NOBEL LAUREATE T0 VISIT CLARKSON; WILL MAKE PUBLIC PRESENTATION ON ANTARCTIC OZONE HOLE
What dangers does the antarctic hole present? Paul Crutzen offers answers in two lectures at Clarkson's Science Center

IS lT REAL OR IS IT VIRTUAL?
Students continue their work into the virtual world in Clarkson's own VR Lab

Clarkson Student Receives Phi Mu Foundation Scholarship

CLARKSON LEGAL AID CLINIC RESUMES SERVICES

CLARKSON UNIVERSITY RECEIVES $1.5 MILLION GIFT TO CREATE LaMER CHAIR

Cheel Attracts New Crowd
Jason Hosier and Scott Vento

The Cheel Arena did not see the usual hockey players, the ice and the spectators. Instead it saw a different crowd, of mainly freshmen, discovering the many activities and clubs that are available to them at Clarkson.

Frisbees flying overhead, a kayak rolling around the floor, a mountain biker riding backwards, a WCKN cameraman recording the event, and displays such as the Clarkson Solar Car "Helios", "The Beast" from the Clarkson Automobile Association, the formula SAE Mini Indy car, and the Mini Baja, were all attempts to lure students into their clubs.

Other Clubs represented include racquetball, concrete toboggan, NY Water Environmental Association, The Clarkson Theater Company, the National Society of Black Engineers, and the Clarksonian yearbook.

The rugby team, with their motto "Play Rugby, Give Blood," and the Photo Club who tells interested students to "Develop Yourself" both hope for many new members.

The women of Clarkson had a few extra choices: Clarkson Edge-- the Women's Hockey team and the Society of Women Engineers.

The pep band displayed humorous props including T-shirts saying "RPI sucks" and "SLU swallows," "Go Brown" plastered on a toilet seat, and the Potsdam Bear hanging from a noose. The Clarkson Radio Station, FM 91.1 WTSC, pumped out tunes into the arena hoping to attract future disc jockeys.

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Few subjects have been more talked-about in this decade than the depletion of the ozone layer, an atmaspheric barrier of ozone that lies anywhere from nine to 18 miles above the earth's surface and absorbs ultraviolet radiation and prevents heat loss. The depletion of this layer has led to, among other things, unusual weather patterns, from warmer-than-usual winters to wetter summers. Many scientists believe that such depletion is the result of human doing, rather than nature.

No one knows more about this subject than Nobel Laureate Paul Joesef Crutzen, who is the featured speaker for the Clarkson University Center for Advanced Materials Processing's Third Shipley Distinguished Lectureship on September 15-16.

A native of Amsterdam, Crutzen is director of the Atmospheric Chemistry Division of Ihe Max-Planck Institute in Mainz, Germany, and a part-time instructor at the Sctipps Institute for Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD) in Ia Jolta. He has spent most of his nearly 40-year career investigating the role of stratospheric and tropospheric chemistry in the biochemical cycles and climate, work which culminated in his receiving, along with two others, tbe Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1995.

Crutzen's first lecture, "The Antarctic Ozone Hole: A Human Caused Chemical Instabity of he Atmosphere," is scheduled for. Monday, September 15, at 4:15 p.m, in Science Centet Room 312. A reception will be held beforehand at 3:30 p.m.

A second lecture, discussing "The Importance of the Tropics in Atmospheric Chemistry" will be presented on Tuesday, September 16, at 11:15 a.m. in Science Center Room 311. Both lectures are open to the public.

According to Clarkson Distinguished University Professor Egon Matijevic, Curtzen's lecture is an important one for those who have a genuine concern for the planet.

"We all experience environmental changes," he said, "due to atmospheric chemical changes, so anybody should he concerned about these problems. The effects are global and we will be affected by them because of the influence on the climate in the summer and winter."

Matijevic also said that those who attend will "learn some truths about the ozone hole, because this is still a controversial topic. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be so much written about it. There are some believers and some non-believers, and here, you have a person who really knows the problem intricately, who understands the chemical aspects of it, and the consequences of the problem. So, I think they'll benefit to hear it from the person who knows what is going on from a scientific and an environmental point of view."

