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$50K Grant Could Lead to $20 Million Center UNL Wins NEH Planning Grant for Great Plains CenterBy Kelly Bartling, Public Relations A University of Nebraska-Lincoln team won the first round of competition recently. These "Huskers" don't answer to the Athletics Department, though. They're responsible for the planning for a Great Plains Regional Center for the Humanities to be located at UNL and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The award allows NU to enter the final round of competition and provides $50,000 to support planning for the National Endowment for the Humanities Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The award also narrows the competition for the regional Plains humanities center to two, Nebraska and North Dakota State University. The competition for the regional humanities center will culminate with selection in early 2001, and the award of a $5 million grant to implement the regional center. Over the next year, NU history Professor John Wunder and English Professor Susan Rosowski, co-directors of the Nebraska Consortium for a Regional Humanities Center, will lead the effort in writing the proposal for the center implementation grant. "We are extremely pleased with the decision of the National Endowment for the Humanities to award the planning grant," NU Chancellor James Moeser said. "The Board of Regents has approved the reservation of $15 million of the Othmer Endowment to serve as Nebraska's match to the full NEH $5 million award. I am confident that with our excellent humanities faculty focusing on issues related to the Great Plains, and Nebraska's historic commitment to the scholarship of Great Plains Studies, that we will succeed in this competition." The process to propose the siting of the regional humanities center began in 1998 with the creation of the Nebraska Consortium for a Regional Humanities Center, which was charged with bringing one of 10 regional National Endowment for the Humanities centers to Nebraska, representing the Plains region. The Plains region, as determined by the NEH, includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. The National Endowment for the Humanities proposal calls for the creation of the regional centers to emphasize interdisciplinary learning in the humanities and collaboration among humanities scholars, other scholars, and the public. Its goal is to provide venues for the exploration of a region's history, literature, people, diverse cultural expressions, and its symbolic and physical environment. "The proposed center will provide the means to articulate the voices of the humanities on the Plains and to provide a clearinghouse for these voices to come together," said co-director Rosowski. The Endowment proposes to award the $5 million over five years, with each center contributing $15 million over seven years. The NU administration has committed the $15 million match from the Othmer-Topp Endowment. The proposed NEH humanities center would be housed in a remodeled third floor of Seaton Hall, under the proposal. The Consortium has formed partnerships with 15 organizations in Nebraska. They are: Center for Great Plains Studies, School at the Center, Humanities Program at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, Gallup Research Center, International Quilt Study Center, University of Nebraska State Museum, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater, Nebraska Humanities Council, Nebraska State Historical Society, Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, Lincoln Humanities/Fine Arts Focus Public High School, Nebraska Division of Travel and Tourism, and the Nebraska Library Commission. The proposed center would work with and complement the existing partnering humanities organizations as well as provide its own programming. Through the next year, the planning and partnership-expansion process will continue throughout Nebraska and the region, Wunder and Rosowski said. "This opportunity for the University of Nebraska and our region is testimony to the existing strengths of the Uuiversity and our partners," said Wunder The NEH initiative's goal is to create the centers to encourage the exploration of regional history and culture, with the centers serving as hubs for supporting research on regional topics, for documenting and preserving history and culture, for developing K-12, undergraduate and graduate level educational programs; for designing public programs and for developing resources for cultural heritage tourism. Collaboration with existing humanities councils and education institutions is a key element of the program, the NEH said.
