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Reusable Grocery Bag System Comes to PV

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It was about more than just de-cluttering.

Their frustration with drawers, closets and shelves crammed with single-use plastic bags led a Southern California couple, Farzan Dehmoubed and Jennifer Duvall, to create a start-up business in April 2017: the Lotus Trolley Bag.

An innovative system of four color-coded bags that fold out like an accordion on the shopping cart allows consumers to easily sort and pack groceries in half the time.

And they have also added another item to production, the Lotus Produce Bags, to replace plastic in the produce section.

“Our business was born out of pure frustration, with reports that there will soon be more plastic than fish in our world’s oceans,” Duvall recalled. “I could go on with all the disheartening facts I’ve learned while entering this space. I knew plastic pollution was bad, but I really had no idea the extent, magnitude and damage until I entered into this business.”

Their business plan emerged after California became the first state to ban single-use plastic bags in 2016 and retailers started selling reusable plastic bags for 10 cents at the checkout counters, but still stocked plastic bags in produce sections.

“We were both happy when the plastic bag ban came into effect, but what we found was that with a lot of families, it didn’t reduce waste,” she said. “We were just accumulating thicker, more cumbersome plastic bags or cheap reusable bags that quickly grow mold and bacteria.”

Duvall, a former high school math teacher, and Dehmoubed, who had run a marketing company, began to research the scourge of plastic bags.

Their research revealed that the average American family uses 1,500 plastic bags per year for about 12 minutes each.

Working as a team, they experimented with hundreds of bags from all over the world before coming up with a design that met their needs.

Duvall and Dehmoubed, both 40, live and work in Carlsbad, a beach community near San Diego.

“We want to be an agent of positive change,” Dehmoubed said. “Showing consumers that one small change can result in massive impacts on plastic pollution. We also hope our story motivates others to take the plunge and start their own business. All you need is an idea or a problem to solve. If you have passion and drive, anything is possible. It’s the best decision you will ever make.”

Since launching in April 2017, Lotus Trolley Bag has eliminated 116 million single-use plastic bags from distribution, Dehmoubed noted.

The success of their startup has come as a pleasant surprise for the couple.

“We weren’t expecting the Lotus Trolley Bag endeavor to become a full-time job,” Duvall said. “We started the company as a small, part-time project. We expected our first shipment in 2017 to sell out in three months; we ran out of 5,000 sets in just two weeks!”

At the beginning of July in Prescott Valley, Lotus Trolley Bag products became available at the Safeway store on East Highway 69, just in time for national Plastic Free July, a growing movement as consumers become more aware of the impact that plastic is having on land and sea.

Since a merger in January 2015, Albertsons Companies LLC has owned Safeway.

“Our launch into Albertsons and Safeway will offer customers an easier and more organized solution to wasteful plastics,” Dehmoubed said. “Produce bags are usually ignored, but more retailers are seeing the value to the environment and their bottom line by investing in reusable, washable and eco-friendly produce bags.”

Each Lotus Trolley bag is made from 120gsm non-woven fabric, with reinforced handles and mesh bottoms.

The set of four bags, including the insulated bag, typically retail for $34.99, discounted to $29.99 in stores.

Lotus Trolley products are being sold on racks next to the checkout line, which show how the bags spread out in the cart and how they help pack and organize a shopper’s groceries.

Each bag also has a specific purpose – one is a cooler bag for frozen items and meats, another has wine and egg pockets to go along with canned goods, and the other two are for fruits and vegetables.

The Lotus Trolley Bag system weighs 2 pounds and can be carried in an over-the-shoulder bag reminiscent of a yoga mat bag, a concept thought up by Duvall, who is a yoga enthusiast.

“Neither of us has a design background, but we worked as a team to design both the bags and system,” said Dehmoubed, who was born in Iran, grew up in Canada and moved to California 10 years ago. “Jen definitely has an eye for style and fashion, which is an important component because we also want our customers to feel and look good with our bags. She created the color schemes and logo, which are critical to our branding.”

