News from around campus

UA astronomy prof receives award for infrared instrument

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific has awarded its 2003 Maria and Eric Muhlmann Award to UA astronomy professor Rodger I. Thompson and the team which developed the Hubble Space Telescope's NICMOS instrument, the Near Infrared Camera and Multi Object Spectrometer.

NICMOS, which space shuttle astronauts installed in HST in 1997, was the first large-array infrared detector camera in space.

"The development of innovative infrared technology served not only the Hubble Space Telescope, but also played a powerful role in the development of ground-based instruments and the Next Generation Space Telescope," ASP said in a letter notifying Thompson of the award.

UMC performs first anonymous kidney transplant in Arizona

University Medical Center's Kidney Transplant Program received an unusual phone call three months ago. Flagstaff pediatrician Dr. David Spence, 63, offered to donate one of his kidneys to anyone on the UMC transplant wait list.

Yesterday, Dr. Spence got his wish.

One of his perfectly healthy kidneys was removed and transplanted into a total stranger ÷ a 35-year-old Tucson man who has been waiting for a kidney for more than three years.

This is the first "anonymous," or "non-directed," kidney donation and transplant in Arizona, said Dr. Sam James, medical director of the UMC Kidney Transplant Program.

UMC has a kidney transplant wait list of 227 people.

"One of my purposes in doing this donation and talking about it is to see if other people might consider it. If 1,000 people learn about this, perhaps 10 might consider becoming a kidney donor, and two might actually donate," Dr. Spence said.

Anyone interested in information about donating a kidney may call the Kidney Transplant Office at (520) 694-7365.

Two UA psychology professors get $2.5 million research grant

UA psychology professors Varda Shoham and Michael Rohrbaugh are the principle investigators looking at processes by which young drug abusers might benefit from a technique called Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT).

The $2,344,991 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse builds upon the first large-scale testing of BSFT, a treatment shown to reduce adolescent behavior problems in previous scientific studies.