Media Highlights
March 2009
This summary highlights media placements members of the UCSC community have garnered during the month of March 2009.
National and international
Coverage of UCSC's new partnership to develop a research and education community at NASA Ames included stories on KLIV and KCBS radio, Silicon Valley Business Journal, KSBW and KPIX television, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Monterey County Herald, Mountain View Voice, Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Daily News, Chronicle of Higher Education, MSNBC.com, Information Week, and SpaceRef.com. The San Jose Mercury News also ran an editorial on the benefits of the partnership.
Economist Rob Fairlie has been in the media spotlight lately, fielding calls from top national publications. The New York Times interviewed him about business ownership rates during the past three recessions, while Harper's Magazine wanted information about Fairlie's work on the wages of biracial blacks. The Los Angeles Times called about a new paper of Fairlie's that examines black and white unemployment rates over the business cycle. Fairlie was also invited to contribute a guest post to Econbrowser. Fairlie responded to President Obama's plan to improve small business credit. Finally, Entrepreneur.com published an article about Fairlie's work on the state of black-owned businesses in this country. Fairlie lamented the lack of progress in black entrepreneurship, particularly compared to gains made by blacks in education, politics, and the labor market. TheStreet.com also featured Fairlie's work on black entrepreneurship in a column.
Chemist Jin Zhang's research on hollow gold nanospheres for cancer treatment and other applications was reported by U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Market Watch, UPI, Medical News Today, Science Daily, Nanotechnology News, Nanotechwire, Nanotechnology Now, Medical Physics Web, Small Times, Photonics, RedOrbit, Gizmag, and MSN Health & Fitness.
Mother Jones magazine profiled agroecology's Tim Galarneau in a story about the transformation of college cafeterias from "bastions of bad food" to stars of the sustainable food movement.
Psychology professor Craig Haney was featured in a New Yorker magazine article about the effects of long-term solitary confinement.
Postdoctoral researcher Chris Darimont of environmental studies made headlines with research on coastal wolves, which he says have evolved "like no other wolves." Articles appeared in the Edmonton (Alberta) Journal, the Vancouver Province, the Victoria Times, the Times Colonist, and the Nanaimo Daily News, among other publications. Darimont also penned an opinion piece for the Toronto Globe & Mail about the policy implications of his team's findings.
Graduate student Nicole Teuschel and biologist Daniel Costa were featured on NPR's All Things Considered in a story about their use of social media to engage public interest in elephant seal research.
Julie Guthman of community studies was mentioned in a New York Times Freakonomics blog post about her work as a food geographer. The posting mentioned Guthman's paper, "Can’t Stomach It: How Michael Pollan et al. Made Me Want to Eat Cheetos," which was reprinted in Utne Reader.
The New Yorker magazine's blog reported that humanities lecturer Gary Young received the Poetry Society of America's 2009 Shelley Memorial Award, and provided a link to the UCSC web site's story. The Guardian.uk.co--one of the world's leading online newspapers and the first one in Britain to attract more than 25 million monthly users--ran a feature story about Young and the award. Poetry Daily, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Media Newswire, and informednews.com also reported on Young's award.
A USA Today story about the Kepler space telescope included quotes from astronomer Greg Laughlin.
Anthropologist Nate Dominy's research was featured in a CNN.com story about saliva. Dominy commented on the results of a new study about bacteria in saliva and explained his own investigation of the digestive enzyme amylase.
The Chicago Tribune reviewed the new documentary film Milk in the Land, which features sociologist Melanie DuPuis discussing links between alcohol production and the rise of cow's milk as a popular beverage.
CBC Radio interviewed ocean scientist Raphael Kudela about his research on a red tide and its effects on seabirds.
In a column about government borrowing, Chris Dillow of Investors Chronicle highlighted the work of economist Michael Dooley.
Biochemist David Deamer was featured in stories stories in Technology Review and New Scientist magazines about efforts to create artificial life in the lab.
Social psychologist Anthony Pratkanis was featured in an Idaho Falls Post Register article about the tactics used by con artists when pitching fraudulent investments.
Physicist Michael Dine was quoted in a New Scientist article about gravitational waves.
Azizah Magazine, a magazine for and about Muslim women in North America, ran a story by UCSC student Tahrier Walid Sub Laban about her experience learning to swim, with quotes from her teacher, Julie Kimball of OPERS.
Computer scientist David Doshay was featured in a Wired News story about work on computer programs that play the game Go.
Astronomer Justyn Maund was featured in a Live Science story about his research on the type of the stars that explode as type II supernovae.
Economist Lori Kletzer was quoted in a Mechanical Engineering story about the offshoring of engineering jobs.
Astronomer Greg Laughlin was quoted in a Sky & Telescope magazine story about observations of an exoplanet.
State and regional
Ocean scientist Sharon Stammerjohn was featured in a San Francisco Chronicle story about research on how global warming is affecting ecosystems in Antarctica.
KQED Radio News ran a feature story about the UCSC Chemical Screening Center, featuring biochemists Roger Linington and Scott Lokey in the Quest radio broadcast and multimedia web site.
Water expert Brent Haddad's work was cited by a columnist with Red Bluff's Daily News. Lamenting his well's drop in productivity, the author noted Haddad's expertise on water desalination and wondered, "If the Saudis can do it, why can't we?"
Anthropologist Triloki Pandey was quoted in a San Jose Mercury News story about a Hindu ritual at the Fremont Hindu Temple and Cultural Center.
The Silicon Valley Business Journal ran a story about the Chemical Screening Center featuring director Scott Lokey, associate director Nadine Gassner, and biochemist Roger Linington.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that that humanities lecturer Gary Young received the Poetry Society of America's 2009 Shelley Memorial Award, noting that he graduated from UCSC in 1973. The news was also announced in Publishers Weekly and Publishers Marketplace, as well as numerous online poetry sites and blogs.
The San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner ran stories about up-and-coming filmmaker and UCSC alumnus Cary Joji Fukunaga, who was recently honored at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival for his film Sin Nombre.
Oceanographer Adina Paytan's research on how marine phytoplankton are affected by dust falling in the oceans was covered by the San Jose Mercury News, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Science Now, Environmental Research Web, and Space Daily.
This month in the San Jose Mercury News (and also in the Santa Cruz Sentinel):
A story ran about theater arts lecturer Tandy Beal's "Dance Around the World" project in which students from her Arts, Education and the Community class work with local elementary school students to teach them about dance, performance, and world cultures. . . . Ocean scientist Peggy Delaney was featured in a story about an expedition of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program to collect and study sediment samples from the Pacific Ocean floor.
. . . There was a story on the new disciplinary writing requirement. . . . A story ran about feminist studies professor Bettina Aptheker and her role as the keynote speaker for an event to honor 12 exceptional woman in Santa Cruz County. . . . There was an announcement about the publication of a new book tribute to emeritus professor of literature and art history Harry Berger, celebrating his work as a literary and cultural critic.
Local
This month in the Santa Cruz Sentinel:
Michael Isaacson, acting dean of the Baskin School of Engineering, was quoted in a story about funding for the Bio-Info-Nano Research and Development Institute included in the federal budget bill.
. . . A story ran about the cultural legacy of the Grateful Dead, highlighting the band's archive now being cataloged at McHenry Library. . . . Farm and Garden manager Christof Bernau was featured in an article about growing food in your backyard garden.
UCSC grad George Perkovich, an expert on nuclear disarmament who just received the Social Science Division's Distinguished Alumni Award, appeared on KUSP Radio and was featured in the Santa Cruz Sentinel and San Jose Mercury News.