The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, August 16, 1990, Summer, Image 1

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    This Week: I
4 Young Guns" review.
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JUNE unaffected by HEAP problem
Rfiy Mark (ieorgeff
jit Staff Reporter
e B cccni financial problems with
kJ |< the nationwide Higher Educa
f Awtion Assistance Foundation
II (HEAF) thus far have had no impact
f on University of Nebraska-Lincoln
student loans, according to the direc
tor of scholarships and financial aid.
John E. Beacon said student loan
disbursement at UNL is “business as
usual.”
Kansas, Minnesota and Wyoming
lending institutions have delayed
college student loan proceedings
because ofeurrent financial problems
within the Kansas-based HEAF or
ganization.
Beacon said HEAF still is in busi
ness, and he doesn't think it's good
for financial institutions to “panic”
at this time.
College students apply for loans
through their personal choice of banks,
savings and loan institutions and credit
unions, and lending institutions’ stu
dent loans are financially secured by
a guarantee agency such as HEAF.
When college students default on
their school loans, HEAF is legally
obligated to pay back the lending
institution.
And student loan default rales arc
on the rise. Beacon said a SI .8 billion
default rate existed last year on stu
dent loans nationwide with that fig
ure possibly exceeding S2 billion this
year.
Federal government administrations
previously have secured HEAF’s fi
nancial obligations to it’s creditors.
But according to Beacon, the
government is not obligated to reim
burse HEAF at all.
Beacon said the federal govern
ment does not have to refund 1(X)
percent of HEAF’s capital.
He said if the government reim
burses HEAF at even a 90 or 80
percent margin, the possibility for
bankruptcy within the HEAF system
exists.
Beacon said some banks are nerv
ous right now, but he’s not sure if
anyone can predict what will happen
with HEAF's financial situation.
“The banks are still using HEAF,
and HEAF is still backing the loans,’’
he said.
The student loan default rate prob
lem exists primarily among technical
See HEAF on 2
I urns tf+ project into award-winning entry
Recent architecture graduate earns award
By Kara Wells
Staff Reporter
Crecent graduate of the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln turned
a B+ architecture project into
an award-winning entry for the 1990
Autodesk Images Awards held this
spring.
Barry Shull, who received his
master’s degree in architecture from
UNL in May, submitted his project to
CADalyst Magazine's competition.
Of the seven categories in the
competition, Shull entered his proj
cct into the animation category for
faculty and graduate students. As the
first place winner, Shull said, he won
a trophy called the "Caddie” and
also was awarded 55,000 in both
hardware and software.
"1 didn't think 1 had a chance,”
Shull said. “I only got a B+ ... I’m
surprised I actually won.”
Shull said this is the first year for
the competition. He said the maga
zine already has called him and asked
him to enter next year’s competition.
The winning project was part of
the Architecture 955 class, a design
studio. Students were asked to create
a multi-purpose high-rise building for
the Baltimore inner harbor. Shull said
most of the students created their
projects on drawing boards, but he
decided to do his project entirely on
computer.
Shull said he used snapshots of the
inner-harbor and used the computer
to superimpose the building onto the
Baltimore background.
After receiving an undergraduate
degree in computer science, Shull
eventually decided to go back to school
to earn his master’s degree. While
going lo school, he said, he worked
pari lime for Simulation Technology
Association,creating simulations and
animations for architects. He said he
used equipment at the company to
design his project.
After graduaung in May, Shull said,
he began working full-time for the
company, and he plans to use his
project for promotional purposes.
Shull credits Professor Brito Mu
tunayagam with assisting him in his
Computer Aided Design, or CAD,
See ARCHITECTURE on 2
w • a
UNL receives
record grants
for fiscal year
By Cindy Wostre!
Staff Reporter
The amount of money UNL
received in grants for 1989
1990 fiscal year was uft.
samulaicd by the Research Ini
tiative program, according to
Bill Splinter, interim vice chan
cellor for research.
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln received arccord S29.7
million in research awards in
1989-1990, SI .5 million more
than the previous year and al
most S7 million more than in
1987, before the Research Ini
tiative program began.
The program, established by
the Nebraska Legislature two
years ago, provides money for
research in areas that might lead
to economic development for
the state.
The money invested by the
state encourages research awards
from other sources. Splinter said.
For example, Nisar Shaikh,
UNL assistant professor of en
gineering mechanics, planned a
research project on “smart
materials," with sensors that
detect information about inter
See RESEARCH on 2
• • •
rive students participate m
scientific research project
By Mall Merck
Senior Kdilor
Five University ol Nebraska I in
coin students were taught to
look into rtie gray areas of sci
ence this summer.
Kcone Stretcher, David Holliday,
Jell Niemann, Paul Poulosky and
Daniel Guinan were instructed in the
Fuzzy Set Theory by a visiting pro
fessor from Belgium, Etienne Kerrc.
The theory attempts to find a bet
ter way of representing imprecise
concepts, whereas the classical meihtxl
of scientific interpretation uses only
binary logic, said Tadeusz Radccki,
faculty coordinator and research sc i
entist for the project.
The project, Summer Undergradu
ate Research Program in Computer
Science anti Engineering (SURPRISE),
provides the opportunity lor under
graduate students to participate in
university research.
One of the goals of the pro ject was
for the students to produce publish
able work over the two, live-week
summer school sessions, Kerrc said.
The live students were divided into
two groups and were given specific
topics upon which to base their re
search, he saiu. Their research was
then published.
ITte students said they worked about
eight hours a day in the classroom, on
homework and on their research top
ics.
The young people got motivated
to think in ways they had never done
before, Kerrc said.
“In my opinion, this was a very
great initiative," he said.
At the beginning of the summer,
Guman said, none ol the students had
been introduced to the Fuzzy Set
Theory, but within one month they
were doing research on it.
The students said they learned about
things that w ill help them in w hatever
they decide to do alter their under
graduate studies arc completed.
“An artist needs paints before he
can paint a picture, and we were just
given a w hole new set of colors,"
Guinan said.
The project was made possible
through funding from the National
Science Foundation, UNL’s Center
for Communication and Information
Science and UNL’s Extension and
Service Council.
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