University of Idaho
Office of the President
Moscow, Idaho 83844-3151
Phone: 208-885-6365
Fax: 208-885-6558
The Friday Letter
A Newsletter for University of Idaho Alumni and Friends
Feb. 23, 2007
Dear Friends,
An estimated 1.5 billion people globally have no safe drinking water-300 million in Africa alone. Almost one million children die there every year from water borne disease. The University of Idaho is leading to address the clean water needs of the world through research, innovation and dedication.
This week, a team of five students from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and College of Engineering headed to Kenya to field test water filter technologies and water catchment systems. The students will work with Maasai tribal members and focus on building relationships with community leaders in Kenya. The Maasai nomadic lifestyle presents challenges to the project, since it requires solutions that can fit a mobile community. One idea being tested by the team uses the native moringa seed, whose woolly characteristics radically reduce bacterial content and turbidity (suspended natural sediments) from water. The team also is testing ultraviolet technology and traditional sand filter and ceramic filter solutions.
This multidisciplinary, global project provides that experience of discovery and transformation for our students that is a hallmark of the University of Idaho. And it's an opportunity for the University to advance and disseminate knowledge that will help the world community address a water crisis. We will welcome and celebrate the team when it returns to the University in early March.
Tim White
President
Here's the latest news from the University of Idaho:
Lynn Baird, associate dean for library services, has been named as the University's new dean of the library. She takes up the new post on Feb. 26. Baird has served as interim library dean since September 2006. She joined the University's library staff in 1974 when she took a one-year temporary assignment as a catalog librarian and progressively served as head of the serials department, head of the acquisitions department, as head of access services, and as associate dean for library services.
Idaho oilseed and biodiesel researchers exhibited during Family Science Days sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science last weekend in San Francisco. The meeting is the world's largest general scientific gathering. Idaho plant breeder Jack Brown and biodiesel expert Jon Van Gerpen explained the role that alternative fuels made from vegetable oil can play in meeting future liquid fuel needs. The Idaho BioBug was front and center in San Francisco. The Volkswagen New Beetle has a five-year track record for running exclusively on biodiesel. The Idaho research team also handed out packets of Sunrise canola seed, a variety developed at Idaho by Brown. It's an Idaho gift to families for a bright windowsill science project.
The University of Idaho will host eminent social historian Gary B. Nash as he presents "Patriotism and History," a lecture exploring how patriotism and history in a democracy might differ from how it has played out in authoritarian societies. The lecture is slated for 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 27, at the Administration Auditorium. The Idaho Phi Beta Kappa chapter sponsors the event as part of its Visiting Scholar Program. Admission is free and open to the public. Nash, professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, has long been at the forefront of national debate over what history should be taught in schools, who should write it and how tests should be devised to promote historical literacy.
For more information about these items, please contact University Communications and Marketing at (208) 885-6291 or uinews@uidaho.edu.
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