Wednesday
September 13,2000
Volume 100
Issue 18
dailyneb.com
Since 1901
Victim testifies In sexual assault
trial of suspended Husker
linebacker Mark Vedral
In News/3
The Husker volleyball
squad moves to its next
test a Big 12 team
In SportsWednesday/12
Haydon director steps
down to pursue a career
in journalism
In Arts/8
Sharon Kolbet/DN
David Sellmyer, the director of the Center for Materials Research and Analysis, stands outside the physio offices at UNL's Brace Lab. Sellmyer has been instrumental in the growth and success of nan
otechnology research.
Center making science fiction a reality
■ uni » ircuiiiimy <s icduei m iidiiuieumuiuyy
research, which allows for the storage of large
amounts of information in extremely tiny spaces.
BY SHARON KOLBET
Imagine robots so tiny that they could be injected
into the human body and programmed to clean
arteries or physically dismantle pathogens.
Consider machines so small that their gears con
sist of single atoms.
They have the ability to build a diamond - one
atom at a time.
Within the body of these robots, a single strand of
carbon atoms could form a spring. The quantum
spin of electrons could encode data.
What sounds like science fiction may soon
become a reality.
David Sellmyer, the director of the Center for
Materials Research and Analysis, or CMRA, at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is helping the uni
versity become a leader in nanotechnology.
“We were working in nanoscale for a long time...
before it became quite so fashionable,” Sellmyer said.
Underscoring the popular interest in this field,
President Clinton announced the U.S. National
‘The government has realized that with the recent economic boom, so
much of the growth has come from high-tech research and development.
The message has gotten through to politicians. "
David Sellmyer
Center for Materials Research and Analysis director
Nanotechnolgy Initiative last spring. A total of $497
million has been allotted for nanoscale research in
2000-01.
“The government has realized that with the
recent economic boom, so much of the growth has
come from high-tech research and development,”
said Sellmyer. “The message has gotten through to
politicians.”
With cutting-edge research and a dedicated staff,
the CMRA has garnered $8.1 million dollars in 92 sep
arate grants with more funds to be allocated once the
budget for the presidential initiative is finalized in
October.
These grants fund the interdisciplinary center
with its various projects in the areas of chemistry,
physics and engineering.
Sellmyer’s expertise, along with the quality of the
center’s faculty, has propelled UNL to the top of the
nanotechnology field.
“The faculty gives talks around the world,” said
physics department chairman Roger Kirby.
Sellmyer explained that such materials have the
potential to increase information-storage abilities
thousand-fold and would make it possible for the
entire contents of the Library of Congress to be stored
on a device the size of a sugar cube.
“Nanotechnology is the driving force in new
ideas,” Kirby said.
He said that Sellmyer is "a prime mover,” and
greatly responsible for CMRA’s success.
Sellmyer defers the limelight and notes that the
CMRA has been fortunate enough to hire 28 new fac
ulty members in the last 10 years.
“The Center for Materials Research Analysis is
functioning as an architect for new technologies,"
Sellmyer said.
Court rules
lobbying
bylaw is
not clear
BY JILL ZEMAN
The student senate will have to do-a little work if
it chooses to speak out on an amendment that will
appear on the November ballot, the ASUN Student
Court has ruled.
The student court ruled that a person running in
an election is no different from an amendment or
initiative on the ballot, according to the ruling the
court released Tuesday.
And this new clarification requires members of
the Association of Students-of the University of
Nebraska to jump through a few hoops before pass
ing any legislation about ballot initiatives or amend
ments.
The court’s decision is in response to a petition
from Joel Schafer heard Aug. 31. Schafer asked the
group to clarify one of ASUN’s bylaws that prohibits
the senate from using its resources to support or
oppose candidates in national, state and local elec
tions.
The court, led by Chief Justice Ifent Steele, voted
6-1 on the case.
Schafer said he was glad to see the clarification
released by the court
“That’s the reason we went to them,” he said.
Schafer would not comment whether he would
support a bill allowing the senate to lobby for or
against ballot initiatives or amendments.
Schafer emphasized the court’s decision was not
based on the impending Defense of Marriage
Amendment, which would ban same-sex marriages,
civil unions and domestic partnerships in the state.
