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Three UCSC professors included in top-50 list of women in science
The popular science magazine Discover has named three women on the faculty of UCSC among the "top 50 women scientists in the country" in an article in the magazine's November issue. The issue features a series of articles about how women fare in science and celebrates the accomplishments of women scientists. The three UCSC scientists featured in the magazine are Sandra Faber, University Professor of astronomy and astrophysics; Terrie Williams, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and the Ida Benson Lynn Professor of Ocean Health; and Marcia McNutt, professor of Earth sciences at UCSC and the president and CEO of the Mon- terey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. (McNutt is identified in the magazine by her primary affiliation with MBARI.) "I'm impressed that three women scientists from UCSC are represented on this list, and I think it reflects the fact that UCSC's science faculty is absolutely first class," Faber said. Faber is renowned for her research on the formation and evolution of galaxies and the evolution of structure in the universe. She has also been involved in the development of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory. Williams, an expert in animal physiology and energetics, has studied a wide range of marine mammals, including dolphins, seals, sea otters, and whales. Her research projects include studies of Weddell seals in Antarctica, Steller sea lions in Alaska, and sea otters in Alaska and California. McNutt is a geophysicist whose research focuses on the physical properties of the Earth beneath the oceans. Recent projects include the history of volcanism in French Polynesia and how it relates to broadscale convection in the Earth's mantle, continental breakup in the western United States, and the uplift of the Tibet plateau.
Wind Ensemble to perform in Sydney
The UCSC Wind Ensemble has been invited to represent the United States at the 2003 International Music Festival to be held this June at the renowned Opera House in Sydney, Australia. An offshoot of the 1986 World Expo held in Brisbane, the festival brings a variety of concert bands, choirs, orchestras, jazz, and string ensembles to perform in a week of festivities--beginning in Canberra, the capital of Australia, and culminating with a performance at the 2,600-seat Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. The festival draws from Pacific Rim countries including the U.S., Japan, New Zealand, Australia, China, Singapore, and Taiwan. Under the direction of Robert Klevan, a music lecturer at UCSC, the Wind Ensemble performed in 2001 at Carnegie Hall. "We received a standing ovation from an audience of strangers at Carnegie Hall," Klevan said. "It was thrilling. Our ensemble never played as well as they did that day." That appearance led to several inquiries from other venues and festivals, including the festival in Sydney. The 67-member ensemble's hour-long set at the Opera House will feature Suite Français by Darius Milhaud and David Stanhope's Folk Songs for Band. The Wind Ensemble was founded in the fall of 1998 with only 18 members.
UCSC center part of project to improve science education The New Teacher Center at UCSC will play a key role in a five-year, $7.5 million National Science Foundation (NSF) program to develop and implement an online mentoring program for beginning science teachers. The project, which aims to improve student learning by bolstering the effectiveness of new middle and high school science teachers, is a perfect fit for the New Teacher Center (NTC), which is dedicated to improving education by promoting the development of an excellent teaching force. The NTC's successful model of teacher induction provides mentoring support of an experienced teacher to all new teachers during their first two years in the classroom. This NSF project will tap NTC to design and administer an e-mentoring system to support beginning teachers in six urban California school districts and a consortium of rural districts in Montana.
The University Center
The University Center, a place where faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and others involved in the operation and support of the campus can gather for lunch or just to socialize, opened in late January. Located above the Colleges Nine/Ten Dining Commons, the new center provides attractive space for meetings, conferences, and other events, in addition to restaurant and lounge services. Memberships may also be purchased to the center, entitling members to a number of benefits. For more information, go to: ucenter.ucsc.edu.
UCSC plays role in new genome effort
Researchers in UCSC's Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering (CBSE) made significant contributions to the analysis of the mouse genome sequence announced recently by the international Mouse Genome Sequencing Consortium. The consortium published a draft sequence of the mouse genome --the genetic blueprint-- together with a comparative analysis of the mouse and human genomes. The paper appeared in the December 5 issue of Nature. It's the first time that scientists have compared the contents of the human genome with that of another mammal. This milestone is also significant given the laboratory mouse's importance as a model in biomedical research. David Haussler, professor of computer science and director of the CBSE, and CBSE research scientist Jim Kent worked on the analysis of the mouse and human genomes and are coauthors of the Nature paper. Other members of the UCSC genome bioinformatics group listed as coauthors include graduate students Ryan Weber, Krishna Roskin, Mark Diekhans, and Robert Baertsch; postdoctoral researcher Terrence Furey; software project manager Donna Karolchik; and software developers Angie Hinrichs and Matt Schwartz.
