Chemist Frisch Wins Guggenheim Fellowship

University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Harry Frisch has been named the winner of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship that will enable him to further his research into the chemical topology of polymers, the many-segmented molecules central to his work for more than four decades.

His Guggenheim research, says Frisch, will “deal with the effect of boundaries on phase formation in polymers and the properties of liquid crystals in very high physical dimensions.”

“Professor Frisch is an internationally recognized scholar in the field of polymer science,” said Frank Hauser, chair of the Department of Chemistry. “My colleagues and I are immensely pleased at the Guggenheim Foundation’s recognition of his many accomplishments.”

Frisch is one of two Albany scholars to be awarded a Guggenheim fellowship this year. Louise Burkhart of the Department of Anthropology was honored for her research into religious beliefs as revealed in the texts of the indigenous people of Colonial America.

Frisch’s research is theoretical and focuses on explaining the chemical behavior of polymers. Through mathematical methods, he has helped explain the mechanics and transport phenomena in fluids, solids and high polymers. With two other scientists, he developed the scaled particle theory of liquids, which has been an important influence in the way scientists think about the properties of liquids. He has written over 500 scholarly papers reporting on his work.

For his Guggenheim research during the 1997-98 academic year, Frisch will visit the University of Brussels, and the Universit&;t Konstanz and Johannes Gutenberg-Universit&;t Mainz in Germany.

Approximately 150 Guggenheim fellowships are awarded annually on the basis of scholars’ demonstrated accomplishments in the past and promise for the future.

Previous Guggenheim recipients in the Department of Chemistry include Eric Block, Henry Kuivila (now retired), and the late Tsoo King.

The University, for the first time, has released its 1997 Legislative Priorities publicly, in a pamphlet that has been sent to every New York State Legislator.

“The University at Albany has received positive national attention over the past several years, most recently in a recent study published by the Johns Hopkins Press which termed us a leading public research university,” said David Gilbert, the University’s Director of Governmental Relations since November.

“With the acquisition of the new East Campus, and the construction currently underway on the Library and the CESTM building, it is clear that our elected officials also recognize the value of the University at Albany to the State.”

The pamphlet, “University at Albany: 1997 Legislative Priorities At a Glance . . .” is also available campus-wide, and has been sent directly to University Senate members, employee unions, and members of the region’s business community. It was developed through a consensual effort, said Gilbert.

He noted that the pamphlet is part of President Hitchcock’s advocacy program, and is intended to help keep all members of the University community informed on campus goals and plans. “At President Hitchcock’s request, I have reached out to the faculty and staff to develop a balanced legislative agenda that includes their suggestions and needs,” he said. “Our initial priorities include construction of new buildings to be used teaching and research, and legislative support for special academic initiatives.”

The “Legislative Priorities” include:

Leasing Authority for Campus Projects

Through legislation, the SUNY Trustees would be authorized to enter into lease agreements with The University at Albany Foundation for certain campus properties, including include two dormitories on the downtown campus with The College of Saint Rose, and expansion of the ground lease from five to ten acres for an addition to the Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management (CESTM) building.

CESTM Expansion

“The CESTM facility was originally designed to have three wings, two of which are now in their final stages and which will house facilities for the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center and the basic research facilities of the Center for Advanced Thin Film Technologies,” said Gilbert.

“The third wing, designed to help pilot manufacturing facilities for computer chip technologies, will help attract $25 million annually in industry- and government-funded research, and eventually attract computer chip manufacturing plants that would employ up to 2,000 professionals and technicians.”

In addition, Gilbert said that his office has also been working with the faculty of Center for Advanced Thin Film Technology to secure funding for a pilot manufacturing and workforce training facility at the CESTM site.

“ This initiative combined with state support for our high technology business incubation programs will serve to strengthen the University’s ties to the community in which we reside,” he said.

Capital Projects

The University is working closely with members of the SUNY Trustees, the SUNY Construction Fund and the Legislature on several expansion projects in order to accommodate a student enrollment of 16,000-plus — more than 5,000 beyond what the main campus was designed to handle when built 30 years ago.

“The first phase of the University’s ælife sciences initiative’ is to invest $38.5 million in the chemistry building in order to eliminate overcrowding and labs ill suited for current technology,” said Gilbert.

The Science and Technology library is currently being built by the SUNY Construction Fund behind the main Campus Center.

