Media Highlights

January 2005

This summary highlights media placements UCSC faculty and staff have garnered during the month of January 2005.

National and international

Research geophysicist Steven Ward, an expert on tsunamis, fielded numerous media calls in the aftermath of the disaster in South Asia. He appeared on local and national TV news programs, including Dateline NBC, and was quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, New York Daily News, Seattle Times, Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post, Whittier Daily News, Newsweek magazine, other newspapers, and various online news sites. Ward's tsunami research was also referenced on the TV shows Extra and Inside Edition and in articles in the Baltimore Sun, Newsday, Los Angeles Times, Contra Costa Times, Santa Cruz Sentinel, and many other newspapers. He has also scheduled an interview with the Discovery Channel for two upcoming programs on tsunamis. . . . Psychology's Craig Haney was quoted in an Associated Press story about jury selection in the Robert Blake murder case, saying research shows that many jurors participate in trials without understanding, or embracing, the presumption of innocence. . . . Research by professor of chemistry and biochemistry Anthony Fink on the antibiotic rifampicin as a potential treatment for Parkinson's disease was also covered in a variety of weekly newsletters, including Aging & Elder Health Week, Biotech Week, Drug Week, Medicine & Law Week, Life Science Weekly, Science Letter, Health & Medicine Week, Pain & Central Nervous System Week, and Proteomics Weekly. . . . A sharp increase in the number of entrepreneurs in the United States, calculated by economist Rob Fairlie, received a lot of attention from the press, including coverage in the Sacramento Bee, Arizona Republic, Small Business News, Newark Star-Ledger, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Chicago Tribune, Santa Cruz Sentinel, and Las Vegas Sun. Fairlie also was quoted in a Washington Times story about the digital divide, saying it appears to have fallen off the agenda of legislators; his research was also featured on the Digital Divide Network's web page. . . . Research by professor of biomolecular engineering David Haussler and others on the use of computers to reconstruct the genome of a common ancestor of mammals was covered in a variety of weekly newsletters, including Genomics & Genetics Weekly, Biotech Week, Life Science Weekly, Science Letter, Health & Medicine Week, and Lab Law Weekly. Haussler was featured on the NPR programs Weekend Edition and All Things Considered in stories about this research and quoted in another story about genome research on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition. . . . The research of Barbara Rogoff of psychology was central to a recent New York Times article about how we learn. Rogoff has spent years studying how Indian children in Guatemalan villages master complex skills like weaving and making tortillas, shedding light on the interactions between adults and children and on the role of culture in development. . . . History professor Dana Frank appeared on NPR's Marketplace to discuss the issue of “buying American” during the Christmas shopping season. . . . Andrew Fisher, professor of Earth sciences, was featured in a story in the Toronto Star about his research on the vast amounts of water circulating through the seafloor and the microbial communities that live in this hidden world. . . . Assistant arts dean Keith Muscutt was quoted in the Seattle Times about the downside of adventurer Gene Savoy, the world's foremost chronicler of a forgotten Peruvian civilization known as the Chachapoya. . . . Research on nerve regeneration by biologists Yishi Jin, Andrew Chisholm, and others was reported in Science Daily, Medical News Today, and Photonics Spectra magazine and in numerous weekly newsletters, including Biotech Week, Life Science Weekly, Science Letter, and Health & Medicine Week. . . . The New York Sun tapped anthropologist Hugh Raffles for an article about a flatbed truck accident in Las Vegas that spilled 480 bee colonies on a roadway. . . . Research on the SARS virus by a group of UCSC researchers led by William Scott, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, was featured in Biology Digest, Science Daily, and a variety of weekly newsletters, including Life Science Weekly, Biotech Week, Drug Week, Science Letter, Virus Weekly, and Health & Medicine Week. . . . The January 2005 issue of Art in America magazine ran a feature about a traveling exhibition of the Ant Farm, the innovative architecture collective cofounded by Chip Lord, chair of the Film and Digital Media Department. Lord also was quoted in a Houston Chronicle story about the Ant Farm. . . . Economist Lori Kletzer's work on manufacturing job losses was cited in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about outsourcing that ran on the Scripps Howard News Service and was published by several newspapers, including the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. . . . Bangkok's Agence France-Presse and the Khaleej Times, an English-language daily newspaper published from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, quoted theater arts professor Kathy Foley in an article about preserving Thailand's traditional art of puppetry. . . . Ann Caudle, director of the Science Illustration Program, was quoted in an article about science illustration in the Christian Science Monitor. Stacey Vigallon, a recent graduate of the program, was also featured in the story. . . . Hartmut Sadrozinski, adjunct professor of physics, was quoted in an article in Laser Focus World about the silicon detectors used in high-energy particle physics experiments and their potential commercial applications. . . . Postdoctoral researcher Phil Howard of the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems has fielded calls from Public Citizen and others about his survey of consumers regarding their food purchases. He was quoted in a Tampa Tribune article about retail turf wars in the natural foods market. In addition, his work will be written up in the March issue of Sustainable Industries Journal, and Howard will appear on KUSP's Talk of the Bay program in February. . . . An article in the Seattle Times about the recent oil spill in Alaska quoted biologist Jim Estes in reference to the chances for survival of oiled sea otters.