Duvall also came up with the “Lotus” part of the company name, because the bags unfold like a lotus blossom.

Products are manufactured in a family-operated factory in China.

“In our Carlsbad office, we have a staff of 12 employees and are growing rapidly,” Dehmoubed said. “We look to bring on investors soon to help us scale and expand rapidly to make the biggest impact.”

In a bit of happy synchronicity, both Dehmoubed and Duvall came to Southern California in search of sun and surf.

“Coincidentally, we both moved to San Diego separately within just months of each other,” he said. “We met and fell in love playing beach volleyball. We’ve been married for four years and are so grateful for being so close to our beautiful ocean.”

Dehmoubed, who is a surfer, said they are “both passionate about helping our oceans and eliminating plastic waste.”

They decided to donate to the non-profit 1% For the Planet, which they selected because of the organization’s global reach and partnerships with other causes that are in line with the couple’s mission and values. Through the non-profit’s umbrella, 1% of all Lotus Trolley Bag sales are currently distributed to Plastic Pollution Coalition and the Surfrider Foundation.

Response to Plastic Free July has been excellent, Dehmoubed observed in mid-July. “It’s a great time to bring awareness to this very important issue that affects every person on the planet. We’ve had several local TV stations (Denver and Boise) feature us as part of Plastic Free July story packages. It’s been very exciting, and we love being part of a movement for change.”

To come up with the Lotus Trolley Bag concept, the couple studied their own habits and those of other shoppers going through checkout lines.

Currently, Lotus Trolley and Produce Bags are in more than 2,500 stores across the county,

“We are in all 50 states,” Dehmoubed noted. “We are being distributed nationally by Albertsons, and Kroger will be distributing nationally in the coming months, along with several dozen smaller retail grocers. We are also expanding our reusable Lotus Produce Bags rapidly, and it’s been exciting to see the amazing response from our customers in store and online.”

Both products have become bestsellers on Amazon and an Amazon Choice product. The company is also expanding beyond the U.S., and has already launched in Canada, Mexico and Australia. QCBN

 

By Betsey Bruner, QCBN

Advocate Shares Insight Into the Equal Rights Amendment

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The advent of a new legislative session in Phoenix heralds another run by Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) advocates in placing the long-stymied legislation before lawmakers.

ERA Task Force AZ’s Dianne Post, J.D., rallied supporters Dec. 4 at the Prescott Public Library. The Prescott American Association of University Women (AAUW) hosted the session, which was attended by the public and organizations including the League of Women Voters. Quad Cities Business News caught up with Post, who shared insights about the ERA.

QCBN: When and how did you first become aware of the ERA?

Post: When: I can’t recall exactly when, but it was when I was in college; probably 1968-1969. How: by my reading and study of women’s history. We didn’t have women’s history classes then, so one had to go to a woman’s bookstore or library and find the books.

QCBN: What was it that struck a chord with you?

Post: The truth. I knew I had been discriminated against from the day I started going to school at six. I knew it was not fair or right. I had worked on many other causes prior to going to college. But in college, I thought: the closest cause to me is women’s rights.

QCBN: How has your involvement evolved over time?

Post: At 20, I was a “worker bee” in a group. Now, I am 71 and an attorney so I have a different set of skills that I can put to use.

QCBN: What does passage of the ERA mean to you?

Post: It brings to fruition the hopes and dreams and work of millions of women, since the 1700s, when Abigail Adams told John Adams that, when writing the Constitution, not to forget the women. He did. And we have been fighting to correct that mistake ever since. We must – and we will – carry on that struggle through to the end.

QCBN: Why should people support the ERA?

Post: More than 80 percent of American people from all parties, cultural groups and ages support the ERA because it is the right, just and moral thing to do. It will protect women and men, girls and boys, to ensure that everyone is able to be treated with fairness and have opportunity in the U.S., as the American dream says we should. It will fulfill our long-betrayed promise of equality to all.    