Other projects now proposed in the University’s Legislative priorities include are a $13 million Public Safety/Service Complex, a $7 million Intramural/Recreation Facility, and nine separate projects valued at $7.75 million and funded through the Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act of 1996.

“The Public Safety offices are currently housed in the temporary architect’s shack built when the campus was being constructed,” said Gilbert, “and this is woefully inadequate. Among other things, the building lacks much of the high technology equipment recommended for public safety operations on a campus this size, and it storage facility is outdated and a potential environmental hazard.

“The intramural/recreational facility would be aimed at replacing the bubble, which is at the end of its useful life, with a standard construction facility. And the Clean Water/Clean Air funds would bring this 30-year old campus up to today’s stricter environmental regulations. New low-emission boilers, new petroleum storage tanks, and a dredging and cleaning of the pond would be among the targeted projects.”

Support for Special Academic Initiatives

The National Center on English Learning and Achievement is now supported by a $12.5 million federal grant to conduct research on improving student achievement. “The state’s teachers, however, have expressed a strong need for assistance in several areas,” said Gilbert. “We would propose the establishing of four teacher networks and a technology demonstration site at Albany to allow teachers and students to directly benefit from this research.”

The University proposes that funding support the High School Science and Training Program to focus on programs for the state’s high schools; that funding be restored to the Center for Minority

Health Research Training and Education; and that, for the purposes of qualifying for the University’s Caseworker Education Program, the cities of Albany, Schenectady and Troy be reclassified as a single unit (thereby reaching the 125,000 minimum population requirement).

State-Wide High Tech Business Incubation Assistance

“Most business incubator space in new construction is left unfinished in its interior,” said Gilbert. “Our efforts to recruit high technology companies — at great benefit to the state — will be strengthened if there was a one-time infrastructure pool, or a revolving fund, that incubator programs could draw upon for necessary renovations to laboratories and work spaces.”

In addition, a proposed “Statewide High Tech Business Incubation Grant Fund and High Tech Business Incubation Prototype Fund” would focus on alleviating high technology startup companies’ early stage equipment costs. The funding would also create a pool of funds to help these companies build prototypes, and conduct feasibility or proof-of-concept studies.

System-Wide Issues

This includes support for new administrative efficiencies at both the SUNY central system and campus levels; limited tuition flexibility for campuses; and budget restorations for the Tuition Assistance Program, graduate research funding; and general state support of base operating aid.

“Creating a comprehensive and effective legislative program is a long term endeavor,” said Gilbert. “After six months, we have made tremendous progress in informing the University community to the potential for even more collaborative projects with both the State and Federal Governments.

“We have also raised the profile of the University at the State Capitol and in Washington. I look forward to continuing my work with the faculty and Administration to further expand the legislative agenda of the entire University in the future.”

Lydia A. Finney, a chemistry major from Fulton who plays the cello in a string quartet, has won a national Goldwater Scholarship. The University has had a winner in this competition for six of the past seven years. This year, Finney is one of nine college students in the SUNY system to be so honored.

The scholarships cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per year for up to two years. The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years of service in the U.S. Senate.

Finney chose Albany because she was invited to become a Presidential Scholar. “It seemed like a strong program and an ideal environment in which to study. I knew I wanted to study chemistry and to achieve as much academically at college as I possibly could,” she said. As a student with a perfect 4.0 grade point average, Finney has found the University to have an atmosphere that supports her academic goals.

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James F. Finney of Fulton, Lydia is a graduate of G. Ray Bodley High School. She has two brothers.

“Education has always been important in our family,” she said. Finney’s father is a junior high mathematics teacher and her mother is an elementary school music teacher.

A member of the Presidential Honor Society, Golden Key National Honor Society and the Newman Association, Finney sang last summer with the choir at St. Vincent’s Church in Albany. She plans to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry, and works on research with chemistry professor William E. Broderick in bioinorganic chemistry on a project focused on the oxygen transport protein hemerythrin. Broderick said, “Lydia is the best student that I’ve come in contact with in my career, and she is most deserving of this national award.”

“I’ve had a good experience here,” said Finney, who is finishing her second year at Albany and has enough credits to be a junior. “I am in contact with people who have been very supportive of my academic goals. Almost all of my professors have been very encouraging and supportive and I’ve really appreciated that, it has really been a help to me.”