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Salvadoran war orphan finds closure through DNA results and family reunion
Angela Fillingim, one of thousands of children orphaned or adopted during El Salvador's bloody 1980-1992 civil war, shared with reporters on Thursday, Dec. 21, memories and photos of her extraordinary return to her native land. She spoke at a well-attended press conference at UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center, a key collaborator in the DNA Reunification Project, which is helping Salvadoran war orphans track down their biological families.
(21 December)
Shotgun sequencing finds nanoorganisms
UC Berkeley scientists have found some of the smallest organisms known in a sample of slime from a California mine. Their discovery proves the value of a technique called "shotgun" sequencing to identify all organisms in a microbial community, particularly those too small to see in a microscope.
(21 December)
NEH, Google boost Internet coding project
New research awards just announced will enable UC Berkeley's Script Encoding Initiative to continue for the next two years its pioneering work to allow users of the native scripts for all writing systems -- from ancient hieroglyphics to Hungarian Runic and more -- to use the Internet.
(20 December)
New study shows promise of genomics in environmental monitoring
A new study led by UC Berkeley researchers identifies specific gene expression changes in a species of water flea in response to contaminants, lending new support for the role of toxicogenomics in environmental monitoring.
(20 December)
Newfound diversity in gamma-ray bursts
Only in the past decade have astronomers been able to make sense of the bright flashes of cosmic light known as gamma-ray bursts, which are the brightest explosions in the universe. But two newly observed bursts suggest that not all such flashes can be neatly divided between long bursts associated with supernovae and short bursts due to stellar mergers.
(20 December)
Final enrollment data released today
University of California, Berkeley, officials today (Tuesday, Dec. 19) released final enrollment figures for the fall 2006 semester. The data show that more than 23,800 undergraduates and 10,070 graduate students are currently enrolled.
(19 December)
Study shows people compete to be generous
As holiday giving crests, a new study by UC Berkeley and Cornell University researchers shows taht people compete in their giving to win favor and friends.
(19 December)
Two nostrils better than one, researchers show
Do animals use their two nostrils to locate scents in the same way they use two ears to locate sounds? UC Berkeley neuroscientists set out to test that question, using human volunteers on all fours to track a chocolate scent through the grass. The answer is yes.
(18 December)
Richmond Field staffer Veronica Rodriguez's gift for wrapping nets her top prize at national competition
In the five years she's been a part-time gift wrapper at Macy's, Veronica Rodriguez has grown used to working quickly and in front of people — skills she needed to compete in last week's national gift-wrapping contest in New York City. But the competition also challenged less common abilities, like her ingenuity; for example, how do you wrap a life-sized pony?
(14 December)
Plucking comet dust from Stardust collectors
For the past six months, physicist Andrew Westphal has been guarding a treasure trove -- a priceless collection of comet dust captured by the Stardust spacecraft and brought back to Earth earlier this year. Using techniques Westphal and colleagues developed, UC Berkeley and NASA teams have been carefully cutting pieces of dust out of an aerogel collector and doling them out to eager scientists for study.
(14 December)
Bodega lab founding director Cadet Hand has died
Marine biologist and educator Cadet Hammond Hand Jr., who co-founded the University of California's Bodega Marine Laboratory in 1966 and directed it for a quarter of a century, died Nov. 29 at the age of 86.
(13 December)
Researchers barcode DNA of 6,000 fungi species in Venice museum
UC Berkeley researchers are partnering with the Venice Museum of Natural History to build an unprecedented DNA database of its vast fungi collection. More than 6,000 species will be sequenced and analyzed, and then made available to the scientific community.
(13 December)
Le Grande named interim head of student affairs
Harry Le Grande has been named the Berkeley campus’s Interim Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs, effective Jan. 1. He will lead efforts to provide student- and faculty-support service programs relating to academic development, retention, admissions and financial aid, multicultural diversity, campus outreach, student conduct, residential living, and other student-related matters.
(13 December)
Web marketplace to draw support for student projects
UC Berkeley students with ambitious ideas that could change the world now have a place to go to attract support from venture capitalists and investors. The online marketplace will be a one-stop shop for those interested in supporting students' "big ideas."
(13 December)
THEMIS probes relocate to Florida for Feb. 15 launch
Five space probes designed and built by UC Berkeley physicists have been trucked from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena to Florida to be readied for a Feb. 15 launch, the first five-satellite launch by NASA. The mission, named for the Greek god often called "blind justice," will impartially decide between two competing theories of how the solar wind triggers substorms in the Earth's magnetosphere, which are responsible for the kinetic northern and southern lights.
(11 December)
Risks of exploiting low-quality sources of oil
Alternative sources of oil, such as low-quality tar sands, oil shale and coal, are drawing the attention of nations around the world -- they're abundant and can help nations achieve the security of oil-independence. Energy & Resources Professor Alex Farrell warns, however, that exploiting these sources to make synthetic fuels risks significant environmental damage and presents economic risks as well.
(11 December)
Cal Band reenacts the Big Bang, with direction by Nobelist George Smoot
UC Berkeley astrophysicist George Smoot recruited the Cal Band for a part in the Sunday, Dec. 10 Nobel Prize ceremony in Sweden, at which he was presented the Nobel Prize in Physics. Smoot asked the band to help create some dazzle for the Nobel festivities.
(11 December)
Psychometrics giant William Meredith dies
William M. Meredith, a professor emeritus of psychology whose behind-the-scenes work in psychometrics revolutionized longitudinal studies analysis, died at his El Cerrito home on Monday, Dec. 4. He was 77.
(08 December)
A job that keeps on giving
After eight years at the helm of University Relations, Vice Chancellor Don McQuade steps down this month to return to teaching, research, and writing in the English department. The Berkeleyan sat down with him to elicit his thoughts on the job he's done, why donors give to Cal, and the changing face of philanthropy.
(07 December)
'Percolating' higher-ed questions the focus of Friday symposium
In an era when universities face growing scrutiny on a number of fronts, are existing models of governance up to the task? That's among the central questions to be explored by a distinguished group of academics and policymakers when they meet Friday, Dec. 8, for "Governing the Academy: Who's the Boss?," a symposium sponsored jointly by the Institute of Governmental Studies and the Center for Studies in Higher Education.
(07 December)
A brainy night in Berkeley
If neuroanatomy grad student Aubrey Gilbert's "whirlwind tour of your nervous system" doesn't blow your mind, the opportunity to hold a human brain in your hands just might.
(07 December)
Exporting services opportunities for California
Booming Asian economies offer new growth opportunities for small- and mid-sized service firms in California, say two economists at the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley.
(07 December)
Bay Area water history, one month at a time
"Mountains to Mouths," a 2007 wall calendar produced jointly by the campus's Water Resources Center Archives and Harmer E. Davis Transportation Library, illustrates the historical development of the intricate network of dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, and pumping stations that delivers high-quality water to millions of thirsty people in the San Francisco Bay Area.
(07 December)
The Joy of Receiving
The advent of the holidays brings with it the need to ponder what gifts our friends and loved ones might desire. Yet who among us hasn't happened on a tantalizing bauble or gotta-have gadget while shopping for others? The Berkeleyan asked a number of people on campus to reflect on what they themselves would like to receive.
(07 December)
Awards
Recent faculty and staff awards.
(07 December)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(07 December)
Regents vote to certify EIR for southeast campus plan and approve design of student-athlete center
A UC Board of Regents committee certified the environmental impact report for UC Berkeley's Southeast Campus Integrated Projects and approved the design of the Student-Athlete High Performance Center adjacent to Memorial Stadium. The vote serves as final approval from the Regents for the environmental impact report and design of the new center.
(05 December)
Regents to consider Memorial Stadium-area plans
The UC Board of Regents' Committee on Grounds and Buildings will meet via teleconference on Tuesday, Dec. 5, to consider action to certify the environmental impact report for UC Berkeley's Southeast Campus Integrated Projects and approve the design of the Student-Athlete High Performance Center adjacent to Memorial Stadium.
