| The 2003-04 Featured News Archive contains
summaries of press releases about prominent news developments
at UCSB from July 2003 to June 2004. The heading of each
item links to the full text of that story. All first appeared
on the
UCSB
Featured News page.
Summer
Institute Helps Foreign Scholars Examine America's Religious
Diversity 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 widely differing
beliefs can coexist. The institute, now in its third year,
was developed by the Department of Religious Studies and
is funded by the State Department's Fulbright American
Studies Institute. 6/30/2004
 Rudolfo
Anaya to Receive 2004 Luis Leal Writing Award
Rudolfo Anaya, a New Mexican writer
whose novels and stories depict the lives of contemporary
Mexican-Americans in the Southwest, has been chosen to
receive the 2004 Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino
Literature. The award, given by UCSB and the Santa Barbara
Book & Author Festival, in conjunction with Santa
Barbara City College, will be presented to Anaya during
this year's festival on Sept. 18. 6/25/2004
Fellowship
Gift Will Help Prepare Future Scholars
Alumnus Fredric Steck and the Fredric E. Steck Family
Foundation have given the campus a $500,000 endowment
to help strengthen UCSB's ability to compete with other
institutions in recruiting high-caliber graduate students.
6/23/2004
Research
Awards Presented to Faculty Mentor and Students
A graduating senior, two graduate students,
and a faculty member have been recognized for their contributions
to undergraduate research at UCSB. 6/11/2004
89
Seniors Selected for Phi Beta Kappa
Faculty members at UCSB have inducted 89 high-achieving
seniors into the campus chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the
nation's oldest honorary academic society. 6/11/2004
 UCSB
Awarded Patent for "Date Rape" Drug Test
A patent for a highly sensitive test
to detect the presence of the "date rape" drug,
GHB, has been granted to UCSB. Dawn Bravo, a Ph.D. candidate
in chemistry and biochemistry, and Stanley Parsons, former
chair of the department, developed the new test, which
can be used both in emergency room settings and by law
enforcement officials. The test can also be used to quickly
check a drink for the presence of GHB. 6/7/2004
Graduating Seniors Win Top
Awards
Three
remarkable graduating seniors will receive the
university's top three awards for their scholastic achievements,
their extraordinary service to the university and the
community, and their personal courage and persistence.
6/2/2004
Six
graduating women will share an unrestricted cash
award of $53,500, an unexpected gift from the now-defunct
Santa Barbara City Club whose members sought to reward
top female graduates at UCSB for a "job well done."
6/3/2004
Four
graduating seniors have been selected to receive
awards for academic
achievement from the College of Letters and Science at
commencement
exercises on June 12-13. 6/3/2004
 Scholar
Examines Japan's Identity Crisis John
Nathan, a professor of East Asian Languages and Cultural
Studies at UCSB, has been keeping a scholarly eye on Japan
for four decades. In his latest book, "Japan Unbound:
A Volatile Nation's Quest for Pride and Purpose,"
Nathan takes a deep look at the economic and cultural
malaise that has gripped that nation since the 1990 collapse
of the Tokyo Stock Market and given rise to what he calls
a cultural identity crisis. 5/27/2004
 Anthropologist
Appointed Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center
UCSB cultural anthropologist Mary Hancock
is one of 23 distinguished scholars named fellows of the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington,
D.C. As a resident fellow, Hancock will spend the next
academic year at the center for advanced study where she
plans to complete a book, "Remembered Futures, Everyday
Histories: Politics, Culture and the Past in Urban South
India." 5/26/2004
Capps
Center Receives Endowment Gift
The Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics,
Religion, and Public Life at UCSB has received a $580,000 planned gift
from Leinie Schilling Bard, of Santa Barbara, that will
provide endowment support for the center. The Capps Center
seeks to advance discussion of compelling issues related
to religion, ethics, and public life through colloquia
and student internships and fellowships. 5/26/2004
 UCSB
Physicist Elected to the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences Guenter Ahlers,
professor of physics at UCSB, has been elected a Fellow
of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Ahlers is an experimental condensed matter physicist known
for many contributions to the field. He joined the UCSB
faculty in 1979. 5/18/2004
 Evidence
of Meteor Impact Near Australia Linked to Largest Extinction
in Earth's History
An impact crater, believed to be associated
with the "Great Dying," the largest extinction
event in the history of life on Earth—much earlier
than the extinction of the dinosaurs—appears to be
buried off the coast of Australia, according to new findings
of a major research project headed by a scientist at UCSB.
