A Sampling of Clips for Aug. 19, 2010

* UCSD faculty and staff may obtain a copy of an article by e-mailing the University Communications Office

Are Campus Conservatives Really an Oppressed Minority?
USA Today, Aug. 19 -- The oppressed conservative student is a regular theme in the right's critique of higher education.  Research presented here Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association affirmed that many conservative students feel that way, but also that many do not — and that the latter group in fact thrive on the very campuses that tend to be portrayed as hostile to them. The study presented here was conducted by Amy J. Binder, an associate professor of sociology at UC San Diego, and Kate Wood, a graduate student there. More

Superbug' Hysteria may have Subsided;
the True Antibiotic Problem Remains
Los Angeles Times, Aug. 19  -- Perhaps you missed last week's coverage of a new "superbug." If so, here's a recap. ... First came the heads-up notice from British researchers, detailed in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, about an antibiotic-resistant bacterium that appeared to have made its way to the United Kingdom from Asia; this, in turn, led to a few days of hysteria-filled headlines (one standout: "Superbug Panics World"). (Quotes John S. Bradley, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the UC San Diego School of Medicine) More

Autopsy of a Turnaround District
Education Week, Aug. 19 -- Massive school and district turnarounds seem a dime a dozen nowadays, but it's worth taking a look at the Public Policy Institute of California's new evaluation of one of the most hotly debated turnaround attempts from the early days of No Child Left Behind: San Diego Unified School District's short-lived "Blueprint for Student Success." Julian Betts, head of the economics department at UC San Diego, is one of the authors of the study. More

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San Diego Union-Tribune
Voice of San Diego

Boxer Attacks Fiorina's Pro-oil Drilling Stance in Santa Barbara
Los Angeles Times, Aug. 19 -- With images of the Gulf Coast oil spill still fresh in voters' minds, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer campaigned in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, arguing that Carly Fiorina's support for additional oil drilling off California's coast could threaten the jobs of nearly 400,000 workers whose livelihoods depend on the coastal economy. (Quotes UC San Diego political scientist Thad Kousser) More

State GOP's Right Wing to Call Out Whitman
San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 19 – California Republicans are feeling buoyant about the November election contests, but at this weekend's convention in San Diego the party's right flank plans to pressure gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman on her positions on immigration and climate change. (Quotes UC San Diego political scientist Thad Kousser) More

One Surf Scientist’s Quest for a Better Wave of Boards
Wired News, Aug. 19 -- Researchers at UC San Diego have been donning their wet suits and hitting the waves this summer to see if an objective, data-centric standard can explain why some surfboards perform better than others. More

Medi-Pot: Have You Heard the One About?
NBC Los Angeles, Aug. 18 -- It's been nearly 14 years since California legalized medical marijuana, and the industry is still an uncoordinated mess. (Mentions UC San Diego’s Center for Medical Cannabis Research) More

UCSD Among Nation's Best Colleges
NBC San Diego, Aug. 18  -- The "Best Colleges" report is out from US News and World Report.  UC San Diego made the national list, ranking 35th.  The nation's oldest university grabs the top spot of U-S academic research schools.  It's Harvard, not Princeton coming in first this year. More

SDSU Earthquake Video Simulates the "Big One"
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 19  -- San Diego State and UC San Diego have produced a computer simulation of a magnitude 8.0 earthquake ripping up the southern San Andreas fault and producing seismic energy that quickly makes its way to urban San Diego and other cities. More

Forum Explores Policy Changes That Could Encourage Breastfeeding
KPBS, Aug. 19 — UC San Diego Medical Center hosts an educational forum today on how policy changes could increase breastfeeding in California. The state already has laws designed to encourage breastfeeding. More

Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center Founder Fears for its Future
KPBS, Aug. 18 -- The McDonald Center is one of San Diego's most successful and enduring drug and alcohol treatment centers, but construction plans to bring the Scripps La Jolla Hospital up to earthquake code could spell its demise. That has brought a strong reaction from the woman whose name the center bears. Marianne McDonald is on the UC San Diego faculty. More

Similar story in
San Diego Union-Tribune

Scripps Glaciologist Wins Prize for her Work in Antarctica
KPBS, Aug. 19 -- Glaciologist Helen Amanda Fricker of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, was awarded the Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica for her work on sub-glacial lakes and remote sensing techniques. We'll talk to her about Antarctica, which she calls the most unobservable place in the world, and the work she's doing to detect changes in the ice sheet. We'll also find out about the iceberg, four times the size of Manhattan, which just broke apart from Petermann Glacier in Greenland and began drifting into the Nares Strait. More

Algae Lingers Along County's Coast
San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 18 -- A large bloom of green algae continues to color the county's coastal waters a week after the effects were first widely noticed. "I am not seeing any change. It seems to be sticking around," said Melissa Carter, a researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, part of UC San Diego. "I still haven't gotten any reports of anyone being sick or irritated." More

Study Links Suicide and Unemployment
San Diego 6, Aug. 18 -- A national study shows people who are unemployed are more likely to commit suicide and the longer the unemployment, the more likely it could happen. (Quotes Dr. David Folsom with UC San Diego) More

How the Olympics Helped Science
Voice of San Diego, Aug. 19 -- Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a researcher at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, was collecting air samples in Southeast Asia when he heard about an important upcoming event: the Beijing Olympics. More

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