has proposed a joint resolution in support of the Asian members of the University of Utah community because of the increase of Anti-Asian hate and violence during the pandemic.

The resolution includes recommendations for an Asian Student Resource Center on campus, adding a section on Asian-American history to current American history courses and an Anti-Asian Hate and Bias Taskforce to be established under the Anti-Racism Committee.

In 2021, anti-Asian hate crimes increased by 339% across the United States. This increase was significantly higher than in 2020 which saw a 124% increase compared to 2019.

The resolution passed the Assembly and Senate unanimously. 

Serena Aeschilman, ASUU senator for the college of engineering for the 2021-2022 academic year and senate sponsor of the resolution, said these resources are needed for Asian students because many don’t see them as people of color.

“By having that resource, it might bring more awareness to show that we’re also a minority and there should be a resource for us,” Aeschilman said. 

In the proposal for an Asian Student Resource Center on campus, the resolution recommends full-time staff members and a physical location to “provide a physical, emotional and mental safe space for Asian students.”

Mike Park, a recent University of Utah graduate who has been involved in activism in the Asian-American community, said he was approached last fall to help with the resolution by Tiffany Chan, former ASUU vice president of university relations.

Park said he saw this resolution as an important opportunity to implement systematic change at an institution that is the flagship higher education institution in the state.

“So if this institution can do it, then I feel like it would have a really widespread kind of rippling effect throughout the state or the country or you know, that’s the hope at least,” Park said.  

They’ll be contacting the Black Cultural Center and American Indian Resource Center to help the process of getting an Asian Student Resource Center. 

“We want to get as much help and support from them before we go to admin because quite frankly, more often than not, admin are pretty skeptical when it comes to big proposals like this, especially when we are requesting a physical space for this resource center,” Chan said. 

While the resolution has passed through ASUU, this doesn’t mean the school administration will implement the recommendations. Aeschilman explained the resolution just shows ASUU supports the recommendations and it’s something supported by the students. 

After the resolution passes, it will be sent to the Office of the President and the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and these offices will have 60 days to provide a written response. 

The resolution also recommends an Asian student advisory council be created for representation at the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion meetings.

At the U, Asian-identifying undergraduate students make up the third-largest demographic group and the second-largest group among faculty members.

“The Asian community at this school really is quite large,” Park said. “The fact that we don’t have something that’s, you know, representative or supporting this community to us was very concerning.”

carlene.coombs@dailyutahchronicle.com

@chronicle_car

The post ASUU Unanimously Passes Resolution to Support Asian Students appeared first on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

America’s Diner brings the comfort of Denny’s to guests’ homes with new line of apparel and gear

SPARTANBURG, S.C., June 3, 2022 – The new Denny’s Social Stars Influenced Menu co-created by TikTok* content makers hit restaurants in February as part of the brand’s new limited-time menu options. Today, just in time for summer, Denny’s is launching DinerDrip.com, an online merch store offering fun and unique gear, accessories and more specifically designed for fans of the iconic brand.

For the first time, America’s Diner is making it easier than ever for guests to showcase their brand love whenever and wherever they want with items that are available exclusively from Denny’s. Inspired by America’s Diner’s famous coffee and the smooth “drip” of the brand’s pancake syrup, the branded merch evokes the same warm and welcoming feelings guests feel walking into their local restaurant.

“We love to feed people – bodies, minds and souls and launching a new merch store is another way for us to feed the love that our guests have for the Denny’s brand,” said Denny’s Chief Brand Officer John Dillon. “The first four collections celebrate the food and heritage that makes us America’s Diner and represent a range of ages, backgrounds and lifestyles that appeal to the diversity of our guests tastes – on and off the menu.”

Whether guests are treating themselves to new gear for summer outings or gifting dad a Father’s Day present, DinerDrip.com has something for everyone. Denny’s debuted 15 new items across four unique collections including:

• Social Stars: This limited-edition series is inspired by the brand’s new Social Stars Influenced Menu items and includes a first-of-its kind rolling pin that imprints the Denny’s logo onto baked creations, a Denny’s Clearly Very Fruity transparent umbrella and Jala-Bac Burger collectible lapel pins.

• Fluff: A comfy collection inspired by Denny’s fluffy pancakes that includes “Live Laugh Fluff” sweatshirts, joggers and a fluffy bucket hat.

• Since 1953: Steeped in heritage, this collection combines fashion favorites – t-shirts, rope hats and the classic denim trucker jacket – with retro Denny’s logos and imagery with a modern twist.

• The Classics: Created for those who love timeless fashion, this collection features seasonless, everyday wearables and fashion items.

Denny’s new merch collections are available while supplies last and can be found at DinerDrip.com and Dennys.com. The new merch store will feature limited-edition merchandise that will be updated with new collections throughout the year. Purchases from DinerDrip.com will support the brand’s Hungry for Education Scholarship to help to fight childhood hunger and promote education for elementary, high school and college students across the country.

*TikTok stars include Jenny Solares (@es_jenny_solares), The EnkyBoys (@EnkyBoys),  Jonathan Chavez (@PaqJonathan69), Elise Osafo (@ElTheEgg), Elliott Norris (@CallMeBelly) and Matt Taylor (@Mattheperson).

About Denny’s Corp
Denny’s Corporation is the franchisor and operator of one of America’s largest franchised full-service restaurant chains, based on the number of restaurants. As of March 30, 2022, Denny’s had 1,643 franchised, licensed, and company restaurants around the world including 153 restaurants in Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Philippines, New Zealand, Honduras, the United Arab Emirates, Costa Rica, Guam, Guatemala, El Salvador, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom. For further information on Denny’s, including news releases, please visit the Denny’s website at www.dennys.com or the brand’s social channel via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn or YouTube.

Media Contact
Sara Soto
Brand Communications Specialist
O: 682.348.5018
ssoto@dennys.com