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Looking Forward to 2007
| January 8, 2006
This Week@UCSD has asked the campus’
divisions and schools what they have in store for
this new year. Here is a preview of some of the exciting
developments planned for 2007.
NEW RESEARCH
New Center at Calit2 to Work on Da Vinci Masterpiece
Calit2 will create a new center in early 2007 to bring the benefits of science and
technology to the analysis and restoration of great works of art and historic monuments. UCSD bioengineering alum Maurizio Seracini, Class of '73, joined the staff of Calit2 in October and is leading the effort to create a center of interdisciplinary studies for art, architecture and archaeology. Mentioned in "The Da Vinci Code," Seracini pioneered the use of multi-spectral imaging and other techniques to scan works of art and one of the new center's first projects will focus on a Da Vinci masterpiece. The center will also launch a project to study one of the most important structures of Renaissance Italy.
Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Will Help Provide a Comprehensive Look at Climate
Change
Climate research will figure prominently at UCSD's
Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 
2007. Several Scripps researchers are playing important
roles in a much-anticipated synthesis of climate research
that will provide the most comprehensive analysis
to date of the current state of climate and what the
world can expect in the future. The Fourth Assessment
Report of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, will release the
first portion of the report on Feb. 2. Also, the Birch
Aquarium at Scripps will launch “Feeling the
Heat: The Climate Challenge” on May 19. The
exhibit will explore the science of global warming
and the latest ideas for reducing carbon emissions
through emerging technologies.
Researchers in the Division
of Biological Sciences
Will Look for New and Improved Biofuels
Over the next year, plant geneticists and other molecular
biologists in UCSD’s Division of Biological
Sciences will aim to find novel ways to convert plants
into “biofuels” that are 
less polluting and more environmentally friendly than
the fossil fuels currently in use. One of the basic
research challenges facing scientists in the U.S.
and other parts of the world today is how to efficiently
transform cellulose into sugars that can be converted
into ethanol for energy. Some of the division’s
research efforts, in collaboration with other institutions,
will look at developing new enzymes to break down
plant cell walls. Others will search for genes within
the plant genome to degrade cellulose more easily
into sugars. The ultimate goal is to be able to convert
much of agricultural waste into useful fuel.
UCSD
Stem Cell Program to Continue Research Advancements
Additional funding is expected to be provided to the
UCSD Stem Cell Program in the coming year through
the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
(CIRM). A top goal
of program director Larry Goldstein
and his colleagues — biologists, engineers,
physical scientists, ethicists, physicians, mathematicians,
and computational scientists from across the UCSD
campus — will be to work with the San Diego
community, and with researchers at The Scripps Research
Institute and the Burnham and Salk Institutes, to
accelerate the pace of discovery and innovation through
the San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine.
In January 2007, interdisciplinary training in stem
cell research and ethics will begin for young scientists
funded by a training grant from CIRM. A leading stem
cell expert specializing in germ cell and embryo development
and infertility has been recruited to join the faculty,
and will arrive at UCSD in early 2007 to expand the
effort.
NEW PROGRAMS
Division
of Physical Sciences to Expand Math and Science
Teaching Program
The Division of Physical Sciences, in partnership
with the Education Studies Program, has developed
an innovative math and science education program to
attract the next generation of math and science teachers.
Over the next year, faculty and staff will increase
recruitment of students into the program’s lower
division courses and will design the new upper division
courses. Students in the program will major in
science,  math
or engineering while taking a minor in science or
math education. Two features make the program
unique. First, it encourages students just beginning
their undergraduate studies to consider a career in
teaching. Second, the program combines courses on
teaching and learning science and math, taught by
science and math faculty, as well as traditional education
courses, taught by education faculty.
Collaboration Between San Diego Community
and Division
of Social Sciences to Make Important Strides
2007 will see continued collaborations between
the Division of Social Sciences and the San Diego
community. Two projects, in particular, both in support
of education and notable for their past successes,
will make important strides in the coming year.
Achievements at the UCSD-chartered Preuss School are
well known, and many of the techniques that have proven
successful there are now being implemented, under
the direction of professors Cecil Lytle and Hugh "Bud"
Mehan, at Gompers, a center-city middle school with
a low-income population. And the "Partners in
Learning" (PAL) program, started in 1997 to take
UCSD students to elementary and secondary schools
as interns, teachers and mentors, is expanding to
a pre-school population — with more than 400
undergraduate and graduate students participating
as part of their coursework in the Education Studies
Program.
NEW EVENTS
Division of Arts and Humanities Brings
Top Science Fiction Writers Workshop to Campus
The nation’s premier summer program in science
fiction and fantasy writing has a new home in the
Division of Arts and Humanities. The Clarion Workshop
— founded in 1968 at Clarion State College in
Pennsylvania and hosted at Michigan State University
from 1972 through 2006 — is now being administered
in the department of literature at UCSD and 
headed by professor emeritus Donald Wesling. In its
40th anniversary year, the Clarion Workshop will be
held on campus from June 25 through Aug. 3, 2007.
