UCLA Today: archive 031021

BUREAU BRIEFS
UCLA LIBRARY: Following a competitive bidding process, the UCLA Library has chosen Endeavor Information Systems to provide its new online information system…. NEUROPSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE: Drug abuse treatment admissions in five California counties rose as much as 27% in the year following implementation of Proposition 36, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute researchers report.… ANDERSON SCHOOL: Dean Bruce G. Willison of the UCLA Anderson School of Management announced Oct. 13 his decision to step down at the conclusion of his five-year term as dean at the end of next summer, 2004.

SUSTAINING JOURNAL ACCESS
The University of California is struggling to maintain faculty access to electronic journal literature at a time when its budget is tightening and serial prices are rising, said a UC library executive and head of the California Digital Library (CDL).

ELECTION FALLOUT ON HIGHER ED STILL UNKNOWN
As Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger prepares to take office, many are pondering what his recall election victory will mean for public education and the University of California, in particular.

CENTER TO CREATE NANOTOOLS OF THE FUTURE
The National Science Foundation has awarded UCLA a grant worth nearly $18 million over five years to establish a center that will combine fundamental science and technology in nanomanufacturing to transform laboratory science into industrial applications in nanoelectronics and biomedicine.

CAMPUS BRIEFS
ROBOT MONITORS: Funded by a $7.5-million NSF grant, researchers at UCLA and partner universities have developed a new class of aerial, suspended robotic sensors able to monitor their own performance as they move themselves along a network of cables.... NEW FELLOWS: Each year, the School of Public Policy and Social Research brings accomplished policy leaders to campus to share ideas and enrich students’ educational experiences through guest lectures, policy briefings and informal meetings.… SETTING IT STRAIGHT: Jens Lindemann was misidentified in the Sept. 23, 2003, issue of UCLA Today as a visiting professor. He is a professor of music.

DID YOU KNOW?
In the last two years, UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has been awarded five competitive research centers from the federal government and private industry that will bring more than $100 million to Southern California to spur research and development on emerging technologies.

REPORT CARD FOR L.A.
Scientists at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment (IoE) have given the Los Angeles region a poor grade for managing invasive plant species and improving air quality, but found the area is doing better in terms of “smart” urban planning and marine conservation.

YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW
FEELINGS DO HURT: Two key areas of the brain appear to respond to the pain of rejection in the same way as physical pain, a UCLA-led team of psychologists reports in the Oct. 10 issue of Science.... BIRTH TRENDS AMONG LATINAS: Latina mothers from El Salvador and other Central and South American countries living in California give birth to healthier babies than expected, based on their access to health care and education levels, according to a UCLA study.... PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE: To help meet the needs of California’s aging population, the University of California has pulled together $12 million in state and private funds to establish six new endowed chairs in geriatric medicine, including one that will be set up at UCLA.

DISCOVERER OF BLACK HOLE
Last August, millions of people all over the world flocked to observatories, deserts and mountaintops, hoping to see Mars make its closest pass to Earth since the Pleistocene era, nearly 60,000 years ago.

CAPTURING THE SOUND OF MUSIC
Jeff Richmond is present at every musical performance on campus, but very few people actually know he’s there.

NAMES AND FACES
Cheers: Owen Witte... Allen J. Scott... Kim Pierce.
Ovations: Leslie Ann Orticke... James Miller... Jamal Abedi.
Kudos: H. Ronald Kaback... Marsha Lovell... Dorothy Webster... Tamara Turoff.

'ROUND AND ABOUT
GALA WEEKEND: UCLA’s Homecoming & Parents’ Weekend is Oct. 24-26. A wide range of events, created exclusively for new and sophomore Bruin parents, will include faculty lectures, arts programs, campus tours and a Bruin family barbecue.... THE BIG SCREEN: Following a six-week summer renovation, movie fans will walk into a James Bridges Theater featuring the new acoustics of Dolby digital and DTS surround sound.... GROW YOUR MONEY: Three Fidelity representatives will host “Planning Your Retirement Income” workshops Oct. 28 at the Faculty Center and at the Moss Auditorium in the UCLA Medical Center.... DIPLOMAT-IN-RESIDENCE: Don Terpstra, a senior foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Information Agency, has been appointed as UCLA diplomat-in-residence.

GET READY FOR OPEN ENROLLMENT AND NEW CHOICES
Even while rising health-care costs have forced other employers to reduce the number of medical plans they offer and to pass on to employees numerous cost increases, UCLA employees will find during Open Enrollment in November that their costs for co-pays and deductibles have remained the same as last year’s, as has their selection of health-care plans.

DYNES WILL FIGHT DEEP BUDGET CUT
In a series of teleconferences and online chats with faculty, staff, alumni and students since taking office on Oct. 2, newly installed University of California President Robert C. Dynes discussed a broad range of issues facing the UC, chief among them the dire budget shortfall facing the state and its impact on the university.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE GENETIC REVOLUTION
With the genetic revolution well under way, the risks of misusing and abusing newly discovered information about our genetic code are becoming more threatening, said a commissioner with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in a lecture at UCLA.

OUTCOME OF LABOR STRIKES AFFECTS ALL
What’s at stake in the current strikes of supermarket workers and Metropolitan Transportation Authority mechanics here in Los Angeles is nothing less than the future of the middle class.

MEDIA AIDED ACTION HERO
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s gubernatorial victory demonstrates the increasing collapse of the boundaries between entertainment and politics in an era of media spectacle.

WHAT'S ON MY MIND:
DONORS AND ALUMNI SCHOLARS SHARE LASTING BOND
It is the personal interaction that distinguishes the Alumni Scholarship from many others, that in the end convinced me that UCLA would become my new home.

OUR WORLD by CAROLE CABLE

CLOSE UP

RECYCLING TURNS BLUE 'N' GOLD GREEN
At 7:30 in the morning, a time of day when many students in the residence halls just up the hill are still snoozing, Sam Nunez and Greg Frank are giving two-and-a-half tons of discarded white paper the heave-ho.

INDEX 2003

october 21, 2003 (Vol. 24, No. 4)