A&M
'he Battalion
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/ci. Mo 147 USPS C4S360 14 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, May 4,1989
A&M takes another step in fusion experiment
FROM STAFF & WIRE REPORTS
Another step in the direction of “cold” fu
sion was taken at Texas A&M Wednesday
when Dr. John Appleby, director of the
Electrochemical Systems and Hydrogen Re
search Center, said experiments with a mi
cro calorimeter, which measures heat out
put, showed for the first time that
^palladium and heavy water are crucial for
producing excess energy.
Two other groups of scientists at A&M
also have confirmed part of the results of
Utah researchers, producing excess energy
from the apparatus, college officials said
Wednesday.
“Experiments are in progress to deter
mine the critical parameters that govern the
generation of excess heat,” Appleby said in
a statement.
Last month, researchers of A&M’s Texas
Engineering Experiment Station Thermo
dynamics Research Center first announced
they had confirmed part of the findings of
the University of Utah group that earlier
claimed to have produced so-called “cold”
fusion in a lab experiment.
The findings by B. Stanley Pons, chair
man of the Utah chemistry department,
and Martin Fleischmann of the University
of Southampton, England, sent scientists
around the world scrambling with their
March 23 announcement of the fusion re
action.
up;
E-xpenments are in progress
to determine the critical
parameters that govern the
generation of excess heat.”
— Dr. John Appleby
research director
Last week, Appleby’s group also an
nounced it had produced excess energy in
another experiment. And a third group at
A&M headed by Dr. John Bockris, distin
guished professor of chemistry, has yielded
similar results.
“Basically, the bottom line is that a sec
ond A&M group confirmed what is being
called the ‘Pons-Fleischmann effect’ — ex
cess energy being generated (from the ex
periment) and are the first to indicate that
only heavy water and palladium will pro
duce this excess energy in an experimental
setting,” A&M spokesman Ed Walraven
said.
“The third group is also producing ex
cess energy but they don’t feel like they are
producing a sufficient amount in that they
yet have publishable results,” he said.
“They are getting lower levels than the
other two groups. In essence, all three are
producing excess energy. Some is higher
than in others and that has to be explai
ned.”
Walraven said Dr. Supramania Sriniva-
san, a senior researcher in Appleby’s group
and assistant director of the electrochemical
and hydrogen center, will present some of
the results this weekend at an Electrochemi
cal Society meeting in Los Angeles.
Physicists meeting this week at the Amer
ican Physical Society in Baltimore have
been highly critical of the fusion research.
They maintain that the original experiment
and the confirmations suffer from im-
See Fusion/Page 4
Weather poses
)2j only threat to
repaired shuttle
H CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) —
If |fe The countdown marched smoothly
IB Wednesday toward a second attempt
II to launch the shuttle Atlantis with a
jBcrew of five and a space probe des-
Ifl lined for Venus. NASA’s only worry
liters || was a worsening weather forecast.
IS I ‘ n a ^’ things look good for a
fl 1:48 p.m. launch tomorrow (Thurs-
IB day) and the start of our trip to Ve-
bm! nus,” launch test director Albert
«kB Sofge said of shuttle preparations.
iniia
The weather outlook, however,
was not promising, with forecasters
saying Wednesday afternoon there
was a 40 percent chance that either
rain or high winds would prevent a
launch during the available 64-min
ute launch period. That was up from
30 percent in the morning and 20
percent two days ago.
The first launch attempt last Fri
day was aborted just 31 seconds be
fore the planned liftoff because of a
I short circuit in a fuel pump. NASA
said the delay cost about $300,000.
The mission to take the Magellan
spacecraft into orbit will revive a
U.S. planetary program that has-
been dormant since the launch of Pi-
oneer-Venus in 1978.
