UC Davis News: Public Service

UC Davis academic associations award prizes for faculty teaching, research, service

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:04:00 -0700

The UC Davis Academic Senate and Academic Federation have announced their 2012 teaching and research prize recipients.

The senate each year presents Distinguished Teaching Awards and Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Awards. The federation honors its members for Excellence in Teaching and Excellence in Research.

ACADEMIC SENATE

Distinguished Teaching Award: Undergraduate

• Frances Dolan, professor, Department of English — Teaching is central in her work and in her own scholarship. Describing her as a “dazzling lecturer” and mentor for students, English professor Margaret Ferguson said: “Whether teaching a course of 200 or mentoring a single MURALS (Mentorships for Undergraduate Research in Agriculture, Letters and Science) student, Fran pays extraordinary attention to the details of pedagogy; she is interested not only in introducing students to new texts, genres and critical questions, but also in strengthening their ability to read closely and to ask big questions of what they read.”

• Ari Kelman, associate professor, Department of History — He shines at the front of a lecture hall in a way that few others do, said David Biale, professor and chair, Department of History. “Working largely without notes, responding frequently to student questions without losing the thread of his own thought, he proceeds through a lecture, crafting a clear narrative and analysis as he goes along.” He added: “While he sometimes ventures into theater — his lecture on the caning of Sen. Charles Sumner is legendary — students appreciate his lectures most for their combination of sophistication and accessibility.”

• David Osleger, lecturer, Department of Geology — He has “an exceptional ability to get students involved in the course material,” his faculty colleagues wrote in nominating him. In evaluating his classes, students use words like “fascinating,” “fun” and “enlightening.” For many students, taking a general education geology class from Osleger led them to either take more geology classes, or to become geology or natural sciences majors. Osleger also is committed to recruiting students, especially from underrepresented groups, into natural sciences and geology, and mentoring undergraduates on career choices in geological sciences.

• Jay Stachowicz, associate professor, Department of Evolution and Ecology — He is a motivator, engaging and entertaining in the classroom, and “an incredible mentor,” encouraging students to participate in his lab. “He teaches students more than just the skills needed to run different marine ecology experiments,” Natalie Caulk, Elise Hinman and Kristen Kelley wrote in a nomination letter. “He teaches the process of scientific inquiry.” Faculty colleagues Artyom Kopp and Rick Grosberg said Stachowicz’s research experience energizes all of his classes: “His teaching embodies all that a great research university stands for.”

Distinguished Teaching Award: Graduate and Professional

• Richard Sexton, professor and chair, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics — He is a master of his subject matter, communicates well and is remarkably adept at maximizing classroom participation. In addition, he has played an integral role in curriculum development, especially earning praise for master’s-level macroeconomic theory, which he began teaching in 1994 and later expanded into a two-course sequence. Those courses now attract students from many other disciplines. Sexton pioneered the incorporation of industrial organization concepts into instruction on agricultural market analysis.

• Richard Tucker, professor of cellular biology and human anatomy, School of Medicine — He is the primary instructor for the single largest course in the four-year curriculum: “Gross, Radiologic and Developmental Anatomy,” which includes foreign terminology and physically demanding laboratory sessions. Students laud his caring and motivational style, “fantastic ability to present a large amount of developmental information in a short period of time,” and his knowledge of the material, which he “can explain at any level of detail the moment demands.”

Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award

• Liz Applegate, senior lecturer, Department of Nutrition — She puts as much effort into public service as she does to her teaching, notably Nutrition 10, which draws rave reviews, owing to her philosophy of making nutrition and fitness education actionable and pertinent. Off campus, she gives countless lectures and workshops to a broad range of community groups, particularly those comprising underrepresented populations — people who are disabled or chronically ill, for example. She also works with state and national organizations, and youth sport groups. In addition, she is a valuable resource for the media.

• John Largier, professor, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, and the Bodega Marine Laboratory — He has played a notable and sustained role in service to the public by providing scientific advice on matters related to the health of marine and coastal environments via media events and interviews, membership on assessment and advisory teams, participation in working groups and on task forces, and presentations at public meetings. His efforts are across the spectrum from service intended to spur development of science beyond the university, to the application of science in policy, advising agencies and informing the public.

• Mark J. Mannis, professor and chair, Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, and director, Eye Center — Recognized for his efforts to increase the number of high-quality ocular tissues available for transplant, as well as the number of ophthalmologists and technicians trained in the latest corneal transplant and eye-banking methodologies — thus restoring sight for tens of thousands of people with blinding diseases around the globe. Starting 30 years ago, Mannis and the UC Davis Medical Center turned the Lions Club’s fledgling eye bank into the well-established Sierra Eye and Tissue Donor Services.

