UD's growing national reputation as The Technology University recently has grabbed an impressive number of headlines, too. When Paul R. Berger, an associate professor within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, reported that silicon, combined with small amounts of carbon and germanium, can convert some light into electricity, the discovery was covered by the Seattle Times, Buffalo News, Toledo Blade and Electronic Engineering Times.
Guang Gao's role in developing the world's first "petaflops" computer-one million times more powerful than the most advanced personal computer now on the market-and Daniel W. van der Weide's accomplishments within the new Center for Nanomachined Surfaces, were hailed in regional and trade publications. Gao is an associate professor and van der Weide is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. *
Corporate and cultural contributions
UD researchers are proposing concepts to help clean up the environment-on Earth and in the office, too. To improve working environments, Gary Weaver, assistant professor of business administration, studies corporate ethics policies. His research recently has been described in publications such as the Milwaukee Sun-Sentinel. Willett Kempton, an assistant professor of marine studies, has suggested strategies to improve air-quality on Earth by making electric cars more economically feasible. His ideas have been outlined by New Scientist, the Independent of London and other publications. Comments by Donald J. Puglisi, MBNA America Business Professor, appeared in an Associated Press article on Delaware's pro-business legal climate. The AP story appeared in the New York Times and elsewhere.
Since fiscal year 1990, The Scientist noted, UD funds allocated for academic units have grown by 45 percent (5.5 percent annually), while administrative units grew by 16 percent (2.15 percent annually), according to a seven-year budget analysis completed in Spring 1997 by UD's Budget Office.
As a major land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant and urban-grant institution with a growing roster of projects, UD research is appearing with increasing frequency on the pages of national newspapers and magazines. In recent months, for instance, a report by Craig Cary, College of Marine Studies, describing the deep-sea Pompeii worm as the world's most heat-tolerant creature, made its way into the New York Times, Washington Post, Times of London, San Diego-Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Science News and countless other outlets. Thus far, the story has reached a minimum of 6.5 million readers worldwide, and videotaped footage of Cary's research has been requested by such leading broadcast news operations as BBC World TV.
A UD study of a viper-venom protein that slows the spread of tumors in mice reached 1 million people who read Business Week, and Mary Ann McLane an assistant professor in the Department of Medical Technology, completed a national CBS Radio interview. Reuters Health America Information Services, The Irish Times and Medical Industry Today also covered the story.
The New York Times, Dallas Morning News, San Jose Mercury News and the Times of London, as well as The Chronicle of Higher Education, New Scientist, Bioscience and the United Press International wire service covered a UD study of firefly larvae signals. Completed by Douglas Tallamy, professor of entomology and applied ecology, the study has reached 2.7 million readers to date.
The Dallas Morning News, circulation 498,388, published a 1,465-word story to describe Biochemistry Prof. Arnold Rheingold's findings related to triboluminescence-the phenomenon that prompts certain materials to emit light when fractured or deformed. The story was republished in at least six top dailies, including the Miami Herald, San Diego Union-Tribune, Buffalo News, Orlando Sentinel and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to reach 2.2 million readers.
An environmental probe, invented by George W. Luther III, professor of marine studies, was lauded in the Los Angeles Times, and studies of the strong-yet-stretchy threads produced by marine mussels, directed by biochemist Herbert Waite, appeared in the New York Times and the Washington Post, among other publications. New Scientist described geological research by John Madsen, while composites based on soybean oil, developed by Richard Wool, associate professor of chemical engineering with the Center for Composite Materials, garnered attention from the BBC and the Times of London.
D's programmatic strengths aren't limited to science and engineering. Comments by Richard L. Venezky, Unidel Professor of Educational Studies, regarding a recent literacy study recently appeared in an Associated Press story, picked up by over 200 newspapers, reaching approximately 8.5 million readers.
USA Today and the Philadelphia Inquirer, meanwhile, reported on a new World Wide Web site created by J.A. Leo Lemay, Winterthur Professor of English, and departmental colleague Richard Duggan. The site describes the daily activities of Benjamin Franklin, and supplements Lemay's authoritative multi-volume biography of the great American statesman and inventor.
UD's Chandra L. Reedy, director of the only Ph.D. program in art conservation research in North America, was featured on a recent National Public Radio "Talk of the Nation" segment. Reedy carried the banner for UD's highly rated Departments of Art Conservation, Art History and Museum Studies.
Also in recent months, a University Gallery exhibition of photographs by the late P.H. Polk, an influential African American artist whose collection includes rare images of scientist George Washington Carver, generated a lengthy feature in the Philadelphia Inquirer, which reports a circulation of 457,932.
Alumni also help increase visibility for UD's outstanding fine arts programs, from photography to drama. Artist Don Fear, for example, recipient of a 1986 master's degree in photography, was the subject of a Feb. 19 article in the Washington Post, a paper with a circulation of 834,641 readers.