ANNUAL REPORT 2005 –2006

[Link]/research OFFICE OF RESEARCH

& GRADUATE STUDIES
RESEARCH & GRADUATE STUDIES 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS WELCOME TO RESEARCH AND GRADUATE STUDIES

Physical Sciences & Engineering Research is on the move at the Research, focused on efficiency,
Exploring the final frontier – extreme light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 University of Nebraska–Lincoln. conservation and alternative
Nano discovery is golden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 In the past year we achieved record energy research. The Four Corners
New center fuels energy research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 levels of external funding, extended Research Alliance is building on
Imparting the human touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 our research capabilities into shared regional strengths among
Tackling transportation challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 exciting new areas and forged Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and
Concrete results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 important regional, national and Missouri, as is our newly funded
Dunes divulge mega-drought clues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 international partnerships. regional University Transportation
New drought tools aid tough decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Center. And the Nebraska Center
We have tripled our external funding for Virology has expanded its
Life Sciences
for research in the past 10 years. HIV/AIDS research and training
Unraveling immune system intricacies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
New centers in transportation programs in Zambia to a similar
Solving evolutionary mysteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
and energy research, a major focus in China.
Plant transformation lab is biotech pipeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Organic farming research expanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 challenge grant from the National
Training international HIV/AIDS researchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Endowment for the Humanities As our research programs grow, so
Expanding partnerships with Zambia, China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 and significant funding for drought does our commitment to technology
research are among the recent commercialization and economic
Humanities & The Arts successes contributing to our funding development for Nebraska.
‘Poet of democracy’ goes digital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 increases. Our major established John Brasch, our new associate
GIS atlas reveals railroad’s instrumental role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 research centers, including the vice chancellor for technology
Center enhances humanities research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Nebraska Center for Virology, the Chancellor Harvey Perlman and development, brings to the position
Vice Chancellor for Research Prem Paul
The arts in action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Materials Research Science and experience as both a former professor
Engineering Center and the Redox Biology and Plant of marketing in the UNL College of Business Administration
Social Sciences Genome centers, continue to flourish, attracting talented and a career as an entrepreneur and chief executive
Smoking’s impact on babies’ behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 faculty and advancing the science in their fields. officer of a highly successful manufacturing business.
Horses a powerful prevention tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Genes and political temperament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
UNL research is establishing a national and international An increase in undergraduate and graduate student
Technology Development presence in new areas. Our recently dedicated Diocles enrollments and recognition of talented students and
Moving discoveries to the marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Extreme Light Laboratory houses one of the world’s most faculty as Fulbright and Goldwater scholars and NSF
powerful, ultra-fast, high-intensity lasers and enables our CAREER and NIH K Award winners shows the promise
Education & Outreach physicists to pioneer the new research area of high field of UNL’s future.
Turning loose Tekbots as teaching tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 science. Our Center for Digital Research in the Humanities
Undergrads experience research firsthand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 is being recognized as a national leader in this exciting field. This annual report tells only a few of the successes realized
Goldwater recipients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 UNL’s National Drought Mitigation Center is the world by our scientists, engineers and scholars in the past year.
Fossils going online for easy access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 leader in drought preparedness and, through partnerships Great things are happening at UNL and we are confident
Training Native American teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 with our computer scientists, is becoming a research force that our continuing pursuit of excellence and investment
in the development of tools for drought risk management. in faculty will sustain this momentum. Research truly is
Extending Our Reach A UNL chemist’s discovery of gold nanocages and a on the move at UNL.
Celebrating excellence, collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 chemical engineer’s breakthrough development of
a nanoparticle-based touch sensor brought worldwide
Financials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
attention following their publication in PNAS and Science.

New regional, national and international partnerships are

creating opportunities and yielding success. A unique
Cover Art: partnership between UNL and the Nebraska Public Power Prem S. Paul
A photo illustration of the beam path of UNL’s Diocles Laser, a 100 terawatt, ultra-fast laser
District established the Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Vice Chancellor for Research & Dean of Graduate Studies
with the highest combination of peak and average power of any laser in the United States.
2 PHYSICAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING 3

“When you focus the laser to its highest intensity, you are creating
conditions that have never been produced on earth.”
Donald Umstadter

EXPLORING THE FINAL FRONTIER – EXTREME LIGHT

More power than 100,000 Hoover Dams. But only for 30 Diocles is capable of producing the same level of radiation Research conducted in such extreme conditions inevitably
femtoseconds – 30 billionths of one millionth of a second. in a space the size of a living room – taking the “big” out leads to new scientific discoveries and eventually to new
of “big science.” technologies that benefit society, Umstadter said.
This is the Diocles Laser, housed in UNL’s new multimillion-
dollar Extreme Light Laboratory. Diocles and physicist Donald Small size and 100 terawatts of power also mean Diocles Diocles’ extreme light is enabling Umstadter and his
Umstadter, principal scientist and laboratory director, are can enable new technologies and applications never before team to pioneer a new research area called high field
putting UNL at the forefront of international high field possible. Diocles produces x-rays that could “see through” science, which involves the nonlinear optics of ultra-high
physics and laser research. four-inch-thick steel to detect bombs hidden in a cargo intensity lasers interacting with plasmas, or ionized gas.
container, hairline cracks in a jet turbine or hardware This is both basic and applied science that has applications
“I believe we have one of the world’s state-of-the-art laser shielded with high-tech camouflage. The laser is small and for advanced radiation sources and particle accelerators.
laboratories,” said Umstadter, who holds the Leland J. inexpensive enough for hospitals to potentially use it as a Umstadter’s work is funded by the National Science
and Dorothy H. Olson Chair in Atomic, Molecular and proton source for cutting-edge cancer therapy, a technology Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy and the
Optical Physics at UNL. “We hope with our laser to reach for which Umstadter holds four patents. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
the highest intensity ever produced by any laser in
the world.” But most interesting of all, Umstadter said, is to find out “For us, extreme light is the final frontier,” Umstadter said.
Above: Donald Umstadter what happens when light is at its most intense. “Diocles is taking us where none have gone before.”
Top: A technician adjusts the Diocles Laser. Diocles is remarkable not only because it is extremely
powerful and ultra-fast, but because it is so small. The “When you focus the laser to its highest intensity, you are
huge synchrotron accelerators conventionally used to creating conditions that have never been produced on
generate intense light in the form of radiation require earth,” he said. “In fact, we can produce pressures that are
giant ring structures almost a mile in circumference. greater than those at the core of the sun.”
4 PHYSICAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING 5

NANO DISCOVERY IS GOLDEN

Talk about your gilded cage. UNL scientists studying computer, researchers generated many theoretical fingerprints
gold’s structure at the nanoscale discovered hollow of the gold clusters’ structure.
cage-like structures made of pure gold atoms.
UNL researchers worked with physicist Lai-Sheng Wang of
Research by UNL chemist Xiao Cheng Zeng, graduate the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Washington
research assistant Satya Bulusu and colleagues revealed State University. Wang’s team provided spectral data or
the first free-standing hollow cage structures composed fingerprints of the gold clusters, made by smashing gold
of clusters of pure metal atoms. They are the metallic with a laser beam. Clusters containing different numbers
equivalent of buckyballs, the hollow carbon clusters made of atoms produce a unique spectral fingerprint.
famous partly by their catchy name. Their findings were
featured on the cover of the Proceedings of the National By comparing spectral and theoretical fingerprints, UNL
Academy of Sciences in May 2006. researchers identified the structures of the 15-, 16-, 17- and
18-atom gold clusters. “We were shocked when we first saw
Unlike carbon buckyballs, which contain 60 atoms, the these,” Zeng said. “No one expected the cage structure.”
golden hollow cages are composed of 15, 16, 17 or 18
atoms and can hold an atom inside. Scientists might Zeng’s team is studying the golden hollow cages’ potential
someday be able to harness these nanocages to carry to carry nanomaterials and their prospects as catalysts to
useful guest atoms for medical or industrial purposes. speed chemical processes.