Nebraska Crew Studies Battleship Remains USS Arizona Yielding Up Secrets of Oceanic EntombmentBy Kelly Bartling, Public Relations Donald Johnson was 14 in 1941. He remembers that Dec. 7 like it was yesterday. The professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln recalls the impact of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese; how it propelled his friends into war. He recalls the images of burning and destruction. Now, 58 years later, Johnson and a pair of metallurgical engineers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are becoming part of the history of Pearl Harbor as it continues to evolve, studying the effects of the underwater environment on the sacred wreckage of the Battleship USS Arizona. Johnson, associate professor William Weins and research specialist John Makinson, all in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at NU, have for the past two months conducted analysis on 150 pounds of steel from the USS Arizona wreckage. They went to Pearl Harbor in September for a week on a diving mission that armed them with metal samples, observations and other data to help determine the condition and the remaining life of the famous sunken war memorial. They have characterized the metallurgy of the Arizona and are attempting to estimate the degradation of the material and pinpoint the remaining life of the relic. Through a cooperative effort of the USS Arizona Memorial staff, the National Park Service and the US Navy, Weins and Makinson accompanied divers on five inspection dives of the ship in September and obtained samples now on loan to the university. They hope to determine basic information about the metals on the ship and their composition; how, why and how quickly the metals are corroding; and estimate the extent of the remaining life of the battleship which lies some 40 feet below the ocean surface in Pearl Harbor. "First we wanted to understand the metallurgy of the ship so we can understand more about the corrosion later on, and from a structural standpoint, to make a prediction about the possible length of the life of the ship," said Weins, an associate professor. "Now that we've characterized the metallurgy of most of the samples we can concentrate on a thorough study of the corrosion mechanism responsible for the degradation of the ship." Since initial salvage efforts in 1942, little research or observation on the Arizona had been done until a 1983 expedition by the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit for the National Park. Divers and researchers produced maps and gathered artifacts and other scientific data. Johnson became interested in the Arizona while planning a trip to Hawaii, so he requested access to artifacts and materials to study the metals and corrosion. Through Johnson, Makinson and Weins became involved. The university team requested further samples in 1998 for analysis, and through contacts with the memorial staff, Navy, and National Park Submerged Cultural Resources Unit, the Nebraska team became part of the research expedition Sept. 26-Oct. 2. "There are a number of things happening in this environment over 50 years," Johnson said. "Initially, the metal rusts, but then a thin microbial biofilm develops and builds up, possibly preventing oxygen from getting to the metal and acting as a barrier. If the water is highly oxidized it will corrode, but if the oxygen can't get to it, then what we call anaerobic bacteria activates on the surface of the metal. We're looking for proof of this. This sulfate reducing bacteria is a possible mechanism for the corrosion so we're looking for the presence of hydrogen or iron sulfides in the corrosion products." A sample of material from the ship, encased in a plastic bag, is nearly unidentifiable as metal due to a mass of crusty algae and skeletal animal life, rust and corrosion. The musty-smelling sample is one that will get further UNL scrutiny and then be returned. The hard "biofoul" that clings to the undersea metal is having unknown effects, just as the polluted and fuel-tainted oceanic water is having unknown effects on the battleship metal. The biofoul has been crushed, weighed and analyzed with magnets, and examined through X-ray diffraction to determine how much of the metal is being dissolved. Actually this hard biofoul may be providing some corrosion protection in some instances, the researchers said. Weins said the Arizona was built in 1914, in the same era as the Titanic. Clues about the composition of the metal could shed light on research on the Titanic and provide clues on other sunken vessels, especially World War II ships. "There doesn't seem to be any immediate danger that it will break up or collapse," Weins said. When it does, thousands of tons of fuel which have remained onboard the sunken vessel, and have been leaking at a rate of up to 2.5 gallons per day, could be released. "We just don't have enough information at this point to put a handle on how long it will last. Is it 10 years? Is it 20 years? 200?" Weins said. Makinson and Weins describe the emotions stirred viewing the impact of war, while Johnson remembers personally the impact of the bombing. "Underwater the sea is murky and it's difficult to see but as you dive above it you can see the outline down to the mudline and along the deck. It's just kind of ghostly," Weins said. "You have that feeling as you step out there that you are on something more than a memorial site," Makinson said. "It's an actual spot where people gave their lives, and it's all still there and you experience the explosive power of what happened." "What little bit we can contribute honors these people who went before us. This effort falls under the mission of what we do in our engineering profession we provide a service. This is our unique way to contribute," Johnson said. "None of what they find out will be bad news because we know one day, the ship will not be there. That is the course of nature. But the memories will always be there," said Kathy Billings, memorial director at Pearl Harbor. "The life of the ship is one of the number of questions we get frequently from visitors, as is what effect a catastrophic release of oil on board the ship would have to this harbor. We are grateful this Nebraska team showed up and offered to help. They have the expertise we have been needing." Johnson's initial work on the project was partially aided by an Emeriti Association fund through the University of Nebraska Foundation. Other funding for the project was provided by the College of Engineering, the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Center for Materials Research and Analysis, and by the researchers. The group has also asked to be part of an advisory group to raise and conserve the Civil War submarine the CSS Hunley, which