This document has been archived. Title : LEHR9502 Volume 1, No. 2 EPSCoR Newsletter April - June 1995 Type : Letter NSF Org: EHR Date : June 9, 1995 File : lehr9502 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM TO STIMULATE COMPETITIVE RESEARCH (EPSCoR) LOGO Directorate for Education and Human Resources National Science Foundation 4201 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, VA 22230 _________________________________________________________________ Volume 1, No. 2 EPSCoR Newsletter April - June 1995 _________________________________________________________________ Due to continuing increase in the use of the World Wide Web, NSF’s EPSCoR program developed a quarterly newsletter to provide news of interest to the EPSCoR community. We provide information about program announcements; state annual EPSCoR conferences; special conferences and staff visits; accomplishments, breakthroughs; and personnel changes -- at NSF and within states. Access the newsletter from the EPSCoR home page: http://red.www.nsf.gov/EHR/OSR/epscor/epscor.html. The newsletter is edited by Minnie Mills, Program Analyst, NSF EPSCoR Program. Comments, suggestions, and information can be addressed to her on e-mail internet: mmills@nsf.gov; phone: (703) 306- 1683; fax: (703) 306-0456. Individuals with hearing impairment should use NSF’s TDD number: (703) 306-0090. I. Program Announcements NSF EPSCoR: Congratulations to three EPSCoR-supported graduate students that have been selected to participate in the 1995 Conference on Diversity in the Scientific and Technological Workforce, September 21-23, 1995 in Washington, D.C. They are: Ms. Lucille Smith, Louisiana, Mr. Montrey Leavy, Mississippi, and Mr. Michael Boone South Carolina. For more information on the Diversity Conference, contact Paula Duckett by e-mail: pduckett@nsf.gov, phone: (702) 306-1684, fax: (703) 306-0456. IDAHO: Year 2 competition for research enhancement funds available from the NSF-Idaho EPSCoR program resulted in the following awards: seven minigrants to faculty at University of Idaho (UI) and Idaho State University (ISU); 10 REUs to students at Boise State University, ISU and UI; one Ph.D. fellowship to UI. Regional Scholar award competition closes June 13, 1995. For more information, contact Larry McBride, e-mail: epscor@uidaho.edu; phone: (208) 885-5742; fax: (208) 885-6198. KANSAS: An RFP was issued for proposals to the Research Stimulation Initiative (RSI) for women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. The objective of this initiative is to provide grant funds to cover travel and living expenses for off- site research to eligible SEM faculty. The purpose of such funds is to stimulate the establishment or further strengthening of research collaborations that result in the development of nationally competitive funded research programs. Last summer, three RSI awardees conducted research at NASA- Langley Research Center, Cornell CLEO program, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Another awardee conducted field collection of specimens in conjuncton with the Center for Land and Biological Resources Research of Agriculture, Ottawa, Canada. Some of this year's applications include research activities at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of Maryland at College Park, Naval Research Laboratory and the CLEO program. NEBRASKA: Nebraska EPSCoR, in cooperation with the Nebraska Industrial Competitiveness Alliance (NICA) and the Dept. of Economic Development (DED), at the request of Governor Ben Nelson, has sponsored a Task Force on Nebraska Science and Technology Planning. The first report of the Task Force (Nebraska Science and Technology: A State Policy) has been developed and will be submitted to the Governor this month. The report outlines a vision, policy, goals, and strategies for developing science and technology in the state and has been endorsed by the Nebraska EPSCoR Committee, NICA, DED, Nebraska Technology Development Corporation (NTDC) and the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry. NORTH DAKOTA: North Dakota EPSCoR recently received a two-year $394,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This new program will help North Dakota's researchers become more competitive in obtaining grants and contracts from federal, state, and private agencies in research areas that promote protection of the environment. Specific goals are: to advance current research programs at the University of North Dakota (UND) and North Dakota State University (NDSU) in areas of interest to EPA, to serve as seed money for development of new programs at UND and NDSU in areas of interest to EPA, and to provide seed money for ND EPSCoR for programs in Human Resources in North Dakota that increase student and faculty involvement in research, education and technology transfer throughout the North Dakota University System. North Dakota Receives DOE-EPSCoR Traineeship Award: The U.S. Department of Energy awarded ND EPSCoR $200,000 to train individuals in areas of importance to the DOE mission. The award will support six doctoral fellowships in physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, chemical engineering, polymer physical chemistry, geophysics, and plant sciences. Student financial support includes a $16,000 