UCSC receives $9.1 million to establish adaptive optics lab
Ucsc has received a grant of $9.1 million from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to establish a Laboratory for Adaptive Optics. The new laboratory strengthens UCSC's position as an astronomy powerhouse and a national center for research on the exciting new technology of adaptive optics. The grant is the largest contribution from a private foundation in UCSC's history. The Laboratory for Adaptive Optics will develop innovative instrumentation for the application of adaptive optics technology in astronomy. Adaptive optics sharpens the vision of ground-based telescopes by removing the blurring effects of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere. The new lab complements the Center for Adaptive Optics (CfAO), established with a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation and headquartered at UCSC. CfAO focuses on the advancement of adaptive optics technology in astronomy and vision science. The new lab "will play a major role in the future of astronomy and other fields where high-quality images are important," said Ed Penhoet, senior director of science and education at the Moore Foundation. Claire Max, associate director of CfAO, is the lead scientist on the Moore Foundation grant; UC Observatories/Lick Observatory director Joseph Miller and CfAO director Jerry Nelson are coprincipal investigators.
Chancellor's visit emphasizes Indian and South Asian studies
In December, Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood represented the campus at a series of events in New Delhi, India. Hosted by UCSC Foundation trustees Anu Luther and Kamil Hasan and his wife, Talat Hasan, and facilitated by UCSC history professor Dilip Basu, the visit provided opportunities to renew connections made during a 1998 visit. The chancellor met with the president of India and other leaders in government and education, and she delivered an address at the prestigious India International Centre. A highlight of the trip was the wedding of Minal Hasan, the daughter of Kamil and Talat Hasan.
$2 million grant funds research on Monterey Bay ecosystem
Ucsc has received a grant of $2 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a Center for Integrated Marine Technologies. The center will use new technological approaches to study the processes driving the highly productive coastal upwelling ecosystems along the California coast. The aim is to establish the scientific basis for effective monitoring and management of these ecosystems and the fisheries and other resources associated with them. The center brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers from five institutions around Monterey Bay, with UCSC as the lead institution. Other partners are the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, and the National Marine Fisheries Service Laboratory in Santa Cruz. The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is also involved, said Gary Griggs, a principal investigator on the grant and director of UCSC's Institute of Marine Sciences. "Our goal is to develop an integrated view of these highly productive coastal ecosystems, using the Monterey Bay sanctuary as kind of a big laboratory," Griggs said. "Part of the project will be to put all the data together in a way that is accessible and can be visualized, both for scientists and for public user groups." The California coast is one of just five major coastal upwelling regions in the world. While they make up only one-tenth of a percent of the ocean's surface area, upwelling regions account for 95 percent of the global marine biomass and more than 21 percent of the world's fisheries landings.
Raymond Carver letters donated to UCSC
A collection of letters from renowned American short story writer and poet Raymond Carver has been donated to McHenry Library at UCSC. The donation from UCSC professor of education and creative writing David Swanger consists of 26 letters, notes, and cards he received between 1977 and 1984. The correspondence documents a period in Carver's life when he made the transition from being a relatively obscure writer to becoming a commercially successful and well-known author. Carver, who died of brain cancer in 1988, is widely credited with revitalizing the American short story more than anyone since Ernest Hemingway and Flannery O'Connor. "The contents are both literary and personal," noted Swanger, a poet and longtime friend of Carver. "They include Carver's reflections on my writings, thoughts about his own work, personal insights into his life when he stopped drinking and when he met the well-known poet Tess Gallagher, details about family relationships, jobs, and economic success." Alumni Association names award winners
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a Writing Program lecturer, and a production director have been named winners of the UCSC Alumni Association's highest honors for 2002-03. In ceremonies that took place on February 1, Martha Mendoza received the Alumni Achievement Award; Conn Hallinan, the Distinguished Teaching Award; and Joseph Weiss, the Outstanding Staff Award. The Alumni Council, the association's governing body, selected the winners based on nominations from students, faculty, alumni, and staff. Mendoza is an Associated Press reporter who shared the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for a story about a massacre in the opening weeks of the Korean War. She is the third UCSC graduate to win a Pulitzer Prize. The story won numerous other awards, and Mendoza was selected for a John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford, where she completed the book, The Bridge at No Gun Ri: A Hidden Nightmare from the Korean War, with coauthors and Pulitzer winners Charles J. Hanley and Sang-Hun Choe. A 1988 Kresge College graduate (B.A.) with an individual major in journalism, Mendoza has returned to UCSC's Writing Program as a journalism lecturer. Her colleague and former teacher, Conn Hallinan, is noted for his outstanding lectures and his untiring support of student writing. He has been inspiring students to follow him into journalism since he began as a lecturer in the UCSC Writing Program in 1982. In nominating Hallinan for the Distinguished Teaching Award, former student Mark West said "his writing advice is so beneficial it's addictive." Hallinan is also provost of Kresge College. Staff winner Joseph Weiss is technical production director and operations manager for the Theater Arts Department. Weiss was described as "the rock upon which this department is built," in a nomination letter from Anana Integre, former administrative manager of theater arts.