(05 December)
Reducing pollution could increase rice harvests in India, study says
An analysis by researchers at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego found that the combined effects of atmospheric brown clouds and greenhouse gases negatively affected growing conditions for rice in India. The study suggests that reducing the man-made sources of pollution could increase harvest growth.
(04 December)
Urban planning pioneer Melvin Webber dies at 86
Melvin M. Webber, a professor emeritus of city and regional planning and an international authority on city planning and transportation, has died at the age of 86.
(01 December)
New finding points way to foiling anthrax's tricks
Anthrax, when inhaled, is nearly always fatal, in part because the bacteria have a very effective way of stealing iron from human cells in order to reproduce. One trick the bacteria developed to get around the body's defense against such iron theft may be its undoing.
(30 November)
Spotlight on undergraduate outcomes
Ways to better evaluate the education that Berkeley provides its undergraduates took center stage at the fall meeting of the campus Academic Senate on Nov. 14.
(29 November)
A backward glance, a round of applause … and then, the final
The last teaching day of the fall approaches. Here's how some faculty plan to make the most of it.
(29 November)
Regents approve 2007-08 budget proposal
The University of California Board of Regents on Nov. 16 approved a 2007-08 budget proposal that includes new funding for student enrollment growth at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, expansion of research in fields critical to California's competitiveness, restoration of prior cuts to the instructional program, and salary increases for faculty and staff.
(29 November)
The weak linkage between workplace diversity, turnover
Contrary to popular thinking among some diversity consultants, employing workers of many different races has little effect on average turnover in a retail workplace, although employees do quit more often if fewer colleagues are the same race, according to a recently published case study by two professors at the Haas School of Business.
(29 November)
International House director Joe Lurie to step down next June
There have been only three executive directors of International House over the three-quarters of a century since its founding in 1930. Soon a fourth will be named, as current director Joe Lurie, after 19 years of service, steps down in June 2007.
(29 November)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(29 November)
Music professors honored for books
Richard Taruskin and Kate van Orden of the University of California, Berkeley's Music Department have received top honors from the American Musicological Society for their new books -- one the history of Western music, the other on music in early modern France.
(28 November)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(27 November)
Seven faculty members named AAAS fellows
Seven faculty members from the University of California, Berkeley, have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), bringing the total number of fellows on campus to about 200.
(27 November)
Engineers demonstrate strength of new metal shear wall that could lower construction cost
Engineers pushed a newly designed, metal shear wall to its limits in a seismic test at UC Berkeley's Structural Engineering Research Lab. The panel proved strong enough for use in California and other earthquake-prone regions throughout the world, researchers said
(22 November)
Celebrating Thanksgiving, Berkeley-style
It's a great time for eating, especially if you live in or near Berkeley, the birthplace of the current food revolution. Many on campus are trying to shorten the distance that food travels to their plates, both geographically and cognitively, by learning where what they eat comes from, and who grows or raises it and how.
(16 November)
Boalt Hall prof explores changing demographics of police
At a conference at Berkeley last month on "Police Reform From the Bottom Up," scholars and police leaders from four continents converged to discuss a range of underexplored topics: police unions and police officers as change agents in police reform, the role of black officers in modernizing policing, leadership-sharing in police agencies, and the possibility that workplace democracy could help transform policing.
(16 November)
Bring us the head of Tommy Trojan
Duke Wayne or Gregory Peck? Judge Wapner or Chief Justice Warren?
Hugh Beaumont or "the Beav" himself? Whatever happens in the Golden
Bears' high-stakes meeting with USC this weekend, there are plenty of
reasons Cal deserves to come out on top. Did somebody say "Ron
Ziegler"?
(16 November)
Astronomer Alex Filippenko named Professor of the Year
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education have named astronomer Alex Filippenko Professor of the Year, lauding his lively teaching style and ability to convey the wonder of the cosmos.
(16 November)
Jay Keasling honored as Scientist of the Year
Discover Magazine's first Scientist of the Year award has gone to Jay Keasling, a UC Berkeley chemical engineer who is hoping to "rebuild life itself."
(15 November)
Study examines state's achievement gaps
Seven years after Sacramento embarked on ambitious and costly school reforms, test scores are leveling off and achievement gaps are growing in some grades, according to a University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University think tank.
(15 November)
Regents committee defers decision on southeast campus projects until early December
A UC Regents committee voted Tuesday to delay consideration of plans for the southeast corner of the UC Berkeley campus, including construction of a Student-Athlete High Performance Center, saying it needed more time to review late-arriving materials.
(14 November)
Blum Center launches global field initiatives
UC Berkeley's Richard C. Blum Center for Developing Economies on Tuesday announced the selection of its first field projects — the East Africa Healthcare Initiative and the Initiative on Safe Water and Sanitation. Both projects address poor health status, which is both a leading cause and a debilitating impact of global poverty.
(14 November)
Leon Henkin, advocate for diversity in math & science, has died
Leon Henkin, who helped found UC Berkeley's Professional Development Program to nurture the next generation of mathematicians and scientists, has died at 85.
(09 November)
Tours begin of eco-friendly "green apartment"
Empty pizza boxes, beer cans and overflowing garbage is an image many might associate with four college guys in a two-bedroom apartment. But that's not quite the case for UC Berkeley undergraduates Travis Zack, Jonathan Hu, Tim Edgar and Edward Chen, who live in the campus's eco-friendly Green Apartment.
(09 November)
Employees find tending to aging loved ones no easy task
The campus Elder Care program provides caregivers with expertise, guidance, resources, and support.
(08 November)
Exemplars of excellence
The Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Award honors individual staff members and teams whose contributions toward the university's mission of teaching, research, and public service have been noteworthy and significant. The Berkeleyan here highlights nine of this year's recipients, who, collectively, illustrate both the campuswide reach of the awards and the variety of services all of this year's recipients — indeed, each year's recipients — provide to their peers, colleagues, and the campus community.
(08 November)
Grad students to enjoy one-stop resource shopping
Things are on the move in the Graduate Division, where a one-stop service unit — Graduate Services: Appointments, Degrees, and Fellowships — is set to open on Monday, Nov. 20. When it does, grad students will have a single destination — 318 Sproul — instead of three to visit for administrative matters related to their graduate careers at Berkeley.
(08 November)
John Muir, Tin Lizzie, and California Jack
In Past Tents, the Bancroft's Susan Snyder explores the great outdoors in the days before Therm-a-Rest, and finds a world both strange and strangely familiar.
(08 November)
Awards
Recent faculty and staff awards.
(08 November)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(08 November)
Visiting artist unites campus, Richmond
A project focusing on the beleaguered but proud city of Richmond moves forward Wednesday (Nov. 8) with an interactive, multi-media installation at the University of California, Berkeley, and a potluck dinner forum on campus with students, faculty, Richmond leaders and residents, and others.
(07 November)
Point of View: What issues are important to you in this election?
Berkeley is often pigeonholed as being a bastion of bleeding-heart liberalism, but those who work, study, and teach here know that a range of opinions can be found on campus. Eight students share the ballot issues and topics that mattered the most to them, and why.
(07 November)
New York College Tour
The New Yorker magazine's 2006 College Tour comes to UC Berkeley for three days, starting Monday, Nov. 13.
(07 November)
Novel approach to detoxifying cancer drugs
Anticancer drugs typically have poisonous side-effects, but a new technique that wraps the drug in a protein "hairball" shows promise of reducing these toxic effects and boosting the drug's effectiveness. In tests on mice with colon cancer, the drug attached to a polyester polymer cured 100 percent of them.
(07 November)
Economist David Card wins labor economics honor
David Card, a University of California, Berkeley, economist known for his work in labor and immigration, is a 2006 recipient of the prestigious Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Award in Labor Economics.
