| The 2005-06 Featured News Archive contains
summaries of press releases about prominent news developments
at UCSB from July 2005 to June 2006. The heading of each
item links to the full text of that story. All first appeared
on the
UCSB Featured
News page.
 Oil
and Gas Platforms Boost Fish Population While
some observers consider offshore oil and gas platforms
to be an eyesore on the horizon, new data show
they are performing a critical function for marine
life. For the first time, scientists have documented
the importance of oil and gas platforms as critical
nursery habitat for some species of rockfishes
on the California coast (left, young bocaccio,
or Rockfish, at Platform Gilda). Two articles documenting
the importance of the platforms are published in
the current issue of Fisheries Bulletin, with lead
authors from UCSB.
6/29/06
 Shuji Nakamura Wins Millennium Technology Prize Shuji Nakamura, a professor of materials and of electrical and computer engineering, has been awarded the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize for his invention of revolutionary new light sources: blue, green, and white light-emitting diodes and the blue laser diode. The award, which includes a cash prize of one million Euros (approximately $1.3-million), is presented by Finland's Millennium Prize Foundation and recognizes outstanding technological achievement aimed at promoting quality of life and sustainable development. Presented only in alternate years, the Millennium Technology Prize was first awarded in 2004 to Tim Berners-Lee, developer of the World Wide Web. 6/15/06
 Historian
Awarded Japanese Book Prize Tsuyoshi
Hasegawa, a professor of history at UC Santa Barbara,
has been awarded the prestigious Yomiuri Yoshino
Sakuzo Prize in Japan for "Racing the Enemy:
Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan" (Harvard
University Press, 2005), a critically acclaimed
book about the role of the atomic bomb in Japan’s
surrender at the end of World War II.
6/13/06
 Coral
Death Linked to Algae and Bacteria Bacteria
and algae are combining to kill coral — and
human activities are compounding the problem. Scientists
have discovered an indirect microbial mechanism
whereby bacteria kill coral with the help of algae.
Human activities are contributing to the growth
of algae on coral reefs, setting the stage for
the long-term continued decline of coral. Left,
coral from the Line Islands covered by bubble algae.
6/12/06
 Overfishing
Puts Kelp Forests at Risk
Overfishing presents a much
greater risk to the kelp forest ecosystems that span
the West Coast - from Alaska to Mexico's Baja Peninsula - than
the effects of run-off from fertilizers or sewage from
the shore, say scientists at UC Santa Barbara. These
findings by scientists at UCSB's National Center for
Ecological Analysis and Synthesis have important implications
for the design of California's Marine Protected Areas.
Above, a California kelp forest.
5/25/2006
 Donna
Carpenter Named Vice
Chancellor for Administrative
Services
At their meeting in San Francisco
on May 18, the Regents of the University of California
approved the appointment of Donna J. Carpenter as UC
Santa Barbara's vice chancellor for administrative services.
Carpenter has been employed in the UC system for 33 years
and has been on the UCSB campus since 1994. She was the
campus controller and director of accounting services
until August 2004, when she was appointed acting vice
chancellor for administrative services.
5/19/2006
5 Young Faculty Members Win CAREER Awards From the NSF
Five young UCSB faculty members have received prestigious CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program offers the NSF's most prestigious awards in support of the early career development activities of those teacher-scholars who are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century.
