Also... Top Jobs of the Future

Religion in SportsMulti-Gap Solar Cells

The SpongeVol. 3 Issue 2The SpongeThe University of Utahʼs Science and Engineering Literary Magazine

WATER IS LIFE!Water Week Issue

The Sponge

...was founded in Fall 2010 to encourage and showcase the creative interests of the science and engineering community at the University of Utah. We publish anything from poems to scientific reviews, short stories to opinion articles, photography to cartoons, as well as ads for student organizations and events and practical articles helpful to students, once each semester.

We hope you enjoy this Spring 2013 issue and consider contributing to our next one! You can visit our website athttp://thesponge.eng.utah.edu/.

The Sponge is made possible by the University of Utah Student Media Council. Views expressed in The Sponge do not represent the views of our staff or the University of Utah.

In this issue, the Intermountain Section of the American Water Works Association (IMS-AWWA) partnered with The Sponge to host a paired poetry-photography contest in celebration of Utah's Water Week May 5-11. Contestants were asked to submit a poem and photo that go together and represent the theme "Water is Life!" Either the poem, the photo, or both could be original works. The Sponge and IMS-AWWA staff selected the top 3 poem-photo pairs and awarded addi-tional prizes for best original poem and best original photo. Thank you to all who participated, and have a good Water Week!

1st Place Pair ($100): Finally, It Is Raining by Mausam Kalita, Medicinal Chemistry - back cover2nd Place Pair ($75): Tolerant Rust by Allen Larsen, Mathematics - back cover3rd Place Pair ($50): Untitled by Nosheen Khan, Biology - page 6Best Original Poem ($50): Finally, It Is Raining by Mausam Kalita, Medicinal Chemistry - back coverBest Original Photo ($50): Damn! It's a dam!! by Manasi Datar, School of Computing - back coverRunners Up: Still Water by Safia Hassan, Mathematics - page 2 The Ocean Waves by Veronica Montes, Bioengineering - page 5 Untitled by Ujala Masood, Mathematics - back cover

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The People of The Sponge:

Jourdan Colter Editor Undergraduate Student BioengineeringDallin Hubbard Staff Writer Graduate Student BioengineeringSourav Kole Editor Graduate Student BioengineeringNicholas Nolta Editor in Chief Graduate Student BioengineeringMonir Parikh Editor Graduate Student BioengineeringStephanie Prochaska Editor, Staff Writer Undergraduate Student Materials Science and Eng.Cheyenne Schmid Staff Writer Undergraduate Student Exercise and Sport ScienceGeorgia Sinimbu Editor Graduate Student Biology

In this Issue:

C'est La Vie by Anonymous - page 2The Sport Stop by Cheyenne Schmid - page 3Top Jobs of the Future by May Bo and Dallin Hubbard - page 3Near the End of the Chapter by James Gracey - page 4Multi-Gap Solar Cells by Stephanie Prochaska - page 5

C'est La VieAnonymous

I'm sure you didn't know what was in store for you in the course of the day. The morning must have started like any other. A rush to get ready to get to the trail head in time. Carrying water and food for the trip. Looking forward to spending time with other members of your church. The ride along the scenic highway and the path loop leading to the trail head. There would have been a prayer for a safe hike. The prayer said so fast, it ends even before it begins. The hike begins. You have a fun time with your friends. You have your girlfriend by your side. You'll have in-teresting conversations. Take a picture here, sing a song there or just enjoying the nature that surrounds you. You ask her to sing her favorite football chant,

she has none. You sing your favorite chant, you try convincing her it's the best, you're not very successful. You cross paths with fellow hikers on the trail. Greet some as they pass you by, smile politely to a few others. The hike is short, it doesn't take long to reach the falls. I'm sure you may have done several such hikes before. But today was different. The spray of water from the fall feels nice on your face in the 95° F temperature, which you checked on a weather channel be-fore setting out in the morning. There is a rocky trail leading you further up, close to the falls, it's slippery and has loose gravel, which makes climbing so much more difficult. Your basketball shoes are not helping at all. Basketball shoes wasn't the best footgear to wear for such a hike, you must be thinking as you make your way further up, in-

Photo title: Frozen Sight

Still Water

Separate and realize, the effect of my existenceWhy is there no single element in my representationWhy must I rely on both hydrogen and oxygen?Separate and realize, the effect of my existence.

