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Feb. 7, 2002
1. Legislative update
2. We need you!
3. U decries politically motivated arson
4. Bio crossroads
5. Minnesota's First MLK street named by UMM
6. Life at the edge
7. U's beauty recognized
8. U of M Happenings
9. Links
U IN THE NEWS
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
The Minnesota Legislature, which convened on Jan. 29, is moving quickly to pass a budget balancing bill and complete their work on this year's bonding bill, and the University has an interest in both.
The first order of business for legislators appears to be approving budget reductions and other measures to help the state balance its budget, which has a projected deficit of nearly $2 billion.
The University is working to minimize the impact of proposed budget reductions.
"All budget cuts hurt," said President Mark Yudof who testified about the proposed reductions to both House and Senate committees last week. "We fought hard for the University's appropriation last year but we know that we have to be part of the solution and help the state balance its budget."
Gov. Jesse Ventura has recommended that higher education cut five percent of its budget, meaning a $33 million reduction for the University. Last week, the Senate Higher Education Committee recommended a $25.5 million reduction for the University. The Senate package could be on the floor as early as next week, and the House is expected to act shortly.
In addition to balancing the state budget, legislators have to put together the biennial bonding bill this year. This week and last, President Yudof presented the University's $239.8 million capital request to both the Senate Higher Education Committee and the House Capital Investment Committee. Yesterday (Feb. 6), the Senate Higher Education Committee advanced a recommendation for full funding of the U's request to the Senate Capital Investment Committee. The University will continue to work hard to secure a place for all of its projects in the final Senate bill and to get a significant appropriation from the House.
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WE NEED YOU!
Volunteers are needed to help build support for the University's capital request. Next week, Monday, Feb. 11 through Wednesday, Feb. 13, the U will host legislative calling nights from 5 to 9 p.m. at the McNamara Alumni Center. We're calling alumni and friends of the University to ask them to contact their legislators directly. You'll get an orientation and refreshments. To sign up or for more information, contact Nicole Bennett at benne069@umn.edu or by phone, 800-862-5867 or 612-626-8371.
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U DECRIES POLITICALLY MOTIVATED ARSON
University of Minnesota officials reacted with outrage to a communiqué from the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) claiming responsibility for an arson at a construction site on the St. Paul campus on Jan. 26.
"This amounts to domestic terrorism," said Robert Elde, dean of the College of Biological Sciences. "We will not tolerate criminal activity disrupting our research enterprise or quest for knowledge. The University is a place that respects and nurtures all viewpoints, but terrorism and destruction of property is simply intolerable."
The University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD) said the ELF claim of responsibility appears to be credible.
"There's information in the communiqué that only someone with firsthand knowledge of the arson would know," Capt. Steve Johnson of the UMPD explained. He would not discuss the specific information because doing so could jeopardize the criminal investigation. "We're working closely with the FBI and ATF to bring these criminals to justice," he said.
The FBI considers ELF a domestic terrorist group. In the past, the group claimed responsibility for vandalizing a genetic research greenhouse on the campus in February 2000. It also claimed responsibility for several fires at research facilities across the country, which, according to the group, have caused more than $40 million in damages.
The ELF communiqué said that the target of the arson was the Microbial and Plant Genomics building under construction. The facility, which will house research and computational laboratories, conference/instructional facilities and administrative space for 17 principal investigators and 168 research scientists in the microbial and plant sciences, is a centerpiece of the University's initiative to be a national leader in genomics and life sciences. Work in the facility will be geared toward understanding genomes of organisms and how they enable and perpetuate life on the planet. This very basic research could ultimately lead to ways to reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers in agriculture, find renewable alternatives to fossil fuels, identify new strategies for cleaning the environment, and preserve ecosystems. The $20 million facility was funded equally by the Minnesota Legislature in 2000 and Cargill.
"Ironically, the new facility is dedicated to improving the environment, not damaging it," said Elde.