5/11/2006
Research
Finds Men's Faces
Show Romantic Intentions
Women are able to subconsciously
pick up cues in men's faces and use those cues to determine
if they are attracted to the males for long-term or short-term
relationships, according to a new study conducted by
researchers at the UC Santa Barbara and the University
of Chicago. 5/9/2006
Central
Coast Survey Findings
Reported Researchers
from the Social
Science Survey Center/Benton
Survey Research
Lab at UCSB have
released the findings
of their first-ever
public-opinion poll of residents in Santa Barbara and
Ventura Counties on a range of issues, from jobs, housing,
traffic, and health care to the pace of growth and development,
immigration, and the quality of public schools. 5/4/2006
 Publisher
Appointed New Alumni
Chief
George Thurlow, the longtime publisher of the
Santa Barbara Independent, has been appointed Assistant
Vice Chancellor for Alumni Affairs and Executive Director
of the UCSB Alumni Association. Thurlow, a 1973 graduate
of UCSB, will assume his new duties on June 1. He succeeds
Peter Steiner, who retired last year. Richard Jensen
has been serving as the alumni organization's interim
executive director. 5/4/2006
Political Scientist Named Fellow by U.S. Peace Institute
Fernando Lopez-Alves, a professor
of political science, has been awarded a senior fellowship
at the United States Institute for Peace for the 2006-07
academic year. Lopez-Alves, who specializes in comparative
politics, is one of only 7 recipients nationwide to receive
this honor. Lopez-Alves will be in residence next year
at the Washington, D.C. institute, where he plans to
write a book titled "Citizens Against States: The Breakdown
of Trust in Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile." 4/27/2006
 Historian
Wins Guggenheim Fellowship
Patricia Cline Cohen, a professor
of history, is one of 187 American and Canadian artists,
scholars, and scientists selected to receive prestigious
Guggenheim Fellowships this year. Cohen, a member of
the UCSB faculty since 1977, will use her fellowship
to continue her research for a biography of Mary Gove
and Thomas L. Nichols, two health reformers who in the
mid-1800s gained notoriety for a radical critique of
marriage that advocated women's self-sovereignty. 4/26/2006
2
Professors Elected Fellows of Arts & Sciences Academy
Two UCSB professors - David Awschalom and Michael Goodchild - have been elected fellows of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Joining them in this year's class of fellows is the philanthropist and inventor Fred Kavli of Santa Barbara, for whom UCSB's Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics is named. 4/25/2006
Scientists Discover Secrets from the Ocean's Floor
Answers to important questions
about the formation of the Earth's crust may be close
at hand as a result of recent findings by an international
team of scientists. The researchers have, for the first
time, recovered black rocks known as gabbros from intact
ocean crust. Douglas S. Wilson (second from left in photo
above with other researchers), an associate research
geophysicist with UCSB's Marine Science Institute, heads
the project. 4/20/2006
UCSB Offers Fall 2006 Admission to 20,644 Freshman Applicants
The campus has offered a place
in its fall 2006 entering class to a total of 20,644 high
school seniors. The prospective UCSB freshmen were selected
from a pool of 39,838 applicants. UCSB expects its fall
2006 entering class to number approximately 4,000. 4/19/2006
 France Honors UCSB's Ronald Tobin
The French government has bestowed a major honor on Ronald
W. Tobin, a professor of French and associate vice chancellor
for academic programs, for his contributions to scholarship
and the appreciation of French culture. He has been honored
by the French Ministry of Education with the highest level
of knighthood conferred upon academics, the "Commander
in the Order of the Academic Palms." 4/19/2006
Study Finds Segregation of English Learners
A new study by the UCSB-based UC Linguistic Minority Research
Institute finds that California's English learnersstudents
who are not yet proficient in Englishattend highly segregated
schools, which hinders their educational opportunities. 4/18/2006
 Scholar's Research on Young Latinas Wins Grant Foundation
Award A faculty member
at the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at UC Santa
Barbara is one of five young scholars nationally to be
named one of this year's William T. Grant Scholars. Laura
Romo, an assistant professor, will receive $300,000 over
five years from the William T. Grant Foundation to support
her research on ways to improve the life chances of young
Hispanic girls. The highly competitive awards support
the professional development of early career scholars
who have had success in conducting research on improving
the lives of young people. 4/17/2006
Genetic Switch Links Growth and Cancer
Laboratory discoveries by biologists at UCSB and the University
of Minnesota may lead to new directions in cancer therapy
drugs. The researchers have discovered that a genetic
switch involved in growth and development of an animal
is the same one used to prevent normal cells from becoming
cancerous. 4/17/2006
Researcher
Killed in Mammoth Mountain Gas Vent Accident
A UC Santa Barbara researcher was among three men who
died at Mammoth Mountain in the eastern Sierra on April
6 when the trio, all members of the local ski patrol,
fell into a volcanic gas vent as they tried to rope off
the unsafe area. Charles Walter Rosenthal, 58, was an
assistant specialist with UCSB's Institute for Computational
Earth System Science based at a field site in Mammoth
known as the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory
(SNARL). A memorial fund to benefit his family has been
established. 4/7/2006
Environmental Scientist Wins Leadership Fellowship
Joshua Schimel, a professor in the
Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology and
chair of Environmental Studies, is one of 18 academic
environmental scientists from the U.S. and Canada to be
awarded an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship this year.