5/13/2004
 DARPA
Funds UCSB-Led Effort to Develop New Technologies
A team of researchers in industry and
higher education, led by a group at UCSB headed by Professor
Dan Blumenthal of electrical and computer engineering,
has been awarded major financial support by the Defense
Advanced Research Project Agency to develop new technologies
to advance optical router capacity far beyond the current
state of the art. The research is expected to open new
possibilities for the distribution of rich data, voice,
and video content over the Internet at vastly greater
speeds and using less power. The team has been awarded
$6.3 million for the first phase of its research, with
optional phases that raise the total to $15.8 million.
5/3/2004
 Chemical
Engineer Elected to National Academy of Sciences
Jacob Israelachvili, a professor of
chemical engineering and materials, has been elected to
the nation's most prestigious scientific organization,
the National Academy of Sciences. His election brings
to 23 the number of current UCSB faculty members who have
been elected to the NAS. 4/22/2004
UCSB
Offers Admission to 19,325 for Fall
UC Santa Barbara has offered a place in its fall 2004
entering class to a total of 19,325 high school students.
The prospective freshmen were selected from a pool of
36,651 applicants. Of those admitted, 93 percent are enrolled
in California high schools. 4/20/2004
Ocean
Study Looks at Climate Change
Scientists are learning about climate change by fertilizing
the ocean with iron to create blooms of microscopic plants.
Some of the findings from the study suggest that, when
extrapolated over large regions, iron fertilization could
cause billions of tons of carbon to be removed from the
atmosphere each year. Removal of this much carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere could have been partly responsible
for the cooling of the Earth during ice ages. 4/19/2004
Research
Finds Cinnamon May Help Alleviate Diabetes
Cinnamon may be more than a spice—it
may have a medical application in helping to prevent diabetes.
The healthful effects of cinnamon on mice with diabetes
are being studied jointly at UCSB and the Sansum Diabetes
Research Institute in Santa Barbara. 4/12/2004
 Isadore
Singer to Share 'Nobel Prize' of Mathematics
American mathematician Isadore Singer,
who teaches at UC Santa Barbara, and British mathematician
Sir Michael Atiyah have been selected to share the 2004
Abel Prize, considered the "Nobel Prize" in
the field of mathematics, "for their discovery and
proof of the index theorem." Singer currently holds
two positions, one as Institute Professor of Mathematics
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and another
at UCSB where he teaches every winter quarter as a distinguished
visiting professor. 3/30/2004
Course
in 'The Geography of Surfing' Proves Very Popular
A new course in UC Santa Barbara's
Department of Geography—possibly the first of its
type in the U.S.—is making waves among undergraduates.
"The Geography of Surfing" filled up more than
a month before the start of spring quarter. Taught by
Stuart Sweeney, an assistant professor of geography, the
course provides an integrated view of regional, human
and physical geography through the lens of surfing. "My
motivation is to teach some of the ideas central to geography
in a context that will connect strongly with the cultural
milieu of the students," said Sweeney, a lifetime
surfer. 3/29/2004
Two
Professors Awarded Prestigious German Fellowship
Two UCSB faculty members have each
been awarded the Humboldt Research Prize in recognition
of lifetime achievements in science: Mattanjah S. de Vries,
professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Horia Metiu,
professor in the departments of chemistry and physics.
3/23/2004
Pollock Family Donates $2 Million for Public Film Theater
in New Center Joseph and
Helene Pollock, of Santa Barbara, and their family have
contributed $2 million for the construction of a public
film theater in the new Center
for Film, Television and New Media at UCSB. The gift
brings to $5.75 million the total raised thus far toward
a goal of $10 million for the privately funded center.