(03 November)
Fulbright scholars on campus and overseas
This year's Fulbright Scholar Program has sent five University of California, Berkeley, faculty members overseas for teaching and research, and brought to campus 24 foreign scholars whose research interests range from Tibeto-Burman linguistics to the regulation of greenhouse gases in North America.
(03 November)
Campus joins state climate registry
As a committment to reduce campus greenhouse gas emissions, UC Berkeley has joined the California Climate Action Registry. As a member, the campus pledges to report its emissions and look for ways to reduce its carbon footpring.
(03 November)
Embryologist William Berg dies at 87
William E. Berg, a professor emeritus of zoology who taught embryology at UC Berkeley for 33 years and retired in 1980, has died at 87 in Stockton, Calif.
(03 November)
Hearst hosts Native American Heritage events
The University of California, Berkeley's Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology will host a series of free lectures, tours, a film and performances during November to celebrate American Indian Heritage Month.
(02 November)
Everyone into the pool?
Ten years after California voters approved Proposition 209, a daylong symposium of UC educators produced reams of evidence documenting its impacts on diversity. But whether or not affirmative action is ever made legal again, some call for UC to address inequities caused by the "tyranny of numbers" in its own admissions process.
(01 November)
Tackling technological truancy
While students have skipped class since time immemorial, some present-day faculty charge that more undergrads than ever are not showing up, with empty seats increasing as the semester progresses. Last week, in the spirit of academic inquiry, the Office of Educational Development, which supports, enhances, and publicizes the teaching efforts of Berkeley faculty, sponsored a forum, "Where Have All the Students Gone?," to examine the topic.
(01 November)
Open enrollment for 2007 benefits now underway
Open enrollment for UC health and other benefits plans runs from Nov. 1 to Nov. 21.
(01 November)
Open to debate: the fuel-saving benefits of ethanol
Is ethanol a useful alternative while other technologies ramp up? Or do its costs already exceed its potential payoff? A new campus center established this year, the Joint Center for Transportation Sustainability Research, will help focus Berkeley's research in the areas of transportation, environment, and sustainability, including biofuels.
(01 November)
A 'poet always on duty'
Haas staffer Dennis Fritzinger's war-related poems see ink a new book of veterans' writing edited by Maxine Hong Kingston.
(01 November)
I-House offers free copies of post-9/11 anthology
In A Vision of Hope — a slim new book published by I-House — 10 essayists describe instances of prejudice and hatred in the wake of 9/11, and how they chose to react so as to "turn ignorance into understanding."
(01 November)
Egyptian papyri arrives on campus
Ancient papyri from an Egyptian excavation conducted for the University of California, Berkeley, more than a century ago have arrived on campus after a circuitous journey worthy of a mystery novel, campus officials announced at a news conference today (Wednesday, Nov. 1).
(01 November)
Awards
Recent faculty and staff awards.
(01 November)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(01 November)
Cal-Stanford rivalry moves to the kitchen
A month before the 109th Big Game, the age-old Cal-Stanford rivalry moves to the kitchen, with top student chefs competing this Sunday (Nov. 5) not for the Axe, but for the Cleaver in the first-ever "Big Cook-off."
(01 November)
Election experts
With the Nov. 7 mid-term elections in sight, University of California, Berkeley, experts are available to weigh in on a number of related issues, including stem cell research, immigration, minimum wage initiatives, taxes and California's controversial ballot propositions.
(01 November)
UC Berkeley: EIR on southeast campus projects released
Moving forward on its master plan for the southeast corner of campus, the University of California, Berkeley, today (Tuesday, Oct. 31) released the final environmental impact report on the overall program including the proposed new Student Athlete High Performance Center.
(31 October)
Photoswitches could restore sight to blind retinas
The major cause of blindness in this country is the death of rods and cones in the retina, a disease called macular degeneration. A possible new therapy -- giving the gift of sight to other retinal cells -- received a boost this month by NIH's nanomedicine initiative, which awarded UC Berkeley scientists $6 million to pursue the technique.
(31 October)
Open letter to UCLA and Cal football fans
In a letter to the UCLA and UC Berkeley communities, UCLA Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams and UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau encourage fans attending the Nov. 4 football game between the two schools to keep the contest a safe, positive experience for everyone.
(31 October)
MadPhysics cofounder Afrooz Family enters Berkeley with a bang
Afrooz Family likes to blow things up. But he's no bomber, just the cofounder of MadPhysics.com, an educational website that features lots of pyrotechnic experiments. Afrooz also likes to create things, such as a software "widget" he built over the summer that makes it easy for Mac users to keep up with UC Berkeley's wealth of news and events.
(30 October)
Chancellor names Scott Biddy new vice chancellor for University Relations
UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau has appointed Scott Biddy as vice chancellor for University Relations, following a nationwide search. Biddy, currently the associate vice chancellor for University Relations at UC Berkeley, will lead both fundraising and public affairs for the campus. His appointment is effective Dec. 1.
(30 October)
Blue-chip progressive panel issues call for values-based politicking
Values, not issues, are what the Democratic Party should be talking about in this election and beyond, according to the panel of progressive movers and shakers who addressed a packed Wheeler Hall on campus Thursday night. The "What Are Americans Voting For?" participants were Joan Blades, cofounder of MoveOn.org; Markos Moulitsas, founder of DailyKos, the most-read political blog in the world; George Lakoff, UC Berkeley cognitive science professor and best-selling author of several treatises on effective political language; and Berkeley political science professor Paul Pierson, author of an influential book about how the Republican Party rose to power.
(27 October)
Lawrence Levine, esteemed history scholar, dies at age 73
Lawrence W. Levine, a highly influential history professor who taught at the University of California, Berkeley, for more than three decades, died on Monday (Oct. 23) at his home in Berkeley of cancer. He was 73.
(26 October)
Many eyes on the pension prize
In the second of two articles examining the pending restart of employee contributions to the UC Retirement Plan, the Berkeleyan follows up on last week's explanation of the UC Regents' proposal with a survey of arguments against it.
(26 October)
Of God, justice, and disunited states
Robert Bellah, the Berkeley emeritus best-known for 1985's Habits of the Heart, remembers when "religion and politics" meant Rev. Martin Luther King, Rev. William Sloane Coffin, and divinity students sitting in for civil rights -- a commitment to social justice he traces back to the Hebrew prophets' "ringing opposition to oppression and poverty."
(26 October)
Jason Moran's adventurous imprint
The pianist, who counts Egon Schiele and Alban Berg among his influences, is coming to campus to deliver 'a hard dosage of music.'
(26 October)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(26 October)
Location change for Friday's Prop 209 conference
The location of the final session of a conference on Proposition 209 sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt) Hall on Friday (Oct. 27) has been changed. That session, the Presidents Roundtable, will take place on the university's Clark Kerr campus, Krutch Theatre, 2601 Warring St., Berkeley.
(26 October)
Blake Spahr, emeritus professor of German, dies at age 82
Blake Lee Spahr, an emeritus professor of German at the University of California, Berkeley, who was an internationally known scholar and editor of German Baroque and comparative Arthurian literature, died on Sept. 29 in a Walnut Creek, Calif., nursing home at the age of 82.
(25 October)
Pollinators help one-third of world's crop production, says new study
Pollinators such as bees, birds and bats affect 35 percent of the world's food production, increasing the output of 87 of the leading food crops worldwide, finds a new study co-authored by a UC Berkeley conservation biologist. The study is the first global estimate of crop production that is reliant upon animal pollination. It comes one week after a National Research Council (NRC) report detailed the troubling decline in populations of key North American pollinators.
(25 October)
UC Berkeley at forefront of stem cell ethics interchange
(23 October)
Stretching bone marrow stem cells pushes them towards becoming blood vessels
When stretched, a type of adult stem cell taken from bone marrow can be nudged towards becoming the type of tissue found in blood vessels, according to a new study by UC Berkeley bioengineers. The findings highlight the importance of mechanical forces in stem cell differentiation.
