Farming in outer space
Before astronauts can travel to Mars or live on the moon, they must learn to grow their own food. Water and air will also come in handy, says NASA contractor Russ Fortson
by Chuck Toney
f it's true that the sky's the limit for UGA grads, Russ Fortson is exceeding that by 100 million miles. As a project manager for Lockheed Martin in Houston, Texas, Fortson (BS '82, MS '87) is trying to figure out how to grow enough food, provide enough water, and purify enough air to support astronauts on a six-month journey to Mars. His research is also important for establishing permanent bases on the moon.
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 In NASA's test kitchens, wheat, soybeans, and potatoes are grown in nutrient-rich liquids. Wheat gives off oxygen, says Fortson (above), and astronauts can also use it to make bread. |
In 1990, Fortson was hired by a NASA contractor, Bionetics, to work on the Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems. A manned mission to Mars could last more than 600 days, counting time on the planet itself. Food must be produced during the flight because a space vehicle large enough to store food for three astronauts would need a fuel load so large that it could never leave the ground.
But that's just the beginning. Humans breathe oxygen and produce carbon dioxide; plants produce oxygen and "breathe" carbon dioxide. If the ratios are out of balance, the astronauts die. An initial series of tests in 1997 placed four people in a closed Lunar-Mars test chamber for 91 days. They grew wheat, which not only provides oxygen, but also a few loaves of bread. A lettuce-growing system worked so well that four heads of lettuce were produced every 11 days.
"A lot of work went into preparing for that test, and when it went as well as it did we were all pleased," says Fortson. "There's still a lot of work to do, because the system is not mass or power efficient, which is critical for actual space flight."
At a cost $10,000 per pound, mass and power efficiency—knowing how much power it takes to hoist a piece of equipment into space—are critical factors.
Four tests are currently planned for a new NASA BIO-plex where project participants will be completely closed off from the outside world for an initial 120-day test in 2003 or early 2004, eventually culminating in a 500-day test in 2008. Most of the plants involved in the BIO-PLEX test are staple crops such as wheat, soybeans, and potatoes, which are grown in a nutrient-rich liquid without soil. The process is called hydroponics. Tomatoes, lettuce, and radishes are grown in zeoponics, which is an artificial soil. Astronauts will start most of these plants from seeds on a long-range space flight; potatoes will be grown from plant cuttings.
Fortson could stay on as director of the life support system, work with the exploration group on missions to other planets, or help develop flight hardware from prototypes he's already developed. One thing is clear—he's got his eyes on the sky.
"I want to be part of an advanced exploration plan for life on other planets," he says. "I'm committed to human exploration of the moon and other planets."
From Ivory Tower to Golden Dome
Danae Roberts went from Commencement to the state house in one fell swoop
by Laura Wexler
ast June, Danae Roberts went door to door, telling people she was seeking the Republican nomination for Georgia House District 132. More times than not, the people in the doorway looked a bit askance. Roberts (AB '00) had a standard response.
"I've seen a lot in my 22 years," she would say, "and I'm still running."
According to the state constitution, members of the Georgia House must be at least 21 years of age. When Roberts is sworn in at the Capitol in January, she'll become the youngest legislator in the state's 212-year history—younger even than Richard B. Russell Jr. when he first served in the state house in 1921.
 With her family and her sorority sisters working on her campaign, Roberts got 57 percent of the vote. |
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Growing up in a political family, Roberts knew that early. Her father, U.D. Roberts, is first vice chairman of the Georgia Republican Party; her brother, Dutsch (BS '96), worked for the late Senator Paul Coverdell. Since age 14, when she began working on campaigns, Danae has twice been elected a delegate to the state Republican convention. As a UGA senior, she was vice president of the College Republicans, which boasts the largest membership of any university chapter in the nation. She also served as an alternate delegate to the 2000 Republican National Convention.
Roberts decided to run for the House seat last February—still three months shy of graduating from UGA—after a group of voters from her district told her they were unhappy with their Republican representative.
