PSU Magazine Summer 1989

I AROUND THE PARK BLOCKS PSU presidential search underway Oregon State System of Higher Educa– tion Chancellor Thomas Bartlett , and board president Richard Hensley have named a committee to begin the search for a new Portland State University president. Hensley named board member Tom Bruggere of Lake Oswego, a Beaverton high-tech executive, as committee chair– man , and also named to the II- member committee board members George E. Richardson Jr. and Janice Wilson of Portland. Bartlett named to the committee PSU faculty members Lee Casperson of elec– trical engineering, John Cooper of English, Walt Ellis of public administra– tion , and Mary Kinnick of education; ad– ministrator Wilma Sheridan of fine and performing arts; student Annette Mathews, 1988-89 PSU student body president; and community representatives Roger. L. Breezley, U.S. Bancorp chairman and a member of the PSU Advisory Committee, and Ron Herndon, director of a Head Start program in Portland. The committee is expected to bring finalist recommendations to the Chancellor, for State Board interviews in March 1990. At that time the board will be reviewing the report from the Gover– nor's Commission on Higher Education in the Portland Metropolitan Area . The selecting of a new PSU president was delayed to coincide with the commission's report . Tailgate Party planned "The Ultimate Tailgate Party" is the billing for PSU's largest and grandest fundraiser of the year. Co-sponsored by the PSU Foundation and the Viking Athletic Association (VAA), the evening extravaganza is scheduled for Sept. 16 and will feature early evening cocktails and silent auction on the Park Blocks, then into the gym for a large screen video presentation capturing the best of Portland State, followed by din– ner, oral auction and dancing until I a .m. The event's co-chairs are two executive members of the PSU Foundation, Gretchen Willison, vice president of development , and Wendy Lane, vice president of administration . All proceeds from the fundraiser after expenses will go for PSU student scholar– ships. The PSU Foundation is a non-profit organization which supports academic ex– cellence at PSU. The VAA is a non-profit organization which supports PSU athletics. Price of admission is $65 and can be pur– chased through the PSU Athletic Develop– ment Office, 464-4000. Cold fusion on campus This spring two PSU researchers duplicated part of the controversial "cold fusion" experiment which has caused such an uproar in the international science community. Physics professor John Dash and graduate student Patrick Keefe measured a flash of energy approximately 100 times more powerful than the low voltage they originally fed into the cold- fusion experiment. Laboratory scientists around the world are experimenting with what some refer to as "nuclear fusion in a jar," following the discoveries announced in March by chemists B. Stanley Pons of the University of Utah and Martin Fleischmann of the University of Southampton in England. This may be the first cold-fusion experi– ment in Oregon. Dash and Keefe employed materials similar to ones used by Pons and Fleischmann, immersing a palladium elec– trode in a beaker of heavy water. But Dash and Keefe also mixed in five milliliters of a special electrolyte solution of their own making, in order to increase conductivity. They are staying mum about the solution's properties because of patent potential. When an electrical current was applied , the reaction was immediate, reported Dash and Keefe. The palladium electrode, when examined through a scanning electron microscope, had experienced cratering, melting and partial vaporization of the metal not otherwise explainable, Dash said. " I'm not completely sure what happen– ed yet ,'' cautioned Dash, "But the energy output is impressive." If proven successful cold- fusion could have a staggering impact on the world's production of power. Fusion leaves behind helium , one of the most benign elements known to man , as well as producing what some researchers expect would be an almost limitless supply of electric power. Dash and Keefe's experiment is not without controversy. Two post-graduate chemistry researchers have challenged the pair's claims. But Dash plans to repeat the experiment once money and materials are gathered. Physics professor John Dash and graduate student Patrick Keefe(not pictured) con– ducted cold-fusion experiments on campus this spring. PSU 1