(23 October)
Campus custodians and current labor issues
Union custodians at the University of California have been rallying on campuses to raise awareness about their pay, especially at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara, and are asking for an increase in their hourly wages.
(23 October)
"Dark times": Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollan discuss a nation of fast food, cheap labor, and profit-driven compromises
Investigative journalist Eric Schlosser was on campus Oct. 18 to promote a sneak preview of director Richard Linklater's newest film, "Fast Food Nation," a dramatic adaptation of Schlosser's 2001 best-selling, nonfiction exposé that they wrote together. Michael Pollan, who teaches journalism at UC Berkeley and is the author of this year's chart-topping dietgeist work, "The Omnivore's Dilemma," joined Schlosser for a post-screening chat about the state of food production in this country.
(20 October)
Florence Fang gift to East Asian Library
University of California, Berkeley's Chancellor Robert Birgeneau today (Thursday, Oct. 19) announced the receipt of a $3 million donation from businesswoman Florence Fang, former publisher of the San Francisco Examiner, closing the funding gap for construction of the campus's new C.V. Starr East Asian Library and Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies.
(19 October)
Gift to campus will create Coleman Fung Risk Management Research Center
UC Berkeley alumnus Coleman Fung has given the campus a $5 million gift to establish a new campus center devoted to accelerating the development of risk management-based business practices and tools. Fung is the CEO and founder of Open Link Financial Inc.
(19 October)
Amgen Foundation gives campus $1 million grant for undergrad science research program
The Amgen Foundation is providing UC Berkeley with a $1 million grant that will give undergraduates pursuing graduate degrees and careers in science the opportunity to do fully-funded, hands-on research each summer.
(19 October)
Law school establishes new loan forgiveness program
Officials at the UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) have established a new loan forgiveness program for new graduates working in public service careers that provide relatively low pay. Graduates can apply to have up to $100,000 in loans paid for by the law school.
(19 October)
Loose-leaf legacy
Wallace Berman (1926-76) was a poet and artist, but as a new Berkeley Art Museum exhibit ("Semina Culture: Wallace Berman and His Circle") demonstrates, he was also a creative mentor to a group of mid-20th-century artists, poets, and writers known as the Beats.
(18 October)
Birgeneau: 'We serve California extraordinarily well'
In a wide-ranging Berkeleyan interview, Chancellor Birgeneau revisits the themes limned in his inaugural address 18 months ago: leadership, connection, and inclusion. Progress has been made in all three areas, he says, while his overall priority for the campus remains unchanged: fulfilling Berkeley's public mission while maintaining our preeminence in teaching and research.
(18 October)
The holiday's over
In the first of two articles examining the planned restart of employee contributions to the UC Retirement Plan, the Berkeleyan details the thinking behind the UC Regents' proposal to end the long-running "contribution holiday" that coincided with the investment boom of the 1990s. If UCRP is to maintain its fiscal health -- upon which pension recipients depend for their promised benefit -- then employees must, the Regents say, begin to make payroll contributions once again, starting in 2007.
(18 October)
Creating a 'testing ground' for social-service leaders
Designed in collaboration with the campus and Bay Area counties, UC Berkeley Extension's innovative executive-development program has just entered its 13th year of training new leaders in vital social services.
(18 October)
Would Proposition 1D fund 'essentials' or 'fluff'?
If approved by California voters on Nov. 7, Proposition 1D would provide UC Berkeley with $28.6 million for improvements to campus facilities.
(18 October)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(18 October)
Nicholas Howe, scholar of Anglo-Saxon England, dies at age 53
Nicholas Howe, a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley, and a leading scholar of Anglo-Saxon England, died of complications.
(12 October)
How to get a handle on BPA
. . . with a little help from your friends. Members of new staff organization share techniques, tips, and best practices about business process analysis, a methodology for looking at work from the perspective of who does what, and in what order.
(11 October)
Showcasing California design
The rich tradition of California architecture and landscape architecture, and a stellar archival collection right here on campus, shine brightly in a new series of scholarly monographs, the Berkeley|Design|Books.
(11 October)
All the campus a stage?
To stimulate dialogue on the dynamics of a diverse workplace in an engaging and thought-provoking format, the Berkeley campus will host a series of interactive theater workshops the week of Oct. 23.
(11 October)
Elaine Kim to talk writing at Doe
Author and editor Elaine Kim, a pioneer in Asian American literature and women's studies, will be featured in the Berkeley Writers at Work series.
(11 October)
Awards
Recent faculty and staff awards.
(11 October)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(11 October)
Delegates from China to visit UC Berkeley for new innovation and intellectual property rights program
About 20 judges, policymakers, and enterprise executives from China are convening at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business for a unique new training program on innovation and intellectual property rights.
(10 October)
Tropics source of much of world's biodiversity
Since the 19th century, naturalists and explorers have noted the much greater abundance of species in the tropics compared to higher latitudes, such as North America and Europe. Paleontologists from UC Berkeley, UC San Diego and the University of Chicago have now found out why -- the tropics are a hothouse for new species, which then gradually spread out towards the poles.
(05 October)
China scholarship, writ large
The Berkeley China Initiative, like China itself, is "crossing the river by feeling for the stones," says sociologist Tom Gold. But the year-old campus initiative's long-term strategy is based on building bridges.
(04 October)
Teaching tribal teens the write stuff
Luisa Armijo created a writing-immersion program to help Native youth feel at home on the page — and fuel their dreams of college life.
(04 October)
A tradition firmly made: recalling those we've lost
The campus memorial ceremony has, for all its gravitas, become as much a part of Berkeley's annual cycle of events as Charter Day or the Big Game.
(04 October)
Renowned cosmologist James Peebles to deliver Hitchcock Lectures
One of the world's foremost cosmologists, P. James E. Peebles, will deliver two lectures next week — exploring what our universe is like "in the large" and how it got that way — as part of the campus's Hitchcock Lectures series.
(04 October)
How do faculty decide where to publish?
According to a study conducted by researchers affiliated with the Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE), faculty are wary of electronic-publishing venues primarily because they are associated — in their minds, if not always in reality — with a lack of quality control through peer review.
(04 October)
Awards
Recent faculty and staff awards.
(04 October)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(04 October)
Astrophysicist George Smoot wins Nobel Prize
Cosmologist George F. Smoot, who led a team that obtained the first images of the infant universe - findings that confirmed the predictions of the Big Bang theory - won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics today (Tuesday, Oct. 3).
(03 October)
Berkeley's Nobel tradition: George Smoot becomes Berkeley's 20th laureate
The announcement of George Smoot's Nobel Prize in physics brings the total number of faculty laureates at UC Berkeley to 20. In all, 23 UC Berkeley alumni have received the prize. An introduction to these scholars and their discoveries follows.
(03 October)
UC Berkeley & LBL scientist George Smoot awarded Nobel Prize in Physics
George F. Smoot, who discovered the faint signs of structure in the early universe, has won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics.
(03 October)
Cal math grad Andrew Fire wins 2006 Nobel Prize in medicine
Andrew Z. Fire, the Stanford University geneticist who shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, is an alumnus of UC Berkeley's mathematics department, having whizzed through Cal in a mere three years before moving on to graduate school at the age of 19.
(02 October)
New executive director announced for Blum Center for Developing Economies
George Scharffenberger is the new executive director of the campus's Blum Center for Developing Economies, which was set up in March as a resource to combat global poverty and hunger. The UC Berkeley alumnus has more than 30 years' experience managing international development projects and says he knows the "transformative role" that Cal students will play in poverty-focused efforts around the world.
(02 October)
Bring the arts into the classroom (or students to the arts)
A new online resource guide is geared towards helping educators enrich their course offerings with the arts.
(28 September)
A little caring makes a big difference
The Cal Independent Scholars Network, a fledgling program created and run by campus staffers, offers supplies and mentoring to students who lack parental financial support.
