Prof fights back
against allergies
By Eve Nations
Staff Reporter
While many allergy sufferers
sneeze their way through spring,
Margaret Bolick fights back by
studying pollens and their effects.
Bolick, curator of botany and
associate professor of museum and
biological sciences at the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln, became
interested in the study and crushing
of pollen because she has pollen
allergies herself.
“I’m one of the few pollen suffers
that can get back at the pollens,” she
said.
Bolick tests the air to see which
pollens arc in the air at certain
times. During different times of the
year, several different pollens arc
present. For instance, during late
March and early April, juniper and
elm pollens are abundant.
“No one identifies the specific
kind of pollen that is in the air, they
justgive the pollen count,” she said.
My research will help understand
what is going on by knowing which
pollens arc in the air.”
Collecting pollen samples is not
difficult. Bolick sets out slides
coated with Vaseline on the roof of
Nebraska Hall. The slides capture
the pollen grains that arc in the air.
The slides arc left out for about five
hours.
Weather affects the pollen
count. The pollen count will be
higher if the weather is dry and there
is a low relative humidity.
“Ten minutes of rain washes a lot
of the pollen out of the air,” Bolick
said. “If someone wants to air out
their house, it is best to wait for a
rainstorm when pollens are out of
the air.”
People can develop allergic re
actions any time in their life. Usu
ally there are peaks in people’s lives
when they develop allergies. These
peaks usually develop during pu
berty and the late teens and early
20s.
Stress is also an important factor
7
Aj /
in allergies, she said.
“Stress can trigger allergies,”
Bolick said. “A lot of kids don’t get
allergies until they hit the campus.”
Bolick also studies how the al
lergens in the pollens are released.
She is specifically interested in the
structure of the pollen walls.
“I am trying to see how strong
the pollen walls are,”she said. “The
variety of types of walls are amaz
ing.”
No one has done this type of
research before, she said, because
researchers did not have the right
equipment to measure the pollen
walls.
*‘I talked to some engineers and
found out that there was no work
able equipment. I then got in con
Andy Manhart/Dally Nebraskan
tact with the National Science
Foundation and talked with them
about devising equipment,” Bolick
said.
Test results of pollen wall
strength are different from what
were firstpresumed. The testresults
showed that the pollen walls are not
hard and brittle, as thought before
Bolick’s research, but arc tough and
flexible.
Bolick said the research will
take years to fully understand the
pollen.
“There are thousands of differ
ent types of pollens and pollen
structures,” she said. “With the
equipment here, it will take years to
complete.”
RHA pay bill tabled
Bergmann: Bill has backing for reintroduction
By Brandon Loomis
Staff Reporter
After much debate Thursday, the
newly elected 19th Senate of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Residence Hall Association voted to
table indefinitely a bill that would pay
its executive officers.
Ken Libby, former Speaker of the
Senate and originator of the bill, said
the senate could attract and retain
good officers by paying them.
Harper Senator Christopher Lehan
disagreed, saying that volunteers
should better serve hall residents
before expecting a salary.
Lehan said if the officers want
money, “let them run . . . for U.S.
Congress. This is not the U.S. Con
gress.”
Ellen Foley, Sandoz senator, said
she opposes paying RHA executives
because such an action would in
crease student housing costs.
“I don’t think RHA has made
enough impact on residents to get
paid,” she said.
Selleck Senator Doug Wetzel said
paying executives would make RHA
an elite organization.
Abel Senator Marlin Bergmann,
whom the senate elected as its speaker
Thursday, said although the bill was
tabled indefinitely, and can no longer
be discussed, it has enough support to
be reintroduced as a new bill.
In other business, the senate voted
to give the University Program Coun
cil $500 to finance a Club Coca Cola
dance on East Campus April 13.
TaraTwedl, a UPC representative,
said UPC needs $1,000 before it can
decrease dance ticket prices from
S4.50 to $3.50. All proceeds will go to
the Special Olympics.
The senate also voted to let the
College Carpet Organization sell
carpets on campus during FINK week
in the fall. RHA will receive 10 per
cent of the profit. <
lop students to be honored
oy Amy rewards
Senior Reporter
Students who have earned distin
guished scholarship awards will be
recognized April 8 at the 60th annual
honors convocation.
Patrice Berger, honors program
director at the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln, said Thursday that
2,039 UNL students will be recog
nized at the convocation.
There are three levels of recogni
tion, Berger said. A Chancellor’s
Scholar Award will be given to 11
students who have received a 4.0
grade point average throughout their
college career.
The Superior Scholar Award will
be given to 223 students who have
either been in the upper 3 percent of
their graduating class or have been on
the honors convocation list since en
tering the university.
The Chancellor’s and Superior
Scholars Awards are available only to
seniors who graduated in December
i / or who will graduate this May or
August.
All other students at the convoca
tion will receive High Scholar
Awards. Berger said High Scholars
must have an accumulative GPA of
3.6 and have met other requirements.
The requirements for juniors,
sophomores and freshmen include a
minimum of 12 credit hours during
the fall semester, at least nine of
which arc graded. Seniors must have
completed a minimum of nine credit
hours, at least six of which are graded.
The honors convocation is an all
university function sponsored by the
chancellor’s office, he said. The con
vocation will be at the Bob Devancy
Sports Center at 2:30 p.m. Berger said
about 30 more students will be recog
nized at the convocation than last
year. However, he said, there arc 25
fewer Superior Scholar students than
in 1987.
All students are invited to attend
the convocation, Berger said.
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