Cancer survival can sometimes hinge on finding problems early using ultrasound, CT and MRI scans. They’re effective. They’re also expensive and limited to detecting abnormalities a millimeter or more in size, a point at which a cancer has had time to progress. But Dr. Jennifer Barton of the UA Biomedical Engineering Interdisciplinary Program is overcoming those limitations with pioneering work in optical coherence tomography. This technique concentrates light on tissue, reading what’s reflected back in the same way sonar “reads” shapes based on reflected sound. Unlike other scans, this optical technology delivers amazing detail -- showing, in some cases, a single molecule. So in a field where early detection makes all the difference, Barton’s work with the minuscule set to play a massive role in saving lives.

Tucson school teachers got a lesson in industry this summer, and are bringing their newfound skills back to the classroom. Twenty teachers took part in a program that matched them with summer jobs in industries involving math and science, for some real-world experience. Internships were funded through a $750,000 grant secured by the UA College of Education from Science Foundation Arizona. Employers, including Raytheon, had an opportunity to have a say in what they need from future employees. Teachers in the program, which results in a master’s degree, worked as engineers, tested hardware and learned about laser and fiber optics.

High fuel costs, “green” consciousness, food scares that have FDA officials scrambling through supply chains – all fodder for 50 Mile Farms, one of this year’s business plans vetted by the UA's top-ranked program at the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship. The concept is simple: rather than sending mass-farmed produce through layers of trucking and storage, grow it small, urban, hydroponic farms. To date, hydroponics has meant expensive human labor. But the 50 Mile Farms students patented a technology for automating much of the work, bringing production on par with traditional agriculture so that produce can be grown for nutrition and flavor rather than hardiness for 2000-mile road trips. Throw in the reduced carbon footprint and you have a winning concept that already has local markets hungry for more.

At age 9, Hubert Charles de Monmonier discovered a box of minerals under his uncle’s porch in Pearce, Arizona. It changed his life. Though he grew up in Los Angeles and worked there as a school groundskeeper and steel worker for 40 years, he never lost his passion for minerals. An avid collector with a sharp eye for value, Monmonier acquired 871 specimens, including a dinner-plate-sized piece of gold from a pocket near the mine that started the1849 gold rush. He quietly willed this remarkable collection – now worth over $7 million – to the UA Mineral Museum, making it one of the best university-owned collections in the nation.

When students complete business plans through the UA’s internationally recognized McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship, all end up with vetted blueprints for new enterprises. Some teams, though, go further. This year’s Cookie Fusion team won funding from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation to advance their concepts even closer to opening shop. First, they hired talent to create visual identity, jump-starting the challenge of building brand and hooking the attention of potential investors along the way. Their award also funded research -- endless batches of dough in pursuit of the perfect recipes for fresh, baked-while-you-wait customized cookies. So while Cookie Fusion may not open doors until this spring, when it comes to entrepreneurship education, the team already enjoys the sweet taste of success.

Next time you pull on your favorite cotton sweats, polo or T-shirt, thank The University of Arizona. In the 1950s, UA scientists genetically enhanced long-staple Pima Cotton that is softer and wears longer than shorter fibers. More recently, researchers from the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences and BIO5 tested biotech cotton that produces Bt toxin, a natural insecticide. A just-completed two-year study found that Bt cotton kills the pink bollworm, a major threat to the cotton harvest, which reduces insecticide sprays and keeps yields high. That’s good news for the environment – and Arizona’s cotton farmers.

If you go to a movie and notice brilliant color, tack-sharp images and symphonic sound quality, thank UA Regents’ Professor Michael Marcellin. He led the international team that developed JPEG 2000. This new form of film based on data compression technology outperformed competitors worldwide. This new digital cinema is sharper than hi-def TV, difficult to pirate and cheaper than reels of film in metal cans. This break-through technology also improved hundreds of other commercial products, from cell phones and CT scans to the archives of the Library of Congress. With joint appointments in the College of Engineering and the College of Optical Sciences, students laud Marcellin as ”brilliant” and “the best instructor in the universe.”

Architecture students like Chad Nielsen are teaming up with students in materials science and biosystems engineering to take their place in the sun at the fourth annual Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C. The UA is one of only 20 university-led international teams selected for the competition, which challenges students to build a fully solar-powered home surging with enough energy for all lights, appliances and hot water, plus enough surplus to power an electric car. The UA team is beyond busy designing prototype components, raising money and building towards October, when they'll transport their house to a Solar Village on the National Mall and rebuild it on site.

Poetry, the world’s the oldest art form, is as vibrant and necessary today as it was for the first storytellers. From sonnet to slam, from meter to open mic, poetry is a literature that is continually evolving. The UA Poetry Center has made an invaluable contribution to this oral tradition by recording hundreds of readings by visiting and local writers. Since the early 1960s, the Center has captured the visionary voices of such luminaries as Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, beat poet Allen Ginsberg, social-activist poet Adrienne Rich, as well as UA professors and distinguished student writers. Today, the Poetry Center is hard at work digitizing its collection of 500 reel-to-reel and audio cassette tapes, steadily making more and more of these readings accessible through dedicated listening stations. These recordings are readily available to the public. After all, poetry is meant to be heard.

Imagine if trauma surgeons could be present in every emergency room—even in small, rural hospitals—and accompany paramedics on every call. Under the leadership of Dr. Rifat Latifi, The University of Arizona Health Sciences Center pioneered the next best thing: teletrauma. Southern Arizona hospitals and Tucson ambulances are now connected to UA trauma surgeons through an extensive telemedicine network. The technology allows doctors to see patients in ambulances and remote hospitals in real time; zooming in on injuries, monitoring vitals and even talking with them. Where before, travel may have delayed critical assessment by hours, it can now happen in seconds—seconds that can mean the difference between life and death.