PSU Magazine Fall 2003

AROUND T H E P A R K Circuits lab is now industry quality The same caliber of equipment used by engineers in the semiconductor indus– try is enticing students and faculty alike to the renovated circuits lab in the basement of Portland State's engineering facility The Integrated Circuits Design and Test Laboratory, unlike any other U.S. university lab, features a state-of-the– art test-and-measurement system donated by Credence Systems Corpo– ration. Also new to the lab is an auto– matic wafer-probe station donated by Electroglas, Inc. Together, the 2.5 million in equipment makes for a research facility that can help over– come one of the key challenges to the fu ture of the semiconductor indus– try- making sure that a high percent– age of integrated circuits fu nction correctly. "These contributions enable us to develop test and probing processes that will meet the ever-increasing need for high-yield , high-quality produc– tion, " says Robert Daasch , director of the lab. Portland is one of the nation's lead– ing hubs in the semiconductor indus– try and is home to companies that specialize in integrated circuit design and manufacturing. In the past, PSU engineering students had to rely on industry partners for time on real testers at area plants. Now those com– panies have true research partners and graduates with a working knowledge of their equipment. Credence Systems, which is based in Fremont, Calif., has made more than $2 million worth of equipment donations Lo Portland State since 1998. In addition to providing and maintain– ing the equipment, Credence will con– tinue to train PSU facu lty and staff in its operation. Electroglas, based in San Jose, Calif., is a leading supplier of wafer probes. Finance professor joins the SEC Corporate governance is a hot issue these days in the wake of federal investigations of top executives at Enron and other public companies. Many shareholders are look– ing to the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington, D.C., for reforms. This climate is a per– fect setting for John Biz– jak, professor of finance, who is already on the job as a SEC Division of Corporation Finance fellow. Bizjak joined the SEC division in August after being awarded a com– petitive, one-year fellowship. An expert on corporate finance and corporate governance, Bizjak's research has been cited by The 2 PSU MAGAZINE FALL 2002 Economist, The Wall Strcet]ournal , and Business Week. And the media have called on him for comment during Enron's troubles. "I am looking for– ward to being involved in what appears to be an expanded role of the commission in restoring faith in financial mar– kets," says Bizjak, the first Cameron Professor of Finance at PSU. As a fellow of the SECs corporate finance division , Bizjak will work on top– level accounting and finance issues as public companies file with the SEC. He will develop and present training on emerging and controver– sial issues for policy makers and attorneys in the division. BLOCKS Encouraging civic leaders of tomorrow, today What stirs students to get politically involved? What does it take Lo make them leaders in their communities after graduation7 The Carnegie Foun– dation for the Advancement of Teach– ing wants to know and has invited Portland State Lo participate along with 21 other universities including Duke, Harvard, and Georgetown. Courses on leadership and civic engagement are the focus of Carnegie's three-year study on the political engagement of young people. The fac– ulty leaders behind these courses will work together to document , assess, and improve key elements of student political engagement. Carnegie will publish recommendations and essays at the end of the project. "Colleges and universities are the institutions most involved with shap– ing the values, knowledge , skills, and motivation of people between the ages of 18 and 28, but there are few attempts to he lp strengthen students' political engagement al these institu– tions ," says Lee Shulman, Carnegie Foundation president. "Those efforts that do exist remain isolated from each other and little is known about their effects." The two courses selected for study at PSU are Civic Initiative: The Ethics of Leadership, taught by Douglas Morgan, professor of public adminis– tration and director of the Executive Leadership Institute at Portland State, and Civic Engagement: The Role of Social Institutions, taught by Craig Shinn, associate professor of public administration. In the Ethics of Leadership course, students apply ethical frameworks they have developed to actual case presenta– tions by local political and administra– tive leaders. The Civic Engagement course has students conduct field– based projects using two historical models of the common good: the rep– resentative republic model and the civic republi c model.