November 1994 by Endeavors

VANTAGE POINT Creating a New Community hen Icame to Carolina in 1977, I was

current tenured and tenurstrack faculty are

and conducting research on relatively narrow

one of only 235 women on a facultv

women. Ethnic minorities are even scarcer.

topics in our academic domains. AII of

which numbered 1,580. I was lucky

However, all these new faculty members. just as

yean ago. will be looking to create a new

because hvo other women had been hired by the

lvas

School of Journalism a couple of years earlier, and

community in which they can do their best rvork.

another young woman was joining the faculty with

This past year, the UNC-CH Faculty Council

us can

benefit lrom knowing more about our colleagues research, teaching and sewice activities and fronr sharing our ideas with each other. While much more can be done, the University' has seveial

me. We became close lriends as we learned the

passed a resolution aflinning the University's com-

mechanisms in place that build bcnds between

ropes of our new job together, Once we even

faculty in diverse fields and foster communiry-.

drove a Carolina blue bus full of our newswriting

mitment to hire minority faculty, which contained the statement: "recruiting efforts should include

students on a field trip to Central Prison in Raleigh

recognition that new facuity, regardless of race,

with this issue. is one such step in the right direc-

to give them a taste of the real world of daily jour-

require a supportive and sympathetic environment

tion. Readinq about the research ol our colleagues

nalism. I helped establish a reading group of other

to develop and maintain a successful program of

and their students from all parts of lhe campus stim-

women faculty and joined the newly established

teaching, research. and service.' We should not

ulates our own thinking and opens up opporlunities

Committee on the Status of Women. These groups

bring any new faculty here without mobilizing all

fr-rr

helped me feel les a stranger, les an outsider in

our eflorts to make the University an environment

nary collaboration.

what was still a primarily male institution. In retrospect, though, the single most impor-

Endeauors,whrch is celebrating rts

year

continuing dialogue and expanded interdiscipli-

in which their scholarchip can thrive and their

0ther activities can also cut across depa(mental boundalies to help bring people interested

teaching excel. How can we create such an environment?

tant thing that helped me feel a part of this new

1Oth

in the same questions together. The Institute for Research in Social Science sponsors study groups

community was when one of my male colleagues asked if Iwould join him on his research project.

One way is by valuing our women and minority faculty members for the work they do. It is true

for social scientists from across campus. The

He didn't ask me because lwas a woman, but

that, by virtue of their race or gender alone,

Carolina Seminars attracts scholars from UNC-CH

because of my work on newspapers. He felt that

minority faculty contribute to the campus: They

my inclusion would contribute something of value

sene

to the project. At that point I began to feel I

people who represent what German philosopher Wilheim von Humboldt called "human develop-

belonged here. This fall 105 new faculty began teaching at

role models for students who need to see

well

as from other campuses,

local and state

go\,ernment agencies and the private sector. Current Carolina Seminars focus on topics as var.

ment in its richest diversity." Moreover, as scholarc,

ied as: "Access to Health Care: The Academic Contribution," "Computer Assisted Molecular

women and minorities often bring diflerent per-

Modelinq," "Ecology and Social Process in Africa"

Hrspanic. Almost half (42) are women. Many of

spectives to old problems.

and "Forgiveness."

these new faculty members will see few other

memben of their gender or race in their depart-

However. the resolution pased by the Faculty Council states: "Race is an imporlant

ber of the task forces conducting the self-study foi

ments and schools. Only about one in five of the

consideration in the hiring of new faculty, but will

the University's reaccreditation have called fr:r

Carolina-l3

are Ahican American, six Asian, two

iri

;: ''ri;'

S{-# ,xx"

x Sr .'{ &,.

We need to increase such activities. A num-

never be the primary factor in hiring or in subse-

increased cooperation and collaboration across

quent promotion." Our women and minority faculty

academic units. Research and teaching collabora-

members need to feel that they have been hired

tion

not onll' because of their race or gender, but pri-

analyze problems and issues from more than one

marily because of what they can contribute to their

vantage point. In my own experience. the more

valuable because it encoumges scholars to

students' futures, the University's growth and the

minds grappling rvith a problem, the more creative

betterment of the state and the world. I did not feel

and interesting the solution. Most important, the

that I truly belonged on campus until I was valued

mixing of minds gets

for my work. Each woman and minorrry* faculty

bors, keeps the intellectual environment stimulat-

member must be convinced that the faculty values

ed. and moves us tolvard havinq a place for

them fc,r sharing their ucademic uniqueness in

everyone in the academic community.

Carolina's common c0mmitment to making the

world a better place,

working with our neigh-

,..

Another way to create an environment in

which diverse faculty members can thrive

is to

work to make the University an actively interrelating community. The size and complexity of the University is part of the challenge we face in trying

.lane D. Brown

to create a hospitable community for each of us.

Profesor in the Schooi of Journalisin and Mas

We faculty tend to live relatively isolated lives in

Communication ancl Chair oi the Faculty

our departments and schools-teaching our own

Brown is the second woman t0 be elected

students, working with faculty right down the hall

faculty'chair.

1994-1997

tvtnsnnv

Published by the Office of Research Services at the University of North Carolina at ChapelHill/ November 1994 / Volume XII, Number i

COVER STORY

Endeavorc The University of North Carolina

O O

at Chapel Hill

November 1994 Volume Xll, Number

NEWSMAKERS: Carolina in the Headlines

Going for All the Marbles UNC-CH and Hoechst Celanese c0nduct a grand

Endeavors is a magazine published three times a year by the 0ffice of Research Services ai the University o{ North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Each

experiment with a new partnership. Their closer ties promise more direct benefits to society from University

Going for All the Marbles,

research.

page 6

Scott

Lowry

issue of Endeavors describes only a few ol the many

research projects undertaken by faculty

DEPARTMENTS

and students of the University. Requests for permission to reprint material, readers' comments and requests for extra copies should be sent to Editor, Endeavon,Office ol Research

MARIGTPLACE:Universitylnnovations Depositing Diamonds

Services, CB #4100,300 Bynum Hall,

the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 2i59M100 (919/96&5625).

Depositing Diamonds,

Chancellor

page 2

Paul Hardin

CAROIINA OPINION: Tar Heels Speak Out N.C. Workers Voice Job Los Concerns by Beuely Wiggins

DIATOGUE: Issues in Research Should Researchers Police Researchers? Strength in Diversity bv lohn M. Conley

Vice Chancellor for Graduate Sludies and Research

A Commitment to Research Inteerity by J. Herbert Potterson

Thomas J. Meyer

Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Director, Office of Research Seruices

\ilTA: A Profile Michael Resnik

Robert P. Lowman Aduisory Board far

Publications

Katherine High Douglas Kelly Carol Reuss

Editor Brenda Powell

r{ssrstanl Edr'ors

Dottie Horn Scott Lowry

Christine Sneed

Michael Resnik,

SCHOLARIY PURSUITS

page 18

All Dressed Up Couer Photo: The Hoechst Celanese

Corporation & Uniuersity ctf

FEAIURES

North Carolina at Chapel Hill Research Pat'tnership has brought people lihe HCC\

oNGolNG ENDEAV0RS

I 2 :tro*: )ome Kevrsrtlnq

Connie Walton, Joe Patterson Designers

Southem Media Design & Production

Kesearcners an0

Subjects Covered in Our First

Years

by Christine Sneed

and Jach Herdklotz together

with people lihe UNC-CH's Torn Meyer, Eduard Samulshi,

I//ustrator: Jane Filer

WHY ARE . . . There 60 Seconds in a Minute, 60 Minutes

in an Hour, But 0nly 24 Hours in a Day?

Philip Carl

Alex Tropsha and Yue

Wu.

( Ir t/

LISTENING TO THE AUDIENCE Researcher Studres Cultural Works

and Black Women's Reaction to Them

by Dottie Horn

The intellectual exchange Photographer Dan Sears

among members of the business and academic cultures

@1994 by the University of North Carolina

is uital to future discoueries

in these two communities and may proue a model for American research. M chael Gui ano (Hoechst Celanese Corporat on), Dan Sears (UNC CH News Serv ces) and Kreber Graph cs

Endeavors wishes to thank the Hoechst Celanese Corporation for all its help producing the couer for this issue.

Uniuersig Innouotions

MARKETPI-{CE DEPOSITING DIAMOND

f I

n nature. the creation of diamond requires the

coach as he guides his students in creating

pressure and heat of tons of earth weighing

and studying plasmas. They begin with a

Ido*n.

In the laboratory. scientists make dia-

mond on a tabletop, rn a transparent, gas-filled

They fill the cylinder with argon, a convenient gas for experimen-

Refinements of this method for creating diamond

tation, and heat it with an

have resulted in a U.S. patent and two U.S. patent

electric coil.

manipulate plasmas feeds

directly into the work that Kobe Steel USA

deposits electro magnetic

and graduate students, studies not diamond manu-

energy in

facture, but a fourth state of matter, les explored

the form of

than liquids, solids or gases. called a plasma. For the

heat into the gas,

moment, think of a plasma as a qas that has been

the atoms, with their

heated to approximately 5,000 C (9,000

negatively charged elec-

Hooke's

Inc. scientists do, as they experi-

ment with using plasmas

. to create diaof nlnna. In one of their

interest is in answering some basic physics ques-

trons orbiting around a posi-

tions about plasmas: What qualities do they have?

tively charged nucleus, begin to

How do they behave? How can they be controlled?

change. Some of the electrons gain

Patent applications resulted from the research

on understanding how to

As the coil

Hooke, in conjunction with his undergraduate

fl.

film generated in a lab.

cylinder, made of glasslike quartz.

cylinder not much bigger than a thermos.

applications for research prolessor of physics William Hooke.

A magnified uiew of a diamond

ffi,*:[Tirililr::[; , '<,.d'

tists begin with a quartz cylinder .A *,'^f. much lil,. like +h. the ^.,1i..1^, cylinder iin LJ^^I,^'" Hooke's

/ur."-

enough energy to break loose from the

ird-

laU. In their cylinder. however, is a sub-

because plasmas are useful in one method of man-

nucleus. These free electrons then bounce

ufacturing diamond. Industries hope that in the

around wildly, transfening energy to other atom-

future, this method will be les expensive than buy-

ic particles thatthey bump into, pasing the energy

ing natural, industrial-grade diamond. Because of

fiom one particle to the next like a row of falling

uously. The gas is a mixture that is primarily hydro

this application of Hooke's research, Kobe Steel

dominoes. As the coil continues to deposit energy,

gen but also contains a carbon-containing

USA Inc., Electronics Materials Center, a division of

the gas reaches a temperature of around 5,000 C

gas such as methane,

Japan-based Kobe Steel Ltd., has supported

(9,000 F). At this point, the gas has a large number ol

carbon for every four atoms of hydrogen.

Hooke's work. In addition, Kobe Steel USA Inc. has

these loose, bouncing electrons, which are capable

licensed Hooke's patent and patent applications

of absorbing intense electromagnetic energy.

and

sponsoring research at North Carolina State

Universig and UNC{H which utilizes the technolo gy described in the patent and patent applications. Because of diamond's many valuable

quali

the cylinder, through which fresh gas flows contin-

which contains one atom of

The gas inside the cylinder at Kobe Steel USA Inc. is heated to approximately 5,000 C (9,000 F),

The gas has now made a leap into the fourth gas. "lf you take a solid and heat it about 2,000 C

creating a plasma. Carbon condenses out of the plasma onto the substrate. Diamond is one crystalline lorm of carbon; graphite is the soft black

it'll either melt or vaporize,"

crystalline form used for lead in pencils. A small

state of matter: plasma, or electrically conducting (3,600 F),

says Hooke.

ties-for example, it is the hardest known sub-

A plasma, on the other hand, because it contains

percentage of the carbon ananges itself on the

stance and can withstand very high

these freely flowing charged atomic particles,

substrate in the structure of diamond; mostly the

temperatures-it has many curent and potential

absorb the electric energy without changing into a

carbon forms graphite.

industrial applications. Already, diamond is used as

different state of matter. The plasma is a way of

a coating that extends the life of industrialquality

attaining much higher temperatures than can be

Meanwhile, the electrical energy running through the plasma has split some of the hydrogen

cutting tools. Kobe Steel USA Inc. is intrigued by

obtained wilh a liquid, solid or gas.

molecules in the cylinder into their constituent

diamond's desirable qualities and its potential applications to a variety of electronic components. One of diamond's promrsing qualities is its

ability to conduct heat very well. Diamond

will

In their research, Hooke and his students

hydrogen atoms, creating a form of hydrogen that

manipulate different variables in the creation of the

will react with other substances. Some of these

plasma. They then test the resulting plasma to see

hydrogen atoms combine with the graphite, form-

whether it has the qualities that are desirable when

ing various hydrogencarbon gases, which then

much better heat conductor than silicon, the mater-

plasmas are used to create diamond. For example,

flow out of the cylinder

ial cunently used to create transistors. Transistors,

a plasma

is a

with uniform density

is desirable. In many

as fresh gas enters.

