Wednesday, June 30, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 7
KU couple's work earns century award
By Clint Hooker
Kansan staff writer
Two professors from the University of Kansas have been honored for devoting their time and talents to improving the lives of people with mental disabilities.
Ann and Rud Turnbull received the Historic Century Award from the American Association of Mental Retardation at the group's annual meeting last month in New Orleans.
The Turnbulls are professors of special education and co-directors of the University's Beach Center on Families and Disability. Rud Turnbull also teaches in the University's School of Law.
The Turnbulls came to the University from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 19 years ago. The couple has been with the Beach Center since its inception almost 10 years ago.
For the Turnbulls, work in the area of mental disability came from personal experience. Their 31-year-old son, Jay, who has four disabilities, serves as their inspiration in the field.
"He's the person that continues to challenge us to do the research and poli-
icy work in this this area." Rud Turnbull said. "I would not be in this business if not for him."
Rud Turnbull said that the Historic Century Award honors parents, scientists, media personalities, policy makers and service providers who have made a dramatic impact on the field during this century.
Other recipients of the award included former President John Kennedy for his efforts in disability research and law reform. Sen. John Chafee (R-RI) for his work in financing disability services, Jerome Lejeune for discovering Down Syndrome, Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Judge James Johnson, a pioneer of rights for those with mental disabilities.
Tom Skirtle, acting chairman of the special education department, said that the Turnbulls' award adds to the international visibility of the Turnbulls and the University. The special education department was recently recognized as the best of its kind in the United States.
"This is very,very prestigious,and we're just thrilled that they got the honor," he said. "And the reflection on
the University, the school (of education) and the department will just be tremendous."
Marianne and Ross Beach, who reside both in Lawrence and Hays, are the namesakes of the Beach Center. They said that the Turnbulls were great professionals who deserved the honor, which listed them among the 25 greatest contributors to mental disability work during this century.
"They come from such knowledge and experience, so they are perfect for this role," Martanne Beach said. "They are so skilled and so dedicated, and I just have the greatest respect (for them)."
The recognition won't slow the Turnbulls' efforts at the University. Rud Turnbull said that the only thing on his mind is work.
The Beach Center is doing intensive research and development in the core concepts of disability policies and is working to improve the service delivery systems of such policies around the nation.
"You dare not let down your effort now that you've been recognized and honored with something like this," he said.
- Edited by Chad Bettes
The American Association of Mental Retardation honored Ann and Rud Turnbull last month with the Historic Century Award for their work in the area of mental disability. The Turbunts, professors in the KU special education department, are co-directors of the University's Beach Center on Families and Disability. Photo contributed by Larry Levenson.
KU alumnus awarded $295,000 genius grant
By Paul Rowley
Kansan staff writer
A University of Kansas graduate received a genius grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation of Chicago last week.
The foundation announced that David M. Hillis, molecular biologist, is among the 32 winners of MacArthur Fellowships.
His prize is $295,000 over five years to spend any way he wants.
"I'm thrilled," Hillis said. "It's not something I ever expected."
Hillis, 40, earned a master's degree in biology in 1983, a master's degree in public health in 1984 and a doctorate in biology in 1985 from the University.
Now a professor of zoology and director of
the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Texas in Austin, Hillis was recognized for his excellence in evolutionary biology. His research has contributed to understanding the history of life on earth by showing that relationships among species can be inferred from small differences in their DNA sequences. These differences provide insight into the order and timing of evolutionary processes.
While working on his doctorate at the University, Hillis discovered that there were many domestic species of leopard frogs. Previously, researchers thought that only one species existed in the United States.
William Duellmann, his advisor while at the University, said that Hillis had the right ideas at the right time.
in the African jungle. At 16, he published his first scientific journal article, "Cannibalism Among Cornsnakes." At 24, he scaled a cliff in the Andes to discover a new species of frog.
At age 6. Hillis caught lizards and snakes
"I was just about to up give when I saw its head noke out from a tree." Hillis said.
For Hillis, perseverance pays — he discovered a new species of snake in Ecuador after a landslide blocked the road and tossed rocks on his car.
Hills writes and reviews for more than 50 journals in diverse areas, including marine mammal science, virology, medicinal chemistry and genetics.
This spring, Hillis testified in a Louisiana trial involving a physician who was accused of injecting his lover with the AIDS virus. Hillis was able to determine that the
virus came from one of the doctor's patients. The physician was convicted of attempted murder.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grant-making institution dedicated to improving the human condition.
This year, 17 men and 15 women received grants ranging form $235,000 to $755,000.
Since the program began in 1981, 563 people have been named MacArthur Fellows.
"There is something magical about it all," said Daniel J. Socolow, MacArthur Fellow program director. "No one can apply for a MacArthur Fellowship. New fellows get one phone call out of the blue in June, and five years of opportunity."
Edited by Derek Proter
Dam backers, salmon lovers barge into confrontation
The Associated Press
For more than two decades, the federal government has been shipping young fish downstream past eight federal dams, hoping the fish will swim back upstream on their own to spawn. So far the fish are losing the battle.
