A Sampling of Clips for 
July 20, 2006

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

Brainy Robots Start Stepping Into Daily Life
The New York Times, July 20 – Robot cars drive themselves across the desert, electronic eyes perform lifeguard duty in swimming pools and virtual enemies with humanlike behavior battle video game players. Though most of the truly futuristic projects are probably years from the commercial market, scientists say that after a lull, artificial intelligence has rapidly grown far more sophisticated. What sets the new researchers apart is a wealth of new biological data on how the human brain functions. (Includes a profile of Robert Hecht-Nielsen, adjunct professor at UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering and director of the Confabulation Neuroscience Lab at Calit2)  More

E-mail Spam as a Masterpiece in the Making
The Christian Science Monitor, July 20 -- When Romanian artist Alex Dragulescu looks at junk e-mails, he sees patterns - bits and bytes that can be manipulated into colorful plantlike images or stark architectural forms. As a graduate student at UCSD, he and fellow student Tim Jaeger collected spam and used it to create live multimedia shows of sound, text, and animation. More

Same story in:
USA Today

San Diego Parents Mourn Son
San Diego Union Tribune, July 20 -- Jason Evey, 29, a staff sergeant based out of Fort Hood, Texas, was killed Sunday in Iraq while riding in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle that hit a roadside bomb. Evey's father, John Evey, is an assistant director at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. His mother is a volunteer tutor teaching English as a second language. Jason was their only child. More

A Safe Exodus for Local Family
Fleeing Violence-torn Lebanon
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 20 -- UCSD historian Michael Provence and his family made it safely out of Lebanon and into Syria yesterday. Provence, 39; his wife, Lor Wood, 36; and their son, August, 23 months, had been living in Beirut since last summer. Provence teaches Middle Eastern history and was a Fulbright fellow at American University of Beirut. More

UC Regents OK
Demolition of Historic Residence
NBC San Diego, July 19 -- UCSD has received preliminary approval to demolish its historic chancellor's residence despite concerns from preservationists and a local Indian tribe. The estate was vacated two years ago over concerns about its structural integrity and code compliance. More 

UCSD's Fox to Credit
Back $248,000 Sabbatical Pay
San Diego Union-Tribune, July 20 -- UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox says she will credit back a questionable quarter-million-dollar payout she received last year for a sabbatical she reportedly earned at a previous institution. More

Stem Cell Veto Shores up Base
but Poses Problems for Others
New Philadelphia Times Reporter, July 20 -- President Bush’s stem cell veto Wednesday undoubtedly heartens religious conservatives. But it will cause trouble for other Republicans – and hands a potentially valuable issue to Democrats who already were finding audiences embracing the notion that the Bush administration has tilted too far in favor of religion over science. (Quotes Samuel L. Popkin, a political science professor at UCSD) More

Shakespeare Festival
KPBS, July 19 -- Gloria Penner talks with UCSD Theatre and Dance professor Darko Tresnjak, exploring his expertise and creative approach to the old classics. Click here to view the broadcast. (Tresnjak interview starts 17:10 minutes into the show)