As it etches all the graphite off the substrate,

the invisibly small devices that control the flow of

cases, however, plasma tends to form around the

the hydrogen gas flowing through the cylinder

electricity through c0mputers and other electron-

walls of the cylinder, leaving only neutral, relatively

leaves undisturbed the accidental pieces of dia-

ics, generate heat as they function. As computer

cool gas at the core of the cylinder. Hooke's patent

mond which can then grow. Typically, alter any-

technolog, advances, transistors are crowded into

and patent applications explore means of creating

where from an hour to 20 hours, the substrate is

smaller and smaller spaces, where they become

larger and more uniform plasmas by putting the plas

removed from the cylinder. Its coating of diamond

hotter and hotter. One of the hopes for diamond

ma under the influence of a combination of a steady,

film varies from being thinner than a human hair to

applications

diamond tran-

intense magnetic field and various types of electro

being a millimeter 0r more thick. Working in con-

sistors on a commercial scale.

magnetic radiation. In their cunent research. Hooke

cert with Hooke and using the knowledge he gener-

At the physics labs at UNC-CH, Hooke uses plasma research to reinforce what students learn in

and his students test whether further manipulations

ates at UNC-CH, the Kobe Steel USA Inc. scientists

can be used to create a larger, more unilorm plasma.

are trying to perfect the process of using plasmas to

is to

find

a way t0 make

the classroom. Hooke says he thinla of himself as a

The research that Hooke and his students do

create diamond. o

Tor Heels Speok Out

CAROLINA OPINION This column feotures information from the Carolina Poll. NC Workerc Voice Job Loss Concerns by Beverly Wig$ns

f. Yorth Carolina workers are more pesimistic l\l ,nrn they were five years ago about their I ! .nur.*oiiinriing new employment iithey

flexible, les adaptable to new technology, and

in their estimates of how difficult finding other

having fewer productive years to devote to the

employment would be. [n 1994,

and

lose the jobs they now have. A recent Carolina

company. 0lder people often have advanced further in their careers; therefore, finding jobs they

Poll shows that the percentage of employed North

would be satisfied with means finding positions

than men about finding alternative employment is

Carolinians saying it would be fairly or very difficult

higher up the scale

for them to find an acceptable position if they lost

responsibility, and so

been disadvantaged relative to men, in the labor

their cunent job rose from 33 percent to 4l percent

those positions to choose from. Also, older individ-

force. Rosen speculates that women's confidence

between 1989 and

uals are more likely to feel it is too late to return

may have been increased by the recent upsurge in

to school and get training to do something very

the number of women starting their own busineses.

different from their old jobs.

Growing opportunities for entrepreneurial activity

1994.

One reason North Carolina workers feel that their job altematives are more restricted than they

Respondents with less education also per-

used to be may be that the state's unemployment rate rose lrom 3.4 percent in 1989 to 4.5 percent in 1994. During the harder

paying more, having more - on-and there are fewer of

ceive that they have fewer employment alternatives

economic times of the past

than do those with more schooling. For example, 23 percent of those

or relatives who lost their jobs and had difficulty

with no college background think finding another acceptable position would

finding new ones. That kind of experience makes

be "very difficult" compared to

people think about their own situations-and prob.

with at least some college education.

ably makes them les optimistic about what would

The percentage of white respondents who think finding another acceptable job would be 'very diffi-

few years, many people knew of friends, neighbors

happen to them if they had to find new employment. Moreover, "The whole pattern of employment

percent of those

cult" remained unchanged between

1989

and

1994

percent of men

percent of women said it would be "very

difficult." The fact that women are no

less

confident

somewhat surprising since women have traditionally

may be bolstering women's perceptions of their employment options even as corporate downsizing and unemployment statistics create pessimism. Although many North Carolina workers voiced apprehensions about finding another position if they lost their current job, most surveyed in the 1994 Poll expresed satisfaction with the jobs they now have. Thirty-nine percent said that they were "very satisfied," and 44 percent were "moderately satisfied' with their jobs. Only 6 percent were "very

is changing dramatically," says Benson Rosen.

at about 13 percent. However, the percentage of

disatisfied,' and l1 percent "a little disatisfied."

profesor and chair of the management area in the

black respondents giving this answer increased

Kenan-Flagler Busines School. "Permanent and

from 23 percent to 40 percent over the same time

Not surprisingly, the workers most content with their jobs are those who have traditionally

long term employment is an idea that has come and gone." These days workers change jobs an

period. In part, this may be because blacls as a

held the highest paying and most prestigious jobs,

group have les education than whites, making

namely, older workers, whites and men. 0f workers

average of six times during a career lifetime.

them more vulnerable to economic downturns.

45 and older, 88 percent expressed satisfaction

People also pay attention to the media where they hear about corporate downsizing and movements to overseas production, Rosen adds. "Each

Idemographic] group sees the [situation] from a different perspective, but all are aniv' ing at the same conclusion: It won't necesari' Iy be easy finding an acceptable job should

Men and women did not differ significantly

were more content in their jobs than blacls (86% versus 68%), and men more than women (86% 15% Very easy

versus 79%).

40% Fairly easy 3.8olo Don't know/No answer

23.5% Fairly difiicult 17.7% Very difficult

These survey results suggest that

work-

and the satisfaction and potential stres asociated with

it-are

experienced differently by

different groups in our society. Factors like age,

they be laid off," says Rosen.

race, gender and educational level influence

0f course, some workers realistically

our perceived and actual employment opportu-

have fewer job altematives than others, and this is reflected in workers' perceptions.

compared to 80 percent of those under 45. Whites

nities to a significant extent.0

0lder

worken, for example, have more reservations The Spring 1994 Carolina Poll was conducted

about finding another acceptable position than theiryounger cohorts. 0nly 5 percent of work'

between March 20 and March 24, 1994 by the

ers ages 18 to 24 and l4 percent of those 25 to

UNC-CH School of Joumalism

44 say they

and Mass

Communicotion ond the lnstitute for Reseorch

think it would be "very

difficult' for them to do so, compared to

in Social Science. A random somple of 636

25 percent of those ages 45 to 64.

odult North Carolinians was interuiewed by telephone. The sampling enor is plus or minus

There are several posible reasons for older workers' greater pesimism about employment altematives. One is the percep tion that many companies are reluctant to hire older workers. Stereotypes portray them as les

If you lost your job for any reason, how easy or difficult do you thinh it would be for you to find a job which would be rcceptable to you?

percent for the totol somple, but is larger for

comparisons between groups. Wiggins is associate director for reseorch deuelopment at lNS.

/ssues in Research

DIATOGUE

SHOUI.D RTSEARCHERS POLICE RESEARCH? The United States has set up the mechanism of lnstitutional Reuiew Boards (lRBs) to ensure that unethical research on human subjects does not tahe place, [Jniuersities conducting research must haue one or more IRBs to approue all campus research that inuolues human subjects.

I have also noted that the professional and personal backgrounds of board members are highly

relevant to the way they conduct reviews. The nursing board, for example, includes nursing faculty

In testimony before the House Subcommittee on Regulation, Busrness )pportunities and Technologt, ethicist Jay Katz, a Yale Law School professor uho holds an M.D., questioned uhether the present system of relying on IRBs to safeguard the ights of human subjects is

and students, at least one community representative (most recently, a local minister), and a lawyer.

adequate. Stated Kotz: "The majority of IRB members are on the faculty of the institutions to which the inuutigators belong. For example, the IRB ot Yale-New Hauen Medical Center consists

tional, physical sense. But the nurses, sensitized by their training and experience, are extraordinarily

of 26 members af whom t5 are full-time medical school faculty, 5 others are affiliated with the

attentive to the intangible impact of proposed

Medical Center and 4 are medical students. The IRB members not only share similar interests and obiectiues but they also knou, when sifting in judgment of o research protocol, thot their proposals may soon be subjected to similar scrutiny. Thus, it is unlikely that members of IRBs

research on patients. One case I remember well involved a questionnaire to be administered to

will hold inuestigators to standards that will protect the subjects of research if doing so would ploce impediments on the conduct of research and affect the well being of their colleagues (and eoentually their own well being) in decisiue uays. " Endeavors ashed two campus professors to respond to Katz's criticism.

Nursing research is rarely invasive in the conven-

mothers bringing their newborns into a clinic for check-ups. This struck me as the most innocuous sort of research, hardly worthy of even perfunctory

scrutiny.0ne of the nurses pointed out, however, that these mothers were from a population that rarely sought preventive well-baby care; compounding the burden of the visit with a tedious intewiew might disuade some of them from coming again. This comment led to a detailed reappraisal of the

questionnaire and a demand that it be shortened

Shength in Diversity by

and simplified.

lohn M. Conley

[l I I

At the beginning of my tenure on the nursing

and by the review board at the Law School and the intractable Academic Affairslnstitutional Review Board (Mquality. 0n the one hand, institutional review IRB), in connection with my empirical research on

board, Iassumed that the community representa-

ne comments by Jay Katz are troubling,

tives were there largely as a matter of political

the problem he raises has an

window dressing. Isoon learned otherwise.

of research in a particular discipline will

inevitably

since only they can truly understand the research and its significance. On the other hand-and equally inevitably--tuch dominance is fmught with conflicts of interest. Nonetheless, my experience on this campus suggests that the dilemma can be managed succesfully if close attention is paid to the details of how IRBs actually function. In my I years here, I have chaired and/or served on review boards at the Schools of law and Nursing, and have undergone review several times, be dominated by members of that discipline,

Perhaps the most important contribution these

the legal system. In the dozens of cases I have

people have made has been the consistent and

observed, I have never seen Katz's concerns real-

vigorous advocacy of plain English in research

ized. 0n the contrary, I have continually been impressed (and, I admit, sometimes initated, when

instruments and consent forms. It is easy for academics in general to forget how far our various argots

I have been the reviewee) with my colleagues' punctilious adherence to both the letter and spirit

people in particular to lose sight of the connection

deviate from everyday language, and for medical

of the principles of institutional review. Perhaps my

between patients' comfort levels and their ability

observations are attributable simply to the quality of people we have on this campus. While this is

to understand what is going on.

undoubtedly a contributing factor, I suspect that something structural is at work here as well-the

disciplines expect lawyers to make a narrow, highly specific kind of contribution to IRBs: insuring that

composition of the boards with which I have worked.

consent forms and other documents say what needs

First, I have seen no instances of reviewers

My impresion is that people from other

to be said to protect the researchers and the institu-

Conley, Kenan

backing olf because of a pervene application of the Golden Rule. I have no personal experience with

tion from legal liability. Lawyers can and should perform this function, of course, but lawyer-memben

hofessor in lhe

the medical school boards of which Katz writes.

can add something else. Lawyers are trained to

School of Law,

Perhaps, because many profesors in the medical

think through contingencies and envisage the worst.

is a member of the

research fields are dependent on grant money to keep their jobs, reviewers may be inclined to over-

sometimes been aggravated by my law school

School of Nursing lnstitutional Reuiew Board and the

School reuieu board

In my personal experience as a reviewee, I have

look questionable research procedures. Or, maybe

colleagues' willingnes-indeed, eagernes-to

the culture of medical research centers is unique. In any event, my colleagues on the Law School

profesional apocalypticism

review board, the School of Nursing lnstitutional

for the routine inclusion of lawyers on IRBs.

