The search for consciousness
As an anesthesiologist, UC Irvine's Dr. Michael Alkire wants to tackle what many neuroscientists see as the Holy Grail of their field - the biological basis of consciousness.
Why would an anesthesiologist care about something often considered the realm of psychiatrists and neurobiologists? Because in putting us to sleep, anesthesiologists shut off consciousness, and Alkire wants to understand the effects of his work on awareness, memory formation and processing of pain signals.
Sociologist links poverty and employment to racial identity
Losing your job or doing jail time can affect how people perceive your racial background, according to a recent study co-authored by Andrew Penner, UC Irvine sociology associate professor. His research shows people who were identified by others as white were significantly less likely to be seen in the same way over time if they had fallen below the poverty line or spent time in prison. Participants who self-identified as white also were less likely to see themselves the same way if they encountered those hardships. The study suggests that racial identity is fluid and changes with one's position in society. Penner discussed the impact of his research and why race still matters.
Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia gets new chief
Neurobiologist Frank LaFerla is taking the reins of the UC Irvine Institute for Brain Aging & Dementia, hoping to boost clinical offerings and move forward with a new building dedicated to Alzheimer's disease research.
He succeeds founding director Carl Cotman, who built the institute into a thriving multidisciplinary center combining basic science and clinical research in neurology, neurobiology, molecular biology and biochemistry.
UCI students excel in portfolio management
UC Irvine business students are using their investment prowess to beat professional money managers and help offset tuition costs, thanks to a competition believed to be the first funded with real money.
The Polaris Investment Competition, open to all M.B.A. students at The Paul Merage School of Business, is a yearlong contest funded by local venture capitalist Charles D. Martin, chairman and CEO of Mont Pelerin Capital LLC.
A year of growth, achievement
The year has been exciting and rewarding for UC Irvine – from promising new research collaborations to impactful breakthroughs, dedicated outreach projects, diverse cultural activities, continued campus growth and athletic success.
Here are some top stories from 2008:
Barnacles, sand crabs and sea squirts, oh my!
The stretch of sea floor between low and high tide is one of the most populated habitats on Earth. Critters that live in this intertidal zone include barnacles, sand crabs, sea squirts, tube worms, moss animals, clams, oysters and mussels.
Peter Bryant, developmental & cell biology professor, has spent decades photographing these tide pool invertebrates called filter feeders, which keep the water clear by eating suspended matter and food particles.
Holiday visits can reveal decline in aging relatives 
Not all holiday surprises are happy ones. People visiting aging relatives this time of year may discover mounds of unpaid bills, odd solicitations and unkempt surroundings – all possible evidence of a decline in physical or mental function, says Dr. Laura Mosqueda, director of UC Irvine’s geriatrics program. 
Peter the Anteater stands in for Santa
Ho, ho, ho. Rip ’em ’Eaters.It’s not a salutation you’ll hear ringing from the rooftops on Christmas Eve, but at the UCI Bookstore’s holiday sale this year, Peter the Anteater stood in for the jolly old elf, posing for pictures with students, faculty and staff. The fit and muscular Peter needed a little padding for his role as Santa, but was convincing enough to draw more than 150 fans for a photo op.
Pediatrician leads UCI effort to treat children's food allergies
Add food allergies to the growing list of childhood ailments on the rise. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention recently reported that some 3 million American children are allergic to some type of food, a whopping 18 percent increase over the past 10 years. And it’s not just in the U.S.; childhood food allergy rates are skyrocketing throughout the developed world. Dr. Christina Schwindt, a pediatrics professor with a specialty in allergies and immunology, leads UCI’s effort to understand why this is happening and to treat children who suffer from food-based allergies.
UCI chemist bound for camp at South Pole
UC Irvine chemist Murat Aydin will spend his holiday drilling into the South Pole’s thick ice to collect trapped air that is up to 100 years old. His goal: to analyze trace amounts of gases to see how their levels have changed over time.