Reflect on my behalf,Change by my permission,Taste through my depletion,And just for a still second,separate and realize.

spite of the conditions. You have your expensive camera which you will use to capture what you see once you reach the summit. Your friends don't want to go any further. They know they wouldn't be able to climb further. You decide you want to, they warn you of the dangers. You don't listen. Your girl-friend is a little nervous, but doesn't say anything. She knows you, she knows you well. Their warnings fall on deaf ears. You climb up quickly leaving the others behind. Within minutes, you're alone. You're going further, where no one has ventured before. You reach the highest point. You are being cheered by your friends from below. They take pictures of you. You take out your camera to take the breathtaking view of the falls and its surroundings. You're lucky to even have a rainbow in frame. And then a loose rock gives way, you lose balance, you promptly grab onto the rocks. Your camera has fallen from your hand in the meanwhile. It falls hitting each rock on the way down and finally plops to the ground 70 feet below. It's broken into pieces. You are heart broken. Your expensive camera has been destroyed, bruised to such an extent it would be unable to revive it to life. Your awesome shots captured with it are lost too. You regret not pay-ing heed to the advice given to you a few minutes back. You return the way you climbed up. Maneuvering your descent, you soon reach where your friends are waiting for you, right at the spot where your camera lies. Your girl friend has "see we told you look" on her face. You're sad. You had the camera for 22 years. You took care of it from the rain. Ensured that it didn't have even a small scratch on its lens. All those years of care and love, gone in a blink of an eye. Your friends try cheering you up. You pick up the mangled remains of your camera, in hope that a technician can fix it, but you know there is no hope. But then it suddendly dawns on you, things could have been much worse. In an instant everything is put into perspective. You're grateful and not so sad any-more. You hug your girlfriend in relief. It could have been worse. It could have been you instead of the camera.

Runner Up - Safia Hassan

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The Sport StopCheyenne Schmid, Staff WriterExercise and Sport Science

In the past couple of years Tim Tebow, quarterback for the Nation-al Football League’s (NFL) New York Jets (previously Denver Broncos), has sparked a flame between sport and re-ligion. After big plays he will get down on one knee and say a prayer. Fans now know this as “Tebowing” and have be-gun wearing the quarterback’s number fifteen jersey with the name “Jesus” instead of Tebow. He also has been seen with scripture written into his eye paint. People have argued both ways of this display as either being a strong de-voted sign of the Christian faith or just making an idol out of a football player (CBSNews, 2011, p. 1). Even Jake Plummer, a previous quarterback for the Denver Broncos, has seemed to come to the end of the line with Tebow’s routines. He said, “…I wish he’d just shut up after a game and go hug his teammates” (NewsCore, 2011, p. 1). Plummer continues, “I don’t hate him because of that. I just would rather not have to hear that every sin-gle time he takes a good snap or makes a good handoff” (NewsCore, 2011, p.1). Tebow’s response to all of this is, “I don’t know what to think about [this] because I don’t know where people’s hearts are. It’s important to not judge without knowing their hearts. If their heart is to honor the Lord, then it’s a good thing. Only God can judge be-cause only God know what’s truly in a person’s heart” (CBSNews, 2011, p. 1). Religion getting involved with sport is a hard, complicated concept that is taken many different ways to many different people. Sport is often seen as a religion itself, so bringing in a “true” religion can offset the balance. Coakley brings up this topic of sport being the same as a religion when, “some people go so far as to say that sports are religion because they involve passions, dedication, identities, and ritualistic actions and they are played with bodies made in the image of God” (Coakley, 2009, p. 519). This statement can definitely be true; it just honestly depends on the view and standing of the individual. On the other hand, some see sport as being completely different than re-

ligion. According to Coakley, “the es-sence of religion, [people who argue that religion and sport are different] believe, is grounded in divine inspi-ration, whereas the essence of sport is grounded in human nature” (Coakley, 2009, p. 519). These people are called essentialists who think that sport and religion both bring out truths, but each clearly contains different truths from one another. When combined, the sec-ular character of sport is claimed to corrupt the sacred character of religion. Sport is obviously on the secu-lar, material side while religion is on the spiritual, divinity side –their roots and origins are distinctively differ-ent. When the two worlds collide, as in the case with football quarterback Tim Tebow, religion can either be seen as uplifting and moralizing sport or sport can be seen as demoralizing and corrupting religion. The religious or non-religious background and culture one has will ultimately determine what view the individual will stand for and uphold. CBSNews. (2011, November 18). Tim Tebow “Jesus” jerseys raise eye-brows. Retrieved from http://cbsnews.com Coakley, J. (2009). Sports in soci-ety (10th ed.). New York, NY: The Mc-Graw-Hill Companies Inc. NewsCore. (2011, November 22). Plummer wishes Tebow could keep his faith to himself. Retrieved from http://msn.foxsports.com