The arson, which destroyed a construction trailer and heavy equipment on the Microbial and Plant Genomics building construction site, also heavily damaged faculty and student research and a soil testing laboratory in the adjacent Crops Research building. No people or animals were harmed in the fire. The University does not yet have a full monetary assessment of the damage, nor a full accounting of the research and equipment that was destroyed.
Authorities are calling on the public to contact them with any information that could assist in this investigation and help identify suspects. People with information should call 612-624-3550.
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| An artist's mock-up shows part of the new Biotechnology Precinct in St. Paul. The familiar Beef Cattle Barn is on the right, and on the left is the Microbial and Plant Genomics Building, now under construction. |
BIO CROSSROADS
On the way from his office to his chemistry lab at Cargill, it suddenly dawned on Pat Gruber how to make plastic. He wasn’t thinking about the kind of plastic that requires dirty production methods and lasts forever in the landfill. He had a bioplastic on his mind.
From the time Gruber was a new University of Minnesota Ph.D. chemistry graduate, he had dreamed of creating plastic from something other than petrochemicals. What he figured out that day was a way to convert a simple kernel of corn into a cheaper, cleaner, biodegradable plastic.
Now, more than half a billion dollars and a decade later, with a spin-off company called Cargill Dow, Gruber oversees production of a polylatic acid polymer sold to firms that melt it into fibers for a variety of uses like packaging and clothing.
Eight city blocks of space
This kind of scientific "aha" not only makes the University proud, but also lends support to the new research quarters called the Biotechnology Precinct, a 16-acre complex to be located at the crossroads of Buford and Gortner Avenues on the Twin Cities campus in St. Paul.
Recently approved by the Board of Regents, the precinct will be a cross-college, cross-discipline center bringing biology, chemistry, mechanical and chemical engineering, and computer science together to work in a state-of-the-art environment. It will also be a place where corporations like Cargill, which already has a working relationship with the University, can collaborate with our faculty and graduate and postgraduate students.
Development of the complex is already under way with construction of the Microbial and Plant Genomics Building on the Twin Cities campus in St. Paul. The genomics building, and possibly four or five more buildings, will be built within an area the size of eight city blocks just across the street from the biological science corridor along Gortner Avenue and north of Buford Avenue.
Part of the University’s planning is practical: How does the next generation of biotechnologists need to work in order to be successful? What kind of graduates will industry need?
But it’s also a matter of competition. The University is just putting a toe in the water with the start of this biotech development. Universities in San Diego, the San Francisco area, Seattle, Boston, Michigan, and Wisconsin are already swimming upstream.
How biology is changing
Until recently, few people were thinking about turning to biology to produce consumer products of the future. Now, biology is at the forefront, projected as a key science of the 21st century.
College of Biological Sciences dean Bob Elde notes that many of the problems facing society and the world are largely biological and will be solved through biology. "Either from personal health and genetics—What have I inherited or what am I going to die from?—to ecosystems—What have we as humankind done to this globe? These problems are essentially biological, and the solutions are biological," he says.
In addition, since the big genome projects were completed in the 1990s, biology has fundamentally changed. Elde feels the scientific opportunities that have followed the mapping of the genome are unlimited. "It has opened up the possibility for understanding the precise mechanisms by which all living things conduct their business. As a consequence there are a lot of people who believe that biobased industrial products are the big wave of the future."
What scientists need
As science changes so have the scientists. On the day Gruber figured out how to grow plastic from a renewable raw material, he was part biologist, part chemist, and part engineer.
According to planner Orlyn Miller of Facilities Management, "When we get to the molecular and cellular level [of research], and now the DNA level, a lot of those [traditional] lines are blurred….Much of what you’re learning applies across disciplines. Somebody may be doing research in plants, but it has a direct application to something that has direct impact on medicines or therapies"
A concept used successfully by industry, called hoteling, will be explored in the new genomics building to allow researchers from different disciplines to interact. About a third of the building occupants will use the building as their anchor space. The rest of the occupants will use it on a programmatic basis, staying only long enough to complete a project.