Rather, the court’s ruling was strictly based on
the interpretation of the bylaws without any outside
influence, Schafer said.
Schafer said he was not going to rewrite the
bylaw himself and will leave it up to the senators.
“The bylaw is poorly written and needs to be
revised,” he said. “Now it’s in the senate’s hands."
If anyone in the senate wants to take action on
the Defense of Marriage Amendment, or any other
ballot initiative or amendment, the bylaw will need
to be rewritten.
For the revised bylaw to go into effect, it needs to
be approved by two-thirds of the senate.
Urrvano Gamez, ASUN Special Topics commit
tee chairman, said his committee has passed a
revised bylaw.
The revised bylaw specifically defines a candi
date as a person, not an initiative.
But the committee’s bill has a long way to go
before making it through the senate.
Before it even goes before the senate, senators
will have the opportunity to discuss it and offer
changes, Gamez said.
When the committee receives enough feedback
from the senators, the members will decide whether
to introduce it to the full senate, he said.
Please see RESULTS on 6
Administrators work hard in interim
A HOT TIME:
Spewing flames
and moving across
the desert, this
fire-breathing
dragon was just
one of the many
art pieces and
pyrotechnic on
display during the
Burning Man fes
tival in the Black
Rock Desert of
Nevada in August.
See story and
photos on page
5.
Sharon Kolbet/DN
BY VERONICA DAEHN
Despite the temporary title, UNL administrators filling
interim positions say they are not slacking off on the job.
Because of a large number of administrative openings at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, it's not common to see
interim replacements in vice chancellor’s and dean’s offices.
Interim Chancellor Harvey Perlman said he was taking
the position as seriously as a permanent chancellor would.
“I'm acting as though I’m permanent because that’s
what I’m supposed to do,” Perlman said.
Perlman took over as interim chancellor in July when
James Moeser left to take the reigns at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Perlman said having the interim title has not affected
any decision he’s made so far.
The work of the university must continue, regardless of
who is in the top leadership spot, Perlman said.
“I’m trying to do the best for this institution,” he said.
Perlman was a law professor before he was chancellor
and was dean of the NU College of Law from 1983 to 1998.
He said his experience in the dean position was similar to
his new interim chancellor position.
“(How successful an interim person is) depends on a
person's attitude in general,” Perlman said. "I don't feel
myself acting any differently now than I did as permanent
law dean.”
David Brinkerhoff, acting senior vice chancellor for aca
demic affairs, agreed with Perlman.
He said not much difference existed between being an
interim leader and a permanent one.
“The business of the university is at hand," Brinkerhoff
said. “You do the best you can and continue to work hard at
what needs to get done. You don't pay much attention to the
interim title."
Brinkerhoff took over for Richard Edwards this summer.
Edwards, who is undergoing treatment for multiple myelo
ma - cancer of the blood plasma - is expected to be gone for .
six months.
Brinkerhoff has been in academic affairs as an associate
vice chancellor for the last 10 years. He said that has helped
him with the work he is doing now as acting vice chancellor.
Despite the “lame duck” label that some people place on
administrators in interim positions, Brinkerhoff said it was
a mute issue.
It all depends on the way the interim administrator
approaches the situation, he said.
“If a person recognizes that there are things to be done
and they accept that responsibility, there is no reason to be a
lame duck," Brinkerhoff said.
Scott Lewis, associate vice chancellor for business and
finance, was the interim vice chancellor for business and
finance from last October to the middle of August this year.
He had taken over for Melvinlones, who died in October.
Lewis agreed that having an interim title did not affect
an administrator’s ability to lead the university.
Administrators will continue to move the university for
ward and get things done regardless of their titles, he said.
“People expect work to get done,” Lewis said. “At that
point in time when you become the interim leader, you are
responsible for the things a permanent vice chancellor is.”
There is some concern that programs started by an
interim leader are discontinued or forgotten about when
the permanent leader takes over.
Lewis said that could happen any time a position
changes leadership, but he said it wasn't an issue in his case.
Christine Jackson was hired as a permanent vice chan
cellor for business and finance in August, and Lewis went
Please see INTERIM on 3