Zeng’s team was the first to combine quantum chemistry Grants from the U.S. Department of Energy, the National
calculations with a powerful computerized search technique Science Foundation-funded Materials Research Science and
to identify previously unknown nanoscale structures and Engineering Center at UNL and the Nebraska Research
substances. With the help of UNL’s PrairieFire super- Initiative support this research.
“We were shocked when we first saw these. No one expected the cage structure.”
Xiao Cheng Zeng
Above: Xiao Cheng Zeng (right) and graduate research assistant Satya Bulusu.
Opposite: An illustration shows a hollow nanocage made of 17 gold atoms.
6 PHYSICAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING 7

NEW CENTER FUELS ENERGY RESEARCH

Abundant water, wind, fertile land and
sunlight have made Nebraska an agricultural
giant. These same resources may position the
state to be an energy powerhouse.

Consistent supplies of reasonably priced

grain and biomass feedstocks from irrigated
agriculture, a large cattle industry to use
byproducts and an excellent transportation
infrastructure give Nebraska the potential to
become the nation’s leading biofuels producer,
said Kenneth Cassman, the UNL agronomist
who heads the Nebraska Center for Energy
Sciences Research.

The center, established in 2006 through a

partnership between UNL and Nebraska
Public Power District (NPPD), supports
promising research to develop renewable
energy and enhance energy efficiency.
NPPD provided $5 million in startup funding
for the center, establishing a “strategic
partnership with UNL that will help address
the diversity needed to produce power for
future generations of Nebraskans,” said
Ron Asche, NPPD president and CEO.

Biofuels are just one focus for the center,

Cassman said. “We’re interested in anything
that has the potential to reduce dependence on
fossil fuels and foster economic opportunities.”
Kenneth Cassman
Plentiful wind for power generation is another of
Nebraska’s comparative advantages in renewable energy UNL’s energy center will fund both new projects and diverse
that hold tremendous long-term economic development energy-related research under way at UNL, which includes
potential, he said. biomass conversion and bio-refineries, advanced technologies
to improve energy generation efficiency, improved irrigation
NPPD greatly expanded the state’s wind power generation efficiency, carbon sequestration, highly efficient batteries,
capacity in 2005 by opening its 36-turbine Wind Energy solid oxide fuels cells and ethanol-to-hydrogen conversion.
“We’re interested in anything that has the potential to reduce Facility near Ainsworth, Neb. It’s the state’s largest wind
dependence on fossil fuels and foster economic opportunities.” power operation, generating 60 megawatts of power, The center encourages collaboration among individual
and offers UNL and NPPD engineers an ideal laboratory researchers “so that the scientific and economic impact can
Kenneth Cassman for wind power research. be greater than the sum of the parts,” Cassman said.

Opposite: NPPD wind turbines and a windmill near Ainsworth, Neb.

8 PHYSICAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING 9

IMPARTING THE HUMAN TOUCH

A nanoparticle-based sensor with sensitivity rivaling

human fingers could help surgeons more precisely
remove cancerous tumors or give robots a delicate
sense of touch.

UNL chemical engineers invented the thin-film sensor,

which is far more sensitive than available devices. Ravi
Saraf, the Lowell E. and Betty
Anderson Professor of Chemical
Engineering, and doctoral
student Vivek Maheshwari
created the thin film using
layers of gold and cadmium
sulfide nanoparticles separated
by dielectric polymers.
The sensor could be used in minimally invasive surgery to Top left: The sensitivity of the UNL-developed
nanoparticle-based thin-film sensor on this
The touch resolution of the let surgeons remotely “feel” tissue, tumors or gallstones.
glass plate rivals that of human touch.
human finger is 40 microns or Because cancer tissue sometimes is harder than normal
40 millionths of a meter, Saraf tissue, the sensor also could help surgeons better determine Above: The sensor detects minute details
said. “Using nanoparticles, whether they’ve removed all cancerous cells. By pressing when a penny is pressed into the thin film.
we can attain resolution of at the sensor against a tissue sample on a glass slide, even a
least 20 microns, which is cluster of just a few cancer cells could be seen.
about 100 times better than
what is out there today.” The It is this cancer-fighting potential that most interests Saraf.
team reported its findings “I am excited about this because I want to try to decipher
in Science. Vivek Maheshwari (left) and Ravi Saraf. cancer at the single-cell level.”

Pressing the film against a surface pushes the nanoparticles Existing sensing devices are low-resolution, expensive and rigid, The sensor also could be used to give robots a more
together, creating changes in electrical current and light making them unsuitable for surgical applications. The UNL humanlike sense of touch, which would be a major stride
emissions that a digital camera can capture. For example, sensor should be significantly cheaper and offers resolution on in enhancing robots’ capability to perform delicate tasks.
when the sensor is pressed against a penny, it detects par with a human finger. It also can be made to cover an area
creases in Abraham Lincoln’s clothing. of one square meter or larger and can cover complex shapes. The National Science Foundation and Office of Naval
Research support this research.
10 PHYSICAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING 11

TACKLING TRANSPORTATION CHALLENGES

While the U.S. transportation system is among the the nation’s transportation system.” For example, improving
world’s best, it faces numerous challenges. UNL is railway crossings is an important safety issue in many
expanding its research to address those problems through Nebraska towns, which may have up to 150 trains passing
new partnerships and collaborations with neighboring through daily.
states and universities, government agencies and industry.
MATC’s research will center on improving safety and mini-
UNL received a $6.2 million grant in 2006 from the U.S. mizing the risk associated with this increased freight congestion,
Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Rilett said. Safety research related to rural transportation will
Technology Administration designating UNL’s Mid-America be a particular focus. Key rural safety research areas include
Transportation Center (MATC) as a regional University
Transportation Center. The UNL-based center serves Region
traffic control, animal crashes, safer at-grade railway crossings
and work zones, and the development of more effective CONCRETE RESULTS
7, which includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. and economical roadside crash barriers.
UNL’s partners in MATC include Kansas State University, Maher Tadros’ pioneering research is transforming Another innovation, the Inverted Tee System, uses
University of Kansas, University of Missouri-Rolla and The University Transportation Center designation is bridges and other structures in places as diverse as pre-fabricated parts assembled on site, minimizing the cost
Lincoln University of Missouri. The Nebraska Department an outgrowth of efforts to integrate transportation Nebraska, India and Australia. Expanding the strength, of short bridges. Tadros’ NUDECK, a prefabricated system
of Roads and the Kansas and Missouri Departments of research, education and outreach at UNL and three versatility and utility of concrete has earned the UNL patented by UNL, also speeds construction and creates
Transportation also will play a key role in the center. other University of Nebraska campuses. The UNL-based civil engineering professor an international reputation longer-lasting bridge decks. Yet another invention, the
Nebraska Transportation Center, established in 2006, as a bridge engineering expert. NUTie, made of fiber-reinforced plastic, is used to
Large increases in freight movements are a critical issue brings together the transportation expertise of the university, construct stronger, more energy-efficient building walls.
effecting highway and railway safety, said Laurence Rilett, industry and government, including the Nebraska Safety and economics are key considerations in bridge
UNL civil engineer and MATC director. “This is particularly Department of Roads, which provided a large share design; Tadros’ inventions address both. He developed Tadros says a strong partnership with the Nebraska
true in the Midwest, which is literally at the crossroads of of the initial funding. high-performance concrete that is nearly as strong as steel Department of Roads enables UNL and the state to
and can be used in bridges and buildings. implement research innovations that routinely garner
The concrete contains tiny steel fibers like international attention. Recently, in rural Ravenna, Neb.,
those used in steel-belted tires, making it this team built the nation’s first post-tensioned, tied-arch
strong enough even to withstand bombs. bridge, a UNL-patented design that uses steel tubes filled
with concrete and reinforced with steel tendons to make
Tadros is best known for his NU I-Girder, the bridge less prone to fracture. Tadros is working on
which allows longer bridge spans between an Omaha overpass that he expects will earn national
supports using shallower structural depths. attention. It will be built off-site in two halves, then rolled
Several states and foreign countries now into place over a weekend. “The traveling public will see
use the girder; researchers are modifying very little (road) closure,” he said.
the design for use in other structures.
Engineers may watch Tadros closely but his success lies
in how little the public notices his work – on the road
or in the budget.