In celebration of the Pollocks' gift, the center's public
theater will be named in their honor. 3/11/2004
 Murdoch
Selected for Faculty Research Lectureship William
W. Murdoch, an internationally known ecologist and a UCSB
faculty member since 1965, has been chosen to receive
the highest honor the UCSB faculty can bestow upon one
of its own: the annual Faculty Research Lectureship. Murdoch's
lecture is free and open to the public and will focus
on "The Balance of Nature." He will speak from
4 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 14 in the Girvetz Theater
(Girvetz Hall, Room 1004). 3/10/2004
 Sloan
Fellowship Awarded to Joan-Emma Shea
Joan-Emma Shea, an assistant professor of chemistry and
biochemistry at UCSB, has been awarded a prestigious Sloan
Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
An expert in protein folding, Shea is one of 116 outstanding
young scientists and economists who have been selected
from a pool of hundreds across the nation to receive the
Sloan Research Fellowship this year. Shea's research spans
the fields of theoretical chemistry and biophysics. 3/9/2004
Nanosystems
Institute Awarded $2 Million NSF Education Grant
The California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI) at UCSB has
been awarded a $2 million educational outreach grant from
the National Science Foundation. The grant will support
a new program that aims to increase the number of high
school and community college students who complete undergraduate
degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
2/26/2004
Scientists
Find Nanoscale Production Model Inside Marine Sponges
UCSB Professor Daniel Morse and his
students have made advances in copying the way marine
sponges construct skeletal glass needles at the nanoscale.
The research group is using nature’s example to
produce semiconductors and photovoltaic materials in an
environmentally benign way––as they report
in a recent issue of the journal Chemistry of Materials.
2/25/2004
Donation
of UCSB Discovery May Accelerate New Treatment for Global
Health Problem UC Santa
Barbara has donated all rights to a patent that covers
the novel use of an established class of cardiovascular
medicines as a potential new drug against a global parasitic
disease. The Institute for OneWorld Health, a nonprofit
pharmaceutical company based in San Francisco, will use
the UCSB discovery and the wealth of data associated with
the medicines to accelerate drug development for treatment
of schistosomiasis. The researchers involved are Mark
Walter, a research biologist, and Armand Kuris, professor
of biology. 2/23/2004
National
Academy of Engineering Elects Two More UCSB Professors
Two faculty members in the College
of Engineering have been elected members of the prestigious
National Academy of Engineering. Larry A. Coldren, a professor
of electrical and computer engineering, and Linda R. Petzold,
a professor of mechanical and environmental engineering,
were among 76 new members and 11 foreign associates elected
in balloting by the academy's members. The College of
Engineering now boasts 24 members of the Academy. 2/17/2004
 Alumnus
Michael Douglas Donates $1-Million to Center for Film,
TV, and New Media Academy
award-winner Michael Douglas has contributed $1-million
toward the construction of a Center
for Film, Television and New Media at UCSB. In recognition
of the gift, the lobby of the center's public theater
will be named in his honor. A graduate of UCSB, Douglas
earned a B.A. in dramatic art from the campus in 1968.
He is a member of the center's distinguished advisory
board. "I love UCSB, and am proud to be associated
with the new center," he said. 2/2/2004
UCSB
Receives 45,045 Undergraduate Applications For Fall 2004
The campus has received a record 45,045
applications for admission to the campus for fall 2004.
Of this total, 36,651 applications were from prospective
first-year students (657 fewer than last year), 8,256
were from applicants seeking to transfer to UCSB (1,107
more than last year), and 138 were from students applying
for the Dual Admissions Program, under which they will
complete two years at a California community college before
enrolling at a UC campus. 1/27/2004
Catholic
Studies Endowment Reaches $3 Million
UCSB has reached a major milestone in an effort to enhance
Catholic Studies in the campus's renowned Department of
Religious Studies through an endowment supporting professorships,
fellowships, and special programs. The J. E. and Lillian
Tipton Foundation, of Santa Ynez, has made a $1.1 million
gift to establish a visiting professorship in the interdisciplinary
field of Catholic Studies. The grant brings to $3 million
the total raised thus far in a joint university and community
fund-raising effort for the Virgil Cordano Endowment in
Catholic Studies. 1/23/2004
Alumnus
to Head Space Station Mission
NASA Astronaut Leroy Chiao, who received his doctorate
in chemical engineering from UCSB in 1987, has been named
commander of Expedition 9, the next mission aboard the
International Space Station, according to a NASA announcement.
