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January 27, 2000 A Century of Research Achievements Named College is First for Nebraska Centennial Symposium, Concert Today Student Nominates High School Teachers for Special Recognition

Chancellor James Moeser, middle, joins student Eddie Brown, left, Chuck van Rossum and Jessie Myles in singing "We Shall Overcome," Jan. 17 during the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in Nebraska Union. Following the opening ceremonies were a youth rally and march and several presentations dealing with diversity and King's message. A Few of Our Favorite Things A Century of Research Achievements By Marsha R. Torr, Vice Chancellor For Research Shortly before Christmas, we received a request from the Association of American Universities to send a short list of the top research achievements at the University of Nebraska over the past 100 years. They plan to use this material to help publicize the impact of the AAU schools over the course of the past century-as they have done previously with other successes. This is particularly timely in our case as the University of Nebraska­Lincoln prepares to celebrate its centennial in research and graduate education. UNL was among less than two dozen leaders that shaped the early development of graduate education and the research university. And so it is interesting to reflect on some aspects of our legacy. We sent out a short-fuse e-mail to all faculty to help with this collection and many of you responded. Thank you for doing so - the nominations were wonderful to read. This is a project to which we must continue to add as we learn of other great things done by the university and as we do new great things in the future. There will be many substantive achievements that have not yet been identified for this initial collection. In defining a major research achievement, one could use a variety of definitions. Some of our faculty have made recognized contributions in shaping the course of a field, step by step, over the course of a lifetime. Some of our faculty or graduates have gone on to make important discoveries at other institutions. What was needed for this particular collection was an achievement somewhat narrowly defined in time (that could be identified with a "date") and done at the University of Nebraska­Lincoln. As a result, while some of what you sent to me is not included here, it will become part of other collections and other opportunities to show what UNL has contributed. I was pleased by what I learned about our university in the course of this exercise. In what follows are 16 achievements, ordered chronologically. The history of some entries is incomplete and not all of the facts may be entirely correct at this time. I therefore welcome your inputs on these and other candidates for this component of the UNL legacy. 1) The measurements made at the University of Nebraska­Lincoln around 1903 by DeWitt Bristol Brace constituted the most definitive of several experiments (quoted by Max Abraham and H.A Lorentz) on which Einstein's theory of relativity was based. In very precise double refraction optical experiments, Brace showed that there was not a detectable "ether," the medium thought at that time to be responsible for the propagation of light. According to Edwards Nichols, editor of Physical Review: ". . . the results obtained by Brace . . . are to be accounted among the greatest achievements in modern physics." 2) The arsenical drugs (marketed by Parke-Davis as Salvarsan) used for the principal treatment of syphilis before the development of penicillin were developed by Clifford S. Hamilton in the 1920s and 30s. Hamilton continued his research through the 1960s and most notable among his graduate students was Donald J. Cram who shared the 1987 Nobel Prize in chemistry for creative approaches to organic synthesis. 3) The first systematic study of ritual, symbolism and philosophy of the native peoples of the Americas was conducted between 1908 and 1929 by Hartley Burr Alexander-showing these to be as sophisticated and as spiritually and intellectually challenging as those of the European West. Alexander's work is responsible for much of the Native American symbolism in the Nebraska State Capitol-specifically the relief sculpture on the balustrades and the East chamber ceiling mosaics. 4) Frank L. Duley and J.C. Russell developed the principles for no-till plowing that changed the face of agriculture in Nebraska and worldwide. The Dust Bowl days of the 1930s were caused by the use of European farming methods in the Great Plains. Their work from 1938-1953 led to a "stubble-mulch" system that subsequent work at the university advanced to no-till and other conservation tillage systems now used as standard practice. 5) A University of Nebraska­Lincoln team drilled the first hole through the Antarctic Ice Shelf in 1958. Lyle Hansen was a member of that team and James Zumberge, an antarctic researcher, went on to become chancellor of UNL. A UNL team repeated this in 1977, drilling through the quarter-mile thick ice sheet to get the first look at the lost sea below the ice-obtaining the first photographs and samples of fish, sediments and other materials in the ocean under the Ross Ice Shelf. UNL geophysicist John Clough was in charge of the international effort to look for specialized life. 6) Work done by Marshall Hiskey and published in 1941 led to the first test to measure the intelligence of deaf children using nonverbal performance-resulting in the Hiskey Nebraska Test of Learning Ability. 7) The landmark study by Hazel Fox in 1968 determined the differences in nutritional status and dietary habits between preschool children of lower and higher socioeconomic status, and was the first biochemical comparison based on household income. 