QCBN: How does the support of men add value and/or weight to the fight for equal rights for women? Why should men care?

Post: The ERA protects men, too. It says no discrimination on account of sex [and] that includes men. In the past, men were [deemed] guilty of women’s crimes because women could not be held liable. Men had to pay women’s debts because women could have or hold no money. This kind of infantilism was detrimental to women and burdensome to men. We have moved a long way from that with hundreds of years of struggle, but we are not done without the ERA. When men and women have [legally] equal relationships, both prosper as they shed myths and shibboleths (outmoded customs), burdens and penalties, and, in fact, can be the persons they are. That’s called freedom.

QCBN: Why should Arizona be the 38th state to ratify?

Post:  Arizona was once a beacon for women’s rights. Women could vote in Arizona in 1912, and Rachael Berry, from Apache County, was the first woman legislator elected in Arizona in 1914, before women in the rest of the country could even vote. Isabel Greenway was Arizona’s first congresswoman and only representative from 1933-1935. Arizona holds the record for the most women governors (four, three in a row) and having women hold all state offices at the same time (1998).

The first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court came from Arizona. In fact, Sandra Day O’Connor introduced the ERA in the Arizona House. A ratification resolution has been introduced in the Arizona House or Senate, or both, every year since before 1982. Yet, it has not been heard.

The ERA has enjoyed massive public support for decades. Yet, in Arizona, a state with historic high levels of women in the state legislature, several women governors and at one time, five top state offices held by women, it can’t even get a hearing. Arizona needs to reclaim its place in the march toward equality by ratifying the ERA today and moving toward that day that all discrimination will end.

QCBN: What is the game plan now to advance the cause?

Post: The Republican-dominated Senate and House need to hear the bill in committee and pass it there and on the floor. We ask everyone to contact their state senator and two state representatives and ask them to co-sponsor, support and vote for the ERA. We especially ask men who care about their wives, mothers, sisters and daughters to take up this fight. 

QCBN: What kind of support is needed and how can people get involved?

Post: Besides speaking to your state legislators, get active in your local legislative districts, and county and state parties. Ask them to pass a resolution in favor of the ERA and send it to your elected representatives. Write letters and opinion pieces to the editor of your local newspaper. Call in to local talk shows, and urge your neighbors to support it. Get educated about the ERA and then spread that education to your church, your neighborhood and your card club. QCBN

By Sue Marceau, QCBN

For more information, email
postdlpost@aol.com . 

Local Youth Breaking Poverty Cycle Through Yuda Bands

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Students at Chino Valley High School are paying for the education of a Guatemalan student by selling Yuda Band bracelets at their school.

Their motto: Wear a band, change a life.

The bands, made of leather and coconut, are named Yuda after the Spanish word Ayuda, which means help.

“You pick a student to sponsor, ours is named Maxwell,” said Ashley McGuffey, sophomore class president.

By selling a certain number of the bands, the young person’s education can be funded for the year.

Ashley said most American students hardly think twice about going to school.

“You never think about in other places they don’t have this privilege,” she said.

“And it is an opportunity to do something so important for another. It is a unique experience. You are the reason this kid is getting an education.”

Most Guatemalans have only three years of education. They remain in the poverty cycle by working in the fields making only enough money to survive.

The non-profit project is run locally by the Chino Valley Student Council, but the program is available nationwide.

The bands are handmade by Guatemalan artisans. They sell for $7; $4 goes to the student.

 

This is our second year and we plan to do it for years to come,” Ashley said.

The bands are sold on campus during lunchtime and other breaks and they sell quite well. It will take 300 sales to pay for a year of Maxwell’s education, and Ashley says they expect to reach that goal this year.

“We got 200 bands to sell last year, then we ordered 200 more,” she said. “At some point in the process you get to Skype with your student. You get to actually talk to him.”

