Media Highlights

January 2007

This summary highlights media placements members of the UCSC community have garnered during the month of January 2007. (See document with media outlets highlighted in bold.)

National and international

Astronomers Raja Guhathakurta and Jason Kalirai were quoted in stories about their discovery of a large stellar halo around the galaxy Andromeda that ran on many news sites, including MSNBC, CNN, UPI, BBC News, CBC News (Canada), Vancouver Province, Victoria Times Colonist, and Prince George Citizen, Discovery Channel News, and Space.com. . . . Diane Gifford-Gonzalez of anthropology was quoted in the Sunday New York Times and in Science NOW Daily News about a finding reported in Nature magazine on new genetic evidence for the independent evolution of lactose tolerance in Africans. . . . Economist Lori Kletzer was interviewed by The Economist magazine for an article about globalization's "losers," and she fielded a call from the Howey Political Report, a weekly about Indiana politics, regarding the approach the Democratic congressional majority on Capitol Hill may take toward trade liberalization. . . . The BBC News ran a story about biologist Scott Shaffer using albatrosses to gather data on sea surface temperatures throughout the North Pacific, and the project was also featured in the syndicated newspaper column "Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet." . . . Economist Joshua Aizenman's views got a broad airing when his work was cited prominently in a Bloomberg News commentary that urged Asia to "get out of the trap of export dependence." The story appeared in numerous papers around the world, including the International Herald Tribune, Economic Times of India, the Asbury Park Press of New Jersey, The Standard of Hong Kong, The China Post of Taiwan, and the Korea Herald. . . . Linguistics professor Geoffrey Pullum was quoted in Slate magazine about his take on the political reign of Turkmenistan's president-for-life, Saparmurat Niyazov, who recently died. He was also quoted in a Chicago Tribune article about a linguistic urban legend: that Eskimos have countless words for "snow.". . . Psychology's Faye Crosby was quoted in a Business Week story about mentoring. . . . Associate professor of history David Anthony was interviewed on NPR's To The Point on two occasions: one on the subject of blood diamonds, sparked by the release of the film Blood Diamond and another where he discussed his book Max Yergan: Race Man, Internationalist, Cold Warrior. A review of Anthony's book also appeared in Against the Current magazine. . . . An AP news story about amateur astronomers helping in the search for new planets featured astronomer Gregory Laughlin and ran in dozens of newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Ventura County Star, Baltimore Sun, Cincinnati Enquirer, and International Herald Tribune, as well as online news sites including ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and Space.com. . . . James Estes, adjunct professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, was quoted in an AP story about new restrictions on U.S. Geological Survey scientists that ran in the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and other newspapers. . . . Life Science Weekly ran a story about research on the ribosome by molecular biologist Harry Noller. . . . Assistant dean of the arts Keith Muscutt was featured in USA Today, CNN, Los Angeles Times, DailyIndia.com, Hindustan Times, Santa Cruz Sentinel, and ScienceDaily stories about the discovery of a previously unknown pre-Columbian ruin in Peru. . . . Ethical financial advisers use some of the same manipulative tactics as unscrupulous salespeople and con artists, according to social psychologist Anthony Pratkanis, who was quoted in an Associated Press article on the subject. . . . Economist Nirvikar Singh penned an opinion piece about trends in management education in the United States and elsewhere that appeared in Indian Express. . . . Physicist Joel Primack was quoted in a story about supercomputers on CNN.com. . . . The online Register publication in the United Kingdom responded to a reader's query about whether blind people can see in their dreams by citing a paper coauthored by psychology's Bill Domhoff. . . . A story about elephant seals in the diving magazine Fathom featured research led by biologist Daniel Costa and graduate student Patrick Robinson. Costa and Robinson, along with another student, Samantha Simmons, were featured on FoxNews.com and LiveScience.com in a story about their research using electronic tags to study marine mammals and their environment. . . . Robert Fairlie, also of economics, appeared in a CNN Money story about business ownership, saying the recent fluctuations of the labor market may have prompted displaced technology professionals to turn to entrepreneurship. . . . Physics graduate student Jeff Jones was featured in an article about dark matter in the universe on PhysOrg.com. . . . Research on raindrop formation by climate scientists Patrick Chuang and Jennifer Small was featured on LiveScience.com, Monsters & Critics, and UPI newswire. . . . Film scholar B. Ruby Rich of community studies was quoted in an article about Cybill Shepherd's decision to play a lesbian on Showtime's show L Word. The article appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer. . . . The Gainesville Sun of Florida discussed the work of Paul Ortiz of community studies in an article that appeared before Ortiz gave a public talk about his book Emancipation Betrayed. . . .The "clue crew" for the TV show Jeopardy spent several hours shooting video at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center in January for a program that will air several months from now. . . . Democracy Now, a daily radio and TV news program aired nationally on over 500 stations, broadcast history of consciousness professor Angela Davis's keynote address in New Orleans in December at the event, "Amnesty for Prisoners of Katrina: A Weekend of Reconciliation and Respect for Human Rights." In addition, Davis was quoted in an Ebony article about the enduring positive social impact of the Black Panthers, and the Salt Lake Tribune ran a feature story about Davis's keynote address at the University of Utah's 23rd annual Martin Luther King celebration.