Elde believes this will foster new relationships and conversations. "They [researchers] currently encounter different people from different disciplines at national or international meetings. People are thirsty to do this…so we decided we have to figure out how to make those interactions here," he said.
The new genomics building will mix people from five different colleges—biology, agriculture, medicine, veterinary medicine, and technology, plus a contingent from the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute—people who currently work in different buildings and cultures.
Wet and dry labs together
The genomics building will be one of the first buildings in the country to put bioinformatics and molecular biology people together.
What biologists discover in wet labs today generates so much information it is impossible to make sense out of it without bioinformatics.
Elde explains, "In the wet lab you pull out some genes and you need to know their sequence; and the sequence is deadly boring. It’s an alphabet of only four letters—ATGC—and this is a story that’s written with no punctuation marks, no words, no paragraphs, no chapters. It’s just ATGC in unique combinations, as far as the eye can see. You can’t make any sense out of this without computers and bioinformatics to interpret these genomics stories."
Milliliter, nanoliter, or full cup?
On the main floor of the genomics building will be a clean room full of robots that will handle the miniaturization common to biological science today.
There was a time when scientists were content to work with a five-milliliter sample when analyzing a solution. Now, dispensing a five-nanoliter sample is the target, and that amount can’t be isolated without computers and robots.
On the upper floors, a planned commons area will have another important tool, the coffeemaker. Although nonscientific in purpose, sharing a cup of coffee with a colleague from a different discipline provides an opportunity to have a vital conversation about a thought that may be just starting to percolate.
More bio buildings
No specific plans are on the table for future buildings within the biotech precinct, but there are inclinations about what should be there. Many newly hired, high-profile scientists work in a discipline called biocatalysis, the same kind of work Gruber was doing to create plastic from corn.
Biocatalysts are actually enzymes that, when added to one material, can convert it into a new product or purpose, like brewing beer or wine with yeast. Microbiologist David Sherman is exploring ways to use bacteria from soil and ocean water to produce biochemicals to fight cancer, viruses, fungi, and other bacteria.
A cousin of biocatalysis is biodegradation, which cleans up chemical contamination. To clean up spills of the pesticide atrazine, microbial biochemist Larry Wackett and soil scientist Michael Sadowsky engineered bacteria to attack the problem. Their new microbe actually eats atrazine.
Because of space constraints, ideas based on biocatalysis and biodegradation can now be explored only on a limited basis. But down the line a big fermentation and processing facility will be considered.
Another could be constructed to build biosensors that measure tiny biological events. Biosensors are created by marrying an enzyme—engineered to do a specific job—to a solid-state device such as a fiber optic or a nanoparticle. The resulting product can then be placed in the bloodstream or the soil to measure a predetermined microscopic activity.
Biologist Janet Schottel and biochemist-engineer Michael Flickinger have teamed up with L. E. Scriven, a chemical engineer who is an expert with latex, to successfully encapsulate engineered bacteria in plastic film to detect soil and water contaminants.
Start-up companies are an important component of the biotech precinct. A lab-based incubator building is planned, where new companies would begin their business activity. These enterprises would be initially based on technology developed at the University. Whether this building is located within the biotech precinct or off campus depends on the cost and how quickly it can be built.
The success of biotechnology at the University will hinge, not only on the thinking that comes out of the new precinct, but also on those recruited to come here.
Cargill’s $10 million investment in the genomics building was a no-strings-attached gift.
For local industry recruiters, the weather makes it difficult to attract top talent from southern California. It’s an entirely different matter when they recruit a Californian who has already come here to study. That’s one reason 3M recently contributed $6 million for graduate student fellowships, asking that those fellowships be in genomics, bioinformatics, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.
By raising the bar, the University expects to eventually get noticed for biotechnology around the world. For now, the work is at the precinct level.
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MINNESOTA'S FIRST MLK STREET NAMED BY UMM
In the spirit that reflects its commitment to diversity, on Jan. 25, the University of Minnesota, Morris, named a street after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is the first street in Minnesota to be named after the slain civil rights leader. The street, formerly known as University Drive, is now Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.