(28 September)
Focusing on high-risk teens and their communities
With two federally funded research projects and a speaker's series launching next week, a newly created campus entity based at the Institute for the Study of Social Change will probe the causes and prevention of youth violence.
(28 September)
Haas ranked No. 5 by Wall Street Journal
The Haas School of Business ranked No. 5 in this year's Wall Street Journal national ranking of full-time MBA programs, published on Sept. 20.
(28 September)
Study highlights UC as tech-transfer powerhouse
Among universities worldwide, the University of California system averaged the highest level of licensing income annually — almost $100 million — from its research discoveries in biotechnology, according to a new think-tank study of biotech-knowledge transfer.
(28 September)
Friday at noon: A pause to honor the past year's losses
On Friday, Sept. 29, the Berkeley campus will gather for its fifth annual memorial service to honor those of its own who have died during the past year.
(28 September)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(28 September)
Regents, President Dynes let the sunshine in
New and revised compensation guidelines were announced last week by President Robert Dynes and the UC Board of Regents, including plans for the public posting of salary data, not just for top managers but for all UC employees
(27 September)
UC Berkeley offers courses and symposia through Google Video
In an innovative move to share its intellectual treasures with the public, UC Berkeley announced today (Tuesday, Sept. 26) that it is delivering educational content, including course lectures and symposia, free of charge through Google Video.
(26 September)
Freshman's quest for postage stamp gets heartening response, but his health declines
Four months after making an unusual pitch to the U.S. postmaster general, UC Berkeley freshman Gideon Sofer is making progress in his campaign for a stamp highlighting inflammatory bowel disease, and in spreading awareness of the disorder. But his personal fight against the disease is facing a setback.
(25 September)
UC's Berkeley and Davis campuses earn Sloan award for family-friendly policies
UC Berkeley and UC Davis have received a $250,000 Alfred P. Sloan Award to expand programs supporting career flexibility for tenured and tenure-track faculty. The Sloan Award for Faculty Career Flexibility, announced Sept. 25, recognizes research universities for their leadership and accomplishments in implementing groundbreaking policies that enhance flexible career paths for faculty.
(25 September)
Materiel girl, materiel world
Never in the footlights but always on the scene, props manager Jean Fichtenkort has made her mark on campus theater productions since 1989.
(21 September)
War on terror's biggest casualty is America, say George Soros, Mark Danner, others in forum
Participants in a forum held to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks said that the war on terrorism has not only been ineffective in its goal, but it has cost America its self-image and its system of checks and balances. However, there are a few encouraging signs that the trend may be reversing.
(21 September)
Schlock today, dissertation tomorrow
Movies and TV, says the longtime director of the Media Resources Center, "have given us our social, political, and ethical cues, our basic ways of interacting with the world." Which is why Gary Handman has turned the basement of Moffitt Library into a treasure trove of moving images ranging from Stan Brakhage to Congorilla.
(20 September)
For fans of adventurous radio, KALX delivers the unexpected
Always more exciting than commercial radio, the campus station
prides itself on serving up a wildly interesting musical mix.
(20 September)
Powerful people take more risks
Cameron Anderson, an associate professor at the Haas School of Business, has co-authored a paper demonstrating a link between a sense of power and risk-taking behavior.
(20 September)
UC Regents go 'beyond the letter of the law' in revising meeting rules
Beginning with this week's meeting, compensation for certain senior officials will be discussed in open session.
(20 September)
What to do about the flu
For the moment, there's no influenza pandemic affecting humans anywhere in the world. Experts, however, predict one will occur somewhere, sometime down the road, and Berkeley isn't waiting idly for an outbreak.
(20 September)
Researcher wins $2.6 million NIH Pioneer Award
For the third year in a row, NIH has chosen a dozen "high-risk" research projects -- high-risk in the sense that the research is more speculative than most research funded by the federal government -- to receive $2.5 million over five years. One of the awardees is UC Berkeley professor Rebecca Heald, who will try to find out how cells scale up or down their internal "organs" as they get larger or smaller.
(20 September)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(20 September)
Aviation engineer wins MacArthur 'genius' award
Claire Tomlin, a UC Berkeley engineer studying hybrid control systems to address problems in aircraft flight control and collision avoidance, has won one of this year's MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Fellowships.
(20 September)
Frederick Wakeman, Chinese history scholar, dies at age 68
Frederic Evans Wakeman Jr., an eminent University of California, Berkeley, emeritus professor of Chinese history, died at his home in Lake Oswego, Ore., on Sept. 14. He was 68.
(19 September)
Campus hosts college fair for prospective students
Representatives from more than 60 colleges and universities from across the country will be available to talk to middle school and high school students and their parents on Saturday, Sept. 30, during a college fair hosted by the University of California, Berkeley.
(18 September)
Tropical thunderstorms affect space weather
Persistent rainy weather in the tropics has a surprisingly large effect on space weather occurring high in the electrically-charged upper atmosphere, known as the ionosphere, according to new results from NASA satellites reported by UC Berkeley physicists.
(14 September)
Off the clock, but not at rest
Being a Berkeley staffer already makes a person smarter than your average bear — but we're also a talented lot. Just scrape the surface and you'll discover colleagues whose off-hours are devoted to more than keeping tabs on Suri and Survivor.
(14 September)
Slow brain waves play key role in coordinating complex activity
Even simple tasks require the coordinated action of hundreds of thousands, if not billions, of brain cells, but how these cells communicate is a complete mystery. New research, however, suggests that low-frequency brain waves may be the key. Theta waves in separate regions of the brain lock in phase to coordinate their activity, essentially tuning in the high-frequency waves that transfer information.
(14 September)
Learning to love the bomb
This was to be the season of gold for the Golden Bears... and then, suddenly, it wasn't. Or is it? One Berkeley alum remembers the bad old days of Cal football, and offers some much-needed perspective on Tennessee, Minnesota, and what it means to be a true-blue fan of the blue-and-gold.
(13 September)
Helen Seaborg, 1917-2006
Helen Griggs Seaborg, wife of former chancellor Glenn Seaborg, died Aug. 29, of pneumonia.
(13 September)
Publication
Robert Bellah, Berkeley's Elliott Professor of Sociology Emeritus, has written widely during a career spanning five decades, including 30 years here on the Berkeley campus. Those not yet familiar with the range of his scholarship can catch up with The Robert Bellah Reader, a soon-to-be-published collection of 28 hand-picked essays on such topics as "Religion and the Legitimation of the American Republic," "Flaws in the Protestant Code: Theological Roots of American Individualism," and "Religious Pluralism and Religious Truth."
(13 September)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(13 September)
Researchers launch online wildfire risk assessment tool
Researchers at UC Berkeley's Center for Fire Research and Outreach have launched a new set of interactive online tools to help homeowners, community leaders and researchers assess the risk of wildfire damage to their homes and communities. The interactive site, officially called the Fire Information Engine Toolkit, can be found at http://firecenter.berkeley.edu/toolkit.
(13 September)
Newest whiz kids more than just super-smart
Each year, a handful of child prodigies enters UC Berkeley after skipping grades and wowing admissions officials with their academic prowess. Meet Jay Chong Wang, Dheeptha Baskaran and Amar Gupta, three of five advanced learners who have joined this fall's freshman class.
(12 September)
Three arrests made following incident involving apparent marijuana-laced cookies
University of California, Berkeley, police this morning (Thursday, Sept. 7) have arrested three individuals on felony drug charges following an incident in which approximately a dozen students were briefly hospitalized after consuming what is suspected to be marijuana-laced cookies.
(07 September)
Seeing two figures in coordinated action helps brain pick out movements of one
A new study by UC Berkeley vision scientists finds that the human visual system is better able to discriminate the movements of a single person when his or her actions are coordinated in a meaningful way with a second individual. This is especially important when the view is somehow obscured, providing insight into how accurately we can interpret what we see from grainy security cameras.