For more information on this year's Shipley Distinguished Lectureship, contact Professer Egon Matijevic at (315)265-2392.

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In a quiet room on the second floor of Clarkson University's Science Center, amidst an assortment of high-tech equipment, user manuals, and computer paraphernalia, a team of students will meet this fall to expand the limits of technology. What began three years ago as a student-initiated project to bring virtual reality capabilities to Clarkson on a recreational level has developed into the course known as Undergraduate Research in Virtual Reality. Students enrolling in this course will meet weekly to discuss the design and development of new software utilizing and enhancing the field of virtual reality.

As defined in The Silicon Mirage: The Art and Science of Virtual Reality, by Steve Aukstakalnis and David Blatner (Peach Pit Press, 1992), "Virtual reality is a way for humans to visualize, manipulate and interact with computers and extremely complex data." Through enhanced graphics, special viewing equipment, and computer adjustments for every movement, a user of virtual reality is able to experience a highly detailed, very realistic computerized environment.

Many research labs at universities are devoted to the work of graduate students. However, Clarkson's virtual reality lab began as a project initiated by undergraduate students interested in the general topic of virtual reality. In the spring of 1994, members of the Clarkson student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), a professional organization, held interest meetings and raised the funds necessary to purchase and establish Clarkson's first virtual reality computer. Clarkson's School of Science matched their efforts with a second computer and a designated area for the lab not long after.

Clarkson alumnus Paul Travers '83, president and founder of the software company Forte Inc. in Rochester, N.Y., has also donated two virtual reality headsets to the lab. This equipment, known as a head-mounted display (HMD), allows the user to hear sounds in stereo and to view the graphics with a stereoscopic, 3-D view, while the computer adjusts for head movements, to create a truly interactive environment.

Students enrolled in the virtual reality research course-- a mix of computer science, computer engineering, technical communications and other computer-oriented majors-- will work together to develop new software in an environment very similar to that found in industry. The course is not a traditional lecture class where the teacher stands up in front and talks, while students scribble notes; instead, it's more of an open-ended, team-based experience.

"In the 'real world,' a lot of people from different disciplines work together, and that's what we try to represent in the lab research," said Janice Searleman, instructor for the course and faculty advisor for the ACM.

Current projects include a virtual, 3-D version of the first video game, "Pong," using C++ and the graphics library OpenGL. Another group of students is using 3-D Studio and the programming language VRML to create a virtual tour of the Cheel Campus Center. Eventually, they plan to link this tour to the Clarkson World Wide Web site, so that potential applicants to Clarkson can take a tour of the campus center from anywhere in the world.

The virtual reality lab has also recently expanded to include other computer science projects. One computer is reserved for research and development of a developmental operating system. The lab has also been used to teach the JAVA programming language, and this fall, a project in "Artificial Life" will begin.

The departmint hopes to continue expanding the virtual reality lab, by bringing in more computer science projects and encouraging other fields of study to include its resources in their curricula. Those interested in tours of the labs, or getting more information, should contact Janice Searleman by phone at 268-2377, or by e-mail at jets@sun.mcs.clarkson.edu. They can also contact Andrew Levy, president ofACM, at 268-6599, or by e-mail at ]evyam@craft.camp.clarkson.edu.

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Julie Meyer has received one of 90 Phi Mu Foundation Scholarships for 1997-1998. A senior at Clarkson University, Julie is a Project Arete major, and will use her scholarship to study Business and Liberal Studies. In addition to being active in the Project Arete program, Julie is the President of the Beta Iota chapter of Phi Mu Sorority here at Clarkson. She is also involved in a number of campus organizations such as the Clarkson Big/Little Sister program, secretary of Student Orientation Services, and works at the Information Desk at Cheel.

The Clarkson University chapter of Phi Mu was founded in 1984 and has had a consistent record of high scholastic achievement. They are the second oldest sorority on campus and the only Phi Mu chapter in New York State.

Phi Mu Foundation annually provides educational, leadership and citizenship grants to collegiate and alumnae members of Phi Mu Fraternity, Contributions from dedicated members and friends of the Sorority support these grants and other philanthropic and educational programs.

