VMI Cadet. September 28, 1979

              VOLUME LXX Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia, September 28,1979 NUMBER 4
Cadets Participate In Ryder Cup
Golf Tournament Flag Ceremonies
Cadet Cars
I Broken Into |
Last Week
by Cadet staff
At the invitation of the Green-briar
Country Club, a volunteer
contingentof VMI first classmen
traveled to White Sulfer Springs
West Virginia to participate in
flag ceremonies opening and
closing the Ryder Cup Golf
Tournament. Cadets Tom
Gelles, Joe Hinton, Scott Hodge,
John Hirsch, John Stallings,
Dan Conn, John Lillard, John
Runyon, Mark Sobota, Jerry
Kohler, Bryan Montgomery and
Fred Winckler, were organized
by the S-5 staff to participate.
The cadets unfurled the flags of
Spain, Ireland, Great Britain
and the United States on Thurs-day
September 13th and on the
following Sunday lowered the
flags after the completion of the
tournament.
The Thursday ceremony, held
at the Greenbriar Tennis
Pavillion, featured remarks by
the Presidents of the British
and American PGA's, and the
introduction of the European
and American teams. The
European team featured
Cadets
Study Under
Research Grants
by Douglas N. Burdett
This summer two cadet
Chemistry majors, Steve An-drews
and Mark Sobota, work-ed
under research grants from
NASA and the Gwathmey
Chemical Research Fund
respectively. Steve Andrews
did ultraviolet spectra studies
and studied the valence states
of uranium in silicate glasses by
wet chemical methods. Mark
Sobota investigated the redox
equilibria of iron in glasses as
well as the interaction of iron
with cerium and chromium in
onalogous glasses.
While receiving experience in
their curriculum, they earned
more then minimum usage for
their research. Broadening
their perspectives on their cur-riculums,
the first classmen
were j t a ^ UBW - K ^ i t the
British Open winner Severiano
B a l l i s t e r o s and Peter
Dlsterhvis, while the American
team, headed by Veteran Billy
Casper, consisted of Hubert
Green, John Mahaffy, Lee
Trevino and Lee Elder, to name
a few. The Sunday ceremony
was held on the 18th hole im-mediately
after the end of the
tournament, when Casper ac-cepted
the winner's trophy on
behalf of the American team.
Both ceremonies were filmed
by ABC-TV, so the cadets were
able to put on a show for a na-tional
audience. The spectators
at the ceremonies were quite
impressed with the contingent,
and the several VMI alumnus
among them were complimen-tary.
The S-5 staff receives several
such invitations every year for
cadets to participate in
ceremonies, and for obvious
reasons is able to accept only a
few of thejm. The Ryder Cup
contingent Itself received an in-vitation
to participate in
another ceremony in Richmond
this spring. Through participa-tion
in these ceremonies, cadets
themselves contribute to
upholding the reputations of
VMI.
ASCE Beneficial
To The Civil Engineer
by Todd Fredericksen
For cadets majoring or hav-ing
interest in civil engineering,
one of the most active and
beneficial organizations to join
would be the American Society
of Civil Engineers.
The VMI chapter of the ASCE
is one of many chapters
throughout the nation which
helps promote professionalism
among engineers and increases
public appreciation for
engineering work.
As stated, the ASCE is an ac-tive
organization. Already, the
ASCE has completed a field
trip, which took place on
September 13, to the Bath Coun-ty
Virginia Pump Storage
Plant. This plant, when com-pleted
will be the largest of its
kind in the world.
All first classman engineer-ing
majors also attend civil
engineering seminar through
the ASCE, which brings in
speakers to discuss the various
areas of the engin^ring field.
Other activities include the
chapters annual concrete canoe
project. The society entered on-ly
one canoe last year but plans
to enter three this year. There is
also a spring thesis paper com-petition
that the ASCE par-ticipates
in among Virginia
schools.
Among the purposes of the
ASCE chapter at VMI, two
stand out. "One major purpose
of the ASCE is gearing cadets to
their field by giving them a
chance to look at engineering
outside of class," said Forrest
Marion, President of the
chapter. "It also gives cadets a
chance to speak and express
themselves in public."
The VMJ chaptep is especially
distinguished, receiving the
ASCE certification of commen-dation
more time (37) than any
other student chapter in the na-tion.
Last year the chapter won
an honorable mention.
§
Graduate Student
Locator Service
Provides Help
How can minority college
students planning for graduate
school tir.d the right op-portunities
for aovanced study?
^ One way is with the Minority
^Graduate Student Locater Ser-vice,
developed by Education
Testing Service (ETS) and of-fered
by the Graduate Record
Examinations Board.
Through this free service, col-lege
juniors, seniors and
graduates who are members of
racial and ethnic minorities in
the United States can make ,
, , intentions known to
graduate schools seeking such
applicants.
