TECHNOLOGY ALUMNI : PW by Jennifer Katleman t the starting line, com\ petitors stare Vance _L. “_ Anderson’s threewheel dragster up and down, trying to figure out what makes his wheelchair faster than the others. His advantage lies in the materials: graphite and titanium that make his racing chair 50 pounds lighter than the standard hospital issue. “T think it will be one of the fastest chairs I’ve ever raced,” said Mr. Anderson. Mr. Anderson, a social worker, was paralyzed from the waist down at age 17 in a weight lifting accident. He competed in wheelchair races for many years after his accident, and had all but retired from the sport until the newfangled racer came along. In the chair’s first race in May, he placed second in the wheelchair division at the Salt Lake City Classic. He said he had practiced in the chair only once. The lightweight chair is the brainchild of Weber State manufacturing engineering technology professor Kerry Tobin and his students. About two years ago, Mr. Tobin approached the veteran wheelchair athlete, who was using the school’s manufacturing shop, about constructing a chair from aerospace materials. The professor gathered 10 students to design an aerodynamic frame and to persuade companies to donate expensive titanium for the parts. “Without this project, we wouldn’t have been able to work with such exotic materials,” said Guy Meyers, a student who worked on the yearlong project. “This is the first time we’ve been able to work with materials that directly related to what they’re using in the industry.” The materials alone could have easily tilted the cash register at $5,000, Mr. Meyers said. But students rounded up free titanium tubing from Sandvik Speciality Metals, a graphite chair from Quality Composites, Inc., and the use of a titanium welding chamber from FlamecoBarnes Group, Inc. The result: a wheelchair with a top speed of 50 miles per hour. And that’s before all the bugs are worked out. The chair’s fiberglass seat will be replaced with one that doesn’t rub up against the tires. “Tt’s almost like having your brakes on while racing,” Mr. Meyers said. Mr. Anderson also made technological adaptations of his own in a sport where longer arms can mean the difference between placing last and finishing first. “T thought, ‘How can I make my arms longer?” said Mr. Anderson. “It may not be genetically possible, but I thought maybe mechanically I could do it.” He used the University’s manufacturing shop to fashion hard extensions shaped like brass knuckles that increase his speed by 2 miles per hour. The combination of racing knuckles and ultralight materials make it the best-fitting racer of the six THREE WHEELIN’—Marathon wheelchair racer Vance Anderson takes a test spin in a chair built by Weber State students. He says, “It’s one of the fastest chairs I’ve ever raced.” he’s used in competition over the last decade, he said. And he knows what he’s talking about. In the past, Mr. Anderson has trained six days a week, completing a 26-mile marathon every workout. The discipline has paid off: he placed third in the 1990 Boston Marathon, some 20 minutes ahead of all racers. And in an international wheelchair race in Japan last year, he beat out 300 competitors to finish fifth. The only obstacle standing between him and racing overseas again finding more time to practice, said. “T’m counting on this chair give me a renewed interest in international racing,” he said. is he to Ms. Katleman is a reporter for the Standard Examiner. This edited article originally appeared in her newspaper on June 22, 1992. & Whe University’s new Alumni Center, dedicated in May, should increase involvement and financial support by former students, according to University President Paul H. Thompson. “Alumni support is critical to the future of Weber State,” Dr. Thompson says. “This building will become the nerve center for generating that support.” The 10,900-square-foot Alumni Center, west of Promontory Tower, houses the WSU Alumni Association. It is the first permanent home for the 67-year-old organization. The front entrance provides a panoramic view of campus. Inside are five offices, a conference room, library, kitchen and “Garden Room.” Interior furnishings include a 20-by-6-foot conference table; an 1890-era back bar from 25th Street in Ogden; a dining table built for Abraham Lincoln’s son; a side table from the Kier Building in Liverpool, England; and a cabinet built in about 1840 that may have belonged to Brigham Young. Other antiques include an English renaissance bookcase, three Victorian-era tables, an English parlor table and a mahogany English bench. An Alumni Center was first proposed in the 1960s, when William P. Miller was president of Weber State. He and subsequent presidents liked the idea, but lacked funds for the project. In 1988, President Stephen D. Nadauld decided to raise money for the center as part of the University’s centennial fund drive. Private donors have contributed $750,000 to construct and furnish the facility. “This building is the physical evidence of community and : alumni support,” says Edie George, executive director of the Alumni Association. “It’s a monument to the cooperative spirit of the friends of Weber State.” 5 The Alumni Association staff has grown quite protective of a new baby grand piano donated to the Alumni Center by the Class of ‘52. Staff members won’t let visitors sit at or even touch the $13,100 Steinway. “Tt fingerprints easy,” says Christine Rasmussen, records manager with the Alumni Association. Alumni staff prohibit food or drink anywhere near the instrument. They also keep the nonmusically inclined a safe distance away. ““Chop sticks’ is not allowed,” Ms. Rasmussen says. The Alumni Association is looking for someone who may recognize an 1890-era back bar used by a saloon on Ogden’s Historic 25th Street. The back bar is one of several pieces of antique furniture donated to the new Alumni Center. Alumni officials want to know more about it. 7 “We'd like to know what bar it was in and when it was there,” says Dick Davis, associate director of the WSU Alumni Association. Alumni with information about the back bar may call the Alumni Association at (801) 626-6564 or write to the Alumni - Association, Weber State University, Ogden, UT 84408-3701. m=