8) Robert Katz pioneered the models of tracks of high energy particles in emulsions between 1966 and 1975 leading to the use of neutrons and heavy ions for radiation therapy. This remains the only predictive model of relative biological efficiency, having significant impact on the fields of radiobiology and carcinogenesis. 9) The rust resistant wheat varieties released by John M. Schmidt and Virgil Johnson quickly became the major U.S. wheat variety in the 1970s. This work improved wheat as a food worldwide through the development of hard red winter wheat varieties in 1960s that overcame the devastating epidemics of stem rust. 10) Don Jaecks and Joe Macek, in 1971, laid the theoretical foundations for a new type of atomic collisions experiment-the atomic photon-particle coincidence measurement that became the first reference in any major review or book and the basis for experiments performed worldwide. The work is included in the American Institute of Physics' list of the 200 most seminal papers in the field of atomic physics over the past 100 years. 11) In 1979, M. Daly identified the chemical structures of host-specific toxins produced by fungi that cause plant diseases such as Southern Corn Leaf Blight-a disease that resulted in 50 percent crop loss in the early 1970s. 12) Among the pioneers of the technology in the late 1970s, Mihir Banerjee isolated, and subsequently used recombinant DNA to reproduce, the casein gene-the primary enzyme in milk. 13) The first automated DNA sequencer was developed and patented in 1984 by John Brumbaugh in conjunction with John Middendorf of LICOR in Lincoln. The instrument has played a key in making feasible such massive initiatives as the human genome project. 14) The protein phytochrome is the light-sensitive protein that triggers the synthesis of proteins for the early growth of plants. Pill Soon Song identified phytochrome in the 1990s and has further identified the protein with which phytochrome communicates. 15) Gregory Snow and Daniel Claes played key roles in the large international teams that detected the Top Quark in 1995-building parts of the detector and designing critical pieces of software that led to the first experimental observation of what is thought to be the last of the fundamental building blocks of nature. This was accompanied by the measurement of the extremely large mass of the Top Quark-175 times the mass of the proton. 16) Work done at the University of Nebraska­Lincoln between 1993-1996 documented the first case of a food allergen being transferred from one food to another by genetic engineering. Steve Taylor identified the Brazil-nut allergen in transgenic soybeans. It is easier to pick out accomplishments from the past than from the present as there has been some testing by time. However, from what I have seen, the list will grow in significant ways as we add the research achievements emerging at this time. If you know of a research achievement in your area that has not yet been submitted, please do so. This is the starting point. Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Honors Benefactors Named College is First for Nebraska The announcement Jan. 15 of the gift of $18 million and the renaming to the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts still has its dean awestruck. It was "beyond imagination." Christina M. Hixson, the sole trustee of the Lied Foundation Trust, announced Jan. 15 a gift of $18 million to the University of Nebraska Foundation to support the College of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska­Lincoln. This gift is the culmination of years of support offered to the university by Hixson and the Lied Foundation Trust, including $13 million in previous gifts benefiting the Lied Center for Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska­Lincoln. In appreciation for this and many past gifts, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents voted at its January meeting to name the college the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts - the naming of a college after an individual entity marking a first-ever feat. "No single entity has had a greater impact on the University of Nebraska than the Lied Foundation Trust," said L. Dennis Smith, University of Nebraska president. "The $13 million grants to build and support the Lied Center for Performing Arts at UNL and the $15 million grant to the Lied Transplant Center at UNMC immeasurably affect students, faculty and citizens in the region and throughout the world. We are pleased to name the College of Fine and Performing Arts in honor of Christina Hixson and the Lied Foundation Trust." The gift, as well as the change of the name of the fine and performing arts college, will bring the college notoriety, its dean said. "I can't help but think I will be the envy of every dean of fine arts in the United States at this moment," said Richard Durst, dean of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts. "I don't believe there is any other college in this country that has had this kind of contribution come to them. It's just beyond imagination." The $18 million endowment, named the Christina M. Hixson-Lied Foundation Trust Endowment for the College of Fine and Performing Arts, will benefit all areas of the college. Half of the fund's income will provide support for programs at the college and the college's affiliated organizations, including the Lied Center for Performing Arts, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater, Lentz Center for Asian Culture and the Nebraska Repertory Theatre, all located on the Lincoln campus. The remaining funds will be divided equally between faculty and student