Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Hua-Chieh Shao and Anthony Starace
UNL Physicists Model Potential 4-D Imaging Technique
A long-standing goal of science is to be able to understand how matter behaves at the atomic and subatomic level. How electrons rearrange when atoms or molecules come together is the essence of chemistry, and the ability to manipulate those rearrangements is the goal of the emerging sphere of nanotechnology. A fuller understanding could lead to enormous scientific and technological breakthroughs.
Unfortunately, significant problems confront scientists and engineers in attacking the question. Not only are atoms and molecules very small, requiring highly specialized equipment to "see" them, everything at the atomic level happens very, very fast. For example, an electron goes around the nucleus of an atom once every 150 attoseconds -- that's around one 10 millionth of a billionth of a second, far too quick for the human eye or any existing equipment to detect.
Nothing exists to allow scientists and engineers to see those electronic processes, but University of Nebraska-Lincoln physics graduate student Hua-Chieh Shao and his adviser, theoretical physicist Anthony Starace, have modeled a four-dimensional imaging technique that could lead to a breakthrough. They report their findings this week in the online edition of Physical Review Letters. more...
(from left) Chancellor Harvey Perlman, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, and athletic director Tom Osborne
Chancellor Perlman honored as Midlander of the Year
UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman was noted for "Scoring Points for UNL" in a front-page story in the Omaha World-Herald Dec. 26. Perlman is the World-Herald's 2010 Midlander of the Year.
The story by reporter Henry Cordes documents the increase in research funding, rise in national quality rankings, and increases in six-year graduation rates and students with top ACT scores during the past 10 years under Perlman's watch. But the story points to UNL's transition from the Big 12 to the Big Ten as Perlman's "biggest legacy." Sources for the story included former chancellor Graham Spanier, NU president J.B. Milliken, faculty, business leaders and athletic boosters.
Reynolds Center Picks UNL Professor for Business Journalism Fellowship
Joseph Weber
Associate professor of journalism Joseph Weber is one of 15 professors selected to attend the Reynolds Foundation Seminar for Business Journalism, Jan. 4-7 at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
The intensive seminar trains journalism professors to teach university-level courses in business journalism. "The number and quality of professional journalists and professors applying for our business journalism seminars continued to grow in this fifth year of the seminars," said Andrew Leckey, president of the Reynolds Center and the Reynolds Chair in Business Journalism at the Cronkite School. "At a time of pressing financial issues, this reflects a commendable commitment by both news organizations and academic institutions to the importance of business and economic coverage." more...