The expedition is scheduled for launch aboard a Soyuz
spacecraft in April. 1/21/2004
 Mars
Rover Material Tested at UCSB Frederick
Milstein, UCSB professor of mechanical and environmental
engineering and materials, and his small team of researchers
made contributions that NASA deemed crucial to the Mars
rover landings. They were awarded special recognition
by NASA for the work. NASA chose Milstein's group to test
a new material designed to shield vital components of
the Mars entry vehicle as it hit the Martian atmosphere.
1/15/2004
Three
UCSB Scholars Study Abroad with Fulbright Grants
Two UC Santa Barbara faculty members
and one administrator are among the approximately 800
American academics and professionals recently announced
as recipients of Fulbright Scholar Awards to conduct research
at foreign universities during the 2003-2004 academic
year. UCSB also has been selected to host three foreign
scholars. David L. Crawford, a lecturer in the Department
of Anthropology; John W. DuBois, an associate professor
of linguistics; and Mary McMahon, assistant dean of the
Graduate Division; are UCSB's three Fulbright recipients.
Coming to UCSB this year are Manuel Mendoza Garcia of
Spain, Philip Laing Munday of Australia, and Igor Zektser
of Russia. 1/7/2004
Gift
Launches Year-Round Adapted Recreation Program
UCSB has received a $75,000 contribution
from the Bialis Family Foundation, of Santa Barbara, to
establish a recreation program serving children and adults
with physical and developmental disabilities. The gift
for the UCSB Adapted Recreation Program comes from the
foundation's Clara Project, which is helping agencies
throughout Santa Barbara County create and expand existing
programs to enrich the opportunities available to people
with disabilities. The new program will expand sports
and recreational activities for children and adults both
on campus and in the surrounding region by offering year-round
sports and recreational activities tailored to the special
needs of participants. 1/5/2004
Boeing
Donates Integrated Circuit Patents to UCSB
UCSB has received a donation of four
patents from the Boeing Company that are related to improving
the performance of electronic circuits. The patents are
directly related to the research of Kaustav Banerjee,
assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering
at UCSB, who has worked extensively on three-dimensional
(3-D) integrated circuits and thermal analysis of both
3-D integrated circuits and high-performance microprocessors.
12/17/2003
 Francisco
Lomelí to Receive Chicano Scholarship Award
The National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies
has named UCSB's Francisco Lomelí winner of its
2004 Scholar Award. The award recognizes Lomelí's
research and writing about Mexican Americans and Mexican-American
writers and literature and his contributions to the development
of Chicana and Chicano Studies as an academic discipline.
Lomelí is a professor of Spanish and Portuguese,
a professor of Chicana and Chicano studies, and chair
of the Department of Black Studies. He will receive the
award at the NACCS Conference in Albuquerque in April. 12/12/2003
Visiting
Professor Receives Prestigious German Award
Frank Allgoewer, currently a visiting
professor in UCSB's Department of Chemical Engineering,
has just been awarded the Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz Prize
