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Since 1900 \ Volume 106, Issue 108 | TUesday, March 29,2005
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The Hewlett-Packard-donated microscope will aid
in research from archeology to nanoscience
BY EVA SYLWESTER
NEWS REPORTER
When Hewlett-Packard in Cor
vallis recently replaced one of its
microscopes with a newer model,
the company faced the task of find
ing a home for the old one. The
scanning Auger microscope, which
is about 10 years old and would
cost more than $1 million to buy
new today, was donated to the Uni
versity, and will be up and running
in the basement of Willamette Hall
beginning this week.
“It was kind of a win-win thing,”
Skip Rung, executive director of the
Oregon Nanoscience and Mi
crotechnologies Institute, said. “In
dustry needs the absolute latest...
so an older machine that’s perfectly
good but maybe not quite as fast is
a perfect match for a university.”
The scanning Auger microscope
focuses on the properties of chemi
cal surfaces by firing electrons into
a material and collecting the signal
from the very top layer of the ma
terial. For example, a less detailed
instrument would examine a piece
of aluminum foil and find no ele
ments but aluminum, but a micro
scope that examines surfaces
would also note the oxygen mole
cules collecting on the surface of
the aluminum.
“It allows you to look at the
composition of matter on a very
small scale,” University chemistry
professor Dave Johnson said.
Johnson compared the function
of the scanning Auger microscope
in nanotechnology to the function
of an optical microscope in biology.
“When you get down to smaller
dimensions, these become your
eyes,” he said.
Instruments like the scanning
Auger microscope have a variety of
uses. Doug Nelson, a field service
engineer for Physical Electronics,
which manufactured the micro
scope that Hewlett-Packard donat
ed, said in the 1980s Ford Motor
Co. used one to find out why paint
wasn’t sticking to the wheels of its
vehicles and allowed it to correct
the problem.
Johnson saidanother application
of surface technology is medicine’s
“lab on a chip,” where multiple
tests can be simultaneously
conducted on a sample of blood
on a single microchip. Certain
regions of the chip have specific
functions, and surface technology
allows one to examine whether the
regions are performing their
intended functions.
At Hewlett-Packard, which man
ufactures inkjet printheads, the
scanning Auger microscope was
used on thin film printheads to an
alyze the composition of materials
and why those materials fail, said
Ron DeBord, the company’s ana
lytical lab engineering manager.
“They had people from all over
the country wanting this piece of
equipment,” Johnson said. “We
were fortunate they sent it here be
cause we have CAMCOR set up
with world-class people running
these pieces of equipment.”
CAMCOR, or the Center for
Advanced Materials Characteriza
tion in Oregon, which Johnson
directs, was formed to increase
the use of certain technology at
the University.
“It was a realization that the Uni
versity has all this expensive equip
ment, and in order for it to be af
fordable, the equipment has to be
used a lot,” Johnson said. CAM
COR is a University facility, not a
department, so faculty from fields
as varied as archaeology and art
history, as well as people from in
dustries and other universities, use
CAMCOR equipment.
“They have questions that the
equipment can answer, so the
CAMCOR staff helps those folks,”
Johnson said.“CAMCOR has a cen
tral facility that’s also open to the
state university system and busi
nesses, and we really like that con
cept,” DeBord said.
Tim Bobosky | Photographer
Hewlett-Packard donated this Physical- Electronics 680 Scanning Auger micro
scope, which enables research at the molecular level, to the University. Surface an
alytical scientist Stephen Golledge will manage use of the microscope.
Stephen Golledge, CAMCOR’s
surface analytical scientist, said the
scanning Auger microscope is an
important addition to CAMCOR’s
collection of machines.
“If someone were to come in
knowing about surface analytical
techniques, the one thing they’d
say we were missing is an Auger,”
Golledge said.
The scanning Auger microscope
will also be shared with other insti
tutions via ONAM1. ONAMI,
formed during the last state legisla
tive session, is a collaboration be
tween the University, Oregon State
University, Portland State Universi
ty and the Pacific Northwest Na
tional Laboratory to facilitate the
sharing of scientific equipment.
“It makes no sense to have one
of these at each university to be
used 10 percent of the time," John
son said. He added that scientists
from OSU frequently use the Uni
versity’s equipment, and while
PSU scientists don’t visit as often
due to the greater travel distance,
they sometimes send the Universi
ty samples to analyze.