“It’s almost like studying history – the history of the atmosphere instead of the history of mankind,” said Aydin, an assistant researcher in Earth system science. He leaves Wednesday, Dec. 17, for a three-week trip to an Antarctic research station.
Who washes, who dries?
Attention married women: Up to your elbows in housework? Having trouble getting your husbands to chip in? According to sociology professor Judith Treas, odds are you answered yes if you live in the U.S. Swedish couples, on the other hand, are more likely to share the chores.“We tend to believe that the issue of who does the dishes is an intimate matter based on personal preferences or private negotiations with our partner,” Treas says, “but actually, how couples split the chores depends upon where they live.”
Meeting the walrus
One can only imagine what John Lennon thought of the brash UC Irvine student who turned up at his Weybridge mansion one autumn day in 1967. Lennon must have been somewhat bemused by the college kid sporting wispy facial hair and a jacket he’d embroidered with Lennon’s picture, because instead of shooing David Goggin away, the reclusive Beatle invited him in for tea.“I guess he found me intriguing,” Goggin ’69 recalls. “I heard him tell someone later, ‘This is David. I found him in my garden.’”
New hope for heart health
A recent worldwide study showed that cholesterol-lowering drugs significantly reduce their risk of heart disease in healthy men and women with good cholesterol levels. Millions of Americans take these drugs, better known as statins, to control high cholesterol levels. This is the first study to show their effect on people with good cholesterol counts. The results may have a profound influence on preventive treatments for heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Morton Kern, associate chief of cardiology at UC Irvine Medical Center, discusses the impact of this study.
Drought, deforestation link fuels climate change
In the rainforests of equatorial Asia, the practice of using fire to clear forests and destroy organic soil increases substantially in dry years, releasing huge amounts of climate-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to a new international study analyzing six years of weather and fire observations.
UCI surgical team repairs high schooler's facial injuries
When Kimberly Harris’ parents first saw their daughter lying in a hospital bed, she was covered in blood, breathing through a ventilator, with her beautiful face a tangle of broken bones.
The 14-year-old Newport Harbor High School sophomore had fallen from a four-story balcony. If not for a tree that broke her fall, Kimmie probably would have died. As it was, she fractured her nose and jaw, broke out most of her teeth and lost much blood.
E. coli sheds light on global warming adaptation
How will Earth’s tiniest organisms adapt to climate warming? UC Irvine scientists are consulting bacteria in an effort to find out.
By warming E. coli and studying how their offspring evolve at higher temperatures, biologists can watch an accelerated evolutionary process and learn how bacteria adapt to warming – and what they lose in the process. For example, do bacteria that thrive at warmer temperatures fare poorly in cooler environments?
Water use solutions require consumer input
If David Feldman has his way, you could soon be working with water policy managers and scientists to allocate California’s precious liquid resource.Feldman, chair of planning, policy & design, studies how communities and jurisdictions deal with conflicts over water. He says problems are only solvable by enlisting American consumers who use an average of 100 to 176 gallons of water at home each day – at least 95 gallons more than the average African family.
Students use art to promote conservation
UC Irvine and other organizations recently challenged Orange County students to “imagine life without water” and create multimedia projects promoting water conservation in California. 
Telemedicine brings stuttering treatment to the world
Dr. Gerald Maguire started the world’s first clinic dedicated to the medical care of stuttering, and if patients in faraway places can’t come to his UC Irvine Medical Center office for treatment, he brings it to them.Through telemedicine, Maguire and his team at the Center for the Medical Treatment of Stuttering can now provide real-time treatment for patients via video monitors, giving new hope to millions of people around the world whose quality of life suffers from chronic stuttering disorders.
Illegal migration worldwide poses security risks
An era of mass migrations, porous borders and easily obtained fraudulent documents is blurring the definition of citizenship and putting national security at risk around the globe, says UC Irvine political science professor Kamal Sadiq in his new book, Paper Citizens: How Illegal Immigrants Acquire Citizenship in Developing Countries.