• Robert K. Washino, emeritus professor, Department of Entomology — Throughout his academic career and now in retirement, he gives freely of his time and expertise to local, state, federal and international agencies, as well as the private sector. He served on U.S. Department of Agriculture and California Department of Food and Agriculture task forces targeting such insects as the Africanized honeybee and Mediterranean fruit fly. He added breadth and depth to such organizations as the Entomological Society of America and the World Health Organization.

ACADEMIC FEDERATION

Excellence in Teaching

• Eric Mann, lecturer, Department of Microbiology — His faculty colleagues said he is enthusiastic about his teaching and strives to stimulate his students to think independently. In their evaluations, students praise his clear lecture style, meticulous organization and remarkable sense of humor. His extensive work in curriculum development included a revamp of introductory microbiology to meet the needs of preprofessional students, and a reorganization of the MIC 101 labs so they could be offered in the summer. His dedication is astounding, said his colleagues, noting that he supervises lab instruction 18 hours a week in a typical quarter.

• John Rundin, lecturer, Classics Program — He is described as being abundantly generous to students inside the classroom and out, keeping an open door for those in need of assistance in one of the most difficult subjects: Latin. “His office is next to mine, so I can hear him patiently explaining Latin forms or grammar — never losing his sense of compassion and his conviction that every student can grasp the language — and also offering encouragement and advice,” wrote Emily Albu, associate professor and Classics Program director. “I see the academic results in the number of students who continue to a classics major or minor.”

Excellence in Research

• Wei Yao, assistant adjunct professor, School of Medicine — Her most recent work, published in Nature Medicine earlier this year, involved the development of a novel technique (using the molecule LLP2A-Ale) to enhance bone growth — offering a potential treatment for osteoporosis. Nancy E. Lane, who holds the Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging and Geriatric Medicine, said Yao has made a number of seminal scientific discoveries at UC Davis. “The scope of inquiry, the importance of the topic matter, the methodical construction of a unified approach to the questions and the gratifying results all speak for themselves,” Lane said.

Beer foam examined In new book by UC Davis brewing expert

Wed, 02 May 2012 13:33:00 -0700

Foam capping a glass of beer is not just a frothy byproduct of the brewing process but a key component of beer quality and consumer satisfaction, writes highly acclaimed brewing scientist Charles Bamforth of the University of California, Davis, in a new book, “Foam.”

“Foam,” published by the American Society for Brewing Chemists, is the first in what Bamforth plans as a six-volume series. “The Practical Guides for Beer Quality” series is intended to help brewers, retailers and consumers ensure excellence in their beer.

Foam, notes Bamforth, is of utmost importance to beer quality when the beverage is consumed from a glass, rather than from a can or bottle.

“Despite my frequent protestations that the only civilized way to sip beer is from a glass, I am prepared to admit that there are drinking occasions when the informal approach is relevant — when fishing, for example,” Bamforth writes. “I do not fish,” he adds.

Bamforth goes on to share research findings from several consumer perception studies on beer foam conducted in California, England, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Scotland and the Czech Republic. Findings from those studies include:

U.S. consumers favor a good head of foam on their beer;
Most beer drinkers don’t like excessive foam;
Many consumers find that foam makes beer look colder; and
Men tend to appreciate foam more than women.

Throughout the remainder of the 72-page, paperback book, Bamforth examines the more technical aspects of beer foam. These include physical and chemical factors of foaming; the impact of raw materials, processing and dispensing on foaming; measuring foam; and how to address foaming problems.

“Anyone who wants to know how to pour the perfect pint will find the answers here,” Bamforth says.

The book also includes a discussion of “gushing,” that sudden, uncontrolled release of foam when the beer can or bottle is opened. Bamforth advises that “beer does not take well to shaking,” and dispels the myth that gushing can be prevented by simply allowing the beer to stand and settle.

The new book is available for $39.95 from the American Society for Brewing Chemists’ online store at http://www.asbcnet.org/.

Bamforth, who is the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences, began his work in the brewing industry in 1978.

In 1999, he joined the faculty at UC Davis, where the brewing science program is the oldest and most acclaimed of its kind in the United States. It has been an integral component of the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology since 1958, graduating hundreds of students who have gone on to careers in the brewing and brewing-supply industries throughout North America and beyond.

Before coming to UC Davis, Bamforth was the deputy director-general of Brewing Research International and research manager and quality assurance manager of Bass Brewers.

