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15th place ranking against 100 teams
in the regional Society of Automotive
Engineers (SAE) 2012 Baja Team competition
in Auburn, Ala. The competition
requires students to design, build
a one-seat off-road vehicle and test
its acceleration, maneuverability, hill
climb and suspension, before completing
an endurance course.
BUSINESS STUDENTS PRESENT
RESEARCH AT DALLAS CONFERENCE
Four LETU business students presented
papers at the Economics Scholars
Program conference for undergraduate
research in Dallas, Texas, sponsored
by the Federal Reserve Bank
of Dallas. One paper was on “S&P
Downgrades US Credit Rating and the
Effect on Wells Fargo Company” while
the other was on “Abnormal Returns
in the Japanese Market.”
TEERINK NAMED
2012 TEACHER OF
THE YEAR
Aviation faculty and
LETU alumna Becky
Teerink won the
2012 Teacher of the
Year award from
the Association for Women in Aviation
Maintenance (AWAM).
PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR RECEIVES
TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARD
Psychology Professor
Dr. Vicki Sheafer
won the Frank Costin
Memorial Award
for Excellence at
the 34th Annual
National Institute
on the Teaching of
Psychology conference
for her poster titled “Using
Drama to Enhance Learning of Classic
Experiments in Social Psychology.” Her
research poster was judged by insti-
tute faculty as best promoting quality
teaching methods.
LETU BUSINESS PROFESSOR
TEACHES ECONOMICS IN KOREA
Dr. Juan R. Castro, a
professor of finance
and economics, taught
international economics
at the Pukyong
National University in
Busan, South Korea
during July. Castro traveled to Central
America in 2010 as a Fulbright Scholar
to teach graduate-level students in El
Salvador about financial strategy and
risk management while he researched
how developing countries can eradicate
poverty. Castro is also currently
serving as a research referee for the
Journal of Economics and Business.
LETU CIVIL ENGINEERING
PROFESSOR TEACHES IN HAITI
Dr. Gustavo Cortes, an assistant professor
of civil engineering, traveled to
Haiti to inspect transitional shelters
built for families left homeless after
the January 1010 Haiti earthquake.
He also lectured civil engineering
students at the American University of
the Caribbean in Les Cayes about the
importance of hurricane and earthquake
resistant designs for shelters.
WHEELS PROJECT SERVES
DISABLED CHILDREN IN KENYA
LETU’s Wheels project facilitated
the donation of two types of wheelchairs
in early 2012 to Bethany Kids
at Joytown, an organization in Kenya
caring for children with disabilities.
An interdisciplinary team of students
traveled during the summer to collect
data on how well the wheelchairs
worked for the children. This fall, the
team facilitated more donations of
new kinds of chairs, and in May 2013,
another team of LETU students will
travel to Kenya for more research.
Their work, under the direction of assistant
biology professor Karen Rispin
is designed to improve wheelchairs
for the disabled across the globe.
FRONTIER WHEELCHAIRS PROJECT
SERVES IN GUATEMALA
LETU engineering students developed
an improved foot rest to assist
wheelchair-bound, disabled children in
an orphanage at Hope Haven International
Ministries in Guatemala as part
of the Frontier Wheelchairs program,
headed by assistant professor Norman
Reese. Each plate of the foot rest can
tilt up and down, adjust to different
heights for each leg, move forward and
backward and swing outward to make
it easier for children to get in and out
of the wheelchairs unassisted. The cost
for Hope Haven to manufacture the
foot rest is estimated at $5 to $10.
LETU LIBRARY RECEIVES
VOLUMES FROM ISSR PROJECT
LeTourneau University won a competitive
grant and was awarded a 224-volume
set of books on a wide variety
of issues on science and spirituality
for the Margaret Estes Library from
the International Society for Science
48 | NOW Magazine | Fall 2012