From bench to business
The first time Fan-Gang Zeng invented a cochlear implant – a device he believed could help thousands regain lost hearing – things didn’t work out too well. The company that licensed his invention shelved the project. “Today,” he says, “it benefits no one.”The hard lesson – that most inventions never reach the consumer – stayed with Zeng. When he came to UC Irvine and helped create an algorithm allowing cochlear implants to process musical tones, he and his partners worked with UCI’s Office of Technology Alliances to start their own company that tests and manufactures low-cost, high-performance cochlear implants.
UCI earns top California environmental honor
Parking & Transportation Services at UC Irvine has earned the state’s most prestigious environmental honor – a 2008 Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award – for its efforts promoting green commuting and public transportation.Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recognized UCI’s Sustainable Transportation program in the Climate Change category, which rewards innovative approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting adverse effects of climate change. The recognition was awarded on the strength of a variety of UCI programs, including public transportation incentives, energy-saving fluorescent lighting for parking structures, optimized traffic signal timing, carpools and car sharing, vanpools, biodiesel-powered shuttles, and improved pathways that help promote biking and walking.
Tackling the looming water crisis
Population growth, climate variations and urbanization have the potential to cause chronic water shortages in a growing number of regions worldwide.“Water Unifies,” a five-day international conference co-hosted by UC Irvine beginning Monday, Dec.1, will bring experts together to share innovative solutions and identify water resources and management principles to help answer water scarcity challenges. Working with UCI on the event are the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the U.S. Geological Survey.
When holiday food fights back
Roasted meats, stuffing, gravy, pies, cakes, cookies, candies and other abundant special treats can add up to a toxic brew of gastrointestinal distress. Dr. Kenneth Chang, medical director of the H.H. Chao Comprehensive Digestive Disease Center at UC Irvine Medical Center, has pioneered treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease and other GI disorders. He offers advice on surviving the holidays with minimal digestive distress and explains how heartburn can be a serious matter.
Exhibit blends performing arts, technology
If you can’t make it on “Dancing with the Stars,” try dancing with technology. Visitors to UC Irvine’s California Institute for Telecommunications & Information Technology had the opportunity to move to the beat with performers projected on video screens – or create their own choreography – during Dance-IT’s four-day run Nov. 6-9.
Teens thrive in digital age
Teens who are into texting, gaming and “geeking out” are not wasting their time, according to results from the most extensive U.S. study on young people and their use of digital media. Instead, the study shows that when America’s youth go online, they are developing important life skills that adults often are hard-pressed to appreciate.“There are myths about kids spending time online – that it is dangerous or making them lazy,” said Mizuko Ito, a UC Irvine researcher with joint appointments in information & computer sciences and humanities and lead author on the study. “But we found that spending time online is essential for young people to pick up social and technical skills they need to be competent citizens in the digital age.”
Top pollster conducts election post-mortem
In a pre-election editorial, John Zogby, the political pollster with the reputation for pinpoint accuracy, predicted that the Nov. 4 vote would “usher in one of the few years of genuine reform.”Right again. Voters hit the polls on Nov. 4 and delivered decisive victories for the Democratic Party with the election of Barack Obama and Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.
Wildfire smoke causes spike in hospitalizations
Raging wildfires that engulfed Southern California earlier this decade not only destroyed neighborhoods laying in their path, they also caused significant health problems for many who lived outside the fires’ reach.An analysis of hospital and emergency department admissions directly before, during and after the 2003 Southern California wildfires shows a dramatic increase in treatment for those with asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory disorders. Data points to the importance of educating people with existing respiratory ailments to react quickly to symptom onset and take precautionary measures. Results suggest that those at risk face similar health issues during current Southern California firestorm activity.
Declaring war on malaria
Anthony James knows mosquitoes, and he knows even more about the disease and illness they spread. Malaria sickens nearly a quarter of a billion people each year, killing nearly 2 million in some of the poorest areas on Earth. Despite the best efforts of biomedical researchers and public health officials, malaria prevention and treatment strategies make only a small impact.