The Nebraska Department of Roads, National

Cooperative Highway Research Program and industry
are among funders for Tadros’ research at the
university’s Peter Kiewit Institute in Omaha.

Left: Laurence Rilett

Above: Babrak Niazi of the Nebraska

Department of Roads (left) and Maher
Tadros in front of an innovative new bridge.
12 PHYSICAL SCIENCES & ENGINEERING 13

NEW DROUGHT TOOLS AID TOUGH DECISIONS

New Web-based technologies being developed at
UNL are giving farmers and ranchers better tools to
contend with drought.

A partnership between the UNL’s National Drought

Mitigation Center and Department of Computer Science
and Engineering combines the expertise of climatologists
and computer scientists to bring cutting-edge computer
technologies to producers’ decision-making. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency
provided three-year partnership agreements totaling more
than $7 million for these UNL-based projects in 2005.

UNL computer scientists have created the National

Agricultural Decision Support System ([Link]
to host a variety of weather data and tools that help
producers assess drought and other crop-production
risks and aid their decision-making.

“We’re working together to identify the needs and then

tailor the tools for producers,” said Steve Goddard, an
associate professor of computer science and director
of the Laboratory for Advanced Research Computing.
DUNES DIVULGE MEGA-DROUGHT CLUES The National Drought Mitigation Center
([Link] also has a variety of online
Nebraska’s Sandhills, a region of rolling, prairie Although drought regularly occurs across the Great Plains, decision-support tools in various development
grass-covered sand dunes and wetlands, was once a modern droughts haven’t been severe enough to destabilize stages, including:
swirling desert. UNL scientists determined the weather the dunes. • Drought Impact Reporter, which allows users to
conditions that existed the last time the dunes were enter information about drought’s specific impacts
on the move about a thousand years ago. If these “We think we know drought, but that’s probably wrong,” said across the United States.
conditions return, they could again turn the verdant David Loope, a UNL geoscientist. “It was a whole different • Vegetation Drought Response Index, which uses
Sandhills, the Western Hemisphere’s largest sand dune scene in medieval time than it was in the 1930s and ‘50s.” satellite and climate data for a square-mile by
area, into a wasteland. square-mile analysis of drought conditions.
Researchers don’t know what caused the wind shift, but • Continued improvements in the U.S. Drought
Using dune core samples and a computer program knowing it happened in the past indicates it can happen Monitor, a weekly national map that the drought
that determines how dunes form under different again. “That these conditions existed only a thousand years center produces in partnership with USDA and the
wind patterns, researchers identified a historically ago is sobering,” he said. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
unprecedented, large-scale wind shift that cut off • Vegetation Outlook, which will provide projections
moisture to the region during the growing season. This research, published in Science, is part of UNL’s larger of general vegetation conditions several weeks
This shift created a mega-drought far worse than the Sand Hills Biocomplexity Project, funded by the National in advance.
Dust Bowl in much of the western U.S. during the Science Foundation, to understand the region’s hydrology, • Drought Risk Atlas, which will provide users a
Medieval Warm Period, 800 to 1,000 years ago. ecology and geology. comprehensive picture of the history, frequency,
Above: Grass-covered dunes of the eastern Sandhills provide clues to a intensity, duration and trends of droughts over
medieval mega-drought. the past century.
Top: Drought-ravaged pastures in southwest Nebraska.
14 LIFE SCIENCES 15

UNRAVELING IMMUNE SYSTEM INTRICACIES CAREER/K Awards

Despite their differences, plants and animals share Once inside the plant, the toxic protein mix acts like a Several UNL faculty earned National Science
some of the same molecular components for defending burglar, cutting wires to a home’s alarm system, disabling Foundation or National Institutes of Health career
themselves against outside invaders. That’s why the the defense system from calling for reinforcements and development awards in fiscal year 2005-06.
National Institutes of Health is funding UNL plant allowing the intruders to enter unimpeded. NSF’s CAREER and NIH’s K Award programs
pathologist James Alfano’s innovative work. provide funding to help exceptional faculty
Now Alfano is studying which plant components HopU1 develop as outstanding teacher-scholars and
Alfano discovered a protein – HopU1 – that disrupts a targets. That’s key to learning which components are garner independent research funding.
plant’s immune system when the pathogen Pseudomonas important to plant immunity. He’s already made a surprising New UNL recipients are:
syringae injects it into the plant. This disruption helps the discovery: HopU1 modifies RNA-binding molecules found
disease-causing bacterium infect its host. HopU1 interests in plants and animals but not previously known to be NSF CAREER Awards
plant and animal researchers because it is a type of part of the immune system. Christian Binek, Physics and Astronomy
enzymatic protein – an ADP-ribosyltransferase – found Kenneth Bloom, Physics and Astronomy
in several animal pathogens, such as those that cause Alfano uses Arabidopsis, a well-studied plant, as a model. Aaron Dominguez, Physics and Astronomy
diphtheria and cholera. Alfano was the first to discover As his research increases understanding of plant immunity, Mustafa Gursoy, Electrical Engineering
it in a plant pathogen. scientists may be able to genetically modify crop plants
to better defend themselves against disease. Because he NIH K Award
“It gives us a whole new avenue to pursue in understanding also found HopU1 affects human proteins, he’s studying Marc Kiviniemi, Psychology
plant-innate immunity,” said Alfano, a member of UNL’s its effect on immunity in human cells. This work should
Plant Science Initiative. identify shared components of immune systems in plants
and animals, and may one day lead to breakthroughs
in fighting human diseases.

SOLVING EVOLUTIONARY MYSTERIES

When UNL chemist Robert Powers set structure matched another protein
out to understand protein AF2095, he discovered in humans and therefore
unexpectedly discovered an important clue shares the same critical function:
to a long-standing evolutionary mystery. recycling tRNA.

Scientists believe that mitochondria, cellular Bacteria perform that function using
structures vital to humans, animals and an entirely different protein so scientists
many other organisms, evolved when one know the function evolved separately
type of single-celled organism merged into in archaea and bacteria. Both proteins
another. The exact nature of that evolutionary process also are found in human cells, one in the cytoplasm and
remains unknown. Powers and colleagues from several the other in the mitochondria, providing valuable clues
universities found a link between these two distinct to their origins and our understanding of early evolution.
organisms — and to humans. The discovery was featured on the cover of the November
To infect a plant, Pseudomonas syringae and similar 2005 issue of Protein Science.
pathogens inject up to 30 proteins using a microscopic Using nuclear magnetic resonance, Powers and colleagues
syringe-like process called a Type III protein injection system. determined the 3-D structure of AF2095, a protein found in Nebraska Tobacco Settlement Biomedical Research
an archaea, a class of single-cell organisms that thrives in funds, the National Institutes of Health, National
relatively high temperatures. Scientists hoped the structure Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy
would provide clues to its function. They found AF2095’s helped fund this work.