Brent Whiting of Utah who founded the Yuda Band project in 2009 during a service trip to Guatemala said one of the best things about selling the band is that “youth is helping youth and they are seeing they have the power to affect lives in a positive way.”

He said young people love the bracelets and the fact that buying one will make a difference.

“It is unbelievable how such a small act can create such an impact in someone else’s life,” said Felicity Stickrod, a Chino Valley High School senior.

For more about the project, visit YudaBands.org. QCBN

By Patty McCormac, QCBN

 

 

Scholarships Helping to Ease Teacher Shortage

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A local foundation is taking steps to improve the teacher shortage in Yavapai County by increasing its pledge to support qualified scholarship applicants.

Yavapai County residents interested in pursuing an education degree now can apply for one of several $2,000 or more scholarships for the coming academic year.

Grants are available from the Gardner Family Teacher Scholarships (GiFTS), (formerly known as the Education Scholarship Endowment-Yavapai County (ESEYC).

Written applications must be filed no later than Friday, March 5.

Applications are available online at ycesa.com/gardner-teacher-scholarship/ or by contacting Nick Borough at 928-442-5139.

Applicants must be Yavapai County residents who have graduated from an accredited high school in the county, have no less than a 3.0 high school or college/university grade point average, and be committed to teaching in any of grades K-12, preferably in Yavapai County.   Financial need will be considered.

In announcing scholarship availability, GiFTS Board President Robert St. Clair said, “Arizona is facing a crisis in having enough teachers to fill classrooms. That’s why we have increased the minimum amount we give to help teachers. It is the 18th year we have offered financial support to students who have been accepted in teacher education programs. Our organization has contributed almost $265,000 to help aspiring teachers. So far, over the years, we have given scholarships to 149 persons.”

In addition, GiFTS will administer a $1,500 or more scholarship funded by the Prescott Sunrise Lions Club. It is intended for a prospective teacher who meets at least one of these

criteria: has a visual or auditory disability; or will teach students who have visual, auditory or physical disabilities.

Still another category is offered for displaced teachers who are seeking additional discipline certification or endorsement in order to sustain their teaching employment. Such applicants must provide a written statement that documents additional education coursework is necessary in order for them to keep a job.

Recipients will be announced at a 3:30 p.m. reception on Friday, April 27. The same recipients also will be recognized later that day at 5 p.m. during the annual Yavapai County Teacher of the Year Awards Banquet at the Prescott Resort.

GiFTS (ESEYC) is a non-profit organization administered by a volunteer board of directors representative of various county communities. It was founded by the late Gladys Gardner, a former teacher who later became an Arizona legislator and, ultimately, Yavapai County supervisor. She died June 16, 2014, but bequeathed a substantial amount of her estate as a permanent endowment to support aspiring teachers from Yavapai County. QCBN

 

By Ray Newton, QCBN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aviation Leader Emphasizing Communication Skills, Attitude, Work Ethic

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Real success in the business and professional world requires far more than just academic and technical skills. That is the message from senior vice president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Katie Pribyl. She addressed Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University graduates during their Dec. 16 commencement.

“One really important thing that you probably aren’t expecting to hear – but it is really important: Have the discipline to put your dang phone down – and listen and think,” she told the more than 200 students graduating from the world’s largest accredited university that specializes in aviation and aerospace.

She explained it was far more important to look people in the eye and listen to their messages than it was to watch a screen. “There’s a message we send when we look at people front and center – and build a relationship that has genuine caring, commitment and attentiveness. Think more about how to make people front and center.”

Pribyl, an executive with the nation’s largest private aviation association, emphasized that career success requires far more than specialized professional or occupational abilities.

“Your technical and professional skills may get your foot in the door, but your people skills are what will blow those doors wide open. Your work ethic, your attitude, your communication skills, your interpersonal skills and a positive attitude will make problem-solving, delegating, motivating and teambuilding so much easier for you,” she said.

