INDEX
2005
June 28, 2005
(Vol. 25, No. 16)
NEWS
BUREAU
BRIEFS
ACADEMIC SENATE: Professor Eli Yablonovitch
of electrical engineering and Professor Karen Orren of political
science will be the 99th and 100th Faculty Research Lecturers respectively
in 2005-06, the Academic Senate announced recently.... ACADEMIC
COUNCIL: With a 17-0 vote, the systemwide Academic Council
decided June 22 that standing in the National Merit Scholarship
Program should not be used to determine UC admission or to decide
who should get merit-based scholarships at UC.... GOVT.
& COMMUNITY RELATIONS: Los Angeles Mayor-Elect Antonio
Villaraigosa has named two alumni to his senior staff: Senior Adviser
Carolyn Webb de Macias and Deputy Chief of Staff Marcus Allen....
SUMMER HIATUS: We will be back on August 16 with
a new issue. The UCLA Today staff wishes you a glorious summer.
YEAR-OLD INITIATIVE
ALREADY A SUCCESS
After spending last fall as a visiting fellow at Oxford
University, UCLA Economics Professor Kenneth L. Sokoloff faced a
difficult decision.He could accept an offer from historic Oxford
to join some of the best scholars in his specialty, economic history.
Or he could remain at UCLA, where for nearly 25 years he and his
colleagues have been building one of the strongest programs in the
country despite often facing difficulty securing funding to support
their research and students.
CAMPUS JOINS
FIGHT AGAINST BIOTERRORISM
The threat of bioterrorism — the poisoning of water, air or
food systems by terrorists — has loomed large over the nation,
especially since 9/11. Partly in the hope of warding off or blunting
such possible attacks, UCLA was recently awarded $6 million by the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the
National Institutes of Health.
SHAPING FUTURE OF
COMPUTING
UCLA researchers who use computers to do complex calculations,
simulations and visualizations to study everything from experimental
drugs to global warming will get a boost with the recent formation
of the Institute for Digital Research and Education (IDRE). It will
foster multidisciplinary research engaging faculty campuswide.
NEWS 2
CAMPUS
BRIEFS
A NEW VICE CHAIR: Vivek Shetty, professor of oral
and maxillofacial surgery, has been elected the new vice chair/chair-elect
of the UCLA Academic Senate.... A CRITICAL TIME FOR MATH:
The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards
and Student Testing (CRESST) has been awarded a $10-million grant
to study the effectiveness of Powersource, a new formative assessment
system.... COOLING OF HOUSING MARKET: Economists
with the UCLA Anderson Forecast predicted at their June 21 quarterly
conference that the U.S. economy will experience slower than normal
growth through 2006 because of weakness in housing, but not a dramatic
slowdown.... SPORTS TRIUMPHS: UCLA will enter the
2005-06 school year with 97 NCAA team championships to its credit
— the most of any school in the country.
SUPER-ACHIEVER
IN MATH DONS CAP AND GOWN AT 14
Catherine Beni blended into the sea of 2,600 smiling faces
at the 2005 UCLA College commencement. But underneath the black
gown, satin sash and shiny, gold braid was a Bruin who’s still
not old enough to drive or date.
REPORT: UCLA
NEEDS TO LEVERAGE IT STRENGTHS
UCLA’s network infrastructure — all the e-mail systems,
data centers and other components that make digital communication
possible — typically gets high marks for service. But compared
to other large research universities, UCLA is almost unique in the
way information technology (IT) is so broadly distributed, said
experts who were recently brought in to evaluate how IT works on
campus.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Hammer Museum will sizzle this summer with free outdoor film
screenings; rock concerts, performances by blues, funk and gospel-inspired
jazz artists; hot-topic forums; and other events. Admission is free
for everyone through Labor Day, Sept. 4. See www.hammer.ucla.edu.
YESTERDAY,
TODAY & TOMORROW
$2.2-BILLION SETTLEMENT: The UC, lead
plaintiff representing a class of Enron investors who lost tens
of billions of dollars, recently reached a $2.2-billion settlement
with JPMorgan Chase, less than a week after announcing a $2-billion
settlement with Citigroup.... FOR NEXT FALL: Beginning
with Fall Quarter, the Registrar’s Office will require online
submission of end-of-term grades through the MyUCLA Gradebook....
