The team won the overall reasons, beef cattle, beef reasons and performance beef cattle divisions, and placed second in the sheep division.

Texas Tech’s Livestock Judging Team was crowned national champions at the 2009 North American International Livestock Exposition.

The team won the contest by a four-point margin, posting a total team score of 4,653 points. Texas A&M University, the University of Nebraska, Western Illinois University and Oklahoma State University rounded out the top five teams.

For the first time in school history, Texas Tech has won the contest for three consecutive years.

“Consistency in winning national championships is rare,” said Kevin Pond, Department of Animal and Food Sciences chairman. “Having three consecutive national championship teams is the result of great coaching, a strong work ethic and attracting the best students to Texas Tech.”

The competition tested the contestants’ knowledge of cattle, sheep and swine as well as their oral reasons.

“It was a thrilling victory because we thought we were too far behind in placings to win,” said Ryan Rathmann, assistant professor and coach of the team. “But, the team won reasons by such a large margin that they narrowly pulled it off.”

The Red Raiders won the overall reasons, beef cattle, beef reasons, and performance beef cattle divisions, and placed second in the sheep division.

Individually, Josh Flohr, a senior from Emmitsburg, Md., was awarded fourth high individual and won the swine reasons and overall reasons divisions. Ben Cammack, a senior from Seguin, won the cattle reasons divisions.

In addition to Flohr and Cammack, team members included:

• Micah Dorsey, a senior from Strasburg, Colo.
• Paige Futrell, a senior from Midland
• Cade Halfmann, a senior from Garden City
• CA Jones, a senior from Sunray
• Drew Perez, a senior from Nara Vista, N.M.
• Drew Schmidt, a senior from Taneytown, Md.
• Trae Simmons, a senior from Tipton, Ind.
• Olivia Tilly, a senior from Hawley
• Austin Voyles, a senior from Hale Center
• Curtis Williams, a senior from Clovis, N.M.

The team is coached by Rathmann, Josh Campbell and Bryan Bernhard.

Under Rathmann’s leadership the livestock judging teams have garnered six national championships in each of the six years he has coached, three at Texas A&M University and three at Texas Tech. This accomplishment makes him the winningest coach in livestock judging history.

“I’ve been blessed with outstanding students on our judging teams, and I’ve been extremely proud of their accomplishments,” he said. “This win proved to these students that there is nothing in life that they will not be able to take head-on and accomplish with hard work and determination.”

While “Twilight’s” Edward Cullen’s attractive looks and mysterious appeal may attract the attention of many readers and viewers, his character is quite different from that of vampires in classic literature.

Few are unaware of the popular "Twilight" saga that has grabbed the interest – and hearts – of many.

One reason why the series has flourished is Edward Cullen, the protagonist of the series. While his attractive looks and mysterious appeal may attract the attention of many readers and viewers, his character deviates from classic vampire mythology in several key ways.

Erin Collopy, associate professor of classical and modern languages and literatures, said there was a transition from vampires of mythology to the modern, sensitive and more seductive vampire.

Collopy teaches The Vampire in East European and Western Culture. She has a doctorate in Slavic linguistics from the University of Washington and received her master’s degree in Russian language and literature from the University of Arizona.

She said Cullen fits the mold of the sympathetic vampire that popped up periodically in literature prior to the publishing of “Dracula.”

“Dracula set the tone of vampire literature for a long time,” she said.

The new hit series “True Blood” revived the erotic vampire in popular literature, while Stephanie Meyers took the more repressed-sexuality approach in “Twilight.”

When comparing “Twilight” to previous vampire stories, Collopy notes one substantial difference between Cullen and that of his undead peers: Meyers’ protagonist is too beautiful, rather than too cursed, to be seen in sunlight.

“‘Twilight’ is really more of a romance than a true horror story,” she said. “Of course, you often get that crossover between gothic romance and gothic horror novels.”

Linguist Jeff Williams sits among his collection of Native American artifacts.

A Texas Tech University professor of anthropology has begun the difficult task of collecting the remnants of the near-extinct Comanche language, then creating a way it can be taught in a university setting.

Jeff Williams, chairman of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, will serve as an external evaluator for Numu Tekwapu, a project to document and revitalize the Comanche language. He will work with tribe members and researchers at Comanche Nation College in Lawton, Okla., to record what’s left of the language and create a method for teaching it to students at the college.

The project is funded through a $215,000 competitive grant awarded to Comanche Nation College from the Administration for Native Americans, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

A Language Perilously Close to Extinction

“The Comanche language is nearly dead,” Williams said. “Of the 13,000 people on the tribe’s enrollment, we had, at last estimate, 20 to 25 speakers. Kids aren’t learning it anymore. Part of my task is to create a digital archive of what we know of Comanche, the other is to use technology and devise a way to teach college students the language.”