State and regional

Manuel Pastor of Latin American and Latino studies was quoted in a San Jose Mercury News story about the impact of Asian immigrants on the Bay Area. Pastor's work in environmental justice also prompted a call from AlterNet for a story about a report that found that Latinos bear the brunt of environmental health threats in the United States. Pastor also was quoted in a San Jose Mercury News story about a new study that found that most Latinos live in neighborhoods where they are not the majority, although the percentage of Latinos who do live in Latino-dominated neighborhoods increased from 39 percent to 43 percent from 1990 to 2000. . . . Community studies major Katie Lahey was the focus of a San Francisco Chronicle story about Americans who are in Venezuela to support President Hugo Chavez. . . . Anthropologist Triloki Pandey was quoted in a San Jose Mercury News story about Hindus who exchange Christmas gifts and have integrated other aspects of the holiday into their winter traditions. . . . For a major story about technology in agriculture pegged to the introduction of a mechanical orange picker, the Los Angeles Times contacted sociology professor emeritus Bill Friedland, who discussed the social changes brought about by inventions like the mechanical tomato harvester. . . . History of consciousness professor Barbara Epstein was quoted in a Berkeley Daily Planet article about a UC Berkeley professor ousted for his challenges to an increasingly corporate academic culture. . . . The San Jose Mercury News and Register Pajaronian ran articles about a $1.4 million gift to UCSC--the largest single donation ever given by an alum--from UC Santa Cruz Foundation trustee Kit Mura-smith.

Local

The Santa Cruz Sentinel published a lengthy story about the growing popularity of Bob Shepherd's accounting classes at UCSC, and the big firms that recruit his students. . . . A recent Santa Cruz Sentinel story about organic farming tapped the expertise of Julie Guthman of community studies. . . . Gary Griggs, professor of Earth sciences, also fielded media calls about tsunami risks on the West Coast and was quoted in the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Metro Santa Cruz. . . . The Santa Cruz Sentinel quoted literature professor Susan Gillman about the impressive qualifications of UCSC's new chancellor Denice Denton. . . . The Monterey County Herald profiled Professor Emeritus Theodore Sarbin of psychology and criminology, focusing on the months Sarbin spent riding the rails during the Depression, an experience he said shaped his life and work. . . . Mark Carr, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, was quoted in a Santa Cruz Sentinel article about plans to establish a series of marine protected areas along the California coast. . . . Theater arts professor Kathy Foley was quoted in a Santa Cruz Sentinel article about tsunami fundraising efforts in South Asia. . . . Assistant director of library development Liz Sandoval was quoted in a Santa Cruz Sentinel article about an appearance by author Jonathan Franzen that was cosponsored by Friends of the UCSC Library. . . . The Santa Cruz Sentinel ran a story about research by Roberto Manduchi, assistant professor of computer engineering, who is developing assistive technology devices for blind people. . . . Daniel Costa, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, was quoted in a Santa Cruz Sentinel article about a new graduate fellowship for marine mammal research at UCSC. . . . The Santa Cruz Sentinel ran an article about the completion of a series on the agricultural history of Santa Cruz by the University Library's Regional History Project. . . . Dan Wirls of politics provided post-inauguration analysis for the Santa Cruz Sentinel about President Bush's second-term agenda.

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