GRAD STUDENT MAY JOIN BOARD: In July the UC Board of Regents
will consider appointing UCLA graduate student Maria C. Ledesma
the student regent for 2006-07.
PEOPLE
PROF, PUPS TO
ENTER CONTEST
Played out before an enthusiastic crowd of spectators, the scene on a recent afternoon at UCLA’s Intramural Field certainly felt like a clash between longtime rivals. But this was no ordinary sporting event: The contenders had four legs, and one team wore wool coats.
SHE WALKS
LIKE AN EGYPTIAN
Willeke Wendrich, associate professor in the Department
of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, wasn’t even living
in the United States during King Tut’s record-breaking stint
at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 1978.
15 SECONDS
RABBI MICAH HYMAN
Interfaith Chaplain, Spiritual Care Department, UCLA Medical
Center
NAMES AND FACES
Kudos: Jennifer
Jay... Edwin S. Shneidman... Charles L. Sawyers
Acclaim: E. Carmack Holmes... Eli Yablonovitch...
Deborah Estrin... Franklin D. Gilliam Jr... Vicente Honrubia
In Memoriam: Christopher Spencer Foote...
Ivan N. Mensh... Eric Monkkonen
CAMPUS
INNOVATIVE TEACHERS
With expertise in computer modeling and simulation, Dario Nardi
teaches undergraduates in his class on artificial intelligence that
the power of computing is not an abstract concept that lives only
in his lecture notes.It’s something that students can actually
wield when they model human behavior using their very own robots.
STUDENTS STUDY
IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION
Giuliana Avalos is nervous about going to Spain this fall.
Spain, after all, colonized her ancestral homeland, Peru. Besides,
she isn’t sure which of her three cultural identities she
should stress during her yearlong visit as a fourth-year political
science major — Peruvian, Spanish or American.
'ROUND AND ABOUT
PROJECT BOOTUP: Students in Engineers Without Borders
at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science are
working this summer to help Dorsey High School students in South
Los Angeles build their own computers to help with schoolwork....
CHEAPER RIDES: Transportation Services is partnering
with Metro of Los Angeles County to offer a 50% subsidized quarterly
transit pass for staff, faculty and students beginning this fall....
GOOD TIMES FOR FAMILIES: UCLA Live’s Design
for Sharing Family series for 2005-06 offers families a chance to
enjoy such entertainers as roots-rocker Dan Zanes.... NEW
SECURITY STANDARDS: UCLA’s Information Technology
Planning Board is establishing a new campuswide policy defining
minimum security standards for any device (computer, printer, research
instrument, PDA, etc.) that connects to the UCLA network.
VOICES
UC'S INTEREST
IN LOS ALAMOS IS THE NATION'S
The University of California Board of Regents voted 11 to 1 last
month to authorize the preparation of a bid for UC’s continued
management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) on behalf
of the Department of Energy (DOE). The sole dissenting vote underscores
the ambivalence that many UC faculty feel about UC being involved
in a weapons laboratory.
JAPAN'S ECONOMY STEAMROLLS
BACK
In the late 1970s and 1980s, before it plunged into an economic
recession, Japan was big news in the United States. As Japanese
manufacturers ate into America’s market share, our producers
whined that the Japanese were not playing fair. Yet American executives
made regular trips to Japan to learn about quality production, just-in-time
delivery and a host of other management practices. Harvard Professor
Ezra Vogel captured the mood in his best-selling book, “Japan
As Number One: Lessons for America.”
SOUND BITES
Voices editor Ajay Singh recently asked cheerful-looking individuals
on campus why they were feeling happy. (People chattering animatedly
on cell phones did not qualify.)
OUR WORLD: BY V.S. HIXSON
COMMENCEMENT
SUNNY SEND-OFF FOR THE CLASS
OF 2005
A cookie-devouring celebrity puppet, an Academy Award-winning
actor and a best-selling author helped UCLA send more than 6,000
graduates off to conquer the world during commencement ceremonies
earlier this month.
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