| The 2002-03 Featured News Archive contains
summaries of press releases about prominent news developments
at UCSB from July 2002 to June 2003. The heading of each
item links to the full text of that story. All first appeared
on the
UCSB Featured
News page.
 Professor
Says the Internet Is Changing American Democracy
In his book "Information and American
Democracy: Technology and the Evolution of Political Power,"
Bruce Bimber, professor of political science at UCSB, says
the Internet is influencing the way Americans practice democracy.
The Web isn't making democracy better or worse, he says,
just different. 6/27/2003
Campus
Hosts Fulbright Institute on Religious Diversity in the
U.S.
American-studies scholars from
around the world are at UCSB this summer studying the religious
diversity of the United States and finding out first hand
how people with such differing beliefs can coexist. 6/27/2003
China
Gives Rare Collection to UCSB Library
The People's Republic of China
has donated a major Chinese studies collection to the Davidson
Library. Called "Siku Weishoushu Jikan," the bound set of
social, cultural, and historical writings from the 18th
and 19th centuries consists of 301 volumes and includes
2,500 titles. UCSB is the only university library in Southern
California to have this distinguished collection. 6/24/2003
Winners Selected for Awards in
Research and Mentoring
The
Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate
Research was presented to Shine Ling, a graduating senior
in the College of Creative Studies. 6/6/2003
The
first annual Fiona Goodchild Award for Excellence
as a Graduate Student Mentor of Undergraduate Research was
presented to two doctoral students. 6/11/2003
The
Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate
Research was presented to Samir Mitragotri, assistant professor
of chemical engineering, for his distinguished record of
mentoring undergraduate researchers. 6/10/2003
Graduating Seniors Win Top Awards
Three
graduating seniors received the university's top
three awards for their academic achievements, their service
to the campus, and their courage and determination to succeed.
6/9/2003
Six
surprised graduating women each received a share
of a cash award of $56,500, an unexpected gift from the
now-defunct Santa Barbara City Club whose members sought
to reward top female UCSB graduates for a "job well done."
6/9/2003
Powerful
Nutritional Supplement Synthesized in Lab at UCSB
One of the hottest nutritional
supplements, currently manufactured by fermentation and
only in Japan, may eventually be synthesized in the United
States thanks to research at UCSB. 6/5/2003
Endowed
Chair in Taiwan Studies Established
An endowed chair in Taiwan
studies has been established at UCSB with a $500,000 gift
from a number of individual donors associated with the Taiwanese
American Foundation of San Diego. The benefactors said they
made the gift to help position the campus as an international
center for the exploration of Taiwan literature, history,
and culture. 5/20/2003
Students
Publish Book In Multiracial Studies
Four graduate students at UCSB
have collaborated on a newly published book in multiracial
studies titled: "Crossing Lines: Race and Mixed Race Across
the Geohistorical Divide." 5/20/2003
Emeritus
Professor and Internet Pioneer Glen Culler Dies
Glen J. Culler, professor
emeritus of electrical engineering at UCSB and an important
early innovator in the development of what became the Internet,
died May 3 in Portland, Ore. He was 75 and a long-time Santa
Barbara resident. 5/16/2003
Professor
and Spouse Endow 'Cluster' of 4 Linked Chairs
UC Santa Barbara is poised
to become a world leader in the emerging field of systems
biology as a result of an innovative philanthropic gift
that will provide special opportunities for the campus to
launch major new academic research initiatives. The $2 million
contribution from UCSB Chemical Engineering Professor Duncan
Mellichamp and his wife, Suzanne, will fund a coordinated
cluster of four endowed chairs, all devoted to a carefully
selected programmatic area of rising importance, which will
change over time. 5/13/2003
Scientists
Link Brain Plaques in Alzheimer's to Eye Disease
Scientists at the Center for
the Study of Macular Degeneration at UCSB's Neuroscience
Research Institute have found a link between the brain plaques
that form in Alzheimer's disease and the deposits in the
retina that are associated with age-related macular degeneration
(AMD). AMD is a disease that leads to loss of central vision
and affects 5 to 10 percent of the population over age 60.
5/9/2003
Physicist
Elected to American Academy
Matthew P.A. Fisher, a professor
of physics at UCSB and a permanent member of the faculty
of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics has been
elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
5/7/2003
Nobelist
Elected to National Academy of Sciences
Herbert Kroemer, a professor
in the College of Engineering and winner of a Nobel Prize
in 2000 for his pioneering work in physics, has been elected
to the nation's most prestigious scientific organization,
the National Academy of Sciences. This brings to 22 the
number of current UCSB faculty members who have been elected
to the academy.