Review Board and the M-IRB are invariably hard on each other, and sometimes on me.

foresee disaster. But they are always right, and this is the best argument

Institutional review by arts and sciences colleagues, especially humanists and social scientists,

strikes me as having a quality all its own. Far from

member of the ciergy. a community physician with

the committee evaluating both the scientific merit

indulging in the disingenuous diffidence that

a doctorate in medical ethics, a community

of the proposal and the

lvorries Katz, thev seem to bring to the process the

member with a background in public health, a retired UNC-CH medical profesor and a tesearch

a committee member s proposal is under consider-

terms-that characterizes their peer rer,ielv of grants and arlicles. I also suspect that the median

analyst with the NC Department of Correction

from the voting.

political philosophy in the Coliege of Arts and

on prison populations is under consrderation).

critical ferocitv-the presumption of guilt. in legal

(whose input is especially valued when research Having this breadth of expertise allows the

Sciences differs from that in the professional

risk to the subjects. When

ation, that person leaves the room and abstains One advantage that IRB members do have,

however, is the experience gained from the review of hundreds of protocols and consent forms. Committee members have the opportunity to hear

schools. leading people to evaluate potential prob-

IRB to confidently consider and act on a broad

lems in fundamentallv different wavs. When I proposed several years ago to inten'iew professionai

range of research proposals.

that a proposal is submitted that is considered to

money managels about their investment strategies. for example, a reviewer suggested that such people

fall outside the expertise of the committee, outside

including whether a consent form is understandable for an intended patient population and

experts ma)'be consulted to provide information

whether the risks of a study are acceptable given

and guide the committee in its deliberations.

the scientific information potentially gained.

r,,'ere

iikeh to be engaged in illegal conduct. and

asked what Irvould do if it were disclosed to me.

0n the rare occasion

A recent example of this occurred when

a variety

of issues discussed at each meeting,

Exposure to such isues allows committee memben to eliminate or at least minimize potential problems

The latter point was. in retrospect, a good question,

concerns ryere raised nationally about the safety

but one that hadn t occurted to me. perhaps

of tamoxifen. As part ol a research trial sponsored

in our own research proposals prior to submision.

because of my differing asumptions about the

by the National Cancer lnstitute, tamoxifen or a

This heightened awareness would seem to be small

placebo is being administered to 16,000 healthy

compensation for the time commitment required of

women at medical centers around the country

committee membersr Twice a month, we meet for

right in one imporlant sense: individual disciplines

in an attempt to gauge whether daily doses of [he

two to three hours. At least lwo to three additional

tend to have idiosvncratic and, in isolation, inade-

drug, given for fil,e yeats. can help prevent breast

hours are required for review of proposals and

quate perspectiles on the institutional review

cancer. UNC Hospitals is one of the medical centers

preparation prior to each meeting. Each of us also

proces. But the problem prefigures its own solution

administering tamoxifen as part of the study.

reviews three to four ptotocols per month that have

if IRBs are required to reflect a dit ersi$ of penpec-

Concerns about the safety of the drug erupted

been submitted lor renewal. Clearly the motivation

tives, and if that requirement is enforced in a mean-

nationally in

ingful and not token way, then these idiosvncrasies

tioning the adequacy of the consent forms used

mitment to protecting patients'rights and not the

to describe tamoxifen's risks, wrote a letter and

asumption that our research will be approved

then spoke to the UNC-CH medical school IRB. In

without serious consideration.

moral probity of a market economv. The point of these anecdotes is that Katz is

can become a resource ratherthan a

liabilig

1992, In

addition, an advocate, ques-

response to such concerns, the medical school IRB

A Commitment to Research Integrity by

Herbert Patterson he advancement of knowledge through

for participation on the committee is a strong com-

Are there potential ways of improving this

solicited opinions from experts acros the country, including an editor of a national medical journal,

system? Probably, although restricting the makeup

about the appropriateness of the risks of tamoxifen.

seem appropriate. While this would eliminate a

This reexamination of risks resulted in a reaffirma-

con{lict of interest, these members may not fully

tion and continuati0n of the trial.

of the committee to all lay members would not

understand the science of clinical research. Nor

research is clearll one of the malor missions of trNC CH The charge of protecting the

It is true that many members of the committee

would it be appropriate for all members to have

who are on the School of Medicine faculty conduct

a research background as the lay perspective is

rights oi sublects parlicipating in reseatch protocols

research. However, many faculty members are also

is very important and one which all members of the

involved in teaching and the clinical care of patients,

critical to a thorough, balanced review. For many of us, clinical research is an integral part of our

and some have little, if any, involvement in research.

daily routine. Unfortunately, we sometimes forget

on the Protection of the Rights of Human Subjects,

This tends to provide a system of "check and bal-

that it is a unique experience for our subjects. Our

take r,ery seriouslv.

ances" necessary for fair consideration of a research

colleagues who are not involved in research help

project. Those members involved in clinical

us to keep this in penpective.

UNC-CH medical school's

IRB called the Committee

Although some of the points raised by Katz

mav be valid. the research review process as I see

research are familiar with the intricacies and

it is more than adequate. especially when one

problems involved with these protocols while the

Patterson, Associate

considers the makeup of our IRB. 0ur committee

other members provide an altemative perspective,

hofesnrof

consists of 22 members. The majority' (15) are

either from the clinical or lay point of view. The end result is that both groups make a significant

and Research

contribution to the research review, and the sugges'

Medicine, is a membet

tions that emanate ftom the committee result in

of the medical school's

full-time School of Medicine faculty and represent a broad range of specialties (anesthesiology, genetal medicine. neurology, obstetrics-gynecology, pathologv. pediatrics, ph1'sical therapy, psychiatry and surgenJ and sub-specialties (hematology,

increased protecti0n of subjects rights. As members of the committee, is our research

Pharmacy

Associote hofessor

Institutional ReDieu Board, the Committee

oncologl' and rheumatology). Two additional

held to a lesser standard than that of our peers?

on the fuotection of

University-affiliated members represent pharmacy

Absolutely not. 0ur proposals are subjected to the same scrutiny as any other research project with

the Rights of Human

and nursing. The five non-affiiiated members are a

Subjects.

Corolina in the Heodlines

NEWSMAKERS

Going

forAll the Marbles

UNC-CH and Hoechst Celanese conduct a grand experiment

with a new partnership. Their closer ties promise more direct benefits to society from Uniuersig research. by Scott Lorvry

.W:';{ff

"l was responsible for our basic research and

ffi l.,::[:.':],'i,+],:#i' tions for Hoechst Celanese Corporation (HCC). He has been talking with English Profesor Darryl

Gles, who

director of the University's reaccredi-

tation study has been analyzing how various institu-

decided HCC should work much more closely with

recently promoted to deputy chairman of Hoechst

only a few universities-and to make sure that the company and the universities all benefited in a vari.

Celanese, "and I learned that we had superficial

relationships with around 50 universities. One of the principles of total quality management is that

ety of ways.

you would like to form much more meaningful

sidered about 40 universities, using criteria such as

tions operate. "l happen to be interested in most fascinating discussion with him about total quality management. That was really unexpect-

Ididn't anticipate meeting,

Patterson and a team of administrators conreputation as a research institution, compatibility of research interests with those of the corporation,

Shakespeare," continues Wright, "but I had the

ed: somebody

relationships with a smaller group of people." So he

new busines development," explains Patterson,

proximity to major Hoechst Celanese facilities to allow easier exchanges of ideas and people,

and interest by the universities in exploring

conversation I didn't anticipate having." Two years into the half-year Hoechst

threeandone

Celanese

new ways of working with industry.

:li

They selected three univenities as best meeting these four criteria

,:r

Corporation & University of North

while complementing each other in their areas ol expertise:

Carolina at Chapel Hill Research Partnership, researchers and

Rutgers University for the Iife

administrators at both the

sciences, North Carolina State

University and HCC are learn-

University for engineering

ing to enjoy the unexpected.

and UNC-CH for its broad

The surprises began in the

areas of research interests.

autumn of 1990 when Joseph

This more intimate

Templeton, now chair of the

approach to interaction

Department of Chemistry,

between busineses and uni-

drove with Jim Simmons, then

versities is part of a compre-

with the 0ffice of Development

J. /".'*

and University Relations, to the

6t .,s

Hoechst Celanese branch in

hensive restructurinq of how research is done in the United

qr-r^"

Th^.^ ongoing ^^^^;^^ changes ^k^^^^^ States. These

Charlotte to meet with then Executive Vice President Joe

IF* ffi [::]:fl i:it ;::xi:ilil::.

Patterson. lt seemed a promisinQ fund-

ing source: HCC, a subsidiary of the multi-

tom,MeYer f'91'1' K':Yrl-liltY recently appointed vice chancellor for 7^pu

national corporation Hoechst AG, is known

-\'r

for expertise in chemicals, fibers and film, and the Iife sciences.

graduate studies and research. He explains that the masive federal funding of the sciences that

"We were just looking for support for the

chemistry department," remembers Simmons, former director of corp0rate and foundation relations, "but Patterson had a much bigger vision." His

began during World War II supported academic Connie Walton, a chemistry professor at Grambling State Uniuersity in Louisiana, spent the summer

research programs while creating a demand by industry for people with doctorates. But now federal

at HCC's New Jersey laboratories where she joined

funding has hit a ceiling while the cost of research

vision was nothing short of a new relationship

the HCC/UNC-CH collaboratiue study of htgh-

is going through the roof.

between univenities and busineses.

pertormance polymers.

Furthermore, scientific research is becoming

D.E.^4,.V.0.R.S

rncreasitrgh intL'lrlisi iplin.in. conpler allil last-

nrrr inq. As Riclriirrl tr1;rilnrrrn oi L \C-CH s I)tlartnrent oi l)slt lrilitrr' lx)irlts out. tht' ittttsttttt'ttt ,

ri LltiLtu

itr tinrl

ntlnct tteeded to ntakr'

irnrl

lrii,akthr,Lr!lr lL lr'nt'ration ag0 is n0\v uroirqll to stt Lrp lLisi ()ni'(ri lll(' ilrirn\ pieces tlrat tl]Ltst t olle

tlrliu s hreiikthlrLr{lrs .\rtrl l hilc 1,.,.,1,i'.1.1,' r'..,11.i,.rt.-\" \l' \ .i,,'-

t{)qrthei i,, nr;rlil

commeicial potcirtial. and both the Lrnir ersitr and Hoechst ('r'lantse lrelieve that Hiiet hst ( r'llnose is

Celancsr, irrrd the Llnir,ersitv spells out onlv a few ol

an aJlJ-r[)l]filk' reltrf le for motin{ tllal illt() c0nl-

agreed

mtit itrlizltttrrl. I nir i,isitits sland io beneiit in sLrch parlner.

ll)l)5. nrost oi

ships alonq rvith tlrt'ir corpr,iale Ilarlneis. The l\lenroriirrclurrr oi Aqteemert brtrvlr'n I loechst

the piessurr to slriit qor cinment ilul(lltr{ tl alrltlicci re.\eiiRth. qlolral ccoiromic conrllltiti()n Plat es a

i:....,'.*:-' 1;'. r,1io

tltose henelits The

Sll;

l)0()

thtit []oei:hst Celanese

pnrr ide in lhe iirst sir nrontlrs u,as iust the lirst installnrent oi a S1 millron contract thtouqh rt

suppoiling rest'arch grants loI both

cslablished scientists (Dtscot

Au'ards r and

lrrcrnisinq ne\{comelr (YoLrn( Inl'r:stiqator

I :.r1' I

IrirnliLlrr Iir the ahrlitv to pcrioilr arr(l e\l)l0it ir..tsir

rtstln lr Hlu

to iund an(i

(

iinl'out

these dii-

ir.'ii'nt rtrlLrirenreirts ts li ltrirlrlun tltiLt Lrttretsities.

rJ.,l..l1.l

t i

't,L,.]-

l.lJ

.'l'r'

'\\

r,tir n rin ir r(.

liesearchers and a(lnrilistriit( rrs in both

trr ,irrrl atrdenria bt'liere

thrLt

tlrt'rl

Lrrdirs-

still a nerd

ior tfii(litir )nal sinqle-pmjt'L'f iLrrrilirrq. but mant'

it: Lrseirllnrss Iras Linrits. \leanrvltile. the i{,rlIrirl (r)\ernlli'nt rs slriitin( tlre erttphasis ol rts s( ii'n( e -slrppott lI L illllrlrIialir c leseaKlh. Tllat r lriurqe is neasun'il in nr,,rt'r. \\ alter Skilr Brllenbacher. the i \(''('l I lrtoloqr prolrsslt irL,lrt,r

ilh thl1'slx)nsil)ilitv oi rrakirtq tlre ! lr,rlina-Hoeclrst piirtrrlrship u'ork. ioLuttl tltirt r hlrrqecl u

srrl-)p(lit

iiinl

tlr., I)t,l]iLrtilrflrt oi Enerqv anrl

Ileparlr-rrlt

[)r'tt'n:r' irr crr]labotiititt' ti'st';ttt

betrvet,n Lrnir trsitir's irrrt1 eotpoialilns Ilts lLtntlrtcl

1ltlltl to ribLrLtt 5l I lrillilrt in ixrm Sltt rnillion rn l'r.', 1 1,,,.r1 , , r. rl;:1 1i; .1, ' ,, , r,' r, ,. ,,iil.r

pe!'ltal)s to r(1(l billion

b\ li)ti() L nirlrsitics thiit pie-

parr, l()i this slrjlt cart look foin,axl to a lalqer share

As the Uniuersig's boundary player, Ship Bollenbacher finds u)ays lo break down the walls that isolate

researchers from colleagues in other uniuersities and disciplines as

lt,clt'tiLt irrnrlinl.

