Published: 02.28.2008

Raytheon gets lift by downing dying satellite

Shoot-down shows Congress, and rest of the world, that missile system works

By Jack Gillum

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems garnered worldwide attention last week when one of its missiles delivered a knockout punch to a dying U.S. spy satellite.

The successful shoot-down by a Raytheon Standard Missile may not only give the company a boost, but may also tamp down criticism of the controversial U.S. missile-defense program, experts said.

The Standard Missile-3, launched Feb. 20 from a Navy cruiser, flew to more than 150 miles above the Pacific Ocean, striking a fuel tank containing toxic hydrazine on the satellite. The SM-3, which is designed to take out ballistic missiles as part of a sea-based missile-defense system, obliterated the satellite just above the atmosphere.

Published: 02.27.2008

UA will help lead U.S. border studies

It’s picked to join feds’ Centers of Excellence effort

By Eric Swedlund

The University of Arizona will lead one of five new Department of Homeland Security Centers of Excellence, with a $15 million grant over six years to study border security and immigration.

The UA will direct the research arm of the Center of Excellence for Border Security and Immigration, while its co-leader, the University of Texas at El Paso, will direct the center’s educational functions. The center will draw together 10 other research universities — including Arizona State University — for a broad portfolio of multidisciplinary research and development work on new technologies and tools to balance immigration and commerce with effective border security.

$2.4M computer system gives UA research boost

ALAN FISCHER

Published: 02.15.2008

Tucson Citizen

University of Arizona researchers look forward to a big boost from a high-performance supercomputing system that goes online Monday.

The new $900,000 SGI Altix ICE system, which contains 1,392 clustered computer central processing units, joins an SGI Altix 4700 system containing 628 CPUs installed in March, said Mike Bruck, assistant director for research computing at University Information Technology Services.

The $2.4-million combined 2020-CPU supercomputer system offers 33 times more computing power than the old system it replaced, Bruck said.

“This resource will open new areas by virtue of allowing us to examine larger data sets, allowing us to scale our research projects to dimensions that normally would not be feasible,” said Nirav Merchant, interim director of cyberinfrastructure development at the iPlant Collaborative, a $50 million plant science research project based at the UA BIO5 Institute.

UA hologram find may have medical applications

RENÉE SCHAFER HORTON

Published: 02.09.2008

Savas Tay’s research is a 4- by 4-inch projected image, but his dream is much bigger.

Within 10 years, the University of Arizona scientist said, a doctor in Boston could participate in a surgery at University Medical Center courtesy of a life-size, updatable hologram beamed to the doctor’s office from Tucson.

Tay and UA optical sciences professor Nasser Peyghambarian broke a technological barrier by developing the first holographic display that can be erased and rewritten in the time it takes to microwave popcorn.

Their research, funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, was published in the Feb. 7 issue of the journal Nature. Peyghambarian said UA hopes for continued funding through the Air Force to expand the project. It has provided about $600,000.

Published: 02.06.2008

Biotech training at PCC offers a future in Tucson labs

Students gain skills to work in growing sector

By Michelli Murphy

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

To become a thriving biotech hub, Tucson first needs a biotech work force — and a Pima Community College program aims to build those local workers.

Now three years old, Pima Community College’s Biotechnology Program trains technicians to staff research labs.

Expanding Tucson’s biotech industry is a balancing act, said Michael Cusanovich, director of the Arizona Research Laboratories and former UA vice president of research.

“We can’t keep the people after we train them because there aren’t enough jobs. We can’t get the jobs because there aren’t enough people,” said Cusanovich, a supporter of the Pima program.