“After an 11-year gap in the plan
etary program, we’re anxious to get
See Shuttle/Page 4
S. Korean riots
prompt warning
from president
Senior splash
Walter Giroir (left) and David Marshall (right) and three other
nuclear engineering seniors graduating this spring celebrate
Photo by Fredrick D.Joe
their freedom Wednesday in the fountain at Zachry Engineering
Center.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) —
President Roh Tae-woo on Wednes
day threatened to invoke emergency
E owers, which could mean martial
iw, if students and workers con
tinue the kind of violent protest in
which six riot policemen were killed.
He said his government was de
termined to stop the wave of radical
protest that has battered South Ko
rea in recent weeks, but he did not
outline specific action in a televised
speech to the nation.
“If violence and illegal acts endan
ger democracy and the future of the
country, I would be obliged to in
voke emergency measures as em
powered by the constitution,” he
said.
South Korea’s constitution per
mits the president to rule by decree
or impose martial law in cases of
emergency.
Roh’s warning responded to the
killing of six riot troopers early
Wednesday at Dongui University in
Pusan, a southern stronghold of the
opposition.
People seldom are killed in South
Korean protests. Riot officers wear
protective helmets and shields, along
with fireproof fatigues, and nor
mally are armed only with tear gas
and batons.
The six who died were set afire
when they broke into a room on the
1 seventh floor of the university li
brary to free five comrades held hos
tage. They were the first policemen
killed since a riot officer died in June
1987.
Authorities said students seized
the hostages Tuesday after a violent
demonstration against the firing of
warning shots by police on Monday
when protesters menaced a police
station.
Mobley: Bush library, state support crucial
%
iN
UNIVERSITY NEWS SERVICE
While President Bush’s visit and a
proposal to locate the presidential li
brary on Texas A&M’s campus are
attracting widespread attention, the
battle for more state support for
higher education and a commmit-
ment to excellence in the classroom
are crucial, Texas A&M University
President William Mobley said
Wednesday in his first “state of the
University” address.
“We are pleased that President
Bush has selected Texas A&M as
one of the four universities at which
he will speak to graduates during his
first year in office,” Mobley told fac
ulty and administrators at the an
nual spring faculty and staff meet
ing.
“Let me also note that we are pro
ceeding with developing a formal
proposal to locate the Bush Presi
dential Library at Texas A&M,” he
added, pointing out that an external
committee, chaired by Michel Hal-
bouty of Houston and involving
other prominent alumni, is meeting
regularly.
President William H. Mobley
“With good input from faculty
and students, particularly from the
colleges of Architecture and Liberal
Arts, a preliminary proposal is tak
ing shape,” Mobley said. “Although
a decision on the location will be well
into the future, we will be well pre
pared.
“On another subject — one of in
tense interest to the entire Univer
sity community — the Texas Legis
lature is approaching a critical stage
in its deliberations,” he said.
Mobley reported that the confer
ence committee is working to recon
cile the differences in the House and
Senate versions of the appropria
tions bill for the next two fiscal years.
“The good news is that both bills
are far better than the original Leg
islative Budget Board recommenda
tions,” he continued. “And there is
some speculation that the State
Comptroller will certify, before the
end of the legislative session, that ad
ditional revenues will be available in
the coming biennium, thus provid
ing additional funds for appropria
tion.”
He said the Senate appropriations
bill comes closer to meeting the Uni
versity’s needs than the House ver
sion, and calls for 7.1 percent in ap
propriations for faculty salary
increases each year and 4 percent in
the appropriations for staff salaries.
“You may be assured that the ap
propriations bill is receiving top
priority of the administration, and
will continue to get priority attention
through the closing weeks of the leg
islative session,” he said.
In addition, Mobley called for
continued cooperation to increase
private support for the institution
and continued excellence in the
classroom.
“We must continue to exercise ex
cellence in the classroom,” Mobley
said. “You will likely hear me men
tion this often in the months ahead
— I will mention it often, for we
must never lose sight of the reason
Texas A&M was established and the
reason for the trust that the citizens
of Texas have placed in our hands.
“Please understand that when I
speak of excellence in education, I
am referring to our responsibilities
to young people in the broadest sen
se,” he said.