In addition to his faculty appointment at UC Davis, Bamforth also serves as a special professor in the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham, England, and is a fellow of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, the Society of Biology, and the International Academy of Food Science and Technology. And he is editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists.

He has written numerous books on beer and brewing including “Beer Is Proof God Loves Us,” published in 2010.

More information on Bamforth’s books is available at: http://foodscience.ucdavis.edu/bamforth/BookLinks.html.

UC Davis program opens headquarters with two Davis startups

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:44:00 -0700

Davis Roots, a recently formed nonprofit business accelerator bridging the city of Davis and the University of California, Davis, officially opens its headquarters at the historic Hunt-Boyer Mansion today. The enterprise is geared toward supporting startup companies to succeed and stay in the city, with two companies ready to move in.

Davis Roots was founded by Andrew Hargadon, director of the UC Davis Child Family Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship and professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, and Anthony Costello, a founder of several successful startups and former chair of the city’s Business and Economic Development Commission.

“We have the shared goal of fostering the formation and early development of new high-growth ventures in Davis,” said Hargadon, who holds the Charles J. Soderquist Chair in Entrepreneurship at the management school. “We hope to eventually bring many more companies into this facility.”

The first two companies are:

Barobo, a UC Davis spin-off that is building programmable robotics for the education and consumer markets; Barobo robots are simple enough to enable robotics to be taught to elementary school children.
Nuritas, launched by UC Davis post-doctoral student Nora Khaldi, who has developed a proprietary bioinformatics tool for discovering ”nutriceuticals,” or food components that affect health.

The founders of both companies are recent graduates of the Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship's Entrepreneurship Academy programs.

“Davis Roots is an example of the kind of partnership both parties need – the city so it can tap more directly into the research and innovation so prevalent on our campus, and the university so our students and faculty have another vehicle to help cultivate their commercial ideas and vision,” said Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi.

“We each know how important it is to have an environment that supports and nurtures innovation so we can improve the lives of our residents and create new jobs and commercial ventures and partnerships,” she said.

The new headquarters has room for four to six more companies to move in during the next few months, and eventually, eight to 10 tenants in total. Davis Roots is leasing the space from the city.

“Davis Roots represents an exciting collaboration between the City of Davis and the entrepreneurial community,” said Rochelle Swanson, Davis mayor pro tem. “This is just the start of a new type of economic development for our city, focusing on home-grown startups and university spin-offs. The emphasis will be on innovation and creativity and the creation of new businesses and jobs.”

Hargadon added: “This partnership allows Davis Roots participants access to UC Davis’ entrepreneurship curriculum and to a broad network of mentors and potential investors, as well as entrepreneurs and emerging technologies from within UC Davis.”

Emerging ventures apply for and are selected first into the Davis Roots mentoring program, where they gain access to a network of experienced entrepreneurs, investors, patent and corporate lawyers and are supported in preparing a more detailed nine-month launch strategy, which includes a business plan, fundraising goals and project milestones.

Upon acceptance, new ventures are given office space within Davis Roots. Those that successfully grow and raise external funds receive assistance, as well, finding Davis office space to continue their growth in town. Those that are unsuccessful at meeting milestones or raising funds relinquish their Davis Roots space to new ventures.

Davis Roots is currently fundraising to sustain and grow its operations.

“The most important part was getting the space, and now—with that space—we are turning to the fundraising,” Hargadon said. He added that Davis Roots will take a small equity investment in each accepted venture. In this way, those ventures that ultimately succeed return value to the nonprofit, to support future ventures and the City of Davis.

Katehi has called for increased collaboration between the UC Davis campus and the region to bring new ideas to the marketplace, generate jobs and boost the economy. Recent initiatives include the creation of new “innovation hubs” on campus, aimed at better fostering collaboration among related research units, enhancing interaction with the private sector and accelerating the transfer of UC Davis inventions from the lab to the marketplace. Other examples are the College of Engineering Technology Transfer Center, where faculty establish startup companies in an on-campus incubator; the decision to bring energy-related research units together in a single location at UC Davis West Village, the nation’s largest planned zero net energy community; and the formation of a UC Davis Corporate Relations office to enhance communications among UC Davis and corporate partners.

More about the UC Davis Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: http://gsm.ucdavis.edu/department/child-family-institute-innovation-and-entrepreneurship

More about the UC Davis Graduate School of Management: http://gsm.ucdavis.edu/about-us

UC Davis conference explores how media portray Muslim women

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:15:00 -0700

April 30, Monday -- “Muslim Women in the New York Times 1980-2011: Liberalism, Feminism and Racism,” is a conference looking at examples of articles, photography and headlines in The New York Times that portray Muslim women in stereotypical and negative ways. Research will be presented by professors, doctoral students and recent graduates of the University of California, Davis. A complete conference schedule is available at: http://sjoseph.ucdavis.edu/media-project/muslim-women-in-the-new-york-times-1980-2011-liberalism-feminism-and-racism. This event is free and open to the public. UC Davis Conference Center, Ballroom A (across from the Mondavi Center) on the UC Davis campus.