James Alfano
16 LIFE SCIENCES 17

ORGANIC FARMING
RESEARCH EXPANDING
PLANT TRANSFORMATION LAB IS BIOTECH PIPELINE Organic farming is among the fastest growing segments
of U.S. agriculture. A new initiative is expanding UNL’s
organic farming research and education efforts to help
growers make the most of this expanding market.
Identifying potentially useful genes is just the first step
toward creating enhanced plants for the real world. A With funding from a four-year $750,000 grant from
unique research resource at UNL simplifies and speeds USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and
the often complex journey from discovery in the lab to Extension Service, scientists in the university’s Institute
the field and potential commercialization for promising of Agriculture and Natural Resources are laying the
genetically modified plants. foundation for long-term organic farming research. Goals
include establishing UNL’s first certified organic research
The Plant Transformation Core Research Facility offers a fields, launching focused crop production research,
complete “agricultural biotechnology pipeline,” said plant working closely with the state’s organic farmers and
scientist Tom Clemente, facility manager. It’s a one-stop incorporating organic farming concepts into UNL’s
shop for researchers and companies seeking to genetically research, teaching and extension missions.
engineer plants with
improved or specialized Establishing 20- to 40-acre certified research plots at four
characteristics, such as university research farms across the state is a key component.
drought or insect resist- Certification takes three years. Devoting land to organic
ance, or for scientists research around the state means each site can focus on
probing a specific plant locally important production issues while the network
gene’s role. Tiny genetically enhanced plants in growth medium. will provide statewide results, said Charles Shapiro, a soil
scientist at the Northeast Research and Extension Center
Clemente’s team is and one of seven project co-leaders.
known for its expertise As the only university with all of the components The processing facility – the latest addition to UNL’s
in successfully inserting to develop, field test and process genetically resources – completes the research pipeline. It allows A UNL Extension educator is coordinating the project and
or altering plant genes. engineered plants and products on such a researchers to develop and test new products from planning how to share findings and organic concepts
While most facilities large scale, UNL offers an indispensable genetically enhanced plants. For example, Clemente and with farmers and students. Organic growers are advising
specialize in transforming resource for researchers and companies a colleague are processing and testing oil from a soybean on the project and researchers are conducting studies on
a few plants, UNL’s lab nationwide, Clemente said. they developed especially for biodiesel production. cooperating certified organic farms. The new infrastructure
can genetically alter will create opportunities for broader organic farming
any important Midwest For example, when Monsanto Co. launches a new The Nebraska Research Initiative, Nebraska Soybean Board, research at UNL.
crop plant and several Lab manager Shirley Sato (foreground) and herbicide-resistant soybean in a few years, it will North Central Soybean Board and United Soybean Board
Kwang-Hoon Oh in UNL’s Plant Transformation
plants used extensively Core Research Facility. in part be thanks to the facility’s capabilities. are among the organizations funding projects in the facility.
for research. The team UNL biochemist Don Weeks discovered a gene The team also is training plant breeders to maintain
doesn’t stop with successfully inserting the gene. that helps soybeans and other broadleaf crops withstand regulated, genetically engineered plants in the field through
spraying with dicamba, a widely used broadleaf herbicide. a $600,000 USDA grant.
Researchers literally take genetically modified plants from Clemente’s team successfully inserted the gene in soybean
the lab to the processing plant. They grow and test plants DNA, then tested the soybeans in the greenhouse and the
in the greenhouse and later in plots dedicated to field field. This process would have taken far longer without the
testing transgenic plants before processing a harvested facility. UNL patented Weeks’ discoveries, which Monsanto
crop to ensure it delivers desired qualities or components. is developing under a university licensing agreement.
18 LIFE SCIENCES 19

TRAINING INTERNATIONAL HIV/AIDS RESEARCHERS

The African nation of Zambia is ground zero in the Begun in 2000 and renewed by NIH with a $2.1 million
HIV/AIDS pandemic. Statistics tell the tragic story: one award in 2006, the program brings Zambia researchers
in four Zambian mothers is infected with HIV; one in to UNL, the University of Miami and the University of
every six adults is living with HIV; and 710,000 children Alabama at Birmingham for training and provides
are AIDS orphans. in-country workshops. Twenty-six Zambian fellows have
completed training and returned to Zambia, where
For a poor and underdeveloped nation like Zambia, they hold research and clinical positions that directly
where about two-thirds of the population lives on less influence their country’s AIDS research capabilities.

Expanding Partnerships
with Zambia, China
The Fogarty International Training Programs
provide a base from which UNL is launching
additional collaborations with the University
of Zambia and Nankai University in China.

In June 2005 UNL Chancellor Harvey

Perlman, Vice Chancellor for Research
Prem Paul and Charles Wood traveled to
Zambia to meet with University of Zambia
(UNZA) and government officials and sign
a memorandum of understanding between
the two universities. In June 2006 a UNZA
delegation visited UNL to learn about
research programs in education, agriculture,
Virologists Peter Angeletti (left) and Charles Wood in a Nebraska Center for Virology lab. Wood heads a program to biomedical research and other areas.
train Zambian and Chinese scientists and both scientists conduct research in Zambia as well as the U.S.
A trip to China in July 2006 by Perlman,
than a dollar a day, assistance from other nations is In 2003 Wood expanded his Fogarty training programs Paul and Wood included visits to Zhezang
the only way to fight AIDS. But Charles Wood, UNL to China, where HIV is a growing threat and 600,000 University, Fudan University, the China
molecular virologist and director of the Nebraska Center people are infected. The virus is spreading rapidly, Center for Disease Control and the newly
for Virology, is offering assistance that empowers causing concern that China, with its high population opened U.S. National Science Foundation
Zambians to fight the battle themselves. density, might be the next locus of the HIV pandemic. office. UNL signed a memorandum of
Wood’s Fogarty program with Nankai University understanding with Nankai University to
With funding from the National Institutes of Health emphasizes training in advanced HIV detection and develop collaborative programs in life
Fogarty International Program, Wood provides programs monitoring methods, clinical disease management sciences research, technology transfer and
that help Zambian researchers understand how HIV and behavioral interventions. other areas of mutual interest.
and AIDS-associated cancer viruses cause disease and
train them to detect and prevent disease transmission. Above: UNL representatives Charles Wood, Vice
Chancellor for Research Prem Paul and Chancellor
Harvey Perlman with William Chang, director of the
Beijing office of the National Science Foundation
and science attaché for the U.S. Embassy in China,
at the newly opened NSF office in China.
20 HUMANITIES & THE ARTS 21

‘POET OF DEMOCRACY’ GOES DIGITAL

Tracking down manuscripts is challenging. Whitman’s roughly Center Enhances
80,000 known manuscripts are housed at more than 70
institutions. More than 30 sites house his poetry manuscripts Humanities Research
alone, making comprehensive scholarly research nearly
impossible before the archive. UNL’s Center for Digital Research
in the Humanities is expanding and
The team has collected and is now editing copies of original bringing international attention to
poetry manuscripts from all 30-plus sites and has developed digital scholarship.
the first integrated guide to Whitman’s poetry manuscripts.
This guide earned the C.F.W. Coker Award from the Society This joint initiative of the UNL Libraries and College of
of American Archivists in 2006. Price led the project along Arts and Sciences, co-directed by Ken Price and Katherine
with Katherine Walter, chair of the UNL Libraries’ Digital Walter, emphasizes interdisciplinary research. It works
Initiatives and Special Collections, and archive co-director with scholars to develop digital content and tools and
Ed Folsom of the University of Iowa. Grants from the offers workshops and fellowships on digital scholarship.
Ken Price
National Endowment for the Humanities and Institute of The center has more than 35 active projects, including
Museum and Library Services support this work. the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Willa
UNL English professor Ken Price calls Walt Whitman “Whether you’re in Montana or the Ukraine, you can pull Cather Archive and Walt Whitman Archive.
“the poet of democracy.” So it seems fitting that digital up the original manuscript images and start making In fall 2005, UNL received a $500,000 NEH “We the People”
research by Price and others is making this quintessentially discoveries for yourself,” said Price, Hillegass Chair of challenge grant for a permanent endowment to support the “We’ve gone from hosting a few projects to taking bold
American writer’s works freely available to anyone with 19th-century American Literature and archive co-director. archive’s ongoing scholarship. UNL must raise $1.5 million steps to achieve leadership in this field,” Price said.
Internet access. The archive is primarily for scholars but attracts students, to receive the full amount. Price believes this is the first
teachers and Whitman fans worldwide. American literary project to receive a “We the People”
UNL scholars and librarians are collaborating with grant, which focuses on the nation’s founding and principles
colleagues at other universities to create a comprehensive Whitman’s international stature, vast body of work, evolving of democracy. It’s a good fit.
online archive that is receiving international acclaim. style and obsession with rewriting fit well with the dynamic
The Walt Whitman Archive ([Link]) nature of an electronic archive, which can be easily expanded “Whitman is the poet of democracy,” he said. “He’s woven into
is an electronic research and teaching tool that makes or updated. Compiling Whitman’s diverse writings in one the fabric of everything it means to be an American: who we
the poet’s huge body of work easily accessible. spot allows scholars to examine his work as never before. have been, who we are and who we might be in the future.”

