|
At the time I write this letter, a much-anticipated event—the
dedication of the new Chemistry and Life Sciences buildings, coupled
together into a stunning new science complex—recently has
taken place. We started out several years ago with a proposal for
a much-needed home for the Department of Chemistry, which was scattered
over six different buildings. During several years of planning,
the concept got much better. A complementary vision for space to
support rapidly increasing activity in the life sciences developed
into a vision of chemistry and life sciences buildings connected
physically and intellectually. Linked together, the buildings have
become a philosophical and practical statement about the directions
of science and a physical and symbolic gateway to the sciences.
The
coupler between the buildings, a two-story connector that itself
provides space for meetings and interactions of many kinds, spans
what was Shortlidge Road, which now no longer exists south of
Eisenhower Auditorium and north of Pollock Road. In the clash between
motor vehicles and pedestrians, the pedestrians have won, and a
dysfunctional road has been turned into a beautiful pedestrian
mall that has rapidly become a major focal point of the campus.
The science complex and Shortlidge Mall together are a wonderful
aesthetic improvement that will enhance the teaching and learning
environment, attract outstanding students and faculty, and enable
higher levels of research contributions for many decades to come.
In a different arena, another
long-anticipated event—the
launch of the Swift Gamma
Ray Burst Explorer satellite—also
recently has taken place. The launch had been delayed several weeks
in part because of the hurricanes Charley, Ivan, and Frances, which
caused some damage at the Kennedy
Space Center but none to the
satellite, whose operations now are being controlled from the Swift
Mission Operations Center at Penn
State.
The launch of Swift is
of great interest not just to astronomers at Penn State, but
to astronomers around the world. The satellite will detect and
locate gamma-ray bursts with its Burst Alert Telescope, then quickly
turn (like its namesake, the bird) to study the afterglow with
x-ray and ultraviolet/optical telescopes. At the same time, notification
of the event will be sent to astronomers around the world so
that a network of ground-based telescopes can look at the same
event.
Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions
known in the universe—incredibly bright, but also astonishingly
brief for a major astronomical event. The bursts last somewhere
between a few milliseconds and a few minutes, yet one burst can
emit more than 100 billion times the annual radiant output of the
sun. The bursts are incredibly interesting events, but you wouldn’t
want to be too close to one!
The Swift project is managed by NASA,
and Penn State is a major partner involved in the design and construction
of the instruments for Swift and in controlling its operation.
The Penn State share of the project will amount to more than $32
million. John Nousek, professor of astronomy
and astrophysics,
is Swift’s mission
operations director. In order to help sustain the infrastructure
and facilitate bringing other large space-science projects to Penn
State, we created the Center
for Space Research Programs, a collaborative
effort with the College of Engineering and the Applied
Research Laboratory under John Nousek’s leadership.
The last issue
of Science Journal included a postcard asking for feedback about
the Journal. This survey also was available on the web. The responses
to the survey were enthusiastic about the Journal and very positive
about its content and quality. Although the responses were not
large enough in number to be a statistically valid sample, it is
interesting to see that, according to those who responded, the
most valued sections are the research stories and the feature stories.
Eighty-nine percent of the respondents said that they value the
research stories. The respondents also very strongly supported
continuing the printed version of the magazine. We post a useful
web version of the Journal (www.science.psu.edu/journal) shortly
after the print version is published, but it is clear that it doesn’t
replace the printed version. I suspect that we’ll
eventually have thin, flexible displays that will work well with
a cup of coffee and an easy chair, but until that day, we’ll
continue to publish Science Journal as a printed magazine.
If you
want to offer your opinion of the Journal and how we might improve
it, we’d be very pleased to have your feedback. The
postcards are still very welcome and the web survey is still available
at (www.science.psu.edu/journal/ReaderSurvey.html). I’m sure
the Journal will continue to evolve as it has over the years, but
its focus always will be on the outstanding people and accomplishments
of this remarkable college of ours.
Sincerely,
|
