CAMPUS NOTES

A number of UCSB graduate studies scored in the top tier by U.S. News & World Report editors in the publication’s most recent annual guide, America’s Best Graduate Schools 2006. The College of Engineering tied for 21st place (out of 179 ranked), with the materials program taking fourth and chemical engineering 10th. Gevirtz Graduate School of Education also tied for 45th (out of 190). In new rankings this year, English tied at 28th (out of 93) and history tied at 32nd (out of 91). For details go to <www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/rankindex_brief.php>.

A path being planned along an east-west axis to connect the Goleta Beach bike path to Davidson Library is called the Broida Expressway Bicycle Path. The addition requires an amendment to UCSB’s Long Range Development Plan. Comments on the plan, which is available at the main library and libraries in Goleta and Santa Barbara, are solicited. Call x3796 for more details.

Mark Maslan, associate professor of English, has secured a 2005-06 fellowship to the private National Humanities Center in North Carolina. He was one of 40 successful applicants from out of more than 500 candidates for the one-year, residential fellowships.

Thuc-Quyen Nguyen, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, is one of 28 selected nationally by the Office of Naval Research for a Young Investigator Award 2005. Her research on photovoltaic devices won an estimated $350,000 over three years.

Daniel B. Botkin, research professor of ecology, evolution, and marine biology, has published “Beyond the Stony Mountains: Nature in the American West from Lewis and Clark to Today” (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Lisa Parks, associate professor of film studies, has published “Cultures in Orbit: Satellites and the Televisual” (Duke University Press, 2005), which highlights how satellite technology influences cultural politics.

Zaragosa Vargas pro-fessor of history, breaks ground in his study of Mexican workers in “Labor Rights Are Civil Rights: Mexican American Workers in 20th-Century America” (Princeton University Press, 2005).

Jennifer A. Thorsch, has been confirmed as executive director of the newly named Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration, which includes the Museum of Systematics. She has been a career employee since 1981.