State and regional

Lisa Sloan, professor of Earth and planetary sciences, was prominently featured in a series of articles on climate change in the Contra Costa Times, San Jose Mercury News, and Vallejo Times Herald. . . . Biomolecular engineer David Haussler and UCSC's prominence in genomics were highlighted in a Sacramento News and Review story about genomic research at UC Davis. . . . Economist Lori Kletzer talked with the San Jose Business Journal about the failure of the recent ballot proposal that would have raised the minimum wage in Santa Cruz. . . . Michael Mateas, assistant professor of computer science, was profiled in a cover story in Santa Cruz Good Times and was featured in a segment on video games on KPIX TV (Ch. 5, San Francisco). . . . Geologist Gary Griggs was quoted in a story about sand dunes on the floor of Monterey Bay that ran in the San Jose Mercury News and San Mateo County Times. . . . An article in the San Francisco Chronicle about the idea of multiple universes included quotes from cosmologist Anthony Aguirre. . . . The Stockton Record quoted emerita professor of American studies Judy Yung in a story about her book, Chinese American Voices: From the Gold Rush to Today. . . . Stephen McCabe, research and education coordinator at the Arboretum, was quoted in an article in the San Jose Mercury News about the effects of freezing temperatures on area gardens.

Local

An interview with Acting Chancellor George Blumenthal was the cover story in the January 4 issue of the Santa Cruz Good Times. . . . A front-page story in the Santa Cruz Sentinel about alternative energy research at UCSC featured electrical engineer Ali Shakouri, chemist Jin Zhang, physicist Sue Carter, and Carter's graduate students Veronica Sholin and Jeremy Olson. . . . Daniel Wirls of politics penned an opinion piece for the Santa Cruz Sentinel that detailed the enormous military buildup that has taken place during President Bush's tenure in the White House. . . . Metro Santa Cruz published an extensive cover story about literature professor Nathaniel Mackey, who won a 2006 National Book Award in poetry for Splay Anthem. . . . The Mid-County Post ran a piece on feminist studies professor Bettina Aptheker and her new memoir, Intimate Politics. . . . An article in the Monterey County Weekly about invasive species in coastal waters included quotes from biologist John Pearse, adjunct biologist Kerstin Wasson, and graduate student Rikke Preisler. . . . The Mid-County Post ran a story about statistician David Draper and his work to improve hospital care for sick newborns. . . . The Santa Cruz Sentinel ran an article about Bodies in the Making, a book by the campus's Institute for Advanced Feminist Research. and Helene Moglen was quoted in a Santa Cruz Good Times story about the book. . . . The Mid-County Post ran an article about research by astronomers Piero Madau and Jürg Diemand on the dark matter halo of the Milky Way. . . . The Monterey County Herald ran a long article about the gardens and programs of the UCSC Arboretum. . . . Research on raindrop formation by climate scientists Patrick Chuang and Jennifer Small was featured in the Mid-County Post. . . . The Santa Cruz Sentinel included Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, a lecturer in Hebrew, in a story about RateMyProfessors.com; she was one of three in the Monterey Bay Area getting top scores from student reviewers. . . . Christof Bernau of the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems was interviewed by KSCO Radio about the accomplishments of the UCSC Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture, which was honored at the Eco-Farm Conference. . . . The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that UCSC received two gifts valued at $350,000 to create a global cyber café and reading garden at McHenry Library.

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