UO E-clips, June 21-23

Styrofoam to styrobots (Register-Guard): Walking through a darkened corridor of Lawrence Hall on the University of Oregon campus, something against the wall catches the eyes of the self-described “obsessive observer.” Something small and dusty and -- like a lot of things Michael Salter finds -- just another of society’s discarded items: A severed wheel from a chair or desk or something that might just end up in his art someday. He scoops it up in midstride. “I thought it was kind of interesting,” Salter says later at his studio. “Things have a way of kind of hanging out in here. And then sometimes they move on, sometimes they just sit around.”

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes (Red Orbit): John Schumacher developed a revolutionary idea to lower the cost of solar power during the last oil crisis 33 years ago. Answering a call from the U.S. government for solar innovations, he invented a closed-loop, low-energy system to produce high-quality polysilicon for solar cells. … The nation's first renewable energy undergraduate degree at the Oregon Institute of Technology should bring more expertise into the industry, as will-training programs through Portland Community College and research efforts at the University of Oregon and Oregon State University.

Trials reignite Track Town’s fire (Register-Guard): The post-collegiate track and field renaissance is in full bloom in Eugene. The city that bills itself as “Track Town, USA,” is only five days away from the start of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials to select the team to compete in the Beijing Olympics in August. With the exception of some obstructed-view seats on certain days, the event is sold out.

Eugene's deep track history resurfaces for U.S. Trials (Sacramento Bee): On a glorious day just south of the Willamette River, the sun embracing Hayward Field like a long-lost friend, track and field's promise bloomed. Greeted by a cool, gentle breeze and a blue, near- cloudless sky, 14,221 spectators urged on runners, jumpers and throwers with a familiar pattern of support -- stomping, clapping, roaring -- during the recent Prefontaine Classic. The bond between athlete and fan runs deep here, where Nike was born and Steve Prefontaine lived, ran and died. For years, track and field thrived in the intimate, electric atmosphere of the University of Oregon's Hayward Field.

Facility renovations cost $8 million (Sacramento Bee, in its entirety): The challenge in improving Hayward Field was to maintain the intimate connection between athletes and spectators while making the place more modern. An $8 million renovation of the storied track and field facility on the University of Oregon campus includes a number of upgrades for the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, which begin Friday. Fans will be able to enjoy a new video scoreboard and additional seating that increased capacity from 10,707 to more than 15,000. Athletes can savor a renovated infield featuring improvements to jumping areas, pole vault runways and the discus ring, which was centered to pick up the quartering wind. "It was the biggest challenge of all to make sure we maintain the integrity of Hayward Field," said Vin Lananna, the co-chairman of the local organizing committee and the University of Oregon's director of track and field. "Regardless of what seats you have, they're pretty good."

You want costly? Try doing nothing (Register-Guard guest view point by Bob Doppelt): The first major greenhouse gas reduction bill to hit the Senate floor -- introduced by Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and John Warner, R-Va. -- crashed and burned two weeks ago when supporters fell six votes short of the 60 needed to end a Republican filibuster. Congressional action on climate change is now all but dead until next year. I was never wild about the Warner-Lieberman act. I’m not convinced it would have produced the needed results. But that’s not the point. Opponents claimed the costs of the bill were too high. Even though Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon said he supported ending the filibuster, he voiced concern about the costs.

When studying Oregon names, McArthur reins (The Register-Guard, by Bob Welch): In the spring of 1974, our Reporting I class in the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism presented a copy of “Oregon Geographic Names” to our teacher, Charles Duncan. Since 1994, my wife and I have kept a tattered copy beneath the passenger seat of our car so we can immediately find out, say, how Deathball Rock near Blue River got its name. (A surveying party’s biscuits gone bad.) And, here at The Register-Guard, it’s my “go-to” book, particularly for the Q&A column.

Greg Erwin takes charge of Eugene Olympic trials (The Oregonian): Greg Erwin didn't go looking to become the key player in the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials for track and field. The trials found him. As recently as six years ago, the former University of Oregon distance runner was only loosely connected to the UO track program, and was plowing almost all of his energy into the Eugene branch of the Smith Barney investment firm. "I went to the track meets," Erwin said in his office in downtown Eugene. "But all the people I knew from Oregon were gone. My priorities were different. I wasn't involved with the sport."

Council’s City Hall strategy questioned (Register-Guard): The Eugene City Council thought it had hit upon a winning strategy: Involve residents in designing a new City Hall, create plans based on their ideas, then ask them to pay higher property taxes to fund the construction. But after two years and $2 million worth of architectural designs and other planning, the proposal is dead in the water -- at least for the near future -- a casualty of new city priorities and voter resistance to a bond measure to pay for a new City Hall. … Resident Fred Tepfer, who participated in the City Hall forums, said he would not want to see the city put a lot of money into the existing building. The round City Council Chamber is a nice part of the building, but the rest does not work well as functional space and “it’s an energy hog,” said Tepfer, an architect and project manager for the University of Oregon. Investing a lot of money in City Hall would be like “putting lipstick on a pig,” he said. “And when you put a lot of lipstick on pig, all you have done is thrown away a lot of lipstick.”

Nike donates sports wheelchairs (KATU TV Channel 2 Portland): NEWSCASTER: Finally tonight, the University of Oregon getting some spiffy new sets of wheels. Nike donated six state-of-the-art sports wheelchairs for an adaptive sports program. Wheelchair athletics coach Kevin Hansen says the new program means his athletes can stay and compete in state. KEVIN HANSEN, WORLD WHEELCHAIR SPORTS: It's going to be wonderful. And, I mean, and the U of O, it's my alma mater. I mean, we bleed green and yellow at my house. So this is huge. MATT HOWARD, WHEELCHAIR RACER: I plan on coming down here to U of O. That's one of the big things this program's helping out because otherwise I most likely would go down to Arizona. But with the new program here, I'll probably be able to get down here. NEWSCASTER: And that new equipment is worth about $15,000 in all.

Students Lead Drive Reshaping Curricula (Washington Post): The environmental fervor sweeping college campuses has reached beyond the push to recycle plastics and offer organic food and is transforming the curriculum, permeating classrooms, academic majors and expensive new research institutes. The University of Maryland teaches "green" real estate strategies for landscape architects. The University of Virginia's business graduate students recently created a way to generate power in rural Indian villages with discarded rice husks. … Hundreds of university presidents have signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, pledging to take leadership on eliminating greenhouse gases. In 2006, the group now called the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education had about 35 members. Now it has more than 500. … At the University of Oregon, students pushed the school to add a minor in environmental studies. "The University of Oregon is gah-gah over sustainability and environmental issues," a spokesman wrote in an e-mail, adding that over the past decade, the number of seats in classes that touch on such issues has more than doubled.