stipend, full waiver of tuition, and a health insurance policy. For more information contact Dr. Philip Boudjouk on e-mail: boudjouk@plains.nodak.edu, phone: (701) 231- 8400, fax: (701) 231-7947. Women In a New Generation of Science (WINGS) has graduated from EPSCoR funding. Ruth H. Maki, Professor, Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Corrie A. Haux, Administrative Officer, ND EPSCoR Science Outreach and Recruitment (SOAR) programs, and Philip Boudjouk, ND EPSCoR Project Director, obtained a $190,000 grant through NSF's Experimental Program for Girls and Women to enhance and expand several ND EPSCoR HRD programs. WINGS presents three-day workshops introducing high school students to research techniques. Women research scientists are featured presenters of the workshops. Thirty students are expected to enroll in 1995. Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) is a summer program that teams an undergraduate with a faculty mentor and places the student on a research team. The program has expanded to 30 students. Twenty are funded through NSF EPSCoR, three from EPA EPSCoR, and seven through the grant obtained from NSF's Experimental Program for Girls and Women. OKLAHOMA: The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education established a continuing fund ($3.4M in FY `95) to provide matching for federal research grants. Oklahoma EPSCoR's Home Page on the World Wide Web is: http://www.osrhe.edu/epscor/epscor.html SOUTH CAROLINA: Two EPSCoR PIs, Dan Edie, Clemson University and Ralph White, University of South Carolina, have been invited to submit Engineering Research Center proposals to the NSF. These two faculty were 2 out of only 24 selected from a pool of 117 pre- proposals submitted to the NSF. For more information about activity in SC, refer to their newsletter NEXUS at: http://www/cs.scarolina.edu/EPSCOR/Home.html VERMONT: High School Outreach program applications have been solicited for the week-long summer program for high school students and science teachers to work on research in college laboratories. II. State Annual EPSCoR Conferences ALABAMA: The Ninth Annual Alabama Materials Research Conference will be held September 26-27, 1995, at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. This program is an annual event to stimulate the exchange of ideas and foster friendships among researchers in the Alabama area. All presentations in the area of materials science and engineering are solicited. The Conference will run from noon on September 26 until 4:00 p.m. on September 27. For additional information concerning registration, contact Ms. Tina Young at (205) 934-8450. IDAHO: The annual Idaho EPSCoR program review will be held October 23-24, 1995, in Moscow, Idaho, at the University Inn. All project investigators will present results from their second year under the SI program. Idaho's progress will be evaluated by members of the Projects Advisory Board, a group of nationally recognized scientists and engineers. For more information, contact Corinne McKean, e-mail: epscor@uidaho.edu; phone: (208) 885-5842; fax: (208) 885-6198. KANSAS: The 3rd Annual Statewide EPSCoR Conference has been tentatively scheduled for February 1-2, 1996 to coincide with the Kansas legislative session. The conference will be held at the Kansas Expocentre, Topeka, Kansas. For more information, contact Ted Kuwana, phone: 913 864-3096; email: tkuwana@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu; fax: 913 864-3093. MONTANA’S annual state EPSCoR conference will be held in Bozeman, MT. on Saturday June 24th at the MSU Campus. It will commence at 8:00 a.m. and adjourn at 5:00 p.m. Attendees will include state government officials, university administrators, faculty and researchers. For more information, contact Mary Williams on e- mail: aplmw@trex.oscs.montana.edu, phone (406) 994-5148 or fax (406) 994-1848. OKLAHOMA is planning a statewide EPSCoR conference in late 1995 or early 1996. For more information contact Nancy P. Dixon by e- mail: ndixon@okway.okstate.edu, phone: (405) 744-9993, or fax: (405) 744-7673. SOUTH DAKOTA’S Sixth Annual South Dakota State Conference will be held on the campus of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, July 10 and 11, 1995. The program will include scientific keynote speakers, national agency updates, and scientific talks and posters by South Dakota EPSCoR faculty and students. For more information contact Jan Small on e-mail: sdepscor@charlie.usd.edu, phone (605) 677-6396 or fax (605) 677- 6397. III. Special Conferences and Staff Visits NSF: Eleventh Annual EPSCoR Conference will be held September 26- 29, 1995 in Jackson, Wyoming at the historic Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park at the heart of the startling beauty of the Tetons. First mailing to fellow EPSCoRians has been accomplished. For more information contact Barbara Kissack on e- mail: bkissack@uwyo.edu, phone: (307) 766-2033, fax (307) 766- 2061. AAAS-sponsored Conference on Assessing Competitiveness in the U.S. Research University, held April 21 -23, at Kiawah Island Resort in South Carolina. NSF-EPSCoR staff attending this meeting: Jim Hoehn, Michael Crowley, and Ed Abbott. There were representatives from Alabama, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, South