GIS ATLAS REVEALS RAILROAD’S INSTRUMENTAL ROLE

Using the power of modern digital technology, UNL To this GIS atlas, he is linking primary historical documents Before joining UNL in 2005, Thomas headed the Virginia
historian William Thomas is gaining a deeper under- gleaned from other scholarly work and historical archives. Center for Digital History at the University of Virginia. There
standing of the effect an earlier, equally transformative Once developed, researchers can watch the railroad’s he created a digital collection focusing on Virginia’s Eastern
technology – railroads – had on 19th-century America. progression over time on their computers and search Shore, which he uses to understand the railroad’s contribution
for documents linked to a particular place or time for to the region’s agricultural growth decades later. Now Thomas
This project will help Thomas and others identify social further investigation. is building a digital collection of the Great Plains.
consequences related to the railroad, such as demographic
and environmental changes, immigration patterns, These powerful linking and search tools are helping “Trying to understand the transformation the railroad brings
women’s political involvement in the West and African- researchers identify otherwise obscure connections. to the Great Plains and document it as a system with all of
American migration patterns. “Without this technology, it would be impossible to its social effects, as opposed to a kind of corporate history,
try to have at your fingertips a full, multidimensional is challenging,” he said, but digital technology makes it
To do that, Thomas is creating a Geographic Information atlas of a subject like railroads and its instrumental role possible. Graduate and undergraduate students are heavily
System, or GIS-based digital atlas that tracks the growth in the development of modern America,” said Thomas, involved in this UNL Center for Digital Research in the
of the entire railroad network across space and time. the John and Catherine Angle Chair in the Humanities. Humanities project.
William Thomas
22 HUMANITIES & THE ARTS 23

Book Celebrates Sheldon Sculptures

THE ARTS IN ACTION
UNL’s Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and
Sculpture Garden houses one of the nation’s finest
collections of 20th-century American sculpture.

Sculpture from the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery,

published in 2005 by the University of Nebraska Press,
celebrates this remarkable collection. Compiled and
edited over 14 years, the book includes an exhaustive
study of the history of sculpture and essays on 90 of
the 350 works in the Sheldon’s collection, including
pieces by Rodin, Calder, Duchamp and Moore. Color
photographs by John Spence accompany the essays.

Architecture student designs for New Orleans. “The publication documents not only the Sheldon’s
Designing for New Orleans collection but also the uniqueness of the history of the
collection,” said Karen O. Janovy, Sheldon’s education Karen Janovy
After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, public and commercial buildings and multifamily housing, curator and the book’s editor. “The contributing essayists are
UNL Architecture Dean Wayne Drummond got a call for which they compiled into a master plan for the area. all experts within the field of 20th-century art. Publishing this
help from his friend Cliff James, director of the Urban Potter’s students designed single-family housing prototypes type of scholarship is an important mission of the museum.”
Design Research Center in New Orleans. That call set in that matched New Orleans’ culture and environment.
motion a whirlwind of research and design for Drummond, The project, conceived of as a companion piece to a 1988
architecture professor Jim Potter and 27 students. “This isn’t just a class project, it’s an amazing lesson in the publication on the Sheldon’s painting collection, was funded
sociology of our country,” Drummond said. A book and CD by the National Endowment for the Arts, Nebraska Art
Students in Drummond’s design studio course toured New containing the plan provides a reference for agencies and Association, Cooper Foundation, Elizabeth Firestone Graham
Orleans, assessing the extensively damaged Jubilee City decision makers working to rebuild the city. Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Paul
neighborhood near the Superdome. Students designed Klein Art Works, Henry Luce Foundation and University
of Nebraska Foundation.

Exploring Platte Water Issues Benefits of Smaller Keyboards

In Nebraska, water and the Platte River are inexorably Pianist Brenda Wristen, a UNL assistant professor of
linked. To explore critical issues of water supplies, quality music, has small hands. For years she noticed a tendency
and conservation, 19 students in the UNL College of toward occupational injuries among small-handed pianists.
Journalism and Mass Communications teamed with the
Lincoln Journal Star to produce “Platte River Odyssey,” an With funding from the UNL Research Council and the Hixson-
in-depth report on Nebraska’s Platte River. Lecturer Carolyn Lied Foundation, Wristen and Susan Hallbeck, an associate
Johnsen and her science writing class led the project. professor of industrial and management systems engineering,
collaborated to study the ergonomics of seven-eighths size key-
Their stories ran as a series in the Journal Star and were the landscape,” Johnsen wrote in the report’s introduction. boards. They monitored 24 pianists and concluded the smaller
published as a magazine available through the college. “‘Platte River Odyssey’ will provide solid background for a keyboard dramatically improves their comfort and musicianship.
They provide a comprehensive look at the Platte’s history as dynamic story that will continue to develop.”
well as scientific, political, environmental and legal issues. Wristen would like to see a dual standard developed to make
The goal of the science writing program, funded partly by seven-eighths keyboards available at concert halls worldwide.
“This report will provide a lasting resource to help readers the Office of Research, is to improve science reporting and She also hopes to establish a center at UNL for the study,
see the Platte River as more than an attractive feature in public understanding of science. prevention and treatment of musicians’ health disorders.
24 SOCIAL SCIENCES 25