Suad Joseph, founding director of the UC Davis Middle East/South Asia Studies Program and a professor of both anthropology and women and gender studies, graduate students and recent graduates counted by hand and used computer-generated word counts of key words used in articles about Arab and Muslim Americans. They found systematic misrepresentation of Arabs, Arab Americans, Muslim Americans and Islam. The misrepresentation focused on Muslim women and the “veil.”

The conference is co-sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Anthropology, Middle East/South Asia Studies Program and the Women and Gender Studies Program. The project is funded by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, UC Berkeley. The center was founded in 2001 to better apply technologies to research throughout the UC system. Funding also was provided by the University of California Center for New Racial Studies (a multicampus, interdisciplinary program).

Media sources on anniversary of U.S. attack on Osama bin Laden

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:35:00 -0700

The following UC Davis experts are available to comment as the nation approaches the first-year anniversary of the U.S. attack on Osama bin Laden’s compound on May 2, 2011, in which bin Laden was killed.

Al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden

UC Davis religious studies professor Flagg Miller has examined how Western intelligence and terrorism experts, together with global media networks, helped fuel Bin Ladin’s growing reputation in ways that were exploited by Osama and those who supported his militant vision. Miller’s paper: “Re-reading the Origins of al-Qa`ida through Usama Bin Ladin's Former Audiocassette Collection,” was published this spring in a collection of papers, Ten Years Later: Insights on al-Qaeda’s Past & Future Through Captured Records, published by Johns Hopkins University Center for Advanced Governmental Studies and Conflict Records Research Center (http://issuu.com/johnshopkinsaap/docs/gov1220_ndu-final-issuu?mode=window&viewMode=doublePage). Miller and others presented papers in September 2011 at a conference at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., that focused on the effects of the 9/11 attacks on the United States a decade later. Miller is writing a book that investigates the contents of bin Laden’s personal audiotape library, a collection of more than 1,500 tapes acquired from his residence in Qandahar, Afghanistan, by CNN in 2001. Miller was the first academic researcher to study the tapes. He has worked as a linguistic anthropologist in Yemen, bin Laden’s ancestral homeland, and is the author of the book, "The Moral Resonance of Arab Media: Audiocassette Poetry and Culture in Yemen" (2007). Contact: Flagg Miller, Religious Studies, (530) 574-3758, fmiller@ucdavis.edu.

Civil rights at home

Kevin R. Johnson, a professor and dean of the UC Davis School of Law, has written extensively about how security measures adopted in the war on terrorism have adversely affected the civil rights of Arab and Muslim noncitizens and impacted immigration enforcement generally. Contact: Kevin Johnson, School of Law, (530) 752 -0243, krjohnson@ucdavis.edu.

9/11 conspiracy theories

UC Davis history professor Kathryn Olmsted can talk about conspiracy theories related to 9/11, including a poll showing that one-third of Americans believe the U.S. government was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. She is the author of “Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11” (2009), and has given numerous talks on 9/11 theories. Contact: Kathryn Olmsted, History, ksolmsted@ucdavis.edu.

War on terrorism

Scott Cutler Shershow, professor of English at UC Davis, can talk about the legal, political and philosophic issues raised by the war on terrorism. He is the co-author of recent essays examining indefinite detention, torture and warrantless wiretapping. A condensed version of his co-authored work, “The Guantánamo ‘Black Hole’: The Law of War and the Sovereign Exception,” is available online at http://www.mafhoum.com/press6/177C31.htm. Contact: Scott C. Shershow, English, (530) 400-4751, scshershow@ucdavis.edu.

Representations of terrorism in fiction

Noha Radwan, assistant professor of Arabic and comparative literature, can talk about representations of terrorism, especially related to 9/11, in Arabic and western literature. She is the author of a paper, “Fictional Terrorists: Representations of 9/11 in Contemporary Narrative,” which is due to be published by Fairleigh Dickenson Press. She can also discuss Arab reactions to the “War on Terror,” which is taking on new significance in Egypt as Umar Sueliman, a key Egyptian military figure involved in the American rendition program and war against terrorism, is running for president in Egypt. Contact: Noha Radwan, Comparative Literature, 510 334 6223, nmradwan@ucdavis.edu.

