Wheeling off to Athens

Six athletes with ties to the University of Arizona will compete in three sports at the ninth Paralympic Games in Athens this summer.

The Paralympics are the Olympic equivalent for athletes with disabilities, and run Sept. 17-28.

The four women and two men all have a strong chance to medal, says their coach, Derek Brown, the adaptive athletics coach at the UA Disability Resource Center.

Cheri Blauwet, Jennifer Goekel, Shirley Riley and Tyler Byers are wheelchair racers. Renee Gross is on the women's basketball team. And David Wagner plays both singles and doubles tennis.

The UA representation at the Paralympics also speaks volumes about the campus facility where these athletes train. The UA's Adaptive Athletic Program already is a national model for schools with disabled athletes, and has "a great chance to build its international reputation," according to David Herr-Cardillo, the assistant director of the Disability Resource Center.

"Having six Paralympians with ties to the University of Arizona is quite an accomplishment. Years of their intense training and sacrifice have been rewarded with the ultimate challenge: representing the United States in Athens. The Adaptive Athletic Program, its dedicated coaching staff, excellent facilities and strong administrative support is proud of their success and will endeavor to provide a 'golden' opportunity for athletes with disabilities for many years to come," says Herr-Cardillo.

Touring sex-farce play "Noises Off" to hit UA

"Noises Off," by Michael Frayn, will be presented by the UA School of Theatre Arts Arizona Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) under the direction of Samantha K. Wyer.

An instant and enduring favorite on both sides of the Atlantic, this riotous side-splitter follows the on- and off-stage antics of an inept acting troupe as they stumble from the bumbling dress rehearsal to the chaotic closing night of a touring British sex-farce. In break-neck action, everything that can go wrong does in one of the most uproarious backstage comedies ever written. The play includes some adult language and content.

Samantha K. Wyer is currently in her sixth season at Arizona Theatre Company (ATC), where she serves as associate artistic director. While at ATC, Wyer directed "A Streetcar Named Desire," "Proof" and the award-winning production "Wit." In March 2005 Wyer will direct "Permanent Collection."

Her Arizona Repertory Theatre directing credits include "Rumors" and "The Two Gentlemen of Verona." Both plays won the Mac award for best comedy and the latter earned Wyer the best director award. Wyer has also directed "Three Sisters," "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches" and "Arcadia."

"Noises" will show during the evenings of Sept. 1-4 and 9-11 at 7:30 p.m. with matinees on Sept. 4, 5, 11 and 12 at 1:30 p.m. at the Marroney Theatre, located at the southeast corner of Park Avenue and Speedway Boulevard. General admission is $25, senior citizens' and UA employees' tickets cost $23 and the discounted student admission is $18.

IBM grants technology to MIS department

The Eller College management information systems department at the University of Arizona has received a Shared University Research technology grant from IBM. The grant will support the development of on-demand stored data.

The goal of the project is to research workflow management applications that take input requests for data storage from a population, such as a pool of graduate class projects or funded research projects, and addresses issues in managing the storage requests in an on-demand, economical and timely manner.

"This collaborative research project with IBM places Eller at the forefront of storage research, going beyond the development of wireless workflow applications to investigate questions related to dynamic data management in a wireless workflow environment," said Sudha Ram, an Eller College MIS professor and the project's principle investigator.

The IBM grant provides the Eller College of Management with four IBM eServer systems for storage systems research, six IBM ThinkPad wireless-enabled notebook computers, two IBM IntelliStation workstations for systems development and a high-performance IBM xSeries 445 server which has the capacity to run 30 virtual servers. The new technology will be combined with previously received IBM eServer and TotalStorage systems, including a one Terabyte storage area network and robotic tape library, as conduits to research.

IBM's highly-selective Shared University Research (SUR) program awards computing equipment (servers, storage systems, personal computing products, etc.) to colleges, universities and institutions of higher education around the world to facilitate research projects in areas of mutual interest including: life sciences, grid computing, autonomic computing and deep computing. IBM awards approximately 50 SUR grants per year worldwide.

Sleep Lab Director Honored

Richard R. Bootzin, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Arizona in Tucson, has been elected to the board of directors of the American Psychological Society. He currently is an APS fellow and charter member as well.

Bootzin's research focuses on understanding and treating sleep disorders. As director of the UA Sleep Research Lab he is currently engaged with his students in a variety of projects, including two that are federally funded.

One project is evaluating whether teaching sleep-improvement techniques to substance-abusing adolescents reduces recidivism. Bootzin also trains clinical psychology interns and graduate students in the Insomnia Program at the UA Sleep Disorder Center.

In 1972, he developed an internationally accepted stimulus control treatment for insomnia, a behavioral therapy that has helped thousands with sleep disorders. His textbooks, including Psychology Today: An Introduction: Current Perspectives, have influenced a generation of students.

Bootzin is also a past-president and founding member of the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science, a coalition of more than 50 academic and internship training programs. He has served on workshops and advisory committees at the National Institutes of Health; reviews research, training grants and psychology department programs; and is an active leader in professional societies.

The American Psychological Society is the only organization dedicated exclusively to supporting researchers, applied and clinical scientists, academics and teachers in the field of psychology. The society is a powerful voice in promoting psychology as a science-based discipline and advancing behavioral science research.

"Greek Islands Odyssey" exhibit at the SUMC Union Gallery

UA Professor of architecture Charles Albanese has conducted summer watercolor courses in Italy and Greece for UA students for 19 years. Though recently retired, Albanese has continued these journeys and extended the invitation to enthusiastic individuals in the Tucson community.

The result of this venture is almost one hundred paintings and photographs of the exquisite colors and architecture of the Greek Islands.

"Greek Islands Odyssey" features the work of ten artists, including Maurice Sevigny, dean of the College of Fine Arts at the UA; Albanese's own work; Claire Albanese; Barbee Hanson; John Gentile; Katie Iverson; Jay Smith; Sandy Smith Shawn Smith and Andrew Woodward.

The "Greek Islands Odyssey" presents the simplicity and beauty of both modern and ancient Greece in a variety of media and techniques. The vivid colors against whitewashed structures induces a serenity that captures the viewer. Each artist portrays his or her experience with a unique view and collectively the work expresses the impact of one journey on multiple lives.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. The Union Gallery is located on the third floor of the SUMC, and "Odyssey" will be on display from Aug. 15 to Sept. 9. The opening reception will take place on the 15th from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.