The program is based at Stanford University's Woods Institute
for the Environment. 3/28/2006
Scientists Discover Brain Produces Growth Hormone
Scientists have found that growth hormone,
a substance that is used for body growth, is produced
in the brain. The research team, including Ken Kosik,
co-director of UCSB's Neuroscience Research Institute,
found that growth hormone is produced within the hippocampus,
a structure deep inside the brain that is involved in
memory and emotion. The study has implications for menopausal
women using estrogen replacement therapy and for athletes
taking growth hormone and anabolic steroids to increase
muscle mass. 3/27/2006
 Sociologist Scrutinizes Third-World Revolutions
In his new book, UCSB sociologist John
Foran studies three-dozen Third World revolutions since
1910 and advances a new theory that integrates the political,
economic and cultural factors that inspired them. The
book, Taking Power On the Origins of Third World Revolutions
(Cambridge University Press), has just been named a co-winner
of the Pacific Sociological Association's 2006 Distinguished
Scholarship prize. 3/23/2006
 Discovery of New Molecule Holds Hope for Gene Therapy
Scientists at UCSB have created
a new lipid molecule that holds promise in fighting disease
via gene therapy. Reporting in the March 29 print edition
of the Journal of the American Chemical Society
(published on-line on March 8), the authors describe the
synthesis of the new honeycomb-shaped molecule. The authors
used cancer cell lines from mice and from humans to study
the ability of the new molecule to deliver genes to cells.
The honeycomb structure (see illustration) turned out
to be highly effective. 3/22/2006
 Communication Scholar Awarded Fulbright Fellowship
Ronald Rice, the Arthur N. Rupe Professor
of Communication at UC Santa Barbara, has been awarded
a Fulbright Fellowship to teach and conduct research abroad.
This quarter he is in Finland, teaching and offering a
series of workshops on the Internet and society and online
health communication at the University of Helsinki and
three other universities. He is also conducting research
there on the uses of new communication technologies. 3/22/2006
 Engineer Wins Prestigious Sloan Fellowship
Frédéric Gibou, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering
and of computer science, is among this year's 116 winners
of prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships from the Alfred
P. Sloan Foundation. The Sloan fellowships are awarded
to scientists in the early stages of their careers who
show exceptional promise to contribute to the advancement
of knowledge. 3/21/2006
Keck Foundation Awards $1.25-million to Neuroscience Research
Institute The W.M. Keck
Foundation's Medical Research Program has awarded a grant
of $1.25-million to UC Santa Barbara to support a pioneering
multidisciplinary research initiative focusing on tiny
RNA molecules and their impact on the regulation of gene
function. 3/21/2006
Existing Drug May Also Help Fight Kidney Disease
UCSB scientists have discovered that
a widely available drug may be effective in treating an
inherited kidney disease. The drug is rapamycin, also
called sirolimus, and it currently is used as an immunosuppressant
to help prevent rejection of a new, transplanted kidney.
