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Olympic Trials Page 5
Tuesday, July 6, 2004
Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 106, Issue 5
Professor
achieves
nanotech
advances
Jim Hutchison's research
may lead to creation of a
'nano-scale circuit'
BEN BROWN
NEWS REPORTER
Size does matter, or at least distance
does, according to University chemistry
professor jim Hutchison's research.
Last month, Hutchison and his team at
the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtech
nologies institute made a scientific
breakthrough when they discovered a
method to control the spacing between
nanoparticles.
Gerd Woehrle, a chemistry graduate stu
dent who worked with Hutchison to de
velop the technique, said this tool kit
might allow people to build nano-scale
circuits, something no one has yet been
able to accomplish.
Woehrle said circuits made with
nanoparticles would be smaller and
more sensitive than existing circuitry and
microchips made with these circuits
could hold more memory and could be
10 to 100 times smaller. These circuits
would also use a lower current than con
ventional ones.
Nanoparticles interact only at very
small distances: 1.5 to 2.8 nanometers,
which are one millionth of a millimeter.
Until now, scientists have not been able
to reliably create reactions between parti
cles, which have varied reactions at
different distances.
More fine-tuning of the exact distance
between particles allows scientists to bet
ter predict and control chemical reactions.
Dependable spacing is accomplished by
growing particles on a "DNA template."
Discovering how to reliably space and
tune these reactions is part of what Hutchi
son calls his "tool kit."
"We're making a nano-scale Lego set,"
Hutchison said. "Now we have to figure
out how to put the Legos together."
Hutchison said he is committed to
Please see NANOTECH, page 3
Thursday
afternoon at the
University
longhouse
construction site,
workers Rick
Parrish, Chuck
Hatcher, Jim
DeVorak, Gene
Koll and Kirk Miller
(left to right) of
Preferred
Construction, Inc.
and Hatcher
Crane Service,
Inc. maneuver
timbers into place
with the
assistance of
crane operator
Gary Smith.
Erik R. Bishoff
Online & Photo Editor
A new longhouse to call home
The Many Nations Longhouse will combine influences from various Native American traditions
OMIE DRAWHORN
NEWS REPORTER
onstaiction is under way for the
University's new Many Nations Long
V^yhouse, a $1.2 million project that has
been 10 years in the making.
The new longhouse, which is scheduled to be
finished by late October or early November, will
replace the original longhouse, a converted
World War II army barracks.
In the meantime, Native American students
are using a modular to hold their meetings.
"With the exception of the $350,000 that was
allocated from student building fees in 2002, the
project was funded with private funds raised over
the last five years, " said Dave Hubin, Executive
Assistant to the President, adding that students
funded one-third of the building's cost. "(The
new longhouse) will allow the entire University
to draw from and learn from native traditions."
A longhouse is a traditional community cen
ter common to many Native American peoples
in the Pacific Northwest and around the country,
according to the Many Nations Longhouse Web
site. The University's longhouse serves many pur
poses. It is a place for celebrating weddings, grad
uations, ceremonies and powwows, as well as for
studying, socializing and relaxing. Many consider
it a home away from home.
"During spring and winter powwows, students
and community members come to the long
house for a feast," said Gordon Betties, Interim
Steward of the longhouse.
Campus groups like the Native American Law
Students Association, Southern Oregon Research
Projects, Native American Student Union, North
west Indigenous Language Institute and the Center
for Study ofWomen in Society hold meetings there
Betties said the building is modeled after the
Kalapuya tribe's longhouses and designed
through many meetings with tribal elders, stu
dents and community members.
"This longhouse is the coming together of
many different ideas of many different cultures,"
Betties said.
Although the longhouse is modeled after the
Kalapuya, nine tribes have contributed some
item or idea to the project. For example, lumber
used in the new facility will come from the
Warm Springs tribe.
Betties said there is a stone at the entrance just
inside the Longhouse that touches the ground
because some tribes believe there should
be earth in the longhouse.
"The door to the east symbolizes the tribal val
ue of looking through the front door and greet
ing the rising sun," Betties said. "The spirit goes
into the west after people live their lives."
The longhouse will also have a skylight to rep
resent those tribes that enter the house through
the roof.
The original longhouse was beyond repair
and virtually unlivable. Hubin called it a "spiri
tually rich, structurally decrepit building."
'T he roof needed replacing," Betties said. “The
floor was so old, in some places you could actually
fall through."
Betties said it was cold in the winter and hot in
the summer because of faulty air conditioning.
James Elorendo, an academic advisor for the
Office of Multicultural Affairs, said the building
Please see LONGHOUSE, page 3
Oregon Marine dies in Iraq
A vehicle accident killed James Huston Jr. of
Hermiston, one of at least 24 soldiers with
close Oregon ties' to die since March 2003
ASSOCIATED PRESS
I lermiston, Ore — An Eastern Oregon marine has been
killed in action in Iraq, according to military officials.
In a brief news release, the Pentagon said that L^nce
Cpl. lames Huston Jr., 22, of Hermiston, died Friday in a
vehicle accident while his unit was responding to "hos
tile action" in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.
The military said he was a rifleman based out of
Camp Pendleton, Calif.
According to Camp Pendleton spokesman Nathaniel
Garcia, Huston joined the Marine Corps on Oct. 10,
2001. He had been awarded several military honors, in
cluding the Navy and Marine Corps achievement medal,
the Armed Forces expeditionary medal, the presidential
unit citation and the Sea Service deployment ribbon.
lames's brother Matthew, an electrician in the Navy,
told the East Oregonian newspaper in Pendleton that
knowing his brother's death was an accident helps the
family deal with their loss.
"I think we all take comfort knowing it wasn't in his
hands," Huston said. "It was an accident, and accidents
happen."
James Huston had been redeployed to Iraq in
March, after being in the country the first two months
Please see IRAQ, page 3
NEWS BRIEF
Endowment by alumnus
honors EMU’s first director
University graduate Andrew
"Andy" Berwick Jr. and his wife I>hyl
lis have given S 100,000 to start an en
dowment for student leadership activ
ities in the EMU.
The endowment, called the Richard
C. Williams Endowed Student Leader
ship Fund, is named after Berwick's for
mer mentor and the EMI I's first director.
The endowment will support work
shops, seminars, student and profes
sional staff members, and an infor
mation resource for campus.
"When 1 was chairman of the board
of the student union and Dick was
the director, I spent a great deal of
time talking with him about student
union problems and how to solve
them," said Berwick, a 1955 business
graduate. "He never gave me direct
answers. He always tried to make me
come up with my own solutions. His
mentoring helped me develop a lot of
self-confidence and organizational
skills that were a very important part
of my success in the business world."
Williams, who oversaw the EMU's
construction and served as director from
1948 to 1954, expressed surprise at the
endowment.
"I'm still at a loss for words,"
Williams said. "This is the nicest thing
that's ever been done for me."
— Jared Paben