Vol. 17, No. 17Jan. 22, 1998

A selection of items in the national and local media about the University-its faculty, staff and students:

Johnstown, Pa., Tribune-Democrat, Oct. 2/Ithaca, N.Y., Journal, Oct. 2/ Gary, Ind., Post-Tribune, Oct. 28/ Rock Island, Ill., Argus, Oct. 28/ Moline, Ill., Dispatch, Oct. 28/Plain View, Texas, Daily Herald, Oct. 29/ London Times, Oct. 30/Topeka, Kan., Capital-Journal, Nov. 2/Similar articles ran in the preceding newspapers. Deere replaces plastics with soybeans. "Deere & Co. said it plans to make tractors and other farm equipment using composite materials derived from soybean oil in a move that could cut its manufacturing costs and open new markets.... The new material, which is derived from soybean-oil resin rather than petroleum-based resin, was developed by scientists at the University of Delaware. It can be used to make cheaper, lighter and potentially biodegradable parts for tractors, auto, bridges, aerospace and military vehicles, the scientists said. The University will file for a patent on the technology today. 'It is structurally comparable to metal, but at lower cost,' said Richard Wool, professor of chemical engineering at the University."

The Delmarva Farmer, Oct. 14. Pay attention to costs in grain production. "In an effort to help farmers prepare for the upcoming wheat and barley season, the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension Service in Kent County hosted a twilight workshop centered around small grain decision making. The informal decision between growers and extension personnel included a wide range of topics from economics to agronomics.... Bob Mulrooney, extension plant pathologist at the University of Delaware, observed that disease control is the cheapest way to avoid a lot of problems. 'Selecting resistant varieties is definitely the way to go,' he said. 'That information generally is provided either through the University in the ratings that we make on the varieties that are grown here, or from the seed companies.... Dr. Richard Taylor, extension agronomist with the University of Delaware, suggested for the best results, planting barley between Oct. 1 and Oct. 10, with a planting population of two bushels per acre."

South Philadelphia Chronicle, Oct. 16/Wayne, Pa., Suburban & Wayne Times, Oct. 23/Wayne, Pa., Suburban Advertiser, Oct. 23. The drawings of John Sloan are the subjects of a joint exhibit by the Delaware art history students. "The life history of the archetypal American painter: Born in a small rural town, studies at a conservative academic institution against whose guidelines he eventually rebels; great natural abilities in drawing and representation; noted for landscapes and urban scenes; kept family going with income from illustration; in later life turns more toward the abstract; vacations along the New England coast; lives for a time in New Mexico; political views to the left of mainstream; gained fame as a rebel and now famous as a classic; and inevitably linked by art historians to groups and/or movements contributing significantly towards the development of contemporary art. While this could describe at least several dozen American artists of the 20th century, the man depicted is John Sloan, the subject of an exhaustive five-year study at the Delaware Art Museum, which owns more than 2,000 of the artist's works. This current exhibition, 'The Gist of Drawing: Works on Paper by John Sloan,' was organized jointly by the museum and graduate art history students from the University of Delaware."

Elkton, Md., Cecil Whig, Oct. 16/ Baltimore Sun, Oct. 23. Rain cleaner in Del. "Once considered among the most acidic in the nation, Delaware's rain has seen a 50 percent reduction in harmful pollutants since 1992, a study shows. The improvement apparently is because coal-burning power plants have reduced sulfur dioxide emissions in compliance with the federal Clean Air Act, according to the study released Tuesday by the University of Delaware College of Marine Studies. 'The legislation worked,' said Joseph R. Scudlark, a scientist at the University's graduate College of Marine Studies. 'Everyone in the eastern United States is starting to see a trend now.'"

Channelview, Texas, North Channel Sun, Oct. 16. On the Internet: From Benjamin Franklin to Barney the dinosaur. "The websites we visit today will help you with term papers, flowers, crafts and Barney.... If your student needs to work on a term paper in history, I highly recommend using Benjamin Franklin as the topic. A University of Delaware Colonial American history professor has put an extensive chronology of the U.S. hero online. The chronology is not complete, but it has a myriad of facts about Franklin at http://www.english. udel.edu/lemay/franklin/."

Green Bay, Wisc., Press-Gazette, Oct. 20/Shreveport, La., Times, Oct. 20. Credit card issuers rejected. "Bankruptcies cost credit card companies about $10 billion last year, according to the Bankruptcy Issues Council, which represents credit card companies. Most bankruptcies, about 70 percent, are Chapter 7 bankruptcies. Under Chapter 7-as opposed to the less common Chapter 13-bankrupt people don't have to try to pay back their creditors. Instead, they allow creditors to divide up what's left of their assets. Most of the unpaid debts get 'discharged,' or written off. Because credit card companies are 'unsecured' creditors-which means they have no collateral to repossess-'they get paid last and hurt the most,' said Sheldon D. Pollack, a lawyer and assistant professor at University of Delaware's College of Business and Economics."