SMOKING’S IMPACT ON BABIES’ BEHAVIOR HORSES A POWERFUL PREVENTION TOOL

Researchers are focusing on babies’ early attention and stress Horses are deeply woven into the Omaha people’s Separate sessions for girls and boys include cultural
reaction skills. They are measuring neonatal development culture and history. That strong cultural link is at the heart discussions, classroom activities and information on
of these skills to pinpoint how tobacco influences behavior. of a partnership between the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska avoiding drugs and alcohol as well as working with
While many more moms and babies will be tested, Espy and UNL researchers. Together, they’re developing an horses. Horses proved a powerful tool for teaching
already sees some trends. alcohol and drug prevention program for at-risk 10- to responsibility, self-respect, confidence, communication
13-year-olds on the Omaha reservation at Macy, Neb., and cultural pride.
“We are finding the babies whose moms smoked are more with a three-year, $432,000 grant from the National
irritable and reactive,” she said. Infants exposed to tobacco Institute for Drug Abuse. “The kids really responded to every activity with the
before birth tend to overreact to stimuli, such as rattles or horses,” Mallory said. She didn't grow up around horses
bells, and cry more frequently. but completed three equine therapy certification courses
before working on this project. “To see them coming
“They just tend to be more reactive to stimuli and that together and growing like that is just amazing.”
seems to be directly related to how much mom smoked
during pregnancy.” The program addresses almost every risk factor for kids using
drugs, Whitbeck said. “They have a peer group, confidence
While differences aren’t huge, babies exposed to tobacco and refusal skills. If you’re Shonga Ska, you don’t drink.”
could be a little harder to care for, Espy said. More
significantly, these behaviors might contribute to later The tribal council approved the project and a tribal advisory
problems for some children. She stressed that tobacco board guides the program and is helping to develop the
exposure is one of many factors – from genetics to curriculum and other materials.
parenting – that influence behavior but might tip the
balance for some children. “This is the Omaha horse therapy-assisted prevention
program,” Whitbeck said. “When we leave, they will own this
Researchers test women during pregnancy and babies at program.” Findings also should help other Native nations
birth to determine tobacco exposure. During the baby’s interested in creating horse-assisted prevention programs.
first month, researchers assess their behavior for clues to
Kimberly Andrews Espy uses sophisticated sensors to measure what’s happening in the brain. At six months, sophisticated
brain function in babies in her research to understand how sensors measure brain function as a baby does specific tasks. Graduate assistant Anitra Mallory
tobacco exposure before birth affects behavior.
“It really gives you a great sense of how tobacco exposure Shonga Ska ‘Firsts’
is affecting brain function,” Espy said. Researchers also are The result is Shonga Ska, or Sacred Horse Society, a
No one wants a cranky, irritable baby. Yet early results conducting molecular genetic analyses to learn whether community-driven prevention program that combines Shonga Ska has been punctuated with firsts. Researchers
in ongoing UNL research suggest maternal smoking tobacco exposure increases the risk for children with genes proven horse-assisted therapy techniques with Omaha believe it’s the first NIDA-funded prevention program for
during pregnancy may contribute to such behaviors. related to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. traditions and culture. Native Americans involving horses. And Anitra Mallory, who
received her bachelor’s degree in psychology in December
Neuroscientist and Associate Vice Chancellor for “Children’s development is complicated so you have to “Our research shows how much family and cultural 2005, was the first graduate from UNL’s Great Plains
Research Kimberly Andrews Espy is in the midst of collect lots of data to really get at the role of a single involvement are protective factors for these kids,” said Les Cultural Ways program. This is the only National Institute
one of the first studies examining whether a mother’s factor like tobacco,” she said. Statistical analysis helps Whitbeck, a UNL sociologist who works with Native of Mental Health-funded Career Opportunities in
smoking during pregnancy influences her baby’s predict average behavioral development and tease out Americans on substance-abuse prevention programs. Research program that focuses solely on Native Americans
behavior. Links between maternal smoking and low differences attributable specifically to tobacco exposure. undergraduates who aspire to work in mental health
birth weight are well documented but scientists know Whitbeck and graduate student Anitra Mallory said within their cultures.
little about behavioral impacts. This five-year $2.3 Findings could lead to interventions to help kids who have community involvement is essential to success. A member
million study funded by the National Institute on Drug behavior problems in school and provide information to of the Southern Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, Mallory Mallory is pursing her master’s in counseling psychology,
Abuse eventually will involve at least 400 mothers enable women to make better-informed decisions about worked in youth services at Macy before coming to UNL. wants to earn a doctorate and plans to work with American
and their babies from Illinois and Nebraska. Half the smoking during pregnancy. She teamed with the tribe on the eight-week pilot project Indian children and parents. She hopes to incorporate
women smoked during pregnancy, half didn’t. for 12 at-risk Omaha youth in summer 2006. horses into her therapeutic work.
26 SOCIAL SCIENCES TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT 27

MOVING DISCOVERIES TO THE MARKETPLACE

Moving UNL researchers’ innovative discoveries from Under an agreement with the university, Beef Products
the lab to the marketplace enhances the public’s health Inc. (BPI) funded a human clinical trial of Carr’s
and well-being and contributes to economic development. tallow/soybean combination in 2006. If it proves effective,
BPI has the option to commercialize the compound for
food applications. BPI, based at Dakota Dunes, S.D.,
Home-grown Cholesterol Fighter is the world's leading manufacturer of boneless beef
with plants in Nebraska and three other states and is
A partnership between UNL and a regional beef company a leading producer of high quality stearic acid.
could lead to commercialization of a novel cholesterol-fighting
compound made from Nebraska-grown ingredients. The clinical trial is a critical step toward commercialization.
Results will allow the university to license the compound
Nutrition scientist Tim Carr discovered that combining to BPI for food uses, which could quickly make it available
stearic acid from beef tallow and sterols from soybeans to consumers.
creates a powerful cholesterol buster. While plant sterols’
John Hibbing
cholesterol-lowering ability is well-known, Carr’s research Consumers nationwide and Nebraska’s economy could
benefit. UNL is patenting Carr’s compound and also

GENES AND POLITICAL TEMPERAMENT exploring its potential as a dietary supplement. “I’m
excited about the potential of this for consumers looking
to manage their cholesterol,” Carr said.
Political scientist John Hibbing assumed, like most of us, to explore how genetics affects our beliefs of how society
that our political views stem from our life experiences. So should be organized – our political temperament. He and his
he was “shocked” by his own findings and so were others. colleagues are expanding this research to explore specific Better Bone Implants
It seems our conservative or progressive outlooks have as genes that may influence political behavior.
much to do with our genes as our upbringing. Chemist Jody Redepenning is building better bones – or,
However, Hibbing stresses that doesn’t mean there’s a to be more precise, better implants.
Hibbing, a UNL Foundation Regents University Professor of specific gene that makes one liberal, conservative or
Political Science, along with John Alford of Rice University even apolitical. Rather, genes create a propensity to view Redepenning discovered a simple electrochemical process
and Carolyn Funk of Virginia Commonwealth University, the world in certain ways and that viewpoint influences for making bone implants. UNL patented his process,
studied attitudes of more than 8,000 sets of twins about 28 our political decisions. For example, characterizing a which could lead to a biocomposite material that could be
issues, such as capital punishment and taxes. By subtracting guest-worker program as “amnesty” for illegal immigrants used to make bone replacements, screws, other orthopedic
the rate at which fraternal twins, who share half of their may stem from an underlying belief that perceived appliances or medical devices. This biocomposite is as
genes, agreed on an issue from the rate that genetically rule-breakers should be punished. strong and flexible as bone and has applications in
identical twins agreed, researchers calculated how much dentistry as well as orthopedics.
genetics influenced attitudes on that issue. They assumed So, are bloggers and talk show hosts discoursing for nothing?
twins raised together experienced similar upbringings. Perhaps, but not because we’re genetically inconvincible. During the healing process, the body ultimately would
absorb the material and redeposit it as living bone.
Overall, they found 53 percent of political beliefs come “Nobody’s talking genetic determinism,” says Hibbing, “The idea is for it to go away,” he said.
from genetic inheritance, though the percentage varied adding that people’s politics are a complicated mix of
somewhat depending on the issue. Opinions on school numerous genes interacting with the environment. No Tim Carr with cholesterol-fighting compound. Redepenning is refining the process for producing the
prayer, property taxes and the draft, for example, were one should fear a day when genetic engineering could biocomposite. He thinks scientists eventually could
most strongly influenced by genes, while views on manipulate elections. revealed stearic acid, a “good” saturated fat, also fights come up with something stronger than bone.
federal housing and divorce were less so. cholesterol. The combination outperformed plant sterol
Instead, Hibbing hopes his research leads to greater food additives in animal studies and appeared to work
Scientists have long known genes play a role in our personal understanding. Your cousin may not be willfully bullheaded; as well as widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering statin
and social temperaments, but Hibbing is one of the first he’s just genetically wired to view the world differently. drugs. Now it’s being tested on people.
28 EDUCATION & OUTREACH 29

Call it “Invasion of the TekBots.” At the Peter Kiewit Institute,

these little robots – raw circuitry and wires on wheels – are
rolling into classrooms, morphing into high-tech gadgets with
wireless communication and video systems as innovative
students tinker with them.

