PSU Magazine Spring 2003

Salem legislators work with deaf student intern A sLudent internship with slate Rep. SLeven March is giving Steven Brown firsLhand knowledge about Lhe poliLical p rocess. ALthe same time Brown , who is deaf, is Leaching others how Lo work with people who have disabiliLies. One of Lhe iniLial challenges for March and Brown arose from an Oregon LegislaLure rule. Each repre– sentaLive receives only one guest chair on the noor and Brown brings an additional per– son wiLh him to Salem-his inter– preter. March resolved the issue by crafting a dea l with Rep. Phil Barnhart to permil Brown 's interpreter to siLin Barnhart's guest chair. Barnhan has Laught at University of Oregon and has a passion for sLudents and lea rning, so he was eager Lo accommodaLe Brown's needs. March MUST '91, PhD '97, an alumnus of PSU's Urban Studies Program, keeps his door open to PSU students fo r internship posiLions. Although March believes pasl representatives have had interns with disabilities, he Lhinks Brown is the first deaf intern at the legislature. "IL's incredibly rewarding," says Brown. "I am making wonderful pro– fessional and personal contacts. The only difference between me and other student interns is that I have to teach people how to use my interpreter. " Brown is wo rking on health-related issues fo r an Audit and Human Services Budget Reform Commillee, which focuses on changes Lo Lhe Oregon Health Plan. March has also asked Brown to keep him info rmed on issues thaLaffect the disabled. Brown, who plans to become a defense attorney emphasizing Ameri– cans with Disabilities' Acl civil rights, hopes Lo enhance communicaLions wiLh Lhe disabled. At the moment, however, boLh he and March are enj oy– ing their mutual education p rocess. New microscope reveals the super small A powerful new Lransmission elec– Lron microscope csLablishes Pon– land State as the Pacific Nonhwests most advanced facility for nanoscale research in the fields of science and engineering. Capable of resolving images al the atomic level, the microscope is the ccn– Lerpiece for PSU's Cen– ter for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Purchased from FEl Company in llillsboro, the $1.5 microscope has its home in Sci– ence Building 2 in a room specially outfit– ted for it. The room has no vibration LhaL could desLroy Lhe microscopes close-up imaging, it is free of any magncLic fields, and its temperature is controlled within a degree. Campus researchers are excited about using Lhc microscope to study the makeup of nanomaLerials, including metal in aircraft engines and the microbial biosig– natures preserved in minerals, rocks, and sediments. Prof. Junjiao I .. I (pictured here) fabricates carbon nanotubes, hollow worms of carbon aLoms that are useful as wire in transistors and semiconductors. To say her research is of the super small is an understatement. IL would Lake 60,000 nanotubes to equal the thickness of a human hair. The Center for anoscience and Nanotechnology will also provide access to the microscope for Slll– dents and researchers from other area institutions, as well as for sci– entists from local companies. "Training on this Looi makes you special," says Prof. Erik Boclegom, who directs the Nanoscience Center along with Jiao. "Research that gets done with this microscope can lead Lo new inventions." ln addition, according Lo Bodegom, sLUdents using Lhe micro– scope get Lo interact with local indus- Jun Jiao, a director of the Nanoscience Center, uses the new transmission electron microscope for looking at nan– otubes, hollow tubes of carbon atoms. tries, leading Lo increased job opportunities. Companies like LSI Logic Corp., a manufacturer of chips for Sony Play Stations, and WaferTech have expressed interest in the lab. Portland's high-tech sector is based largely on the semiconductor industry and includes many support industries thaL have developed optical and electron-optical instruments for wafer characterization. SPRING 2003 PSU MAGAZINE 3