Alumni Association Home > Minnesota Magazine > Past Issues > 2006 > September-October 2006

Research teams from four universities, including Minnesota, will share $100 million to provide experiments and supporting hardware for a future NASA mission to study near-Earth radiation. Such radiation is hazardous to astronauts, orbiting satellites, and aircraft flying high-altitude polar routes. The mission, scheduled for launch in 2012, will study how accumulations of space radiation form and change during space storms. The University of Minnesota–led team will study electric fields in space that energize radiation particles in the two radiation belts that surround Earth. The other universities involved in the experiments are the University of Iowa, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Boston University.

A new Center for Allied Health Programs will expand statewide access to a variety of allied health care education programs—including occupational therapy and medical technologist training—to meet critical needs. A plan for the innovative center, a partnership between the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, was approved by the Board of Regents in July. The curriculum will be launched in fall 2007.

Two University professors received the nation’s highest honor for professionals beginning their independent research and education careers. Ashley James, assistant professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics, and William Schuler, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, were among 20 young scientists and engineers to receive a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the National Science Foundation. The award ceremony was held at the White House. James conducts research in fluid dynamics and has developed an educational outreach plan with the goal of increasing participation of students underrepresented in engineering. Schuler’s research builds bridges between human language processing and fields such as computer vision, robotics, and medicine.

The University of Minnesota is among the top 20 best colleges in the United States for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students, according to the Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students. The guide also lists the University of Minnesota at Duluth in the top 100. Campuses were ranked according to institutional commitment and support for LGBT students, academic life, housing, student life, counseling and health efforts, campus safety, and recruitment and retention efforts.

The Board of Regents named three new Regents Professors: child development professor Megan Gunnar, political science professor Kathryn Sikkink, and chemistry professor Donald Truhlar. The highest designation given to faculty at the University, a Regents Professorship recognizes outstanding academic distinction, including scholarly or artistic contributions, quality of teaching, and contributions to the public good. The appointments come with an annual salary stipend as long as they remain at the University. The University now has 23 Regents Professors and aims to increase the number to 30 by 2010.

Several new academic degree programs are being offered by the University of Minnesota–Rochester for the first time this fall, with more on track for next fall. This year’s new offerings are: doctor of education in educational leadership, master of health-care administration, bachelor in graphic design, bachelor in art technology and photography, and a post-baccalaureate certificate in technology integration. Next year’s programs include advanced degrees in nursing practice and occupational therapy and bachelors’ degrees in clinical laboratory science and music technology. The additions are part of the University’s expanded presence in southeastern Minnesota.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education awarded Minnesota a CASE–WealthEngine Award for Educational Fund Raising in recognition of superior fund-raising performance. The U was one of 10 schools honored for continuously high fund-raising performance during fiscal years 2000 to 2005. That period covers the last four years of the seven-year Campaign Minnesota, which raised $1.67 billion. Voluntary support, which measures gifts and non-contractual research grants, was $194 million in 2000 and $265 million in 2005.