Bing Chen, chair of UNL’s Computer and Electronics

Engineering Department at the Omaha-based institute,
couldn’t be happier with these 21st-century teaching tools.
He introduced TekBots to the university’s engineering
programs two years ago to encourage students to think
creatively about applying classroom knowledge and to have
fun with engineering. Now, he’s letting TekBots loose in
Omaha’s middle schools with his new Silicon Prairie Initiative
on Robotics in Information Technology, or SPIRIT, program.

Funded by a $1.2 million four-year grant from the National

Science Foundation and in collaboration with Omaha Public
Schools, SPIRIT is teaching middle school teachers to use
TekBots to illustrate algebraic equations and to demonstrate
such principles as friction, wireless and computer processing,
and electronics. For example, students can learn the circum-
ference of a circle equals 2πr, then ink a TekBot wheel,
measure it for themselves and use the equation to calculate
revolutions and distance.

TURNING LOOSE TEKBOTS AS TEACHING TOOLS

Students, Chen said, “don’t always see the payoff to what
they’re studying.” He thinks that’s one reason fewer Bing Chen with a TekBot.
American students choose math and science careers. He
designed SPIRIT to introduce young people to math and teachers can share stories and new ideas. UNL engineering
science at an early age and perhaps encourage more of students will mentor middle school students throughout
them, particularly underrepresented women and minorities, the school year.
to choose engineering careers.
Chen hopes the classroom is just the beginning for
“The teachers are, obviously, the front line,” Chen said. TekBots. He envisions robotics clubs and citywide TekBot
So in summer 2006, about 40 middle school teachers built competitions in which student-designed robots must
their own TekBots and, with the help of UNL engineers, complete mazes and other challenges.
brainstormed lesson plans for their classrooms. SPIRIT
aims to train 100 teachers in the next three years. The “I see this as a mechanism for the 21st-century
program will host a Web site and ongoing training so Soapbox Derby.”

Opposite: Derrick Nero, a teacher at Omaha’s Lewis and

Clark Middle School, works on a TekBot.
30 EDUCATION & OUTREACH 31

GOLDWATER RECIPIENTS
UNDERGRADS EXPERIENCE RESEARCH FIRST HAND Research is an essential part of the college learning experience
for UNL’s two 2006-07 Goldwater Scholarship recipients.
The National Science Foundation’s Research Experience
for Undergraduates (REU) program attracts students from
Jeanine Frey, a biochemistry major from Hay Springs, and
smaller, less research-oriented colleges and historically
James McFarland, an electrical engineering major from
minority institutions, to UNL. One goal is to encourage
Lincoln, are among 323 students nationwide to receive this
minority students to consider graduate school at UNL or
scholarship based on academic merit. Chemistry major
elsewhere as part of a broader effort to enhance diversity
Jessica Peinado earned an honorable mention. Named
in the professions and sciences.
for the late Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, the nationally
competitive scholarship encourages careers in math,
the natural sciences and engineering. It’s the premier
Redox Biology undergraduate award of its type in these fields.

From molecular medicine to environmental and plant

Frey and McFarland participate in the University Honors
biochemistry, REU students at UNL’s Redox Biology
Program and work closely with UNL researchers through
Center experience leading-edge science firsthand.
UCARE, UNL’s
Undergraduate Creative
For 10 weeks each summer, students from small colleges
Activities and Research
join UNL faculty in their labs to work on independent
Experiences program.
research and participate in laboratory life. UNL and
University of Nebraska Medical Center scientists in the
Frey plans to earn a
center investigate aspects of redox biology, the study of
doctorate in biochemistry,
oxidation/reduction processes necessary for cellular life,
conduct biomedical
but which also lead to aging and diseases such as cancer
research focusing on
and heart disease. Biochemists Steve Ragsdale (left) and Don Becker in the lab with
REU students in UNL’s Redox Biology Center. gene expression as it
Goldwater scholarship winners Jeanine Frey relates to human disease
The center began hosting undergraduate students in and James McFarland.
and teach at a research
2004 as a pilot project funded by UNL’s Office of Environmental Math Psychology and the Law institution. She works with biochemist Julie Stone.
Research. In 2006, it became an official REU program
funded by NSF and the Department of Defense. REU students who work with Glenn Ledder, associate professor How do juries make decisions? How reliable is eyewitness
McFarland aims to earn a doctorate in electrical engineering
of mathematics, test their math skills on an interdisciplinary identification? REU students interested in questions where
and conduct research focused on solid-state semiconductors
“The benefit is outreach,” said Don Becker, an associate real-world question and know they’ve contributed to psychology and the law intersect can spend an entire
at a major university. He works with electrical engineer
professor of biochemistry who leads this REU. “We help expanding knowledge. year at UNL, taking courses and working with faculty on
Jerry Hudgins.
students who go to smaller institutions with limited independent research projects.
resources get some research experience in the summer.” Working as a team, Ledder’s three summer students learn
They are among the 350-400 UNL undergraduates who
about biology and math as they analyze environmental Students receive training not offered at their own schools.
experience research firsthand annually through UCARE, said
The program also encourages minority students to come problems such as how species interact under differing Faculty also benefit, said UNL psychology professor Richard
Laura Damuth, undergraduate research director and national
to UNL. Working closely with leading scientists in the field conditions; under what circumstances a bass resorts to Wiener. The program encourages minority students
fellowship adviser in the Office of Undergraduate Studies,
exposes students to new career options. “Our goal is to cannibalizing its larvae; or, as his first students did in from across the nation to study at UNL. “The diversity
which sponsors the program. UCARE pairs researchers and
increase diversity in the sciences,” Becker said. 2004, predict how a disease in fish alters the relationship of students helps us think about our work from different
undergraduates, who work as research assistants the first
between the fish and predatory birds. Their results were perspectives,” he said.
year before launching independent projects the second year.
Michael Jacobsen from Laurel, Neb., a student at published in a respected undergraduate journal.
About 80 percent of UCARE participants plan to attend
Wayne State College in northeast Nebraska, is proof
graduate school and 98 percent of UNL’s applicants for
of the program’s benefits. After a successful summer “In today’s world, things change quickly,” Ledder said. “So an
national scholarships have participated in the program.
of working with biochemist Vadim Gladyshev, he important part of a college education nowadays is learning
returned for two weeks during holiday break and to become self-educating. A research project is a great way
“UCARE is integrating UNL’s research and teaching missions,”
co-authored a scientific paper. to learn how to do that.”
Damuth said. “Our premier scientists are sharing their
expertise with our undergraduates.”
32 EDUCATION & OUTREACH 33

FOSSILS GOING ONLINE FOR EASY ACCESS

The University of Nebraska State Museum’s well-known Nebraska’s Native American students are seeing
fossil collection is getting an extreme makeover that will more familiar faces than ever thanks to a UNL
benefit scientists and educators worldwide. project that’s training Native teachers.

The museum’s extensive collection of fossils from mammals UNL’s Native American Career Ladder has graduated
that lived in North America over the past 40 million years 19 Native American students, including four in 2006,
ranks among the nation’s top 10 most significant. A two-year, who are teaching mostly in reservation schools at
$498,000 grant from the National Science Foundation is Macy, Santee, Walthill and Winnebago. Most were
funding facility renovations, reorganization and creation the first in their family to receive a bachelor’s degree,
of an online database. said Nancy Engen-Wedin, of the College of Education
and Human Sciences and project director. “We now
Leading this work are Robert Hunt Jr. and Michael Voorhies, have more certified Native American teachers in
professors of geosciences and museum curators in UNL’s Nebraska than we’ve had in our state’s history.”
nationally recognized vertebrate paleontology research
program. They will develop the database featuring much The project began in 1999 with a $1.25 million
of the collection and centralize the fossils, which now reside six-year U.S. Department of Education grant. In
in several locations. This work will make information about 2006, UNL received a second four-year $750,000
the collection easily available on the Web for scientists and education department grant to extend this effort
educators worldwide. with the Indigenous Roots Teacher Education
Program. The new program, which has enrolled 15
“This will give us access students, continues a partnership between UNL, Little
to specimens of very rare Priest Tribal College, the Nebraska Department of
and unusual prehistoric Education and five northeast Nebraska K-12 schools.
animals that in some
cases have been in plaster
jackets for many years,” TRAINING NATIVE AMERICAN TEACHERS
Voorhies said. “It’s almost
like opening Christmas Students must have associate degrees to enter the program.
presents from 50, 60, 70 They graduate from UNL after taking distance and traditional
years ago that haven’t classes at Little Priest, Nebraska Indian Community College
been accessible to the and UNL. Coursework emphasizes Native language learning
Nancy Engen-Wedin
scientific community.” and culturally relevant approaches.