Top Jobs of the FutureMay Bo HubbardComputer ScienceDallin Hubbard, Staff WriterBioengineering

Many of us as we approach grad-uation will ask the question "Can I get a job?" A good place to find answers to this question is with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS is a sector in the US Federal Department of Labor that funds analyze and ad-ministers statistical reports on the US work force. They are the people who put out the monthly unemployment rates announce on all news stations. The information collected by the BLS is

followed by strict accuracy guidelines and is audited frequently. The BLS can be a good resource for us engineering students and the data can be accessed by the public for free on http://www.bls.gov/. The top current five highest paying engineering jobs from BLS are:

1. Petroleum Engineers $114,0802. Nuclear Engineers $99,9203. Computer Hardware Engineers $98,8104. Aerospace Engineers $97,4805. Chemical Engineers $90,300

The top five fasting growing engi-neering jobs (2020 projection) are:

1. Biomedical Engineers +9,700 (62% growth)2. Environmental Engineers +11,300 (22% growth)3. Civil Engineers +51,100 (19% growth)4. Petroleum Engineers +5,100 (17% growth)5. Health and Safety Engineers +3,100 (13% growth)

If you’re looking on the job market, we recommend looking up your job profile at the BLS website to get more information on how your own job out-look is. Looking for a job can be fun, time consuming and challenging. We wish all the best to those of you who are out there looking. As a side note... if you can’t find the job you want and you haven’t ruled out other options for your profession yet... the most sat-isfying jobs around as rated by several websites might surprise you. The pop-ular career advice website MyPlan sur-veyed 13,000 members as they joined their site and found the most satisfying jobs to be:

1. Singers2. Firefighters3. Aircraft assemblers4. Pediatricians5. College professors6. School counselors 7. Managers of animal husbandry

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or animal care workers8. Criminal investigators and special agents9. College instructors, other10. Therapists, other [1]

Forbes Magazine rates the top most satisfying jobs (as reported a General Social Survey by the National Organi-zation for Research):

1. Clergy2. Firefighters3. Physical therapists4. Authors5. Special education teachers6. Teachers7. Artists8. Psychologists9. Financial services sales agents10. Operating engineers [2]

Whatever your career path may be, pick something you love to do and you’ll probably end up being good at it. Cheers!

1. "Top Ten Lists: Highest Job Satis-faction." MyPlan.com, LLC, 2009. Re-trieved from http://www.myplan.com/careers/top-ten/highest-job-satisfac-tion.php on 4-23-13.2. Denning, Steve. "The Ten Hap-piest Jobs." Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveden-ning/2011/09/12/the-ten-happiest-jobs/ on 4-23-13.

Near the End of the ChapterJames GraceyAlumnus

Near the end of the chapter “Mis-cellaneous Objections” in the book The Origin of Species, Mr. Darwin uses a lit-tle quip about embryology to combat a naysayer by the name of Mr. Mivart. He says that many characteristics of distinct species are not recognizable until after certain stages in their embry-ological development e.g. the wings of bats, the necks of giraffes etc. He states that the development of an embryo sort of serves as a physical record of the (successful) genealogy of each species and that the fine grades of change each embryo undertakes to develop arms or eyes etc. are proof that these species

Above: G. J. Romanes' copy of Ernst Haeckel's somewhat exaggerated 1866 depiction of embryonic similarities in early development.

