Purdue News Best Bets
Best Bets for Journalists
February 21, 1997
JOURNALISTS: Here's an idea about an issue that's in the news and a list of newsworthy
Purdue events during the next two weeks.
Professor chips away at bad press on olestra
Louise Peck, assistant professor of foods and nutrition at Purdue, says initial reports
of digestive tract problems caused by the fat replacer olestra were overstated. She
believes that more extensive studies have shown olestra to be as safe as other foods eaten by the general population. Hoosiers can test the new chips for themselves beginning
the weekend of Feb. 28. Frito-Lay will be giving away its WOW! snacks at 500 locations
in central Indiana. Peck says consumers could benefit from the fact that a one-ounce serving of olestra potato chips are fat-free compared to 10 grams of fat in
the same-size serving of regular potato chips. In addition to being fat-free, the
olestra chips have half the calories of regular chips.
CONTACT: Peck, (765) 494-8236; e-mail, peckl@cfs.purdue.edu
Events
Monday, Feb. 24.
Excellence 21 poster session and wrap-up presentation, 8 a.m. Loeb Playhouse and 9
a.m. North and South Ballrooms Purdue Memorial Union. This session will mark the
end of the first year of Purdue's effort to apply the principles of continuous improvement
and total-quality management to all areas of the university. Excellence 21 project
leaders and participants will be welcomed by Frederick Ford, executive vice president
and treasurer, and Robert Ringel, executive vice president for academic affairs,
during the presentation in Loeb Playhouse. A poster session, displaying details and status
of most of the 100 continuous improvement projects, follows in the ballrooms. CONTACT:
Kate Walker, University News Service, (765) 494-2073; e-mail, kate_walker@purdue.edu
Wednesday, Feb. 26.
Directors' meeting for the Indiana Space Grant Consortium. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Room
333 Grissom Hall. Representatives from seven Indiana universities will meet to review
the past year's activities and discuss consortium programs and activities for the
coming year. Consortium institutions work with schoolchildren, college students and faculty,
museums and businesses around the state to increase the public's knowledge about
the science of space exploration. The consortium is based at Purdue. In addition
to the West Lafayette campus, consortium members are: Purdue Calumet, the University of
Notre Dame, and Indiana, Ball State, Taylor and Valparaiso universities. CONTACT:
Dominick Andrisani, consortium director, (765) 494-5135; e-mail, andrisani@ecn.purdue.edu
Thursday, Feb. 27
. Can humans get to Mars in the next 10 years, and why should we go anyway? Robert
Zubrin, founder of Pioneer Astronautics, a space-exploration research and development
firm, will give a public lecture "Mars Direct: Humans to the Red Planet Within a
Decade" at 7 p.m. in Room 2280, Liberal Arts and Education Building. Zubrin has been invited
to brief NASA administrators, government officials and others on his ideas on space
travel and exploration. He is author of the 1996 book "The Case for Mars: The Plan
to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must." CONTACT: Matt Lowry, (765) 494-5154; home,
(765) 497-1371; e-mail, lowrymp@physics.purdue.edu; or Nan Ross, School of Aeronautics
and Astronautics, (765) 494-9124; e-mail, ross@ecn.purdue.edu
Friday, Feb. 28.
Board of Trustees meeting. 9:30 a.m. (8:30 a.m. CST). Founders Study of Student-Faculty
Library Center, Purdue Calumet. President Steven C. Beering and members of the board
will be available to answer questions from journalists immediately after the meeting in Room 321 of the Student-Faculty Library Center. CONTACTS: Jeanne V. Norberg,
director, Purdue News Service, (765) 494-2084; e-mail, jeanne_norberg@purdue.edu,
or Joseph L. Bennett, vice president for University Relations, (765) 494-2082; e-mail, joe_bennett@purdue.edu
baf/bestbets/9702f24
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
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