4/30/2003
Religious
Studies Professor Wins Guggenheim, UC Fellowships
Catherine Albanese, a professor
of religious studies at UCSB, has been awarded a prestigious
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship to continue work
on a book about metaphysical religion in the United States.
Albanese also recently received a Presidential Research
Fellowship in the Humanities from the office of UC President
Richard Atkinson. 4/28/2003
Mellon
Foundation Gives $700,000 to NCEAS
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
has made a $700,000 grant to the National Center for Ecological
Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at UC Santa Barbara to support
its Network for Biocomplexity, a data management system.
The funds will help NCEAS identify ecological data systems
to incorporate into the network and introduce its capabilities
to potential users. 4/21/2003
UC Suspends Beijing Study Abroad
Program
The UC systemwide Education Abroad
Program has suspended its programs at Peking University
and Beijing Normal University in Beijing, China and mandated
the immediate return of UC students in the programs. The
decision reflects UC's ongoing concern for student safety,
given the continued expansion of the Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS) situation in the Beijing area. 4/17/2003
UCSB
Admits 18,706; Quality and Diversity are Up
UCSB has offered admission
for its Fall 2003 entering class to a total of 18,706 high
school students. The prospective freshmen were selected
from a pool of 37,308 applicants, 3,012 more than last year.
"The class of applicants that we have admitted this year
is exceptional for both its academic quality and its diversity,"
said Chancellor Henry T. Yang. 4/16/2003
 Fiona
Goodchild Wins Presidential Award The
education director of UCSB's renowned Materials Research
Laboratory received a Presidential Award for Excellence
in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring at a ceremony
in Washington on March 18. Fiona Goodchild was among 10
individuals and six organizations to receive the award this
year. 3/18/2003
 Geographer
Michael Goodchild Selected to Deliver Prestigious UC Santa
Barbara Faculty Research Lecture Michael
Goodchild, a professor of geography at the University of
California, Santa Barbara and an internationally respected
pioneer in computer-based geographical information systems,
has been chosen to give the 2003 UCSB Faculty Research Lecture
on April 30th. The honor is the most prestigious that the
university faculty bestows on one of its own. 3/13/2003
New
UCSB Earthquake Study Improves Model, Shows Hazard to Structures
Located Near the Fault Thanks
to recent advances in parallel computing, an interdisciplinary
team of scientists at the University of California, Santa
Barbara has discovered a peculiar and important aspect of
how seismic waves are generated during an earthquake. The
results are published in the March 7 edition of Science
Magazine. 3/10/2003
 UCSB
Astrophysicist Is Awarded Sloan Fellowship Crystal
Martin, an astrophysicist and assistant professor of physics
at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has received
a prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, joining
a small group of physicists at UCSB to win the honor in
recent years. 3/7/2003
National
Academy of Engineering Elects Three From UCSB
Three more faculty members
have been elected to the prestigious National Academy of
Engineering. Glenn H. Fredrickson, Sanjit K. Mitra, and
Shuji Nakamura were among 77 new members and nine foreign
associates elected in balloting by the academy's members,
the results of which were announced in Washington on February
14. All three professors serve on the faculty of the College
of Engineering, which now boasts 22 members of the National
Academy of Engineering. 2/20/2003
Research
Breakthrough for Spintronics, Quantum Computing
Researchers at UCSB and the University
of Pittsburgh report a breakthrough in spin-based technologies
and quantum computing in a paper published on the "Science
Express" website. The site is Science Magazine's portal
for expeditious publication of significant research findings
that will subsequently appear in the magazine. The findings
move esoteric spin-based technologies from the futuristic
to within reach of present-day possibilities. 1/23/2003
 Professors
Involved in New JASON Project
The campus is a participant in the latest
"JASON" project, a multimedia educational event
of large proportions that will be centered at the Santa
Barbara Maritime Museum. Several UCSB researchers have helped
to prepare curricula and a variety of teaching activities
for the two-week program, which begins January 27. Called
"JASON XIV: Shore to Sea," the project will involve
students in grades four through nine from across the nation
in real-time audio-video communications with researchers
on land and under the Santa Barbara Channel. 1/23/2003
NSF
Awards New Graduate Study Grants to UCSB The
National Science Foundation has announced 18 new grants
for pioneering approaches to Ph.D. study, and UCSB is the
only campus to win more than one. The two new grants bring
to four the total the campus has won under this program,
more than any other university. The grants are called "IGERT,"
short for Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship,
and they are worth an average of $2.8 million over five
years. 1/16/2003
 Reversible
Switch Presages New Paradigm for Surface Design
A team of researchers, including UCSB
chemical engineer Samir Mitragotri and colleagues from MIT
and UC Berkeley, have designed and demonstrated a reversible
surface switch. Their findings, published in the Jan. 17
issue of Science, represent a new paradigm for surface design
that incorporates for the first time a temporal control
without altering surface chemistry. This broad, enabling
technology will likely spawn a variety of new applications.