Atlantic City Press, Oct. 26. "Cumberland County College has joined forces with the University of Delaware to allow CCC students to complete a bachelor's degree through video-based instruction from the University."

Corning, N.Y., Leader, Oct. 26. Hope is that afterglow of Million Woman March will last long time. "The march had a large contingent of college-age women. Members of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority at the University of Delaware were there. Like their sisters of nearly a century ago who were active in the women's suffrage movement, 'Deltas are about positive change,' said Sharon Ebanks, a senior."

Springfield, Ill., State Journal-Register, Oct. 26/Riverside, Calif., Press-Enterprise, Oct. 26/Newark, N.J., Sunday Star-Ledger, Nov. 9. Hot on the trail of the fashion victim gene. "Brain chemistry may be what makes some people dress so weird. Marvin Zuckerman, a professor at the University of Delaware who did much of the basic work on sensation seeking, speculates that, when our ancestors were struggling to succeed in a hostile environment by hunting and gathering, a willingness to explore and to approach novel stimuli would have had survival value. He thinks a lack of fear of the novel, or an actual attraction to it, may be the reason Homo sapiens spread all over the globe out of Africa."

Detroit Free Press, Oct. 27. For James P. Hoffa, blood will tell. "In one of those surprising twists of history, the son of Detroit's James Riddle Hoffa, the longtime Teamster leader who was repeatedly linked to organized crime, is on the political offensive attacking corruption under Carey, a darling of labor reformers who was first elected Teamsters' president in 1991 on a platform of cleansing the union of mob influence. But even as Hoffa portrays himself as a corruption buster, the Carey camp repeatedly points to lingering questions about his past and about his sponsors and mentors, among them union leaders who have been convicted of embezzlement and ousted for nepotism.... Arthur Sloane [business administration], a University of Delaware professor who wrote a biography on the elder Hoffa, said the Carey forces were portraying the younger Hoffa unfairly. 'It can always be argued that he was friendly with some mobsters in his early years because they were friends of his father,' Sloane said. 'But I think that these predictions by Carey people that, if Hoffa wins, he's likely to bring back the old guard and some unsavory characters are simply wrong.' Knowing that the union is not peopled by choirboys, Sloane seemed to pardon Hoffa's contacts with disreputable types. 'You don't grow up a Teamster, you don't come up to be a Teamster leader in the '60s, '70s, and '80s without meeting these people and associating with them in a pragmatic way,' he said."

New York Times, Oct. 28/From the New York Times news service: Ventura County, Calf. Sunday Star, Nov. 2/ Anchorage Daily News, Nov. 2. Q&A. Salt-Loving Plants. "Q. Are there plants that can survive if watered with salt water? A. Yes, there are such plants, called halophytes. Some are natural species that grow well when the water they get has a high salt content. Others are species that scientists are tailoring for the purpose by selective breeding or cross-breeding for salt-tolerance genes. The Halophyte Biotechnology Center at the University of Delaware College of Marine Studies in Lewes, Del., is a clearing house for research and education involving such plants, which have many uses."

USA Today, Oct. 29. High schoolers help get kids on track to read. "Administrators from the Griffin-Spalding County School System here, about 40 miles south of Atlanta, get pretty excited when they witness this interaction between high school students and the kindergarten, first- and second-graders in the Preventing Early Reading Failure Program...Jack Pikulski, professor of education at the University of Delaware and president of the International Reading Association, says programs like Griffin-Spalding's address a skill that is a precursor to all reading by tackling phonemic awareness-the ability to recognize all the sounds that a word contains."

Sioux County, Iowa, Capital-Democrat, Oct. 30. Van der Weide to be honored at White House. "Pioneering research on nanoscale-dimension electronic circuits by Maurice-Orange City High School graduate Dan van der Weide, and development of a web-based virtual laboratory that provides students access to advanced scientific instrumentation has resulted in recognition at the White House in Washington, D.C. Van der Weide is assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del. He is the son of Stan and Marilyn Vander Weide of Orange City."

Dentistry Today, November. Mussels May Give Insight For Better Biomimetic Materials. "Five times tougher and 16 times more extensible than a human tendon, the leathery, yet amazingly stretchy collagen threads produced by marine mussels might someday suggest strategies for developing better artificial skin and other biomimetic materials. These findings, published by University of Delaware (UD) researchers in a recent issue of Science, identify byssal threads found in mussels as containing the first known protein with collagenous and elastin-like domains. 'Not surprisingly, the mussels created a major fouling problem on economically important surfaces exposed to the sea,' said Dr. J. Herbert Waite, professor of marine biochemistry at UD's College of Marine Studies. 'Byssal threads feature a stiff tether at one end and a shock absorber on the end protruding from the mussel foot,' explained Kathryn J. Coyne, a graduate student and principal author of the study. 'This gradual transition from one material to another gives byssal threads a surprising mix of properties,' added Xiao-Xia Qin, a postdoctoral research associate at UD."

-Compiled by Barbara Garrison