Rung, who became involved in
higher education after retiring as
Hewlett-Packard’s research and de
velopment director in 2001, said
Hewlett-Packard and ONAM1 have
worked together in thb past.
“Absolutely, they’re one of our
key sponsors,” Rung said. Hewlett
Packard has also donated the use of
a building in Corvallis to ONAMI.
DeBord praised the relation
ship between Hewlett-Packard
and the University.
“They’ve provided support to us
over the years by providing quality
students,” he said. “They’ve also
done some analysis for us.... It re
ally has been a good relationship.”
evasylwester® dailyemerald, com
New pact
eases way
for school
transfers
The University's agreement with
an Oregon community college
allows for seamless transitions
BY ADAM CHERRY
NEWS REPORTER
Prospective students will soon be able to
transfer with greater ease between Southwest
ern Oregon Community College and the Univer
sity thanks to the Dual Admission and Enroll
ment Program, a recently signed pact between
the two institutions.
Beginning fall 2005, the pact will allow stu
dents to simultaneously enroll in Southwest
ern and the University. Administrators hope
this will help students gain a more “seamless”
higher education from Oregon schools.
The initiative joins the Oregon Transfer Mod
ule as another step the University has taken this
year to bridge the gap between community and
four-year colleges. The module, which was ap
proved Feb. 3, is a 45-credit package designed
to transfer easily between community colleges
and the University.
Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Man
agement and Director Martha Pitts said the Uni
versity is trying to respond to Oregon students’
changing behaviors. More students are transfer
ring between community and four-year institu
tions than in the past.
“We want to be responsive in a way that
doesn’t put any unnecessary administrative
roadblocks in the way of students seamlessly
completing their college education,” Pitts said.
Pitts added that the University hopes to
duplicate the pact in agreements with other
community colleges.
Chris Johnson, Oregon Coast Culinary Insti
tute recruitment and retention specialist for
Southwestern Community College, said he
approves of the program.
“I think it makes a nice smooth transition
from the community college to the university
level,” he said. “It offers students the opportu
nity to know where they’re headed. It’s easier
to work through trouble and problems if you
know where you ’re going in the end. ”
“Students are going to have the advantage of
being sure of their admission to Oregon and
have access to advisors,” said Mike Gaudette,
PACT, page 8
^ Programs Finance Committee
Budget decision under fire by student group leaders
Stipend reductions and cuts in paid positions have
sparked a controversy days before a senate vote
BY PARKER HOWELL
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
Student group leaders continued
Monday to question and criticize a
controversial decision by the commit
tee that dispenses student money to re
duce pay for some leaders and cut paid
positions for many groups.
About 23 groups will lose stipend
positions next year under the budget
finalized by the Programs Finance
Committee on March 17, including
the Black Student Union; Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, TYansgender, Queer Al
liance; MEChA and the Survival Cen
ter, according to budget documents
released Monday.
The cuts reduce the PFC’s budget by
about $108,000, allowing the commit
tee to lower its overspent budget to
within the 7 percent funding increase
allowed by the Green Tape Notebook.
Now some group leaders say they
will continue to contest the roughly
$5.23 million budget, which is slated
to go before the ASUO Student Senate
for approval on Wednesday.
Approximately nine of those groups
will lose paid positions altogether, ac
cording to the documents. The new
pay model restricts the number of paid
positions a group can have based on
the amount of money it spends on pro
gramming, exempting groups with less
than $3,000 in program funds from re
ceiving paid positions.
Although some groups will receive
funding for fewer positions, groups
can ask to split the money between
multiple leaders, PFC member Michael
Sherman said.
Leaders from several groups, includ
ing some that will lose positions, at
tended the Programs Council meeting,
which was originally called to discuss
a potential amendment to the PFC
budget — an amendment that was not
created because it was not possible, ac
cording to PFC officials.
Asked what PFC members did to
work on the amendment during the
break, Sherman said they consid
ered ways to alter the budget.
“I seriously went home and
thought about it,” he said. “The con
clusion that 1 came to was that an
amendment was not possible. ”
Sherman also defended the new pay
rates, saying there is “really no rhyme
or reason” for some pay rates under
the model currently in place.
Native American Student Union
Co-Director Natasha Joseph ex
pressed concerns that the PFC did
not follow through on a commitment
to address the pay model.
“Once again, you’ve lied and
once again you’ve not done your
jobs properly and it’s just kind of
PFC, page 5