The museum’s fossils were Research suggests Native students benefit academically Bill Lopez heads the five-year $1.97 million U.S.
last cataloged nearly from having Native American teachers. “It will make a Department of Education grant that includes educators
15 years ago. Strides in significant difference if we continue to place Native role and students from UNL, Northeast Community College
database and Web tech- models as teachers in classrooms with Native American in Norfolk, Central Community College-Columbus and
nology will make this new kids,” Engen-Wedin said. Wayne State College. The first 10 students received
effort more user-friendly their associate degrees in 2005 and transferred to
and comprehensive. The College of Education and Human Sciences and UNL UNL’s elementary education program. Students take
Extension are working on a similar project for English courses from UNL and Wayne State. The first group
language learners. The Northeast Nebraska Para will graduate in December 2007.
Educator Career Ladder project aims to place bilingual
Collections manager George
Corner and some of the fossils minority teachers in northeast Nebraska’s diverse
that will be available online. classrooms. The project is developing a cadre of ethnically
and linguistically diverse elementary teachers.
34 EXTENDING OUR REACH 35

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE, COLLABORATION

The Nebraska Lectures Enhancing UNL’s Interdisciplinary Culture
A biochemist and a potter drew on Interdisciplinary collaboration in research and scholarship committee’s findings and the successes and challenges
personal experiences as faculty scholars is increasingly crucial in addressing the complex problems experienced at the Beckman Institute in creating an
to illustrate their presentations for of the 21st century. A faculty retreat to stimulate discussion interdisciplinary environment.
the 2005-06 Nebraska Lectures: the and strategies for enhancing UNL’s interdisciplinary culture
Chancellor’s Distinguished Lecture was held in May 2006 at the Lied Lodge and Conference Dan Murray, vice president of research for the American
Series. Co-sponsored by the Research Center in Nebraska City, Neb. Transportation Research Institute, spoke about the need
Council, the Office of the Chancellor for a cross-cutting approach to the broad array of issues
and the Office of Research and Graduate The retreat brought together UNL faculty from diverse encompassed by transportation. These include safety,
Studies, these lectures feature prominent UNL faculty. disciplines to consider the interdisciplinary aspects of two human and environmental factors, economic analyses,
broad topics: science and mathematics education and technology and training, and transportation security.
Ruma Banerjee, George Holmes University Professor of transportation. It was sponsored by the UNL Research
Biochemistry, discussed how simple nutrients like vitamins Advisory Board and Office of Research in partnership with Jeffrey Osborn, outreach professor for the Appalachian
regulate genes and modulate health and disease in her the Office of Academic Affairs, Institute of Agriculture and Math and Science Partnership at the University of
lecture titled “Genes, Greens, and Disease.” Her research In her lecture, “What Is It About Pots?,” Gail Kendall, a Natural Resources and the Office of the Chancellor. Kentucky, addressed math and science education issues.
focuses on homocysteine, a substance essential for health potter and professor of art, showed examples of her Osborn discussed his experiences with both inner city
but toxic at elevated levels. Homocysteine has been award-winning work and discussed her development as Three speakers provided their perspectives on the opportunities and rural education with a focus on enabling teachers
implicated in heart disease risk, Alzheimer’s disease and a ceramic artist. Kendall uses techniques from pottery and need for interdisciplinarity. In the keynote address and students to experience “science in action.”
fetal neural tube defects. Banerjee heads UNL’s Redox made thousands of years ago. She is interested in Theodore Brown, co-chair of the National Academies
Biology Center, which was established in 2002 with a functional uses of pottery and the bulk of her art is Committee on Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research and The retreat included presentations by UNL centers and
$10.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. composed of pottery items used in daily life. founding director emeritus of the Beckman Institute programs involved in the focus areas and breakout
for Advanced Science and Technology, discussed the groups aimed at selected topics.

Speakers included: Jessica Glicken Turnley, Galisteo

Consulting Group Inc.; George Legrady, University of
Four Corners Research Alliance
California, Santa Barbara; Brian Humes, Deborah Lockhart,
Kevin Lyons and Mary Lynn Realff, all National Science The Four Corners Research Alliance was formed in 2005
Foundation; Bill Valdez, Department of Energy; Paul Eakin, to build on the expertise of the major research universities in
University of Kentucky; Eric Howard, Fulbright Academy of Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri. Senior research
Science and Technology; Scott Somers, National Institutes of officers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
Health; Donald Leo, Defense Advanced Research Projects University of Kansas, Kansas State University, University
Agency; and Dennis Sorensen, Office of Naval Research. of Kansas Medical Center, University of Iowa, Iowa State
University and the University of Missouri are leading
The Office of Research and Graduate Studies offered efforts to identify priority areas for research collaborations.
workshops on research ethics and responsibility, grants
management and the graduate school experience. “Our region offers great expertise that, developed
UNL Research Fair Graduate students competed in oral presentation and collectively, will enable us to compete for major national
poster and display competitions; undergraduates presented centers and other large-scale opportunities,” said
The fourth annual UNL Research Fair in April 2006 their research results at the Undergraduate Research Prem Paul, UNL vice chancellor for research. “We are
celebrated faculty achievement and student research, Fair. Highlights included the annual recognition breakfast excited about the potential collaborations in research
and featured speakers who discussed interdisciplinary honoring faculty whose research and creative activity programs and infrastructure development that the
collaboration and federal funding opportunities. was selected for major sponsored program funding. Alliance is identifying.”
36 RESEARCH & GRADUATE STUDIES

FINANCIALS CREDITS
The 2005-2006 Annual Report is published by the University of
Research Funding by Federal Agency Nebraska–Lincoln Office of Research and Graduate Studies. More
information is available at [Link]/research or contact:

35% Department of Health & Human Services National Science Foundation 20%
(including NIH) Prem S. Paul
Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies
302 Canfield Administration Building
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0433
(402) 472-3123
U.S. Department of Agriculture 20%
ppaul2@[Link]

Writer/Editors:
2% Other
Vicki Miller, research communications coordinator
1% NASA
1% Department of Interior Monica Norby, assistant vice chancellor for research
1% Environmental Protection Agency Department of Defense 11%
2% Department of Transportation Contributing Writer/Editors:
3% Department of Education Kim Hachiya, Gillian Klucas, Nathan Meier, Daniel R. Moser,
4% Department of Energy Tisha Gilreath Mullen, Sara Pipher, Tom Simons

Logistics: Karen Underwood

Graphic Design: Sym Labs + [Link]

Five-Year Five-Year Photography: Ken Dewey/HPRCC, Brett Hampton,

Total Research Funding Total Sponsored Programs Funding Alan Jackson/Jackson Studios, David Loope, Erik Stenbakken
(in millions) (in millions)
Printing: UNL Printing Services
110 170
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln does not discriminate based on
gender, age, disability, race, color, religion, marital status, veteran’s
$165.9
$104.6

status, national or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation.

100 160
$98.3

$157.8

90 150
$91.6

$151.4
$145.8
$84.6

80 140
$142.6
$74.4

70 130
FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06