Oregon daily emerald., July 20, 2004, Image 1

An independent newspaper
www.dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 106, Issue 9
John Moseley
Senior vice
president and
provost
Higher Ed board proposes 2005-07 budget
A 3.6 percent tuition
increase will be in line
with median family income
OMIE DRAWHORN
NEWS REPORTER
The Oregon State Board of Higher Educa
tion has proposed a $710 million budget
that increases tuition for students by 3.6 per
cent, a rate the board hopes will keep higher
education "accessible and affordable" for the
2005-07 biennium.
The budget represents a 6.4 percent in
crease from the 2003-05 budget of $667
million.
University Senior Vice President and
Provost John Moseley said the budget
represents the amounts necessary to
maintain funding for programs into the
next biennium, while accommodating
unavoidable increases.
Oregon University System spokeswoman
Di Saunders called the budget "more stu
dent-focused," adding that it would im
prove access, affordability and quality.
Don Blair, chair of the Finance/Bud
get/Audit/Personnel/Real Estate Commit
tee, said the Board's criteria for drafting the
budget included making degrees more
readily achievable, investing directly in cre
ating ties to workforce demands and in
vesting directly in "knowledge creation."
"Affordability and access are guide-words
for this board," Saunders said. "All concepts
revolve around these ideas."
Some board members proposed a 5
percent tuition increase. Saunders said
board member Tim Nesbitt suggested in
stead raising tuition 3.6 percent — the per
centage increase in median family income
projected over the same period — to make
higher education more affordable.
Please see BUDGET, page 4
Physics
professor
Michael
Raymer and
associate
chemistry
professor
Andrew
Marcus
demonstrate
a laser used
in their
research to
explore
molecular
reactions.
The University
recently
received a
total of $1.1
million as part
of a grant to
study the
interactions
between light
and matter.
Lauren Wimer
Freelance
Photographer
OREGON SCIENCE
Tools of the trade
Oregon’s new Laboratory for Quantum Control will further atomic
research and enable ‘internationally competitive’ experiments
BEN BROWN
NEWS REPORTER
he Oregon Center for Optics (OCO)
is building and equipping a new lab
JL on campus that will allow University
researchers to probe and control the be
havior of atoms.
A $510,500 grant from the M. J. Murdock
Charitable Trust, combined with $600,000
from the University, will fund the building
of the new Laboratory for Quantum Con
trol, the first of its kind in Oregon.
The lab's centerpiece will be two
state-of-the-art laser systems, which will
help University researchers study the dy
namics and structure of light and matter.
These lasers will control atoms with light
pulses as short as 10 femtoseconds, or ex
actly one hundredth of a millionth of a
millionth of a second.
Physics professor Michael Raymer said
this money will give researchers a lab that
is both quiet and temperature-controlled,
allowing them to carry out experiments on
semiconductors and nanometer-thin films
on an "internationally competitive" level.
University researchers hope to use the
insights gained from molecular research to
create computers with increased capability,
better fiber optic communications, greater
control of chemical reactions, and even
create new forms of electronics.
"It's absolutely clear that basic discovery
now leads directly to new technologies,"
Raymer said in a press release. "The cut
ting-edge science that is going on now will
lead to inventions we can't even imagine."
Associate professor of physical chemistry
Andrew Marcus said Moore's Law, which
states that the capacity of computer chips
doubles every 18 months, makes this re
search important to the computer industry.
At that rate, in 20 years the wires on micro
chips will be a single molecule wide, but re
searchers don't currently know how elec
tronics function on that scale. They are sure
that miniaturizing current technologies will
not work, however.
"All the rules change as we enter the
quantum level," said Marcus. "We're dis
covering whole new ways to think about
information."
Marcus said the lab's fixed temperature is
essential to research, because lasers have to
be focused to a minuscule beam width, of
ten as small as a single molecule, and left for
hours. The slightest temperature variation
could shift a mirror and cause the laser to
lose focus, costing researchers hours of work.
Noise control is also important, because
the signals given off by the molecule are so
weak that almost any noise could drown
them out. To compensate, the new lab will
be sited in the basement of one of the sci
ence buildings and will have an independ
ent ventilation and cooling system that
will maintain constant temperature within
one half of one degree Fahrenheit, Marcus
said.
Raymer said the lab will also function as
a good place for physicists and chemists to
work together in a joint research laborato
ry, allowing for greater collaboration be
tween the
departments and a broader education for
the students working in the lab.
The M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust was
created by the will of the late Melvin J.
Murdock, who co-founded Tektronix Inc.
Please see OPTICS, page 4
KWVA radio
budget request
faces scrutiny
The ASUO Student Senate Thursday
approved the group's seven transfer
requests and one by the Women's Center
MEGHANN M. CUNIFF
FREELANCE REPORTER
The ASUO Student Senate approved special requests from
campus radio station KWVA and the ASUO Women's Center,
but not without serious debate over the legitimacy and ne
cessity of a number of requests.
KWVA made seven transfer requests, totaling $1,634,
to cover equipment repairs, purchases and other
miscellaneous costs.
KWVA General Manager Charlotte -
Nisser said the transfers were 'fiscally
responsible," because they would allow
the station to put all allocated funds to
use. "KWVA is a very fiscally responsi
ble organization. That's why we're here
tonight — because it's necessary that we
maintain that fiscal responsibility and
make these transfers," Nisser said.
Requested transfers included $289 *
from the Telecom account and $679
rrom tne programs director stipend .
into the equipment account to cover Kevin Day
the costs of a dual cassette deck and a ASUO Senator
closed-circuit television system.
The money earmarked for the director stipend was avail
able because last year's programs director was not a student
and was therefore not entitled to a salary, Nisser said.
Purchasing the equipment in the past fiscal year rather
than this fiscal year may not have been necessary, Nisser said,
but was sensible. The cassette deck was purchased for the
third studio, built earlier this year, and the television system
was bought to protect equipment and combat theft and
in-studio alcohol consumption.
"The term 'necessary' is variable there. It's what you want
to put on it," Nisser said.
Senator Kevin Day expressed concern over making un
necessary purchases, rather than letting the money go back
to students via the Senate surplus. "If it's not necessary or
vital to have, I think students also would like to save some
bucks," he said.
"It just made the fiscal sense to do it out of 03-04 because
those funds were there," Nisser said.
Other concerns centered around the timing of the
requests, which were made after the equipment had already
been purchased. Senator Toby Hill-Meyer said the Senate
was in "an interesting situation," because the purchases had
been made prior to the transfer requests, making it seem
as though the transfers have to be made to save the
group from a deficit.
Nisser said that KWVA has fund raising that can be used
to cover the costs should the requests not be granted, but
because there are other funds that could be used, "It would
Please see SENATE, page 4