The fact that the drug is already clinically approved
for other uses will facilitate future clinical trials
of it, the researchers note. 3/20/2006
 Scholar Awarded Top Diplomatic History Book Prize
History Professor Tsuyoshi Hasegawa
has been awarded the Robert Ferrell Book Prize by the
Society of Historians for Foreign Relations for "Racing
the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan"
(Harvard University Press, 2005). The critically acclaimed
volume examined the role of the atomic bomb in Japan's
surrender at the end of World War II. 3/16/2006
Alumnus George Thurlow to Join Regents
UCSB alumnus George Thurlow will join the governing Board
of Regents of the University of California as a regent-designate
on July 1. Following a one-year term as regent-designate,
he will serve a one-year term as an ex-officio voting
regent. Thurlow, who is publisher and chief executive
officer of the weekly Santa Barbara Independent, recently
was elected treasurer of the Alumni Associations of the
University of California and, as such, will become one
of the alumni representatives on the Board of Regents. 3/16/2006
Communication Department Ranks High in Research Productivity UCSB's Communication Department
has been ranked third in the nation in terms of research
productivity. The finding comes from an analysis of scholarly
articles published in eight academic journals that was
sponsored by the National Communication Association and
the International Communication Association. 3/15/2006
 Engineering Academy Elects George Homsy
George M. "Bud" Homsy, a professor of mechanical and chemical
engineering, has been elected to the National Academy
of Engineering. The academy cited him for his research
as well as his development of innovative teaching materials.
With his election, the College of Engineering at UCSB
now has 27 faculty members who have been elected to the
academy. 3/15/2006
Gift to Help Fillmore Students Prepare for College
UC Santa Barbara has received a $500,000
gift from entrepreneur James Jimenez of Temple City to
support academic preparation programs for K-12 students
in Fillmore to enable more students to qualify for admission
to UCSB and other colleges and universities. The gift
will create an endowed academic preparation program focusing
on students who would be the first in their families to
attend college. 3/14/2006
New Nanoelectronics Institute Established
UC Santa Barbara, Berkeley, and Stanford have teamed up
with UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied
Science to establish the Western Institute of Nanoelectronics,
which will be one of the world's largest joint research
programs focusing on the pioneering technology called
"spintronics." 3/9/2006
UCSB-Led Group Wins Grant to Develop a Multifunctional Chip
The Department of Defense has
awarded up to $5-million over five years for a multi-university
research initiative led by UCSB's David Awschalom, a professor
of physics and of electrical and computer engineering,
to develop a chip that can independently process electronic,
magnetic, and optical information and convert from any
one type to any other type of information. 3/8/2006
Researchers Develop Portable Cocaine Sensor
A real-time sensor for detecting cocaine made with inexpensive,
off-the-shelf electronics has been developed by a team
of researchers at UC Santa Barbara. Two local high school
students and a Nobel laureate participated in the discovery.
The potential applications of the sensor are far-reaching
and include bioterrorism detection and important medical
uses. 2/24/2006
Scientists Win Top AAAS Prize for Discovery
A discovery by four UCSB researchers, including Professors
David Awschalom and Arthur C. Gossard, has earned them
the prestigious 2004-2005 AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize,
the oldest award conferred by the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, publisher of the journal
Science. In a paper published in Science, the research
team reported observing the "spin Hall effect" the first
time it has been seen in an experiment. 2/15/2006
Mitsubishi
Chemical to Provide More Than $8.5-Million in New Support
for Center for Advanced Materials
The Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation of Tokyo and UCSB
are extending their successful research and education
alliance for a new term of four years. With the company's
support, UCSB, in 2001, formed a highly productive research
unit called the Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced
Materials (MC-CAM). Under the new agreement, Mitsubishi
will invest between $8.5-million and $10-million at UCSB
over the next four years. The funds will support research
as well as the administration of the center. The total
also includes $800,000 to permanently endow new graduate
fellowships in materials and chemical engineering. 2/14/2006
Applications
for Fall Admission Hit Record Level
UC Santa Barbara has received a record 47,893 applications
for undergraduate admission to the campus for fall 2006.