(07 September)
Coming attractions for fall 2006: War on terrorism, Katrina, the '60s, and lots of lighter fare
This fall's lineup of campus events includes three major conferences devoted to America's war on terrorism, to be held on or around September 11; another trio of events marks Hurricane Katrina's first anniversary. But there's plenty of lighter entertainment as well — Van Morrison, Sufjan Stevens, Savion Glover, the Peony Pavilion, and plenty of lectures, films, performances, exhibits and conferences sure to be of wide interest.
(06 September)
$100,000 in prizes for students' "Big Ideas"
A new competition has awarded $100,000 in prizes to teams of UC Berkeley students with innovative ideas to solve problems at the local as well as global level. The "Bears Breaking Boundaries" competition awarded funds to projects tackling malaria in India, refugee issues in Sudan and Berkeley's own municipal waste.
(06 September)
Strong enrollment demand for Blum Center's inaugural course offering
If demand for its first course offering — Ananya Roy's eight-week class on global poverty — is any indication, Berkeley's fledgling Richard C. Blum Center for Developing Economies is off to a flying start.
(06 September)
Constitution Day, at Berkeley, coincides with anniversary of terrorist attacks
This year's commemoration, which begins Monday, September 11, will focus on post-9/11 civil-liberties concerns.
(06 September)
An uphill boost for disabled students
In fulfilling the first elements of a comprehensive plan to improve access for disabled students, the campus has made life easier not only for them but for others who navigate its roadways, paths, stairs, and hallways.
(06 September)
Obituary
Lily Misono Culver — who served for two decades as administrative assistant for the campus's Subject A Program (progenitor to the College Writing Programs) — passed away unexpectedly on July 28, one day after being diagnosed with cancer.
(06 September)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community
(06 September)
Annual reports on jobs, wages
An annual jobs report from the University of California, Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education doesn't offer much for workers to celebrate.
(05 September)
Lunch Poems' international lineup
The Lunch Poems public poetry reading series at the University of California, Berkeley, enters its 10th season this fall with an international lineup of acclaimed poets whose musings range from Aboriginal culture to hyper-reality, from war to the Beats, and from language loss to Zen Buddhism.
(31 August)
It's a relative thing . . .
Growing up is hard, but letting go can be harder still. Soothing the fears of angst-ridden freshman parents -- and easing the process of growing up for their Berkeley students -- is just part of the job at the Cal Parents helpline.
(30 August)
Tapping into a hidden workforce
The Retiree Work Opportunities program and website connect campus hiring managers with temporary staff who already know their way around: retirees from the Berkeley campus, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the UC Office of the President.
(30 August)
Gulf Coast projects for the long haul
Three Berkeley-based projects in New Orleans aim to build ongoing relationships in an area at times overrun, to the dismay of many Katrina survivors, with short-term or even one-time volunteer visits.
(30 August)
Preserving Crescent City culture
Berkeley-led research team gives 'voice' to displaced Katrina survivors through oral narratives, poetry, and prose.
(30 August)
The celluloid detective
Keeping the Bay Area's most demanding movie audience satisfied is a job that PFA curator Susan Oxtoby relishes.
(30 August)
Obituary
Doris L. White, Supervisor of Physical Education Emeritus, passed away on July 25 following a short illness.
(30 August)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(30 August)
X-ray flashes tied to low-end massive stars
Only in the past few years have astronomers tied mysterious gamma-ray bursts to massive stellar explosions that lead to formation of a black hole. Observations of a recent supernova extend this to the lower limit of such massive stars, associating these low-end hypernovae with weaker flashes of X rays qualitatively similar to gamma-ray bursts.
(30 August)
Wild bees make honey bees better pollinators
When honey bees interact with wild native bees, they are up to five times more efficient in pollinating sunflowers than when native bees are not present, according to a new study by a pair of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and UC Davis.
(28 August)
Point of view: What advice do you have for incoming students?
As the class of 2006 sweated in the hot sun outside the Greek Theater last May, waiting for Commencement Convocation, we asked the new graduates to share a bit of their hard-earned wisdom. Here are all the little — and big — things they wished someone had told them back when they first arrived at Berkeley.
(28 August)
Heading back to school
With big diversity plans and record private donations, UC Berkeley is back in full bloom. Classes begin Monday with thousands of new students navigating the transition to life at a top-ranking college campus.
(28 August)
Awards
Recent faculty and staff awards.
(24 August)
Obituary
Loring Lamon Hill, who had worked on campus for Physical Plant-Campus Services (PPCS) since 1994, was shot and killed on July 12 in the Richmond neighborhood where he grew up. He was 39.
(24 August)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(24 August)
Student facts at a glance
A look at the fall 2006 incoming class at UC Berkeley by the numbers.
(23 August)
Chancellor Birgeneau on UC Berkeley diversity initiatives
An excerpt of Chancellor Robert Birgeneau's remarks at an Aug. 23 press conference announcing two new initiatives — one academic research and the other campus administrative — to focus expertise on issues of diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism.
(23 August)
Vice chancellor for equity and inclusion, a new post, to join campus leadership team
A new cabinet-level position -- vice chancellor for equity and inclusion -- plus a trio of new diversity-related research projects and a record-breaking fundraising year were announced by Chancellor Robert Birgeneau at a press briefing Wednesday in California Hall.
(23 August)
Student Journal: Rain, bucket baths, and goodbyes
Our Malawi student correspondent, Jennifer Browning, visits Liwonde National Park, enjoys her last few pre-dawn bucket baths, and tells what she's learned from her summer doing fieldwork in Africa.
(23 August)
Chancellor announces record fundraising year
The University of California, Berkeley, has set a new record for private support, with alumni, parents and friends contributing $347.6 million in the 2005-06 fiscal year.
(23 August)
H. peroxide sensor could aid security
A new family of molecules used to detect hydrogen peroxide and other reactive chemicals in living cells could be a useful addition to anti-terrorist arsenals.
(23 August)
Engineers create gecko-inspired high-friction micro-fibers
Inspired by the remarkable hairs that allow geckos to hang single-toed from sheer walls and scamper along ceilings, a team of researchers led by engineers at UC Berkeley has created an array of synthetic micro-fibers that uses very high friction to support loads on smooth surfaces. The fibers, packed 42 million per square centimeter, each measured a mere 20 microns long and 0.6 microns in diameter, or about 100 times thinner than a human hair.
(22 August)
Ant jaws break speed record, propel insects into air, biologists find
A research team led by a UC Berkeley biologist has clocked the speed at which the trap-jaw ant closes its mandibles at 78 to 145 miles per hour - the fastest recorded self-powered predatory strike in the animal kingdom. The ants fire their mandibles with such accelerations that when they strike a hard surface, the forces generated are strong enough to propel their bodies through the air.
(21 August)
As competing rankings abound, U.S. News again picks Berkeley as top public school
U.S.News & World Report released its annual rankings of institutions of higher education on Friday, and once again the magazine ranked UC Berkeley as the best public university in the nation. But with so many conflicting sets of rankings circulating in the media, the NewsCenter has assembled a selection of recent evaluations for your statistical enlightenment.
(18 August)
Residence hall newcomers must learn online risks
Thousands of students moving into residence halls have a big incentive to learn about the risks of social networking sites: Their in-room Internet connections won't be activated until they do.
(17 August)
Student Journal: A personal and a professional encounter with the Malawian healthcare system
Student correspondent Jennifer Browning reports on avoiding malaria — despite the best efforts of endless mosquitoes and of an over-eager medical staff — and experiencing some emotionally taxing fieldwork in Malawi.
(17 August)
Chester O'Konski, early biophysical chemist, dies at 85
Chester T. O'Konski professor emeritus of chemistry who was one of the first chemists to study nucleic acids and proteins using physical chemistry methods, died at his home ion Aug. 2. He was 85.