Undergrad takes tech skills to Fresno youth
Sociology major Mary Jane Skjellerup is reaching out by reaching back--to Fresno High School, that is. Skjellerup is using the power and allure of technology to introduce Hmong and Latino youth in her native Fresno to what's available for them at the university. Skjellerup, a graduate of Fresno High School and a senior at UCSC, has launched the Community and Technology Leadership Program to encourage Fresno students from disadvantaged backgrounds to get on track for college. She uses hands-on training in sophisticated digital media technology, mentoring, and academic advising to give teenagers a taste of what's available to college students. "I want to encourage kids to come to the university by giving them skills that will boost their confidence and make them feel unique," said Skjellerup. With little more than her own commitment and minimal start-up funds from UCSC's Global Information Internship Program, Skjellerup developed a proposal that Fresno High administrators jumped at. The school's business computer technology teacher, Helen Herzog, and her department chair, Delaine Zody, selected six high school students who came to UCSC for a two-day summer workshop. Tapping the two-inch-thick training manual she put together for the workshop, Skjellerup describes a daunting itinerary that covered admissions, a tour, web and graphic design instruction, and a one-day digital film and editing course. The students returned to high school this past fall, where they worked with Skjellerup and their teachers on community-service projects to prepare oral histories of members of the Hmong and Latino communities in Fresno.
Campus mascot inspires children's book
A new children's book explores a day in the life of a colorful banana slug family that lives on the UCSC campus. All proceeds from Sally Slug benefit the UCSC Foundation and provide for art history purchases and exhibits in the library. The book is written by Anne Neufeld Levin and illustrated by alumna Patricia Rebele. Both serve on the Foundation and are generous supporters of UCSC. To purchase the book, go to: slugstore.ucsc.edu.
Fisheries rely on accurate counts Concerns about the sustainability of many West Coast fish populations have led to increasingly tight restrictions on the fishing industry, angering some fishers whose livelihoods are at stake and highlighting the importance of accurate assessments of commercial fish stocks. To help meet the demand for fishery scientists with expertise in the quantitative assessment of fish populations, UCSC and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Santa Cruz Laboratory have established the Center for Stock Assessment Research (CSTAR). CSTAR is funded by NMFS to support UCSC undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral researchers working in the areas of quantitative fish population dynamics and fishery stock assessment. In addition to training scientists, CSTAR supports research on advanced stock assessment methods, said Marc Mangel, a professor of applied math and statistics at UCSC who heads the CSTAR program with NMFS biologist Alec MacCall. Progressively tighter restrictions have been imposed on the groundfish fishery over the past five years to allow certain populations to recover from overfishing. These restrictions are having serious economic impacts, which might have been avoided if scientists had understood the fishery 20 years ago as well as they do now, MacCall said. "We are facing a crisis here on the West Coast that is comparable to the collapse of the sardine fishery in the 1940s and '50s," MacCall said. "The only hope for avoiding this kind of disaster in the future is to have really talented people on the job keeping track of things. It all hinges on our ability to determine how many fish are out there and how much is safe to catch on a sustainable basis."
Fulbrights send faculty to Indonesia, Korea
Two faculty members at UCSC have been honored with Fulbright Scholar Awards for the 2002-03 academic year. Kathy Foley, professor of theater arts, and Hi Kyung Kim, associate professor of music, join approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who are traveling abroad to 140 countries this year through the Fulbright Scholarship Program. The purpose of the program, established by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and countries around the world. Fulbright Scholars are chosen on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their field. Foley will travel to Indonesia this spring to gather information for a book on the relationship between Indonesian puppet-style performance and mask presentation. Her research will include interviews with puppeteers, dancers, and scholars. As part of her Fulbright Scholarship grant, Hi Kyung Kim traveled to Korea in October to teach two courses at the College of Music at Seoul National University, conduct research on Korean vocal art songs, and do fieldwork on the Shamanistic Funeral March.
New award honors three generations of UCSC scholarship
An innovative award, linking three generations of academic excellence at UCSC, was presented for the first time during a Stevenson College Night in October. History lecturer Bruce Thompson is the recipient of the first John Dizikes Award, established this year by the Humanities Division to honor outstanding teaching by humanities faculty, and named in honor of one of UCSC's founding faculty members. In addition to his $3,000 award, the recognition enabled Thompson to select an undergraduate to receive a $3,000 scholarship. Thompson chose literature major Shelby Polakoff as the scholarship recipient. "I remember seeing a flyer announcing the establishment of the John Dizikes Award," said Thompson, "and I thought it was a wonderful idea. I think John's one of the most extraordinary teachers I've ever met. It never occurred to me that I'd be the first recipient of an award named for him." Dizikes, a professor emeritus of American studies, came to UCSC in 1965. A winner of the UCSC Alumni Association's Distinguished Teaching Award, Dizikes has published numerous books and articles, served as Cowell College provost, and mentored thousands of students during his career at UCSC. He continues to be an active member of the campus community. In announcing Thompson as the Dizikes Award winner, dean of humanities Wlad Godzich cited Thompson's intellectual influence on undergraduates and graduates, his support and advising of large numbers of students, and his ability to teach many different topics in history.