by the West German government. The highly prestigious
prize—often referred to as the "German Nobel
Prize"—is valued at $1.85 million dollars. It
was established in 1906 to commemorate Gottfried Wilhelm
Freiherr von Leibniz, the 17th-century German philosopher,
scholar and statesman. 12/11/2003
Meteor
Seen as Cause of Greatest Extinction Event
The "Great Dying," a time
of the earth's largest number of extinctions, appears
to have been caused by the impact of a large meteor, according
to a research team that includes Luann Becker, a scientist
with UCSB's Institute for Crustal Studies. The theory,
recently published in the journal Science, explains that
this extinction event occurred approximately 251 million
years ago—long before the demise of the dinosaurs,
estimated at some 65 million years ago and also thought
to have been caused by a large meteor impact. 12/1/2003
 Journal
Names Richard Mayer Top Educational Psychology Researcher
A national five-year study
has ranked Richard Mayer, a professor of psychology and
education at UCSB, the nation's most prolific researcher
in the field of educational psychology. The same study
ranked UCSB the third most-prolific university in that
field. Published in the journal Contemporary Educational
Psychology, the study was conducted by researchers at
Northern Illinois University and Southwest Missouri State
University and covered 1997 through 2001. 11/25/2003
Mosher
Foundation Donates $3 Million for Alumni Center
UCSB has received a $3 million gift
toward the construction of an alumni center from The Samuel
B. and Margaret C. Mosher Foundation of Santa Barbara.
The new building will be named the Mosher Alumni House
and will be located at the University Plaza entrance to
the campus, at the intersection of Mesa Road, north of
Campbell Hall. The center will serve as a focal point
to welcome returning graduates and will also be a gathering
place for other visitors, with public meeting facilities,
galleries, and a library. For the first time the UCSB
Alumni Association will have a prominent campus presence
with enhanced facilities to support expanded programming
and services. 11/24/2003
 Political
Scientist's Book Examines Presidential Campaigning Via
Internet In "Campaigning
Online: The Internet in U.S. Elections," (Oxford
University, 2003)—a book with myriad implications
for the 2004 presidential election—UCSB political
scientist Bruce Bimber and co-author Richard Davis of
Brigham Young University analyze how candidates used the
Internet in the 2000 presidential campaign. A key finding
of the research: Most voters visited only their favorite
candidate's web site. Bimber says candidates should tailor
their site's content not to win converts but to solidify
the support of those already in the fold. 11/18/2003
Research
Funding Hits Record High Research
support from external sources reached a record high at
UCSB last year, when a total of $143.9 million was received
from federal and state agencies, corporations, and foundations.
By the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2003, this "extramural"
funding in the form of contracts and grants for research,
training, and public-service programs had increased 10
percent over the previous year's total. Over the past
10 years, UCSB has seen a 77-percent increase in research
funds from external sources. 11/18/2003
 Middle
East Expert Picked for Prestigious Faculty Award
Lisa Hajjar, an associate professor in UCSB's Law and
Society Program, has been named the 2003 winner of the
Harold J. Plous Award, given annually to a top assistant
professor. The award, presented by the Academic Senate,
recognizes Hajjar's "innovative research, inspirational
teaching, and generous community service." As the
Plous winner, Hajjar will give a public lecture, "Torture
and Future," later in the 2003-2004 academic year.
11/17/2003
Search
for Dark Matter Intensifies
Astronomers have known for 70 years that the matter we
see cannot constitute all the matter in the universe.
"Dark energy" makes up 73 percent, and an unknown
form of dark matter makes up 23 percent. Scientists have
now announced that the search for dark matter is on—it
has been launched from a laboratory half a mile below
ground. And two UCSB professors are playing a major role
in the multi-institution experiment. 11/12/2003
Climate
Experts Help Predict Rainfall Patterns to Avert Famine
In Sub-Saharan Africa and
Central America, too little or too much rainfall can cause
famine. Scientists at UCSB and the US Geological Survey
are now working with researchers in these countries to
monitor, anticipate and mitigate the impact of flooding
and drought. 11/10/2003
3
Professors Elected Fellows of the AAAS
Three UCSB faculty members have been elected Fellows by
the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(AAAS) for their efforts to advance science or for applications
