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Looking into the FutureThis month a 100-year-old dream will be fulfilled when a state-of-the-art observatory opens on campus atop the Stadium Drive Parking Garage (Photo by Richard Wright) |
It's the observatory that almost wasn't.
The installation this week of a high-powered telescope in the dome atop the new stadium parking garage is the culmination of an idea that's been floating around in the university atmosphere for many moons.
About 100 years ago, Professor Goodwin Swezey launched plans for a campus observatory at the University of Nebraska, but a virtual asteroid field of complications knocked the project out of orbit. Bureaucratic mix-ups with the regents, lost equipment and logistical problems delayed construction until the idea all but vanished into a black hole.
Decades later in 1972, the university began operating a major astronomy research facility in Behlen Observatory near Mead, but its location 35 miles outside of Lincoln made quality star-gazing inaccessible to most students. In 1988 Commander Charles Minnich, grandson of the lensmaker for Swezey's ill-fated obervatory, gave money for a telescope mounted on the south wall of Ferguson Hall. A larger campus observatory of the sort Swezey had envisioned remained part of the mythical twilight zone until a handful of NU professors resurrected the idea with a renewed commitment about five years ago.
That's when astronomy professors Martin Gaskell, Don Taylor and Anthony Starace pushed ahead with plans to put a permanent telescope and viewing site on the roof of Ferguson Hall. But like the campus observatory conceived of a century earlier, the second coming of the facility was plagued with as many delays and problems as the Russian Space Station Mir. A little divine intervention here and there, however, helped the team of NU astronomers hurdle the stumbling blocks that cropped up along the way.
The campus observatory got a step closer to reality in 1993 when the National Science Foundation acknowledged the university's need and laid out some of the initial funding. But it took two more years to raise the rest of the money to order the telescope and dome that would grace the top of Ferguson Hall on the university's City Campus.
It was a thrilling time for members of the physics and astronomy department when the Meade 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and Ash dome finally landed on the University of Nebraska campus in the spring of 1995. The excitement crashed, though, with news of yet another setback: the student observatory could not be located on the Ferguson Hall roof after all. Changes in fire and building codes since the roof was last modified restricted roof occupation to "maintenance only." Costs to bring the building up to code for the observatory reached an other-worldly sum of $250,000. The project was stalled again.
After a year in which Gaskell, Taylor, Starace and department chairman Roger Kirby explored alternative observatory sites, only one location seemed viable. In what would turn out to be a truly stellar idea, Starace suggested locating the observatory atop the final frontier of City Campus - the new parking garage being built across the street from Memorial Stadium.
The only major concern, Gaskell said, was whether vibrations from the cars moving through the garage would make images appear to vibrate when seen through a telescope. This fear was quickly allayed, however, when Taylor test-drove a telescope for accuracy atop a nearby Lincoln parking garage.
The advantages of piggy-backing onto the new stadium garage far outweighed any other minor concerns, Gaskell said. The garage boasts a "fantastic" horizon with views of up to 20 miles away. There are no lights shining into the dome when the observatory is in use. It is handicap-accessible and offers - it almost goes without saying - ample parking.
The telescope, which should be up and running by the middle of October, will be the largest of its kind in Lincoln. It can be pointed automatically and has a state-of-the-art, self-autoguiding camera to record images of the most distant objects in the universe. With this camera, the telescope can record objects in 20 minutes from downtown Lincoln that only a generation ago could not have been detected in an hour-long photograph taken with the giant telescope on Mount Palomar.
Gaskell said the new observatory will enhance the college experience for students, as well as the university's astronomy curriculum. A new laboratory course in astrophysics is being developed and will be offered for the first time next spring.
"(The on-campus observatory) gives our students a higher quality educational experience," he said. "Prior to the observatory, the undergraduate students couldn't get hands-on experience with this kind of equipment. Almost every class of astronomical object in the universe can be detected with this equipment."
About 1,500 students take astronomy classes at the university every year, and all of them will be able to use the facility, Gaskell said. The department also hopes to open the observatory to the public for special viewings a few times a year. No date has been set, but the facility will be formally dedicated in October.
So it won't be long until University of Nebraska students and Lincolnites will be able to view infinite celestial bodies just inches away from a Galaxy, Pulsar, Aerostar, Comet or Nova of the four-tired variety. It's an astronomical experience probably unlike any other in the universe.
"As far as we know, this is the only observatory on top of a parking garage," Gaskell said.
-Amy Cyphers
Pop QuizImpress your friends with your astronomical/automobile savvy. Q: Pleiades is a loose cluster of stars representing the seven daughters of Atlas in Greek mythology. What make of car gets its name from the Japanese word for "Pleiades"? A: Subaru |
People who use wheelchairs or would prefer to avoid stairs now have a more convenient way to access the concourse level at the Lied Center for Performing Arts with the installation of a second elevator.
The new elevator has been running smoothly since the season opened, said Charles Henry Bethea, Lied Center director.
It replaces a hydraulic lift that proved to be inadequate for the job it was asked to do, Bethea said. When the center opened in 1989, the lift was supposed to allow patrons in wheelchairs to reach wheelchair seating space on the concourse level. But the lift was very slow and was so small that a person using a motorized or large chair could not fit into it and it would not accommodate two riders at once.
The new elevator is bigger, Bethea said, which allows a person in a wheelchair to use it with his or her companion. And it is enclosed by walls, rather than by glass.
The new elevator required some renovation of the Lied's lobby but most patrons will not notice any difference. It's a custom designed elevator that carries users a crucial six and a half feet.