Immigrants' impact on OC
Orange County’s public school students speak more than 50 languages and the area’s ethnic and cultural diversity is apparent to all who live and work here. “Immigrant Lives in ‘The O.C.’ and Beyond,” a new exhibit at UC Irvine’s Langson Library, traces the history of immigration, showing how the county arrived at where it is today.
'West Side Story' staged
West Side Story, the groundbreaking and enduring American musical that addresses dual passions of gang membership and forbidden young love, will open at the Irvine Barclay Theatre Friday, Nov. 14, and continue through Saturday, Nov. 22.More than 400 UC Irvine students showed up during the first week of classes to audition for Leonard Bernstein’s masterpiece. By opening night, cast members representing the best of dance, drama and music talent in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts will have put in at least 165 rehearsal hours. Costumes, scenery and lighting are being tackled by graduate design students as part of their theses, and the 45-member orchestra outnumbers the original 1957 Broadway production.
UCI co-hosts conference featuring top local business leaders
Globalization has arrived, and companies are looking for ways to retool growth strategies in the expanded business world. At the same time, a formidable credit crunch has eroded confidence.What steps can business executives take to sustain growth during this economic downturn?
Poet, pollster highlight UCI lecture lineup
UC Irvine’s 10th annual Chancellor’s Distinguished Fellows Series begins this month with political pollster John Zogby revealing why Americans voted as they did. Leading intellectuals in science and literature will round out the series in 2009.Each year the Chancellor’s Distinguished Fellows Series brings respected scholars and nonacademics to the campus to share insights and expertise. Presentations are free and open to the public.
Viruses become medical allies
Humans are surrounded by viruses, and most are harmlessly keeping bacteria under control. But some harmful viruses, such as the flu or common cold, can make us sick, while others such as Ebola or HIV can kill us.Viruses also can be valuable medical allies that are used by biotechnology firms to engineer proteins and fight disease. Gregory Weiss, UC Irvine chemistry and molecular biology & biochemistry associate professor, uses viruses to build early detectors for diseases such as prostate and lung cancer.
Doctor back from Iraq
Transplant surgeon Dr. Clarence E. Foster III recently traded the convenience of UC Irvine Medical Center’s modern operating rooms for the treacherous and harsh environs of war-torn Iraq, where he performed life-saving trauma surgery on injured soldiers and civilians and cared for the health of detainees.It was quite a switch for Foster, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve since 1990, who was called away from his duties as UC Irvine Healthcare’s chief of Kidney & Pancreas Transplantation Services in late March to serve a three-month mobilization in Iraq.
UCI drives innovations in commuting
Drill, baby, drill?Or go electric … downsize … carpool … think sustainability?
The debate ensues and the issues are not as simple as recent election rhetoric would imply.
A number of initiatives under way at UC Irvine that aim to lessen dependency on individual cars and uncertain oil supplies directly benefit the environment and consumer budgets. Programs initiated by UCI’s Parking & Transportation Services and National Fuel Cell Research Center earned the campus a 2008 Clean Air Award in October from the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Here’s a look at the award-winning efforts.
Participate in the Great Southern California ShakeOut!
UC Irvine is part of the largest earthquake preparedness drill in U.S. history – the Great Southern California ShakeOut – which takes place throughout the southland Thursday, Nov. 13. The ShakeOut drill will start with a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the southern San Andreas fault, one approximately 5,000 times larger than the magnitude 5.4 temblor that shook us on July 29, and follow up with other activities to help individuals and institutions prepare for the inevitable “big one.”
Medicine in 3-D
Researchers at UC Irvine’s California Institute for Telecommunications & Information Technology have developed a new way to transform enormous medical datasets into rotating, three-dimensional images, vastly increasing the potential of the institute’s 200-megapixel display HIPerWall.Scientists invented breakthrough software that can display CT scans and other internal images from the human body in three dimensions, transforming the room-sized visualization wall into what they believe is the world’s largest medical display. The software’s key improvement is that radiologists can change tissue image transparency and color for teaching and diagnosis.