Ferlerrtl lunding has hrt tt ceiLut! u'hile the (:ost of research

is qorng tlrough the roof

uell as in industry.

Transcending Boundaries is position is so novel that it came without a job description or e\,en a title. Now biology Professor

Skip Bollenbacher calls himself UNC-CH's boundary player, He's stili working at coming up with a

lob description, after all. if the experiment continues to work well. other universities are going to

Tht lhirnqinq ir:rlttiLl i'nrpltitsis also ollers att rrll1rortLrnitt irlt LrLrsiIttsse's

itaiqcss theLt

\ ir Erins oi llretltst ('t'lani'se. As piesrrlr'nt oi tirt e omDant s .\rh atti til rt,st'arch ctrpabilities sars

Technoloql CroLrp, F.r ins is t oncctned l itlt ItrrrlLrr iir{ ideas ironr t ortcr'ption through ptr-,iititblt i ortt-

need someone like him who can brinq toqether the right people within their universit),-c0rp0rate partner ships and make sure that those collaborations receive the support they need to succeed.

To explain his role in the Hoechst Celanese Corporation & University of Norlh Carolina at Chapel Hill Research Partnership, Bollenbacher uses a jar filied rvith marbles that he keeps on his desk. "As socieg has gotten more complex. it has become more companmentalized,' he says, "Let's make these marbles

nttrcializattlIr. \\ t' ttr oqttizc that l,e cittt't rll

individuals in the Unitersity. Let's make this marble an English profesor and one all the way up here the chancellor and one over here a professor in history. What are the odds of them interacting? Absolutely

ri1thil{ thlLt \\ t' Ii' t hallered to do irtrlrpeltilenlir'. he slrts.i r,rt rrnl,, Hrrechst Itlarttst'lrLtt

none They'refixedbi'theirdisciplinesandthelackof flowof knowledgebetweendisciplines, "But what do the English profesor. the chancellor and the historian have in common? They share

r,\

Amrrica

slitnct'lrastrl

btLsinesses irr qt'trt'ial.

common space. \\re boundary players rvander through the space in the jar with an abstract sense of r,vhat

''\loie and nroIr'i onrl)tinie,s arc tr'trrqttrztirq thr neecl ior I)ir11n('islril)s. Hou'ciiectirelv tlttl te pttt'

each marble is. We wander into each marbie and look around. and if in rvandering through the space we

sLrinq tlr,rt r arit's a lot [rom corttpartr to ( otnpalir.

Virtuall]'all invoir,ed in the partnership know the boundary player and appreciate what he does. As Bmce Wright of Hoechst Celanese savs, "0f our three partnerships, that with Chapei Hill seens t0 work

( )uf i1l)l)rr )i1(

tht rt'st',in

i-s

to help urriversitr rt'scarclrtrs do

lr llrat ther tr'oukl Itortnalh tlo

lrirt tir l,r,rii ili)Lrn Lr\ aii a preiertcrl

thtr lriLtl

anlrlav,

lrirrltlttlrhen lhrch has

r1t'reloped sr)ntt' tt( ]ttt()loqr

find somebody else appropriate, then we create a match.'

parlicularh wei1. and I don't knorv exacth'whv. It may be structural, it may be the relationshrps bettveen individuals. And it's so important lo have a person like Skip who is really taking rnitiative to reach out and find things that we can c{lnnect to."

E.N.D.E.A.V.0.R.S

,\l;rrrlsr 'I

Ffrtk to people involved in the Hoechst I C.tun.r. torporation & l,niuersity of North I Carolina at Chapel Hill Research Parlnenhip

ident of the Advanced Technology Group. which is charged with corporate renewal, bringing

and sooner or later-probably soo[er---one name

together corporate research with nerv busines

will come up: Joe Pattenon. Now deputy chairman

development*an approach that a feu'American

of HCC. he took the partnership idea lrom conversations with feliow employees t0 agreements with

chemical companies are trv-ing. Wilght is the companv's director of innovations, a title he

three universities. "l'm very impresed with his

coined to describe his mission

ability to articulate

Hoechst Celanese to learn all he cc,uld about rrew

include Vic Evins and Bruce Wright. Evins

iaunch the program," says Joseph Templeton,

ties and other corporations.

chairman of the chemistrv department

t rt

I-]ollerlitirr itr

needs and capabilities

instance. is a senior research

as rvell

fellow

HCIC, a scientist

as business,

whose involve-

Patterson-

mr.nt is much

' ",

u'ho earned a doctorate

i.,rt,'

rrrllirr ls.rnrl !iilth siris lrl.r, r', rlil Lrl t)titr t rl lf l,i \'!\ l.lr

rirsitLtr-tltfi'ri ( lr, i ltL,lr lr i,,lriti it.ririil: ;ll,,l! liil i ).tl',,ttl i:lt0 lt Li I )r', )irr iltt.tLl r rf lltt, \lii t t, ;r

tL'l;tti,

Irl:|rli liil iii lil! rltrrllsirl: ir( ( ( s: l{r tr,sitatcir 01 liil I \t -t lItlti,ntrsltr l,nriL,ssois. l,llt'lrrd L

:'rrt

i:lii

;rr rLl

.Lrseirh f)t,Siltr rrrL,. ]t 5r,(,lls irlt.tr si

jl;rlli' tlrlrt sLtpltotl itirs lti,r,

Celanese

Ilr,,, ir \\'., : I'

Corporation in

1!)lli-realized that corporate and uni-

'r''

and doing as mrrrh or possible ki nake

sure those joint pn:jecls

velsrtv communities could

',vork. Ancl .lar:k Herrlklrilz

accomplish e\ en greater

presicltnl oi sibling coin-

thinqs i.r'orking together

Joe Palterson, deputy chuirntan of

on mutual interests.

Celonese Corporation, and Ja<:k

''l'he basts of the

presitlent of HoechstRctussel

to unrl ,ntrer-

('.\'p(rinent

1nc.. see the partnership as an

let the universities do the

find the best u'ovs for busutesses

thing that thev are patlicularly qood at. rvhich is

Hoecttst

Herdhlotz.

Phurntuceuticals

pafinership is that lve can

tlri,('l[ipi,L

L'L

ment

,rI

liit rt.ikirrl:,,i,r

clelelolrnrt nt rollaboia-

,rLl

\\'hile Pattcrson is slill rictivr, in the liartneiship prricct. Lrtlrers like \\ir.ight, f:r,iits and .llifkt

to fruilion. he entphasizes that the proiect u as a

deputl'chairinan take ntitie ol his tjnri.. He still fullv expei:ts sucless desprte lhe bjq riiltt,r,ncts

tltt entire rjde

ii]r,aS it|1uL,L,tr

I1r

researcheis callinq themseh es J'canl Dopirmine.

r,r'jth Patterson for

lIil

|,1'tt1r

tzurl thiit

cial opporlunilv." Patterson explains. Although Pattcrson n'as the persol rirost responsible for biinqing the pailnership con( el)t

Hoechs[ Ce]anese adntirristiators u,ho har e

terrilt(itL,t: i lti ] lL,r tt ])rr|ti ilil(i i'll lr r i,\L lr qi,: li:tLntltleS.

iittr. r'\

[eqirrpipq. That involve-

col d's,,r,1.

the nruch-missed r,ice I;rtsidont oi technoktqv rvho diod just as the partntrrsirip starled.

riaterlasilit lil)t'\l)L,r it,r]',[tnc]:. i:l,r lL trrr,rL llr i r.ilr-

developrnent ol thcse ideas into some c0inmei-

parlicularly to Bob Isaacsoii.

rL'S('i|L lt I

,t;iL

btrrLtght IIRPI in at the

thing thev re particularh'q00d at. u,hich is the

i-rthers.

)L llllrtL,

Pharntaceuticals Inc..

tion [o

tithitr Hoechst Celanese iiont its inception In iirci. all lhe pitnripal plalers lvaut lo

11r:lrl|r I

('ll,lr

lr r,, rii i,

panv HoechsFRoussel

qitw this Jul_v into a sities to qet the nost front reseurth resources. $i.5 milli.it r.search anci

teanl opeialion

[111r

aitrl I )r'Siut, riti, lrl,l i lt'1. l;ilrr,r;rf,,r iL,: rr Sitrlltit. \r,\:,1(,f\r,\ ()rrl ll tlrl ntrsl trt itln_{ (lu\r,li l,ntr Iirs rrl

basic researclr. and th." companies can do tlre

llon(

1i1

itri'r

1r,,r,p

1966 and

credil to

h e

joined the

rI re tc tm

lilii, ilr rrl slti,il,. ,,i r ii li 1rl;ice [o ]tiil!

that of

in chemistry

{ir

\\:: rl iliLt: triLl lrtrtitit,slttlJirltlr,lrll tr sl lr! \s lit( l)ililnrisililt lllrrlsll,s. il ltrilnc]tirs il ,1t1,, lills lrolh ('x]x,(l('(l,1nrI in(,\lrr r'r,iJ i1t 1,,,1,,1,,,., r lri'ntisirr'. Il[]('li:t, u l.r r i littrl i \lrt.rl,L lii liitLl r1'lt

,r,1

, Iii5

tho same as

at UNC-CH

ther

tivos. lvlike.laffe, for

administration, of

tt'llilet I)rLrllLrL r :i iir .r lt;Llist Tltt lr,rltlt,t\ttilr tilltHrrrL]tsl iL,iil rr, tsli,ti,liiii.at irri ult rlr

Hoechst Celanese execu

of research as well as

l'tlrrliljorrirl

some outside the ranks of

Famiiiar with the

orc lirttltrtg tltut tlrcy ttlfun ltttt t, ntrit: lit't,Liltrrt tn tlte p.il.tncr.\hl tlun in rc h i n.: t tps t rth f e tlc ru I iiqcriclc.s.

Charter nrembers also include

at Chapel Hill

lr,r,

('r,lliltesr f\r,('ilt \ i s

rupe I l l i i I rultr t i n istrttft

C' I

as he went outside

ways of doing busines from consultants. unive.rsi-

I lr,r,r I tst

t r ll,lssirtl Ii iLti,,L:irltr.,lL,sllilstaitii;il

L'\lrL'L fL,1

is pres-

bring together the pieces to build a platform and

academia

asti\( -('litlrr,ltistrr cinrr

,,, t,- ,

A Friend in the Business

a vision for the future and then

But

lnrlrlt'llr txplatls.

stLrdv cr:rtain neurokrqic.il and psvchologl

I.rtrl'h,t glnlili,"r.i j 11.

Hi l

L,rl , ,r,tt,,t,, s r rl \,rrnL, Lcki

tit,'l i t'

ir,rLl

1,,

Ht'('::rir ni r llrl,,rli

it-si-Ri,ls:r I l'l.,rtt lLL,,lrl.t als

,,,',,'1.',

tltt

IltL,

Ilil'[

]r,rrl

IrL,tLtlL (

iltr,Dtir\i([,1.. ilorrr rljs illtion. \litntlrs rl u lt li l rr

r,'q6",,, r'i1 :r, r ltsit

.t,t;riterl cLrLltirltli,rl rn iL iil.j nillirrl ,r1r'r,,,1r,,i

l;r:1 .lrr

"'l'r,lrrl I)or;111111,,.

