FRIDAY,OCTOBER11,2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Former student,professor receives a Nobel Prize
By Katie Nelson
knelson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Even Nobel Prize winners drink Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
When Vernon Smith, 75 attended the University of Kansas from 1949 to 1952, he pursued an economics graduate degree and lived in the Rock Chalk Co-op on Ohio Street with 17 other men. There they brewed 20 gallons of what Smith calls "fine home brew" every few weeks using Pabst barley malt.
Smith was awarded the Nobel Prize for economics Wednesday. He shares the award and the $1 million prize with Daniel Kahneman, a Princeton University professor.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Science, which administers the prize, awarded them for their innovative studies of how psychology affects buying decisions and their development of using laboratory experiments for economic experiments.
Smith is currently a professor of economics and law at George
Mason University in Arlington, Va. He has also taught at the University of Arizona, Purdue University, Brown University and the University of Massachusetts.
His roots, however, are in Kansas.
His books, however, are in Russia. Smith grew up in Wichita, where he attended Wichita North High School. He went on to get an electrical engineering undergraduate degree from the California Institute of Technology, and he received his masters of economics from KU in 1951.
"After taking an economics course at Cal Tech, I thought, well, I'll go back to where tuition is a lot lower," he said.
And the decision paid off. After teaching introductory economics at KU for a year, he went to Harvard University to get his doctorate in economics.
"My training there at the University of Kansas made Harvard quite easy," he said. "I had such a good background from my years at KU, and a year of teaching, that I was very well-prepared in terms of knowledge."
During his time in Lawrence,
Smith was married and had twins, a boy and a girl, who are now 51 years old.
He has since returned to Mount Oread several times to give and attend lectures. He was last here three years ago attending a seminar on market-based management.
Joshua Rosenbloom, KU professor of economics, said Smith's research influenced the way economies is taught.
"It takes us away from chalk- and-talk teaching," Rosenbloom said. "Because of his work in experimental and laboratory economics, we use classroom demonstrations and many of us have students get up and participate in creating markets in class and showing how those markets work."
Smith said he would continue researching economic reciprocity, electric power deregulations and experimental airport pricing that could make air travel safer.
"I'll continue to do what I do, whether I got a call from Stockholm or not," he said.
—Edited by Christina Neff
No space for new magnet
By Michelle Burhann
mburhenn@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
University of Kansas researchers can't find a room big enough on campus to house a 14-foot. 4-ton magnet.
The researchers at the University of Kansas' Lawrence campus received $5 million as part of a $120 million bond issue approved by the Kansas Legislature. The money will go toward advancing the University's protein research, including $3 million for a high field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer and its housing.
But the size and weight of the structure make finding a place on campus difficult, said David VanderVelde, director of laboratories.
"Maybe the middle of Allen Fieldhouse?" VanderVelde said. "I don't think that's available."
VanderVelde said the spectrometer was a close cousin to an MRI scanner that is used in hospitals. A sample is placed within the magnet and uses magnetic fields and radio waves to produce a spectrum that can give information about a structure.
The magnetic field of the structure requires a room with at least an 18-foot ceiling with no steel reinforcements, he said. No cars or other similar structures can be within a 40-foot radius of the spectrometer.
Jim Roberts, associate vice provost for research, said a committee formed after the bond issue passed was looking at building a site at West Campus near 21st and Iowa streets or building an addition onto Malott Hall.
"But even getting the thing on campus is dicey." Roberts said. "Just the logistics can cause problems."
The University has nine of these instruments, VanderVelde said. The University's biggest Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer in Malotl Hall is about 9 feet tall, weighs about a ton and cost the University about $800,000. The new spectrometer will be the biggest in the state and will put KU on the list with only about 25 other universities who have a similar NMR in the country.
The spectrometer will help KU advance its protein research, which VanderVelde
said was on the rise around the world. Kurt Wüthrich of Switzerland won half of the Nobel Prize for chemistry Wednesday for his protein studies that are similar to KU's research.
Current research focuses on proteins instead of genes, VanderVelde said. Because proteins change after they are formed by folding and mutating, diversity within organisms is high. By studying proteins, researchers can learn about how they increase diversity and affect diseases.
VanderVelde said the money will help KU researchers get ahead in the field of studying proteins.
"We're making a big investment to be on the forefront," he said.
The new NMR will help to progress the University's research. Roberts said he hoped all of the new equipment would be in place sometime next fall.
"The pace of research has just gotten more intense and much faster," VanderVelde said. "The people with the better instrument will finish first."
KU police investigate embezzlement in School of Fine Arts
-Edited by Sarah Hill
By Michelle Burhenn
mburhenn@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
An official from the School of Fine Arts reported an embezzlement of more than $600 over a nine-month period beginning in August 2001, LL. Schuyler Bailey of the KU Public Safety Office said.
Bailey said officers planned to make contact with the suspect yesterday, but wouldn't arrest the suspect until after an investigation had been completed.
The theft of $614.26 from Aug.
16, 2001, to April 26, 2002, was
discovered after a routine internal audit and was reported to the campus police earlier this week,
he said.
Bailey said the KU Public Safety Office was investigating it as an internal theft, and could not say if the suspect was a current or former employee of the school.
Officials from the school had already confronted the suspect,
Bailey said the suspect had reportedly purchased items from various Lawrence businesses using school accounts.
Bailey said. He said an arrest would not be made until after the investigation was complete and forwarded to the appropriate court.
Bailey said because the suspect
The suspect allegedly tried to pay back $250, which brings the total of the theft below $500. A theft of $500 or less would be sent to municipal court, not district court.
reportedly tried to partially pay the bill at two businesses to cover up the purchases, he wasn't sure which court would get the case. Bailey said the KU Public Safety Office would have to determine which court would be most appropriate.
Toni-Marie Montgomery, dean of the school, was not available for comment yesterday.
The maximum penalty for theft between $500 to $25,000 is a fine up to $100,000 or up to seven months in prison. The maximum penalty for theft of less than $500 that would be tried in municipal court is a fine from $50 to $500. A municipal court judge could also order up to one year in prison.
—Edited by Christina Neff
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