lies in Charleston Harbor. They will be working on that project on many of the same issues that involve the Arizona. UNL Budget Priorities Forwarded to SystemCompensation Package is Priority 1 Chancellor James Moeser has forwarded a list of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's budget priorities for the 2001-2003 biennial budget to Lee Jones, provost of the NU system In a letter to Jones dated Dec. 2, Moeser said the priorities were developed keeping legislative and regental priorities in mind. The budget request will be thoroughly reviewed by members of Central Administration and the regents before being forwarded to the legislature for its consideration. The chancellor added that the list was developed with input from deans, the Academic Planning Committee, the Academic Senate and the chancellor's cabinet. The requests were constructed based on the assumption that requests for increases in operating costs, library acquisitions and new building openings will be included in the systemwide package; these items were not included in the priorities list. Priority No. 1 is compensation for faculty, staff and graduate teaching assistants. The request asks for $19.5 million over two years for salaries. In addition, $700,000 is requested to increase the university's contribution to the retirement package to 8 percent. An additional $700,000 is requested to raise state-funded GA stipends to the median of regents' peer institutions. Priority No. 2 has several sections. o $10 million for the Research Challenge Fund. This proposal creates an incentive to increase federal funding for research by providing an institutional match or other support for obtaining federal funding. It also could be used to match private donations to establish professorships or recruit key investigators who already hold significant grants, and it could support activities that would improve the likelihood of obtaining increased federal funding. The university would be able to draw upon the fund only when it succeeded in real increases in receipt of federal dollars. A baseline would be established and $1 of challenge fund money would be allocated for every $2 of increase in federal funds, measured in million-dollar increments. The $10 million would be permanent continuous funding. o $2.5 million to improve engagement activities. Extended education activities would receive $2 million to continue the process of making courses available beyond the campus by ensuring that the costs of distance education not funded by tuition are paid. And $500,000 would be directed to "focused engagement" activities to address the stresses of families and communities. o $2 million for scholarship support. Half of this would be directed to need-based scholarships. The remainder would be directed toward merit-based scholarships awarded to very good students (ACT scores of 26-30) who do not qualify for the highest level of assistance at UNL but often are awarded significant assistance by other institutions. This support would help UNL compete in the marketplace for recruiting this important cohort of students. o$2.5 million for boosting "core faculty strengths of Nebraska's flagship campus." This proposal will rebuild faculty strength lost during recent budget stringencies. "Building Core Strength" would devote $1.5 million to fund 20 faculty line in high-priority, high-impact areas. The second element, "Building Diversity," would devote $1 million to opportunity hires to permit UNL to carry out the mandate of LB389, which requires the university to meet certain diversity targets o $1,075,000 to support physical and social infrastructure. Under this proposal, $575,000 would be directed toward converting some infrastructure requirements, such as electrical substations, from capital list items to public works items to allow for maintenance and upgrades in partnership with the Lincoln Electric System. The second item would devote $500,000 to a child care initiative to reduce a critical shortage of child-care slots and services for faculty and staff. This deficiency is frequently cited as preventing UNL from becoming more supportive of women and family-friendly. The letter to Jones and the request document will soon be made
available
on the web. Pepsi Funds Expand Undergrad Research OpportunitiesBy Kelly Bartling, Public Relations The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has a new program to expand opportunities for undergraduate students to work and learn alongside faculty in their research and creative activity. Funded by income from its Pepsi Endowment, the Undergraduates in Creative Activities and Research Experience program encourages students to "learn by doing," said Richard Edwards, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. "This program will offer a wonderful addition to how we involve our students in the campus's research and creative activities," Edwards said. "We are breaking the separations between 'teaching' and 'research' by creating a campus learning environment that directly engages students in our research." UCARE is organized as a two-year program, and students can become involved either as sophomores or juniors. With a sponsoring faculty member, the student in the first year works as a research assistant, learning why and how the faculty member does research and creative activities through performing assistance tasks. In the second year, the student advances to a project proposed by the student, as an extension of the first-year project or related to the first year's experience. The faculty member continues to oversee the project and work as a mentor for the undergraduate researcher. Students in the project earn stipends, based on amount of time worked on the project, with a maximum of $2,000 for the first year and $2,400 for the second year. Projects selected by the UCARE program will be based on merit and will end with evaluation. "Undergraduate research is a component of higher education that truly sets apart universities who participate in it from those who do not," said Andy Schuerman, president of the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska. "The fact that NU is beginning this initiative speaks well of its commitment to the academic and personal development of undergraduate, as well as graduate, students. This program helps improve the relationship between teaching and research through exciting and innovative projects. Personally, I would welcome the chance to participate in such an innovative program," Schuerman said. Details about the program, including application information, will be
released later this month. Applications for the summer and fall terms in
2000 are due March 15 and for the spring term 2001, the deadline is Oct.
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