private $database;
    // currently only one application user/password.
    private $dbuser = 'application';
        private $dbpass = '***********';

public function
__construct($dbname,$dbhost='nexus.umn.edu',$dbuser='application')
{

        $this->dbhost=$dbhost;
        $this->dbname=$dbname;

    try {
        $this->connection = new PDO('mysql:host='.$this->dbhost.';dbname='.$this->dbname, $this->dbuser, $this->dbpass);
        $this->database = new Database($this->connection);
    }
    catch (PDOException $e) {
        $this->fail();
    }
    return $this;
}