(16 August)
New study links higher income with lower disability rates
Numerous studies have already established the link between extreme poverty and poor health, but a new study led by a public health researcher at UC Berkeley has found that health disparities exist even between those with higher incomes. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that people at 600 percent of poverty have greater odds of disability than people at 700 percent of poverty.
(16 August)
Spacecraft to view sun in STEREO
A pair of spacecraft scheduled for launch on Aug. 31 will give NASA and UC Berkeley researchers their first stereoscopic pictures of the giant explosions on the sun known as coronal mass ejections. The twin STEREO spacecraft will photograph these explosions and measure the electron and ion winds at two spots in Earth's orbit in hopes of understanding how they are produced and predicting their effects on our planet.
(16 August)
Global warming cap can stimulate CA economy, report says
A new UC Berkeley report delivered to state legislators on Aug. 16 finds that returning California greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, as envisioned by pending global warming legislation, can boost the annual Gross State Product (GSP) by $60 billion and create 17,000 new jobs.
(16 August)
Khyentse Foundation's $1 million gift paves the way for distinguished professorship in Tibetan Buddhism
The University of California, Berkeley will establish a distinguished professorship in Tibetan Buddhism, thanks to a $1 million endowment from Khyentse Foundation.
(15 August)
Telemedicine eye care benefits state's underserved residents
Optometrists at University of California, Berkeley, are working with doctors at community clinics throughout California's Central Valley to provide eye exams for thousands of low income diabetic patients.
(14 August)
Campus police target alcohol-related problems near campus
With a new school year about to begin, University of California, Berkeley, police are stepping up their efforts to curb alcohol-related crimes and other problems on and around the campus. Their plans for the fall semester, which starts Tuesday, Aug. 22, include decoy operations designed to reduce underage drinking.
(14 August)
Student Journal Paris: An interview, the last café, and farewells
In her final dispatch from Paris, our student correspondent Gene Tempest meets a pajama-clad artist, checks out some colorful Parisian graffiti, and drops in at a Hemingway-esque café.
(10 August)
Chancellor's Community Partnership Award winners announced
Fifteen projects to improve the quality of life in Berkeley have been awarded $200,000 in grants from the Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund, a special fund set up this year by Chancellor Birgeneau. It encourages new and creative partnerships between East Bay community groups and the University of California, Berkeley, that produce positive change in the community.
(09 August)
Hearst dusts off corkscrew collection
At a museum famous for its ancient Egyptian collection, Central and South American textiles and Native American basketry, a 1,500-piece corkscrew collection -- including some pieces topped by Scottie dogs, antlers and even a devil's skull -- might seem a little, well, twisted.
(09 August)
Perspective: The odds of economic meltdown
With interest rates and oil prices rising and consumers spending beyond their means, we may be headed for recession – and worse, Berkeley economist Brad DeLong writes in a piece from Salon.com
(07 August)
Study addresses gender, patents in academia
Women life scientists in higher education patent their work at a rate of 40 percent of their male peers, according to a new article co-authored by Waverly Ding, an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business. The article appears in today's (Aug. 4) issue of Science magazine.
(04 August)
Avid astronomer, teacher David Cudaback has died
For more than 30 years, David Cudaback was a fixture of the astronomy department and a role model to undergraduates, thanks in part to a teaching lab he established and which is now named after him.
(03 August)
(
Grant helps expand UC Natural Reserve outreach
A successful Tahoe-area literacy program for kids learning English will expand to the Santa Barbara area thanks to a grant from the Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council. The program, operated by UC Berkeley's Sagehen Creek Field Station, will be able to help kids near UC Santa Barbara's Sedgwick Reserve.
(02 August)
New images of Jupiter's red spots
Observing with the Keck Telescopes in Hawaii, UC Berkeley astronomer Imke de Pater snapped new pictures of Jupiter's Great Red Spot as its smaller rival, Red Spot Jr., cruised by.
(01 August)
Stardust@home launches Aug. 1
The Stardust@home project, which enlists the public to search for tiny pieces of interstellar dust in a relative ocean of aerogel collector, launches August 1.
(31 July)
Mars' dust storms may produce peroxide snow
ars is known for its planet-wide dust storms, which often obscure the surface for months at a time. Now UC Berkeley researchers say these storms could generate oxides, such as peroxide, in sufficient quantities that they would form snow near the ground, killing any life on the surface.
(31 July)
Mosquito spray increases toxicity of pyrethroids in creek, study finds
A relatively benign compound contained in a widely used group of insecticides can mix with and increase the toxicity of existing pesticides in the environment, according to a new study led by UC Berkeley biologists. Based upon these findings, regulators should not only consider the toxicity of individual active ingredients in a product, but also how ingredients may interact with other chemicals in the environment, the researchers said.
(27 July)
Student Journal / Making friends, learning about HIV/AIDS attitudes, and finding remote beauty
In getting acquainted with the children in a Malawian village, student correspondent Jennifer Browning learns that attitudes toward sex and AIDS differ greatly in diffrerent countries. She also finds beauty and great generosity amid the region's poverty.
(24 July)
Berkeley grapples with high cost of housing in competition for faculty talent
UC Berkeley competes with the top private universities for the best faculty talent, but does so with a handicap, writes Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George W. Breslauer. We seek to attract faculty to a region in which housing prices are among the most expensive in the nation. Our housing assistance program is less attractive than those of our competitors and is a problem that must be solved, he asserts.
(21 July)
Egalitarian at the gates
Helping economically disadvantaged Californians to get an advanced education is "something I've always wanted to do," says Richard Black, associate vice chancellor for admissions and enrollment. Now, after 23 years at Berkeley — where he arrived in 1983 as the campus's financial-aid director — he's calling it a career.
(19 July)
When bachelorhood was taxed
Studying gay life in colonial America, Boalt Hall librarian Bill Benemann found his research hampered by the paucity of the historical record - the result of what he calls an "imperative of silence" about homosexuality permeating our culture.
(19 July)
Postdoc foresees 'equitable learning' for deaf students
Deaf from birth, postdoc Marlon Kuntze studies distinctions between many of those who master American Sign Language early in life and those who learn it later.
(19 July)
Reading, writing, 'rithmetic … and research
Undergrads learn about the fourth 'R' first-hand in summer lab-based programs.
(19 July)
Fresno's Raymond named Human Resources AVC
Jeannine Raymond has been appointed assistant vice chancellor for human resources effective July 14.
(19 July)
Awards
Recent faculty and staff awards.
(19 July)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(19 July)
Perspective: Sandy Tolan writes on the continuing catastrophe in Gaza
Sandy Tolan provides a perspective on the catastrophe that never ends in Gaza. Tolan is the director of the Project on International Reporting at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, and the author of "The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East."
(18 July)
Robert Kerley, former UC Berkeley vice chancellor for administration and a mentor to many, dies at age 86
Robert Kerley, former vice chancellor for administration, died July 7 at his home in Walnut Creek, Calif., of congestive heart disease. He was 86.
(17 July)
Student Journal: The beginning of research and the end of the World Cup
Our Paris correspondent Gene Tempest visits the ENSAD, known as the Arts-déco, an art school that was the center of poster production in 1968; a research library; and a gay rights protest; and ruminates on France's World Cup loss.
(17 July)
UC Berkeley recognized with state's top energy efficiency award
UC Berkeley was one of three recipients of the Flex Your Power Award, California's top energy efficiency award. Vice Chancellor Nathan Brostrom accepted the award from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on behalf of the campus.
(13 July)
Robin Lakoff tells why the Constitution is no place for marriage
UC Berkeley linguistics professor Robin Lakoff says that definitions of marriage have no more place in the Constitution than poems or shopping lists. "National constitutions are not appropriate places for establishing who, in a relationship, does the dishes. Nor are they any more appropriate for determining who can marry whom," she argues in this op-ed.