The signature intensive six-week session in short-story
writing features notable authors as writers-in-residence
and instructors; the 2007 roster includes Cory Doctorow,
Karen Joy Fowler, Gregory Frost, Ellen Kushner, Delia
Sherman and Jeff VanderMeer. Applications will be
accepted beginning Jan. 31. Find more information
at the Clarion Workshop
Web site.
IR/PS
“Next Generation Project” Examines Foreign
Policy Challenges
In mid-February, Dean Peter Cowhey and the Graduate
School of International Relations and Pacific Studies
will host “The Next Generation Project,”
bringing together emerging leaders to consider global
opportunities and threats.
Sponsored with The American Assembly, the gathering
at UCSD is based on the premise that new voices
will strengthen discussion of U.S. foreign policy
as well as American and international institutions.
Later meetings will explore whether the current institutional
architecture will be effective in meeting the challenges
identified in La Jolla and at similar convocations.
The final assembly, a national meeting in Washington,
D.C during the run-up to the 2008 presidential election,
will offer policy recommendations for the future.
Jacobs
School of Engineering to Develop Solutions for
Non-profit Organizations
The Jacobs School of Engineering's Teams in Engineering
Service (TIES) program deploys multidisciplinary teams
of UCSD undergraduates to develop technology solutions
for San 
Diego non-profit organizations. In 2007, TIES will
take on several exciting new projects such as working
with San Diego county middle schools to install environmental
monitoring sensors that will allow science classes
to track conditions at their own school sites, such
as airborne pollutants during fire season or exposure
to solar radiation on sunny days. Other new TIES projects
include teaming with UCSD medical students to improve
patient care tracking systems in free clinics for
the underserved, and designing a "green home"
for Habitat for Humanity. Learn more about TIES.
NEW BUILDINGS
Student
Center to Open
"Lack of a physical and social community.”
“The need for a strong school identity”.
These findings of the Undergraduate Student Experience
and Satisfaction (USES) report will see 
a first-step answer in the new Student Services Center,
a 100,000-square-foot building set to open in the
heart of the campus in May, 2007. Some 350 staff members
will start moving into the five-story building, designed
by famed architect Rob Quigley, in mid-March. The
building will house the Triton Center (a welcome area
for visitors, students and their families), Admissions
and Enrollment Services, Financial Aid, and numerous
other student services. Also included are two restaurants,
seven conference rooms for student organizations,
a 300-seat multi-purpose room and a computer training
room.
Rady
School of Management to Open First Building
The Rady School of Management will move into its first
on-campus building, Otterson Hall, 
in spring 2007. The facility, which is approximately
50,000 assignable square feet, will have classrooms,
conference rooms and common areas for students, as
well as faculty and staff offices. Students will have
access to state of the art facilities, making this
an ideal learning environment for Rady School MBAs,
many of whom are focused on becoming business leaders
in the fields of science, technology and the life
sciences. The building was designed by Ellerbe Becket
of Minneapolis and constructed by PCL Construction
Group. View the building’s
progress online.
New
Music Building to Provide State-of-Art Facilities
Construction will be getting underway early this year on UCSD's new music building, featuring a 400-seat concert hall. "The new building will provide students, faculty, and staff with state-of-the-art facilities for performance, practice, and production, as well as new offices," said Rand Steiger, chair of
the department of music. "Our concert hall will offer the finest acoustics for a venue its size in Southern California." The 46,880-square-foot building was designed by LMN Architectural firm of Seattle, with world-renowned acoustic designer Cyril Harris. When the music building opens in 2009, the department of music will move from Mandeville Center to its new location on Russell Lane, near the Gilman Parking Structure. The three-story modernist building conforms with the University Center Neighborhood Plan, and will combine cast-in-place concrete with structural steel and aluminum/glass curtain wall. Computers and technology have become central to UCSD's graduate and undergraduate music programs, and the new music building will provide students and faculty with state-of-the-art equipment for production, recording, and creating multimedia works.
AND MORE
San Diego Supercomputer Center
Growth Boosts
UCSD Data Storage to No. 1 Among World’s Universities
UCSD experienced a major expansion in electronic data
last year, when the archival
storage capacity at the
SDSC expanded to 25 petabytes — roughly 2,500
times the digital plain-text equivalent of the printed
collection of the Library of Congress. As a result,
the university now has more storage capacity than
any other educational institution in the world.
In the year 2007, SDSC will further extend its data
capabilities, more than tripling the size of critical
components of disk storage. These new resources will
allow scientists and engineers to better tackle some
of the world’s critical problems, including
simulations needed to prepare for major earthquakes
in California and the manipulation of protein structures
for new drugs and other medical advances.
The
Campaign for UCSD to Conclude
The Campaign for UCSD: Imagine What’s Next —
the university’s seven-year, $1 billion fundraising
effort to support students and faculty, expand academic
programs, fund 
research endeavors and strengthen innovation funds
to meet the highest priority needs — is fast
becoming a reality. More than 90,000 alumni, parents,
faculty, staff, students and community members contributed
and the campus is on track to reach its goal when
the campaign concludes June 30, 2007. UCSD has planned
several exciting celebrations in fall 2007 to celebrate
the $1 billion fundraising milestone.
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