A Sampling of Clips for July 25, 2011

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

The Secret Air-Conditioning Power of Solar Energy
The Atlantic, July 22 -- There are plenty of benefits to using solar panels—notably clean energy, long-term electric-bill savings, utility rebates, and tax incentives. But one side effect recently discovered by Jan Kleissl, assistant professor of environmental engineering at UC San Diego, might be especially attractive to people suffering through this weekend's heat wave: Solar panels also keep buildings cool. More

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Barack Obama's Record on the Environment
The Guardian (UK), July 25 -- More than 2 ½ years have passed since President Barack Obama took office — a sufficient length of time to assess what he has accomplished, or at least started to accomplish. To gauge his record on the environment, Yale Environment 360 asked a variety of environmental leaders, writers, and policy experts to answer the following questions: How would you assess President Obama's record on energy and the environment? And what do you consider his major accomplishments and failures in these fields? (Quotes David Victor, professor of political science at UC San Diego and director of the university's Laboratory on International Law and Regulation.) More

UCSD to Try to Fly Balloon Across the U.S.
San Diego Union Tribune, July 23 – With its Near-Space Balloon Team, UC San Diego is trying to become the first university to send a zero-pressure balloon across the country, propelled only by the capricious winds of the jet stream. This will be the team’s third attempt to go coast-to-coast, but the first involving a ballast system. The experiment -- which will get underway when wind conditions are just right -- is meant to teach students basic principles in science and engineering. It’s part of a larger educational program created by John Kosmatka, a prominent UC San Diego engineering professor who helped develop the Predator drone and other unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). More

UCSD Professor Critiques Fuel Efficiency
San Diego Daily Transcript, July 22 -- U.S. policies targeting gasoline-related externalities have failed to address behavior, focusing instead on changing the fleet of automobiles on the country's roads, according to a UC San Diego professor of economics. In his speech, "From SUVs to Electric Cars: Shaping Consumer Choice to Save Gasoline," Mark Jacobsen contrasted the effect of the nation's Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, policy with gasoline taxes favored by other nations. More

Sanford-Burnham Program Piques Students’ Interest in Science
La Jolla Light, July 24 – [For] the 12 Preuss School students who participated in the lab experience program at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, studying genetically mutated worms under a microscope was just one of the week’s many outlandish experiences. The 12 students — all rising juniors at the Preuss School — spent each day of the five-day program in a different lab. Most of the program participants — all of whom endured a rigorous application process to participate — already were interested in the field of science, but many of them said they had never before considered research as a career option. More

The Who's Tommy at San Diego Rep Explodes, Sometimes Literally
San Diego.com, July 23 – (Review) Like a great rock concert, San Diego REP’s The Who’s Tommy explodes off the Lyceum Stage, at points leaving the audience in a state of awe. Mentions Victoria Petrovich, on UC San Diego’s theatre and dance faculty.) More

‘Language Of Angels’ At Bowie Community Theatre
Gazette(MD), July 21 – (Review) By day, performer and director Terry Averill is raiding Harpers Ferry as he portrays famed abolitionist John Brown at the Smithsonian. By night, he is raiding heaven and the afterlife, while directing a Bowie Community Theatre (BCT) adaptation of [UC San Diego theatre and dance professor] Naomi Iizuka’s ghost story, “Language of Angels.” More

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