Of this total, 39,828 applications were from prospective
first-year students-2,368 more than last year. And 12,033
of them, or 30 percent, have a high-school Grade Point
Average (GPA) of 4.0 or higher 499 more than last year. 2/7/2006
 Distinguished UCSB Professors Honored
Two UC Santa Barbara professors, Howard Giles (above left)
of Communication and John W. I. Lee (above right) of history,
have been honored for their academic achievements and
contributions to the campus with the most prestigious
awards bestowed on faculty members by their peers. 2/6/2006
 Earliest Sound Recordings Now Available
The UCSB Library has opened up the world of historic sound
recordings by mounting thousands of digitized cylinder
recordings (see examples above) on an immensely popular
new Web site, making this little-known era of recorded
sound broadly accessible to scholars and the public for
the first time.1/31/2006
Discovery
May Lead to New Drugs for Kidney Disease
Scientists at UCSB have reported a discovery at the cellular
level that suggests possibilities for drug therapy for
an inherited kidney disease characterized by the formation
of cysts and known as ADPKD, which affects 600,000 people
in the United States. 1/31/2006
New
Ph.D. Emphasis in Technology and Society Established
Ph.D. students at UCSB can
now enroll in an innovative new program of study dealing
with the societal implications of technology. The "Ph.D.
Emphasis in Technology and Society" brings together
doctoral students in engineering, the social sciences,
and the humanities for multidisciplinary coursework and
research on the cultural and societal changes resulting
from new information technologies. The new program is
the first of its kind in the University of California
system to focus on the broader social implications of
technology. 1/26/2006
 Scientists
Use Internet Game to Help Predict the Spread of Diseases
Using a popular Internet game
that traces the travels of dollar bills, scientists have
developed a mathematical model that can be used to help
predict the spread of infectious disease in the United
States. This model is considered a breakthrough in the
field. The game data provides information on millions
of movements of individuals, allowing scientists to describe
how an epidemic could spread across the country. Above,
an illustration of the concept. 1/25/2006
 New
Book by Humanities Dean Explores 'Aesthetic Experience'
In a new book, David Marshall,
dean of the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts, explores
how 18th-century readers and spectators interacted with
the art and literature of their time, focusing on the
significance of what he calls "aesthetic experience."
"This is not a sociological or empirical study,"
he says. "I'm looking at how the experience of art
was looked at and described, and used as a metaphor. I'm
interested in boundary confusions where the lines between
art and reality are blurred." 1/23/2006
 Studies
Show Lack of Pollination Putting Many Plants at Risk
The decline of birds,
bees and other pollinators may be putting plants of the
world's most diverse ecosystems at risk of extinction,
according to a new research that analyzed hundreds of
field studies of fruit production in flowering plants.
The meta-analysis was sponsored by UCSB's National Center
for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. The finding raises
concern that more may have to be done to protect the Earth's
most biologically rich areas. Above, Syrphid fly feeding
on nectar of California sunflower. 1/17/2006
UCSB
Received $153 M in External Research Funds Last Year
Research support from external
sources remained strong at UC Santa Barbara last year,
when a total of $153 million was received from federal
and state agencies, corporations, and foundations. Over
the past 10 years, the annual receipt of such funds has
nearly doubled at UCSB. 12/12/2005
 UCSB
to Design Instrument for Mars Expedition Luann
Becker (left), a research scientist with the Institute
of Crustal Studies, will direct the development of a new
instrument for testing Martian soil as part of the European
Space Agency's "ExoMars," a mission that will
take place in 2011. Testing by the two NASA rovers now
on Mars has spurred interest in developing new, highly-sensitive
instruments to search for present or past life on Mars.
The ExoMars rover will contain a drill that can reach
soil samples up to two meters under the Martian surface.
12/12/2005
 Science
Dean Martin Moskovits Elected Fellow of AAAS
Martin Moskovits, a professor of physical
chemistry and the Bruce and Susan Worster Dean of Science
at UC Santa Barbara, has been elected a Fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
He is being honored for "distinguished research in
surface and cluster physics and chemistry, especially
for seminal contributions to the understanding of surface-enhanced
spectroscopy." His election brings to 43 the number
of UCSB scientists and engineers elected AAAS Fellows. 11/28/2005
UCSB
Awarded $1.5-Million for Training Partnership With China
UC Santa Barbara has been awarded
$1.5-million by the National Science Foundation to establish
a pioneering research and education partnership with China
in chemistry, physics, materials science, and chemical
engineering. The UCSB project was one of only 12 proposals
to win NSF support of more than 170 reviewed in all areas
of science and engineering. It also is the only U.S.-China
partnership to be funded by the agency. 11/29/2005
 Bren
School's Founding Dean Wins Top Research Award
Jeff Dozier, a professor and founding
dean of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science
and Management, is one of two winners of the Wiliam T.