New tinnitus treatment
More than 60 million Americans suffer from tinnitus, a persistent high-pitched ringing in the ears. For most people it remains a tolerable background noise, but for some it’s chronic torture.Treatments are few, inconsistent and there is no cure. But researchers and doctors at UC Irvine are making considerable breakthroughs using a low-pitched external sound to provide relief from the high-pitched tone associated with the disorder.
UCI students turn out to vote 
All over the country, record numbers of voters are standing in lines to cast their votes in what many are calling the most historic election of our time. Anteaters are no exception, lining up in droves at the campus’s five polling locations, many conveniently located near residence halls. More than 1,800 voters got a head start and voted early at the UC Irvine Student Center. Countywide, 21,000 voters cast early ballots.
Vitamin B3 thwarts memory loss in Alzheimer's mice
An over-the-counter vitamin in high doses prevented memory loss in mice with Alzheimer’s disease, and UC Irvine scientists now are conducting a clinical trial to determine its effect in humans.Nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, lowered levels of a protein that leads to the development of tangles, one of two brain lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The vitamin also strengthened scaffolding along which information travels in brain cells, helping to keep neurons alive and further preventing symptoms in mice genetically wired to develop Alzheimer’s.
Fungi emit less carbon dioxide as climate warms
The fight against climate warming has an unexpected ally: mushrooms growing in the dry spruce forests covering Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and other northern regions.When soil in these forests is warmed, a UC Irvine study found, fungi that feed on dead plant material dry out and produce significantly less climate-warming carbon dioxide than fungi in cooler, wetter soil. This surprised scientists who had expected warmer soil to emit larger amounts of carbon dioxide because extreme cold is believed to slow the process by which fungi convert soil carbon into carbon dioxide.
'Science of team science' revealed
Scientists and policymakers generally agree that solving the world’s most challenging social and public health problems – AIDS, climate change, cancer, obesity and global terrorism among them – requires collaboration among researchers across a variety of fields.Agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention pour millions into interdisciplinary research projects every year. But due to the high cost and logistical complications of “team science” initiatives, some are now questioning whether scientists working by themselves couldn’t achieve the same results.
Politicalspeak decoded
Presidential candidates and political bloggers typically have a lot to say, but the subtext to their messages isn’t always clear.With help from metaViz, a new Web site developed at UC Irvine, implied meaning becomes more explicit. Doctoral student Eric Baumer, undergraduate researcher Jordan Sinclair and informatics professor Bill Tomlinson created a tool that analyzes metaphors in political speeches by John McCain and Barack Obama and in popular blogs. The tool connects language used in political texts to categories of Wikipedia entries. Its goal, Baumer says, is to “foster critical thinking to encourage people to look not only at what is being said by the words themselves, but also context behind the words.”
Auto safety device designed by UCI engineers
Drivers worldwide soon will be able to navigate dangerous road conditions more safely, thanks to sensor technology developed at UC Irvine.A research team led by Andrei Shkel, mechanical and aerospace engineering professor and UCI MicroSystems Laboratory director, has designed a 1.7 millimeter-wide device that helps stabilize automobiles, allowing them to pass safely through hazardous conditions such as sharp turns and slippery roads that could result in a rollover.
Infant exercise: Can it promote growth?
When a developing baby delivers that first kick inside the womb, it’s a moment of elation for Mom that’s hard to beat. For doctors, physical activity of the fetus in utero is so important that when a baby seems to stop moving, tests are performed to check on its health. As the due date approaches, the workout gets more intense in a space that is increasingly confining as the baby grows. If a fetus is unable to move a limb, just as with adults, muscles and bones develop abnormally. “Use it or lose it” operates across the lifespan. So, what is the effect of early physical activity on growth and development?
