The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 110, Ed. 1 Friday, May 6, 1988 Page: 3 of 16
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Spectrum
May 6,1988
3
Physicist Prescribes New Outlook
By Jay D. Johnson
Dr. Russell Pinizzotto of the physics
faculty ponders the question for a moment,
takes a quick drink from his coffee cup bearing
the motto "No Guts, No Glory" and resolutely
gives his answer.
"The future of NT depends on how
willing people are to change their outlook," he
said.
"NT is used to being resource-limited
and inward-looking," Pinizzotto said. "In the
past one area was emphasized at the cost of
other areas on campus. If you look outward,
one area is emphasized with the idea that it can
be self-supporting and help bring other areas up
as well. When you look outward and see what
you want, you go out and grab it.
"This school is big enough to be a
research institution, but still small enough that
the various departments can work together. The
hard sciences can carry everyone up. Materials
science is such a broad area that we can keep
people in other departments involved in what
we're doing."
Materials science, and in particular
materials characterization, is the science of
finding the location and identity of individual
atoms within a substance. The properties of any
material, whether it is semiconductor, concrete
or biological, are determined by the location and
identity of its atoms.
As an example of what materials
characterization involves, Pinizzotto said,
"Imagine a football field filled with haystacks.
There is one needle in it. Now, where is it, and
second, what is it made of?"
Several years ago, he said, the National
Academy of Science and the National Academy
of Engineering agreed that three areas were
particularly important to the future of the United
States. These were automated manufacturing,
biomedical engineering and materials science.
Shortly after this prediction was made,
Vice President for Academic Affairs David
Golden, whose academic specialty is physics,
helped bring Pinizzotto to NT to start the Center
for Materials Characterization, Pinizzotto said.
"Everybody sees this as important, not
only for this region but for “the nation,"
Pinizzotto said. "We see this as a chance for NT
to become a leader in this area (of science).
"In developing this program, we are
asking a lot of people to change their outlook.
Changing your philosophy is hard to do. We
know there are problems, but they are different
now because the university administration is
supportive of our work. They want this
research, plus we have Prop. 2 funds from the
state.
"I have no doubt we can be a leader in
th: field. The only question is whether I can
stay calm enough to let university politics work
out so we can get this done."
Hans Mark, chancellor of the University
of Texas system, is trying to develop a research
consortium, the Texas Institute of Materials
Research, between UT-Arlington, UT-Dallas
and the UT Health Science Center in Dallas,
Pinizzotto said.
"We had a two-year lead, but with UT
talking about materials science research we
can't afford to sit and argue about it without
getting passed up," he said.
For example, Pinizzotto said, a
proposed curriculum for a materials science
undergraduate degree program must be
approved by six committees.
Another obstacle he must overcome is
the high cost of the lab equipment necessary to
do materials characterization. The particle
accelerator recently installed in the Physics
Building cost between $1.5 and $2 million, he
said, and an electron microscope that soon will
be housed in the Science Research Building
cost $750,000.
"People are screaming at me for
spending all this money," Pinizzotto said, but
the money for the equipment has been provided
mostly by state grants for hi-tech research,
U.S. Department of Education grants, local
industry and some Proposition 2 money from
the university.
"The three materials people we have on
faculty have extensive industrial backgrounds,
so we think of things differently than purely
academic people," Pinizzotto said. "We think of
it as an investment that will eventually pay off
for the university.
"It will pay off for the students as well.
Our graduate students are leaving because we're
continued on page 15
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The North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 110, Ed. 1 Friday, May 6, 1988, newspaper, May 6, 1988; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth723694/m1/3/: accessed June 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.