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Volume LXXXIX, Number 2	Wednesday. September 17, 1980	University of Southern California
First published freshmen admission policy proposed
Staff photo by Kenneth Lewi*
MUDD HALL OF PHILOSOPHY — As the university -oiohrates its 100th birthday, Mudd Hall enters its fifth decade of service as a home for the Hoose Library
TEACHES ENGINEERING
Scientist finds wife, career here
By Susan Straight
Assistant Sports Editor
Manv science experts have found teaching jobs at the university but few have found their wives here. Martin Gundersen, an associate professor of the electrical engineering department, is one of those few.
In 1962, while visiting a friend at the university, he was introduced to a student named Roberta who became his wife one year later.
The chance meeting of his future wife was his first encounter with the university. Several years later, however, he earned his Ph.D. in physics here after receiving his B.A. at the University of California at Berkeley.
Gundersen, 40, is back at the university, and will be here "for a long time." He will be teaching "Engineering Electro-Magnetics," a course for engineering majors. "The basis of electrical engineering is Maxwell's equations, and the course will be devoted to that," Gundersen said.
Gundersen was recruited by the university from the Texas Institute of Technology, where he spent seven years as an associate professor. His expertise in the field of lasers and laser-related studies is one of the things that prompted his interest in the university. "Mv interest was the quality of research out here, which is very good," he said.
Besides teaching, Gundersen will also be doing some work in the field of nuclear energy. "The government has found that using a laser would be cheaper than using the present method," Gundersen said. "They found that the capital
equipment costs would be less, and the economics would be attractive," Gundersen said.
While not an ardent supporter of nuclear energy, Gundersen believes that the risks posed by nuclear energy are less dangerous than some present environmental hazards. "I think that acid rains are harming the environment and people more (than nuclear energy). And everyone always thinks nuclear power plants are so dangerous, but in actuality, no one has ever been killed in a nuclear power plant, but workers have been electrocuted many times at electric plants," he said.
Gundersen will also be continuing his research in quantum electronics. Quantum electronics is a general heading for the type of work that studies the interaction of light with matter, using lasers, he said.
"Several basic physics problems can be studied with lasers," Gundersen said. His lab room is dominated by a huge rectangular box, virtually a small room in itself, in which the walls are made up of a special screen that prevents laser wavelengths from escaping and interfering with other experiments.
'W'e are working with opticallv-pumped lasers," Gundersen said. "And we are working on some semiconductor related problems. Lasers can be utilized to study this and if the problem can be found, a better semiconductor can be made which will work in a calculator or computer.
(Continued on page 6)
By Susan Pedersen
Assistjnt Citv Editor
For the first time in almost 10 vears, the university has a published document proposing criteria for freshman admissions.
The committee will present this document to the President's Advisory Council Sept. 23 for approval.
"The university is 100 years old, and it's taken them this long to come out with a committee and a document stating an admissions policy," said Dan Valdez, a committee member.
This is the first time that representatives from throughout the university have convened to agree upon a standard admissions policy, said Peter Brown, assistant director of admissions.
Prior to this time, there have been written documents available for use only. Brown said the new policv, if it is adopted, will be available for inspection bv the general public
Valdez stressed that the committee's major concern was to get the policy published, adding that few changes were made in the process.
However, Bill Weber, committee chairman, said that the proposed policy places greater emphasis on the essays submitted by freshmen applicants.
"The committee is very concerned that the students going here are literate," he said.
While Weber agrees that there are no tremendous changes in the policy, he said that he believes the committee has been very successful since its formation last February.
"When you have something (the committee) that's working well, you're going to have evolutionary changes, not revolutionary ones," he said.
But both Weber and Valdez agree that there are other issues that may eventualh need to be included in the policv.
Weber and Valdez feel that a policy toward exceptional students should be wntten into the document.
Valdez said that the committee was surprised at the number of exceptional students admitted to the university. These are students, often athletes, whose applications may be given special consideration.
"We (the committee) knew that they (the exceptional students) existed, but we didn't know to this magnitude/' Valdez said.
While he would not elaborate on how many students were involved, Valdez said that there were instances where athletes fContinued on page 7)
University spends millions as building binge continues
By Craig Gima
Assistant City Editor
Construction on the-university's campuses totaling nearly $60 million will be underway this fall. The university has constructed 72 major buildings since 1970.
"It (construction) is historic with the university," said Tom Coffin, director of Architectural Services.
"People have been talking about a vallev (a reduction in the amount of construction) coming up, but we haven’t seen it in this department," Coffin said.
The biggest project is the Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Research Center on the Health Sciences campus. September 1981 is the scheduled completion date for the $18.9 million center.
Construction on the main campus includes the $14.7 million Seely
G.	Mudd building. The planned 10-story building, to be next to Grace Ford Salvatori Hall, will house the chemistry and psychology departments. It is scheduled to be completed in January 1982.
The other major project on the main campus is the Taper Hall of Humanities, to be added onto Founders Hall, which is being renovated. The cost for the project is estimated at $4.8 million.
When finished, the building will house the Center of the Humanities along with the classics, English, comparative literature and foreign language departments.
The construction schedule is being revised but the project will probably be completed around October of 1981, Coffin said.
Within the next two weeks landscaping on a $350,000 entrance plaza is expected to be completed. The entrance plaza on University Avenue and Jefferson Street is part of a continuing project to landscape the entire campus, replacing streets with walkways, except for a road around the campus rim.
A harbor research facility across from Terminal Island is also under construction. The $700,000 facility is part of the Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies.
New housing under construction will provide university apartments for 608 additional students. A $4.4 million addition to Trov Hall will house 300 students. The scheduled date for completion of the project is August 1981.
Also expected to be completed in time for next September are the Embassy Apartments on Portland Street and the Terrace Apartments on Ellendale Street. Both buildings will house 126 students. The total cost of the two projects is $4.7 million.
The Pacific Apartments on Severance Street will house 56 students at a cost of $1.1 million and will be completed February 1981.