Overseas Studies, Down Under
Students who have completed introductory coursework in biology will soon have the opportunity to meet some new mates. This fall, Overseas Studies will unveil a program in coastal Australia. A collaboration between Stanford and the University of Queensland, the program will enable 48 students and their instructors to travel along the northeastern coast of the continent, studying marine biology, coastal ecology and resource management of the Great Barrier Reef. Among the highlights: examining the interactions between dugongs, seagrass and humans on one of the world’s largest estuarine bays, exploring mangrove and rainforest biodiversity, and conducting anthropological studies of indigenous culture.
For Next-Generation X Ray, a Green Light
The Department of Energy has okayed a $220 million next-generation X-ray laser project at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The Linac Coherent Light Source, a multi-institutional collaboration, “will produce flashes of X rays 10 billion times brighter and 1,000 times shorter than any existing source,” says project director and SLAC researcher John Galayda. It will be used to determine the locations and properties of atoms in solids and liquids, and has applications in the chemical, materials and biological sciences. Full operation is expected by September 2008.
Will National-Security Laws Impinge on Research?
The Faculty Senate in November expressed widespread worry about the implementation of several provisions of congressional legislation passed in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Of particular concern: what will be defined as “select agents,” or biological agents and toxins that have the potential to pose threats to public health and safety; how the requirement to register those agents with the government will be enforced; and who will be allowed to conduct research with them. “It may be that no foreigner under any circumstances can work on any of these agents,” said biowarfare expert Steven Block, a professor of applied physics and biological sciences. “That’s very much in flux at the moment, I might add.”
The Father of the Home Satellite Dish Dies at 70
Electrical engineering research professor emeritus H. Taylor Howard, who worked on NASA science teams for the Apollo, Mariner, Pioneer, Voyager and Galileo space missions, died November 13 when his single-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff from the Calaveras County (Calif.) airport. An award-winning engineer who built the first home satellite dish in his backyard in 1976, Howard, ’55, never earned a master’s degree or a doctorate. An obituary will be published in the next issue of Stanford.