Human rights

Historian Keith David Watenpaugh, an associate professor in the Religious Studies Program at UC Davis, can speak about modern Islamists, particularly in Europe and North America. Watenpaugh has lived and conducted research in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. He is the author of the book, “Being Modern in the Middle East: Revolution, Nationalism, Colonialism and the Arab Middle Class” and has written articles on Middle East culture and politics for the American Historical Review, the International Journal of Middle East Studies and others. His work has been translated into Arabic, French, German and Persian. Contact: Keith David Watenpaugh, Religious Studies, (530) 752-1344, kwatenpaugh@ucdavis.edu.

Guantánamo and post 9/11 detention policies and practices

Almerindo E. Ojeda is the founding director of the UC Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas and the principal investigator for its flagship project, The Guantánamo Testimonials Project. He can talk about his research, which shows that the U.S. government underreported the number of juvenile detainees at Guantánamo and raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the first three deaths in detention at the base. He started The Davis Group, a gathering of military and civilian lawyers, human rights defenders and academics that drafted specific recommendations for investigating U.S. detention policies and practices post 9/11. See http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/. Contact: Almerindo Ojeda, Linguistics, (530) 574-4865, aeojeda@ucdavis.edu.

UC Davis dean elected to Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:30:00 -0700

Immunologist James Hildreth, dean of biological sciences at the University of California, Davis, has been elected to the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars.

Hildreth, a leading AIDS researcher, came to UC Davis in 2011 upon his appointment as dean. He left Tennessee’s Meharry Medical College, where he was a professor and director of the Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research.

Before that he served on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he began his research on HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

His work at Johns Hopkins University qualified him for the Society of Scholars. Established in 1967, it includes former postdoctoral fellows, postdoctoral degree recipients, house staff, and junior or visiting faculty who served for at least one year at Johns Hopkins and later gained marked distinction in their fields of physical, biological, medical, social or engineering sciences, or in the humanities.

Hildreth earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1979; his doctorate in immunology from Oxford in 1982, as a Rhodes scholar; and his medical degree from Johns Hopkins in 1987.

•••

Newly awarded fellowships are supporting a half-dozen University of California, Davis, faculty members in their research and writing.

Simons Foundation fellowships went to Anne Schilling, professor, and Dan Romik, associate professor, both of the Department of Mathematics; and Warren Pickett, professor of physics.

The awards provide support to extend academic leaves for up to a year, allowing recipients to focus solely on research.

The American Council of Learned Societies is supporting three faculty members in their book projects on medieval French farces, Mark Twain and human rights in the Middle East. The recipients:

• Noah Guynn, associate professor, Department of French and Italian, who is writing The Many Faces of Farce: Ethics, Politics, and Urban Culture in Late Medieval and Early Modern France, challenging assumptions that such farces were used to entertain the masses while reconciling them to lives of subservience. Instead, Guynn reveals evidence of cultural resistance and political risk in the genre.

• Hsuan L. Hsu, professor, Department of English, who is writing Sitting in Darkness: Mark Twain and America’s Asia. Hsu describes it as “the first book-length study of Mark Twain’s responses to trans-Pacific historical phenomena such as Chinese immigration, diplomatic relations with China, the annexation of Hawaii and the U.S. regime in the Philippines.”

• Keith David Watenpaugh, associate professor, Department of Religious Studies, who is writing Bread from Stones: The Middle East and the Making of Modern Humanitarianism, the first major study of the history of human rights and international humanitarianism in the Middle East.

•••

Professor John Eadie of the University of California, Davis, has been honored for his waterfowl conservation efforts.

The waterfowl biologist, affiliated with the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, received the awards at the 77th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference.

Ducks Unlimited presented a Wetland Conservation Achievement Award, commending Eadie for his research on food resources for migrating ducks in the Central Valley’s seasonally flooded wetland and rice land — data that contributed to a conservation model for these critical wintering grounds.

Eadie received the National Blue-Winged Teal Award from the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, a joint project of the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Eadie, who runs the Avian Conservation and Ecology Lab, joined UC Davis in 1995 as the first holder of the Dennis G. Raveling Professorship.

•••

Composer-musician Kurt Rohde of the faculty at the University of California, Davis, has scored two commissions and two residencies.

One commission is from the Lydian String Quartet at Brandeis University, and the other is from the independent and nonprofit Meet the Composer, part of New Music USA. For the latter, Rohde is collaborating on a work for small ensemble, with narrator and projected images.

Rohde’s residencies will be at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, where he will work on the chamber opera projects during the 2012-13 academic year; and the Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga (Santa Clara County), where, during the summers of 2013 and 2014, he will collaborate on a film project.