support within the college; 25 percent will fund faculty chairs and professorships to attract and retain leading national scholars in fine and performing arts to UNL. The other 25 percent will be used for student support, including scholarships, fellowships, assistantships, workshop grants and research grants. "The dedication Christina Hixson has shown to the University of Nebraska­Lincoln through the Lied Foundation Trust has greatly assisted the growth of the arts in Lincoln and throughout Nebraska," said UNL Chancellor James Moeser. "This gift further enables the University of Nebraska to offer students and citizens the finest cultural, artistic and performance experiences in the region." Durst said the gift will "elevate the college to a position of national prominence." "That one moment of incredible generosity will make that much difference," he said. "This gift will be available for support of faculty, recruitment and other student activities and to support the kind of outreach functions the college has never really been able to afford to do the way we want." The Lied Foundation Trust and the University of Nebraska developed a strong relationship based on tradition and innovation. Hixson's dedication to the university began with a $10 million challenge grant to the NU Foundation in 1984 that initiated the establishment of the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Funding from the Nebraska Legislature and thousands of individuals and organizations completed the funding, and the Lied Center opened in 1989. An additional $3 million gift from Hixson through the Lied Foundation Trust created a programming fund that established the center as a cultural landmark offering world-class events. In 1994, Hixson announced that the Lied Foundation Trust would present the University of Nebraska Foundation with its largest gift to-date, a $15 million gift to partially fund the Lied Transplant Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. In addition, a $2 million commitment from the Lied Foundation Trust created the Lied Main Street Program in the College of Architecture at UNL in 1995. The program established an ongoing, statewide support system to help with physical and economic revitalization of main street areas throughout Nebraska. Through these projects, Hixson provided more than $48 million in gifts from the Lied Foundation Trust to the University. Ernst F. Lied, a 1927 graduate of the University of Nebraska, created the trust. The owner of a Buick dealership, Lied hired Christina Hixson in 1944. The two worked together in Omaha until 1958, when Lied made land investments in Las Vegas that ultimately grew to extraordinary proportions. Lied established the Lied Foundation Trust in 1972 in honor of his parents, Ernst M. and Ida K. Lied. Before his death in 1980 at age 74, Lied named Hixson, his associate for more than 40 years, as the sole trustee. Proceeds from the land sales have provided the funds for the Lied Foundation Trust's charitable gifts. More than $100 million in Lied Foundation funds have been committed to projects in Nebraska. "This won't have an impact on just this campus, but across Nebraska," Durst said. "The impact will be felt from Falls City to Sioux County. . . forever." Centennial Symposium, Concert Today The Inaugural Symposium Celebrating 100 Years of Graduate Education, Research and Creative Activity begins at 2 p.m. today, Jan. 27, in Kimball Hall. Speakers are Robert Knoll, Karen Kunc, James Olson, Kennedy Reed and Clayton Yeutter. The symposium is free and open to the public. A free concert begins at 8 p.m. in Kimball Hall. Performers include NU alumni Richard Drews and Lawrence Gwozdz; faculty George Ritchie and the Moran Woodwind Quintet; and doctoral students Milvia Rodriquez and Charles Saenz. The performance includes a world premiere of a new work by UNL composer Randall Snyder. Student Nominates High School Teachers for Special Recognition By Kelly Bartling, Public Relations When Honors Program student Lindsey Seim appeared indecisive on her nomination of a special motivating teacher, she was actually insightful, according to UNL Chancellor James Moeser. Asked to nominate a special teacher from her past for an honors program recognition, Seim surprised the NU administration by nominating the entire faculty at her hometown Bellevue West High School. Moeser couldn't let the uncustomary feat go without notice, so he traveled to Bellevue West Jan. 13 to give the faculty a surprise "thank you." "I think this is a really beautiful thing and an extraordinary gesture on her part," Moeser told the 126 faculty at a staff meeting, with Seim and her parents at his side. "So it deserved a similar gesture on our part. I'm here to say to the entire high school 'Thank you for a job well done.' I don't think we do enough to celebrate successful students and the schools that are really doing their jobs." Seim, in her nomination letter and in comments to her former teachers, thanked them for being mentors and role models, for motivating, guiding and leading her, and for their inspiration. "I hope you have a tremendous sense of pride for a student as articulate . . . and who has such good judgment to appreciate what you have given," Moeser told the teachers. "This is the chance for me to say 'Thank you for doing a good job' and 'Send us more Lindsay Seims'." The Honors Program Teacher Recognition program was created to acknowledge excellence and encourage secondary teachers to continue to their dedication and partnership in working with the university in placing the state's "brightest and best" at NU. Teachers nominated receive a letter of congratulations and a token of appreciation.

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