Pecora Award for 2005. Sponsored jointly by the U.S. Department
of the Interior and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, the Pecora Award is presented annually
to recognize outstanding contributions by individuals
or groups toward understanding the earth by means of remote
sensing. Dozier is the third UCSB faculty member to have
won the prestigious award, reflecting the campus's strength
in remote sensing. 11/4/2005
 Center
for Study of the Mind Established With Gift From SAGE
Publications UCSB has received
a $3.5-million gift from SAGE Publications to launch a
dynamic new interdisciplinary research center for the
study of the mind. SAGE made the gift to commemorate its
40th anniversary as a leading international publisher
for scholarly, educational, and professional markets.
UCSB has attracted a top scholar to lead the pioneering
new effort-Michael Gazzaniga (left), widely regarded as
the founder of the cognitive neuroscience field. 11/3/2005
 Autism
Center Receives $2.35-Million Gift for Expansion
The Autism Research and Training Center
at UCSB's Gevirtz Graduate School of Education has received
a $2.35-million gift from Brian and Patricia Kelly of
Santa Barbara that will provide enhanced facilities for
what is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading
centers for the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of
autism. With the expansion (foreground in the illustration
at left), the center will also be given a new name: The
Koegel Autism Center, in recognition of Dr. Robert Koegel,
the facility's longtime director and a professor of education
at the Gevirtz School, and his wife, Dr. Lynn Kern Koegel,
the center's Clinical Director of Autism Services. 10/25/2005
Geologists
Say La Conchita Landslides Part of a Larger, Prehistoric
Slide The deadly landslide
that killed 10 people and destroyed approximately 30 homes
in La Conchita, California last January is but a tiny
part of a much larger slide, called the Rincon Mountain
slide, reported UCSB geologists at the meeting of the
Geological Society of America. The slide started many
thousands of years ago and will continue generating slides
in the future. 10/19/2005
Campus
Develops New Alcohol-Education and Intervention Program
The Student Health Service
has established a new alcohol-education and early intervention
program aimed at helping students develop the skills needed
to reduce drinking and make safer choices. A pilot phase
of the program, which is based on the latest research
on alcohol- and drug-abuse prevention, is now underway.
Co-sponsored by the Office of Residential Life, the program
will be used, in this pilot year, with students who violate
alcohol and drug policies in campus residence halls. 10/19/2005
 Warmer
Tropics Linked to Greenhouse Gases
New evidence from climate records of the past provides
some of the strongest indications yet of a direct link
between tropical warmth and higher greenhouse gas levels,
say scientists at UCSB. The present steady rise in tropical
temperatures due to global warming will have a major impact
on global climate and could intensify destructive hurricanes
like Katrina and Rita. Chemical analysis of plankton (left)
helps scientists gauge ocean temperatures. 10/13/2005
National
Science Foundation Picks UCSB for Nanotechnology in Society
Center The National Science
Foundation has selected UC Santa Barbara for a new National
Science and Engineering Center to study the societal implications
of nanotechnology. The NSF will provide $5 million in
grant funds to support the Center for Nanotechnology in
Society–UCSB in its first five years of operation.
