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Monday, April 26, 2004
Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 105, Issue 141
Student
develops
innovative
software
Senior Anna Cavender earns
national acclaim for EyeDraw,
a program designed to help
disabled children draw
By Steven Neuman
News Reporter
Senior computer and information sci
ence major Anna Cavender sits at a com
puter in a small room, her hands
wrapped around her waist, her posture
straight but relaxed. She waits while the
machine calibrates and begins drawing a
house on the screen, adding a chimney, a
window and trees.
But Cavender's hands never leave her hips;
she draws the house using only her eyes.
Cavender was demonstrating new soft
ware dubbed EyeDraw that she and recent
University graduate Rob Hoselton recently
developed. The software is designed to al
low children with severe motor impair
ments to draw smoothly using eye track
ers. A sensor is mounted beneath the
computer monitor to detect eye move
ments and analyze them, thus creating
hands-free control.
As a result of her work on the EyeDraw
project, the Computing Research Associa
tion named Cavender as North America's
2004 Outstanding Female Undergraduate
ifi Computer Science and Engineering.
CRA is an association of more than 200
computer science and engineering aca
demic departments, laboratories, centers
in industry, government and academia
that are engaged in basic computing re
search, according to http://www.cra.org.
Cavender will receive a $1,000 cash prize
Turn to EYEDRAW, page 4A
NEWS BRIEF
Moreno-VHIamar takes
Senate Seat 14
Rodrigo Moreno-Villamar seized Student
Senate Seat 14 from his opponent Spencer
Hardy at the polls Friday, taking 114 of 192
total votes cast for the social science seat.
The Seat 14 special election was created
after a DuckWeb error forced the ASUO
Elections Board to invalidate the primary
results. The special election was open for
voting by social science majors only.
"I'm glad that the election went through
with relative smoothness," said Moreno
Villamar, a member of the PSST voting
bloc. "I'm definitely willing to turn (the
win) into work next year, bringing student
issues to the table and making strides to
change the political culture of the ASUO."
— Jared Paben
THEIR DAY IN THE SUN
INSIDE
The Duck women
take No. 1 Arizona
in a surprise win
at Howe Field
PAGE 7A
:V. ■"V:V:.;.V, \ :V 3
Danielle Hickey Photo Editor
Senior catcher Jenn Poore tags out Arizona’s Wendy Allen in the top of the first inning Sunday at Howe Field. It was the closest that No. 1
Arizona (45-2 overall, 9-1 Pac-10) came to scoring against the No. 12 Ducks (34-12, 84) on Sunday. Oregon’s Ashley Richards hit a
walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth to give Oregon the 1-0 victory and hand the Wildcats their second loss of the season.
Grant funds students’ public-sector work
The funding from the grant helps
students participate in community
development projects while in school
By Chelsea Duncan
Senior News Reporter
Every weekday at 6:30 a.m., University gradu
ate student Miranda Byrd joins a car pool travel
ing from Corvallis to Eugene in order to attend
school and work. And although the commute is
a pain, she said, the ability to study and work in a
rewarding field makes it all worth the trouble.
Byrd is one of five graduate students receiv
ing funding from a federal grant that provides
students with support while they work on local
community development planning projects.
After a stint in the private sector working for
an advertising agency, Byrd said she found that
work unfulfilling and decided to enter the field
of community development.
"I didn't feel like I was contributing to socie
ty," she said. "1 wanted my path to kind of
change direction."
Now, Byrd is earning her master's in commu
nity and regional planning and is working be
tween 12 to 20 hours a week for HIV Alliance, a
local non-profit HIV/AIDS support and educa
tion agency.
The aim of the $150,000 U.S. Housing and
Tim Kupsick Freelance Photographer
First-year graduate student of community and regional
planning Miranda Byrd receives federal grant funding
to work part-time at the HIV Alliance in Eugene.
Urban Development Fellow Placement grant is
to encourage students to seek careers in the pub
lic or non-profit sectors, said Megan Smith,
managing director of the University Community
Service Center.
The grant partially compensates students for
their tuition and provides $9,000 annually for
their part-time work. Students work with two or
ganizations for about nine months during the
two-year life of the grant, according to a Univer
sity press release.
Smith said the grant provides students with
financial support while giving them real-world
community-building experience and serving
the public.
She said the support allows students to com
plete their degrees without accruing as much
debt in hopes they won't need to find higher
paying jobs in the private sector later in life.
"It helps keep the sort of cadre of profession
als that are interested in working in the public
or non-profit sector," she said.
HIV Alliance Development Director Michele
Erickson said the agency depends on volunteers
and interns like Byrd to provide vital work the
agency can't always afford.
"Otherwise it's a need that would probably go
unfilled," she said. "The need for service is really
great in our community."
Byrd's main project at the HIV Alliance has
been to create a speaker's bureau for representa
tives from the agency to give presentations to
community organizations, including schools,
businesses and hospitals. The presentations are
intended to educate the public about HIV/AIDS
issues, such as local and global trends and cur
rent legislation, she added.
"(The HIV Alliance) is a really unique organi
zation," she said.
Erickson said working for the non-profit or
Turn to FUNDING, page 3A
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Adam and Mena
learn Exec ropes