[Vision2020] The UI Friday Letter

[Tom Hansen]

The Friday Letter
A Newsletter for University of Idaho Alumni and Friends
July 9, 2004

Here's the latest news at the University of Idaho:

* Consumers Digest has named the University of Idaho among its Top 50
Best Values for Public Colleges and Universities based on cost and
quality. It is the first time the magazine has compiled such a list.
UI ranked 24th out of 50. Other schools on the list include Kansas
State, University of Nebraska and Utah State University. "This ranking
is based on a combination of relatively low cost at the University of
Idaho, and the quality of educational experience offered here," said
Provost Brian Pitcher. "This comparative evidence indicates that an
education at the University of Idaho remains relatively accessible to
students of all backgrounds and income levels." The list was developed
based on cost - out-of-state student fees and/or tuition, academic
excellence - test scores, GPAs and class rank of entering freshmen.

* UI's Richard Wells and his microelectronics research team are helping
usher in the age of real electronic brains. UI researchers envision
computers one day built from artificial neurons bundled together into
networks that can perform tasks onerous to humans, such as dangerous
military tactics, automated traffic and emergency dispatching, smart
cars that drive themselves and eventually bio-medical applications and
prosthetics.

"Our fundamental research on artificial neurons mimics biology and lays
the foundation for a complete departure in computing from today's chip
design," says Wells. Information is carried by trains of electrical
pulses and codes superior in performance to traditional analog-digital
integrated circuitry.

Wells' team includes UI engineering faculty members James Frenzel,
Terry Soule, James Foster and many of their students. The team has been
developing this technology for neuro-fuzzy logic over the past 2 1/2
years. This type of "neurocomputer" deals with uncertainty, the missing
function of traditional programmed integrated circuitry. A patent is
pending on the biomimic artificial neuron, and the Idaho Research
Foundation offers it to interested industry by way of a license agreement.
Wells believes it will have special appeal to manufacturing, computing,
electronics, space and transportation industries.

* Road warriors started rolling onto the Moscow campus by the hundreds
this week for the tenth anniversary of "Life on Wheels," aimed at RV
enthusiasts from around the nation. More than 650 participants are expected
this year. "That's the highest we've had in several years," says Peggy
Waterman of UI Conference Services. Gaylord Maxwell, RV enthusiast and
expert from Deary, directs the conference. For the past two decades, he's
been a contributing writer for various periodicals on the RV lifestyle,
including Trailer Life and Motorhome. During the conference, participants
can choose from nearly 200 classes - including what makes the best RV,
learning new hobbies and eating healthy while traveling along the yellow
line.

* Chemistry Professor Nick Natale will be recognized for his outreach
activities "enhancing the public's appreciation of chemistry" at the
American Chemical Society Meeting in Philadelphia in August. Natale's
outreach efforts, such as "A Periodic Table of the Moles" and "The
Chemistry of Winning Teams" have won five national awards over the last
10 years. He was named Distinguished Science Communicator by the Idaho
Academy of Science for 2004.