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University of Central Florida STARS The UCF Report University Archives 10-10-1997 The UCF Report, Vol. 20 No. 6, October 10, 1997 University of Central Florida Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/ucfreport University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Newsletter is brought to you for free and open access by the University Archives at STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in The UCF Report by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Recommended Citation University of Central Florida, "The UCF Report, Vol. 20 No. 6, October 10, 1997" (1997). The UCF Report. 553. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/ucfreport/553 UCF reaching for stars — literally 2000. It will be the first satellite built completely in inches) and light (150 pounds) so it can be launched Pentagon approves Florida. either from a "Hitchhiker" canister on the shuttle or The satellite's mission is to demonstrate the with a small rocket. In low earth orbit it will pass $11.2 million'Photon' feasibility of sending messages from space via laser over a test site at the UCF-led Florida Space beams. If successful, that technology could lead to Institute at Kennedy Space Center five times a day space-based laser telecommunication systems. for 11-13 months. satellite contract "For example, [it could be] a new way of com­ Most of the leading-edge technologies will tudents and faculty are taking UCF's motto municating with airplanes in flight," says UCF's remain on the ground. One laser will track the seriously. "Reach for the stars" is more than a Ron Phillips, director of the Florida Space Institute. satellite as it passes over. A second will be aimed at S slogan now that the Pentagon's Ballistic "Pilots could get weather information, each its reflectors and bounced back to a sensor array at Missile Defense Organization has approved an passenger could watch their own live TV channel the institute test site. That second laser will carry $11.2 million contract to design and build a laser since a laser beam can carry a billion TV signals. the messages, and will be designed to alleviate communication satellite. There could be video conferences while flying. interference caused by atmospheric turbulence. It Industry professionals will work with UCF "While it has military applications, our main will be the first time this kind of laser messaging students and faculty on the project. The satellite is focus is commercial use." scheduled to be launched from a space shuttle in The satellite will be small (20 inches by 20 Please see SATELLITE, page 3 University creates two new centers 20th century Space Age medicine men science allows brewing up cures researchers to for modern illnesses tinker with elements iscovering a miracle drug ' hen Vimal Desai first came to takes, well, a miracle. UCF from Johns Hopkins D w University in 1984, he was It's a slow, meticulous and highly expensive process. Figure about promised the engineer's equivalent of $900 million to $1 billion for develop­ a rose garden. ment of one drug, top to bottom. "And the university has delivered," But a lot of time and money often says the director of the newly formed leads to the mere possibility of deve­ Advanced Materials Processing and loping a drug or, worse, dead ends. Analysis Center. "I'm very happy, Just ask Howard Miles. but, of course, it has taken awhile." The UCF chemistry professor has He began in what was then the spent 27 years in painstaking research, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering creating the groundwork for possible Department. drug discoveries. His work entails "I was the materials portion of the extracting substances from plants from department. There was no one else. around the world in search of biological They stuck me out in some portable, compounds previously unknown to due to space shortages, but things medical science. Several of these have changed since then." substances show the ability to help in And how. the war against some of the major ills The new center, called AMPAC for that plague the human race. short, brings together approximately 30 . The work by Miles and a handful UCF researchers from the College of of other UCF researchers has spawned Engineering, CREOL, Florida Solar the creation of a new institute at UCF Energy Center, and the Departments that will take the battle to a much of Physics and Chemistry. Since more bigger arena. Their combined than two dozen UCF labs are already expertise had created a critical mass aligned with the center, it only makes with nowhere to go. That is, until now. sense to focus on existing strengths: Chemistry professor Howard Miles1 lab is a cornerstone of Please see DRUGS, page 5 his research on plants in his efforts to discover medicines. Please see MATERIALS, page 5 Next issue of The UCF Report is Oct. 24 • Deadline is noon, Oct. 15 University of Central Florida Non-Profit Organization P.O. Box 160090 U.S. Postage Paid Orlando, FL 32816-0090 Orlando, FL Address Correction Requested Permit No. 3575 locations around the state of Florida, and is intended to replace the previous arrangement with Budget Rent-A-Car. The effective date of the new UCF contract was Memos July 1-June 30. Acquisitions of these products/services shall be made under the terms, prices, and conditions set forth in this notice. To: All departments • Vendor: Thrifty Car Rental, c/o Holiday Inn-UCF, 12125 High Tech Ave., From: Jack Winstead, Purchasing Orlando, FL 32817-1475 Subject: Annual contract for car rental • Contact: Theresa Strittmatter, (407) 384-3050 The University of Central Florida Purchasing Department has negotiated an annual • Items covered: Rental vehicles are available at the Holiday Inn-UCF. contract with the vendor listed below for use by all UCF departments on the main Note that this contract is not available for drivers 25 years or younger. campus and Research Park. It should be noted that the state of Florida recently issued a Any use of this contract should be coordinated through the travel section of new rental vehicle contract with Avis Rent-A-Car systems for travelers on flights into Finance and Accounting. Contact Alicia Mercado-Ruiz for details, 384-2018. airports in the continental United States. All questions concerning this contract should be directed to the Purchasing Rental rate for the state's contract are available for trips from the campus to other Department, ADM 360, attn: Jack Winstead, 823-2661. Regents ask for details on '2+2' partnerships Whitehouse says. "Administrators at UCF and provide doctorate programs in educational State's growing enrollment other universities have gone on record claiming leadership, and curriculum and instruction. The has BOR seeking solutions; they don't want their student populations to exceed BOR approved the partnership for implementation the low 40,000s." next year. UCF might have answer A new systemwide master plan is due to the "It reinforces our partnership role, allowing us governor and to use our UCF laid its chips on the table, and now "the the Legislature expertise to big boss" — the Board of Regents — is calling for next fall. Specific "Administrators at UCF assist them," the university to show its hand. missions must Holsenbeck In September, President John Hitt and other be redefined for says. university presidents proposed solutions to a BOR each university and other universities Requests committee on ways to meet the demands of the before that can for modific­ growing number of students expected to enter be accomplished, have gone on record- ations to UCF's Florida's higher education institutions during the Dan Holsenbeck, campus plan next 10 years. vice president were not acted Come Oct. 16 in Tallahassee, the Long Range for University claiming they don't want on. UCF and Strategic Planning Committee will expect to Relations, says. requested that see some particulars from UCF. The committee has In other their student populations 14.3 acres west requested budgetary details on how UCF would recent BOR of Lake Claire handle the influx of students and construction actions, be opened for plans for the next 10 years, UCF Provost Gary to exceed the low 40,000s. exceptions to Gary Whitehouse f*Pansion °f , Whitehouse says. the excess hours J the university s "They want details on how we would further rule was Greek Park. implement the Partnership Access Model proposed approved. The rule requires an increase iri tuition -Under that plan, comparable acres were added to by [the president] as a solution to the State for credit hours taken beyond 115 percent of the the Arboretum to compensate for the loss of the University System's problem of the growing required hours necessary to complete a particular natural preserve. The Sierra Club voiced opposition student population," he says. degree program. The exceptions include hours to the plan. The model developed at UCF involves partner­ earned through such devices as the College Level UCF administrators have scheduled a meeting ships with community colleges, which builds on Examination Program, hours for active military with Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish the "2+2" philosophy that makes the transition personnel or military science, personal hardship or Commission and the Sierra Club to review and from community college to the university seamless. disability, and experiences that increase the value of confirm an assessment by a UCF consultant that "The committee wants a breakdown as to what degrees, such as internships, dual majors, Honors determined the Lake Claire site suitable for it would cost if we created similar partnerships programs and student exchanges.

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