•••

With a swearing-in ceremony in Washington, D.C., physics professor Robin Erbacher of the University of California, Davis, officially became a member of the federal government’s High Energy Physics Advisory Panel.

It advises the government on research in theoretical and experimental physics, reporting jointly to the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.

Erbacher earned her doctorate from Stanford University and joined the UC Davis faculty in 2004. She is a member of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland.

•••

Professor Laura Marcu of the University of California, Davis, has been elected a fellow of the professional organization SPIE, in recognition of her achievements in biomedical optics.

For example, she developed handheld probes for identifying the edges of tumors during surgery, and probes that can be inserted through catheters to investigate atherosclerotic plaques in heart disease.

SPIE began in 1955 as the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, and has changed names twice. It is now known simply as SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.

•••

Nancy McTygue, executive director of the California History-Social Science Project, based at the University of California, Davis, has taken a seat on the California Instructional Quality Commission, by appointment of the state Board of Education.

The Instructional Quality Commission, known as the Curriculum Commission up until Jan. 1, 2012, serves in an advisory capacity to the state board, on issues related to kindergarten through grade-12 curriculum and instruction.

This is McTygue’s forte. The only panel member with a university-affiliated post, she oversees seven regional sites, each a collaborative of teachers (kindergarten through four-year college) and scholars dedicated to improving history and social science curriculum and instruction in the state’s schools.

The sites range from the UCI History Project at UC Irvine in the south, to The History Project at UC Davis in the north.

National Science Foundation director to speak

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

April 25, Wednesday -- Subra Suresh, director of the National Science Foundation, will speak at UC Davis as part of the Chancellor's Colloquium speaker series. His talk, "Science and Engineering in a Globalized World," will begin at 4 p.m. in the Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

Suresh was sworn in as director of the NSF in October 2010. The agency has an annual budget of $7 billion and is charged with advancing research and related educational programs in all areas of basic science and engineering.

Before his appointment to the NSF, Suresh was dean of the School of Engineering and Vannevar Bush Professor of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India; a master’s degree from Iowa State University; and a Doctor of Science degree from MIT.

At the NSF, he has established several new initiatives including INSPIRE (Integrative NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education), PEER (Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research, in collaboration with USAID), the NSF Career-Life Balance Initiative, and the NSF Innovation Corps.

Admission to his talk is free, but please register in advance at http://chancellor.ucdavis.edu/initiatives/colloquium/index.html.

For more event information, please call (530) 754-2262.

CANCELED: Former solicitor general to deliver constitutional law lecture at UC Davis

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The following event has been canceled.

March 26, Monday — Drew S. Days III, solicitor general in the Clinton administration, will give the Barrett Lecture on Constitutional Law at the UC Davis School of Law. The lecture from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Kalmanovitz Appellate Courtroom, Martin Luther King Jr. Hall, is free and open to the public. Days is the Alfred M. Rankin Professor Emeritus of Law and Professorial Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School. He formerly worked on the staff of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and as assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Carter administration.

His UC Davis lecture is titled "Equalizing Equality: The Canadian Record After Three Decades of Constitutionally Authorized Affirmative Action."

Edward L. Barrett Jr. served as founding dean of King Hall. The lectureship in his name was established in 1986 to mark his retirement and the law school’s 20th anniversary. More information: http://www.law.ucdavis.edu/news/event.aspx?id=2653.

3 from UC Davis are new fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Three professors at the University of California, Davis, are among the newest class of fellows in the American Academy of Microbiology:

• Patricia Conrad — Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine.

• Jonathan Eisen — Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, and Department of Evolution and Ecology, College of Biological Sciences. He is also affiliated with the Genome Center and the Center for Population Biology.

• Wolf Heyer — Departments of Microbiology, and Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences. He is also affiliated with the Cancer Center.

The academy describes itself as the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology, the world’s oldest life science organization.

Peer voting determines who gets in to the academy, based on the candidates’ scientific excellence, originality and leadership; high ethical standards; and scholarly and creative achievement.

The academy then calls upon its membership for authoritative advice and information on critical issues in microbiology, from responding to congressional inquiries to organizing meetings and workshops.

•••

James Sanchirico, a natural resource economist at the University of California, Davis, has been named the 2012 recipient of the Rosenstiel Award in Oceanographic Science.

Sanchirico received a doctorate in agricultural and resource economics at UC Davis and later joined the faculty of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy.

He applies quantitative methods to study the design and evaluation of policy instruments aimed at conserving natural resources. His ocean-related research takes in marine population and habitat management, and the design of market-based policies, such as fishing quota systems.