could not have developed these char-acteristics suddenly and spontaneous-ly. This is all fine and dandy, I will not attempt to justify or negate this, what really stood out to me was how the ear-lier the stage of the embryo, the more cross-species the characteristics were. All the way until the moment of con-ception when the embryo is no more then a newly joined sperm and egg and thus physically differs no more from a sparrow to a blue jay to an alligator to a human. This makes sense to our genetically savvy minds. We all know that genet-ically speaking, humans differ from a mushroom by only a certain combina-tion of letters. But if you take this idea and put it into terms that speak clos-er to home like “nothing about being human is unique until after you leave your mother’s womb,” then maybe more thoughts would be provoked. It's true (in case you even cared enough to think it wasn't), up until a point (a point not a single human can designate) we are no more unique in any physicality than your most rudi-mentary land crawler. The only time we gain the title of unique is when we start to stick “I” into the picture of the world by flexing our self-conscious muscle. But we have no idea when we are able to do this. There is no record of this change in or out of the embryo. We just couldn't then what seems by hap-

penstance we knew we liked purple tootsie pops the most. While with embryology we can trace with cut precision when our legs, mouth, brain etc. begin to devel-op, there is still no way of tracing our consciousness. This is because con-sciousness still hasn't reached the lev-el of cross-species commonality to be held eligible of the exclusive rank of embryo. Embryos are a secure path for change to make it into the next cut of reality, and it depends on each particular change's utility, paired with time, whether or not it makes the cut. It is needless to point how useful legs are, and even more so under this em-bryo-bouncer theory, as they are de-veloped during an embryonic stage. Self-consciousness at the level of hu-man is impossible to measure in any embryonic stage and as such it is pos-sible to tell whether humans putting all their eggs into the mind basket during our trip down the path of evolution could be an action that ends dead. There still hasn't been enough time to tell whether the human's mind - over the hawk's eye, or snake's tongue, or ant's sheer number - is the ticket to the next big show and while our nar-cissism can't imagine any other reality, the reality is that until our minds, as they stand today, are developed com-pletely while as an embryo, we will never know for sure.

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Multi-Gap Solar CellsStephanie Prochaska, Staff WriterMaterials Science and Engineering

Worldwide, more than 30 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide are re-leased into the atmosphere every year (Biello, 2009). Scientists estimate that only less than one quarter of known oil, natural gas and coal reserves to be emitted before climate change becomes damaging. To avoid catastrophe, the United States and other industrialized countries will need to cut their green-house gas emissions by 90 percent by the year 2050. On the outside, the widespread implementation of solar power seems like the perfect solution to the world's dire energy crisis. Solar power does not emit any carbon into the atmosphere – not even during production of the solar cells' components. Furthermore, solar energy can be harnessed anywhere, is generated at point-of-use, and is not dependent on foreign imports. How-ever, according to the US Department of Energy, the United States only gets about 0.1 percent of its electricity from solar energy sources (Fetzer, 2006). While the benefits are clear, solar power is currently far too expensive (about two to three times more expen-sive than conventional methods) and too inefficient (the highest efficien-cy of a commercial-grade solar cell is around 17.4%) for widespread imple-mentation. This article will discuss the reasons for the efficiency limits of solar cells and how researchers are attempt-ing to optimize the efficiency while re-ducing cost. In a one-gap solar cell, only pho-tons with energy equal to or greater than the band gap of the cell's material can free an electron to make an electric

circuit. In other words, the photovolta-ic response of one-gap cells is limited to the portion of the sun's spectrum that has an energy level that is above the band gap of the absorbing material. While this type of cell is the cheapest, it has relatively low efficiency due to their intrinsic limits of adsorption and radiative loss (the loss of energy from the remaining portion of the sun’s spectrum). Figure 1 presents the intrinsic effi-ciency limit versus the band gap. The ideal band gap for maximum efficiency was found to be 1.35 eV. This band gap corresponds to an efficiency of around 31 percent. In order to achieve solar cells with higher efficiency, multi-gap cells need to be manufactured. Therefore, more of the sun's energy spectrum can be absorbed into the cell. While multi-gap solar cells are more efficient than one-gap cells, they are much more ex-pensive and more difficult to fabricate. In addition, after about four to five gaps, multi-gap solar cells do not be-come much more efficient – resulting in a maximum (feasible) efficiency of roughly 54 percent. Recent research has shown prom-ise in a new type of solar cell that im-plements single layer graphene formed into carbon nanotubes and nanorib-bons. This type of solar cell has been theorized to be more efficient than multi-gap cells, is much easier to fab-ricate and is much more cost effective. Unlike traditional solar cells that re-quire specific combinations of mate-rials and dopants to obtain specific energy gap values (with no guarantee that the perfect combination exists that results in the desired energy gap) this new type of graphene cell has energy gaps that can be adjusted simply by