Pribyl, herself a graduate from ERAU in 2000, continued, “You have to have the heart to share appreciation for multiple opportunities, and most important, for understanding the need for resourcefulness and resilience to adapt to an ever-changing society. These are soft skills that will be crucial to your career success.”

Acknowledging that intellectual and academic skills graduates gain at a university are important, Pribyl nevertheless emphasized that personal and human relationship skills are the most challenging to mature. Those kinds of skills are linked to personal character, and “…they take a conscious commitment to ongoing practice and self-development to develop,” she said.  Pribyl credits those skills with landing her a job where she now travels the world meeting with aviation industry top leaders, writing and working with nationally and international media, and being responsible for the “You Can Fly” program and the Air Safety Institute.

The Montana native grew up on a ranch and graduated from a high school class of 15 students. During her years at ERAU, Pribyl was a member of the Golden Eagles Flight Team and was on the 1999 NIFA National Championship Team.

After graduating, she became a commercial airline pilot at age 21, flying for Canadair Regional Jet until the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, when airlines across the nation went through difficult times.

She then worked briefly for General Aviation Manufacturers Association until she accepted a position at AOPA.

Following Pribyl’s address, ERAU Chancellor Frank Ayers conferred degrees upon more than 200 students from four colleges: Aviation, Arts and Sciences, Engineering and Security, and Intelligence. Also during the ceremonies, the Prescott campus announced its first doctorate degree, earned by ERAU Assistant Professor Timothy Sestak. QCBN

 

By Ray Newton, QCBN

Citizens’ Groups Recommending Major Tax Hike for Education

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More than a dozen citizens, including several students from the Quad Cities area, echo strongly a citizens’ group recommendation that a major tax hike is needed to offset the pending fiscal crisis in Arizona schools – pre-K through 12.

They were among the more than 100 attendees at the Arizona Town Hall in Mesa, Nov. 12-15.

Consensus, following more than three days of discussion, was that Governor Doug Ducey and the Arizona legislature must increase state funding for schools.

Prior to formulating recommendations about improving the financial base for Arizona schools, participants heard national experts and studied reports about the need to increase funding to schools to support academic proficiency in reading, writing, math, science, technology, arts and humanities. Also noted was the need to increase teacher salaries.

In 2016, a poll taken in Arizona indicated the majority of those sampled believed the state needs to spend more money on education. Of particular note was that the national average is $12,774 for per pupil spending. Arizona spends only $8,786, and ranks 48th in the nation.

Hearing these and other statistics that showed Arizona to be among the bottom tier of states for education funding, especially in non-metropolitan areas, panelists from throughout the state overwhelmingly agreed that Arizona teachers are grossly underpaid when compared to other states.

Participants also agreed that current funding formulas are unfair and inadequate, especially the differences that exist between public schools and charter schools. “In our district, funds are needed just to meet the basic needs that the state still is not adequately funding,” said Prescott Unified School District Superintendent Joe Howard.

He noted some of the actions proposed and endorsed by Arizona Town Hall participants, specifically $1.3 billion in one-time new expenditures that would increase teacher wages, develop and implement a preschool program and build and maintain schools.

Howard emphasized that participants also recommended several options by which

money could be found to support such large increases. Among those were raising the sales tax under Prop 301 from 0.6 percent to at least one percent. Also mentioned were a statewide property tax and adding a sales tax for personal and professional services. Also suggested was supporting an excise tax on energy, tourism and entertainment.