Halloween looks scarier on Friday
Caution! The potential for automobile versus trick-or-treater accidents is more pronounced this year, says Dr. Frederico Vaca, because Halloween falls on a Friday – prime party time.Vaca, Center for Trauma & Injury Prevention Research director at UC Irvine, says drivers rushing to get to a party or driving home after happy hour present a significant risk to trick-or-treaters. One inattentive, impaired or distracted driver can do a lot of damage, even traveling only 10-15 mph on a residential street. A car hitting a small child at that speed “can launch the child into the air, and the impact on the ground can cause major trauma,” Vaca says. “Pedestrians hit by cars frequently have major head, chest or extremity injuries. Unfortunately, some suffer long-term disabilities and others don’t survive.” He notes that motor vehicle accidents are the No. 1 cause of death for children.
'Mavericks' win on character, not policy, study shows
Republican Sen. John McCain has staked his bid for the U.S. presidency on his reputation as a “political maverick,” a politician who is unafraid to cross party lines to “vote his conscience” on important policy issues. By doing so, he places the electorate in a complicated emotional tug-of-war, according to a new study by UC Irvine psychology professor Peter Ditto and graduate student Andrew Mastronarde.
Political mavericks inspire conflicting feelings among voters, a finding Ditto said could change the way politicians conduct campaigns and cultivate public images. The study appears online in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
UCI breaks ground on new stem cell center
UC Irvine broke ground today on a new stem cell research building that will strengthen and unify this fast-growing field on campus and throughout Southern California.The four-story, 100,636-square-foot building will house the UCI Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, dozens of laboratory-based and clinical researchers, a stem cell techniques course, a master’s program in biotechnology with an emphasis on stem cell research, and programs and activities for patients and public education. The building is scheduled for completion in July 2010.
Futuristic air travel
Sharp increases in the price of jet fuel and growing concerns about sustainability have spurred demand for greener, more efficient aircraft, and UCI researchers could help shape the future of commercial aeronautics.“There has been tremendous progress in modern aviation technology,” said Dimitri Papamoschou, mechanical and aerospace engineering professor and associate dean for academic affairs at UC Irvine’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering.
Scrubs for a day
When they arrived at UC Irvine Medical Center, the two dozen Silverado High School students seemed unsure about what was ahead. Would their field trip be a parade of lecturers in lab coats or a meaningful experience they’d look forward to again next year?
They quickly became medical students for the morning, donning surgical scrubs and listening to a talk about advances in surgery since the 19th century. That set the stage for the main event: using the same equipment doctors use to learn the minimally invasive surgery techniques for which UCI is known.
Students to share insights from Middle East
In 2007, UC Irvine student leaders from Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Druze and unaffiliated backgrounds set a goal to take a fact-finding trip to Israel and Palestine to better understand the nature of ongoing conflicts in the region. Due to national travel restrictions, UCI couldn’t sponsor the trip, so the students raised more than $60,000 from diverse Orange County organizations and individuals to fund the tour. Fundraising and planning activities took more than 18 months.
Money in the digital age
Are those crisp green bills wilting in your wallet? Coins collecting dust?As face-to-face transfers of money grow rarer in an increasingly digital world, cash is no longer king. ATM cards, computer transactions, even cell phones are used to pay for goods and services, and UC Irvine anthropologist Bill Maurer is investigating the impacts. How is technology changing ways people experience money? How are budgeting and finance accounting different? Of particular interest to Maurer is how people in developing nations use emerging mobile phone technology to store, save and send money.
The future of money: A glossary
Digital money or currency – a broad term describing any technology providing access to or even replacing traditional functions of money – is not limited to developing countries.In Japan, for example, public transit users simply wave computer chip-embedded smart cards at railway turnstiles, speeding their daily commute in the process. And in Korea, use of smart cards, e-cash and other technology to pay for goods and services is growing. But, most Americans haven’t been quick to jump into the digital money arena.
