PSU Magazine Winter 2001

AROUND THE PARK BLOCKS A lab opening frenzy • the new Tektronix C ircuit Des ign & Testing Lab. Tektronix, which has given more than $2.5 million to the College since 1984, donated equip– ment for the lab. Engineering and Computer Science one of a few school in the nation to offer a complete academic program in the design and testing of inte– grated circuits. The College of Engineering and Com– puter Science opened four state-of– the-a rt lab in the past year and will open another in February as part of its trategic plan to double the college's enrollment in the coming years. The labs represent a marriage of industry and academia--one that will attract students and aid local high– tech companies, says Executive Dean Michael Driscoll. The additions are: • a computer-aided engineering lab, • the Chemical Mechanical Planariza– tion (CMP) laboratory. It enables PSU and industry partners to explore improvements in semicon– ductor materials processing. PSU is the only university in the Northwest with a research lab equipped at this level. In addition, the college i scheduled to open a new materials lab in Febru– ary, and is being strongly considered by a consortium of companies led by Intel, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard to be the home fo r a pioneering open-source development lab for the Linux com– puter operating system. • the Integrated C ircuit (IC ) Des ign and Te t Laboratory. The lab includes an IC tester valued at The college also has dramatically increased its number of scholarships over the past year and is ahead of schedule in it plan to double enroll– ment-a goal that will likely be reached in 2005, says Driscoll. D including a rapid prototype machine, which creates 3-D working models. $1 million that was donated by Credence Systems Corp. The open– ing of the lab makes the Co llege of L E T T E R S Could it be alien DNA? I'm not a molecular biologist, but I can tell you that if Chad Baker's double helix (cover, fa ll 2000 PSU Maga– zine) i upposed to be DNA, it's not a variety that exists anywhere outside Mr. Baker's imagination . This double helix is left– handed; there i left-handed DNA, but it's extremely rare and it's never found in humans a far as I know. This double helix has 20 base pairs per twist; human DNA (and all DNA a far as I know) has 10 base pairs per twist because it's phys ically impos– sible for the bases to fit together in a twist looser or tighter than that. Thi dou– ble helix has color-coded base pa irs in at least three different color combinations. There are fo ur and only four base molecules, and they can only form two combinations: A with T and C with G . If blue represents A (for example), it's imposs ible fo r it to pa ir both with T and either C or G, a poss ibility this illustration asserts. It's not hard to get this right. You might con icier having an expert on your facu lty rev iew the illustra– tions you use and/or coach the artist in the future. Joan C. Cook Sent by e-mail 4 P U MAGAZINE WI TER 2001 To bum manure or not In the article on Professor John Hall's invention of a better camp stove (page 18, fa ll 2000 PSU Magazine) there is one item which I object to. "With the Bush– Buddy, users don't have to destroy trees for cooking; they can use twigs, or even dried animal waste. . . ." I don't object to referring to animal waste. I object to the ignorant use of that a a bonus. Loss of arid land , e pe– cially in Africa, can be traced, among other things, to the use of animal waste for burning rather than its use as fertilizer to keep so il viable for growing or grazing. I am sure Professor Hall's invention can be of real value to many, but it is not the definitive answer to the third world's cooking fu el problem. Marguerite Becker Sent by e-mail Based on my observations of denuded land and agriculture practices in southern Africa, I am inclined to think that the burning of some animal manure in a BushBuddy cookscove would register as but a minor ecological imbalance in the nitrogen cycle when measured against the backdrop of open grazing, over grazing, and climatic changes that have result in prolonged drought in this region. -John Hall, professor of economics PSU Magazine wants to hear from you. Send your comments to PSU Magazine, Portland State Univer– sity, PO Box 751, Portland OR 97207-0751; or to e-mail address psumag@pdx.edu . We reserve the right to edit for space and clarity.