changing the width of the ribbons. Using solar energy to solve the world's energy problems may not be the most realistic solution for today, but huge strides in advancing technologies will undoubtedly make it a real possi-bility for the near future. Nonetheless, current solar cell technologies continue to make impacts in smaller-scale ap-plications and are beginning to make their way into large-scale endeavors as efficiency goes up and prices go down. Nobody knows what the year 2050 will bring and if the United States and oth-er industrialized countries will have reduced their greenhouse gas emis-sions. One thing for sure is that while solar energy may be at the forefront of emerging technologies, more than one type of sustainable energy source will be necessary to provide a truly sustain-able solution.

Biello, D. (2009), How Much Is Too Much?: Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Retrieved March 27, 2013, from Scientific American. Fetzer, C. (2006), Multijunction III-V Solar Cells: Advanced Materials Creating Clean Terrestrial Power. Re-trieved March 27, 2013 from the Uni-versity of Utah.

Figure 1: Power vs. energy for a one-gap cell.

The Ocean Waves

There are some that choose to just sit and let the waves wash them away,Becoming passive and submissive,Not thinking for the world, but only of their comfort.But you can choose to resist the waves and only use them as inspiration to become more like yourself.You decide what you will give, who you are, and if you will follow the wave or not.

Runner Up - Veronica Montes

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3rd Place Pair - Nosheen Khan

I was trying to ignore my stomach’s groansBy focusing on skimming stones

Wondering what it would be like to be half fishSuddenly I heard a gurgling voice “I grant your wish”

I thought to myself, “Wish?”“And was that a talking fish?”

Before I could do anything brave I was drowned by a tidal wave.

I closed my eyes preparing to dieThen I thought I’ll look death in the eye

I tried my best to scream and shoutBut waves of bubbles escaped my mouth

As my eyes adjusted to the underwater lightI slowly retrieved back my eyesight

I thought I caught a glimpse of a whaleBut realized my legs were the fish tail

I was a mermaid like the movies I had seenMainly “Little Mermaid” and “Aquamarine”

I started to swim as if the tail wasn’t newWhen an incredible sight came into view

Nestled on the rocky bottom was a cityYet when I got closer I felt pity

Its architecture was made of junkFrom tires to sailboats that sunk

Despite the advances in human evolutionThe water was murky with pollution

Humans should take a moment to think About what they dump down their sink

Realizing the water wasn’t safeMade me start to chafe

The city’s merfolk were covered with marksWhich I assumed were from attacks by sharks

I didn’t get noticed by the merfolkAs if I was under an invisibility cloak.

For some time I observed them feedOn mounds and mounds of seaweed

Their eating habits were crappyAnd not one of them looked happy

They looked at each other with disgustI couldn’t find a hint of trust

I continued to wander hoping at last Someone would notice the outcast

At the outskirts of the cityThe merfolk were all gritty

They were harvesting kelpWithout any device to help

They worked desolately in the fieldAs if their lips were permanently sealed

There was no interaction with other species of fishNot even to hunt them and eat them as a dish

I started to believe it wasn’t in their mentalityTo show others some hospitality

It was safe to conclude from their frigid behaviorThe city was in dire need of a savior

Someone to show them life can be funEven if there’s no sight of the sun

Now even I didn’t think it was fun to beLiving life in the deep blue sea

I decided it was best I get some sleepFor now I was tired from swimming so deep

I wanted to return to my family who caredSince at that moment I was alone and scared

I needed to find a wayAs soon as it was the next day

I guess somehow I was set freeBecause I woke up under a tree.

Photo by US Navy (public domain)

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Finally, It Is Raining

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1st Place Pair - Mausam Kalita (Photo by Vijay Varma Indukuri)

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Best Original Photo - Manasi Datar

Tolerant Rust

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2nd Place Pair - Allen Larsen (Photo by Cameron Murri)

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Ujala Masood (Photo creative commons)

Photo and Poem Contest WinnersWater is Life!

1st Place Pair and Best Original Poem - Mausam Kalita (Photo by Vijay Varma Indukuri)