——— ' ........ , I ■ III. Daniel Luedert/DN PROFESSOR PILL-SOON SONG recently won the ESP-1997 Research Achievement Award medal. Song said he could not have won the aprd alone. Veniamin Lapko and Seong Hee Bhoo assisted Song. Professor awarded for research By Kimberly Swartz Staff Reporter UNL chemistry professor Pill Soon Song hopes 21 years of research will shed some light and understand ing on the science of photobiology. Song is interested in photobiolo gy, the interaction of light with living ' ^stemS, because it affects everyiN8i| from humans to Single-cell organ isms. “It’s important because light is fimdamentaLfor living process, and life can’Lbe. sustained without it,” Song said/ ^ * On Sept. 11/the University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor received the 1997 Research Achievement Award medal in Stresa, Italy, from the European Society for Photobiology. Every two years, ESP recognizes an outstanding photobiologist with the award. “I felt pretty good about receiving this award but I wish I would have won it earlier,” Song said. “Winning this medal at such a late stage means that I hadn’t really done that much while I was younger.” Professor Larry Parkhurst, inters and expand his research on phy-, tochrome,” Parkhurst said. Song was awarded the medal for his research on the structure ajad function of phytochrome, a pigment protein found in plants. By understanding how phy tochrome' works, scientists can extend plants flowering time and shorten rice plant stems so energy can be saved for rice grains, he said. “We can induce or delay flower ing time and make rice%lants more tolerable to weather and light condi tions,” Song said. “The research can help many farmers.” UNL graduate students also par ticipated in Song’s research as part of their educational experience, he said. “Although the difficulty of the research has required collaborations in Korea, Japan and Italy,” Parkhurst significant discoveries ly made here in Hamilton %is team of graduate students and postdoctorals.” “The students worked so hard while getting scientific work, educa tion and training accomplished,” Song said. Song hopes to incorporate his research into his Chemistry 109 classes, so students can broaden their scientific perspective. “I always enjoy teaching especial ly when it relates closely with my own interest,” Song said. “I try to encourage and urge students to become interested in science and to look at new things in nature.” Get a • Come for tbe bagel?, ?tay for lubck. Am/ get ohe of our ta?ty ?ar•'1*^ '' "■.".?- £?* 9*® -—•• -» ^ 70tk *, “A” Street - I2d* l "Q” Street Offer vaW tfowugl* 12/51/^7. Cy* coupon per per?on, per v*?it. Vsirf an all planet? otW tkanEartk. ll' ; I | Academic Senate discusses tenure TENURE from page 1 associate professor of modem lan guages and literatures. “He is not necessarily saying that we must do it. We need to take this document back to our departments and decide whether it represents something we wish to invite the administration to do to us.” Many senators expressed con cern that if the senate does not approve this proposal, faculty will lose a choice in what type of review policy is put into action at UNL. The NU Board of Regents is considering a five-year review policy, which could be instituted throughout the Nebraska system. The University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska at Kearney have shown support for this five year policy. irvm wnuveui, vice cnanceiior for academic affairs, said he strong ly urged the senate to take a close look at the proposal. “It will not serve UNL well if we say we don’t want this policy,” Omtvedt said. “I would prefer for the faculty to have a voice in the change and direction we take concerning this issue.” Ford said turning down the poli cy shouldn’t be an option. “The signs are clear enough that if we don’t pass this policy, the five* year reviews will be imposed,” he said. “I don’t want to play chicken on this.” Jim McShane, associate English professor, said he thought the senate was focusing on the wrong issues. “The issue is not whether we have post-tenure review or not,” McShane said. “The question is what procedures best permit us to assure our academic freedom and honesty. Each of us needs to make up our minds using our best judg ment.” The senate will vote on the post tenure policy at its November meet fct-* The signs are clear enough that if we don’t pass this policy; the five-year reviews will be imposed. I don’t want to play chicken on this .” *j Jim Ford Academic Senate president mg. The senate also discussed the possible changes in the academic calendar. The calendar proposal considers two changes: observing Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a holiday, and deleting the Labor Day break and instituting a mid October break. The proposal would reduce the “length of each semester by one day. Leo Saftori, professor of physics and astronomy, brought the proposal before the senate to gather opinions. Some senators said the changes would negatively affect lab courses. Salon said the committee took this into consideration. “We compared UNL’s schedule to 52 other comparable universities’ schedules, and zero of those univer sities had an even rnimber of class days,” he said. “It ddet not seem to be that big of a problem.” The senate votedtesend the two motions to their caleflpr committee for input. At next mcmth’s meeting, the calendar committee will present a report on its findings^ and the sen ate will discuss and vote on die pro posals. »■* Burglary Ask police officers and they will admit that they can’t fight crime alone. Sometimes, it takes some help and some luck. Tuesday morning, they got both. Officers were sent to Precision Skateboard, 2115 0 St., on a burglar alarm. When officers got to the busi ness at 1:18 a.m., they found the front door smashed. An officer went behind the store and found two juveniles. He appre hended one, and the other took off running east through the alley toward 21st Street. The boy got to the OfficeMax parking lot at 2301 O St. and asked a man in a phone booth for a ride. The man agreed, and they drove out of the parking lot in the 25-year-old man’s car. But the man noticed all the police cars down the block and, according to Sgt. Ann Heermann, an undis closed detail made him wonder if the boy in his passenger seat was part of the ruckus. ' So, the man drove back to where the police cars were, dropped the boy off and watched as the boy was arrested. Police recovered more than $700 in skateboards, skateboard parts and clothing. The boys, both 17, were arrested for burglary and taken to the Lincoln Attention Center for Youth. Attempted robbery An elderly couple was followed home from an Iowa casino and attacked for their winnings Monday morning. The couple told police they were at Bluff’s Run Casino Sunday night and had done very well. Heermann refused to release an amount, but said their winnings were more than $500. When they left Monday morning, they thought they noticed a woman who was in the casino the night before following them home. The couple arrived at their north east Lincoln home and parked their car in the garage. The couple told police the woman then attacked them, demanding the woman’s purse. A struggle ensued, the elderly woman was knocked to the ground and the man and the attacker fought. In the fight, the man said he hit the woman several times in the head. He suffered a bruise under his left eye, cuts to his neck and face, cute on his hands and bites on his fingers. The man got the purse back and the woman fled in a white, late model full-size car with tinted windows. They described her as a black woman, 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 200 pounds.