To boost a promising future for microwave tubes -- an old technology with new applications -- the UC Davis College of Engineering will kick off a new campus graduate program Wednesday, Aug. 17. The Advanced Thermonics Research Initiative, or ATRI 2000, involves the country's top four microwave tube manufacturers (based in California), other Bay Area universities and national laboratories. Funded by the U.S. Air Force and administered by the UC Davis applied science and electrical and computer engineering departments, ATRI 2000 aims to provide training and technological advances to a U.S. industry whose personnel and business volume have dramatically decreased. Microwave tubes are essential components for military radars, guided missile-jamming devices, microwave ovens, UHF television, satellite communications, and linear accelerators for cancer therapy. Possible applications of improved microwave tubes include processing high-quality lumber from smaller trees and scrap wood, producing lightweight ceramic engine parts for future cars, and reducing the halflife of radioactive wastes from thousands of years to a few decades. An estimated 15 UC Davis master's and doctoral students will be supported each year for the next five years.