Business Information Consumption: 9,570,000,000,000,000,000,000 Bytes per Year
Three scientists at UC San Diego have rigorously estimated the annual amount of business-related information processed by the world's computer servers in terms that Guttenberg and Galileo would have appreciated: the digital equivalent of a 5.6-billion-mile-high stack of books from Earth to Neptune and back to Earth, repeated about 20 times a year. More

San Diego Supercomputer Center to
Open Large-scale Data Systems Research Center
The San Diego Supercomputer Center will establish a new partnership to bring together industry and university research to investigate a pressing business and information technology challenge: how to address both the management and technical aspects of "big data," or the accumulation of massive data sets requiring new approaches for large-scale data storage and business analytics. More

Administrators, Faculty, Staff Join Forces
to Advocate Against Budget Cuts in Sacramento
UC San Diego's Student Affairs, Staff Association and Academic Senate collaborated at the state capitol Tuesday to explain to legislators that California's higher education system is the solution to the state's economic crisis. But state budget cuts of $500 million or more to the University of California are critically threatening the university's future and its ability to continue functioning as a driving force for the state's economy. More

Fiesta de las Estrellas Shines April 14
In Joseph Ocampo's family, he is a bright, shining star. A sophomore at UC San Diego, Ocampo is the first in his family to attend a four-year university and has great plans for making a difference in the world. Ocampo will be honored as one of UC San Diego's outstanding student "stars" at the 14th annual Fiesta de las Estrellas scholarship benefit hosted by the UC San Diego Hispanic Scholarship Council. More

10,000 Visit Campus for Admit Day
They got to explore the UC San Diego campus, learn about student life and academic departments and take a snapshot of the undergraduate experience on campus. In all, nearly 10,000 visitors attended Admit Day, Saturday on the UCSD campus. More

Hookah Use Among Teens in
San Diego County Rivals Use of Cigarettes
An alternative and harmful form of tobacco use known as the hookah or water pipe may be spreading among youth in the United States, according to researchers from UC San Diego and San Diego State University. This trend is emerging even as cigarette smoking among high school students is on the decline nationally. The team of researchers examined patterns of use, risk perception and psychosocial risk factors among users, former users and nonusers of hookah at three San Diego high schools. More

Structure Formed by Strep
Protein Can Trigger Toxic Shock
Infection with some strains of strep turn deadly when a protein found on their surface triggers a widespread inflammatory reaction. In a report published April 7 in the journal Nature, UC San Diego researchers describe the precise architecture of a superstructure formed when a bacterial protein called M1 links with a host protein, fibrinogen, that is normally involved in clotting blood. More

Engineers Test and Predict
Impact Damage to Commercial Aircraft
Hail, ice, and ground service equipment vehicles can cause severe—but hard to detect—damage to components of commercial aircraft made of composite materials. Airlines, aircraft manufactures and academic researchers are working to develop new ways to detect this type of damage. More

Rejuvenating Electron Microscopy
Modifying a protein from a plant much favored by science, researchers at the School of Medicine and colleagues have created a new type of genetic tag visible under an electron microscope, illuminating life in never-before-seen detail. Led by Nobel laureate Roger Tsien, a team of scientists radically re-engineered a light-absorbing protein from the cress plant Arabidopsis thaliana. When exposed to blue light, the altered protein produces abundant singlet oxygen, a form of molecular oxygen that can be made visible by electron microscopy. More

Baldwin New Play Festival Nurtures Theatrical Talent
In 1999, Ken and Ginger Baldwin had an idea: to donate funds to create an annual play festival that brought to the stage the work of the MFA playwrights in the department of theatre and dance. Now, each year, four to five playwrights work long into the night writing plays that will become fully realized on the stage in UC San Diego's Baldwin New Play Festival. More

Silent Witness: Gonzales-Day
Work on View at the University Art Gallery
The denial of suffering is a prevalent theme in Ken Gonzales-Day's research and art practice. His photographs showcase historical western lynching sites, but this dark subject matter is not obvious at first glance because his pieces do not include bodies of the victims. The artist explains that "the missing body is about not wanting to re-victimize these people." Gonzales-Day explores the history of lynchings in a solo exhibition currently on view at the University Art Gallery. More

New Public Artworks Unveiled
at Thurgood Marshall College
Be sure to catch "Boat/El Barco," a captivating new public artwork recently unveiled on the campus of Thurgood Marshall College. In celebration of Thurgood Marshall College's 40th anniversary and UCSD's 50th anniversary, Thurgood Marshall College is presenting the final public arts commission installation by award-winning visual artist Robin Sanford Roberts. More

UCSD-TV Takes Aurora Awards
for UCSD@50 and Diabetes Programs
Two UCSD-TV produced programs, “UCSD@50″ and "Taking Control of Your Diabetes,” have received Aurora Awards. Taking top honors with the Platinum Best of Show Award in the News Magazine/Interview category is the November 2010 edition of “UCSD@50,” UCSD-TV's yearlong magazine program honoring UC San Diego's 50th anniversary. More

Former Harvard President
to Lecture on College Education Challenges
The New York Times once said: "We have, alas, all too few wise people in our media-saturated and celebrity-driven public life. Derek Bok is one of them." Former Harvard University president Bok will speak on "Can Undergraduate Education Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century?" at 7 p.m. April 26 in the Price Center Ballroom East. The event is free and open to the public with no tickets or reservations required. More