PSU Magazine Spring 2006

rooftop gardens, energy saving devices, and other environmentally sustainable features, including updating an exist– ing parking garage. The Center for Real Estate is a joint program of the School of Business Administration, the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, and the real estate community. The center educates future real estate professionals in finance , development planning, economic analysis, market analysis, and appraisal. Work-life balance (if the boss approves) A recent survey of human resources professionals revealed that 56 percent of companies surveyed allow employ– ees to address personal or family issues on company time. The "Work-Life Flexibility and Dependent Care Survey," conducted by the Regional Research Institute for Human Services at Portland State, WorldatWork, and the Alliance for Work-Life Progress, found that a new understanding of the need for work– life balance is now challenging the belief that long hours at the office equal success. "It seems that employers are realiz– ing that allowing employees to work llexible schedules and handle some of their personal needs at work can improve both employee satisfaction and bottom-line results," says Anne Ruddy, president of WorldatWork, a professional association concerned with compensation and benefits. Although the survey results are encouraging for workers, the data also shows that there is still progress to be made before use of llexible work sched– ules becomes commonplace. Ninety-five percent of the survey respondents said their organization offers some type of llexible scheduling, but most reported that llextime is not used by a majority of employees. The survey also revealed that llexibility is more often than not at a supervisor'.s discretion. A total of 552 compensation, work– life, and human resources professionals completed the survey. To view the complete survey results go to www.worldatwork.org. PSU's annual Haystack Program in the Arts returns to Cannon Beach this sum– mer and for the first time will offer classes in Astoria. Workshops in visual arts, oral history, writing, and music run July 14 through August 4. Visit www.haystack.pdx.edu for a complete listing of classes or call 503- 725-4186. Award helps prof bridge the 'terahertz gap' Professor Lisa Zurk has received a five– year, $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's CAREER Award program to study terahertz frequencies for use in detecting explosives and in biomedical imaging. Until recently, scientists lacked the means to detect energy at frequencies that fall between microwaves and infrared waves-nicknamed "the tera– hertz gap"-on the electromagnetic spectrum. Now, researchers like Zurk have begun to explore the unique properties of terahertz radiation, which could be used to scan for explosives by detecting signature "fingerprints" of deadly materials, and for detection of skin cancer with non-ionizing or "safe" radiation. An assistant professor in the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Zurk is the fifth PSU faculty member since 1999 to receive a CAREER award-consid– ered NSF's most prestigious grant. It supports teachers and scholars who are conducting significant research early in their careers. Since arriving at Portland State in January 2005, Zurk has secured over $1.5 million in research funding. She founded and runs the Northwest Elec– tromagnetics and Acoustics Research Lab, which allows students to conduct research on wave propagation and scat– tering for such applications as radar, sonar, and biomedical processing. Zurk has also spearheaded a record number of collaborations with other institutions, including MIT'.s Lincoln Laboratory, the Applied Physics Labora– tory at University of Washington, Ore– gon Health & Science University's OGl School of Science & Engineering, Ore– gon State University, and the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In addition to explosives and bio– agent detection, Zurk is interested in remote sensing of earth surfaces and acoustic detection of underwater life, such as salmon populations. D SPRING 2006 PSU MAGAZINE 3