His website lists the following among the projects that he is working on at this time: bioeconomic analysis of stellar sea lion conservation, and coral reef and mangrove management.

He serves the National Research Council as a member of two new committees, one that is reviewing the National Ocean Acidification Research Plan and one that is evaluating the effectiveness of stock rebuilding plans in the 2006 Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act.

The University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science administers the award, with support from the Rosenstiel Foundation. A school spokeswoman said the award (including a $10,000 prize) will be presented to Sanchirico during a dinner April 24.

And, while visiting the school, Sanchirico will deliver one or two lectures, the spokeswoman said.

•••

Mathematics professor Naoki Saito of the University of California, Davis, has been elected to a two-year term as vice chair of the Activity Group on Imaging Science of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Saito is chair of the Graduate Group in Applied Mathematics.

His own studies take in such topics as harmonic analysis, signal processing, image analysis, data analysis and compression, pattern recognition and human and machine perception.

Nitrate in drinking water raises health concerns for rural Californians

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

One in 10 people living in California’s most productive agricultural areas is at risk of exposure to harmful levels of nitrate contamination in their drinking water, according to a report released today by the University of California, Davis. The report was commissioned by the California State Water Resources Control Board.

The report, “Addressing Nitrate in California’s Drinking Water,” is the first comprehensive scientific investigation of nitrate contamination in the Tulare Lake Basin, which includes Fresno and Bakersfield, and the Salinas Valley, which includes Salinas and areas near Monterey. It defines the extent of the problem, suggests promising solutions and outlines possible funding mechanisms.

“Cleaning up nitrate in groundwater is a complex problem with no single solution,” said Jay Lund, director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences and a report co-author. “This report should help inform discussions among people involved with drinking water, waste discharge, and agricultural issues, including various local and state government agencies.”

The study was funded by the State Water Board in response to state legislation passed in 2008 that required an examination of nitrate contamination in the Tulare Lake and Salinas basins.

“California groundwater quality is a significant concern to the Water Boards, and this comprehensive report presents current science and potential solutions on how to deal with this chronic and longstanding issue,” said State Water Board executive director Thomas Howard.

Nitrogen in organic and synthetic fertilizers has dramatically increased crop production in California in recent decades. However, excess nitrate in groundwater from surface nitrogen use has been linked to thyroid illnesses, some cancers and reproductive problems.

In their new report, UC Davis scientists examine data from wastewater treatment plants, septic systems, parks, lawns, golf courses and farms. The report concludes that more than 90 percent of human-generated nitrate contamination of groundwater in these basins is from agricultural activity.

The nitrate study area includes four of the nation’s five counties with the largest agricultural production, representing 40 percent of California’s irrigated cropland and more than half of the state’s confined animal farming industry.

Since the 1940s, synthetic fertilizer use, increased manure applications to cropland, and a shift from pasture-raised dairy cattle to confined animal facilities have resulted in the accumulation of excess nitrate in groundwater, the report says.

Much of that excess is only now beginning to affect water quality in the Tulare Lake Basin and Monterey County portion of the Salinas Valley. Today’s discharges will continue to contaminate drinking water decades from now, the report says.

Fixes for drinking water systems in these basins could cost about $20 million to $35 million per year for decades, the report concluded. As nitrates continue to spread, drinking water system costs could increase for Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley communities.

The UC Davis report outlines several potential funding solutions, including a fee on nitrogen fertilizer use to help fund drinking water costs.

The report found that 10 percent of the 2.6 million people in the Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley rely on groundwater that may exceed the nitrate standard of 45 milligrams per liter set by the California Department of Public Health for public water systems. The problem is likely to worsen for decades, as nitrogen applied to today’s crops slowly makes its way into groundwater as nitrate.

Communities often respond to initial contamination by drilling a new well or shifting to cleaner water sources. But as high nitrate concentrations continue to persist, communities are faced with using expensive treatment and alternatives. In addition to the public health risk, nitrate groundwater contamination imposes major abatement costs on small rural communities, which often have little financial means or technical capacity to maintain safe drinking water.

More than 17 percent of the residents in the Tulare Lake Basin and 10 percent of residents in the Monterey County portion of the Salinas Valley live below the poverty line.

“First and foremost, this is about getting safe drinking water to people,” said report co-author Thomas Harter of the UC Davis Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources. “In the intermediate and long-term, it’s about fixing the source of the problem.”

The report also calls for a statewide effort to integrate water-related data collection by various state and local agencies.

“The report defines the extent and costs of the problem, for the first time, and outlines how we can address it,” said Harter. “We hope it provides the foundation for informed policy discussions.”

