Looking Forward to 2009

| January 12, 2009

The opening of a new housing complex for transfer students and of the Conrad Prebys Music Center as well as a visit by former Vice President Al Gore will highlight the 2009 year at UC San Diego. The university also will expand its research efforts in many areas, from alternative fuels to telemedicine. This new year promises to be an exciting one and This Week@UCSD has asked each of the campus’ divisions about what they have in store for the next 12 months.

UC San Diego Part of the Effort to Turn San Diego Into a Green Houston

The San Diego region could soon become a “Green Houston,” as world-renowned biologists in the Division of Biological Sciences join with scientists at UC San Diego, The Scripps Research Institute, and other research institutions and local companies, in a broad-scale research effort to develop advanced transportation fuels from algae. These scientists recently established the San Diego Center for Algae-based Biofuels, SD-CAB, in an effort to make sustainable algae-based fuel production and carbon dioxide abatement a reality within the next five to 10 years. The primary goal of the center is to create a national facility capable of developing and implementing innovative research solutions for the commercialization of fuel production from algae.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography to Mark
Revelle’s 100th Birthday, Former Vice President Al Gore to Visit

Scripps Institution of Oceanography will mark the 100th birthday of Roger Revelle, the late statesman of science and former Scripps director, with a series of events in March 2009. The celebration includes a special science symposium exploring the fields of science Revelle championed, as well as the official opening of the Robert Paine Scripps Forum for Science, Society, and the Environment, where Scripps and the Revelle Family will award the first Roger Revelle Prize at Scripps to former Vice President Al Gore, Revelle's best-known protégé. These events will raise funds for the Roger Revelle Leadership Fund at Scripps to recruit the best and brightest students, researchers and faculty for generations to come.

Campus to Launch New Outreach Efforts, Other Initiatives

The New Year brings a new era of outreach for UC San Diego. In 2009, the university is launching a nationwide marketing campaign to increase awareness about the achievements and initiatives born at UCSD. Also, the Alumni Association will celebrate alumni engagement with the new Young Alumni Reunion and Alumni Weekend programs, along with career and lifelong learning initiatives. In the spring, UC San Diego’s BioBridge program is the lead facilitator for the San Diego Science Festival, one of the largest multicultural, multigenerational and multidisciplinary celebrations of science on the West Coast.

New Transfer Student Housing Complex to Open

Applications for housing at the new “Village at North Torrey Pines West”—previously known as North Campus Project Phase I—will be available this spring. By fall, 1,060 transfer students are expected to move into the eight new “Village” buildings.

The project consists of seven three-to-four story buildings and one 14-story structure on approximately six acres in the North Campus Neighborhood, a short distance from the Pangea parking structure and the Eleanor Roosevelt College housing complex. Sustainable features of the project include “green” interior finishes in flooring, cabinetry and paint; building materials of steel in lieu of wood; and low-flow water plumbing devices. Surface materials in the former North Campus parking lot were ground up and used on site as base for the new construction and a majority of the waste from the construction site is being recycled.

New Music Center to Open in Heart of Campus

When it opens in May 2009, UC San Diego’s new $53 million Conrad Prebys Music Center will launch the department of music into the future with state-of-the-art classrooms, practice studios, audio labs and world-class performance spaces including a 390-seat concert hall designed by world-renowned acoustician Cyril Harris. Situated in the campus’ arts district, the new music center—with its clean, modern forms in steel, glass and concrete—will be an icon for creativity. The new concert hall will be the finest of its size in Southern California, serving both the campus and San Diego communities with an ambitious schedule ranging from jazz and classical to new, experimental and computer music.

Calit2 to Develop Devices for Saudi Arabian University

Calit2 will strengthen its ties with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia next year, when the San Diego institution will refine designs and prototypes of brand-new visualization technologies. The devices—including the largest virtual-reality room in the world—will later be deployed on the new campus of KAUST on the Red Sea. It's part of an $8 million contract awarded to Calit2 in late 2008, and at its peak, the project will employ more than 20 UC San Diego engineers and other staff. In December, Calit2 carved out a large space on the first floor of Atkinson Hall, where engineers are already hard at work.

Nobel Prize Winners to Reflect on Science, Education and the Environment

How can science revive the United States and restore its standing in the global marketplace? Two Nobel Prize winners—Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland— will offer their perspectives this month in a public forum sponsored by the Division of Physical Sciences. The two laureates shared with UCSD researcher Paul Crutzen the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for elucidating the threat to the Earth’s ozone layer from chlorofluorocarbon gases, or CFCs. In addition, Molina, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCSD, was recently selected by President-elect Barack Obama as co-leader of a transition team that is developing plans for the nation's science and technology policy. “Reviving the United States: 2 Nobel Prizewinners Offer Their Perspectives on Science, Education and the Environment” will take place at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 29  in the Price Center Ballroom East. It is free and open to the public.