Circumventing autoimmunity
The immune system is the body’s military force, assigned to protect against disease and infection. But sometimes, the T cells and B cells that carry out this vital mission turn against their host and mistakenly attack healthy tissue in a process called autoimmunity.
Diseases driven by this autoimmune response – rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, psoriasis and others – can have long-term damaging effects, and medical researchers continue to search for effective treatments.
Life systems working together
UC Irvine is a hot spot for systems biology, a new approach to learning why the human body and other organisms work the way they do. Dr. Arthur Lander, director of the Center for Complex Biological Systems, will talk about this exciting new field at a public lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28, at the Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering. Below, he explains what systems biology is and how it benefits the public.
Reining in disease
The field of public health looks at the big picture, and that image is coming into focus at UC Irvine as its Program in Public Health marks its greatest growth stage in its young, five-year history.This fall, the program begins recruiting students for an innovative master’s in public health, which will be part of the new Department of Population Health & Disease Prevention and prepare students to solve large-scale health challenges impacting culturally diverse communities.
Historic election inspires young people to register to vote
The pathway along Ring Mall offers students plenty of distractions: Korean barbecue stands, hip-hop dancers and blood donation drives, to name a few. Jesse Cheng is out there, too, doing whatever it takes to make people stop, pick up a pen and register to vote.
UCI gears up for election season
There’s no shortage of political opinion at UC Irvine, and a number of campus groups and student organizations have organized events where those opinions can be heard. From a scholarly discussion of the presidential election and its importance to students to a “hot topics” debate, the pre-election schedule has it all.
New faculty
Experts on everything from reconstructing the human hand to interpreting the U.S. Constitution have joined the UC Irvine faculty in the last year.“UC Irvine has been able to attract recognized scholars across all academic disciplines,” said Herbert Killackey, vice provost for academic personnel. “As the campus and its reputation grow, we become a destination for successful faculty members who improve our top-notch programs.”
Rhode Island literary group taps 'Five Skies' as state read
Call it the little state with the big reach.
Rhode Island is touching UC Irvine in a big way by selecting Ron Carlson’s Five Skies as its statewide reading pick for 2009.
Louise Moulton, Rhode Island Center for the Book director, sent this note of congratulations to Carlson, director of UCI’s master’s program in fiction:
Parents, teachers and scientists agree: Exercise has brain benefits
This is the second in a three-part series of essays by UC Irvine pediatrician Dr. Dan Cooper on children and exercise. The photos are winners from this summer’s “Children at Play” photo contest, sponsored by UCI’s Pediatric Exercise Research Center, Children’s Hospital of Orange County and The Orange County Register.
Small intestine guards against toxic food
Toxins in food often have a bad, bitter taste that makes people want to spit them out. It’s one way the body defends itself.Now, new UC Irvine research finds that the digestive system provides a second line of defense – keeping bad food in the stomach longer and increasing the chances that it will be expelled.
Shaping the future
Sparking breakthrough discoveries and tackling issues of importance to people in their daily lives is the goal of UC Irvine’s $1 billion fundraising campaign.
Announced by Chancellor Michael V. Drake at the 2008 Medal Awards on Oct. 4, the “Shaping the Future” campaign already has raised $405 million of the goal during its “quiet phase.” The public campaign will run through 2015.
The campaign will focus on increasing private support for five key areas: health, the environment, sustainable energy, educating tomorrow’s leaders, and embracing global opportunities in culture and business.
Calming children before surgery
Surgery is stressful for even the calmest patient, but for children it can be particularly traumatic and frightening.For anesthesiologists, soothing anxious children about to enter surgery is a critical part of the job, and Dr. Zeev Kain, anesthesiology & perioperative care chair at UC Irvine, is turning to ancient Chinese medicine for new methods.
Fighting poverty with knowledge
Inequality literally is making people sick, says Michael Montoya, UC Irvine anthropology and Chicano/Latino studies assistant professor.Montoya’s pioneering diabetes research shows that poverty, housing segregation and poor diet are stronger indicators of a person’s chance of developing the disease than simply race or ethnicity.