“I learned so much about how the legislative process works in funding education, said Jackson Rauch, a senior Prescott High School student council member. “I also learned that we as students need to begin voicing our opinions if we expect to solve the crisis in education financing in Arizona. We need to be ‘change agents.” QCBN

 By Ray Newton, QCBN

Photo captions:

Prescott residents were among those attending the Arizona Town Hall to deliberate the financial crisis facing Arizona’s education system. Participants included (l to r) PUSD Superintendent Joe Howard, PUSD consultant Rosemary Agneessens, Prescott High School senior Casey Como, Prescott resident Sonya Tenney, Arizona Town Hall President Tara Jackson, PHS senior Cameryn McMahon, Abia Judd Elementary School Principal Clark Tenney, PHS senior Jonah Howard, PHS senior Jason Howard and PHS senior Jackson Rauch.

Photo by Ray Newton

 

 

Multi-Million Residence Hall Under Construction at ERAU

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Another $20 million construction project is underway at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott. It is the third multi-million dollar building to go up since 2014.

This time, it is a residence hall.

Chancellor Frank Ayers told QCBN, “Embry-Riddle’s commitment to its students, faculty, staff and the community has included more than $70 million in construction the last three years. That includes this new residence hall. Only last month, we dedicated the just-completed STEM Center. Our combination of STEM degrees that lead to prestigious and high-paying careers resonates with our students and their parents. The care and concern of ERAU is noticed by all of them. We are proud, too, of the amazing partnership between the City of Prescott and our national university.”

The new building is a 70,800-square-foot, three-story residence hall that will accommodate 280 students in 48 apartments and suites. “Given that just this fall, our enrollment increased about nine percent, we’re approaching 2,700 students,” said Ayers. “It’s worth noting that our student enrollment has gone up by more than 1,000 students in just the past five years.”

ERAU Chief Business Officer David Hall said, “We found it absolutely necessary to build another residence hall to accommodate demand from students wanting to live on campus. This is a factor of our recent enrollment growth.”

The new structure will be visible from Willow Creek Road on the southwest edge of the campus.

Site preparation began two weeks ago under the supervision of Earth Resources Corporation, a company based in Dewey, which will oversee the site preparation and install the infrastructure – sewer, water, gas and electric.

The architectural firm is PQH, which has its headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida. It has designed projects throughout the southeast and across the nation.

Sundt Construction, with the main office in Tempe, and others in Tucson and California, is the general contractor. It is the same company that built the $22.5 million STEM Education Center and Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium.

Kelley/Wise, a firm headquartered in Prescott is serving as the civil engineer.

Construction is to be complete by mid-August, before the fall semester begins, Hall said.

 

Facilities Will Be Contemporary

Unlike the old-fashioned college dormitories of a couple of generations ago, residence halls are designed for comfortable adult living with some special features.

Among them are these:

  • Fitness center
  • Student study lounge
  • Student study rooms
  • Game room
  • Casual lounge area

The residence areas will be in configurations of 27 semi-suites for four people on both the second and third floors, four single units on the second and third floors, 13 semi-suites of four on the first floor; two single units on the first floor; and two bedroom apartments on the first floor.

The two-bedroom semi-suites will have small kitchenettes with a sink, small refrigerator and microwave oven.

The two apartments will be used by residence hall directors. Six of the single units will be occupied by residence assistants.

The external appearance of the new structure will be similar to the residence hall just opened last year. However, less brick and more steel will be used for the exterior siding.

A large paved parking lot to accommodate the residents’ vehicles will be in front of the building.

Hall explained that primary occupants in the residence hall will be traditional incoming freshmen. Even so, he said, the continuing enrollment increases will make it likely that freshmen will also live in other campus residence halls.

Construction costs are paid for through bond issues, which are intended for capital construction. Ultimately, the actual cost is paid for through student occupants of the residence hall. That includes depreciation and debt service as well as maintenance, utilities and insurance. QCBN

 

By Ray Newton, QCBN

Photo captions:

#1        This architect’s rendering is a of the $20 million residence hall currently under construction at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. It is scheduled to be completed and open for occupancy in mid-August 2018.