Key findings include:

Drinking water supply actions, such as water treatment and finding alternative water supplies, are most cost-effective. However, well supplies will become less available as nitrate pollution continues to spread.
While many options exist to provide safe drinking water, there is no single or ideal solution for every community affected.
Agricultural fertilizers and animal manure applied to cropland are the two largest regional sources of nitrate leached to groundwater — representing more than 90 percent of the total.
Reducing nitrate in the groundwater is possible, with methods such as improved fertilizer management and water treatment. Costs range from modest to quite expensive.
Directly removing nitrate from large groundwater basins is extremely costly and not technically feasible.

Part of the natural global nitrogen cycle, nitrogen is a key element that plants require for growth. Yet, in addition to contaminating groundwater, the surge in human-related nitrate over the past century has also created marine “dead zones,” nitrogen oxide emissions that contribute to climate change and a host of other environmental problems.

The State Water Board will be conducting a public workshop on May 23 to consider public comment, as well as discuss the findings and options outlined in the UC Davis report. The board will review the public comment and issue recommendations to the state Legislature, as called for in the legislation.

The board has posted the documents on the Internet for public review and comment.

For the full UC Davis report, videos, maps, and more information, visit the report's website.

Read the news release in Spanish.

About UC Davis

For more than 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has more than 32,000 students, more than 2,500 faculty and more than 21,000 staff, an annual research budget that exceeds $684 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges — Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science. It also houses six professional schools — Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

About the State Water Resources Control Board

The State Water Resources Control Board’s mission is to preserve, enhance and restore the quality of California’s water resources, and ensure their proper allocation and efficient use for the benefit of present and future generations. For more information visit their website.

About Senate Bill X2 1

The bill amended Water Code Section 83002.5 to require that the State Water Resources Control Board, in consultation with other agencies, develop pilot projects in the Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley to study nitrate contamination and identify remedial solutions and funding options to recover costs associated with cleanup or treatment of groundwater and report to the Legislature within two years.

Human Rights Watch director to speak March 5

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

March 5, Monday — The inaugural UC Davis Provost’s Lecture in Human Rights features Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. The lecture is free and open to the public, and will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Walter A. Buehler Alumni and Visitor’s Center, AGR Room. Whitson’s talk “At last, an Arab Spring: Black Swans of the Middle East; Human Rights Watch Reports from the Ground,” will address the role of the international community in Arab uprisings and challenges ahead.

The lecture opens UC Davis’ celebration of Human Rights and Humanities Week March 5-9. More information: http://humanrightsinitiative.ucdavis.edu/human-rights-and-the-humanities-week-march-5-9-2012/.

Whitson is an expert on Middle East and North Africa issues, having led landmark investigations of human rights conditions in Libya and Saudi Arabia since joining Human Rights Watch in 2004. She graduated from UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School. Whitson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Whitson’s full bio: http://www.hrw.org/en/bios/sarah-leah-whitson.

The Provost’s Lecture in Human Rights demonstrates UC Davis’ commitment to human rights, said Ralph J. Hexter, UC Davis provost and executive vice chancellor and a longtime advocate of human rights on college campuses.

"A commitment to human rights has always been central to UC Davis — to what we believe as an institution, and to our mission of public service," said Hexter. "In recent years, the subject of human rights has not only gained a new prominence, and urgency, around the globe, but also received a growing amount of scholarly attention — a key component in the advancement of this cause. I am personally delighted to contribute to our campus’ work in this crucial area through the establishment, this year, of the Provost’s Lecture in Human Rights."

Astronaut and alumna Tracy Caldwell Dyson speaks on campus

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

March 3, Saturday -- Tracy Caldwell Dyson, a NASA astronaut and UC Davis alumna, will give a free public lecture beginning at 4 p.m. in the ballroom of the UC Davis Conference Center, followed by a question-and-answer session. Caldwell Dyson received her doctorate in chemistry from UC Davis in 1997 and joined the astronaut program in 1998. On her first space mission in August 2007, she spent two weeks at the International Space Station. In April 2010, she launched on a Russian Soyuz rocket and spent 174 days at the International Space Station as a flight engineer, returning in September 2010. During the six-month mission, Caldwell Dyson conducted experiments and made three spacewalks to carry out repairs to the space station.

The talk is part of the College of Letters and Science Annual College Celebration, marking 60 years since the establishment of the college. The event is co-sponsored by the Cal Aggie Alumni Association.

Admission is free but advance registration is required. Register online at http://www.ls.ucdavis.edu/about/news-and-research/deans-speaker-series-tracy-caldwell-dyson.html.