Dakota, and Vermont. The results of the 3-day conference will be published as a book along with various public notices of the outcomes of the meeting. The AAAS will have a section of its annual meeting devoted to competitiveness in U.S. science. KANSAS: Ms. Lynne Adduci and Mr. Darryl Crompton of COSMOS Corporation, spent May 1-2, 1995 interviewing K*STAR PIs, university administrators and KTEC representatives. An SBIR Regional Conference will be held September 13-14, 1995 at the Adams Mark Hotel, Kansas City, Missouri. This conference is sponsored by Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma and coordinated by the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation. For additional information, contact Clyde Engert, phone 913 296-5272; email: cengert@ktec.com; fax: 913 296-1160. MAINE: The Materials Science research group at the University of Maine will host a Workshop on Physical and Chemical Mechanisms in Tribology, Aug. 28 - Sept. 2. The workshop will focus on several topics related to friction and adhesion, molecular-scale interface dynamics, rheology of highly confined molecules, and methods for in situ studies. Prof. P.G. de Gennes, Director of the School of Physics and Industrial Chemistry, Paris, France, and 1991 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, will speak about his studies of interactions between polymer molecules in solution and surfaces. Fifty participants from six countries are expected. Four graduate students have received special scholarships to attend. The workshop is co-sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, DOE, and the Maine Science and Technology Foundation. For more information contact Heather Almquist-Jacobson, EPSCoR Program Coordinator, University of Maine, tel: (207) 581-2956 FAX: (207) 581-3007 email: almquist@maine.maine.edu. NEVADA: Dorothy Hudig, principal investigator of the Women in Science and Engineering component, held the First International Granzyme Conference in Reno, Nevada, March 12-14, 1994 with support from EPSCoR, the University of Nevada, Reno, and Merck Pharmaceuticals. Granzymes are serine proteases that are found in the granules of cytotoxic lymphocytes. This research has relevance to AIDS research. Forty-two scientists from the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Australia attended. They represented fields as disparate as bioorganic chemistry and rheumatology. The meeting was designed so that about half the participants were young scientists--graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The success of this meeting led to numerous collaborations and to plans for a second meeting in 1997 at the Georgia Institute of Technology. OKLAHOMA: Oklahoma EPSCoR Program was visited by Lynne Aducci and Darryl Crompton of COSMOS Corporation on May 8 and 9, 1995 as a follow-up to a previous visit in the spring of 1994. SOUTH DAKOTA: Robert and Renee Friedman of COSMOS Corporation conducted their second annual site visit in South Dakota on April 24 and 25. David Benfield and David Francis, EPSCoR investigators in Veterinary Science at South Dakota State University, are co- organizers of the First International Rushmore Conference, to be held September 27-30 in Rapid City. The theme of this conference, "Mechanisms in the Pathogenesis of Enteric Diseases," will encompass presentations highlighting advances in the understanding of the ways by which microbial organisms and viruses recognize, attach to, invade, and influence the behavior of host cells. Royce Engstrom, Project Director, represented South Dakota EPSCoR at the First South Dakota Space Day held in Pierre on April 6. Highlight of the day was the keynote speech by South Dakota's own astronaut, Lt. Col. Charles D. Gemar. Approximately 1200 school children and teachers from grades K-12 throughout the state participated in the day-long program, sponsored by the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium and the South Dakota Discovery Center. VERMONT: On May 1, an SBIR Workshop attracted 70 participants to hear Michael Crowley, NSF EPSCoR/SBIR Program Manager, present advice on SBIR grant presentation. Vermont's U.S. Senator James Jeffords co-sponsored the workshop, along with the Vermont Department of Economic Development. The feedback has been very favorable. Forty-three scientific entrepreneurs responded to the "Phase 0" SBIR program, designed to heighten awareness of the federal Small Business Innovation Research programs. Included was a complementary "Incentive Award" to help businesses recover costs associated with SBIR Phase I submissions. The Incentive Award is sponsored by the Vermont Economic Development Department. All proposals will undergo local review by a panel made up of scientists, and business and government representatives. Small College Development (SCD) Program - Vermont's annual solicitation of research proposals from professors at undergraduate institutions (other than the University of Vermont) yielded 29 individual research proposals for summer research involving students. Seven proposals for sabbatical support were also received. Vincent Crockenberg, Academic Dean at Johnson State College, chaired the SCD review panel representing six colleges. The panel recommended funding of 9 reserach projects at six different