Courtesy photo

 

ERAU Boasting Record Enrollment, Major Construction Projects, Nobel Prize Winning Research

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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s (ERAU) Prescott campus has never been more upward bound, according to President Barry Butler. He reported on the “State of the University” when he visited campus in early October.

Butler, speaking before the ERAU-Prescott Board of Visitors and several administrative officials, emphasized that the university has never been in better shape – academically, financially and reputationally.

Named president in March 2017, Butler is the sixth person to lead ERAU’s multiple campuses. He holds degrees in aeronautical-astronautical and mechanical engineering. Butler emphasized ERAU’s international reputation as a leading science, technology, engineering and mathematics university. “This institution is the unquestioned higher education leader in aerospace education and select areas of research,” he said.

Butler, whose office is on the Daytona Beach campus of ERAU, praised Chancellor Frank Ayers and his administration and faculty at the Prescott campus for leading the way in identifying and recruiting top students.

It was noted that the Prescott campus enrollment was approaching 2,700 when the fall term began in August. That is about an eight percent increase over last year, and represents a growth of more than 1,000 students since 2012.

Overall, counting the cumulative enrollment at the Prescott, Daytona Beach and Worldwide campuses (which are scattered across 33 states and nine countries), current global enrollment numbers 31,000 students.

Earlier, Chancellor Ayers told the same group that financially, the Prescott campus was rock solid in its budget.

Ayers pointed out that in just three years, more than $70 million had been committed to new construction.

Using a PowerPoint presentation, Ayers highlighted these points:

  • The university had received a $700,000 grant to conduct research and develop a program devoted to school security at all levels.
  • Enrollment is expected to increase at the same or higher growth rates in the future.
  • Construction has begun on a $20 million residence hall to meet housing needs of the growing student body.
  • 15 new faculty members have been hired to sustain the university goal of having only 23 or 24 students in a class.
  • Job placement rate for graduating students is at a record high of about 95 percent.
  • The Department of Business is soon to be elevated to a College of Business.

ERAU Students, Faculty Among Those Involved in 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics Research

Ayers made a special point of recognizing faculty and students who were among scientists and researchers who contributed to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory’s collaborative research.

He mentioned in particular two students, Marek Szczepanczyk and Kiranjyot Jasmine Gill, who were student co-authors of the paper about the historic discovery.

Gill was the only undergraduate involved in the LIGO research. She also was the youngest. She is a physics and particle physics major who plans to become an astronaut. She will receive her degree from ERAU. Currently, she is being recruited by universities around the world to enroll in their graduate programs.

Ayers said that Gill has been called “…the best student scientist in the world…” by world experts, including the three Nobel Prize in Physics winners who were recently announced.

 

ERAU Leadership Predicts Continued Leadership in Higher Education

Butler and Ayers concluded their State of the University comments by discussing future strategic themes for the institution.

Specifically, they cited those programs and curricula where the university will excel. Among them were those emphasizing aerospace, aeronautics, aviation, cybersecurity and intelligence, engineering, science, business, unmanned aerial systems, aviation safety and other related disciplines.

Ayers pointed out that 80 regional, national and international companies, corporations and governmental agencies had been on campus for a job fair.

“These recruiters are from some of the biggest organizations in the world – Microsoft, Amazon, Intel – and of course, major industries directly involved in aviation and aerospace. They want our students,” Ayers said. QCBN

By Ray Newton, QCBN

Photo by Ray Newton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ERAU Student Selected to Golf in World University Games

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Being selected as one of only two American golfers for the second largest amateur athletic event – The World University Games (WUG) – was “…the biggest honor I’ve ever received,” said Matt Andrews, a junior at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Prescott.

Andrews, from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and his teammate, Dylan Rottner from Fort Worth, Texas, were picked from among thousands of college and university golfers across the country to represent the United States at the WUG in Taipei, China in late August.

“All of us at the university are so proud of him and excited that he had this opportunity to represent himself, Embry-Riddle and his country at this world competition – second only to the Olympics,” said Andrews’ mentor, ERAU head golf coach Kim Haddow.