"I wasn't just a stranger coming in," says the Columbus resident. "I was familiar with a lot of people in the district, and in the county Republican Party."
On May 13, Roberts received her undergraduate degree in political science. Two weeks later, her parents' home in Columbus became campaign central. Her father helped write brochures. Her mother plotted strategy. Sister-in-law Lauren Perkins Roberts (BS '97) served as campaign treasurer. Members of both the College Republicans and Roberts' sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi, traveled to Columbus to volunteer on weekends. "My campaign was really grassroots," she says. "My opponent had $60,000. I had $12,000."
On July 18, Roberts gathered with 150 campaign volunteers at a Columbus barbecue place, and watched as the returns came in. By the end of the night, she had claimed 57 percent of the vote. She ran unopposed in the November election, thus becoming the new state representative for House District 132.
In August, still slightly shocked by her victory in the primary, Roberts stood onstage in the UGA Chapel and encouraged the 300 students in Tom McPeak's Principles of Marketing class to get involved in the political process. "I am your age," she said. "I want to reassure you that people are noticing that we can make a difference." In the Q-and-A session that followed, a student asked Roberts if she has higher political aspirations. "After two years, I still won't be able to go higher," she said with a smile. "You have to be 25 to go to the Congressional level."
Befriending the past
Bear Bryant's granddaughter is helping Mississippians preserve their history
by Steve Lickteig
lanche Dubois often relied on the kindness of strangers. So does Stella Gray Bryant Sykes.
In 1996, the executive director of the Mississippi Heritage Trust (MHT) learned that the Curtrer Mansion in Clarksdale, Miss., was scheduled for demolition. Built in 1916, the Italian Renaissance villa is an architectural treasure. More importantly, it served as literary inspiration for one of America's greatest playwrights, Tennessee Williams, who lived in Clarksdale as a young man. Blanche Clarke Curtrer, the family matriarch, was the model for Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire, and the Curtrer Mansion was the setting Williams had in mind when he wrote Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
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 To save an historic structure, you may have to find a modern-day use for it, says Bryant Sykes. They can't all be turned into museums. |
"Just because we need to save a building," says Bryant Sykes, "doesn't mean we have to put the local history museum in it."
That's a philosophy Bryant Sykes began developing through her undergraduate studies in history at the University of Alabama—where her legendary grandfather, Paul "Bear" Bryant coached the Crimson Tide football team to 323 victories—and later honed in UGA's masters program in historic preservation.
"Historic preservation is about community—the place we live—and people make preservation happen," she says. "UGA's program prepared me to help make historic preservation happen in a community."
Her first job after UGA was in Americus, where she was the historic preservation planner for eight counties. "I can't imagine a better small town to live in," says Bryant Sykes. "There are only 17,000 people living there, but it's the hub of activity within an hour's drive. And it's the prettiest historic district I've ever seen."
Bryant Sykes headed to Jackson in 1997 to run the MHT. One of her first initiatives was "Mississippi's 10 Most Endangered Historic Places" list.
"Everybody knows David Letterman's top 10 List, and the list of endangered species," says Bryant Sykes. "We just tried to apply those ideas to historic preservation." The Curtrer Mansion was on her first top 10 list, as was the late 1800's Corinth Machinery Building, the oldest industrial building in Mississippi. The MHT worked with people in Corinth to find a developer, who purchased the building and agreed to turn it into a mixed-use facility.
"We at MHT can't save everything, and we can't do it alone," continued Sykes. "Luckily, most people love their town's heritage and are willing to do their part."
Two good to be true
The Dorchak twins had to convince their father that they were serious about college and life. Solution: they both became doctors
by Richard Hyatt
hey started off as wombmates. At UGA, they were roommates. Now they're colleagues in matching white jackets, sharing the motivation supplied by both their late mother and their retired Army officer father, who made it clear that he wasn't going to waste money on their education if they weren't motivated.