colleges, and one sabbatical support project. Science and Technology Careers Day -- Our first Science and Technology Careers Day was on May 24 at the University of Vermont. Highlights included results from High School projects funded through last summer's Outreach Program. Christopher Allen, EPSCoR Cluster Director for Advanced Materials Science, presented the keynote lecture, followed by laboratory demonstrations and a discussion of advanced placement courses offered through distance education. IV. Accomplishments, Breakthroughs IDAHO: Former NSF-Idaho EPSCoRian, Pamela Shapiro, has won an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award, the first ever won by an Idaho faculty member. Former NSF-Idaho EPSCoR mentor Robert W. Bartlett, Dean of the University of Idaho College of Mines and Earth Resources, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. An NIH National Research Service Award winner (the first ever winner at an Idaho institution) is working with current NSF Idaho EPSCoRian Philip Youderian. Idaho Helping Orient Indian Students and Teachers (HOIST) to science and technology program -- an ESI funded by NSF with match from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust of Vancouver, Washington, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation of New York City, and Mrs. Walter (Lillian) Disney of Los Angeles -- was adopted by the Idaho legislature as an appropriated fund budget line item for FY96. Idaho HOIST is also an entry in the 1995 edition of the Annenberg Foundation sponsored Guide to Math and Science Reform. R. Rosenzweig, current EPSCoRian, and M. Grober, NSF-Idaho EPSCoR minigrant awardee, led a field course at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology over spring break. The 20 students gained intensive, hands-on experience in surveying and organizing biological diversity in the marine intertidal. Woody Admassu, current Idaho EPSCoRian in the University of Idaho Chemical Engineering Department, was advisor to a winning team of undergraduate students participating in the International Environmental Design Contest at New Mexico State University and competing in two separate problem areas. They won first place overall for a poster presentation and third overall in one of the problem-solving competitions. The team was sponsored by the Lockheed Idaho Technologies Company (LITCO). KANSAS: Scientific Firsts: The Kansas Ultrafast Spectroscopy Project reports that Robert Bowman and his students have recently detected trapping of photogenerated electrons in less than 500 femtoseconds (about 1 trillionth of a second) in TiO2 semiconductor nanoclusters. This finding has important implications for optimizing the efficiency of solar energy conversion in semiconductors. Carey Johnson and his group have reported advances in the technique known as Fourier-transform Raman spectroscopy for measuring the vibrational states of molecules, so that molecules can now be detected in unstable energetic states with a time resolution of 100-picoseconds (less than 1 billionth of a second). In the first application of this method, the Raman spectrum of the fluorescent molecule 9,10-diphenylanthracene was generated in a short-lived excited state. Thomas Squier and his coworkers have applied the methods of ultrafast spectroscopy to biochemistry. Studying fast internal motions in the protein calmodulin, they have recently uncovered a mechanism of cell aging which affects the ability of brain cells to process signals. Cynthia Larive, assistant professor of Chemistry, an EPSCoR- funded faculty at The University of Kansas, received a CAREER award from NSF. Brian Laird, assistant professor of Chemistry at The University of Kansas, also received a CAREER award from NSF. Prof. Laird received mentoring in the development of his proposal through the K*STAR Type II program. MAINE: Two EPSCoR PIs from the Wood Sciences and Engineering Research Cluster recently received the highest recognition from their peers. Assoc. Prof. Habib Dagher received the University of Maine Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award, which is the highest honor conferred on faculty at the University of Maine. Prof. Dagher's integration of teaching, research and outreach in his timber-bridge engineering program were highlighted. Assoc. Prof. Barbara Cole received the Presidential Teaching Award in recognition of her involvement with students in her wood chemistry research program. MONTANA: Montana State University and Eli Lilly and Co. have signed an agreement that gives the pharmaceutical company the option to license and possibly commercialize antibiotics discovered at the university. Under the agreement, Lilly will evaluate the pharmaceutical potential of pseudomycins and determine whether or not it will exercise its option to enter into a licensing agreement with the Research and Development Institute, MSU's patent management organization. The research conducted by Montana State indicates that the compounds could potentially have broad-spectrum fungicidal activity against human fungal disease. Sharing this discovery are EPSCoR Project Director, Gary Strobel, Leslie Harrison, graduate student and Bozeman native now at Monsanto Life Sciences Research Center; Mike Rinaldi, clinical microbiologist at the