News Years Thougths from La Jolla Light

Take inspiration in 2009 from those around us

Dec 30, 2008

- La Jolla Light

As we dive into a new year that's certain to be filled with joy and challenge, disappointment and success, we should take inspiration from those people featured in today's paper as those to keep an eye on in the coming year.

These people - some of whose names are well known, others may be less so - are at the forefront of what's made the region a leader in the scientific community for many years. From the halls of our research institutions to the classrooms of UCSD and the labs and offices of local companies, these people are setting the pace for years to come.

Whether it's an entrepreneur like Larry Bock who's pulling together the inaugural San Diego Science Festival or a leader like William Brody who will take over the reins of the Salk Institute this spring, these people represent the dedication that should inspire us to think big.

The list could go on and on, with the likes of UCSD Prof. Joseph Wang, a superstar in the rapidly developing field of nanbioelectronics, or marine ecologist Stuart Sandin of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who is expected to play a role in formulating ways to protect and preserve marine ecosystems.

Within the work of each of these people are hints about what it takes to succeed: dedication to a task, commitment to success, a willingness to carry on in the face of obstacles and an ability share their knowledge.

Next week we'll go beyond the halls of science to find more people who are likely to play a role in our own neighborhoods.

While all of these people, be they leaders in science, politics, sports or education, may have a more public role than many of us, we all have a role to play. For some that role is highly visible, for others it is often behind the scenes.

As we move into another year and the many opportunities ahead, let's seek ways to look to one another for hope and to inspire each other to make our communities better by simply being kinder, more thoughtful and supportive of each other.

Happy New Year.

Taaz.com in the news

A Jacobs School algorithm for gloss removal from images led to the virtual makeover Web startup Taaz.com where anyone can upload their photo and apply makup and try out new hairstyles. The cutting-edge computer vision technologies developed at UC San Diego are at the heart of the technology.

The Rocky Mountain news just wrote about Taaz.com in a story that recently came out of the Colorado Software & Internet Association DEMOGala.

Also, Taaz.com co-founder and Jacobs School computer science professor David Kriegman recently won CONNECT’s Most Innovative New Product (MIP) award for software and information technology.

Watch the Jacobs School virtual makeover video I put together last spring for the Taaz.com launch below:

Citizen Engineer...a new book from Jacobs School alum

Citizen Engineer is a new book, co-written by Greg Papadopoulos, a Jacobs School alum and chief technology officer for Sun Microsystems.

According to a recent story about the book and its authors in the Mercury News, engineering isn't just engineering anymore. In the 21st century, members of the engineering profession must confront issues of environmental sustainability, intellectual property, economics and their own responsibilities as citizens of a global community.

"The book is part primer and part argument. The authors say they wrote it for engineering students, professors and working engineers who, in Papadopolous' words, 'have that idea that maybe they need to think more about what they're doing,'" according to the Mercury News story.

Papadopoulos is the chair of the Jacobs School of Engineering's Council of Advisors.

The Council of Advisors to the Dean of the Jacobs School is comprised of industry leaders who provide: advice and council to help the Jacobs School best serve the San Diego region, the State of California, and the nation; contacts with business, government, and community to advance the mission of the School; help in identifying and acquiring resources in support of the School's goals and programs. Meet the Council of Advisors here

"Citizen Engineer" was co-written by Greg Papadopoulos and David Douglas, both electrical engineers and computer scientists who are, respectively, chief technology officer and chief sustainability officer for Sun. Papadopoulos is responsible for Sun's research and development efforts, while Douglas coordinates environmental programs and heads the company's cloud computing and developer platforms division.

Java Art Show (no beans or steaming cups of joe)

Flow Cytomers on Chip(s) and Dip

Flow Cytometers on Chips merged with tasty chips and dip last week at the celebration for Jessica Godin, this year's winner of the R.B. Woolley Graduate Leadership Award.


One of my favorite parts of her story is the fact that Jessica, an electrical engineer, learned some cool bio-sample-loading tricks from the bioengineers she met while hanging out in the lab over at Calit2 where they all go to build their chips. It wasn't one-sided, Godin taught the bioengineers a whole lot about streamlining microfluidics fabrication.


And now she has won financial support to implement events that will increase this kind of inter-departmental interaction at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego.

below is a great video about Jessica Godin's accomplisments here at the Jacobs School. enjoy.

From "Hello World" to "Hello Real World"

Computer Programming Gets a Makeover at UC San Diego

From “Hello World” to “Hello Real World”

What: Revolutionary new way to teach (and learn) computer programming on display. Computer science undergrads from UC San Diego will show off the glossy images they created while they learned to write computer code.

When: November 18, 2008; 4:30PM to 5:30PM

Where: UC San Diego’s computer science building
Map here: http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/about/map.shtml

More info:
What are “for loops” good for? New computer science students often ask this question when faced with writing their first computer programs, and many lose interest or become frustrated along the steep learning curve. In order to help students see the many opportunities available in computing and to make the learning curve more fun, computer science undergrads now learn to turn “for loops” into “for making really cool images loops.”

Welcome to UC San Diego’s reinvented intro-to-computer-programming course. The students still learn the fundamental programming concepts (like “for loops”), but instead of writing programs to calculate bank interest or spell out “hello world,” they write programs that manipulate digital images. The results of this “write-your-own-Photoshop” approach to learning computer programming will be on display tomorrow, November 18. More than 40 pairs of UCSD undergrads will show off large glossy prints of their manipulated images along with the computer code they wrote in order to create the images.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ occupational employment projections for 2016, over 800,000 of 1.4 million new professional jobs (57%) will be in computing. The new way of introducing programming is part of UC San Diego’s commitment to make computer science education as engaging and relevant to as wide and diverse a pool of students as possible. “The students are loving it!” said Beth Simon Ph.D., the computer science lecturer teaching the class.

Media Contact: Daniel Kane dbkane@ucsd.edu; 858-534-3262 (o)

Computer Science Contact: Beth Simon bsimon@cs.ucsd.edu

Bureau of Labor Statistics report here

Class Web Site

Shaking Up an Old Building

While residents across California prepared for the “big one” during the Great California Shakeout on Nov. 13, UC San Diego engineers simulated their own earthquake in order to devise better retrofit strategies for some of California’s oldest buildings.

The researchers simulated ground motions based on the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California, which measured 7.1 in magnitude. During the tests, the engineers subjected a 3-story, masonry-infilled, reinforced concrete frame representing structures built in California in the 1920s to a series of seismic events. This is the largest specimen of this type ever tested on a shake table.

Check out the full story here.