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Addressing faculty and staff members in Corwin Pavilion yesterday at the annual Year-End Report to the Campus, Chancellor Henry T. Yang (above) highlighted, among other achievements, the 2013 Leiden rankings, which place UCSB at number two among the top 500 universities in the world for research impact. Along with other top administrators, Yang discussed the governor’s revised budget, which increases UC’s allocation by 4-5 percent per year for the next four years, and touched on the library addition and renovation project, which is slated to break ground after Commencement. He also noted the gifting of the 62-acre Ocean Meadows parcel to UCSB by the Trust for Public Lands; and the campus’s Annual Fund, which has raised $45 million this year, and is on target to reach its annual goal of $63 million. In addition, Executive Vice Chancellor Gene Lucas updated the audience on the ongoing Operational Effectiveness Initiative, the Long Range Development Plan, and the Western Association of Schools & Colleges reaccreditation process.

Michelle O'Malley, assistant professor of chemical engineering, has received a 2013 Early Career Award by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. The award, funded at $750,000 over five years, will support O'Malley's ongoing research, which examines gut fungi as a means of harnessing fuel from non-food plants and agricultural waste, while addressing concerns over the financial costs incurred in biofuel production. more

John Bowers, professor of electrical and computer engineering and of materials, has been named Faculty Research Lecturer for 2013. The award is the highest bestowed by the university on one of its faculty, and Bowers is being recognized for his groundbreaking scholarship, outstanding research contributions and scientific leadership. He is the 58th recipient of the Faculty Research Lectureship, since the award's creation in 1955. His lecture, which will take place on campus, will be free and open to the public. The date has not yet been determined. more

Favianna Rodriguez, the Oakland-based activist artist best known for bold posters and digital art that explore issues of social justice, has donated her personal archive to the UCSB Library. The Favianna Rodriguez Papers are now housed in the library's California Ethnic Multicultural Archives. more