University of Texas; and David Teplow, a biochemist at Harvard Medical School. Fungal disease is a growing concern among the medical community. Fungi take advantage of compromised immune systems, found in people hospitalized for surgery, chemotherapy or organ or bone-marrow transplants. The infections are hard to treat, and current drugs can be highly toxic or lose their effectiveness when fungi become resistant. A number of products inhibit fungi in humans, but don't completely kill them. Pseudomycins kill the organisms. Chemical analyses revealed that pseudomycins are unlike other antibiotics in use. They are lipopeptides consisting of nine amino acids and a lipid chain. But the odd thing is that many of the amino acids are not among the 20 most commonly found in nature. Perhaps that's the key to their biological activity. Gary Strobel, along with Andrea and Don Stierle, made headlines two years ago for discovering a new source of the anti-cancer drug taxol. That technology was licensed to Cytoclonal Pharmaceutics, Inc., a Dallas biotechnology firm. NEVADA: Proposal Development Grants: This year marked the continuation of the Proposal Development (PD) Grants program. PD Grants help faculty members in Nevada to develop competitive proposals. Faculty members write a proposal requesting funds. Before submission to a funding agency, the faculty member must have the proposal pre-reviewed by two faculty members at other institutions outside the state. The purpose of the pre-review is to strengthen the proposal before submission to the external funding agency. In April 1995, eleven grants were made for a total of $40,000. Three awards went to the Desert Research Institute, three to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and five to the University of Nevada, Reno. The Teaching and Research, Enhancement and Collaboration (TREC) program, was initiated during Year 1 (1993-4) of the present cooperative agreement. The goal is to link the community colleges with the three research institutions. It provides summer support for faculty at Nevada's four community colleges to work at the three research institutions. The summer of 1994 was the first round of this program. The TREC program provides benefits for all the players: the community college faculty are able to get involved in research, the community colleges are helped in retaining good faculty, and the research institutions are able to utilize the talents of community college faculty. This gives the community college presidents a stake in the research enterprise. Consequently, it broadens the base of support for research within the University and Community College System of Nevada. In the summer of 1994, nine awards were made from thirteen applicants. During the upcoming summer of 1995, nine awards have been made from twelve applications. For both years, all four community colleges were represented, as were all three research institutions. The community college presidents are enthusiastic about the TREC program. They have pledged to match the NSF funds with non-federal funds. The TREC idea was written up by John Clevenger, a Professor of Chemistry at Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC), and submitted to the NSF ESI program. Tao Pang, a target faculty of the Chemical Physics Cluster at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is writing a book entitled "Introduction to Computational Physics." Most of the materials are from his lecture notes for the computational physics class he taught at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The book covers basic topics of computational methods and their applications in numerical problems in physics, as well as the advanced topics in the current research of computer simulations and high performance computing. The book is contracted to be published by the Cambridge University Press. More than seven chapters of the book have been written and the book will be completed by September 1995. Jim Selser, a former Nevada NSF-EPSCoR target faculty, has completed an article entitled "Polymer-polymer interactions in dilute solution" which will be published as Chapter 7 in the book "Light Scattering: Principles and Development." This book, to be issued by Oxford University Press, is edited by Wyn Brown at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, and will contain 14 chapters altogether. Professor Selser is the only non-European contributer to the book. The URL for Nevada’s World Wide Web is: http://www.physics.unlv.edu/~tcoffman/nv_epscor/homepage.html OKLAHOMA: David Meinke, lead scientist for the Plant Biotic Stress cluster, has been elected Chair of the NSF Multinational Science Steering Committee for the Arabidopsis thaliana Genome Research Project. EPSCoR helped fund the keynote speaker, Gerald Still (a noted expert in administrative and research issues related to plant biotechnology) for the Graduate Student Research Symposium on the Oklahoma State University campus. James Blair,an Oklahoma State University (OSU) scientist on the proposed EPSCoR Biotechnology Center, received a 4-year, $1M grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute which encourages student participation in the biological sciences. The specific focus is to work with transfer students coming to OSU from eight