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Page 14 • UGA: An Independent Look • May 1990
SPACE
From page 13
and Black on the major, Pancorbo says. In
the fall of 1988, there were 24, but the
number soared to 80 in fall 1989.
"Before the article, we would be lucky if we
had one or two inquire about the program a
quarter, but now we see two or three a
week," Pancorbo says.
Although the article opened "a can of
worms" by increasing the number of majors
so fast, it shows the potential impact of the
department and the need to fully establish it,
he says.
Environmental health science focuses on
hazards to human health. Most of the
University's research in the department has
concentrated on protection of groundwater.
The University’s environmental health
science program has several distinctions.
Not only is it the only environmental
program in the state, it is also the only
environmental health science undergraduate
degree program in the state, Pancorbo says.
During the past four years, the state
granted the department $40,000 in federal
funds. Recently, Pancorbo says the
department was granted $140,000 in a
federal program that is assisting the
Southern part of the United States. Still,
despite the grants, he says the bottom line is
that “we need basic foundation support from
the University.”
The College of Veterinary Medicine has
had more support, at least in terms of
funding, for its proposed biocontainment
center. The U.S. Congress has provided
about $1 million for the center through the
Department of Agriculture. The money will
be used to conduct research on animal
disease. However, the project is waiting for
an additional $13 million, according to John
Bowen, associate dean for research and
graduate affairs in the vet school.
The center has drawn criticism from
environmental groups and animal rights
activists. Last October, the Student League
for Environmental and Animal Protection
and the League for Environmental and
Animal Protection protested the center and
the animal experimentation that will be
conducted. Also, they charged that burning
chemically tainted animal carcasses would
release dangerous chemicals into the
atmosphere.
Despite the controversy, Bowen says the
project is going forward. Bowen confirmed
that animal carcasses would be burned but
there will be small quantities of toxic
chemicals involved. The levels must be
cleared by the Environmental Protection
Agency and the state's Environmental
Protection Division, he said. Therefore,
hazards would be very low.
"You can go to the grocery store and find
things that, in terms of quantity, far exceed
the hazards of the biocontainment center,"
Bowen said.
For more than three years, the University
rented space for the center in the Richard B.
Russell Agricultural Research Center, he
says. The center, founded in 1985, staffs 90
people. With a $4 million budget, the center
conducts experiments on modem molecular
complex carbohydrates, within microbes,
plants, animals and humans.
The center is the only one like it in the
world. There are people from 20 countries
doing research at the center.
Although there are some industrial
centers in Europe that are similar, nothing
as academic as the Complex Carbohydrate
Research Center exists.
Lisa Gilmore is a former South Campus
reporter for The Red and Black.
Davison: Bioscience complex a boon
Former University President
Fred Davison thinks the $32
million Biological Sciences
Complex, to be finished in
September, will not only
improve the future of the
University and the state but
also the future of the world.
The roots of the complex took
hold in the mid-1970s, when
the University had achieved a
popularity that enabled
administrators to look beyond
enrollment numbers. Davison
says making biosciences
research a number-one priority
was a matter of matching the
strengths of the University and
the state. The University
already had a strong
biosciences department, and
Georgia has always been a
strong agricultural state.
At the same time, the world’s
phenomenal population growth
had made it obvious that people
would have to switch to a
renewable-resources economy,
Davison says. Biosciences
research can help develop such
resources.
By the early ’80s the
University started running out
of room for research and began
planning the special complex.
Getting the funding for it
wasn’t as easy.
“Something of this nature
takes a long time to sell
because people don’t
understand at first,” Davison
says of his lobbying with the
state Legislature as well as
others.
However, Davison is
confident that the complex will
have a significant impact. “I
think this is an investment
that’s going to pay dividends in
many ways,” he says. “It may
have something to say for the
future of not just Georgia but
the state as well.”
— Susan Hill
Fred Davison