"Throughout its history, the University of Minnesota at Morris has been deeply and pervasively committed to diversity—in students, faculty, staff, curriculum and programs," said UMM Chancellor Sam Schuman. "This commitment has, of course, never been perfectly realized, but its strength has never wavered. By naming a street on our campus in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we seek to recognize the work of a great American, the continuing struggle for civil rights, the work that many have done, and that all of us must continue."
The University of Minnesota, Morris is one of the most respected public liberal arts colleges in the nation. In 1998, the campus received a Celebration of Diversity Award from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, and last year the Morris campus Minority Student Program was named among the Top 10 Best Places to Work at the University of Minnesota. UMM's minority student enrollment of 15 percent ranks near the top for all Minnesota postsecondary institutions.
"We hope, by this action, to say to our community and to the state of Minnesota where this is a first, that while one day a year is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day, every day, of every year, we should be reminded of Dr. King's life, his work, and the goals of his struggle for equal rights for all Americans, and for an increasingly peaceful and just world," said Schuman.
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LIFE AT THE EDGE
It's a tale far too common for a life form that's supposed to be able to learn from experience: City dweller wants to get close to nature. Builds a house in the country and surrounds it with pavement and a manicured lawn. Scares off a good chunk of the native species and spends weekends repairing damage caused by the remainder.
Last year in the United States, millions of acres of land were gobbled up by urban sprawl. In the process, countless plants and animals were destroyed or made strangers in a strange land, surrounded by novel conditions for which natural selection had ill-prepared them.
But it doesn't have to be this way. Research in the fast-growing field of conservation biology is providing valuable information on ways we can minimize the impact of development on the living things with which we share this planet.
Road Rage
Carol Hall knows just what trouble looks like: It's long and gray and has a yellow line running down the middle. A herpetologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Hall spent her graduate school years in the U of M's College of Natural Resources studying how the Blanding's turtle, a threatened species, fares at the urban-rural interface. She found the turtles scarce in her suburban study sites, even though they had plenty of scattered wetlands to inhabit.
Hall, who did her research under the guidance of fisheries, wildlife, and conservation biology faculty member Francie Cuthbert, blames the streets and highways built between wetlands and the turtles' upland nesting habitat.
"Turtles just can 't tolerate roads, busy roads especially," she says. At a turtle's pace, females on their way to nesting grounds—and newly hatched young working their way back again—don 't stand a chance against the twice-daily parade of commuters.
Nor do many other animals, if the abundance of roadkill found on urban-rural transition roads is any indication. Clearly, development that simply leaves small patches of open space just doesn't cut it, especially for species with large home ranges or those that use several habitat types. Survival depends on passages that link the various habitats required throughout their lives.
How to make that happen? In the case of the beleaguered Blanding's turtle, scientists have proposed installing underpasses on highways so they can safely traverse the asphalt. An even better solution: scoping out an area and its inhabitants before development occurs, so migration patterns can be discerned and roads can be routed to minimize conflict.
For the Birds
What blend of developed and open space best supports a diversity of plant and animal life? That's the question former conservation biology graduate student Kim Chapman sought to answer in a just-completed, two-year study of birds, shrubs, and trees on the northern fringe of the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
"If we understand the patterns of diversity in the region, maybe we could determine how much of each land use and habitat we need to support all species and prevent their populations from declining," he says.
Guided by forest resources faculty member Peter Reich, Chapman measured bird, shrub, and tree diversity and abundance in more than 300 research plots in suburbs, rural lands, and natural areas. He found that rural lands and natural areas did a similarly good job of preserving bird biodiversity. Bits of natural areas tucked into suburbs supported native birds, too. But by and large diversity suffered where suburban-style development dominated the scene.
"The suburbs had a larger number of individual birds," Chapman says, "but it was due to a dramatic increase in the number of individuals representing nonnative species."