Because of the Lied's design, wheelchair seating is on a level that the other elevator does not reach. Thus, wheelchair patrons were entering the center through the entrance to the Johnny Carson Theater. But if they wanted to attend a pre-performance talk or event in either mezzanine area or the orchestra level, they had to leave the building to get to the elevator in the main lobby.
"This was an obvious deficiency," Bethea said. "Anyone coming to the Lied Center should be able to use our main entrance. Rectifying it was one of my top priorities and we now have reliable, appropriate and dignified service for our patrons."
Anyone who wants to avoid the flight of stairs to the concourse level can use the elevator, Bethea said.
The Lied Center is auditing its accessibility and user friendliness, Bethea said. For instance, some drinking fountains, telephones and seating areas are difficult to reach for people in wheelchairs or who have mobility impairments.
"As an arts center, we have the opportunity to be a visible community leader in the area of accessibility," Bethea said. As the Lied Center identifies areas of need, funding must be found to address each issue, he said.
"Unfortunately, the solutions are not inexpensive," Bethea said.
Partial funding for the elevator was provided by the Office of the Chancellor.
-- Kim Hachiya
A memorial fund has been established for Webster Robbins, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction and ethnic studies, who died Monday. The Webster Robbins Scholarship Fund for Minority Students is fitting tribute to Robbins, a respected teacher who devoted much time and energy to improving the climate for minority studetns at the university.
Robbins, the first American Indian to earn a doctorate at UNL, died Monday evening after suffering a heart attack while driving. He was 60.
Robbins was teaching three courses this fall in two different departments, the Center for Curriculum Instruction and the Institute for Ethnic Studies. He moved to Lincoln from Oklahoma in 1970 and became immediately involved in the Lincoln Indian Community. A Cherokee Indian, Robbins joined the UNL faculty in 1976, the same year he earned his doctorate.
"Teaching was his first, second and third love," said Jim O'Hanlon, dean of UNL's Teachers College. "Students came out of his class feeling valued."
"He was very well loved," said Beth Franklin, chair of the Center for Curriculum and Instruction. "Students were absolutely crazy about him. He was very kind and caring and he always wanted to get along and see the other person's perspective."
O'Hanlon said Robbins is credited with founding the multicultural education programs in UNL's Teachers College as well as for the whole university.
"He always did it in such a sensitive way that it honored every person's culture," he said. "And students always came away with better respect for each other."
Franklin said Robbins often used storytelling techniques in his classroom to take on such difficult issues as racism, prejudice and poverty.
"He would do it in such a way that it was not confrontational," she said. "He would talk about his personal experiences and get the students to talk about theirs."
During an interview with the Lincoln Journal-Star in 1986, Robbins said he wanted to be viewed as a professor who happens to be an Indian, not an Indian professor.
O'Hanlon said Robbins' ethnic background mattered little to the students he taught.
"He was the unofficial adviser for many students on campus. They sought him out because he was a sensitive and supportive person," he said.
Robbins was also president of the Indian Center in 1977 and chairman of the board in 1982. He resigned that year when serious money troubles and high turnover beset the center.
Funeral service for Robbins were this morning at the Lutheran Student Center.
- - Jim Ballard
Bison meat isn't as vitamin-rich as beef and some other meats, but a University of Nebraska nutritionist thinks its vitamin levels can be increased.
Judy Driskell, a nutritional scientist in NU's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, participated in a two-year study believed to be the first examining bison's vitamin and selenium content. She cooperated with animal scientists at North Dakota State University and the U.S. D.A.'s Agricultural Research Service laboratory in Grand Forks, N.D.
Researchers examined lean cuts from 12 bison bulls raised in U.S. and Canadian feedlots.
In her Nutritional Science and Dietetics laboratory at UNL, Driskell tested bison cuts for levels of vitamins B-6, B-12 and E, plus selenium and thiamin. Americans frequently don't consume enough of those vitamins and selenium, she said.
Driskell found bison had lower levels of those vitamins, except vitamin B-12, than beef, pork, chicken and turkey. Bison had higher levels of vitamin B-12 than pork, chicken and turkey, but less than beef. Beef and bison may have more vitamin B-12 than the other animals because of their ruminant stomachs, she said.
The bison were fed diets of hay, various grains and vitamin/mineral concentrates. Results showed higher vitamin levels in the lean cuts of bison whose diets contained more vitamins. This suggests a bison's vitamin content might be increased by adding more vitamins to the bison's diet, Driskell said.
A North Dakota veterinarian and bison specialist recommends boosting bison's vitamin content by feeding them vitamin and mineral supplements intended for beef cattle. The study suggests that recommendation has merit, she said.
"We don't know how much vitamins or minerals bison require," Driskell said. "Until we find out, we might as well think of them as kind of like beef."
The study moves researchers closer to providing information for nutrition labeling, and demonstrates the need for having vitamin and mineral recommendations for bison.
Bison producers could use nutrition information for marketing the meat, which they already promote as low in fat and calories, and high in protein, Driskell said.
"Consumers are interested in the nutritional content of food," she said.
The research suggests cooked bison cuts likely would be rich sources of vitamin B-12 and selenium and good sources of vitamin B-6 for humans, Driskell said.
Seven U.S. and Canadian producers donated bison cuts for the study. It was funded by the National Bison Association, the Canadian Bison Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative States Research, Education and Extension Service, the North Dakota Agricultural Products Utilization Commission, NU's Agricultural Research Division and the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station.
-- Molly Klocksin, IANR news writer
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