[Vision2020] The UI Friday Letter from UI President White

[Tom Hansen]

The Friday Letter

A Newsletter for University of Idaho

Alumni and Friends

December 3, 2004

 

Dear Friends,

 

Representatives of the South Korean corporation LG Life Sciences, Ltd.,
visited the Moscow campus Monday to celebrate the licensing of a technology
to improve the profits of dairy producers worldwide. A defanged toxin
developed by UI and Seoul National University researchers promises to boost
the immune systems of dairy cows, allowing them to better combat mastitis
infections and produce healthier returns for dairies. I had the pleasure of
meeting with the LG Life Sciences delegation and other UI and Idaho Research
Foundation officials to sign the licensing agreement. It is a perfect
example of the primary role of a research university - developing new
knowledge, new science and new information and then bringing that to bear on
the challenges of the day. The science produced by these researchers could
have a direct and dramatic impact on the international economy. My
congratulations to the Idaho Research Foundation, which serves as the
university's technology transfer agent,  microbiology Professor and Idaho
Agricultural Experiment Station Director Greg Bohach, Yong Ho Park of Seoul
National University in Korea and Larry Fox and Bill Davis of Washington
State University.

            

On a different topic, I am saddened to report the death of student Heidi
Bohac of Nampa. She was killed in an automobile accident outside Lewiston
last week on her way home for the holiday. She was a sophomore majoring in
international studies. Our thoughts are with her friends and family.

 

Tim White

President

 

Here's the latest news from the University of Idaho:

 

~ An Idaho-developed microelectronics chip will be on board NASA's deep
space mission to the outposts of our planetary system from 2006-2015.The
chip was developed at the Center for Advanced Microelectronic and
Biomolecular Research (CAMBR) at the University of Idaho Research Park in
Post Falls. It will provide data fault protection against the effects of
space radiation and other environmental "noise" as NASA's New Horizons
spacecraft travels to Pluto from 2006-15. Jody Gambles, associate director
at CAMBR, says the technology has been 15 years in development and was
manufactured under contract at AMI Semiconductor in Pocatello. It was
space-flight-qualified, tested and delivered to Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory by ICs, L.L.C. of Post Falls, a semiconductor
company that provides chips and technical support to government and
aerospace contractors. The chip is radiation hardened to prevent errors from
occurring during the encoding, detection and correction processes. 

Similar CAMBR chips are found on board the Hubble Space Telescope, Landsat7,
TERRA, EO-1, TIMED, as well as the ill-fated Comet Nucleus Tour

(CONTOUR) spacecraft, lost due to an orbital insertion malfunction in 2002.

            

~ Aaron M. Thomas, assistant professor of chemical engineering, is a
recipient of the 2004 American Indian Science and Engineering Society Most
Promising Engineer or Scientist Award. Thomas, a Navajo Indian, is only one
of a handful of American Indians with a doctoral degree in engineering and
is believed to be one of the few American Indians with a Ph.D. in chemical
engineering. He received his degree in 2001 from the University of Florida,
Gainsville. His bachelor's degree was earned at Stanford University. His
award is one of three first-ever AISES professional recognitions of
outstanding accomplishments of American Indian and Alaska Natives in
science, engineering and technical professions.

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