selected two-year colleges. The students participating in this program will be involved in research projects with EPSCoR funded scientists. The plans are to further expand this concept to a statewide effort. A technology transfer program, the Center for Computational Geosciences, was established at the University of Oklahoma to transfer research results into practical products and solutions. The Center has been awarded a $0.5 million contract from a major electric utility company to provide a radar precipitation interface for advanced hydrologic models. The contract is based on work done in the EPSCoR Hydrology research cluster. A technology transfer start-up company, Computational Geosciences, Inc., (CGI) has also been established to pursue commercial applications of university research. CGI has won a Phase I SBIR grant from the US Department of Agriculture for a Water Resource Decision Support System to provide information about weather and hydrological conditions. The project is based on work from the EPSCoR Hydrology cluster. Janet Haggerty, lead scientist for the Rock-Fluid Interactions in Crustal Rocks cluster at the University of Tulsa, has returned from a year's sabbatical in the United Kingdom where she worked with international colleagues on fluid inclusions and observed the differences in higher education models used in Britain. She also served as an American co-chief scientist on an international Ocean Drilling Program expedition in the Pacific. Bryan Tapp, University of Tulsa, was a co-PI on the NSF funded Summer Teacher Institutes (PISCES) in which he integrated some of the results of the EPSCoR science. Joel Martin of the Optical Materials cluster at Oklahoma State University is currently a guest scientist at the USAF's Rome Laboratory in Massachusetts. He is working with their crystal growth group on hydrothermally grown photorefractives. Ray Zanoni , also in the Oklahoma State University Materials cluster, has developed an ultra-fast optical fiber laser which two Oklahoma companies are interested in developing commercially. The Materials cluster at the University of Oklahoma has seen rapid progress in epitaxial growth of narrow-gap semiconductors using the EPSCoR funded, dual-chamber MBE machine, which came on- line less than a year and a half ago. Resultant productivity included 3 talks at the International Conference on Narrow Gap Semiconductors and 2 talks at the American Physical Society March Meeting, as well as 6 refereed papers. Other items from this cluster are: a) Theoretical calculations of spin effects included in simulations of two-dimensional electron systems especially in regard to enhanced spin splitting in the Quantum Hall Effect has resulted in 3 American Physical Society talks and 2 published papers. b) The group studying 2D electron systems at millikelvin temperatures has discovered an unexpected metal/insulator transition. This data may lead to a revolutionary reconsideration of the properties of these technologically important systems. c) A re-examination of the phase diagram of the Quantum Hall Effect has led this group to a measurement of a modified diagram for this system which unifies all of the previous data that appeared contradictory. SOUTH DAKOTA: Accomplishments in Tech Transfer: David Benfield, Chris Chase, and David Hurley, EPSCoR investigators in the membrane cluster at SDSU, have initiated a small business, Rural Technologies Inc. (RTI), which carries out contract research with pharmaceutical companies. Ken Han, EPSCoR investigator in Metallurgical Engineering at SDSM&T, has a patent on platinum recovery from catalytic convertors, which forms the basis for a new company operating at the pilot plant stage in Rapid City. The STEM conversion at SDSM&T, funded by EPSCoR, has enabled Professor Glen Stone to establish a productive working relationship with Alcoa Aluminum. Harrell Sellers, EPSCoR investigator in Chemistry at SDSU, has received equipment donations from IBM in excess of $250,000. Individual Accomplishments: Royce Engstrom, Project Director, is one of eight 1995-96 Dreyfus Scholars nationwide. Ken Han, EPSCoR investigator in Metallurgical Engineering at SDSM&T, has been honored with two prestigious awards from the National Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME): the Milton E. Wadsworth Award in recognition of contributions advancing the understanding of the science and technology of non- ferrous chemical metallurgy, and the Taggart Award for notable contribution to the science of materials processing. South Dakota EPSCoR has a Home Page on the World Wide Web: http://www.usd.edu/epscor WEST VIRGINIA: WV EPSCoR received a $150,000 award from the NASA EPSCoR project. Focus is in four areas: high performance computing and communications R&D, PI: Stuart Tewksbury at WVU; development of tunable mid-infrared sources for atmospheric sensing experiments, PI: Nancy Giles, WVU; optical and digital image processing of EOS satellite data, PI: Ralph Oberly, Marshall Univ.; and development of doppler global velocimeter (DGV) for aeronautics research. PI: John Kuhlman, WVU. WYOMING: Randy Lewis, University of Wyoming molecular biology professor and EPSCoR Project Director, has been studying spider silk and his work on the proteins of spider silk has promising