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VOLUME 123 ISSUE 10
Lawrence may host Special Olympics
BY KELLY MORGAN kmorgan@kansan.com
The 2014 Special Olympic Games will be held in Lawrence, if state and local officials' requests are approved.
The Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau recently teamed up with Special Olympics of Kansas to submit a bid to host the international event. If selected, Lawrence will welcome over 20,000 guests to the University's sporting and housing facilities and open up hundreds of volunteer positions to students across campus.
"I had a conversation with the Chancellor and she is very supportive of the event," said Special Olympics president and CEO Chris Hahn. "She stressed that she doesn't want to just see Kansas Athletics involved but she wants to see the entire University of Kansas involved."
One proposed idea involves a competition allowing architecture students to submit designs for the cauldron that holds the Special Olympics flame. The winning design would be passed along to engineering students who would construct the cauldron, keeping the flame burning as their first priority.
"I know KU also has a great design department and we were thinking that maybe students there could actually make the cauldron," Hahn said. "So the intent is to use a lot of different groups at the University."
Hahn compared hosting the Special Olympics to having a football weekend spread out over an eight-day period. Like game days, the event could lure thousands of customers into the city and help boost local revenue.
"One of the positives to hosting an event like this is the great economic development that can occur," said Lawrence city commissioner Robert Chestnut. "It's going to bring a whole host of people here who are going to spend money, stay in our hotels and shop in our stores."
With businesses in Ames, Iowa, the 2006 Special Olympics host city, earning a combined total of $35 million, officials are eager to hear the outcome of their bid, Hahn said.
"An event like this would be a big opportunity to showcase the community," said Lawrence mayor Mike Amyx.
SEE BID ON PAGE 3A
A NEW SPIN ON ELECTRONICS
Ben Pirote/KANSA Hui Zhao, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, and Lalani Werake, a graduate student from Kandy, Sri Lanka, discovered a way to recognize and measure the current created by the spin of electrons. This discovery could mean an advancement in technology, leading to smaller electronic devices.
Huge discovery could mean tiny technology
Ben Pirotte/KANSAN
KU researchers are a step closer to revolutionizing electronics, making them smaller, faster and more efficient.
BY KELLY STRODA kstroda@kansan.com
Desktops. Laptops. Netbooks.
Over the past decade, electronics have become smaller and faster. But future generations won't be able to continue this progress without a significant change.
Spintronics, or spin-based electronics, is the answer, and a professor and graduate student at the University have made a step forward in the research and understanding of this area.
Hui Zhao, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, and Lalani Weraka, a graduate student from Kandy, Sri Lanka, have discovered a way to recognize and measure the spin current of electrons.
The team works in KU's Ultrafast Laser Lab, which is located in Malott Hall.
Spintronics is a way to revolutionize next-generation electronics to make them faster and use less energy, Zhao said.
It's no secret that electronics have gotten smaller over the past few years. But soon, Zhao said, electronics won't be able to get any smaller.
"In order to get the next generation computers and electronic devices," he said. "We need a dramatically different design."
Spintronics is the answer, Zhao said, but the method is still in its research phase.
Electrons have two properties: a negative charge and a spin. Current
electronics are charge-based, so the charge carries information. But with spintronics, the electron's spin carries the information instead.
Ron Hui, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, said using an electron's spin adds another dimension of freedom for carrying information.
Electrons can
Electrons can only spin either clockwise or counterclockwise. Zhao said this works well with binary code, which is the use of 1s and 0s to represent information.
Zhao said carrying information with the electron's natural spin requires less energy than relying on the presence or absence of a
"This of course, is not the conclusion, but only the beginning of the research being done."
HUI ZHAO Spintronics researcher
charge.
He said to imagine people using baseballs to communicate with others. If someone was holding a baseball, that would mean that Kansas scored. If someone wasn't holding a baseball, that would mean Missouri scored. This scenario represents charge-based electronics.
"When I put the baseball away, it
only takes a little effort," Zhao said. "But if I had to do this one billion times a second, it would take a lot of energy"
But with spin, everyone would hold a baseball. If the baseball is spinning clockwise, Kansas scored. If the baseball was spinning counterclockwise, Missi urced scored.
"If I can just change the spin, it's easier and takes less energy," he said.
The inability to measure the flow of spinning electrons in real time has been a barrier in the research of spintronics.
Previous methods were like measuring the speed of a car by taking photos and analyzing how the posi-
SEE SPIN ON PAGE 3A
ADMINISTRATION
Perkins case taken from campus to state level
BY STEPHEN MONTEMAYOR smontemayor@kansan.com
Perkins' attorney, Stephen McAllister, said he referred the evidence to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission after the University's review. The commission cannot comment on investigations, but McAllister said he
It took about a week for a University internal investigation to clear Athletics Director Lew Perkins of ethical violations in June. That process stands to take longer at the state level.
tor of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity, and Mary Lee Hummert, vice presv for Faculty
"To my knowledge it is not concluded," McAllister said. "It is in the
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little initially directed Allen Humphrey, program direc-
believes it is ongoing.
Perkins
commission's hands. It's their process."
The employee, William Dent, alleged that equipment was loaned to Perkins by Medical Outfitters in return for favorable seating at athletic events. Dent, a former director of sports medicine, also alleged that irregularities occurred in Athletics drug testing policy and in the eligibility certification of some student athletes.
Development, to review allegations made by a former athletics employee.
"Our findings showed absolutely no relationship whatsoever between the loan of the equipment
and the seating that the individuals received at the basketball games," Hummert said.
The individuals in question were Mark Glass and Patrick Carpenter, co-owners of Medical Outfitters. Medical Outfitters provided exercise equipment to Athletics for several years. Glass told media this summer that the company loaned Perkins $15,000 of exercise equipment to help him rehabilitate from surgery.
In the June 9 release from the University clearing Perkins of exchanging preferential seating
for the equipment, the University said Glass and Carpenter donated in-kind equipment to Athletics that was valued at $6,190. Under Athletics' points system for basketball tickets, Glass and Carpenter were to receive priority points for the 2004-05 season. This was inadvertently not credited but their seats improved the next season.
Glass said there was no expectation for Perkins to pay for the equipment, although he wrote a check to Glass in April for $5,000.
SEE PERKINS ON PAGE 3A
index
Classifieds...6A
Crossword...4A
Cryptquips...4A
Opinion...5A
Sports...10A
Sudoku...4A
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
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