The new facility will be one of two major centers in the
country—the other will be at Arizona State University—in
an NSF-sponsored national network of researchers studying
nanotechnology and society 10/6/2005
 Scholar
Wins $2.5-M. 'Pioneer Award' From National Institutes
of Health A UC Santa Barbara
psychology professor is one of 13 innovative researchers
from across the country who have been named by the National
Institutes of Health as recipients of the NIH Director's
Pioneer Award for 2005. As a recipient of the prestigious
award, Leda Cosmides, a professor of psychology and co-director
of the Center for Evolutionary Psychology, will receive
up to $500,000 per year in direct research costs for the
next five years. 9/29/2005
Private
Giving to UCSB Totaled $68-Million in 2004-05
Alumni and friends contributed more
than $68-million in gift and pledges to the campus in
2004-05, helping to maintain a strong pace for The Campaign
for UC Santa Barbara. 9/15/2005
QAD Founders Establish Chair in Computer Science
Karl and Pamela Lopker and the Lopker
Family Foundation have made a major gift to help establish
the first endowed chair in computer science in the College
of Engineering. The Lopkers founded QAD, a leading provider
of software for manufacturers worldwide. They have named
the chair in honor of Venkatesh "Venky" Narayanamurti,
a dynamic leader and distinguished physicist who served
as dean of the college from 1992 until 1998. 10/26/2005
UCSB
Affiliates Awards Scholarships, Fellowships
The UCSB Affiliates, the campus's largest
community support group, recently awarded a total of $50,000
in scholarships and fellowships to 21 students at the
university. 10/12/2005
 Distinguished
Scholar Named to Cordano Chair in Catholic Studies
Ann Taves, an internationally
recognized historian of Christianity and of American religion,
is the first scholar appointed to the Virgil Cordano Chair
in Catholic Studies at UCSB. The endowed chair is named
in honor of the Franciscan friar and former pastor of
the St. Barbara Parish at the Santa Barbara Mission, who
has devoted his life to promoting greater understanding
of all religions. Taves joined UCSB's renowned Religious
Studies Department from the Claremont School of Theology
and the Claremont Graduate University, where she was a
professor since 1993. 10/11/2005
Los
Alamos Lab and UCSB Form New Institute on Materials
Los Alamos National Laboratory
has formed a partnership with UCSB's College of Engineering
to create the Institute for Multiscale Materials Studies
(IMMS). Under the program, UCSB will initiate a new graduate
emphasis in multiscale materials and mechanics in the
chemical engineering, materials, mechanical engineering
and computer science departments to grant graduate degrees
to students pursuing advanced education both on campus
and at UCSB's IMMS facilities in Los Alamos. 10/11/2005
 Historian
Awarded Dickson Emeriti Professorship
Robert O. Collins, a leading scholar of the history and
culture of the Sudan and of East Africa, has been awarded
the prestigious Edward A. Dickson Emeriti Professorship
for 2005-06. A prolific scholar, Collins is co-author,
with J. Millard Burr, of "Alms for Jihad: Charities
and Terrorism in the Islamic World" (Cambridge University
Press, 2005), which explores the world of Islamic charities
and their funding links to terrorism. This groundbreaking
new book is the first to piece together the secret financial
systems that support terror. 9/13/2005
Campus
Wins Support for Stem Cell Research Project
UCSB is to receive $1,343,859 in state
funds over three years to fund stem cell research. The
grant was announced by the Independent Citizens' Oversight
Committee and is one of the first 15 awarded by the California
Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). The long-term
goal of UCSB's stem cell research program is to understand
how human embryonic stem cells can be differentiated into
ocular cells that might be used to treat eye disease,
especially macular degeneration. 9/12/2005
 Scientist,
Statesman to Head Bren School
An internationally recognized
environmental scientist and statesman has been appointed
dean of UCSB's Donald Bren School of Environmental Science
and Management. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, a professor
of interdisciplinary biology who was the founding president
of the University of Kassel in Germany, is about to conclude
two terms as a member of the German Parliament, or Bundestag,
where he has served as chair of its committee on the environment.
He will take up his new duties at UC Santa Barbara in
January 2006. 9/8/2005
 Bill
Bean, Veteran UCSB Police Officer, Appointed Chief
Bill Bean, who has served as
acting chief of the UCSB Police Department since 2003,
has
been appointed Chief of Police. In announcing the appointment,
which is effective immediately, Chancellor Henry Yang
said Bean's "very high standard of professionalism and
long-term dedicated performance make him an ideal choice
for this important leadership position." Bean (pictured
above) has been a member of the department for 30 years.
