A Sampling of Clips for March 8, 2010

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

Crisis Management at UCSD : Chancellor Fox Deserves Praise, Not Blame
San Diego Union-Tribune, Editorial, March 8 -- It was with some degree of bewilderment that we viewed the anger demonstrated by students toward UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, her administration and, indeed, the entire University of California system, in the initial week or two following the “Compton cookout” party and other incidents. But it is with a large degree of praise that we now assess Fox’s crisis management throughout the blowup, which included one afternoon in which students took over her offices, dancing on desks and listing their “demands.” More

Spate of Bias Incidents Roil University
of California System, Spurring Search for Solutions
The New York Times, March 7 -- Students have protested and administrators have condemned, but the question remains of what lies behind the sudden parade of prejudice — a growing climate of insensitivity on campuses or a bunch of immature kids yearning for peer acceptance and attention. (Mentions UCSD) More

Similar stories in
Los Angeles Times
Associated Press

Students are Channeling Their Anger
Los Angeles Times, March 6 -- The generations met at a San Diego community forum that drew more than 600 people who were upset over a string of racial incidents spawned by a party promoted by white fraternity members from UCSD, "in honor of" Black History Month, that promised a taste of "life in the ghetto." More

Scrutiny of UCSD and Black Student Union Agreement
San Diego 6, March 5 - Former University of California Regent Ward Connerly, who led the effort to remove race from consideration for admission to public colleges, said Friday he will review an agreement by UCSD and its Black Student Union to see if it violates the state constitution. More

Scientists Reaffirm Theory That Giant Asteroid Killed Dinosaurs
CNN, March 8 -- A team of scientists has agreed that a giant asteroid killed off dinosaurs and a majority of other species on Earth more than 65 million years ago. Since 1980, scientists have gathered an overwhelming amount of evidence that shows a single asteroid about 6 miles in diameter and traveling at thousands of miles an hour, slammed into the Gulf of Mexico, said Richard Norris, a paleoceanographer at UCSD. More

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FOX5 News

One Sector that Benefits from a Bad Economy: Jail Inmates
Los Angeles Times, March 5 -- When times are flush, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has the money to keep jails open and staffed, and the vast majority of sentenced inmates serve most of their time behind bars. But when times get tough and tax revenues shrink, the department has repeatedly looked to its jail operations to make cuts, freeing thousands of inmates who've served only a fraction of their sentences. (Quotes David Janssen, a former county chief executive who now teaches local government finance and administration at UCSD) More

Environmental Journal: Debunking Climate Debunkers
Providence Journal, March 7 -- Some have attributed the continued outspokenness of climate-change skeptics to the financial backing of energy corporations, the zealotry of right-wing media figures and the failure of many to understand science. Naomi Oreskes, a professor of history and science studies at UCSD, offered another theory in a lecture last week at the University of Rhode Island. More

Playwright Experiments with Time, Place, Acuity
San Jose Mercury News, March 6 -- Naomi Iizuka has always been fascinated by photographs from faraway times and places. Perhaps that's because she had such a globe-trotting childhood. Born in Tokyo to a Japanese banker father and an American Latina mother, the playwright grew up all over the world, from Indonesia and Holland to Washington, D.C. Traveling so extensively in childhood has given her a gift for sifting through the shifting sands of culture and perspective. Iizuka is on the UCSD faculty. More

Fueling the Future: Fuel Cells Show Promise
San Diego Union-Tribune, March 7 -- Fuel cells, which decades ago powered the moon mission, are quietly making their way into businesses and homes, and some see them as the future of power production.  (Mentions that the city of San Diego and UCSD are cooperating on a fuel-cell project) More

Similar story in
San Diego News Network

UCSD Women Fall in CCAA Semis
San Diego Union-Tribune, March 6 – UCSD’s top-seeded women’s basketball team dropped an 82-78 decision to Humboldt State in the semifinals of the CCAA Tournament yesterday at Lumberjack Arena in Arcata. The Tritons now must wait until tomorrow evening to learn if they will play in the NCAA Division II West Regional. More

Academics Make Statement With Project
San Diego Union-Tribune, Opinion, March 6 -- Because the promise of disentangling the ideological from the ethical in this American dream-turned-nightmare shimmers like a mirage on the horizon, we of Electronic Disturbance Theater/b.a.n.g. lab (a UCSD and University of Michigan artist-based research group), have opted instead to create a poetic gesture and safety device, equipped to identify water caches on the U.S. side of the border.  (Written by Micha Cárdenas, a lecturer at UCSD, Amy Sara Carroll, a professor at the University of Michigan, Ricardo Dominguez, a professor at UCSD and Brett Stalbaum, a senior lecturer at UCSD) More

ImThera Medical Generating Buzz Over Neurostimulation for Sleep Apnea
San Diego Union-Tribune, March 7 -- A San Diego medical device startup where Terry Davidson is Chief Medical Officer is now testing a new approach to treat sleep apnea, which uses an implanted electronic device to transmit low-current neurostimulation to the tongue. Davidson is a professor of head and neck surgery at the UCSD School of Medicine. More

Funding Key to Growth of Scientific Innovations
San Diego Union-Tribune, March 7 -- Scuba divers harvesting the ocean floor for the next pharmaceutical breakthrough. Specially crafted molecules that guide surgeons to cancerous growths. Medical researchers studying sites such as Facebook to find early-warning signs of epidemics. Those were among the ideas that were discussed at the La Jolla Research & Innovation Summit last week, as a dozen scientists from some of the area’s top research centers unveiled their latest projects before more than 100 potential investors. (Mentions research by several UCSD scientists, including Nobel Prize winner Roger Tsien) More

Conference Offers Peek Into  Hoarding
North County Times, March 5 -- Speakers at San Diego County's first conference on hoarding repeatedly returned to one central message Friday morning: Hoarding is not a choice. Hoarding as a psychiatric disorder has only recently gained traction. The phenomenon still is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the bedrock document and final authority for psychologists worldwide. Sanjaya Saxena, director of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Program at UCSD, is trying to change that. More

Similar story in
San Diego Union-Tribune

Oceanside Entrepreneur Pens Book for 'Success'
North County Times, March 5 -- Eight women are local San Diego County Chinese-American trailblazers profiled in a new book, including Carol Lam, former U.S. Attorney, Dr. Flossie Wong Stall, the Florence Riford chairwoman of AIDS research at UCSD; and Dr. Lilly Cheng, managing director of the Confucius Institute at San Diego State University. More

Studying the Biological Clock
KPBS, March 8 -- As it turns out, human beings are not the only living things with rhythm. And a newly established center at UCSD is using research into the biological clocks of other species, mice, frogs, plants and bacteria to unlock the mysteries of these rhythms and help us all get back in sync with our bodies. More

Scientists from Sapphire Energy, UCSD, Scripps, and Protelica Show Genetically Modified Algae Can Make Important Drugs
Xconomy, March 8 -- Scientists in San Diego and Hayward, CA, have demonstrated the feasibility of using algae to produce commercial levels of human therapeutic proteins that are currently being used to treat emphysema and other diseases, or are in clinical trials for use to boost the immune system. “The bottom line from the study is that the algae expression platform is ready for prime time,” UCSD biologist Stephen Mayfield writes in an e-mail to me over the weekend. More

Green Biz: What’s Happening in San Diego’s Green Economy
SDNN, March 5 -- Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is in process of aiding the formation of four for-profit companies that will aid climate scientists and others. The spin-off of these businesses will be a first for SIO. However, the world renowned Institution is still firming up over $2 million in capital and leadership positions for the launch of the first two. More

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