Chapman says his research underscores the value of preserving farmland, especially the woodlots scattered through the rural landscape. "It's so important to maintaining levels of bird diversity and probably herbs, small mammals, and the other species we didn't look at," he says.
At the same time, he is concerned about the trend toward peppering open spaces with scattered homesteads.
"As development proceeds, the environmental conditions found in suburbs become more common in the rural landscape, and this could harm regional diversity," he says. To avoid this problem, he recommends taking a cautious approach by concentrating new development where development already exists.
Chapman also suggests that people who live in the suburbs get together with neighbors and create patches of native plantings with a variety of trees and shrubs. "You might find yourself with a catbird in your backyard," he says. "Wouldn't you like a catbird in your backyard?"
The Human Dimension
Research goes a long way toward helping us understand what we can do to encourage biodiversity in the face of development. But knowing what living things need to thrive is not the same as providing it—particularly when many people, each with their own interests and agendas, are involved. That's why a critical part of conservation biology is the human dimension-improving citizens' understanding and appreciation of the value of other living things.
Conservation biology graduate program director J. David Smith, a member of the fisheries, wildlife, and conservation biology faculty, says he sees more interest in conserving biodiversity among peasants in Nepal, who have a longstanding understanding of the value of the plants and animals around them, than he does in the United States. He says it's the job of conservation biologists to help change that.
"We need to get people to appreciate and take time to communicate what we're learning, what animals need, what ecological services natural systems provide to wildlife and humans," he says.
Smith says interested organizations need to involve citizens in monitoring wildlife. Survey and census programs that give people the opportunity to observe and report loons, dragonflies, and other kinds of creatures not only provide information planners can use to minimize future conflicts, but also help people develop a sense that biodiversity matters.
"They develop ownership," Hall says of a DNR program in the late '80s and early '90s that encouraged people to report Blanding's turtle sightings. Some people have recognized individual turtles that return to nest in their yard. "They feel like, here's one of my neighbors."
Another approach to garnering citizen support is to provide a framework that allows people to work together. Several years ago Larry Westerberg, who retired from the Minnesota DNR last summer, helped develop a program called Neighborhood Wilds that encourages suburban residents to foster biodiversity through cooperative habitat improvement. Through the program, resource professionals guide neighborhood efforts such as prairie or savanna restoration or invasive species removal.
Westerberg notes that, like citizen monitoring, the effort not only gives a boost to native plants and animals, it also enhances residents' sensitivity to their nonhuman neighbors' needs.
"It just has a tendency to raise the awareness of the people [involved]," he says.
Engendering awareness of and appreciation for biodiversity will be an important focus for a new fisheries, wildlife, and conservation biology faculty member to be hired this year in the area of peri-urban wildlife. The new faculty member's appointment will be 65 percent outreach-time to be spent with policy makers, citizens, and businesses providing education about the whys and hows of preserving biodiversity.
"We as scientists and as a college of natural resources cannot say we are going to be [just] basic scientists," says Smith. "We have to reach out."
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Portraying John Sargent Pillsbury, J.B. Eckert shows off a marker on the University's Heritage Trail.
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U'S BEAUTY RECOGNIZED
People are taking note of the beauty on University campuses.
The U's Heritage Trail is one of the many great reasons to come back to the Twin Cities campus, and we're not the only ones who think so. Last week, the trail was recognized by the Minneapolis Committee on Urban Environment (CUE).
CUE is a citizens advisory board established in 1968 to promote improvements to the cityscape. This year the group recognized 18 winners out of 60 projects nominated for the award. CUE described the U's Heritage Trail as "a self-guided and user-friendly walking tour ... [that] represents the rich history of the University in both words and pictures."
The Heritage Trail, on the Twin Cities campus, was completed in 2000 as part of the University's Sesquicentennial celebration. The Heritage Trail is comprised of large markers that describe everything from the history of campus architectural design and the University's expansion, to its icons, pioneers, and innovators. Visitors following the trail not only can learn about the University's 150-year history, but they also have a chance to see some of the new buildings on campus. There are four separate trails featuring more than 30 full-color markers, monuments, plaques, and memorials throughout the Twin Cities campus.