CASCade LOCKS, Ore. — Gray clouds hug the Cascade Mountains along the Columbia River as a barge called the Chinook nugs into the Bonneville Dam lock with its cargo — 200,000 live salmon.
Only about 1 percent of the salmon on this large bay were expected to make it back to spawn.
Fifteen types of salmon in the Columbia Basin have been put on the threatened or endangered species list since 1991.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' salmon barging program is either a vital crutch for the fish or a sure path to their greater doom, depending on one's perspective.
"Barging just doesn't work," said Justin Hayes of the environmental group American Rivers. "As long as they keep flushing
money and fish into the huge system, they're going to fall."
But Bruce Lovelin of the Columbia River Alliance, an industry group, said barging has kept the salmon on life support that they'd define as the best that the corps has going right now.
On the deck of the Chinook, there is no political debate, a just stiff wind from the West.
Ruthane Watkinson is all business. Her crewmates sometimes call her "the fish lady."
For nearly two straight months, it is her job to ride the barge up and down the Columbia, making sure that young salmon captured behind the dams are loaded safely aboard, and then safely let loose at the end of their journey.
During the night, she emerges every two hours from a makehift trailer on the Chinook's deck where she sleeps and makes sure the fish are OK in their six 150,000-gallon tanks.
"The longer I've been in this boat, I'm wondering if there is a glamorous part of this job," said Watkinson, a 22-year-old
wildlife management graduate from New York state. Still, she feels the job is important, saving, "I'm their lifeline."
An hour downstream from the Bonneville lock, the crew opens portals in the bottom of the tanks.
With a giant whooshing sound, the 4-inch to 6-inch baby salmon are flushed into the river, where they begin their journey out to sea.
The corps will spend about $3.4 million this year to ship more than 20 million salmon down the river.
The dams can still provide flood control, irrigation and especially hydropower and the fish bypass them en route to the sea. Electricity from the dams powers huge companies like Boeing and Intel and helps keep residents' power bills among the cheapest in the nation.
The fish barging helps ensure both the fish and the dams survive.
Barging program backers point to studies showing that two of every three adult salmon that survive the inland migration
through the eight dams were barged fish.
But environ- mentalists cite another study showing that just a quarter of 1 percent of barged fish make it back upstream to spawn.
That means that of the 20 million salmon the corps will ship downstream this year, only 50,000 will return to spawn.
"If we keep going at this rate, the fish will go extinct," said Jim Baker of the Sierra Club.
But even the healthiest salmon runs have only a 3 percent to 7 percent return rate for spawning salmon.
The corps this fall will complete a draft of a study examining whether to remove a portion of four of the eight dams — the ones on the Snake River. The move, intensely sought by environmentalists, would boost salmon survival, but would render the dams useless.
The study is also looking at other options to help the fish, including a continuation or an increase in barging.
Congress will ultimately decide. In the near term, lawmakers show no desire to cut back or cancel the bargaining program.
Study guides irrelevant if adaptive test used by profs
By Ronnie Wachter Kansan staff writer
Future students at the University of Kansas might have to change their study habits to include a new factor in the tests they take: adaptability.
Members of the Psychometric Society, an international group of social scientists, said the professors of the future may be able to generate tests as they are given, individualizing each question for each student.
When the Psychometric Society held its annual meeting in the Kansas Union last weekend, one of the main points of discussion was the idea of adaptive testing. Susan Embretson, professor of psychology and president of the Society, said that adaptive testing could be used in the next century to provide more accurate methods of judging what a student has learned.
"It's testing on the fly.We'll use item-generation programs,which are a form of artificial intelligence, to design different tests for each student," Embretson said.
Embretson said that while she is on sabbatical this fall, she will be working to develop item-generation programs at the University and in Monterey, Calif. She said that these programs could be used on a professor's laptop computer in the classroom and would be capable of creating multiple questions with varying degrees of difficulty.
"It's one of the most popular topics right now, because of computer advancement," he said. "This meeting provides us with a forum for the exchange of ideas in psychometrics and test development."
"With adaptive testing, everyone gets their own test, with different difficulties," Embretson said. "How do we equate these scores? That is the job of these psychometric models."
Sikizuhiko Nishisato, a member of the Society's board of trustees, said that adaptive testing was a growing field of research.
"I have one on my laptop right now for non-verbal questions," she said. "Where we're going to see it become state-of-the-art is in non-verbal questions — making up puzzles and problems for students to solve."
Some of the technology discussed last weekend is years away from classroom use, but simple item-generating programs already exist, Embretson said.
Embretson said that the U.S. Air Force is planning to develop adaptive tests for its pilots, as other nations have done.
"The British military has long had some," she said. "Germany uses them for pilot selection."
She said there is no timetable for when her research, or that of the military, will lead to item-generation programs.
"It's evolving," she said. "It's a very active area of concern."
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