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 November 16, 2000

 

TO:   Board of Regents

FROM:  Terry Roark, President, MSU-Bozeman

RE:   Campus Report for the November, 2000 Board of Regents Meeting

MSU Physicist Awarded Nation's Top Honor for Young Scientists

Dana Longcope, an MSU-Bozeman assistant professor of physics, was one of 59 scientists nationwide to receive this year's Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Created by President Clinton in 1996, the awards are "the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers," according to a White House press release. Longcope received the award Oct. 24 during a White House ceremony.

The award recognizes Longcope's studies of the sun's magnetic fields, conducted with funds from NASA. Longcope, who currently teaches junior-level physics, came to MSU in 1996 and is a member of the university's internationally known solar physics group.

Thermal Biology Institute Featured in Network Broadcasts

MSU-Bozeman scientists who are studying the heat-loving organisms of Yellowstone National Park have grabbed the attention of the national media.

ABC television broadcast a story on "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings" that included segments on MSU's Thermal Biology Institute. A crew from NBC Discovery News also flew to Bozeman to film a segment that is expected to air sometime this fall.

With major funding from NASA, the Thermal Biology Institute studies organisms that thrive in the extreme heat of Yellowstone National Park's thermal areas. NASA, because of its focus on space, wants to prepare for what it might find in extraterrestrial environments by understanding the kinds of organisms that are found in extreme environments on earth.

 

Software Incubator Officially Opens Doors in Tech Park

A high-tech business incubator facility officially opened its doors last month in the Advanced Technology Park near the MSU campus. Named Tech Hatch, the 4,700 square-feet facility is facilitating the rapid start-up and commercialization of software, Internet or e-commerce companies. eWrangler is the facility's first tenant. eWrangler specializes in providing secure Internet protocol communications for small businesses.

Modeled after the Boulder Technology Incubator in Colorado, Tech Hatch provides fully furnished and equipped offices for up to four people, a secure T-1 line for high-speed Internet access and administrative assistance.

In addition, Tech Hatch clients receive one-on-one mentoring from a business team with expertise in software, the Internet, finance, venture capital, marketing, telecommunications and related fields.

Tech Hatch is a non-profit corporation supported by NASA, the Department of Defense, the Gallatin Development Corp., the city of Bozeman, and several Montana businesses.

 

Montana Manufacturing Extension Center Hires New Director

Steve Holland, has been named to oversee two outreach programs housed in MSU's College of Engineering: 1) The University Technical Assistance Program, which gives engineering graduate students an opportunity to help Montana manufacturers while gaining real-world experience in their area of study and 2) the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center, a statewide manufacturing assistance outreach center with a home office on the MSU-Bozeman campus.

Holland, who succeeds the soon to be retired Bob Taylor, has more than 24 years experience with manufacturing and holds both B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial & Management Engineering from MSU.

 

Conference Draws Attention to Industrys Future

A Nov. 9 conference sponsored by the MSU College of Agriculture and the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station focused on the future of Montana's No. 1 industry. Titled "Partnering for Montana's Future"A Team Approach for Agricultural Development, the one day conference included sessions on such issues as value-added products, a food processing center in Montana, national and global perspectives on ag development, and the role and the role of education and research in revitalizing agriculture.

         Qwest Communications, the Denver-based company formerly known as US West, received the Montana State University Foundation's Excellence in Philanthropy Award recognizing the company's extensive donations of time and resources. The award was given to the company last week by the MSU Foundation in recognition of Qwest's support of MSU projects and programs that improve life in Montana.

         A Montana State University-Bozeman student is one of 20 students in the nation to receive a recent research award from the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Dmitri Kazmin was one of several hundred students who applied for the foundation's Dissertation Research Award. He will receive $30,000 over two years for breast cancer research, said Jean Starkey, his advisor and a highly regarded cancer researcher herself. Kazmin came from Russia in 1995, to MSU, where he is a student in biochemistry.