He attributed the language’s demise to the fact that Comanche, Kiowa and Apache tribes lost their reservations in the Oklahoma Indian Territory at the turn of the 20th century. Instead, they received allotments that interspersed Anglos and other non-Indians within what had been Indian Country. Also, generations of Comanche children were sent to boarding schools where they were reprogrammed, often violently, to assimilate to white culture. This created a “lost generation,” disrupting the flow of the tribe’s culture and language.

Voiceless Vowels

Comanche is a complex, relatively recent offshoot of the Shoshoni language that developed as the tribe splintered and moved south from their homelands in the Great Basin region of the United States, Williams said.

The language, a branch of the vast Uto-Aztecan languages, was passed on orally and didn’t have its own writing system until 1994. Of the world’s 6,000-7,000 languages, it’s one of a handful possessing “voiceless vowels.” In written Comanche, these voiceless vowels are represented with underlining and are almost inaudible when spoken.

Williams couldn’t say exactly how much of the Comanche language has already disappeared because no records exist of it while it was still in use. He compares it to New Mexico’s Zuni language, which is still used and undergoing a preservation process, but has lost much of its more formal speaking patterns.

“If we look at the Zuni language, it’s estimated that it had about seven different speech levels,” he said. “The first level was the most informal and the seventh was the highest, most formal and sacred way to speak. The top four or five levels of speech are completely lost. Most people only speak in the lowest registers, which would have been the most vernacular style of speaking. It would not signal honor or respect for elders or those who possessed specialized knowledge or skills.

Taking Action Before More is Lost

“There’s no telling how much of the Comanche language is lost. And as speakers get older, they begin to forget and use less of it.”

Todd McDaniels, assistant professor of linguistics at Comanche Nation College, serves as project director. He said the project was spurred by a need for Comanche language learning materials that are educationally sound, organized according to a curriculum based on outcomes, and capable of serving accreditation interests.

The resulting product will be a series of interactive, computer-assisted Comanche language learning modules that require that students match audio of spoken Comanche with selections of pictures without reliance on translation, he said.

“We’re basically starting at square one,” McDaniels said. “The purpose of the current project is to help develop Comanche speaking skills in students. Everything is ‘sit down and crack your knuckles’ type of work. We will need to work hard to develop interest, enthusiasm and goodwill within the Comanche community, most especially with native Comanche speakers.”

Assembly of the Muon Solenoid structure, the world’s largest particle collider located deep beneath the Swiss Alps.

A team of Texas Tech physics researchers is preparing to test the particle beam of the world’s largest particle collider deep beneath the Swiss Alps.

According to organizers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, the actual test of the particle beam will begin sometime this month.

Texas Tech has supplied many of the calorimeters for this project, said Nural Akchurin, a professor of physics and a calorimeter projector manager at CERN. Texas Tech’s High Energy Physics Group has worked on the project for 18 years, he said.

These calorimeters will serve as the catchers’ mitts that they hope will capture proof of a theoretical particle called a Higgs boson. This particle is responsible for giving mass to subatomic particles, which make up atoms and so-on until you have a pencil, a rock or a table.

“In the most vanilla version of the Higgs theory, you need some mechanism through which you give mass to electrons and protons,” he said. “Finding that mechanism could close the loop in assigning known masses. If you have Higgs, you can explain everything – or nearly most things.”

Simply put – but perhaps too simply – these scientists hope the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider and Compact Muon Solenoid will prove the existence of matter’s smallest building blocks.

“This is much bigger than the atom bomb,” Akchurin said. “If this project finds nothing but Higgs, that’s huge. If this experiment finds nothing at all, I think that’s equally as big a deal because we’ll have to rethink all these other theories. Whatever comes out of this will be interesting.”

Akchurin said the actual experiment, where particle beams are shot at each other and the collisions are monitored, will begin at reduced speed, then go up to full speed collisions. The time from the first circulating beams to first world-record-breaking collisions is expected to happen this year or early 2010.

Featured Video Nural Akchurin explains why research into matter’s smallest building blocks is important. More Video>>

Gene Lake with Carlton J. Whitehead (left).

Texas Tech University’s Health Organization Management program recently awarded Gene Lake with the 2009 Carlton J. Whitehead Award for Leadership Excellence in Health Organization Management (HOM).

The award acknowledges an individual who has provided outstanding leadership in the HOM field. Texas Tech’s program is housed in the Rawls College of Business. Lake, a 1967 Texas Tech graduate in marketing, was honored at the Buesseler Distinguished Lecture and Luncheon.