possibilities for medical biomaterials. The silk can be used for sutures about one-tenth the diameter of current sutures but with the same strength. Such small stitches avoid scarring or leaking when used on a blood vessel. Also, the silk can be used to make artificial ligaments or tendons. Wyoming’s Home Page on the World Wide Web is: http://www.uwyo.edu/ V. Personnel changes (at NSF and within states) IDAHO: David J. Oliver has been named Co-Project Director of the Idaho NSF EPSCoR SI program with Jean'ne M. Shreeve. Oliver also serves as Senior Advisor to researchers in one of the Idaho project science components, "Genetic Responses to Chemical Stress." KANSAS: On June 1, 1995, Robert Hemenway, former President of the University of Kentucky, became Chancellor of The University of Kansas, Lawrence. Kansas Senator Dave Kerr (R), Hutchinson, has joined 15 national leaders as a member of the State and Federal Technology Partnership Task Force created in 1993 at the request of Jack Gibbons, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. The Task Force believes that modifying the national science and technology system to increase the involvement of states and draw on their unique attributes will add efficiency and economic growth. Kerr was invited to join the Task Force based on his long-term commitment to the State of Kansas and KTEC. NEVADA: Jeff Thompson, a target faculty of the Chemical Physics Cluster at the University of Nevada, Reno, temporarily moved his negative ion source to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where a collaborative project with John Farley, NSF EPSCoR Project Director, was undertaken. In this collaborative work, intense negative ion beams were generated by the Thompson apparatus and were then characterized spectroscopically by the Farley system. It is probably fair to say that such a collaborative effort would have been much less likely without the intercampus communications which have been fostered as a result of the NSF-EPSCoR program. The Statewide EPSCoR Director will change. Mark Dawson will be replaced by John Richardson, Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University and Community College System of Nevada, July 1, 1995. He works daily with the Regents, the Legislature, and the institutional presidents. Richardson was chancellor in North Dakota and the CEO of the Commissioner of Higher Education in Montana, and was involved with both of their EPSCoR programs. There will be a change in leadership in the Chemical Physics cluster this summer. Currently, the Project Director is Richard Burkhart, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Nevada, Reno, and his co-PIs are Philip Altick, Professor of Physics at the University of Nevada, Reno, and Stephen Lepp, Associate Professor of Physics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. On July 1, 1995, Burkhart will become a half-time faculty member, and will retire in six months. Altick will retire July 1, 1995. Burkhart will be replaced as Project Director of Chemical Physics by Kent Ervin, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Nevada, Reno. Ervin has shown leadership skills and a flair for administrative work. We are indeed fortunate that leadership will be passed smoothly from one generation of scientists to another. VERMONT: Project Coordinator Janet Franz, in addition to EPSCoR duties, is serving as Acting Executive Director for the Vermont Technology Council (part time). VI. Other KANSAS: The Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation, the state oversight agency for the Kansas EPSCoR programs, worked diligently during the 1995 Kansas legislative session to establish a Futures Fund in support of EPSCoR and EPSCoR-like initiatives. We are pleased to report that the Governor and Legislature approved a $3.9M Futures Fund. MONTANA: Bob Swenson, Vice President for Research and Creative Activities at Montana State University-Bozeman, testified before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space on March 30, 1995. The subcommittee, chaired by Montana Sen. Conrad Burns, conducted hearings on the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the FY 96 budget of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Swenson said, “Key to Montana is an NSF initiative, called the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), that has helped form the research foundation for interacting with business and industrial development in Montana. In states like Montana, with little industrial research base and few large private research capabilities, federal grant dollars allow universities to play a special role. In these states, if there is to be credible science upon which to base decisions about natural resource use and preservation, agricultural production and marketing, transportation and a host of other issues of local importance, then that science is likely to come from the university community. Small businesses and manufacturers that need help with technology applications, research and management look toward the university community. Nationally, industries spend $5.14 on research and development to $1 at universities. In Montana, it is just the reverse: universities spend $6.40 on R & D to $1 by the private sector. Without university-based research