(11 July)
Professor emeritus Irving Kaplansky dies at 89
Irving Kaplansky, a UC Berkeley professor emeritus of mathematics, former director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in the city of Berkeley and an authority on algebra, died in his sleep at his home in Sherman Oaks, Calif., on June 25. He was 89.
(10 July)
Student Journal: Arriving in Paris, and glimpsing the ghosts of protests past
Gene Tempest, a fourth-year history and French double major, is studying the posters of 1968 in Paris on a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. In this first dispatch, she tells about settling in to her new apartment in the 3rd arrondissement, and stumbling across some present-day echoes of the student protests of 1968.
(07 July)
George Lakoff on the inconvenient truth about Iraq: It's an occupation, not a war
In this opinion piece, Professor of Linguistics George Lakoff tells how changing the framing of the situation in Iraq to an occupation instead of a war shifts the debate: from whether the U.S. should "cut and run" to a discussion of when the government calls an end to the occupation.
(05 July)
DDT in moms harmful to kids, study suggests
A study led by a team of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, has found that in utero exposure to DDT is associated with developmental delays in young children.
(05 July)
NCLB effectiveness tough to gauge, study finds
Many states provide erratic, exaggerated reports of student achievement trends that make it impossible to determine the effectiveness of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to a study released today (Wednesday, July 5) that was led by UC Berkeley researchers.
(05 July)
Listeriosis's path to miscarriage traced to placental infection
Researchers have found why pregnant women are 20 times as likely as the general population to be infected by Listeria.
(29 June)
Struggles persist for adolescent girls with ADHD
As they enter adolescence, girls with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) show fewer symptoms of hyperactivity. But they continue to lag behind their peers academically and have a greater proclivity for other behavioral and emotional disorders as well as for substance abuse, according to new research from the UC Berkeley.
(29 June)
Luring students passionate about learning
The UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education operates the only "do-it-yourself gifted program in the world" for academically talented elementary and secondary school students each summer, says its director, Nina Gabelko.
(28 June)
Top economists support greenhouse gas reductions
Forty-three top economists from across California are delivering a letter today, Monday, June 26, to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Legislature urging them to move quickly to control greenhouse gas emissions.
(26 June)
MBA student Rose Duignan just wants to put dinner on your table
Rose Duignan remembers all too well what it was like juggling domestic responsibilities with her full-time job. She fantasized daily about dropping off empty pots and pans along with her three kids at daycare that would magically be filled with dinner when she returned. Now 54 and co-owner of the Dinner Source, Duignan hopes to turn that dream into reality for today's busy families.
(20 June)
Vice Chancellor McQuade announces plans to step down
After leading record-breaking fundraising for UC Berkeley, Vice Chancellor Donald McQuade announces plans to return to the English Department
(14 June)
DNA database offers war orphans key to stolen past
A DNA database developed by the state Department of Justice and UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center holds the key to the past for hundreds of children kidnapped by soldiers or otherwise separated from their families during El Salvador's 1980-1992 civil war.
(12 June)
Theodore E. Cohn, vision expert & signal designer, dies
Theodore E. Cohn, professor of optometry and bioengineering, and a leading researcher in signal detection theory and its real-world applications, died on May 25 at Alta Bates Hospital. he was 64.
(09 June)
Grant extends successful program for low-income students
UC Berkeley's Biology Scholars Program has had amazing success over the past 14 years, nurturing low-income, first generation college students through biology majors into post-graduate careers in medicine or research. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has acknowleged that success with its fourth four-year grant, another $1.6 million to continue the program's mission and expand into new areas.
(08 June)
Rare Mt. Diablo buckwheat flowers anew
Last year, a pretty, pink-flowered buckwheat thought to have gone extinct was rediscovered on Mount Diablo, sparking a concerted effort by a local environmental group, the state park system and UC Berkeley to protect and re-establish it in the wild. Those efforts have resulted in about a dozen new plants growing happily at the UC Botanical Garden, most now in full flower.
(07 June)
High schoolers try out college this summer
One hundred or so high school students will soon arrive at the University of California, Berkeley, for a customized new summer program that offers them college credit and a sneak preview of campus life. UC Berkeley's Pre-Collegiate program, which starts June 26, is open to students who have completed the 10th grade and sport a B average or better, as well as a positive recommendation from their respective high schools.
(07 June)
New wireless networking system brings eye care to thousands in India
Thousands of residents of rural villages in India are receiving quality eye care thanks to a collaborative effort between an Indian hospital network and the researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Intel Corporation who have developed a new technology for low-cost rural connectivity.
(06 June)
Distant ball of dust not dusty enough
The dust ejected by exploding, supermassive stars is thought to be the main source of material for new stars. But nearly all supernova remnants have been found to have too little dust compared with model predictions. Observations by UC Berkeley astronomers of a much younger supernova in the nearby Small Magellanic Cloud shows they have the same problem.
(06 June)
I-House: 75 years old and going strong
The multicultural, co-educational living center, perhaps more relevant today than when it was founded in 1930, celebrates a landmark anniversary in locations worldwide and engages in an aggressive fundraising campaign to ensure its future.
(31 May)
ASUC Art Studio offers summer courses in multiple media
Among the summer classes offered by the ASUC Art Studio are videography, web design, knitting, sewing, ceramics, and woodcarving.
(31 May)
Cody's final chapter
Like a book they didn't want to end, faculty recall the glory days of the historic Telegraph Avenue bookstore.
(31 May)
Forum spotlights staff diversity and inclusion
A daylong forum that took place on May 9 , "Diversity in Action: Strengthening Excellence in Our Workplace," was part of an ongoing effort to elevate and broaden the discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion on the Berkeley campus.
(31 May)
'Keeping an open mind is hard work' (and other wisdom from the podium)
Good graduation pictures, in capturing joy and a sense of accomplishment, resemble one another strongly. Good graduation speeches, if carefully written, strike their own singular chords. Here, examples of both, from the Berkeley commencement season just concluded.
(31 May)
Awards
Recent faculty and staff awards.
(31 May)
News Briefs
Shorter items of interest to the campus community.
(31 May)
Promising new metamaterial could transform ultrasound imaging
A new material has been developed by UC Berkeley researchers that holds promise for revolutionizing the field of ultrasound imaging. Dubbed an "ultrasonic metamaterial," the substance responds differently to sound waves than any substance found in nature.
(31 May)
Oral history pioneer Willa Baum dies at 79
Willa Klug Baum, an internationally respected oral historian and the longtime director of UC Berkeley's Regional Oral History Office, has died at age 79 following back surgery. Her pioneering work in oral history methodology and interview techniques served as the foundation for the establishment and growth of oral history as a unique academic discipline.
(31 May)
RAD Lab wins backing from five major IT firms
Five major corporations have signed on as affiliate members of the RAD Lab. IBM, Hewlett-Packard, NTT MCL, Nortel and Oracle have each pledged annual contributions of up to $170,000 per year for the next five years.
(30 May)
George M. Foster, noted anthropologist, dies
George M. Foster, a UC Berkeley anthropologist generally known as the founder of medical anthropology and for his pioneering contributions on peasant societies and long-term field research documenting societal change, died May 18. He was 92.
(26 May)
Student to make stamp pitch to US postmaster
Gideon Sofer didn't ask for a trip to Disneyland or a shopping spree when he made New Jersey's Make-a-Wish Foundation list of terminally ill recipients in 2002. Instead, he wished for a meeting with the U.S. postmaster general. His goal was a postage stamp to highlight Inflammatory Bowel Disease, a chronic intestinal disorder that has landed him in the hospital for months at a time since the age of 12, and led to the removal of nearly half his gut. Tomorrow (Thursday, May 25), he gets to make his pitch.
(24 May)
UC Berkeley-led levee investigation team releases final report at public meeting in New Orleans
A 36-person team of engineers and scientists released its final report on the cause of levee failures during last-year's Hurricane Katrina that inundated the city of Ne