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ANDERSON RISES IN KEY RANKINGS

Anderson School of Management’s MBA program is ranked 14th in BusinessWeek’s biennial report of top U.S. and international MBA programs — up two spots from 2002. The report, appearing in the magazine’s Oct. 18 issue, also rated Anderson faculty first in the intellectual capital poll, which tallies academic journal entries among 18 key scholarly publications. Earlier this year, the school moved up two spots to 12th in U.S.News & World Report’s annual survey of business schools. In that report, UCLA Anderson School was also rated in the top 10 by its business school peers in several areas: finance, marketing, international business, production/operations and entrepreneurship.

GOBLINS ON THE HILL

More than 2,500 children from economically disadvantaged areas in Los Angeles will be treated to a Halloween they soon won’t forget by more than 300 UCLA student volunteers on Oct. 27. For the 16th annual All-Hill Halloween, children from all over Los Angeles will be brought to the residence halls, where UCLA students will guide them through haunted houses, pass out candy, paint their faces and play games with them. About 2,000 children participated in last year’s program, created by UCLA students to offer youngsters a safe and fun environment for trick-or-treating.

DEFYING POPULAR BELIEF

UCLA researchers have demonstrated the first silicon laser, which could lead to more effective biochemical detection, secure communications and defense against heat-seeking missiles. “This development shows that, contrary to popular belief, a laser can indeed be made on a silicon chip,” said Bahram Jalali, team leader and professor of electrical engineering at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. “Our approach uses the natural atomic vibrations of silicon to create or amplify light,” said Jalali, a member of the California NanoSystems Institute. “This is significant because no special impurity or complicated device structure is needed.” The lack of a silicon laser has been seen as a major roadblock in the progress of silicon optoelectronics and photonics.

THE POWER OF TIDES

Earthquakes can be triggered by the Earth’s tides, UCLA scientists confirmed Oct. 21 in Science Express, the online journal of Science. Earth tides are produced by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun on the Earth. This causes the ocean’s waters to slosh, which in turn increases and decreases stress on faults roughly twice a day. Scientists have wondered about the effects of Earth tides for more than 100 years. “Large tides have a significant effect in triggering earthquakes,” said Elizabeth Cochran, a graduate student in earth and space sciences and lead author of the paper.