1/16/2003
6
Profs Listed Among Top Earth Scientists Six
UC Santa Barbara faculty members and one former graduate
student are listed among the top Earth scientists in the
world in a new reference book entitled "A to Z of Earth
Scientists," part of a notable scientists series published
by Facts On File, Inc. A comprehensive biographical digest
of more than 150 scientists from the 18th century to the
present, the book is designed for high school students,
researchers, teachers, and general readers. 12/22/2002
Capps
Center Wins NEH Challenge Grant The
Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics,
Religion, and Public Life at UCSB has been awarded a $500,000 challenge grant
by the National Endowment for the Humanities in support
of the center's mission. The center is dedicated to promoting
the study and civil discussion of issues related to religion,
values and public life through a variety of ways, including
conferences, guest speakers, curricula, student internships,
and fellowships. 12/17/2002
Research
Fund Totals Reach Record Level Research
support from external sources reached a record high at UCSB
last year, when a total of $130.4 million was received from
federal and state agencies, corporations, and foundations
– a 5 percent increase over the previous year. Over
the past 10 years, the campus has seen an 80 percent increase
in research contracts and grants from external sources.
12/11/2002
3
UC Campuses Form New Nanoscience Unit The
Center for Nanoscience Innovation for Defense (CNID) has
been established by three UC campuses – Santa Barbara,
UCLA, and Riverside – to facilitate the transformation
of research innovation in the nanosciences into applications
for the defense sector. Federal funding for the project,
which is being shared equally by the campuses, is expected
to total $20 million over three years. The center is sponsored
by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
and Defense MicroElectronics Activity (DMEA). UCSB's David
Awschalom, a professor of physics and of electrical and
computer engineering, spearheaded efforts to establish the
center. 12/10/2002
Global
Studies Chief Wins Religion Prize Mark
Juergensmeyer, professor of sociology and director of Global
and International Studies at UC Santa Barbara, has won the
2003 Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion for his book,
"Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious
Violence" (University of California Press, 2000). 12/6/2002
Keck
Foundation Gives $1.2 Million for Study of Ecological Problems
The University of California, Santa Barbara
has been awarded $1.2 million by the W. M. Keck Foundation
of Los Angeles to develop new techniques and technologies
for the conservation of natural resources and environmental
restoration. The grant will support the creation of an interdisciplinary
research program in ecotechnology, a conceptually new, proactive
approach to critical conservation issues such as the restoration
of degraded habitats, the maintenance of biodiversity, and
the enhancement of exploited populations. 12/4/2002
 Professor
Debunks Urban Legends of Medieval Theater In
her new book, Jody Enders, a professor of French at UCSB,
debunks myths associated with medieval theater that have
been repeated as fact for centuries. One well known example
was the story of a dramatic performance in Tournai, Belgium,
around 1549, in which a convicted criminal was said to have
been beheaded on stage in a scripted execution scene. Professor
Enders's research, though, places the tale squarely alongside
more recent urban legends, such as tales of alligators living
in the New York City sewer system. 12/2/2002
Endowed
Chair Set for KITP Director An
endowed chair for the director of the Kavli Institute for
Theoretical Physics has been established with a $1 million
donation from Fred Gluck. A former head of McKinsey &
Company, the international management consulting firm, Gluck
is a member of the Board of Trustees of the UCSB Foundation.