New engineering dean shares strategies for achieving greatness
It’s been a busy few weeks for Rafael L. Bras, the new dean of UC Irvine’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering. He and his wife are settling in after his move from MIT to UCI. The prominent hydrologist and hydroclimatologist, who brings extensive expertise on water and the environment, discusses his early impressions of the campus and his plans for the future.
UCI traditions tutorial
What’s a university campus without tradition? A pretty thin experience.
Here’s a small tutorial on UC Irvine traditions that have evolved over 43 years. And, if you missed it, check out last week’s crash course on UCI legends.
“Zot!”
The tradition: “Zot!” is the Anteater athletics war cry.
Mobile medicine
UC Irvine’s Mobile Medicine unit hit the road nearly six years ago, delivering healthcare and specialized geriatric services to senior citizens.Along the way, the clinic on wheels added regular stops at El Sol Elementary School in Santa Ana and the St. Francis Home for seniors. It provides a venue for UCI to hold blood drives and serve the community at health fairs across Orange County.
The clinic has logged a lot of miles, says Nancy Downey-Hurtado, assistant director of ambulatory services at UC Irvine Medical Center, in an effort to reach those with limited access to medical care.
AirUCI expands horizons
UCI is ramping up its focus on air quality and climate change research in an effort to tackle some of today’s most pressing environmental challenges.AirUCI, the group that explores atmospheric issues, has become an official organized research unit, nearly tripling the number of scientists involved and vastly expanding its scope. Seventeen scientists from physical sciences and engineering and the College of Health Sciences will work to advance understanding of air pollution on local and global scales, its impact on health, and the effects of new technologies designed to mitigate its impact.
UC taps UCI's King of Green
Wendell Brase is already leaving his reduced-carbon footprint on the state: UC Irvine’s vice chancellor for administrative & business services has made his mark at UCI with green buildings, waste recycling, solar energy and more. And now, Katherine Lapp, executive vice president of the University of California, has asked Brase to chair the Climate Solutions Steering Group, which will focus on implementing carbon-neutral technology and solutions on UC campuses. Lapp and Brase answer questions about this new endeavor.
Tunneling toward truth
Heard about the secret tunnels that crisscross beneath the UC Irvine campus? Or the “real” reason Aldrich Park is hilly?
Like countless other universities around the world, UCI has its own distinctive legends and lore that have emerged to shed light on campus mysteries.
Building blocks of learning
Four-year-old Lupe Velasquez grabs the Legos scattered across his kitchen table, slowly but confidently naming the colors of the individual blocks – green, yellow, red.
“What color is this?” asks recent UC Irvine graduate Noemi Maldonado, pointing to an orange block. “It’s the same as a fruit you love to eat.”
Lupe and Maldonado meet twice a week to read books and work on colors, shapes, vocabulary and memorization.
Healthy exercise for kids requires common sense from adults
A year has passed since UC Irvine inaugurated the “Children at Play” photo contest to raise awareness about the role of exercise in children’s health and growth. The response has been great, as evidenced by the wonderful photos seen here. And, much has happened to remind us of how important exercise is to children. We were all enthralled by the spectacle of the Olympic Games. While so much of the competition was particularly exciting to Orange County (read swimming), the negative side of extreme competition also came to light, such as the use of performance enhancing drugs. And, oh yes, how old were those gymnasts?
UCI leads way on breast cancer research, treatment
More than 180,000 American women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and no single event brings attention to this deadly disease more than the Race for the Cure, sponsored by Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Thousands of runners and walkers will participate in the annual 5k event Sunday, Sept. 28, at Newport Beach’s Fashion Island. It’s one of about 120 of such races around the world that draw 1.5 million people and raise more than $150 million annually to fight breast cancer.
Combating leukemia
UC Irvine biologists are on the attack against leukemia.A recent study by UCI scientists found a new way to combat a subtype of acute lymphoblastic leukemia that could mitigate side effects and improve cure rates.