Barbara Miner got the word last week that Intel chief executive Paul Otellini might tour her electron microscope lab during a visit to the company's Ronler Acres campus in Hillsboro.

An Intel manager then called her in with another piece of news, still too secret to say out loud in one of Intel’s ubiquitous cubicles, where any talk is easily overhead.

"This might happen, too," the manager said, pulling up a picture of President Obama on the screen.

"I was shocked," said Miner, a Ph.D. whose lab examines Intel’s most advanced computer chips in exacting detail. "I was absolutely stunned."

Oregonians aren't accustomed to such attention, and semiconductor researchers generally work in obscurity. There's no Academy Award for microprocessor design, an arcane science that operates at scales too small for the human eye to perceive.

Obama's visit

But Miner and others were in the spotlight Friday at Intel, where Obama heralded their work as an example of the best in American innovation.

"A few weeks ago, I went to the Chamber of Commerce and I talked about the responsibility that American businesses have to create jobs and invest in this country," Obama said. "Few major companies take this responsibility as seriously as Intel."

Politics reporter Jeff Mapes and I

. I've got a sidebar running tomorrow, too, on

. Here are a couple other observations.

Singled out for special attention by the president was Nabil Mistkawi, who emigrated from Gaza to study engineering in the U.S.

, and in his remarks on education the president said he'd seen the article:

I was the local pool reporter for the president's visit and sat in as two groups of science students met with Obama and described their work. The assertiveness of each group -- high school students from the School of Science and Technology in Beaverton, and seventh graders from the Robert Gray Middle School in Southwest Portland -- was striking.



They showed off their work without a quiver in their voice and the girls from Robert Gray called the president back to wish one of their number a happy birthday and sign one of their robots.

After Obama left, I asked Mistkawi what he thought of the president's talk.

"He sends a clear message," Mistkawi said. "We do need to invest in education.

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