May 16, 2003 News Releases
Released 5/14/03 & 5/15/03
REGIONAL
DIRECTOR VISITS UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT TECHNICAL
COMMUNICATORS
LOGAN — Linda Oestriech, regional director of the Society
for Technical Communications (STC), visited the Utah State University
student chapter of STC last month for a day of mentoring, networking
and advising. She concluded her visit with a keynote address
at STC’s final meeting of the academic year, an event
sponsored by STC and the department of English at Utah State.
Oestriech, a senior technical editor at BMC Software, spoke
with student STC members and officers about the benefits of
STC membership.
“She emphasized the value of networking on students’
future careers and how STC membership can facilitate that networking,”
said department of English senior lecturer and STC faculty advisor
Nancy O’Rourke.
Oestriech also delivered the keynote address at STC’s
closing social, speaking about the history of STC and its purpose
as an international organization. She urged students to continue
their participation in STC.
Oestriech, who also writes a column regularly featured in “Synopsis,”
the Utah State STC chapter’s publication, inspired students,
O’Rourke continued. “Her visit to our chapter was
the highlight of the year,” O’Rourke said. “She
has helped us in many ways, and we hope she returns to Utah
State to share her enthusiasm and expertise with future students.”
O’Rourke and the department have been notified that “Synopsis”
just garnered an international STC Merit Award for 2002–03.
Out of 46 entries, only six score higher than “Synopsis.”
This year was the publication’s first.
STC is the world’s largest professional association for
technical communicators. With more than 20,000 members across
the globe, STC provides unparalleled opportunities for continuing
education and peer networking and access to STC’s database
of job openings.
For more information on the Utah State student chapter of STC,
contact O’Rourke at (435) 797-3647.
May 15, 2003
Contact: Nancy O’Rourke (435) 797-3647
Writer: Marina Hall (435) 797-3858
UTAH STATE NEWS RELEASES FOR 05-14-03
UTAH STATE PROFESSOR AND STUDENT FEATURED IN
NATURE
LOGAN — Utah State University chemistry professor David
Farrelly and chemistry doctoral student Sergey Astakhov are
bringing scientists around the world one step closer to understanding
the solar system.
Together with mathematicians Steve Wiggins and Andy Burbanks,
from Bristol University in England, they have provided a new
explanation of how small bodies become moons by switching from
orbiting the Sun to orbiting a planet.
The group’s findings are featured in the May 15 edition
of the journal “Nature” and focus on how chaos assists
the process by which small, “irregular” moons were
captured. The “irregular moons”now number 52 at
Jupiter and 14 at Saturn.
Regular moons have a roughly circular orbit around a planet
and are believed to have been formed beside a planet during
the early history of the solar system; in contrast, irregular
moons have an orbit that is highly elliptical and tilted and
often orbit a planet in the opposite direction to the regular
moons. These moons are believed to have originally encircled
the Sun and to have been subsequently “captured”
by the planet they now orbit.
“It is, perhaps, surprising that orderly structures in
the solar system can arise from chaos,” said Farrelly.
“When most people hear the word chaos, they think of something
that is disorderly. But in fact, when it comes to the Solar
System, we have found that chaos can eventually lead to order
and predictability.”
Astronomers have long understood that when a moon approaches
a planet, it must lose energy by experiencing friction to get
permanently captured. The new finding is that moons get temporarily
trapped in chaotic motion and have a hard time escaping from
the gravitational grip of a planet that has captured the moon.
This allows the moon the needed time to dissipate excess energy
therefore becoming permanent fixtures orbiting the planet.
The joint Utah-Bristol team hopes that their model will help
in understanding the beginning of the solar system and, in particular,
how planets and moons were formed.
The researchers said it is unusual for a group of chemists and
mathematicians to be working on a project in astronomy, but
they note that the quantum theory grew out of an attempt to
apply methods of celestial mechanics to atoms and molecules.
Astakhov said the ultimate goal of their research boils down
to understanding chemical reactions. “Moons are interesting
to me because the way they were captured closely resembles what
happens during certain chemical reactions,” he said.