Ln r,r,hic]r

fiir I \l

-1 1I

are taking larqer roles as Pattetson's rlLrtirs lis

rrirqirl il{r'thc,l.

lirr

,rr Lr rrrr

lii

lL:ril

iiD)l,

.iL

lti,:

,..1..,.\ l. ' :'. \trt, \r I \\rfi\iitil ]lill']',, Lt, !( lllr llr\\'dru{sto 'l l Li, 1q'-i tliiit,Ll ltr,trlrL r{ir'ltl irltrl ltsr-t'hi 1r,1,;1111:1

in goa)s and stmcluie hetr,i,'een Hoe,chst L'ellineso and Carolina "(ln lrotlr srrles. at lhe l nilcrsrtl anri at Hoechsl ('elitnt,si,, tht: idea seems so ILrn-

,rlii( \llsi)l(ir rs. lt S a lllct,lit,'stIs I I]il'l I'resiilItt .l;rr i' I Ii't,lliillz.'You hltr, tli,s]I i,,LtIt! ltiitil. al.l:, I rrrt crsitt. uL,lltlt rr itLr u ill hr li .t l: i I L, t !\ r, -it.r rl )i1ttlt ulrtl,l \iu \\L,lilalir iulrli \t,t ir,, l,rLtr! ii,r-ltt e\l)r,lli,irL I it u t,, italir ,ii,',, Ii,1, ; ,1, ,-

rlanerttallv sr.trnd that elcrlbody tnr,olletl lir qo out ol thcii lva.l to make it lvoik." ,

irr:i !'L'.1'

r,varrls

tL,

;,t (l-i.r,,ntr,ll like tlt,ii iilr()lr Irtq

l)lp,i'-r'tl i: f;ri 1i(rilt ursr,. BrLt t]tc

rIilitr

LIli

r,lLrit

,,:,l:r.

f,ollfof)oE.AoIoQoR.s

n0 surprise to either partner because, as all

throughs came from Europe, And as chemistry

involved emphasize, this whole venture is an exper-

Professor Paul Kropp knows firsthand, universities

interest. Hoechst Celanese executives are also

iment. "We don't want to delude ourselves that we

there still get much of their research funding from

sensitive to the isue, realizing that both parties can

know how to do this," says Director of lnnovations Wright. "We're going to have to adjust, tweak.

industry-without sacrif icing academic freedom

benefit only by allowing freedom of intellectual

and values.

expresion.

experiment and try things."

Despite the European example, Carolina is

The major problems are those stemming from

entering partnenhips quite cautiously. Vice

lish safeguards t0 prevent potential conflicts of

In fact, Chapel Hill administrators and researchers are finding that they often have more

the differences, sometimes mostly perceived,

Chancellor Meyer stresses that he and predecesors

freedom in the partnership than in relationships

between the academic and corporate cultures.

Spremulli and Mary Sue Coleman have worked

with federal agencies. Jerry Fife, director of the

Corporations, for instance, are supposed to be inter-

closely with Susan Ehringhaus, the asistant to the

0ffice of Contracts and Grants, thinks that the gov-

ested in applied research. while univenities empha-

chancellor and senior university counsel, to estab-

ernment's role as conduit for taxpayer dollars

size basic research. But many now question how

different the two types of research are. "lt's an artificial distinction," says Linda Spremulli, chemistry professor and former interim vice chancellor for graduate studies and research, "You never know while you're doing 'basic' research when an applica-

tion is going to emerge." To match Japan and other Pacific rim competitors, we need to apply our basic research discoveries more quickly, and federal agencies are increasingly supponing universrty-industry

collaboration

as one of the best ways to do that. "From the govemment point of view, the economic

war has replaced the Cold War," Spremulli says. Many critics of closer ties worry less about research differences of the two communities than about their different missi0ns. The corporate mission is to make a profit, they argue, and that cannot

be reconciled with the university mision of discovering and diseminating knowledge. Leave research funding with the government, where it belongs, they conclude.

"Our approach is to help uniDersity researchers do the research that they

uould normally do anyway, but to look upon us as a preferred partner when they haue deueloped some technolog which has commercial potential and both the uniDersity and Hoechst Celanese belieue that Hoechst Celonese is an appropriate uehicle

for

mouing that into commercialization. "

Vic Evins, Advanced Technology Group president, HCC

But government funding is not natural law. It developed only during the past half century, and as Vice Chancellor Meyer points out, "One can argue that the universities in this country sold themselves out and changed what they do forever after World War II when they accepted this mantle of increased funding and joined the research establishment." But until this change, he says, most research break-

Researchers lihe physics Professor Yue Wu are learning as they become more inuolued in the partnership that they share interests with professors from other departments.

E.N.D.E.A.V.0.f,eS

Another principle of total quality manage-

forces federal agencies into a cost-reimbursement

other corporations, including DuPont, Glaxo and

approach, allowing researchers little deviation from

Burroughs Wellcome, while Hoechst Celanese is

procedures set Out in grants 0r contracts.

considering two or three more universities. Neither

ment that both partners embrace is improving communications. "l would encourage readers to

Busineses, perhaps more accustomed to taking

expects to include too many partners in its portfo-

think about posibilities for the partnership and

calculated risks. are more willinq to let researchers

lio; the idea, after all,

follow their own imaginations, As a result, he

close ties with just a few.

says,

discus them with us," says Evins of HCC's Advanced

is to increase qualitv through

Technology Group. "They would find us surprisingly

"Hoechst Celanese is very flexible in how they

open to trying new things in new and different

allow researchers to spend the money. Their expectation is that they are investing money in the pro-

ways. I encourage them to go t0 Skip and discuss things with him." Chapel Hill's Gles concurs: "l

gram for us to work with." By investing in the University's research pro-

uant to delude ourselues that ue hou to do this. We're going to haue to hnou adjust, tueak, experiment and try things." "We don't

would also like them to receive the message that their suggestions are welcome. Your readers, given their range of experience, are likely to have ideas

gram while respecting the value of academic freedom, HCC is contributing to what Ehringhaus calls "the best expresions of the academic values that

Bruce Wright, director of innovations, HCC

that can contribute to our direction. We would like to hear from them."

the University stands for. This is the University being

involved in society. This

is the University being

highly relevant; the University contributing directly to economic development, to the generation of new jobs, to putting North Carolina students in the best positions."

"You neuer hnow while you're doing

'basic' research when an application is going to emerge."

Linda Spremulli, chemistry professor and former interim vice chancellor

for graduate studies and research.

UNC-CH has a history of public service

through such programs as the Area Health Education Centers, the Institute for Research in Social Science and the Institute of Government. Meyer calculates that almost 20 percent of

Carolina's budget is spent on public service, almost

twice

as much as the next best state university in

the nation. But he wants to increase that lead, and sees research partnerships as the beginning of a

way for the socalled hard sciences to participate. As this experiment proves itself, both partners are liguring out how to gradually expand it with others. The University has close relations with

Pharmacy Professor Alex Tropsha is a member

of Team Dopamine-fiue UNCTH professors and one Purdue Uniuersity professor who haue joined resources to worh

uith

Hoechst-Roussel screntisfs

w ;

to better understand how to treat dopamine-related brain disorders.

Iir{*

t ,it I

* b

.,*

'rl,

More than the Money 0f course professors at UNC{H are excited bv the monev-as federal funds become scarcer.

potential; Wu sees a chance to learn about molecu-

the money that keeps research going has to come

tenrperature. Prornisinq earlv results aLe encourag-

lar motion in

hrqhlerbmance polymets

at high

altered bi' rntroducinq ne\\' morrorrer.s. ('hernists ilr Summit, she sai's. are ercited bv the itpporlunitv frtr corprtrate researchors who usualh nllst \vorn

kom somewhere. But talk with those involved in

ing Wu kr apph'for federal funding that he doubts

the Hoechst Celanese Corporation & University of

he wouid othem ise receive.

North Carolina at Chapel Hill Research Partnership

you cannot applv." he sa1.s. 'You hare t0 get started

researcher. she also knows the value oi HCC's

and you'll find that the money is oniy a beginning.

first. This award allous us to explore nen research

r:apabilities kir synthesis

which I hope iviil grorv into nert programs rvith fur-

polymers which researchers at l-,NC CH are eagei

ther support from federa] agerrcies.'

to study but lack the facilities to make in their

It can quite literalll' be a beginning. explains

Yue Wu, a prolesor in the phvsics and astronr,rml' department lrho won an HCC \bung Investigator

'lii'ou

have nothinq,

Benefits can be less tangible bLrt no

lc.ss

tcr

publish n'ith the cr-rnpanr.'s bicssinq-a raie lieat about confidentiality and patents. As a unir ersitr

c.rl

lar{e quantities of pure

own lal-roratories. Students as rvell as prolessors are benelicia-

Award for high-temperature nuclear magnetic reso'

r,aluable. lJiscor,ery Air-ard winner AIex Tropsha.

nance analysis of polvmers. Hoechst Celanese is

pr, rfessor r:f pharmac-v and a member of Teanr

ries of the corpoialion's investment. In 1993, HCC

interested in the poll'mers fot their commetcial

Doparrine-a coalition ol

scholar.ships helped attract 13 outstanding graduate

Liniver:sitv scientists

studying eflects ol dopamine in the

students to UNC-CH, while exceilence awads 0l ui)

biain-lrlks aboul lhe irnp()r'llrr( (,{)i

to Si.0ll0 recognized the achiel'ements of llll contin-

research direL:tion that non-acadenric

uing graduate students and two undergiaduates

scierrtists r'an pror

i,lc. \lv

tlrt nrit,s

ment who

sar,s she is learning about the

verify mv theories." Chemistry

academic proiession-the f und-raisrng process, ku

Ptiriess,,r P;rul Knrlrp. ;rnrrllrer

example-as rveli

Discoven' Award n'inner. agrees that

interdisciplinan research in ail unir ersitl deparl-

Llniver.sitv researcher.s will gain fiom

ments.'lhe partnership also pnri ides

-lt's good for acade-

l orks on Boilenbachers liarson tean. praclical side of thr:

as the increasinq inrportanr:t: of

stLrdents.

manv of whonr lvill eventuallv u,olk in the business

mic screntists to have frequent contact

world, rvith corporate e.xperience beiore thev are

lvitir industrial c0untelpafis because

locked

it ke.eps us more a\4,are of their problems and needs and gives us a little

diiferent perspectile. he

savs.

intr-r a career.

Ex1rcct the partnership to sonn include not

onlv numerous scierrces but also the humanities. Al least one [,nglish professor in Chapei Hi]l is excited

rnent's Discol.erl' Arvard ivi nners.

about the chanr:e to exchange learning llith Hoechst Celanese. "Corporations are increasingiv

Edrrard Samulsxi tninvs u orkin( nul

engaged bv the prr,rblems and challenges ol cross-

onli

cultural communications of all kinds. so the

Another of the chemistl'deparl-

r.ritlr Hoe, hsl

fsllpcrc.r'ierrlirls

at Carolina. "l noll,hai,e cli:ser rela-

Ltniiersitl is likely to be very heipful to the corporale world.' sals Danvl 01ess. whose expertise iir

tionships u,ithin the cLremistrv deparl-

cultural diversitv u,il] also serve hirn wr.lll

nent u,ith other pnifessr.rrs and

member of the Nalional Council rin the

students lrcm taikinq about hriw our

Humanitres, u'hich adlises the i:hair rif the National

but aiso more closelv rvitlt colleaques

science could be relevant to

Hr-,echst

as a new

Endoument foi the HLriranities. His lvork

as diret:-

Celanese,' he savs, acldinq that the

tor of lhe Univeisitr,s reaccreditation seltstLrdl has

coliegraliti transcends depailmental

also shou.n Gless

b',urrtlaties as itt.arrd the lrlrvsits deparlment's WLr share research on

can lealn from corporations. as itt shotrinq ernplriv-

polvrners, 1'his cooperation even goes

ees that their

hoil rnuch the academic lvorlrl

achievenents are apprcciated.

Psvchiatry Prolessor Richarrl \lailman

Discol,e['Awaid n'innerr antl a mcmber ivith

bel'ond HCC and UNC"CH to involve

Tropsha of Team Doparnine. shares Gless apprecia-

other universities. From 0rambling

tion for the inserparabililv oi tiie academic and cor

State

Unilersitr in Louisiana comes

Connie Walton. a chemislry prolessor and ioimer Hoechst Celanese chemist

& -&"

again, the intangibies matter even more. Flrin

Bonin, a graduate student in the Entlish dcpart-

"And their experiments r:an then

such interaction.

BLrt

must be based on data, lvhich thev can qenerate in their labs." he savs.

porate worlds, of scientrfic endeavors and the afts -lt s IikF dri\ in( .r cor' S,r\'\ arrrl hrrm,rnities. Mailman. "You can't separate driving the cai lrom

rvho uses her summer r,'acations to

the lact that someone had io pa\,e the road and

keep up-to-date in research at the

sonreone had t0 build a bridge and someone had

companlis Mitcheil Technical Center

to put the mLrsic out that you hear on your radio.

in Summit. New Jersev. There she svn-

Elenthing in life is integrated, including science.

thesizes poll'mers that have been

of cour.se.'

