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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