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CLARKSON LEGAL AID CLINIC RESUMES SERVICES

The Clarkson Legal Aid Clinic, located in Cheel, has resumed providing services to the Clarkson Community for its fifteenth season. The Clinic, with a similar program at SUNY- Potsdam, was the first of its kind in any North Country college or university.

Administered from the beginning by the Ingram Law Firm of Potsdam, and its predecessors, the Clinic gives approximately 160 to 200 students per year the opportunity to talk, free of individual charge, with a lawyer; all fees, which are discounted by approximately 2/3 from normal fees, are paid by the Student Government Association.

Under the program, any student who wishes to talk with a lawyer can schedule a 20-minute conference (which frequently last longer!) by calling (265-3660) or seeing Sue Conto at the SGA office in Cheel. Appointments are made for the ensuing Tuesday evening, at intervals from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Students with legal emergencies which cannot wait until the following Tuesday, can be seen at The Ingram Law Firm, 19 Market Street (over Kinney's drugstore), in downtown Potsdam, or at some other arranged location, and the consultation will still be handled under the Legal Aid Clinic program.

Ordinarily, consultations are with attorney Verner M. Ingram, Jr., a lawyer with 27 years of practice in Potsdam; Mr. Ingram and his firm have represented hundreds if not thousands of students in that time, and have represented most of the fraternities and sororities in Potsdam, both at Clarkson and at SUNY-Potsdam; he is a past advisor for a Clarkson fraternity, a present advisor for a sorority, and an honorary at two more sororities. He has been an Adjunct Instructor in Criminal Justice at Clarkson, SUNY-Potsdam, Canton College, and Mater Dei College; has lectured on various subjects on the local campuses; and was the attorney (successfully) for the student bodies at Clarkson and SUNY- Potsdarn for the only lawsuit even brought by the student bodies against the local government of Potsdam (see Broughton, The Clarkson Mosaic).

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CLARKSON UNIVERSITY RECEIVES $1.5 MILLION GIFT TO CREATE LaMER CHAIR

Clarkson University has received a $1.5 million gift from Mrs. Luella LaMer Slaner of Scarsdale, N.Y., to create an endowed chair in memory of her late father, the renowned chemist, Victor K. LaMer. This gift is in recognition of Clarkson's leadership in colloid and surface science, a field pioneered by LaMer.

"Clarkson University is extremely honored to be chosen for this recognition," said Clarkson President Denny Brown. "Victor K. LaMer was a most eminent scientist and gifted teacher. It is my hope that with the extraordinary talent already present at the University and through the additional leadership that this chair will bring us, Clarkson will strengthen its preeminence in colloid and surface science and advance LaMer's work. We are grateful to Mrs. Slaner and trust the Victor K. LaMer chair will fulfill her every expectation."

Mrs. Slaner is an enthusiastic supporter of education who continues to enhance her education by taking courses in a variety of subjects at the college level. Her gift also recognizes the relationship that Clarkson enjoyed with LaMer and his family through LaMer's pupil, Clarkson Professor Emeritus Milton Kerker. Kerker's intellectual leadership and success in recruiting a team of world-class scientists have made Clarkson preeminent in colloid and surface science. This field deals with materials whose dimensions are larger than molecules, but not as large as what may be seen in a microscope.

Victor K. LaMer was born in 1895 in Leavenworth, Kansas, and died in 1966 while attending a scientific meeting in Nottingham, England. High-spirited and ebullient, he was an enthusiast for science, an infectious quality he transmitted to his students. He served as an Army lieutenant in World War I and his war-related research during World War II was recognized by the awarding of the Presidential Certificate of Merit.

LaMer, who earned his B.A. from the University of Kansas and his Ph.D. from Columbia University, taught physical chemistry at Columbia from 1921 until his retirement in 1961. A member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, he received many honors, including an honorary degree from Clarkson in 1962. He was the editor of the Journal of Colloid Science (now the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science) from its founding in 1946 until he was succeeded by Kerker in 1965. In addition to his seminal work on colloids, his fundamental contributions to physical chemistry have found their way into every textbook and university course on that subject.

Clarkson has convened a committee to initiate a search to attract a distinguished scientist with the proven ability to carry on Victor K. LaMer's extraordinary legacy.

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