support, states like Montana would be left out of the scientific and technology enterprise of this nation." OKLAHOMA: Neal Lane, NSF Director, was one of five recipients of the 1995 University of Oklahoma honorary degrees on May 13, 1995. Born in Oklahoma City, Lane, earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in physics from the University of Oklahoma. The 1995 degrees recognize alumni or other individuals for extraordinary achievement in such fields as sciences and technology, medicine, the arts and humanities, business and public service or in recognition of outstanding contributions to the welfare or the enrichment of the university, the state, the nation or the world. SOUTH DAKOTA EPSCoR video was shown on South Dakota Public TV on Sunday, April 30. VERMONT: The Vermont Technology Council (Vermont EPSCoR's State Board), is moving forward on developing Centers of Excellence and promoting infrastructure components of the State Plan for Science and Technology. NATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WEEK ( NSTW) AT NSF: NSTW was celebrated April 21-29 with lots of exciting events and activities . The theme was “Explore New Worlds Through Science & Technology.” The Internet was used to address science and engineering questions. April 26 was “Call a scientist or engineer” day. A 1-800 toll free phone number was given to provide answers to scientific questions from parents, teachers, and children. A prestigious scientist, Dr. Leon M. Lederman, Nobel Laureate and Director Emeritus, Fermi National Accelerator Lab, gave a lecture at the National Academy of Sciences on “To Plumb the Essence: The World Through New Eyes.” April 27 was Family Science Night at Ballston Common Mall with over 30 exhibits showcasing science demonstrations and interactive, children’s activities. A Science Exhibit Center on the main level of the NSF Building provided interactive and graphic exhibits for the general public and school groups to learn more about science, engineering and math. A limited number of NSTW posters are available from the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs, and you can contact mbullock@nsf.gov. to get one. WORLD WIDE WEB PICKS: For those folks who like to surf the WWW, we offer some suggestions. Let us hear from you about some of your favorites. Web pages from organizations that have invited EPSCoR researchers to meetings http://www.faseb.org/ -- The FASEB SERVER http://www.ieee.org/ -- IEEE Home Page http://www.cais.com/gewex/gewex.html -- GEWEX Home Page http://math.unm.edu/ACA/about_IMACS.txt http://www.inform.umd.edu/UofMd- System_and_State_of_Maryland/UMD-Project s/MCTP/Technology/Biology.html -- Internet Resources for Science and Mathematics Education http://nucleus.immunol.washington.edu/Research_facilities/ISAC/IS AC_home page.html -- ISAC Web Server http://www.spie.org/web/member_guide/about_spie.html -- About SPIE http://www.siam.org/ -- SIAM World Wide Web Server http://www.tms.org/ -- The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society Some other EPSCoR-related pages -- Features most of the MS EPSCoR Materials Research Cluster folks http://cypress.mcsr.olemiss.edu/~melackey/ -- Composite Materials Research Group -- The Univ. of Mississippi has links to a number of neat pages concerning astronomy http://www.msstate.edu/Dept/Physics/ -- Department of Physics and Astronomy Wyoming.com may provide computer support/Internet access for '95 EPSCoR Conference http://www.wyoming.com/ -- Welcome to wyoming.com LLC A useful list of acronymns for scientific terms and organizations gopher://diu.cms.udel.edu:70/00/woce_diu/program/acronyms.txt A useful form for searching the Web for pages of interest, you must have forms capability. http://query3.lycos.cs.cmu.edu/lycos-form.html -- Lycos Search Form A wonderful starting place for a variety of technology-related issues http://www.nttc.edu/nttc.html -- The National Technology Transfer Center Home Page (NTTC) Useful if want to know about SBIRs http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/ -- SBA: Small Business Administration Home Page To learn about SBIRs in your state http://cos.gdb.org/maps/sbir/states/sbirstates.html -- Searching For SBIR Awards in Specific States For all those EPSCoR entrepreneurs out there, lots of patent- related info http://www.uspto.gov/ -- United States Patent and Trademark Office Web pages for some major computer magazines and PC developments http://zcias3.ziff.com/%7Epcweek/ -- PC Week http://www.pc-computing.ziff.com/~pccomp/ -- Welcome to PC Computing http://www.ziff.com/ -- Ziff-Davis Publishing Company http://power.globalnews.com/ -- PowerPC News home page FUN STUFF: Satellite photos http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~cjhamil/Browse/main.html -- Multi- Scale Maps Learn about the "new" St. Petersburg, with links to other sites in the former USSR http://www.spb.su/ -- St.Petersburg Web An interactive, software telescope http://skview.gsfc.nasa.gov/skyview.html -- Welcome to SkyView The CIA has a home page! http://www.ic.gov/ -- Central Intelligence Agency Home Page Gettysburg Address on Library of Congress’s WWW http://lcweb.loc.gov/homepage/lchp.html 1500 Web pages about the Smithsonian Institution, written up in Wash. Post, USA Today, done by QRC http://www.si.edu/