Memorial Quilt Reminds Campus
Community of Devastating Effect of AIDS
Campus marks 20th anniversary of AIDS day
Minnie Low, a third-year student at UC San Diego, looked quietly at three panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt displayed in the Price Center Ballroom East. Asked why she decided to visit with the quilt, she began to cry. More

Students Splurge on Volunteering This Holiday Season
Instead of indulging in holiday shopping sprees or snowboarding in the Sierra Nevadas this holiday season, many students at UC San Diego are holding toy-donation drives on campus, working on service projects in Mexico, or contributing their time and talents in a variety of other ways. More

Expeditions Reveal Gulf of California’s
Deep Sea Secrets, As Well as Human Imprints
Scientists from UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography returning from research expeditions in Mexico have captured unprecedented details of vibrant sea life and ecosystems in the Gulf of California, including documentations of new species and marine animals previously never seen alive. Yet the expeditions, which included surveys at unexplored depths, have revealed disturbing declines in sea-life populations and evidence that human impacts have stretched down deeply in the gulf.
More

Regional Study Encourages Immediate Action
to Prevent Alarming Effects of Climate Change
If significant measures aren't taken to mitigate current climactic trends in San Diego, in just 40 years the number of days above 84 degrees Fahrenheit could triple, Scripps Coastal Reserve and Cabrillo National Monument might lose much of their coastal wildlife, and most of the Mission Beach community could be under water. More

Marine Biology Pioneer Ralph Lewin Dies
Ralph Arnold Lewin, a highly distinguished scientist, author and professor emeritus who spent nearly 48 years at UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, died peacefully in his sleep on Nov. 30 in La Jolla after battling esophageal cancer for a year. He was 87. Lewin was a leading authority in multiple areas of marine biology and became known as “the father of green algae genetics.” More

Alum Who Authored
“Kite Runner” Appears on Colbert Report
Khaled Hosseini, ’93, renowned Afghan-American author and physician, recently appeared on Comedy Central's the Colbert Report to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan. Born in Kabul to a Dari-speaking family, Hosseini’s memories of a peaceful pre-Soviet era Afghanistan, as well as his personal experience with Afghan Hazaras, led to the writing of this first novel, The Kite Runner, in 2003. The book became a best-seller and was later adapted into an Academy Award-nominated movie. His second critically-acclaimed novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, was published in May of 2007. Hosseini was the recipient of the Alumni Association’s prestigious Outstanding Alumnus of the Year Award in 2008. More

Scripps Climate Expert to Discuss Book
on Understanding Environmental Change
It might be a great comfort if Earth and its climate were constant. They are not, having changed naturally for as long as the planet has existed. Now, the planet's nearly seven billion people are such a potent force that their influence on the global environment has begun to rival that of Mother Nature. Join Professor Richard Somerville as he weaves critical findings in climate science into a more accessible story, making the most important issues of our time understandable to all. More