A long-time supporter of the Health Organization Management program, Lake was presented a $1,000 honorarium, which he returned to the HOM program to be put toward the Susan Stanton Scholarship Fund.

Lake is a former employee of Abbott Labs, which has promised to match Lake’s donation.

The HOM program at Texas Tech is currently one of only 13 MBA-based programs in the nation focused on preparing professionals to meet the ever-increasing demand for individuals with sophisticated management and leadership skills in the health care industry.

James Simpson pioneered a switch from full-time production agriculture to part-time entertainment by opening a corn field maze to the public.

As the wind rustles through rows of corn, James Simpson doesn’t hear the sound of a cash crop, he hears the sound of an experience.

You might not expect a farmer to enjoy strangers walking through a crop, but to Simpson and his family it means that people are enjoying themselves.

Featuring hayrides, bonfires, a corn cannon, and of course the massive corn maze, At’l Do Farms is an experience for all age groups. Of course the farm hasn’t always been used for a maze, Simpson explained. But farming has been an integral part of his family for generations.

“This maze is on land that goes back to my wife’s great grandparents,” Simpson said.

But switching from full-time production agriculture to opening a cornfield maze to the public was quite a leap for Simpson and his family.

“When we explained to my dad what we were going to do, he said ‘there ain’t no way somebody’s paying to walk through a corn field,’ but I said ‘well, we’ll see.’”

Simpson realized he needed the help of someone who had already started this type of venture. After researching several corn field maze companies, Simpson contacted The MAiZE, a consulting company that helps people set up their own maze and with marketing and advertising – areas for which Simpson admitted he wasn’t prepared.

“The transition to this type of field wasn’t hard as far as the agronomic aspect of it,” Simpson said. “It was the marketing and the advertising and public relations – just dealing with the public.”

The first year they tried a corn maze, Simpson said they had a great turnout, and nine years later, they show no signs of stopping.

A Family Tradition

Simpson grew up on a farm southwest of Muleshoe and completed his master’s degree in entomology at Texas Tech. That bond with Texas Tech has spread to his children, most notably his son Eric, a freshman studio art major, who was recruited to draw this year’s design.

“My parents came to me saying that they wanted to do something involving the university,” Eric said. “Since it’s my first year there, we really wanted to support Texas Tech.”

An iconic representation of Raider Red, Texas Tech’s rowdy, red-headed mascot, was drawn for this year’s corn maze and was an instant hit with folks around the South Plains.

“Before we could even send out media releases – people were already contacting us,” Simpson said.

While running the corn maze has its challenges, members of the Simpson family said the opportunity it gives other families to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life is worth taking the time to do each year.

“Farmers have something to offer. I never thought of the heritage, the tradition, the getting-back-to-your-roots aspect of it – but so many people continue to remind us of it,” Simpson said. “Whether they are from a rural area or urban – they see it through different eyes. And that has been one of the biggest encouragements for us. That has been a big surprise to me, that people really dig this stuff! As long as we can provide a clean, safe environment for families, we’ll continue to do this.”

Featured Video James Simpson talks about how this year’s design came to be. More Video>>

Seshadri Ramkumar is the organizing secretary for the conference and an associate professor of nonwoven materials at Texas Tech.

The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH) at Texas Tech University will host the 6th annual international conference on Advances in Textiles, Machinery, Nonwovens and Technical Textiles, (ATNT) 2009.

The event, held in collaboration with Bannari Amman Institute of Technology in India (BIT), will run Dec. 7-9 at the institute’s campus in Sathyamangalam, state of Tamilnadu, South India. The conference will feature papers from natural fibers to fashion design and nonwovens to technical textiles.

The conference is expected to attract more than 250 people from around the globe, said Seshadri Ramkumar, the organizing secretary for the conference and an associate professor of nonwoven materials at TIEHH. The international conference seeks to enhance professional interaction, enable future collaboration and improve business opportunities in fiber and textile disciplines.

To date, more than 90 abstracts from different parts of the world have been received. Leading experts from the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, the Czech Republic, China and other nations are expected to attend. Invitations have been extended to the Indian Government’s federal minister of textiles to inaugurate the event.

International and national organizations supporting the conference include Plains Cotton Growers, The Association of the Nonwovens Fabrics Industry, Industrial Fabrics Association International, Nonwoven Engineers and Technologists division of TAPPI, all from the United States; The Southern India Mills Association, Tiruppur Exporters Association and the Society of Dyers and Colorists (EC), all from India; and The Textile Institute from the United Kingdom.

The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer charts a period in the life of Isabella "Bella" Swan, a teenage girl who falls in love with a 104-year-old vampire named Edward Cullen.
Image credit: stepheniemeyer.com

He’s a vampire fit to meet the family: hunky, lovesick and more interested in kissing lips than biting necks.

