Mechanical engineering professor Joseph Harralson and a team of five put their mettle to the metal and set the world record for a two-wheeled vehicle last September. The motorcycle the team built from the ground up clocked in at 350.884 miles per hour, the fastest in the world.
“I was at an automotive engineering seminar in 1988, listening to Dennis Manning, owner of a motorcycle exhaust company named BUB, talk about the motorcycle he helped build that broke the speed record in the 1970s,” Harralson says. “I realized I wanted to break that record.”
And Harralson had a leg up on most motor enthusiasts. “As a mechanical engineering professor, working on this was part of my scholarly activity,” he says.
He showed Manning some hand-drawn illustrations of the motorcycle engine he wanted to build. But just as they were about to embark on the project, it was time for a reality check.
“This was a multi-million dollar project we were starting, and we were just two guys with big plans and no money,” Harralson says. “Fortunately we had many serendipitous moments.
“When we needed a caster for the pattern parts, Dennis knew someone who would do it for free. When we needed a machinist to refine the rough materials, Dennis happened to run into one. When he explained to the machinist what we were doing, he offered his services for free as well.”
When it was finished, Team BUB took the bike out for a run. And . . . reality check number two. The speed topped out at 300 miles per hour—not nearly quick enough to break any records. A complete redesign was required. Get your motor runnin’. Head out on the...Salt Flats. Mechanical engineering professor Joseph Harralson Highpowered prof
“The motorcycle was too heavy,” Harralson says. So they exchanged the frame’s steel tubes for stronger, lighter carbon fiber.
But there were still aerodynamic issues. “We were stumped on that one,” Harralson says. “Then one day, Dennis was watching salmon swim up a ladder at a fish hatchery. They were amazingly fast, and he was inspired to make the motorcycle the same shape as the fish.”
Sure enough, the new shape did the trick.
On race day, the motorcycle’s speed was measured twice over a one-mile stretch on the Bonneville Salt Flats, averaging 350.884 miles per hour. A new record was born.
And if you think Harralson’s resting on his laurels after his world-record goal was achieved, you’d be wrong. “Our goal now is to get the bike up to 400 miles per hour,” he says.
And that led to a multi-decade career that began when he landed four—yes, four—roles in a Broadway production of Gypsy starring opposite Angela Lansbury.
But after almost 30 years of musical performances, Brazo decided to leave the stage to a new generation of musical theatre actors. He also knew that he wanted to be the one to help them get there. “I was getting older and I knew I couldn’t perform forever. So teaching seemed to be the next logical step,” he says.
What Brazo learned on the stage is what he applies in the classroom.
“When I see students struggling with particularly complex choreography, I tell them to start with the feet and add the hands and other details later,” he says. “I think it helps the students to relax a little. Someone early in my career told me that and it was such a relief.
“I want to make my students feel the same way. I’m still tough on them, but I want them to see I have compassion as well.”
Those years of pounding the pavement in pursuit of roles also gives Brazo’s students an insider’s view of the process, and why versatility is vital. It’s the reason Brazo, in his role as musical theatre director, keeps dance interwoven through musical theatre and vice versa.
“If our students want to find success in the entertainment industry, they won’t get through basic auditions if they can’t sing and dance,” he says. “So I’m tough on them, especially when it comes to technique. They have to learn routines quickly and execute them perfectly to be picked for a show.
“I know this because I’ve been through it.”
Danger Signs
criminologists that animal abuse can lead to the abuse of children and adults. But how is the legal system responding? Criminal justice professor Sue Cote plans to find out.Cote, an expert on family violence and child abuse, is studying how seriously state and municipal jurisdictions are taking the link between animal cruelty and domestic abuse.
Her findings on current local, state and federal legislative responses to the animal abuse and domestic violence connection will be presented in August at the Society for the Study of Social Problems conference in New York. Though she is still early in her research, Cote says she has found states are beginning to respond to the potential for unchecked animal abuse to escalate into domestic violence. “For example, Arkansas and Utah are upping the ante on charges of animal cruelty,” she says. Lawmakers in both states are attempting to make animal abuse a felony, not merely a misdemeanor.
Cote is also exploring where domestic violence legislation stands in terms of including animals in its definition of abuse. And she is looking at specific examples of how governments have responded to animal abuse cases that arise in the context of a domestic violence situation. “In other words, does domestic violence legislation also account for animal abuse?” Cote asks.
In California, for example, Sen. Sheila Kuehl has introduced Senate Bill 353, which specifically addresses the domestic violence- animal abuse tie. If passed, it would authorize courts to include animals in domestic violence protective orders.
Cote says that more than 10 years of research confirms that there is a strong correlation between animal abuse and interpersonal violence. But, she says, criminologists need to do more to research animal cruelty.
“Animal cruelty is a crime,” says Cote, herself a pet owner. “And it is often not being prosecuted.”
Her goal is to provide solid analysis, on which lawmakers can base policy recommendations on animal abuse.