Media Highlights

August 2006

This summary highlights media placements members of the UCSC community have garnered during the month of August 2006. (See document with media outlets highlighted in bold.)

National and international

The discovery of a new gene involved in human brain development generated widespread media coverage featuring David Haussler, professor of biomolecular engineering, and research biologist Sofie Salama, including an interview with Salama on NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition, interviews with Haussler on KION TV, KGO Radio, and CJOB Radio (Canada), and stories in the San Jose Mercury News, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Calgary Sun, Edmonton Journal, Herald Sun (Australia), New Zealand Herald, Belfast Telegraph, Scotsman, Guardian (London), Independent (London), Santa Cruz Sentinel, Watsonville Register-Pajaronian, AP, UPI, and Reuters wire services, Science News magazine, online news sites of The Scientist, The Economist, Technology Review, New Scientist, Scientific American, ScienceNow, Bloomberg.com, BBC News, and Aljazeera, as well as editorials in the Philadelphia Inquirer and Santa Cruz Sentinel. . . . Research on sooty shearwater migrations led by biologist Scott Shaffer received widespread media coverage, including stories in national and international newspapers such as the New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Monterey Herald, Globe and Mail (Canada), Toronto Star, Telegraph (U.K.), Guardian (U.K.), Scotsman, Australian, and New Zealand Herald; Science News magazine; AP and UPI news wires; National Public Radio's Day to Day; and online news sites such as BBC News, Times Online, ABC News, MSNBC, National Geographic News, Environmental News Network, ScienceNow, LiveScience.com, Top Tech News, and MonstersandCritics.com. . . . Economist Lori Kletzer's findings on job outsourcing were cited in an "Economic View" piece in the New York Times. . . . History of consciousness professor James Clifford was interviewed on National Public Radio about the opening of a controversial new museum in Paris, the Quai Branly Museum, which is devoted to the display of non-Western arts and cultures. . . . Slate ran a rave review of Far from the Madding Gerund, a new book coauthored by linguistics professor Geoffrey Pullum. . . . The September issue of Sky & Telescope magazine has several stories featuring UCSC planetary scientists, including separate news stories about research by Craig Agnor on Neptune's moon Triton and by Francis Nimmo on Saturn's moon Enceladus, as well as a cover story on the Japanese Hayabusa mission with quotes from Erik Asphaug. . . . The San Antonio Express-News quoted associate history professor Pedro Castillo about the research of UCSC graduate student Marianne Bueno, who is studying how military labor changed the lives of Mexican American women in Texas. Bueno was also extensively quoted in the story. . . . A scholarly review of associate history professor David Anthony’s new book Max Yergan: Race Man, Internationalist, Cold Warrior appeared in the South African journal Safundi. . . . Associate professor of literature Louis Chude-Sokei was interviewed on National Public Radio about his work on masquerade and carnival in relation to the work of the African American visual artist Carrie Mae Weems, whose "The Louisiana Project" is currently showing at the San Francisco Museum of the African Diaspora. . . . Physicist Anthony Aguirre was quoted in a Boston Globe story about the new Foundational Questions Institute, of which Aguirre is associate scientific director. . . . Holger Schmidt, associate professor of electrical engineering, was featured in an article about optical sensor technology in Laser Focus World. . . . New Scientist magazine and the Santa Cruz Sentinel ran reviews of the new book by physicists Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner. . . . The gifted middleschoolers at UCSC's MathPath were featured in the Wall Streeet Journal's weekend edition. . . . Theater arts professor Kathy Foley was featured in an Asian Theater Journal article about her performance at "A Gathering of Gamelans," an eight-day festival featuring nine San Francisco Bay Area performance groups. Foley and theater arts professor Patty Gallagher also contributed book reviews to the journal. . . . Astronomer Jason X. Prochaska's research on galaxies was covered by UPI wire service, Physics Web, SpaceRef.com, Universe Today, Astra News, and MonstersandCritics.com. . . . Astronomer Gregory Laughlin was quoted in a story on CNN.com and Space.com about a newly proposed definition for planets. . . . Research by graduate student Kena Fox-Dobbs on the survival of condors since the Pleistocene era was covered in an article in Discovery News. . . . Associate professor of history Dilip Basu was quoted in the Hindustan Times about the launch of a web site devoted to the output of renowned Indian film director Satyajit Ray. . . . Journalism lecturer Conn Hallinan contributed a commentary to Mother Jones magazine on poverty relief, as well as pieces on Pakistan and the Middle East to Foreign Policy in Focus.

State and regional

Professor of Earth sciences James Zachos was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article about ocean acidification due to carbon dioxide emissions. His research was also featured in a story on ocean acidification in New Scientist magazine. . . . An unusual invention by ITS staff member Erin Elliott was featured in the San Jose Mercury News and PC Magazine. Displayed at a design expo at Yahoo’s Sunnyvale campus, Elliott’s Edible Interface allowed participants to lick sensor-equipped lollipops to control the movements of robotic dolls. . . . Art professor Frank Galuszka was quoted in a San Jose Mercury News article about the transfer of five miles of stunning beaches and rugged coastline along Santa Cruz County's north coast to public ownership. . . . The San Francisco Chronicle ran a feature story on American studies professor emeritus Judy Yung about her new book Images of America: San Francisco’s Chinatown. Yung was also quoted in The Oregonian about Dmae Roberts’s eight-part public radio series Crossing East, about the history of Asian American immigration in the United States. (Yung served as Roberts's lead scholar on the project). . . . History of art and visual culture lecturer Kirtana Thangavelu was quoted in a Contra Costa Times article about Indian art exhibits in the Bay Area this summer. . . . Physicist Joel Primack was quoted in an article in the Contra Costa Times about new findings that confirm the existence of dark matter. . . . The San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, and Santa Cruz Sentinel all ran feature stories celebrating the 25th anniversary season of Shakespeare Santa Cruz.

Local

The Santa Cruz Sentinel and Mid-County Post ran stories about Phillip Berman, professor and chair of biomolecular engineering. . . . William Clark, director of the Office of Sponsored Projects, was quoted in a Santa Cruz Sentinel story about the growth in funding for research at UCSC. . . . Biologist Peter Raimondi was quoted in an article about kelp in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. . . . Good Times ran a story about research by graduate student Myra Finkelstein on levels of DDT and other pollutants in albatrosses.

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