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Success on The Road
Two young authors traveled the country talking to those successful as they searched for their own paths /16
Student newspaper of the University of Southern California
TUESDAY
April 29,2003
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Of interest...
The mens tennis doubles team wins Pacific-10 Conference doubles title in Ojai, Calif. /10
Calendar 2
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vol. CVUII, no. 65 www.dailytrojan.com
Shooting maybe result of robbery
Los Angeles Police Department officials say suspects still on city streets
By ALICE WALTON
Staff Writer
Los Angeles Police Department detectives said they believe a robbery may have been the motive for a shooting which occurred outside of Margarita Jones eariy Friday morning.
Eric Antoine Battle, 28, was shot after an argument with three suspects around 2 a.m. Friday.
The three suspects then fled the scene, and Battle was taken to a local area hospital where he died. Police are still looking for the three suspects.
“They’re still running around on the streets of Los Angeles," said Del Donald Richards of the Southwest division of the LAPD.
LAPD is looking for witnesses who may have seen what happened before and after the shooting. Many witnesses fled the scene immediately
“(The suspects are) still
running around on the streets of Los Angeles."
DONALD RICHARDS homicide detective LAPD
after the shooting, he said.
“We know there are witnesses,” Richards said.Witnesses have been reluctant to contact LAPD, Richards added.
LAPD officials were reluctant to give details about the crime for fear doing so will hinder their investigation.
The Department of Public Safety was not contacted about or involved with the investigation, said DPS Lt Mike Kennedy. DPS has not increased security in the Margarita Jones area as a result of the shooting.
The LAPD calls DPS when there is a situation near campus that the LAPD believes concerns DPS. There is no set criteria for what situation may concern DPS, Kennedy said.
DPS procedure for assisting LAPD on calls varies from each crime, Kennedy said.
If you have any information rofarding thi» incident, contact tho Loo Angelos Police Department Southwest homicide detective desk at (213) 4M-3892 of the 24-hour tolkfree detective desk hotline nt (S77) LAWFUU. (S294S5S).
School of Engineering receives a majority offunding from U.S. government agency toward specific projects
By JESSICA GRT
Contributing Writer
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Defense spending is on the rise, and USC is a major beneficiary of Department of Defense project support financing. During the 2002 fiscal year USC received a total of $77.2 million in funding from the Department of Defense. The largest portion of the money, 65 percent, went to the School of Engineering.
The second most significant
amount of Department of Defense funding, 29 percent, went to USCs Institute of Creative Technology, a department created in 1999 with a $45 million Army grant. The ICT's mandate is to attract and coordinate resources and talent from the entertainment and game development industries and to work collab-oratively with computer scientists to advance the state of soldier training.
The ICT reports to the office of
the provost and enlists resources jointly from the School of Engineering, the School of Cinema-Television and the Annenberg School for Communication. Its ultimate goal is the creation of the Experience Learning System (ELS), ' which will make training simulation systems active through the use of artificial intelligence, realistic emotion response systems, state of the art graphics and animation and accurate spatial reproduction of sound. The result will be an elaborate, virtual war-gaming world that immerses the trainee in a high-stress atmosphere where leadership
decisions must be made under duress.
Max Nikias, dean of the School of Engineering, said the Sept. 11 attacks has made defense and homeland security a national priority.
“The USC School of Engineering has long had close ties with the aerospace industry, particularly in southern California, so we were in a position to help quickly,” Nikias said in an e-mail.
The division of the School of Engineering that gets the largest take of the Department of Defenses I see Funds page 111
On the road again. Umesh Johari, a sophomore majoring in economics, and others prepare for a weekend trip to San Jose, Calif. Students who are dnving home or to a vacation spot should make sure they are capable of driving before setting out, experts say.
Local agencies offer caution to sleepy student drivers
Officials say students should rest and plan ahead before embarking on road trips
BY SARA RODRIGUEZ
Staff WriUr "
While summer destinations, parties and the long break from school may be looming on students’ minds, safety issues are probably the farthest from their tired and overworked brains.
“Studies have shown that college and high school kids are over
scheduled," said Nyla Wilkins, with MS&L public relations. “Working and partying and with all of those factors sleep is something that's lost, especially during peak test times."
But sleep should be the first priority for students making long road trips, she said.
“If you can’t sleep, then drinking an energy drink or some kind of product that can give you a little pep should help," Wilkins said. “Driving in the car with someone that can help keep you awake is also a good idea."
Statistics from the National Sleep Foundation. KNBC-Los Angeles and the Automobile Club of Southern California show that a person awake for 24 hours has the same performance equivalent of someone with a .10 blood alcohol level, and that a person who sleeps only five hours a night is four to five times more likely to crash than someone who has gotten a full eight hours of sleep.
People who drive for long distances can also experience “microsleep” for a few seconds at a time. For someone driving 65 mph,
these few seconds correspond to the length of a football field.
‘I can vouch for the importance of sleep," said Brittany Hall, a sophomore majoring in psychology.
“I was driving home from dance rehearsal once and it was a hot day, and traffic was moving slow,” she said. “My eyelids were heavy and the next thing I knew I had tapped the back of a Mustang."
Sleep is definitely an important factor, Hall said. “Your body will make you sleep whether you're ready to or not"
I see Drtvta*. page 111
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