As a highlight to the annual meet
ing, Mobley’s first as president, 21
distinguished service awards spon
sored by the Association of Former
Students were presented.
I
I STAFF WRITER
I
A&M, BISD to become magnet school partners
By Melissa Naumann
zn
Texas A&M and the Bryan Independent
School District will become partners in a magnet
school for science and math if the U.S. Depart
ment of Education approves a joint proposal for
the establishment of such a school.
Dr. Peter McIntyre, A&M physics professor
| and member of the task force that determined
the feasibility of the magnet school, said plans for
the school will proceed even though the College
| Station Independent School District w ill not par
ticipate initially.
The College Station school board voted not to
participate in the magnet school, but McIntyre
said plans remain virtually unchanged.
“It has not been delayed —just shifted slightly
in focus,” McIntyre said. “It’s gone from a three-
way project to a two-way project.”
Dr. Guy Gorden, Bryan school superinten
dent, said if the schools receive the $600,000
grant from the Department of Education, the
magnet school will open in Fall 1990.
Gorden said the magnet school would serve
fewer students because College Station has de
cided not to participate. The school would be
open to students in surrounding school districts,
but the schools outside of BlSD must make fi
nancial contributions in order for their students
to attend.
The magnet school would be a four-year pub
lic high school concentrating on preparing stu
dents for careers in science and technology. It
would be open to students who have above aver
age scores on skills tests, McIntyre said.
“It’s not an elitist institution,” McIntyre said.
Opponents of the magnet school say it would
rob other schools of their top students, but McIn
tyre disagrees.
“It’s for students who are high achievers and
want and need the ambience this school can pro-
See Education/Page 4
Educational progress
stagnant nationwide
r WASHINGTON (AP) —
Spending on education is up but
progress is at a standstill, Educa
tion Secretary Lauro Cavazos said
Wednesday in releasing a report
See related story/Page 3
card that rates the nation’s stu
dents as “merely average.”
“We are standing still, and the
problem is that it’s been this way
for three years in a row,” Cavazos
said. “Frankly, the situation
scares me.”
The figures show a decline this
year in the national high school
graduation rate and falling scores
on college entrance exams in half
the states.
In reaction, the Council of
Chief State School Officers, while
acknowledging that “the task
ahead is gigantic,” noted that 44
of the 50 states have made college
entrance test gains since 1982 and
38 states have improved their
high school completion rates
since then.
If educational progress has
stagnated, the Education Depart
ment’s chart shows the same can
not be said of per-pupil spending.
The national average was $3,977
per student in 1988, up from
$3,165 in 1982 — a 26 percent
hike.
NWe are already spending
more money per student than
our major foreign competitors,
Japan and Germany,” Cavazos
said. “And yet our students con
sistently fall behind the competi
tion in competitive testing.
Money alone is not the answer to
our education deficit.”
Cavazos said he would urge
state school chiefs, governors and
Lauro Cavazos
school board presidents to adopt
specific goals such as boosting
high school graduation rates to
90 percent and cutting in half the
number of children who fail a
grade.
Specifically, the department’s
chart shows that national scores
on the Scholastic Aptitude Test
(SAT) fell from an average of 906
to 904 (on a scale of 400 to 1,600)
from 1987 to 1988. Scores on the
American College Testing Pro
gram (ACT), marked on a scale
of 1 to 36, showed a scant 0.1-
point gain. The high school grad
uation rate rose from 69.5 per
cent in 1982 to 71.7 percent in
1985. But it edged down in 1986
to 71.6 percent and dropped to
71.1 percent in 1987, the latest
year for which such statistics
could be calculated.
The National Education Asso
ciation issued a statement saying
it agreed that U.S. schools are
stagnating.
But the teacher union said
Cavazos is wrong to minimize
money as a factor for im
provement, and it attributed the
stagnation problem to federal
cutbacks in programs for the dis
advantaged.