Last year, for example, more
than 20,000 students made use of
the Locater Service, and stu-dent
information was provided
to more than 150 graduate
schools around the country. And
it's easy for students to par-ticipate.
Students sign up by com-pleting
the registration form
contained in the GRE/MGSLS
Information Bulletin. It is the
same form used to register for
(continued on page 3)
•News
Briefs
Two cars belonging to first i^j
classman were broken into on 6
September and a tool box and a i^j
tape player were stolen. The
tool box has been recovered and g
a juvenile is in custody, but he
has not been connected with the
theft of the tape player.
According to Chief Joe Con-nor
of the VMI Post Police. Th6
juvenile was wandering |ij:
through the parking lot and
spotted the tool box in one of the :!:;
cars. After stealing it, he tried g
to sell it in Lexington, but a
potential buyer alerted the g
authorities. The juvenile has ^
admitted to its theft, but has i^i
denied any connection with the ^
tape player.
Chief Connor has suggested to ^
all first classmen with cars that ^
any valuables or equipment ^
such as C.B.'s should not be left ^
in the car. They should be taken
to barracks or left out of sight in ^
the car—leaving valuables in g
plain sight is an open invitation ^
to potential thieves.
Class Agents
Conference
Held
by Sean Gallagher
On September 6-7, 1979, 32
alumni, from the graduating
class of 1925 to 1975, met as
representatives for their
respective classes, for this
year's Class Agents Con-ference.
The schedule was one filled
with meetings, conferences,
discussions and dinners lasting
from 3:00 PM Thursday, 6
September, to 6:00 PM Friday,
7 September. Some of the topics
discussed were the roles of the
class agent, the VMI Alumni
Fund and this year's plans for
it, and a conference with guest
speakers Brigadier General
George Ripley, Deputy
Superintendent, Brig. Gen.
James Morgan, Dean of Facul-ty,
and Col. Ernest Edgar,
U.S.A., Commandant of Cadets.
Afterwards there was a ques-tion
and answer session with the
panel consisting of the speakers
as well as Cadet Walter Wood,
President Class of 1980, and
Cadet Wade Stinnette, Presi-dent
1979-80 Honor Court as
representatives of the Corps.
Also, on Friday night, there
was a dinner given at Lejeune
Hall at which both cadets and
class agents attended giving the
alumni an opportunity to get a
better understanding of today's
Corps according to Mr. Warren
Bryan, Director of the Alumni
Class Agents (cont. pg. s)
A total of $15,000 is available
to young composers in the 28th
annual BMI Awards to Student
Composers competition spon-sored
by Broadcast Music, Inc.,
the worlds's largest performing
rights licensing organization.
Prizes ranging from $500 to
$2,500 will be awarded at the
discretion of the judges. To
date, 245 students, ranging in
age from 8 to ,25, have received
BMI Awards.
The 1979-80 BMI Awards com-petition
is open to student com-posers
who are citizens t)r per-manent
residents of the
Western Hemisphere and are
enrolled in accredited secon-dary
schools, colleges and con-servatories,
or engaged in
private study with recognized
and established teachers
anywhere in the world. En-trants
must be under 26 years of
age on December 31, 1979. No
limitations are established as to
instrumentation, stylistic con-siderations,
or length of works
submitted. Students may enter
no more than one composition
which need not have been com-posed
during the year of entry.
* « *
The 1979-80 competition
closes February 15, 1980. Of-ficial
rules and entry blanks are
available from James G, Hoy,
Jr., Director BMI Awards to
Student Composers, Broadcast
Music, Inc., 320 West 57th
Street, New Yo*r *k ,« N 'Y. 10019
The Expanded Polystyrene
Division of the Society of the
Plastics Industry has just rung
the opening bell in its Third An-nual
Scholarship Award Com-petition.
University students
have the opportunity to win up
to $1,000 for innovative and
p r a c t i c a l uses of the
polystyrene foam material.
Preliminary entries are judg-ed
on the basis of freshness and
feasibility and students are ad-vised
to continue with wor-thwhile
projects. Entry blanks
are now available in the Dean's
office or by request to The
Society of the Plastics Industry,
3150 Des Plaines Avenue, Des
Plaines, IL 60018.
Final judging will be during
the Expanded Polystyrene Divi-sion's
Annual Meeting in
March.
« * *
This semester the VMI Theatre
is planning to put on Neil
Simon's "Barefoot in the
Park". This same play was pro-duced
at VMI a number of years
ago, but Dan Garcia, Theatre
President feels that this fine
work warrants a second show-ing.
Auditions were held on
Tuesday and Wednesday of this
week. Anyone interested in
working on the crew should see
(seepages)