The research group used a supercomputer called a Beowulf cluster
to perform the massive calculations required. The computer was
built by Utah State undergraduate computer science and chemistry
major Alex Birch and recent Utah State graduate Brian Retford.
The work was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation,
the Royal Society (UK) and the United States Office of Naval
Research.
Farrelly has been a professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
at Utah State for 12 years.
For more information on the research, contact Farrelly at (435)
797-1608 or (435) 757-2188 or email him at david@habanero.chem.usu.edu.
May 14, 2003
Contact: David Farrelly, (435) 797-1608
Writer: Maren Cartwright, (435) 797-1355
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
LEADS OUT IN GENDER EQUITY STUDY
LOGAN — A legislative bill requiring the state to study
gender inequality in wages paid to state workers was signed
in March by Gov. Mike Leavitt at about the same time Utah State
University completed its own salary equity study.
The university’s findings may be of some interest to Utah
as it embarks on its review of state employee salaries, which
is expected to be completed mid-summer.
What Utah State University’s study found was that salary
disparities do exist in 11 sub-groups of women employees at
Utah State. The study looked at both gender and race.
The report, generated by the consulting group Haignere, Inc.,
of Albany, N.Y., is one of the first comprehensive salary equity
studies by a public university in Utah. The study was commissioned
by Kermit L. Hall shortly after he became president of Utah
State more than two years ago and took six months to complete.
He said it was time well spent because it provides, for the
first time, a baseline against which all university salaries
can be measured. “By taking measure of differences, the
benchmark study will help the university take constructive steps
to close the gap,” Hall said.
It is significant to note that Utah State University has taken
a pro-active approach to address this problem and is looking
at all employees, not just the faculty, said Sue Guenter-Schlesinger,
Utah State Affirmative Action Office director. “I commend
President Hall for taking leadership and making this happen.”
She said time is of the essence because even small inequities
add up quickly and have a huge bearing on overall career earnings
and retirement.
The university sub-groups with pay differentials were found
among classified, professional and faculty employees. The university
plans to address the salary disparities over a three- to five-year
period. Those groups not targeted this year will be addressed
for salary adjustments later during this same period, Hall said.
“The current numbers are unacceptable,” he said.
“I am hopeful that over the next three years we will witness
significant progress in the highly competitive task of attracting
more female faculty and other faculty from traditionally under-represented
groups.”
At a time when the university has been hit with some of the
deepest budget cuts in its 115-year history, finding money to
address salary inequities is particularly challenging. The $216,821
earmarked for this in the next fiscal year is largely symbolic,
but it is an important first step, Hall said.
Considering that the disparities between the salaries of men
and women in Utah are ranked 49th worst in the nation, the state
has far to go, but conducting the studies and addressing the
problem head-on is the only way changes can begin, he said.
“For both higher education in Utah, as well as private
businesses, it’s the right thing to do.”
A U.S. Department of Education study reported that male professors
typically are paid thousands of dollars more than their female
colleagues. After controlling for rank, age, credentials, field
of study and other factors, full-time female faculty members
earned an average of $14,273 less than their male counterparts.
At Utah State University, faculty women earn on average $12,891
less than their male counterparts.
Lois Haignere, who headed the Utah State study, complimented
Hall and the university for taking an aggressive approach instead
of waiting to be compelled to act.
Benefits of bringing the wage lines of men and women closer
together accrue to the institution and to all faculty and staff
members, male and female alike, she wrote in her book, “Paychecks:
A Guide to Conducting Salary-Equity Studies for Higher Education
Faculty.”
She continued: “These benefits include a sense of inclusiveness
among faculty, improved academic morale, better overall salaries,
lower staff turnover, and an enhanced public image.”
May 14, 2003
Writer: John DeVilbiss, 435-797-1358
Contacts: President Kermit L. Hall, 435-797-7172; Sue Guenter-Schliesinger,
435-797-1266
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