Institute of Engineering in Medicine
to Accelerate Innovation in Health Care Technologies

Engineers and physicians are joining forces to develop the future treatments of 21st-century health care through UC San Diego’s new Institute of Engineering in Medicine. The new institute will lead the way in medical innovations, such as nanoparticle bombs to kill cancer, molecular-sized bridges to repair damaged hearts and scarless surgery techniques. One of the aims of the institute is to foster the education of the next generation of scientists trained in using engineering techniques to advance medicine.
UCSD's newest research institute aligns programs that are rated among the nation’s best. The campus is one of only four universities in the nation whose School of Medicine and Jacobs School of Engineering rank among the nation’s top 15 graduate schools, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Health Sciences to Build New
Telemedicine Facility, Expand Management Systems

UC San Diego is updating its medical curriculum and facilities, applying the power of information technology to remain a leader in delivering clinical excellence through service, innovation and education.

In 2009, construction will begin on the School of Medicine’s new Medical Education and Telemedicine Building and Surgery Research Laboratory, which will be equipped with the newest telemedicine, simulation, distance learning and robotics technologies to support state-of-the-art education and training for the health care providers of the future.

Meanwhile, the UC San Diego Medical Center is continuing to implement innovative and effective information technologies to support high quality care, improved patient safety and organizational performance. A few examples: A new system will be deployed to support cancer care and complex chemotherapy management at the Moores Cancer Center and Medical Center. A new organ transplant management system will be implemented, enabling UC San Diego transplant teams to electronically manage patient information throughout the continuum of care. And “MyUCSDChart,” a new program that gives UC San Diego patients secure access to their electronic medical records and enables patients to communicate with their physicians and care teams online, will be expanded significantly in 2009.

San Diego Supercomputer Center, UC San Diego Announce ‘Triton Resource’
Three-Pronged Program to Focus on Data Analysis, Storage and Scalable Clusters

The San Diego Supercomputer Center has announced plans for a unique facility called the Triton Resource—a high-impact data analysis and storage system that will accelerate collaboration and discovery through leading-edge research cyberinfrastructure. The program’s first runs will take place during the first quarter of 2009.

The Triton Resource initiative will be focused primarily for UC and UC San Diego researchers. Specifics are being defined by a committee of UCSD/UC users and SDSC technical specialists to achieve the best balance of storage, computing power and memory to meet a number of cyberinfrastructure needs for world-class research.

Key elements of the Triton Resource include the Data Oasis, a high-performance storage system; Petascale Data Analysis Facility, capable of analyzing data from petascale computers; and a scalable, shared resource cluster, or group of linked computers equipped with enhanced memory capability.

Rady School to Launch Doctoral Program in Management

Just five years after its founding, the Rady School of Management is launching a doctoral program in management, which will begin in fall 2009. With an emphasis on innovation, rigorous training and impactful research, the Rady doctorate is a full-time program, designed to prepare candidates for an academic career. Strong areas of academic and research interests for doctoral candidates will include behavioral science, finance and capital markets and management and strategy. Students will begin active research early and work closely with faculty throughout the program. Most candidates will take four to five years to complete degree requirements and defend their dissertation. For more information, visit www.rady.ucsd.edu/phd

Social Sciences to Start Up Community Lecture Series

Social Sciences will launch a new lecture series this winter quarter as an extension of the division’s existing public service programs. The first talk will focus on the U.S. economic crisis and take place Feb. 27 at Shady Canyon Country Club in Irvine. Another event will examine the issues facing the nation’s public education system. "This spring we are very happy to be starting up 'Social Science in the Community,' by taking the work of our distinguished faculty members to much wider audiences in San Diego and Southern California,” said Social Sciences Dean Jeff Elman. The programs will be held in cooperation with several local museums and institutions and the public is invited at no charge. The division has always emphasized opportunities for public service for its faculty. Over the years, professors have worked with public schools, served as experts for the media and at public events and contributed to the community in a variety of ways. The new lecture series aims to give these efforts renewed visibility this coming year.

IRPS to Examine Relationship Between United States and Mexico

"Mexico and the United States: Confronting the Twenty-First Century," is the focus of a large scale, multi-disciplinary conference to be held under the auspices of the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies in May. The project is being directed by Political Science Professor Peter Smith, whose book by the same title will be published at the same time. 

The UCSD Center for U.S. Mexican-Studies is organizing the event and will play an important part in the inaugural year for the center's new director, Alberto Diaz-Cayeros, who joins IR/PS as professor of political science specializing in Latin America and Mexico. In announcing the appointment, IR/PS Dean Peter Cowhey said, "Diaz-Cayeros is a widely respected scholar whose appointment greatly strengthens our capacity for the study of Mexico, Latin America and comparative politics."

Birch Aquarium at Scripps to Showcase Sustainable Technologies

In 2009, Birch Aquarium at Scripps will unveil an Energy Courtyard that demonstrates sustainable technologies being employed by UC San Diego to reduce its carbon footprint. This courtyard, tied to the aquarium's award-winning exhibit Feeling the Heat: The Climate Challenge, will showcase green technologies using wind and solar energy, and will provide visitors with resources to learn more about using these systems in their homes and businesses.