deemed scientifically or socially distinguished. The new
Fellows from UCSB are S. James Allen in physics, David
A. Low in biology, and Phillip L. Walker in anthropology.
The complete list of this year's Fellows appears in the
AAAS News & Notes section of the journal Science dated
October 31, 2003. 10/31/2003
Chemist
Wins Prestigious Packard Fellowship
Joan-Emma Shea, assistant professor
of chemistry and biochemistry at UCSB, has been awarded
a prestigious Packard Foundation Fellowship for Science
and Engineering for the year 2003, one of 16 national
awards. The intent of the fellowship program is to provide
support for unusually creative researchers early in their
careers. The fellowship of $625,000, paid over five years,
may be used for any reasonable research expenditure. Shea's
research spans the fields of theoretical chemistry and
biophysics. 10/23/2003
Groundbreaking
Held For California NanoSystems Institute A
groundbreaking was held October 24 to mark the start of
construction on a new building to house one of the most
exciting scientific endeavors the campus is involved in—the
California NanoSystems Institute, or CNSI. The building
will be located at the northeastern edge of the campus,
south of Mesa Road and across from the Kavli Institute
for Theoretical Physics. A multidisciplinary partnership
between UCLA and UC Santa Barbara, the CNSI is one of
the four California Institutes for Science and Innovation
established in December 2000 by Governor Gray Davis with
the support of the state legislature and California industry.
Designed to facilitate interactions among researchers
from a broad range of science and engineering disciplines,
the state-of-the-art building will bring together innovators
from California universities, industries, and national
laboratories. 10/22/2003
Retired
Vice Chancellor David Sheldon Dies at 61 David
N. Sheldon, vice chancellor for administrative services
at UC Santa Barbara from 1988 to 2001, died at Santa Barbara
Cottage Hospital on Oct. 13. He had been diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer earlier this year. He was 61. A veteran
administrator, he had served the University of California
system for 34 years before retiring from UCSB in 2001.
10/14/2003
UCSB
Physicist Devises Way to Observe Protein Folding
Physicists are getting more involved
in the fight against diseases by studying the folding
of proteins, which they hope will eventually lead to the
development of new drugs. Illnesses such as Alzheimer's
disease and even some cancers are the result of protein
folding that has gone awry. Everett Lipman, a new assistant
professor of physics at UCSB, recently co-authored an
article in the journal Science describing an innovative
study of how to "see" proteins as they fold,
the result of experiments performed with co-workers at
the National Institutes of Health. 10/8/2003
 $9.4
Million NSF Grant Backs UCSB-Led Effort in Bio-Imaging
Informatics The National
Science Foundation has awarded a $9.4 million grant for
the development of new information-processing technologies
that will make it possible to extract detailed understanding
of biological processes from images depicting the distribution
of biological molecules within cells or tissues. The project
is headed by Bangalore Manjunath, a professor of electrical
and computer engineering at UCSB. The five-year grant
provides $6.9 million to UCSB and $2.5 million to Carnegie
Mellon University. 10/3/2003
 Gaines
Named Winner of Top Marine Conservation Award
Steven Gaines, director of the Marine
Science Institute at UCSB and acting vice chancellor for
research, has been named one of five scholars worldwide
to win the most prestigious award honoring and investing
in applied ocean conservation science and outreach. He
has received a 2003 Pew Marine Conservation Fellowship,
which includes a $150,000 grant over three years to carry
out innovative, interdisciplinary projects addressing
challenges facing marine environments around the world.
9/29/2003
 Royal
Geographical Society Presents
Founder's
Medal
to Prof. Michael Goodchild Michael
F. Goodchild, a professor of geography at UCSB, has been
awarded the Founder's Medal by Britain's Royal Geographical
Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). The
organization, founded in 1830, is the official British
society for geography and geographers. Goodchild was cited
for his efforts to encourage and promote geographical
science and discovery. 9/24/2003
Prof.
Everett Zimmerman, Former Provost, Dies at 66
Everett Zimmerman, a distinguished scholar
and longtime member of the UC Santa Barbara faculty who
served in important campus leadership positions, died
in Santa Barbara on Monday, September 22. He recently
had been diagnosed with brain cancer. A resident of Santa
Barbara, he was 66. 9/22/2003
 Major
Donation to Enable UCSB Libraries to Produce Discography
of Victor Records William
R. Moran, a noted discographer, author, and collector,
has donated $1.7 million to the University Libraries at
UC Santa Barbara for the completion of the Victor Project,
a multi-volume encyclopedia cataloging all of the recordings
made by the Victor Talking Machine Company (which later
became RCA Victor) from 1900 to 1950. The “Encyclopedic
Discography of Victor Records” represents the only
systematic published account of these historic recording
sessions since few trade catalogs exist for the period.