0ngoing Endeavors Association as the "u)orld's fastest

In the fall of /984 Endeavors was launched with a couer story

graph ics computer, " Obuiously, research

heralding an innouatiue computer

isa a cumulatiue and ongoing effort. /oin Endeavors nou in its 10th year,

technologr designed by UNC-CH

as it recognizes inuestigators'

scienfrsfs. Since then, that technology has euolued into the patented

continuing efforts by reuisiting

Pixel Planes 5, billed by the

some of the reseorchers and subjects couered in the past.

National Computer Graphics

by Christine Sneed

MEDIEVAL MYSTERIES:

WHO WROTE IT? Updote on medieuol hogments found

in Rore Booh Collection

aleoAraphers.

"An Exhorlation and Rebuke to the People." Ganz

adept sleuths, providing much of the information

scholars who study

deduced that the fragment came from a whole

on the University's collection, For example, until

ancient writinqs.

body of sermons explicating Gospel verses, but

former graduate student Lan Lrpscomb managed

must be part anti-

scanning a CD Rom index of medieval texts yielded

to decipher the bleared text using ultraviolet Iamps,

quary and parl

no match to the title. Then, Ganz says, "l happened

no one knew the library had a Nicholas Love

Sherlock Holmes.

upon an index which listed the Cospel verses in pafticular patristic texts, and there was a reference

fragment in its collection. Student research was

for this particular Gospel verse which conesponds

texts in Wilson Library, and several students have

That's because many medieval texts

sulive only

fragments, uncovered solely through

to the sermons." This lead enabled Ganz to trace

also gone on to publish articles that have attracted

serendipity. Such is the case of sever-

the sermon text to a fellow known as Epiphanius

international interest to the UNC-CH collection,

al fragments discovered in the UNC-

Latinus. and to identify the fragment as ninth-

CH Rare Book Collection.

century, German.

In the Spring 1985 isue,

Endeouors reported on the discovery

!p a O o E

6 I a O O

Ganz can only speculate how the religious

identified the strange markings on a leaf from

fragment became the cover for a scientific treatise

14th-century volume as two Slavic alphabets.

of two ninth-century Bible fragments

on mining, It's posible, he muses, that the book-

Cyrillic and Glagolitic. The joy of deciphering

seller deliberately used it to make the othenryise

medieval texts, Barnhouse says, is that, "once you

volume. Since then another ninth-

plain cover more attractive. 0r the parchment

know what to look for. they tell all kinds of realll,

century fragment has turned up in

may have simply been the handiest material lying

neat stories about the people who wrote them;

the collection. Among the books

around the shop when it came time to fashion a

they're little dramas about medieval life." For

bequeathed to the library by

cover. Many medieval manuscripts survive only

example. the presence of the two alphabets

because of such utilitaiian usage, most often as

suggests that an early owner o[ this volume was

endpapers or cover Iinings.

in contact with Slavs, probably around Dalmatia.

Elizabeth Badger Ward in 1985 is a

"You learn so much by inference," says former Enqlish doctoral student Rebecca Barnhouse who

serving as endpapers in a 1497

recently featured in a May-July exhibit of medieval

1572 treatise

on mining by Renaisance

scientist Paracelsus; superimposed on its

0ther medieval textual fragments that have

cover is a Latin manuscript fragment. As in the case

turned up in the UNC-CH collection are a water-

classics and comparative literature rely on manu-

of the Bible fragments, classics profesor David

damaged leaf from the popular 1Sth-century "Myrrour of the Blessed Lyf of Jesu Christ" by

script survivals t0 reconstruct a fuller picture of

Ganz was called in to investigate the fragment's

identiry.

Nicholas of Love and a fragment of Aristotle's De

"l tracked this one by very good luck," Ganz says. His only clues were the roman numeral XL

and the title, Exhorlotio et lncrepotio od Plebum,

Coe1o,

both found in

a scrapbook

acquired in

Every time a fragment turns up it sets a new game afoot. and graduate students have proved

Scholars in English, history, art history,

medieval life. It's human nature to want to know our origins and history, Ganz says, "lt just shows 1 .

how much we don't know about the Middle Ages," he adds, "because we think we've seen all the man-

uscripts and then something will still turn up."

E.lt[oD.E.A.Ir0.R.S

IT'S ALIVE!

READING, WRITING

Updote on microbiologists' qenetic reselrch

AND AUTO RESTRAINTS

hey're raising the dead over in the deparl-

controls a gene's activity, To deduce the correct

Iipdote on HSRC's reseorch inkt

ancestral sequence, the researchers employed an ingeniously sirnple method: they lined up 130 F-ty'pe

inp

material in mice that was rendered extinct over six

promoters found in the modern mouse genome

million years ago. Professors of microbiologl'' Clyde Hutchison and Marshall Edgell, along with fellow

and compared them. For each base in the sy'nthesized promoter the scientists chose the consen-

last thing Hayesville High School studenrs [1neexpected to hear over the usual restless murI I ,u, fillinq the auditorium was the sudden

researchem Nils Adey, Trygve Tollefsboi and Andrew

sus-the nucleotide appearing in the majoritv of

squeal of tires and qratinq crunch of metal. The state

Sparls, published their findings in the Feb. lgg4

the sequences and therefore the least likelv to be

trooper and paramedics who appeared did their

a mutation,

best to aid the car crash victims, but for one it was

ment of microbiologv-"dead" genes. that

is,

UNC{H researchers'resurrected" genetic

hoceedings of the Nationol Acodemy of

kienca,

The gene, a transposable or "jumping' DNA element called F-type LINE-1 (11). once roamed the

Having reassembled the ancestral F-promoter.

rou i n g seot-be

lt utearing hobi ts

too late. If only he had been wearing a seat belt. Apparently, the surprise mock crash made an impression on the students gathered for what they

the team then introduced it into mouse cells to see il they could "reanimate" it. Although this promoter once actively lunctioned before mutations shut jt

thought was a routine assembly. The next day two

lion years ago a new familv. the A-type Lls. arose,

down, the researchers were still somewhat sur-

students walked away from a 55 m.p.h. crash, their

The F-type familv then became functionally extincl,

though they still remain in the genome: however,

prised when it showed iust as much activity as the modern A-t1pe promoter. 'We thought that the A-

n,earing their seat belts the day before.

the original ancestral

type was going to be more active,' Edgeilsays,

mouse genome, randomlf inserting itself into differ-

ent places aiong the chromosomes. Eve to

F-t1,pe

mi!

sequence rvas long ago

eradicated by mutations. All together.

Ll elements

make up about l0 percent t0 15 percent of the total

The scientists are still trying to discoverwhy

the A-h"pe Lls still actileh' replicate and transpose.

there was a transition from active F,type Lls to active A-types. As Edgell muses, 'Was it just that the A-promoter knew how tr: replicate better and sort

The team developed a process thel,dubbed molecular resurrection to recreate the original F-

of took over?" The comparable activitv among the modern and extinct promoters now changes the

modern mouse DNA. Hutchison savs.

Holet

just one resuit of over

type sequence. This

years of research on

Ll in

er. only

question. Edgell specuiates, "Maybe there are other

onlv rnjuries mere bruises. Both had just started The Hayesville students are amonq at least 40.000 reached by a 1992-1993 incentive projecr

armed at 48 North Carolina high schools and

coor

dinated by the UNC-CH Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC). The project is just one way in which HSRC researchers have helped increase North

Grolinians' seat belt

use.

Cunently, the state average for belt use hovers 75 percent after a recent peak at 80 percent,

cellular components that are necessarr for a gene

around

to molecular resurrection was alreadv ongoing

to be active. Maybe over five million t-'ears those components have been altered." So far. Hutchison says, "we've found that there are different proteins

according to HSRC studies. Back in 1987. when

when Endeators reporled in the Spring 1987 issue

that bind to A-type and F-type promotors."

tlilinter issue r. the average languished around 45 percent, 0f course, one rcason forthsse encouraging increases is the statâ&#x201A;Ź's rew "Click lt or Ticket'

Edgetl and Hutchison's

labs whrch have established most of science's basic

knowiedge of this DNA element. The work that led

on another of the scientists' research projects,

But what do extinct mouse genes have to do

saturation mutagenesis. a process oi constructing

with human genes? Different types of Ll eiements

every posible mutation in a genetic sequence. To 'resurrect" the original F-tvpe Ll sequence,

are present in all mammalian genomes. including

the team first had to reconstruct it. The scientists stitched together 200 nucleotide bases to form the gene s ancestral promoter. the segment that

the human, and because they randomlv leap about the chromosomes, Lls can cause brg trouble. Lis

Endeauors first reported on HSRC's research into improving North Carolinians' buckling habits

program. But even $eater awarenecs ol legal punishment does not convince all non-users: this is where the HSRC researchers believe incenlive pro-

allow genetic recombination to take place giving rise to radically new sequences, and thev have

grams make a difference.

been implicated in a number of qenetic diseases. "ln some cases of hemophilia

ment for buckling up by linking habits with tangible

Ll element jumped into

the gene for blood-clotting

Lorvrance explains, "The thought behind incentives is that if you get someone buckling up because

factors." Hutchison says. "There hal,e also been

several weeks, then it

cases of tumors where L1 elements

jumped into

genes regulating cell

growth." Understanding the ancestry of this gene

rer.tards. As HSRC puhlic information officerJeff

the)'might rvin

a small prize, and that goes on

for

will become a habit, they'll

just begin buckling up without thinking about it," HSRC received a $79,803 grant from the

Covernor's Highway Safety Proqram to develop the high school incentive project. The qoal of HSRC

knowing how to deal wrth

researchers Lowrance, Lauren Marchetti, William Tolbeil and Bill Hall was to see if such campaigns could indeed improve belt-wearing habits among

its descendants

a group with consistently low usage rates, Teens

may one day lead to

Moleculor resurection is one of mant ; o projects supported bt =

Incentlre programs pror ide positive reinforce-

,162,521 from the

The method for deducing a gene's ancestral sequence is simple enough to

Notional lnstitutes

be represented on a chalkboard, here by Tollekbol Hutchison and Edgell.

of Health.

)

buckle up iess often than the rest of the driving

public. and they suffer more crash-related injuries and deaths. says project director Marchetti. HSRC offered state high schools $500 awards

to create in-school seat belt incentive projects. HSRC staff trained students to

conduct belt use

E.N.D.E.A.V.0'R

surveys, and, says Lowrance, "We offered some

ideas in workshops, but we encouraged students to come up with their own ideas or angles." Mock crashes ptoved succesful at many schools. Following the mock crash asembly at Hayesville Hiqh, the Grim Reaper (a student in cos-

tume) handed out funeral coupons to unbuckled drivers in the parking lot while othet volunteers rewarded belted drivers with candy and T-shirts. At another school, students spotted unbuckled upon arrival faced the good-natured humiliation of being belted to their chairs in each clas. Daily intercom announcements, skits, student-produced videos, slogan contests, pizza parties-all promoted one theme: Buckle Up! The result, Marchetti says. was that 77 percent of students overall were buckling by the end of the projects. "Seven schools ended with belt use rates qreater than 90 percent." she said, "and five schools increased rates by 40 percentage points or more." The researchers' conclusion: Incentive projects

Through research expeditions in the Siena Neuada range, researchers haue determined that these mountains

work. The high school project was so succesful that

aTe not as ancient as geologists preuiously thought.

it was not only continued but also expanded to 68

high schools in the 1993-1994 school year. Plans are now underway for 19941995. o

a f I

a very short time interval and are essentially all juvenile material out of the mantle, not recycled

might yield only a couple of milligrams. As zircon

crust. So that right there doubles the estimated rate of crust production at this time and place." In other

rejecting lead. Over millions of years, however, the

words, the team's research suggests that around 92

lead. Knowing the rate of radioactite decay, the

million years ago, Western Nonh America under-

researchers can thus accurately detetmine the age

went a period of cataclysmic activity which formed

of rocks by measuring the microscopic amount 0f

much of the mountain range we see now,

Iead in a zircon sample delived from the rocks.

crystallizes, it takes in elemental uranium while uranium trapped in the zircon slowly decays to

Right now the scientists don't know what

Obviously. lhe researchers are measuring

caused this rapid crust formation, but. Glazner

such minuscule amounts of lead that even the

speculates, it may have to do with plate tectonics. WhenEndeouors first reported on the geology pro-

slightest intrusion of lead from the

Hayesuille High student heeds sobering reminder to buchle up.

fesors work (Fall 1985) he was studying how the

Lesults completely inaccurate. Hence the impor-

movement and collision of the continental plates affected the geological formation of Southern

tance of having a clean lab on campus with filters that reduce air debris to 100 particles per cubic

California, workinq his way northward to the Sierra

foot of air.

air-from

etc.-will

render the

Uranium-lead zircon analysis greatly improves

Nevada ranqe.