Given all their similarities, John and James Dorchak are nevertheless an unlikely set of twins. John (BS '80) is taller and driven, an orthopedic surgeon at the Hughston Clinic, a pioneering center of sports medicine in Columbus, Ga. James (BS '80), smaller and more relaxed, is across town in a OB/GYN practice that he's trying to get off the ground.
 John (left) is an orthopedic surgeon at the Hughston Clinic in Columbus. Jim has an OB/GYN practice across town. |
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Graduating from UGA in three years, they finished with enviable records. John's two Bs left him with a 3.96 grade point average; James wasn't far behind at 3.54.
Their father was a marketing executive at Aflac, the international insurance firm based in Columbus. Their older sister was a nurse and even as students at Columbus High, they made medical rounds with local physicians to see what the profession was all about. But an older brother had flunked out of college, and their father told John and James that they ought to spend a year at Columbus State University so he could see if they were going to turn out differently.
During their freshman year at CSU, their mother's illness worsened. She died on Good Friday in 1978. Transferring to UGA, they were in a hurry, knowing what they wanted to do with their lives. Two days after graduation, they were in class at Tulane Medical School in New Orleans. Tuition wasn't an issue. They were on U.S. Navy scholarships.
The Navy sent them to separate coasts and after their military commitment they went into different specialities and to different cities. John returned to Columbus and joined the Hughston Clinic. James started out in a large practice in Orlando, Fla., but eventually came home to open a single-doctor practice in Columbus.
John is performing ground-breaking back surgeries that keep him constantly searching for new techniques. For James, results are equally rewarding.
"When you have a woman in diapers who can't even go to the supermarket and after surgery she can play tennis again, they love you like a kid," he says. "You have to have something that inspires you, and I love going to work every day."
Second fiddle to no one
Vince Connerat celebrated his 90th birthday by winning another national tennis tournament. He also plays a mean violin
by Dan Magill Jr. (ABJ '42)
ince Connerat started taking violin lessons when he was a six-year-old growing up in pre-World War I Atlanta. When he was 11, his music teacher gave him an old tennis racquet that was laying around the house, and eight decades later those two pastimes—tennis and music—continue to enrich Connerat's life.
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 Secret to Connerat's success and longevity: "I've never been sick a day. I feel like I did when I was 50." |
"I've always loved both tennis and music," says Connerat, "But when I came to Georgia as a student, I didn't tell anyone about the violin. It wasn't the thing to do back then!"
Connerat played on the tennis team at Georgia, and was good enough to reach the semifinals of the Southern Conference tournament as a senior. But the Dogs were loaded with stars at the close of the Roaring Twenties, and Connerat played far down a lineup that included Malon Courts (AB '29), John (Judge) Beaver (AB '33), and Jack Boykin (M '32). As it turned out, his best days as a tennis player were ahead of him. Way ahead of him, in fact.
"For the first 25 years after I graduated, I couldn't play much tennis," says Connerat, who was an economist for HUD, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. "But I've been nationally ranked in every age category since the 45s."
Connerat owns 12 national age-group tennis titles, 11 of which have come in tandem with his long-time doubles partner, Herman (Bubba) Ratcliffe of Hapeville. Connerat and Ratcliffe are so good that in 1995-96 they pulled off back-to-back doubles Grand Slams in the 85-and-over division, winning all four national tournaments—indoors and out—and on all different surfaces: hard, grass, and clay courts. This past July, they won the U.S. national indoor 90s doubles title in Vancouver and the 90s hardcourt championship in Palm Springs.
"The travel doesn't bother me," says Connerat, who got his law degree from George Washington University, and spent most of his life working for the federal government. "I've exercised all my life, and I've never been sick a day. I feel like I did when I was 50."
Connerat is part of a long line of Bulldogs. His great-grandfather, S. Granby Hilley, graduated from UGA in 1828, and his two daughters, Mary Anne Connerat Kendall (ABJ '62) and Jean Connerat-Levin (AB '70), are also accomplished tennis players who have been ranked as high as No. 3 in the South in doubles. His second wife June is also a ranked player in the 65-year-old division.