UCSC publishes book on work of architect Marcel Sedletzky
The first book on the life and work of Monterey Bay architect Marcel Sedletzky has been published by UCSC. Marcel Sedletzky: Architect and Teacher (Wild Coast Press, UC Santa Cruz Library, 2002) presents a personal view of a designer whose achievements went relatively unrecognized during his lifetime. "Sedletzky rarely talked about himself; in fact I learned that even his friends and colleagues didn't know much about his life. But I found a consistent appreciation for his professional rigor, his insistence that things be done 'right'," said author Bill Staggs, who spent three years researching and writing Marcel Sedletzky. Sedletzky's architecture is recognized for combining modernity with a sensitivity to the views and terrain of the California landscape. His style is a "blend of Le Corbusier's forceful modernism and Frank Lloyd Wright's organic fusion of housing form with place," writes John King, the San Francisco Chronicle's urban design critic, in his introduction to Marcel Sedletzky.
In Memoriam
Raymond F. Dasmann, a founder of international environmentalism and a professor emeritus of ecology, died in November in Santa Cruz. Dasmann had been in ill health for several years. The cause of death was pneumonia. He was 83. Dasmann was the author of more than a dozen books, including The Destruction of California, Environmental Conservation, Wildlife Biology, and California's Changing Environment. Dasmann made an impassioned plea for sustainability on a planet with limited resources. In addition to his academic career, Dasmann did pioneering work in the 1960s with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), where he helped launch the Man and the Biosphere program. For most of the 1970s, he worked in Switzerland as a senior ecologist for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. He joined the faculty at UCSC in 1977 and retired in 1989. Dasmann's efforts earned him many major international awards, including the top conservation medals of the World Wildlife Society and the Smithsonian Institution. A memorial was held in January. Contributions in Dasmann's memory may be sent to the attention of Lia Hull at the Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve Association, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
Norman O. Brown, professor emeritus of humanities and author of Life Against Death and Love's Body, died in October at his residence in Santa Cruz. He was 89. Brown's influential scholarship and teaching encompassed the classics, theology, history, psychology, sociology, and literature, among other disciplines. "He was a liberating, visionary scholar, the successor in the 20th century to Blake and to Nietzsche," said Jerome Neu, professor of philosophy at UCSC and a longtime colleague of Brown. Brown taught a variety of courses, mostly through the History of Consciousness Department, until his retirement in 1981. His last two books were Closing Time (1973), and Apocalypse and/or Metamorphosis (1991), a collection of essays he had written over the course of 30 years. {Editor's Note: Friends of the UCSC Library board member Mark Engel (Cowell '75) initiated the Norman O. Brown Classics Endowment to honor the inspirational pioneer faculty member. For more information on the Endowment and how to participate, contact Librarian Margaret Gordon, mgordon@ucsc.edu, 831/459-4211.}
Frank X. Barron, professor emeritus of psychology and one of the campus's most distinguished faculty members, died in October following complications from a fall. He was 80 years old. An internationally renowned figure in the study of creativity and personality, Frank Barron was a major contributor to the development of UCSC and its Psychology Department. Frank Barron came to UCSC in 1969, was a fellow of Porter College, and served as chair of the Psychology Department. He retired from UCSC in 1992. Contributions for a student research award in Barron's honor may be directed to the UCSC Foundation, care of John Leopold, Social Sciences 1, Faculty Services, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064. Please include "Frank Barron Memorial Award" in the check's memo line. Norma Juliet Wikler, who retired from UC Santa Cruz after teaching from 1971 to 1991, died in May at her home in Costa Rica. She was 60. A memorial for the professor emerita of sociology was held in June in New York City. While at UCSC, Wikler coauthored the 1979 book Up Against the Clock: Career Women Speak on the Choice to Have Children, which explored the decisions career women make about whether to have children, become single mothers, or remain childless. Betty Friedan heralded the book as "delineating the problems and conflicts of young women living with the options the Women's Movement fought for." Louis Owens, a former UCSC professor of literature, died in July in New Mexico. Owens's focus during his time at UCSC, from 1990 to 1994, was American literature, Native American literature, and creative writing. He received the Alumni Association's Distinguished Teaching Award in 1992. Considered the country's leading critical interpreter of Native American literature, Owens received several top book awards for his fiction and scholarly work and had his novels translated into other languages. Return to Winter 2003 Issue Contents [ 8.10.10 | jnw ] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
