The UCF Report, Vol. 21 No. 22, June 4, 1999

              Volume 21 • No. 22 • June 4,1999
A publication for faculty and staff
Medicine man
Chemistry professor
Howard Miles travels
the world in search
of lifesaving drugs
If it takes going half way around
the world to further the discovery
of drugs to fight cancer, cardiovascular disease and infectious diseases,
Howard Miles doesn't bat an eye.
For decades, the UCF chemistry
professor has traveled the world
looking for plants that might yield
substances that could eventually be
used to save lives. He has studied and
collected plants from Thailand, the
Philippines, Portugal, Florida, Mississippi, Indonesia and Peru.
For the last four years, his work
has focused on the plants of Vietnam.
Despite all his world travels, it was a
connection no further than his UCF
chemistry lab that was the catalyst for
forging ties with that country.
When Miles helped his longtime
research assistant Chi Nguyen reunite
with her family in Vietnam, she
returned the favor by arranging contacts for Miles with officials at two of
Vietnam's major universities. From
that contact came invitations for Miles
to give presentations at Ho Chi Minh
City University of Technology and the
National University of Ho Chi Minh
City. His 1995 presentations were
officially the first by an American
Please see DRUGS, page 4
Governor approves
most of UCFfs needs
Central Florida
delegation is praised
for its support of
higher education
Salary increases, funding for the
High-Tech Corridor and a new
academic village are in UCF's
future following the approval by Gov.
Jeb Bush and the Legislature for the
majority of UCF's budget requests.
Among the items approved, the
budget will allow each university an
increase of differential tuition from
zero to 5 percent. Funds from differential tuition will go to projects recommended by a nine-person UCF
committee — five of them students,
including the committee chair.
"The non-differential tuition increase was vetoed," says Provost
Gary Whitehouse. "That would have
brought $16 million to $17 million
into the State University System. We
don't know where that money will
come from, possibly from the
Please see BUDGET, page 6
Mr. Golden Sun
Jacque Brund
A pair of students cast giant shadows as they walk toward
the UCF Bookstore on a recent sunny day. About 18,000
students are taking classes this summer.
Partnerships spark on-campus fire station
Orange and Seminole
counties will operate a UCF
fire station in exchange for
training from 1ST scientists
An on-campus fire station to serve UCF and
nearby communities is expected to be in
operation by fall. The two-bay station on the
southeast corner of McCulloch Road and North
Orion Boulevard is a unique partnership between
the university and Orange and Seminole counties.
In conjunction with the station, there will be a
900-square-foot high-tech training center on the site
operated by the Institute for Simulation and
Training. The state-of-the-art center will be used to
train fire and rescue trainers and for developmental
research. Plans are to link the center's computers to
fire stations throughout the two counties for distance education courses. Research will focus on new,
custom-made instructional programs.
In return, Orange and Seminole counties will
equip and staff the fire station around the clock,
says Mike Rouch, Seminole County battalion chief-
in-charge of training.
"This certainly provides us a way to work directly with the community and to address national
public safety, fire and rescue, and emergency
response issues," says Dan Beistel, IST's associate
director for administration.
Please see FIRE STATION, page 3
Next issue of The UCF Report is June 25 • Deadline is noon, June 16
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