ROCK AND AGES

gasoline fumes, pollution,

The team's initial findings were published

upon the accuracy of the old potassium-argon

in the Dec. 1992 isue ol Science. The original

method formerly used to date the Sierra Nevadas.

team also included geology postdoctorate Drew Coleman as well as qraduate students Jonathan

This method measured the amount of argon trapped in rocks, but argon tended to "leak" if the

team including UNC-CH geology students

Miller and Kevin Bradford. Two undergraduates,

and faculty didn't set out to give the Sierra

Carolyn Bachl and Jennifer joye, also parlicipated. "lt's kind of remarkable to think that we now have

rocks were disturbed, for example, if they were reheated by another magma flow. "You might get

Updote on geological history

of Western North Americo

Nevada mountains a new bi(hdate. But with

an age which is younger than the true age, but

the aid of the geology department's new world-clas

undergraduates doing research that few other labs

older than the reheating age," Glaznet says. Zircon,

equipment, they reduced the California mountain

in the country can do," Glaznersays,

on the other hand, stubbornly resists giving off any

range's age

significantly-to 92 million years.

The researchers were able to arrive at the

of the trapped uranium or lead. Thus, the team's

Until now. geologists believed that the huge qranite mases formed slowly some 85 to 165 million

revised date right on campus using recently

revised age, 92 million plus or minus l/2 million

acquired state of the art equipment-a

years, is very precise.

years ago as new molten tock. ot magma, intermit-

trometer and a class 100 clean

tently oozed up from the eafih's mantle and mixed

geologists to determine the age 0[ a who]e moun-

supported by $84,277 from the Nationol Science

with existing crust. Principal investigator Allen

tain from a trace amount of zircon.

Foundotion. The mass spectrometer aos acquired

Glazner proposes an entirely different scenario,

"We're saying that the granites came out in

Zircon

mass spec-

lab-that enable

is a mineral present

in most igneous

rocks, but it is so scarce that 100 pounds of granite

The reseorch described

this orticle wos

through o $168,416 National Science Foundation

grant. a

E.N.D.E.A.V.QoR.S

Listening to the Audience Researcher Studies Cultural Works and Black Women's Reoction to Them by Dottie Hom

f f lru I I

Then the women didn't talk during the ,\lng-room snowrng or rne utmDaugnrcrs of m, Oust. Jacqueline Bobo wonied. An

women had been largely ignored in studies of aud! ence reactions. "Being black myself, female myself and not coming from a privileged background,

assistant professor of communication studies, Bobo

want to insert the perspectives of black women into

had invited seven black women to watch and com-

significance," says Bobo.

ment on the film. Because the film had only just

Interviewing black women

Bobo's approaches to studying three cultural

work

about black women. Two of the works studied were produced by black women-Julie Dash's film Doughters of the Dus/ and Terry McMillan's novel Woiting to Exhale; one was produced by a white

is just

one of

man-Steven Spielberg's film lhe Color Purple.

found a distributor, none of the women had heard of

Bobo's book, Credible Witness: Block Women as

the film before Bobo asked if they would watch it. "l was very uncomfortable, much more than

will be published by Columbia University Pres in

Cultural Readers, which focuses on the three works,

I've ever been doing an interview," reveals Bobo,

1995 The book describes Bobo's audience stud-

'because Ijust didn't know how the women would

ies-she talked to more than

react. I knew what the critics were saying, that the

groups. The book also contains Bobo's analysis of

film was slow and you couldn't undentand it."

cinematic elements of the two films. including the

Bobo's unease was intensified because when,

30 women in six

effect of camera angles, the sequence of camera

seven years before, she'd shown a group of black

shots, and the images and sounds presented in

women lhe ColorPup1e, they had commented as they watched the film. "l

each frame. Moreover, the book serves as a chroni-

was totally unprepared for that," says

the two films and the novel in the popular media.

cle of cultural history: It examines the reception of

Bobo. "l scunied around and set up

In conducting her audience interviews, Bobo

taping equipment." Now, watching

uses a case-study approach, in

which she does not

Doughters of the Dust, Bobo had

attempt to provide a representative sample, but

equipment waiting to record the women's remark. "When the

women interacted with the worl<s. She con-

rather aims to provide examples of how some

women drdn'lsay anlthing, it

structed her audiences by contacting

made me even more nervous," says Bobo. "l thought, 'They don't

groups of black

women-in one

instance, a group of women in the

like it.'The film was two houn

community who met monthly to

long."

discus social and political Finally, the film ended,

Several more silent moments tried

Bobo's nerves. "Then a woman

isues. Those women in the groupswho consented to par-

tipicate brought along their

said, 'That's the most beautiful

interested friends or relatives.

film I've ever seen.' And then they

In addition, Bobo frequented

! t

just erupted. They adoredit.They

thought it was the best film they'd ever seen," says Bobo.

a black women's hair styling

salon forseveral months, where she met women who

In conducting her audience

participated in two of the

interviews, Bobo is particularly

groups. Bobo avoided includ-

interested in whether black

ing film, television or cultural

women accept or ignore main-

studies scholars in her groups,

stream media opinions of cultural

as their viewpoints are often

worls. She is also interested in

already in print.

how black women interact with

Women embrace in a scene from the film Daughters ol the Dust. Assistant professor Jacqueline

Bobo's groups consist-

works which present a main-

ed of women ranging in age

stream, white, male ideology,

Bobo interuiewed black women about their reactions to the film. )ne woman talhed about the film's presentation of black women; "The thing that struch me aboutDaughters of the Dust rros

such as Bobo argues the film The

that there were different looking black

Color furple presents. Prior to her

ence within blackness was iust really striking to me and nice because they were all uery beoutiful

dle-class in income: Some

research, says Bobo, black

in their own way."

worked in management;

women4ifferent hairsgles, different

shapes; the differ-

from mid-20s to late-50s. The women were generally mid-

E.N.D.E.A.Y.O.R.S

others as graduate students or elementary school,

story itself is inaccesible because many details of

high school or community college teachers. Some

characters' histories are not explicitly explained. Contrasting with this media reception of the

0f the women had advanced degrees; one had not

film are the comments of black women. ln her book,

graduated from high school.

Bobo quotes the women talking about the three

Before relatinq the comments of the women she interviewed, Bobo traces in her book the plot

worls

she studied. Bobo notes that

in her study, the

thinking about for so long, and I just didn't have the courage to do it. Ithought, well, I'll wait until I'm a student because then I'll be out of the workplace and won't have to deal with those people who are going to have comments about my hair, and in school it's a more liberal environment. But Isaw

women's comments are significant in and of themselves: "Black women don't need me to interpret

that movie and I thought, god, look at how beautiful those braids are. I have cousins who grew up

the Peazants, a family of Gullah people. The Gullahs

them," says Bobo. "What they need me to do is to

wearing their hair like that; cousins in South

are former slaves and their descendants who lived

bring their perspectives to light, to public attention."

America who have this long beautiful black hair

and media reception ol Daughters 1902, the

ot' the Dusf. Set

film tells the story of four generations of

on the Sea Islands and nearby isolated coastal areas

Many of the women Bobo interviewed about

and they grew up wearing braids. But, my experi-

of South Carolina and Georgia. Their language

Daughters of the Dustwere enthusiastic about the

ence growing up in the United States, and being

retains vocabulary and grammatical features of

film. One woman described the film's appeal in this

separate from that, and having my hair straightened

West African languages, In the film, the Peazants

reunite for a few days on their ancestral island

way: "l think the thing that really holds you throughout the film is the sheer beauty of the photography

when I was five years old, I've never had that experience. And I thought it would be nice to just know

home before some members of the family move

and the delight you take in the fact that here are all

what my hair was like. It sounds so trivial, but that

North. Though filmmaker Julie Dash completed the

these-and we are so unused to seeing ourselves

movie definitely had an impact on that." Based on her research, Bobo describes what

in film-tndus-

on the screen-dark-skinned women photographed

try magazine Vone4, helped make it impossible for

in loving ways. Remember how the camera kind of Iingers on Celie in lhe Color Purple? And it doesn't

happened when Daughters o/the Dust finally making copies of the film, Doughters of the Dust

too slowly, that the Gullah language spoken by the

linger on the character who plays Nettie, even though she's just as dark-the camera never takes

characters is often incomprehensible and that the

the time to really look at her features and say, here

copies makinQ their way slowly from city to city.

is a beautiful woman. ln Daughters

Some critics began raving about the film, and it

of the Dust, the configuration of all

eventually became the highest grossing film that

of these women together, it is

Kino International, which specializes in classic and

extremely seductive. In a way it

foreign films, had ever distributed.

film in

1989, an early neQative review

Dash to find a distributor for the film until 1992.

Many early reviewers felt that the film's story unfolds

dt-resn't matter what story she is

thought this much of black women,

attacked. It was a phenomenon Bobo had wit-

that was really seductive. That's

about the importance of the way

nesed before. When Steven Spielberg made Alice Walkers 1982 novel The Color Purple into a movie in 1985, it generated a fren4r of negative commentary in newspapers, magazines and on television

black women were presented in the

shows including "Tony Brown's Journal" and "The

film: "The thinq that struck me

Phil Donahue Show." BIack men attacked Alice

aboul Daughters of the Dust was

Walker and the film for the story's portrayal of

that there were different looking

black men. The novel's female protaganist, the

black women-dif f erent hairstyles,

young black Celie, faces incest at the hands of her

different shapes; the diflerence

step{ather and beatings and other abusive treat-

within blacknes was just really

ment from her husband, whom she calls simply

striking to me and nice because

Mister. The novel also tells the story of Celie's sup-

they were all very beautiful in their

portive relationships with three women: her sister,

own way. So there wasn't just a sort

Nettie; her friend, Sofia; and the woman who

of monolithic black woman run-

becomes her lover, Shug. Reviewers further

ning across the screen all the time."

cized Spielberg's audacity in making a film on a

BIack women talked further them. 0ne woman found satisfying a scene

depicting a culminating

criti

subject outside his white cultural milieu, One reviewer said that Hollpvood should recognize Spielberg as the "most intrepid foreign film director of the year."

moment in a relationship between a

Bobo herself had a negative reaction to the

black woman and a black man: The

film. Walkers novel tells Celie's story, says Bobo. Spielberg changes the focus, making the film a

man rides up on a horse and the

demonstrates their ongoing resistance to oppression.

The black women Bobo interviewed about Daughters of the Dust embraced what critics had

about the power the film had for

and the films Daughters of the Dust and The Color Purple, scfto/or Jacqueline Bobo found that blach women's reaction to these works

opened on a staggered schedule, a small number of

telling, just the idea that somebody

what kept me in my seat for almost two hours." Another woman agreed

After interuiewing blach women about the nouel Waiting to Exhale

gained a distributor. Because of the high cost of

couple ride away to begin their life

man's story through his privileging of Mister's per-

together. Another woman described

spective, Bobo argues. As an example of this privi-

how Doughters o/rhe Dust influ-

leging, Bobo examines the scene where Mister

enced her decision to stop perming her hair: "lt's something l've been

pursues Nettie as she is on her way to school. Watching the film, we see Mister pull Nettie into the

E.N.D.E.A.V.0.R.S

bushes. The camera then cuts to a shot of Mister's horse grazing. We hear the sound 0f someone being hit and see the horse jump at the sound. We hear Mister groan. We see Nettie run screaming out

said, 'No, no, no.' They liked that scene," says Bobo. How were the women able to have such glow-

Realizing that the women were telling her about something meaningful to them, Bobo inter-

ing feelings about a film that so many people had found objectionable? "When you watch a film, you

viewed some ol them about Woiting to Exhole.The novel tells the story of four middle-clas black

travel the continuum between acceptance and non-acceptance," says Bobo. "There are certain

women friends. Reviewers attacked the novel

bools fallen to the ground. The camera cuts to Nettie running away in the distance and then to

things in the film that strike you as odd or that you

tionships with men. Bobo observes that the wom-

Mister lalling into the frame holding his groin,

particularly don't like and other things that you really like. If your overall response is that the film is empowering for you, then you just filter the nega-

en's relationships with parents, children and other

novels, Bobo found that the women she talked to

whom Spielberg considen the central character in

tive aspects out." The women she interviewed were able to perform such an act of filtering, Bobo

the film, says Bobo. "The scene depicts a moment

believes, because some aspects of the film affected

most women would consider to be a nightmare

them so powerfully.

becoming a reality," says Bobo. Yet, what is privi-

of the bushes. We see a closeup of Nettie's school-

rolling over and saying he'll get Nettie. This scene, in conjunction with others which also privilege Misters perspective, emphasizes

leged in the film is the sound of Mister being hit, the

Bobo's analysis of cinematic aspects of lhe Color Purple provides evidence, to supplement the

fear and shock the horse experiences at this sound,

women's own comments, as to why the film was

because the women talk at length about their rela-

friends are also depicted. While critics attacked

McMillan

as a

writer of escapist romantic women's

found in Waiting to Exhole characters they could deeply identify with. Said one woman: "l'll tellyou why IMcMillan's] selling. Because she's just like one of us sitting right here talking about all of the stuff that we usually talk about.... And then she writes it just like we would say it." Bobo concludes

and the pain Mister feels in his groin. As the scene

empowering. "For the very first time, you're seeing

thal Woiting to Exhole's popularity resulted from its

ends, the escaping Nettie is at a distance, says

black women presented differently in film," says

telling a story that had not been given widespread

Bobo, and the audience is encouraged to identify

Bobo. Prior to the making of The Color Purple,says

not with her emotions but with Mister's pain. By privileging Mister's perspective, the film neutralizes

Bobo, the prevailing belief in cinematography dictated that dark*kinned people be photographed

public exposure before. "McMillan renders the lives of middle-clas black women, and nobody ever

his cruelty, argues Bobo.

wearing light clothes and with a lot of light. The

Based on her analysis of these and other

ele

contrast was thought to make dark skin show up

middleclas black women," says Bobo. "What's more often given exposure is black women

talks about

who are presumed pathological, who are on the public dole."

ments of the filmThe Color Purple, Bobo frnds that

better. As the cinematographer, costume director

the film evinces a white, male sensibility. Yet, after

and set designer began filming The Color Purple,

the film appeared in December 1985, she became

however, they discovered by accident that Whoopi

three worls she studied to black women's history of

aware of a power it had for black women.