Meet Edward Cullen, model undead citizen and epitome of so-called “vampire lite.”

Rob Weiner, a pop-culture author and expert at Texas Tech University, weighs in on Stephenie Meyers’ fanged teen romance saga as moviegoers snap up tickets for the Nov. 20 release of “New Moon.”

Weiner is an associate humanities librarian for the Texas Tech Libraries who lectures on the history of horror cinema.

He said Meyers’ protagonists are an example of recent vampire literature and filmmaking – dubbed vampire lite –that waters a traditionally bloody genre down to something more palatable for younger audiences.

These are not the eating machines of movies like “30 Days of Night” – or even “Dracula.” No, the ghouls of yore have been scrubbed down, cleaned up and housebroken.

“Everyone in the movie is pretty,” Weiner said. “These are vampire stories for young girls.”

In other words, dark movies that parents are comfortable letting their teenagers watch.

Which could explain why the vampire franchise is still sucking in new fans while other horror genres have stumbled in recent years, he said.

Authors like Anne Rice fueled an image of the sex-icon vampire, and Weiner pointed out that Meyers, a Mormon, managed to replicate Rice’s formula while subtracting most of the actual sex from her equation.

“The sensuality is still there, but the eroticism isn’t,” he said. “Anne Rice is all about sex, but the Twilight books actually have a conservative bent to them.”

And while “New Moon” will have its critics, Weiner said he is fascinated by the way Meyers’ characters have captured the public’s imagination – after all, he admitted he’ll be in line to see them.

SACNAS is a society of scientists dedicated to fostering the success of Hispanic, Chicano and Native American scientists in attaining advanced degrees, careers and positions of leadership.

Texas Tech University’s chapter of Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) was recognized at the 2009 SACNAS National Conference, which was held Oct. 15-18 in Dallas.

Jaclyn Cañas, faculty advisor for Texas Tech’s chapter, said the recognition is important because Texas Tech’s chapter members have worked hard to bring the chapter back to life since its establishment in 2004, and the award acknowledges that they have made significant progress.

“Texas Tech’s SACNAS chapter provides a supportive and encouraging environment where minority science students can participate and feel at home amongst individuals just like them,” Cañas said.

Cañas said the chapter provides opportunities for its members to participate in professional development activities, learn about the research that other minority students are involved in on campus, and travel to the annual National SACNAS Conference where they can network with other minority scientists.

For 35 years, SACNAS has provided strong national leadership in improving and expanding opportunities for minorities in the scientific workforce and academia; mentoring college students within science, mathematics and engineering; and supporting quality precollege science education.

“The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder and Other True Stories from the Nebraska-Pine Ridge Border Towns,” examines the events surrounding the tragic death of Raymond Yellow Thunder.

A book published by Texas Tech University Press has won two Nebraska Book Festival Awards.

“The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder and Other True Stories from the Nebraska-Pine Ridge Border Towns,” written by Stew Magnuson, won in the nonfiction category and received an honorable mention in the cover/design/illustration category. The cover was designed by Lindsay Starr of Austin.

The awards are sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book and sponsored by the Nebraska Library Commission. They honor books published by Nebraska authors, published by Nebraska publishers, set in Nebraska or that concern Nebraska.

“As a native Nebraskan, I consider it a thrill and an honor to receive this award,” Magnuson said.

The book, published in 2008, uses the 1972 murder of Native American Raymond Yellow Thunder by four white men to examine the history of the region that frequently erupted into riots, beatings and unexplained deaths.

After covering racial unrest in the remote northwest corner of his home state of Nebraska in 1999, journalist Stew Magnuson returned four years later to consider the larger questions of its peoples, their paths, and the forces that separate them. Examining Raymond Yellow Thunder’s death at the hands of four white men in 1972, Magnuson looks deep into the past that gave rise to the tragedy. Situating long-ranging repercussions within 130 years of context, he also recounts the largely forgotten struggles of American Indian Movement activist Bob Yellow Bird and tells the story of Whiteclay, Neb., the controversial border hamlet that continues to sell millions of cans of beer per year to the “dry” reservation.

A native of Omaha and a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Magnuson is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and former foreign correspondent. He has filed stories from Mali, Japan, Cambodia, Burma, Laos, Thailand and Indonesia. Magnuson lives in Arlington, Va.

Texas Tech University Press, in business since 1971, publishes nonfiction titles in the areas of natural history and the natural sciences; eighteenth-century and Joseph Conrad studies; studies of modern Southeast Asia, particularly the Vietnam War; costume and textile history; Latin American literature, and all aspects of the Great Plains and the American West, especially biography, history, sport history, memoir and travel.