University of Minnesota Alumni Association
 
Alumni Association Home > Minnesota Magazine > Past Issues > 2008 > May-June 2008  
U News
U_News_4
The University of Minnesota celebrated Beautiful U Day on April 17 by giving away compact fluorescent light bulbs on Northrop Mall. Mike Berthelsen, associate vice president of facilities management, handed out some of the 10,000 light bulbs that went to students, faculty, and staff. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, replacing just one incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb in every home in the United Sates would save enough energy to light 3 million homes for a year and prevents greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of 800,000 cars. Beautiful U Day began in 1997 as a way to promote campus beautification and sustainability. PHOTO BY PATRICK O'LEARY
Minnesota Masonic Charities has given the University of Minnesota the largest gift in the school’s history with a $65 million pledge to the University Cancer Center. Since the Masons first began supporting cancer research at the University in 1955, the fraternal organization has given $100 million toward cancer research, care, and prevention. In recognition of their commitment, the Cancer Center will now be called the Masonic Cancer Center. The newly renamed center was founded in 1991 to provide a collaborative environment for researchers to work on the causes, prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer. The $65 million donation is believed to be the largest gift ever given to a college or university in Minnesota.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (B.A. ’83, J.D. ’86) signed a $716.8 million state bonding bill that includes $105.1 million for the University of Minnesota. The Minnesota State Legislature had sent to the governor a $925 million measure that allocated $131.1 million to the U, but Pawlenty used his line-item veto authority to cut $208 million from the bill, including $24 million for a new Bell Museum and $2 million for classroom renovation projects. Funding that was approved for U projects includes $35 million for basic infrastructure and building maintenance on all campuses; $10 million for a civil engineering building on the Duluth campus; $48.3 million for a Science Teaching and Student Services building on the Minneapolis campus; $5 million for construction of a Gateway Center on the Morris campus; $3.3 million for laboratory renovations throughout the system; and $3.5 million for research and outreach centers around the state.

In a separate measure, the governor preserved spending for the Minnesota Biomedical Research Program, a landmark $292 million project to build four world-class science facilities on the East Bank of the Minneapolis campus. Of the $292 million, $219 million will come from the state and $73 million from the University.

The University of Minnesota aspires to stature, not rank, in its quest to become one of the top three public research universities in the world, University President Bob Bruininks said in his sixth annual State of the U address in March. In “The Challenge of Change,” Bruininks asserted that one of the challenges facing the U is its changing economic relationship with the state of Minnesota. In the wake of the financial challenges facing the state, he said, the U must realize the maximum return for every dollar invested. “If we expect investment and support, we must continue to demonstrate that we are an asset to the state of Minnesota and its citizens,” he said.

The U’s new Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute has awarded $1.17 million over the next three years to three projects focused on food safety and disease prevention. The projects include a study that explores how bacteria survive on vegetables and how farm practices could prevent outbreaks of food-borne illness; a study on how consumption of broccoli, cabbage, and other vegetables could reduce the risk of colon and liver cancers; and a study of how certain properties in anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin might also be found in food. Scientists conducting the studies are from the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences; Medical School; College of Veterinary Medicine; College of Biological Sciences; School of Public Health; and Extension.

Three research projects based in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences have been awarded nearly $2.27 million over the next three years to encourage biomass research and development. The awards, a joint effort by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy, will be used to explore how biomass can be produced more efficiently and cost-effectively. The University’s award is part of an $18.4 million initiative nationwide aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on oil and mitigating climate change. The projects include identifying economically viable and environmentally benign options for biofuels development; researching the use of brown rot fungi in biofuels development; and developing processes for conversion of cellulosic biomass to bio-oils. The U was the only institution to receive more than two grants.

The University of Minnesota, in partnership with Xcel Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the Great Plains Institute, will begin testing an innovative technology that stores wind energy in batteries. The research partners will test a one-megawatt battery storage technology to demonstrate its ability to store wind energy and move it to the electricity grid when needed. When the wind blows, the batteries are charged. When the wind calms, the batteries supplement the power flow. Fully charged, the battery could power 500 homes for six and a half hours. The 20 50-kilowatt battery modules will be roughly the size of two semitrailers and weigh approximately 60 tons. The project is located adjacent to an 11-megawatt wind farm in southwestern Minnesota, near Luverne. The battery is expected to be installed and operational by October.

—Cynthia Scott