9/22/2003
Army
Research Office Announces Grant of Up to $50 Million to
Partnership Led by UCSB The
Army Research Office has made an initial grant of up to
$50 million over five years to a UCSB-led partnership
to establish the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies.
Caltech and MIT are partners in the project, as are six
industrial companies that will develop the technologies
created in the university laboratories. 8/27/2003
Discovery
of Cell Survival Gene May Lead to New Treatments for Degenerative
Diseases and Cancer Our
cells are constantly making life and death decisions.
A new gene that controls this life or death switch and
protects cells from dying has been discovered by researchers
at UCSB, as reported in the August 28 edition of the scientific
journal Nature. The discovery may provide scientists with
new means for identifying drugs that combat degenerative
diseases such as Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS), the destructive
effects of stroke and heart diseases, autoimmune diseases,
and cancer. 8/27/2003
 Urban
Affairs Scholar and Ford Foundation Official Named Dean
Melvin L. Oliver, a prominent sociologist
and foundation leader, has been named dean of social sciences.
Since 1996, he has been vice president for asset building
and community development at the Ford Foundation, one
of the largest private philanthropies in the United States.
He joined the foundation after two decades on the faculty
at UCLA, where he served as a professor of sociology and
policy studies, and a director of the Center for the Study
of Urban Poverty, among other roles. He is expected to
take up his new duties by April 1, 2004. 8/7/2003
Nation's
First Ph.D. Program in Chicano Studies Established at
UCSB The University of California
has approved a proposal to establish the nation's first
doctoral program in Chicano studies at UCSB. The graduate
program, which will also include a master of arts track,
will be offered by the Department of Chicana and Chicano
Studies, long a pioneering department in ethnic studies.
The program's first graduate students are expected to
be admitted and enrolled for fall quarter 2004. 8/4/2003
Researchers
Discover Zinc in Clamworm Jaws UCSB
researchers have found that the clamworm has jaws made
partly of zinc. The scientists say that their studies
of how nature makes hard materials may eventually yield
information on how scientists can make lightweight, flexible
materials ranging from more durable tires to protective
coatings. 8/1/2003
 European
Physics Prize Goes to David Gross
The prestigious High Energy and Particle
Physics Prize of the European Physical Society for 2003
has been awarded to David Gross, a professor of physics
and director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics
at UCSB. He shares the prize with two other Americans-Frank
Wilczek of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
who was a student of Gross's at Princeton University,
and David Politzer of the California Institute of Technology.
The award recognizes the fundamental contributions the
three scientists have made to quantum chromodynamics,
the theory of strong interactions. 7/24/2003
New
Sensor Can Detect DNA in One Step
Scientists at UCSB have developed an
electronic detector for DNA based on a one-millimeter
electrode and electronics that can be held in the hand.
Applications range from medicine to the food industry
and include civil defense possibilities such as detection
of biological weapons in airports and other public places.
7/16/2003
 Offshore
Oil and Gas Platforms Serve as Marine Protected Areas,
Study Finds
California's offshore oil and gas platforms
act as de facto marine protected areas for some overfished
species and serve as a home to a variety of fish and invertebrate
organisms, say scientists at UCSB. This was among the
key findings of a six-year study by biologists Milton
S. Love, Donna M. Schroeder and Mary M. Nishimoto, who
have issued a new report on their research. 7/10/2003
 Chicano
Studies Professor Luis Leal Publishes New Book at 95
At an age when most people would be
content to reflect upon their accomplishments, 95-year-old
Luis Leal, a professor of Chicano Studies, has published
"Myths and Legends of Mexico." The book, printed in both
English and Spanish, was written to make more widely available
20 myths and legends important to Mexican and Chicano
culture. 7/9/2003
 Physicist's
Theory Gets NASA Boost
A theory about neutron stars
proposed by Lars Bildsten, a professor of physics and
permanent member of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical
Physics at UCSB, has gained the support of a NASA study
reported by an international team of scientists in the
July 3 issue of the journal Nature. 7/2/2003
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