More than 10,000 athletes representing 170 University Sports Federations throughout the world had students at the games. About 450 American athletes competed in more than 20 events.

Andrews is a junior mechanical engineering student. He was named the Cleveland Golf/Srixon All American Scholar of the year. He also was named an NAIA All Scholar Athlete because of his academic achievements as well as being named the Cal Pac Conference golf champion for the second consecutive year.

Haddow says Andrews has been a leader both academically and athletically at ERAU since his freshman year and a role model for both the men’s and women’s golf team. QCBN

 

By Ray Newton, QCBN

Photo caption:

#1-4     ERAU head golf coach Kim Haddow calls Matt Andrews a leader as an athlete and student.

Photo by Ray Newton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ERAU Book Drive Rebuilding Library Destroyed by ISIS

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It is not unusual for honor organizations to have charitable projects. But a project that is 7,300 miles and two continents away?

The Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University chapter of the National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi is conducting a book drive to help rebuild a once spacious and internationally renowned central university library that was destroyed by ISIS terrorists in June 2014.

To date, hundreds of books have been collected and will be sorted and sent to Mosul, Iraq by the ERAU honor society.

For example, the Prescott Habitat for Humanity ReStore contributed hundreds of books, which will go overseas. “What a tremendous way for people in the Quad Cities area, through our Habitat store, to help those unfortunate victims who have had their educational opportunities taken away,” said ReStore Manager Patrick Holt.

Another major contributor was Prescott Valley resident Marilyn Wall. She is the wife of the late Douglas J. Wall, a former ERAU board member and the attorney who negotiated the sale of the Prescott campus in 1977 to Jack R. Hunt, who was president of the Dayton Beach, Florida, ERAU campus. Wall also was later the president of the Arizona Board of Regents, the governing body for the three state universities.

“I and members of my family, who so believe in education, are honored to be a part of something an organization at ERAU is doing to benefit those who lost their educational resources.”

She contributed dozens of books from their professional and personal library.

Books in Any Language, Genre Accepted

One of the drive organizers, James Gulliksen, a graduating ERAU senior with a degree in Global Security and Intelligence Studies, says the United Nations considers the sacking of the vast Mosul facilities to be “…one of the most devastating acts of destruction of a library collection in human history.”

Thus, the ERAU Honors Students Association is collecting books of any language and any genre to send.

Those who would like to donate books can take them to three drop-off locations at ERAU: the ground floor under the stairs of Hazy Library, the Student Union front door area or the first floor of the Academic Complex near the center of campus.

Large donations of books that need to be picked up can contact Gulliksen at gullksj@my.erau.edu to make such arrangements.

Assisting with the charitable project is the ERAU Honors Student Association, coordinated by Dr. Anne Boettcher, director of the Undergraduate Research Institute and Honors Program. Boettcher also is president of the local Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society chapter.

Financial contributions to help cover costs of shipping the books to Iraq may contact Dr. Jonathan Gallimore at gallimoj@erau.edu or 928-77-3941.

The ERAU chapter of Phi Kappa Phi belongs to the nation’s oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor society. It was installed last November following a rigorous review of the university academic program to ascertain that it met and exceeded stringent academic standards.

Membership, by invitation only, is extended only to the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors. Top graduate students may also qualify, as well as faculty, professional staff and alumni who have attained scholarly distinction. QCBN

By Ray Newton, QCBN

Photo Captions:

Prescott Habitat for Humanity ReStore Manager Patrick Holt helped Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University students Jonathan Strang, a sophomore from San Antonio, Texas, and Chace Carlson, a senior from Snoqualmie, Washington, load hundreds of books contributed from Habitat bookshelves. The books will be sent from ERAU to Mosul, Iraq, to help restock a formerly world-class library that was destroyed in 2014 by ISIS terrorists.

Photo by Ray Newton