The Nicolet Island Community Planting Project, a University effort to make the Twin Cities a greener place, also won CUE accolades. The project brought together 150 University friends and employees who worked with students from DeLaSalle High School to plant 150 trees including maples, oaks, and lindens on Nicollet Island, a few blocks from the original site of the University. The trees commemorate the University’s Sesquicentennial and are part of a long-term research project to study the survival and performance of certain trees in an urban environment.
The beauty of U of M campuses is also recognized in a new book, Valued Places: Landscape Architecture in Minnesota, which features both the Morris and the Twin Cities campuses. The book, by the Minnesota Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, is a field guide to Minnesota's most scenic views. It features photographs of 52 Minnesota landscapes, maps to their locations, information on operations and Web sites, as well as short commentaries about each site, written by landscape architects. Frank Edgerton Martin, the book's editor, says the campuses were included because "no other institute in the state stewards as many valued landscapes as the University of Minnesota." The book says that UMM's "unusual architectural identity" is part of what makes the school special.
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U OF M HAPPENINGS
The sixth annual U of M African American Read-In will honor the contributions and achievements of famed poet Langston Hughes on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 2 p.m. in the Humphrey Center on the Twin Cities/Minneapolis campus. Department of African American and African Studies professors John Wright and Alexs Pate, and poets Dawn Renee Jones, Angela Shannon, and J. Otis! Powell will read works by Hughes. Afrika's Ensemble, a local band, will provide musical entertainment. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Ezra Hyland at hylan003@tc.umn.edu or call 612-626-4780.
Starting Monday, Feb. 11, the U's School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the College of Liberal Arts will present a five-part satellite seminar series called "Television and the War on Terrorism: The War at Home and Abroad." Presented live, via satellite throughout the country, the series features prominent TV, radio, and newspaper personalities, as well as policy-makers and analysts. Panelists include Andrew Heyward, president, CBS News; Mortimer Zuckerman, chairman and co-publisher, New York Daily News; Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary; and Dan Rather, CBS News. The first three seminars can be viewed Monday, Feb. 11 through Wednesday, Feb. 13 from 6:30-8 p.m. in Murphy Hall. They are free and open to the public. For more information, please visit www.mjc.umn.edu/events2001-02/satellite/satellite.htm or contact Jon Stemmle at 612-626-1723.
Enjoy a private, candle-lit dinner for two in the Winter Garden at Glensheen Historic Estate in Duluth on Valentine's Day, Thursday, Feb. 14th. The evening begins with a tour at 4:30 p.m. Dinner follows at 5:30 p.m. and includes a rose and a small gift. The cost is $100 per couple. Please call 888-454-4536 to make reservations.
A new tradition to celebrate the University's history and achievements, and promote campus pride kicks off later this month. Founders Week, beginning Monday, Feb. 18, is a series of public concerts, lectures, tours, and outdoor activities. For more information on Founders Week happenings, please visit www1.umn.edu/twincities/founders.
The Great Conversations Series continues with its second installment on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m. in Ted Mann Concert Hall on the Twin Cities/Minneapolis campus. Thomas Fisher, dean of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and Steven Holl, TIME magazine's architect of the year, discuss progressive and visionary movements in architecture. Tickets are $25. Discounts are available for faculty, staff, students, and alumni association members. For tickets, call 612-624-2345.
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LINKS
Hey, Sports Fans! Check out sports news and schedules of the U's teams:
Gophers
Duluth Bulldogs
Morris Cougars
Crookston Golden Eagles
Campaign Minnesota: Learn more about this fund-raising effort to build excellence in every corner of the U.
University of Minnesota Alumni Association: Your membership makes a difference.
U of M Legislative Network: Read about the University's legislative request and how you can help.
University of Minnesota Systemwide Home Page
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