8/29/2005
 New
Grad School Dean to Arrive in January
Jane Close Conoley, dean of education at Texas A&M University
since 1996, will become UC Santa Barbara's new dean of
the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education on Jan. 1, 2006.
Conoley is a prominent educational psychologist, a seasoned
administrator, and an effective fund-raiser with an impressive
track record of strengthening the institutions she helps
to lead, said Chancellor Henry T. Yang. 8/17/2005
 Biodefense
and Infectious Disease Study Wins NIH Grant
Research on countering threats from
bioterrorism agents and infectious diseases will be conducted
at UCSB under a $1.5 million grant from the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes
of Health. UCSB microbiologist Peggy Cotter (pictured
here) is a project director in the newly established Pacific-Southwest
Regional Center of Excellence (RCE) for Biodefense and
Emerging Infectious Disease Research — one of only
10 NIH-funded centers in the nation dedicated to such
research. 8/4/2005
 'Smart'
Bio-Nanotubes May Be Used to Deliver Drugs
An interdisciplinary team of materials
scientists working with biologists at UCSB have developed
"smart" bio-nanotubes — with open or closed
ends — that could be developed for drug or gene delivery
applications. The chemotherapy drug Taxol is one type
of drug that could be delivered via such nanotubes. 8/2/2005
Discovery
May Lead to New Alzheimer's Drugs
A research team led by a UC Santa Barbara scientist has
identified three molecules that appear to inhibit a key
perpetrator of Alzheimer's disease. Each of the three
molecules protects the protein called "tau,"
which becomes hopelessly tangled in the brains of patients
with Alzheimer's. The finding is promising news for the
development of drugs for the disease. 7/22/2005
Teaching
Teachers How to Interpret Standardized Tests
A team of researchers in the Gevirtz
Graduate School of Education has developed free instructional
tools to help educators nationwide interpret standardized
test results to help improve teaching and administration. 7/19/2005
Startling
Findings From Bone-Fracture Study
A startling discovery about the properties of human bone
has been made by an interdisciplinary team of scientists
at UC Santa Barbara. The scientists describe their result—finding
a sort of "glue" in human bone—in the cover
story of the August issue of the international scientific
journal "Nature Materials." 7/18/2005
 Luis
Leal Literature Award Goes to New Mexico Writer Denise
Chávez Denise Chávez,
a writer who lives and teaches in Las Cruces, New Mexico,
will be the recipient of this year's Luis Leal Award for
Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. The award, which
includes a cash prize of $1,500, is named after Luis Leal,
a distinguished writer, scholar, and UCSB professor of
Chicano Studies. Sponsored by UC Santa Barbara, the Santa
Barbara Book & Author Festival and Santa Barbara City
College, the award will be presented at the Book &
Author Festival on September 24. Chávez is the
author of two novels and a collection of short stories.
Her work focuses on border issues, Chicano culture, and
women in contemporary society. 7/12/2005
Discovery
Could Lead to New Drugs for Degenerative Diseases
A groundbreaking new research
approach to understanding the cellular processes of Alzheimer's
and other degenerative diseases has revealed a promising
pathway to the development of new types of drugs for these
diseases. The discovery, made in the laboratory of Ratnesh
Lal, research scientist in the Neuroscience Research Institute
(NRI) at UCSB, was published in the online version of
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
7/11/2005
 Deep-Sea
Sponge Yields Engineering Insights
Researchers are finding yet more evidence of how nature
illustrates the possibilities of building remarkably strong
structures from extremely fragile materials. The cover
story of the July 8 issue of Science is devoted to such
research on a tropical deep-sea sponge. UCSB's Institute
for Collaborative Biotechnologies, headed by Professor
Dan Morse, as well as scientists at Germany's Max Planck
Institute of Colloids and Interfaces worked in close collaboration
with the team at Lucent Technologies Bell Labs that produced
the findings. 7/7/2005
|
