y Page 2 lillitlllli! ^TATE & LOCAL Tuesday • June 28, A&M chemistry profi Endowment named after Dr. Cotton by American Chemical Society By Sara Israwi The Battalion Dr. Frank A. Cotton has earned most prestigious awards short of the Nobel Prize and the respect from his colleagues in chemistry for his work as a pro fessor, researcher and scientist. Cotton, distinguished profes sor of chemistry at Texas A&M University, has recently been named the co-recipient of the 1994 Robert A. Welch Award, which honors outstanding chem ical research that has benefited human beings. Growing up, Cotton said he was always interested in science, mainly chemistry. “I don’t ever remember being uncertain about what I wanted to be,” he said. “I always wanted to be in science as early as I can remember. It was certainly al ways my aspiration to do chem istry that was important.” Cotton said that in some ca reers money is how success is measured, but in chemistry it is the awards and recognition. “When you go into academic teaching and research, your salary is limited, so the reward as a scholar is recognition, by those qualified to judge, that I have done something impor tant,” he said. Cotton said there is no direct measure one can take to earn the awards and recognition he has achieved. He said he has done the best he knows how and hopes the system is fair and hon est so that it will recognize someone who does something of significance. Cotton said he does not distin guish between teaching and re search but sees them as equally important. “The research I do is done with students,” he said. “Actual ly, that is a lot harder than teaching undergraduates, be cause it is one on one. “Beginning graduate students know little, but by the time they finish, they have learned a lot.” Dr. Carlos Murillo, an A&M research scientist and colleague of Cotton’s, said Cotton has an open door policy with students and colleagues. “You can walk into his office anytime if you want to talk about science,” he said. “Every time there is a need to discuss something, his door is always open.” Murillo said it is uncommon that in 1995, Cotton will gradu ate his 100th Ph.D. student. “That’s an amazing number; it’s incredible. Few people, if any, have 100 Ph.D.’s that have been graduated,” he said. Dr. Kim Dunbar, who works in the chemistry department at Michigan State University, is one of many people who were in spired by Cotton. There is always time for hard working students in Cotton’s life, she said. “If you have worked with him and have put in hard work, he will go to the ends of the earth for you,” she said. “He is fiercely loyal.” She said Cotton is physically the strongest person she has ever met. “He is turning 65 in the next year, travels around the world and doesn’t show any fatigue or burn-out,” she said. “ The love of his work really keeps him go ing.” Dunbar said that although Cotton has earned some of the highest awards in his profession, it is not the recognition that keeps him going. “I am not too sure Dr. Cotton realizes the awards are a symbol of what his field thinks of him,” she said. “They are rewarding for obvious reasons, but the award comes on a day-to-day ba sis just to go to work.” A symposium in honor of Cot ton will be held in March 1995. In addition, an endowment to An over baked Texas Heat wave expected to last through July EL PASO (AP) — “Hot, hot and very hot.” That was National Weather Service meteo rologist Max Blood’s summary of El Paso’s weather Monday, and his forecast for the rest of the week. Similar conditions are expected in the rest of Texas, which has been cooking under record setting and record-tying temperatures as a heat wave has continued to roll slowly over the Southwest. At least nineteen Texas cities recorded tem peratures of 100 or more Sunday. The 115-degree heat at ■■i*BBBi**™*****i Wink was only 5 degrees off the highest ever record ed in the state — 120 degrees in Sey mour on Aug. 12, 1936, the weather service said. The heat contin ued unabated Monday. At midday. Midland re ported a reading of 107, breaking a 14-year-old record set in 1980, when a three-week heat wave seared much of Texas. The current hot spell was pushing up utility companies’ power sales as Texans rushed to crank up air conditioners. Those with outdoor jobs were dreading what looked to be a week of oppressive heat. Others were simply seeking refuge inside. “You’re just kind of miserable there for a while,” said John Lytle, an El Paso roofer. At a Baskin Robbins in Houston, employee Andy Shelton said ice cream wasn’t the first thing on the minds of customers coming in to escape the heat. ‘The first thing they ask for when they come in is water,” said Shelton. Houston’s temperatures have been fluctuat ing in the high 90s, but compounded with hu midity that has averaged about-55 percent dur ing the past two weeks, the heat index is at 109. Other cities were experiencing actual triple digit heat. El Paso was expected to exceed 100 degrees for the fifth straight day Monday, said Blood. The city tied a record Sunday, reaching 112 degrees. “For June and July, 110 seems to be a very favorite temperature,” Blood said. “When you get to 111 or 112, you’re getting into an area we don’t see very of ten in El Paso.” The 100-de gree tempera tures in Dallas were nothing un- "For June and July, 110 seems to be a very favorite temperature." — Max Blood, National Weather Service meteorologist usual for June, but with the heat index hovering between 105 and 115, the weather felt even steamier. Many Dallas residents took refuge at pools and movie theaters during the weekend. Mike Forbes, of Garland, took his 8- and 9- year-old sons to the Medallion Dollar Theater. “It’s definitely cheap entertainment, and it’s cool in there,” Forbes said. “Let’s face it, it’s cheaper to come here and spend a dollar for a movie than cool your house or apartment,” said Medallion manager Debbie Faubion. In San Antonio, downtown tourists endured oven-like conditions as they made their way to the Alamo and the River Walk. Temperatures there were also expected to approach or exceed 100. onor H •> \ v •vw.ifcXv ' i£i^> "mmzu - m 1 Sara Israwi/THKBATTAE Dr. Frank A. Cotton, distinguished professor of chemistry at A&M, was recently named the co-recipien: of the 1994 Robert A. Welsh Award, to honor his outstanding chemical research. be named the F. A. Cotton Medal is being set up through the American Chemical Society. Murillo said it is the first medal award created since 1966 and the first one ever in the southern part of the U.S. “You don’t create this kind of award very easily,” he said. “Only if you can prove the person behind it is very well qualified.” Cotton was voted into the Royal Society of London, which is dedicated to the promotion of natural sciences and extends its membership to internationally recognized scholars. Cotton holds honorary doctor ates from 18 universities includ ing Colombia University Moscow State University, Uni versity of Cambridge and Tedi nion in Israel. Cotton said he has not set fu ture plans but will continue what he has been doing for as long as he can see into the future. You, the sun, and skin cancer By Kindell Peters A.P. Beutel Health Center If people want tan bodies, f they may be taking a big risfc^ with, thair,health- Over 600,000-i cases of skin cancer are reported each year in the United States. Those people with fair skin who freckle or burn easily, live in sunny cli mates, have red or blond hair and/or have blue or light-colored eyes are at the greatest risk for developing skin cancer. There are three major types of skin cancer: • basal cell carcinoma - ap pears as a small fleshy bump or nodule • squamous cell carcinoma - may appear as nodules or as red, scaly patches • malignant melanoma - the least common but most deadly type of skin cancer, usually be gin^'near a mole dr other dark" spot-