Goldberg, the actres who plays the adult Celie, photographed better wearing a dark hat and

examples unfamiliar to the general populace, Bobo

Columnist Courtland Milloy, who also noticed this power, described it in lhe Woshington Post. "Never

Bobo relates black women's reactions to the resisting social and political oppresion. Seeking

clothes. The cinematographer used this knowledge

traces acts of black women's resistance. During

of how to photograph black people in filming the

slavery, relates Bobo, many black women tried to

rows of black women, teens to elderly, with... tears

entirety of the film. In addition, rather than lighting

avoid or abort pregnancies so as not to give birth to

streaming down their faces one moment and eyes

children who would live

bright with laughter the next," wrote Milloy. " [T]he audience shook me up. Here we were watching the

solely from overhead, the filmmakers strategically placed lighting so as to complement dark skin. "They had spots, like a little lamp sitting on a table,

same screen, but seeing something completely dif-

to aid in the lighting," says Bobo. The effect of these

Washington, DC to participate in the "Sojourn for Truth and Justice," a protest of the lynching and

ferent.'Wanting to know more about what the film

changes is considerable, says Bobo. "The actors

abuse of Southern black men and of the Korean

meant to black women who were not cultural stud.

look like people you see on the street,

War. In 1991, 1,603 black women signed a full-page

ies scholars, Bobo decided to interview them about

to overly made up or highly oily or a caricature.

ad that ran inThe New

their reactions to the film.

They look on the screen as well-looking as white

Bobo found that the black women in the two groupsshe interviewed about lhe Color Purple loved the film. Many had seen it several times. "The

ways black women formed an identification with

expresed support for Anita Hill after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was confirmed despite Hill's claim that he had sexually harassed

the film."

her. "Historically, you go from the 132 women who

in my moviegoing experience have Iseen whole

as opposed

characters," says Bobo. "l think that's one of the

women talked about Celie's transformation from the

As she talked to the patrons of the black wom-

beginning to the end of the film," says Bobo. "lf Celie had not changed, they wouldn't have the same feel-

en's beauty salon, Bobo gradually became aware of another phenomenon exciting the enthusiasm of

ing about her or the film. They found the scene at

black women: novelist Terry McMillan. "The

as slaves. More recently,

1951, 132 Southern black women travelled to

lorh

7lmes. The ad

participated in the march to the

1,603 who signed the ad," says Bobo. "Black women work together at

certain strategic times to enhance black women's

women had purchased multiple copies of

condition overall." Bobo found that the black women she inter-

knife to Mister's throat, very empowenng. They

McMillan's works: one to keep, the others to give as

viewed were part of this history of resistance. They

could attach it to their own lives, to their resistance

binhday presents and Christmas gifts," says Bobo.

did not pasively adopt the mainstream media reac-

against everyday oppresive elements." Bobo found

Some black women Bobo talked to had read all of

tions to the worls she studied. Nor did they sit back

that many aspects of the film that critics lound

McMillan's work. These women talked among their

and let others determine whether the worla were

objectionable did not bother or even delighted the

friends about the characters in McMillan's three

commercial succeses or failures: They purchased

women she talked to. One example is the scene in

novels, calling them by name as if they were part

bools and theater tickets and encouraged friends

which Celie's children, given away shortly after birth

of their daily lives. In May 1992, McMillan's novel

and family to read or see the works. Her study pro-

the dinner table, when she stands up and

stick the

by her stepfather, come back to her as adults at the

Waiting to Exhale reached the best-seller list, where

vides evidence, says Bobo, of the strength of black

end of the movie. Critics saw the scene as overly sentimental. "[n response to the critics, the women

it remained for 38 weels. As of August 1994, 650,000

women and of their ongoing resistance t0 oppres-

hardcover copies of Woiting to Exhale had sold.

sivesocietal forces. 0

A Profile

VITA

Michael Resnih's Philosophy of Life

f I I

n Michael D. Resnik's way of thinking. philosoohv has much in common with music-and

He has just been describing the rigorous training

witn norsesf,oeing and bike riding. In fact, says

Bridge" bicycle marathon, a 1Ol-mile trek from the

Resnik's humble smithy, just six poles holding up a

the University Distinguished Profesor of philoso-

bridge acros the Catawba River in Hickory, NC to a

metal roof. The forge, a hulking mas of stone and

phy, all of his various experiences are intenelated.

bridge atop Grandfather Mountain in Avery County

mortar blackened by the soot from the last lire,

ln addition to pursuing a full teaching and research

This

schedule as an intemationally recognized philoso

in the eight years since he first took up cycling.

anvil squats on a board placed over an old tree

pher of mathematics and logic, Resnik, 56, rides in

"Last year it took me eight hours and 24 minutes,"

bicycle marathons, repairs cars and equipment,

he says modestly.

stump, and scrap metal lies in tangled heaps on a rough wooden table. "l built the shed and I built the

and has built or renovated several buildings.

necessary to prepare for the annual "Bridge to

will be the fourth time he rides the marathon

As Resnik's quip implies, rugged individual-

topnotch faculty and develop its national reputation. To the right ol Janet's bustling studio stands

rises up from the floor in the back. A rust-reddened

forge, too," Resnik says; "l read it in a book, a 'how to be a blaclsmith'book."

Recently he took up playing the harmonica and

ism and a wry sense of humor are principal traits

writing songs, trading these for some of his former

shaping his life. But at heart of it all is simply the

activities which included professional honeshoeing

desire to not lead what another philosopher, Henry

with a pair of tongs and demonstrates how to shape

and serving as department chair. He and his wife,

well known potter Janet Resnik, also succesfully

David Thoreau, called the common life of quiet desperation. "['ve known people who have reached

it, Clankl Clank! Clank! The hammer's bulging steel head springs off the arch of the shoe. "There's a lot

raised three children and several horses.

my stage in life who've said, 'l never accomplished

ol pounding that's necesary to draw a horseshoe

all Iset out to do,"' Resnik says in a moment of seri-

out," he

Most of Resnik's punuits takes place on Pegasus Farm, i37 acres encompasing timber

ous reflection. "l think that is the main thing l'd say,

land, horse pastures, two rental houses as well as

that I have lived a lile I'm proud to have lived. I've

the Resniks' turnof-thecentury farmhouse, and Janet's worlahop and gallery.

accomplished so many things that if

So what do

harmonica rifts or equestrian

footwear have to do with the abstracts of philoso phy? Resnik explains:

"[wrote

a book

with a physi-

cian on reasoning in medicine [see fndeauors, Fall 19871. You would think that the physician would have been the one to do the chapter on diagnosis,

Idid die today,

it wouldn't be like I didn't live a full life." Many of Resnik's pursuits arose from a passion for self-reliance and resourcefulnes born of

economic necesity. For example, he fint started

nosing problems with their feet, and also with

encouragement from a student skilled at mechan-

repairing cars, Philosophy requires the same kind

ics clinched it. Tractor mechanics led to autos,

ol reasoning. So a lot of what I do trying to figure things out, I reflect in my philosophy. It's certainly

bicycles, home repairs and even horseshoeing. "ln that spirit I got to the point where I want

behind my thinking about problems. And the other

ed to shoe our own horses, so I organized a course

way around, too; the philosophical training has

and hired an instructor hom New Mexico State

helped me to think better about these mechanical

University," Resnik recalls. But after the two-week

problems.'

crash course on shoeing. he realized he needed

ciplinary approach t0 life. He divides his time between his next book (he has written 7 chapters construction projects-an addition onto Janet's

people if they'd let me practice on their horses."

rior renovation of an old rental house. Quite a lull plate, but, says the philosopher who earned his

tery to the customen visiting her gallery. Resnik's resourcefulnes also translates into a

knack for turning life's little annoyances into oppor-

ing the shoes on and off," he says grinning. "So I started going around the neighborhood and asking

dent and renter William Knorpp) the complete inte

more aesthetic, though still utilitarian, creationsplate racls and bowl stands to display Janet's pot-

more practice and ran into a slight hitch. "When you've only got four horses, you can't just keep tak-

thus far), editing an anthology, his music and two pottery studio and (with the help of doctoral stu-

shoes for his own four horses. He also produces

tractor he bought used for $250 refused to work when he got it home. The prospect of a $30 fee to even 8et someone to look at it was motivation for Resnik to take up rachet and wrench; help and

This summer is exemplary of Resnik's interdis-

says.

These days Resnik limits his smithing to a few

tinkering with mechanics when a tempermental

Idrew on my experience working with horses, diag-

but t did the chapter on the logic ol diagnosis. And

He straddles a horseshoe over the anvil's horn

For eight years Resnik kept up a small

hobby/busines of blackmithing. Two mornings a week he jumped into his pick-up with toolbox and anvil loaded in the bed and headed out to neigh-

not keeping busy that makes him uneasy, it's sitting

boring farms. During that time, he was serving as chair (1975 to 1983) and leading the philosophy

too still.

department through the transition from a hierar-

"0h, tgues I'm just a latein-life macho," he wryly quips when asked what his driving force is.

chical to committee administrative structure. Under

harmonica. Playinga tune is uery similar

his leadership the department continued to attract

a logical proof, he

doctorate at 26 and was department chair at 37, it's

Resnih demonstrates haw ta bend a chord on his

says.

to creoting

WHY ARE ... there 6A seconds in a minute,

60 minutes in an hour, but only 24 hours in a doy? "You see. this is all he's got to complain about," Resnik grins, pointing out

the song's ironic marriage ol theme to blues format. Resnik took up the har

monica about a year ago when his son Dmitri, Iead guitarist in the New Orleansbased band, The Noble Coyotes, qave him one as a gift. Though Resnik's only

ur units of time date back to antiquity, The ancient Egyptians were the first to divide their day into 24 periods, explain Eugen Mezbacher and Monis Dayis, emeritus profesors

prior musical training was

of physics and astronomy. These periods originated

hiqh school qlee club, he

around the "decans,' select constellations or stars

now plays and sings

(much like the familiar zodiac). Because at least

repetoire of his own songs,

decans were visible nightly, no matter the season,

and can bend a chord so

the Egrptians divided their night into

that a high twang falls into a

12 equal periods, each marked by the rising of one of the

low wail. He has learned

decans. By extension, they divided their day into

simply by improvising,

anolher

Lately he turns to his

equal periods. These two sets of "hours'

waxed longer or shorter according to the seasonal

harmonica in between writ-

length of day and night. Only with the invention of

ing sessions on his book. A

mechanical cloclrs in the late Renaisance did the

mathematical proof, he says, is much like a melody. "ln

variable periods became 24 equal standard hours.

playing a melody there's

of the minutes into 60 seconds ultimately derive

With the help of a doctoral student, the Resnihs houe stripped much of the