ITems | November 2003

Top stories

IT alumni donate largest scholarship gift in University's history

The University has received a gift of $10 million from alumni Nancy and Larry Bentson for undergraduate scholarships, the largest gift ever received by the University that is designated solely for scholarships. The gift was originally made in 2002 as an anonymous bequest, as part of Campaign Minnesota. Now the Bentsons have announced that they will make an outright gift at this time.

"We are delighted to be able to make this gift now, so that we can help the University and its students sooner than expected,” said Larry Bentson. “Our interest in helping students dates back generations in our family, when my maternal grandmother established an endowed scholarship in 1949. Also, our many successes, personally and professionally, are rooted in our University of Minnesota education. From this background and our desire to have others sample some of these same life experiences, we have established the Bentson Family Scholarships, much like the fund created by Grandma Hoffman.”

The Bentson Family Scholarships will provide students with at least $5,000 a year for four years and will eventually support about 100 students a year. The scholarships will be awarded to promising incoming students who also have financial need. A preference will be given in awarding the scholarships to students of the Jewish faith.

Nancy graduated in 1945 from the medical technology program, and Larry in 1943 with a degree in mineralogy and petrology. Larry pursued a career in communications in partnership with his father-in-law, Eddie Ruben. The couple began their giving to the University in 1977 and have volunteered their time in support of many fundraising activities here. Read more...

U physicists in national effort to find dark matter

Northern Minnesota’s coldest spot may seem like the last place you’d find WIMPs, but that’s where physicists around the country are looking. WIMPs, or weakly interacting massive particles, are considered likely to be the main component of dark matter, which makes up most of the matter in the universe today. To find WIMPs, University of Minnesota physicist Priscilla Cushman joined an experiment called CDMS (cryogenic dark matter search). Along with postdoctoral researcher Long Duong and graduate student Angela Reisetter, Cushman helped move CDMS from a warmer site in California to half a mile underground in Minnesota’s Soudan Underground Mine. And talk about cold: Detectors in the new experiment, called CDMS II, are chilled to 0.025 Kelvin, or two hundredths of a degree above absolute zero. Today (Wednesday, Nov. 12) marks the official startup for the experiment. Read more...

Legislative Network launches online grassroots action campaign

Last week the Legislative Network initiated a new Web site and online grassroots campaign to urge Governor Tim Pawlenty and the state legislature to “invest in U.” The site is designed to help alumni, students, faculty, staff, and the community be effective advocates for the University.

The new site features an online petition urging the governor to invest in the University this year. Within the past week alone, more than 1,000 people to date have signed the petition. The network is urging University supporters to keep the momentum going by signing the petition and encouraging family and friends to do the same.

Grassroots action will be critical during the upcoming legislative session, when the University will make a capital bonding request aimed at improving the conditions and capabilities of existing campus building. On the Twin Cities campus alone, nearly 100 buildings are more than 50 years old. As they age, facilities become less functional and require more maintenance. Kolthoff Hall is among the buildings targeted for improvements.

To meet new code requirements and provide a healthy environment for faculty, staff, and students, the building will require a new ventilation system and other safety upgrades. The $24 million Kolthoff Hall renovation—which will help IT attract and retain the nation's best and brightest scholars—is part of the University's 2004 legislative request.

We need your help to convince the legislature to fund this important project. Join the Legislative Network and help support important University initiatives at the legislature. Network members receive newsletters and informal mailings and are invited to attend legislative forums or briefings. Alumni, parents, donors, and anyone concerned about Minnesota and higher education are welcome to participate.

ITAS seeks volunteers for FIRST LEGO League competition

Want to help inspire and excite kids in grades 4-9 with hands-on science and technology? The IT Alumni Society is looking for 100 technology-savvy volunteers to serve as referees and judges at FIRST LEGO League (FLL) robot competitions. Regional tournaments are scheduled for the weekend before Thanksgiving and for the two weekends following Thanksgiving. State tournaments will be held January 24 and February 2. Time commitment includes a two-hour training session (Tuesday evening, November 18, at St. Paul Academy) and at least one tournament lasting about six hours.

FLL is an internationally organized robotics competition for teams of kids led by an adult coach. In Minnesota these teams compete in 2 divisions, one for students in grades 4-6 and the other for students in grades 7-9. Each team designs, constructs and programs a LEGO MINDSTORMS™ robot to perform a task posed by FIRST LEGO League as a nation-wide challenge. Teams demonstrate their robot's ability to perform the challenge in head-to-head competition at tournaments. This year's robot challenge is to “visit” the planet Mars and create a robot that can do tasks performed by NASA robots on the Red Planet.

For more information contact Deb Mans (612-723-1970 or debmans@hightechkids.org) or volunteer online. Please mention ITAS in any correspondence and on your registration form.

Honors

Professor Anatoly Larkin (physics) is a co-recipient of the 2003 Bardeen Prize, which is awarded for theoretical works that have provided “significant insights on the nature of superconductivity and have led to verifiable predictions.” Larkin, a faculty member in the Theoretical Physics Institute, was honored for his work on the theory of vortex matter. The International Conference on Materials and Mechanisms of Superconductivity and High Temperature Superconductors awards the Bardeen Prize, which is named in honor of Nobel laureate John Bardeen, an assistant professor physics at the University from 1938-41. Larkin shares the prize with Professor David Nelson of Harvard University and Valerii Vinokur of Argonne National Laboratory. In March 2002 Larkin also received the Lars Onsager Prize from the American Physical Society.

Professor Joseph Kapusta (physics) is among three University faculty members who have been elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Kapusta, Philip Gersmehl (geography), and Phyllis Moen (sociology) will be formally installed on February 14, during the AAAS 2004 annual meeting in Seattle.

Regents Professor nominations are being accepted for faculty members who have uniquely contributed to the quality of the U through especially noteworthy accomplishments in teaching; research, scholarship, or creative work; and contributions to the public good. Send nominations to the Regents Professor Nominating Committee, c/o the Office of the President, 202 Morrill Hall. Deadline is Feb. 1, 2004. For more information or a copy of the nomination guidelines, contact Mary Pierce at 612-624-6327 or pierc035@umn.edu.

In memoriam

Morton Hamermesh, a retired physics professor and former head of the University of Minnesota’s School of Physics and Astronomy (SPA), died November 14 at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis from complications of heart attack. He was 87.

Born in 1915 in Brooklyn, N.Y., Hamermesh received a bachelor’s degree from City College of New York (CCNY) in 1936 and a doctorate from New York University in 1940. He taught at CCNY, Stanford University and New York University before serving as director of the Physics Division of Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago from 1959 to 1963. In 1965, following two years as associate laboratory director at Argonne, he joined the University of Minnesota as professor and head of SPA. He left in 1969 for a similar post at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, but returned to his University of Minnesota position after a year, serving as SPA head until 1975. He retired from the university in December 1985. Find out more...