David Gross, who came to UCSB from Princeton in 1997 to
head the institute, is the first Frederick W. Gluck Professor
of Theoretical Physics. 11/21/2002
5
UCSB Researchers Win $3.5-M. Grant A
team of five UCSB researchers has been awarded a four-year,
$3.5 million grant by the Defense Advanced Research Project
Agency (DARPA) to investigate how to pipe digital and analog
information through a photonic circuit on a single compound
semiconductor chip. 11/5/2002
UCSB
Names Chief of Campus Design and Facilities UCSB
has announced the appointment of Marc Fisher as Associate
Vice Chancellor for Campus Design and Facilities, a new
position. Fisher, who currently serves as campus architect
at UCLA, will take up his new duties on the Santa Barbara
campus on December 1. 11/1/2002
Global
Warming Has Uneven Effect On Coastal Animals
Although it is expected that populations
of many organisms will move away from the equator and toward
the poles to stay cool during global warming, researchers
have found that the intertidal zone does not exactly fit
this pattern. A study published in this week's Science Magazine
indicates that there may be "hot spots" at northern
shoreline sites within the next three to five years. Carol
Blanchette, Patricia M. Halpin and Gretchen E. Hofmann,
all from UCSB, were coauthors on this article. 10/31/2002
 Psychoanalysis
Book Probes Nazi Influence Laurence
Rickels, a professor of German at UCSB, says there is little
about modern life that wasn't affected by Adolph Hitler's
fascist regime. In his new three-volume work, Nazi Psychoanalysis,
Rickels tells the history of the odd conjuncture of Nazism
and psychoanalysis with frequent digressions to discuss
Nazi influence in other spheres.
10/31/2002
Groundwater
Pumping Model Developed By UCSB Professor Underground
water or aquifers are continuous, but the land above them
is usually carved up among different owners. Hugo A. Loaiciga,
a professor of geography at the University of California,
Santa Barbara has designed a tool for landowners to determine
how much water they can pump without depleting the aquifer
they share. Professor Loaiciga said two individuals influenced
his thinking on this problem. They are emeriti professors
John Nash of Princeton University and Garrett Hardin of
UC Santa Barbara. Nash, whose story was told in the movie
"A Beautiful Mind," did mathematical studies of
how businesses compete for a share of the market. 10/25/2002
Astrophysicist
Wins Packard Fellowship Crystal
Martin, an astro-physicist and assistant professor of physics
at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has recently
been awarded a prestigious Packard Foundation Fellowship
for Science and Engineering for the year 2002. 10/21/2002
 Bloodworm's
Way With Copper Likely Provides Paradigm for New Materials
Researchers, including UCSB's HerbertWaite
and Galen Stuckey, report in the October 11th Science
the first detection of a living organism that makes a copper–containing
mineral structure as part of its skeleton. The finding is
remarkable because the amount of copper detected in the
jaw tip of the marine bloodworm would normally be toxic
to an organism. 10/10/2002
Professors
to Study Abroad Under Fulbright Grants Two
UC Santa Barbara faculty members, Patricia Ann Hall and
Eduardo Paiva Raposo, are among the 800 U.S. academics and
professionals chosen to receive Fulbright Scholar Awards
to conduct research at foreign universities during the 2002-2003
academic year. UCSB also has been selected to host three
foreign scholars. 10/9/2002
 Nakamura
Wins 2 Major International Awards Shuji
Nakamura, a professor of engineering and director of the
Center for Solid State Lighting and Displays, has won two
major international awards for his invention of the blue
laser and blue, green, and white LEDs.
9/18/2002
Tipton
Foundation Donates $1.4 Million Tipton
Foundation of Santa Ynez donates $1.4 million for a community
learning center at UC's Sedgwick Reserve. 9/18/2002
U.S.
News and World Report Ranks UCSB Among Best U.S.
News and World Report ranks UCSB among the best universities.
9/13/2002
Private
Giving to UC Santa Barbara Reaches a Record $51.3 Million
in 2001-02 In a climate of
economic uncertainty, alumni and friends of the University
of California, Santa Barbara demonstrated their strong support
for the campus by contributing a record $51.3 million in
philanthropic gifts and pledges during 2001-02. In terms
of philanthropic support, the fiscal year that ended June
30 was the campus's most successful ever, surpassing the
banner fund-raising achievement of the previous year by
more than $3 million. 9/10/2002
College
Guide Names UC Santa Barbara One of This Year's Hottest
Colleges
The University of California,
Santa Barbara has been named one of the 12 "hottest" colleges
in the nation, according to the Kaplan College Guide, which
is published by Newsweek magazine and appeared on newsstands
on August 26th. Cited for its strengths in many academic
disciplines, Santa Barbara was praised for its "increasingly
impressive academic reputation and glamorous location."
8/23/2002
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