pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/11-09OceanDrillingTS.jpg alt=Image of Ocean Robots height=80 width=120 //p pIn an effort to plug gaps of knowledge about key ocean processes, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have been awarded nearly $1 million from the National Science Foundation to develop a new breed of ocean-probing instruments. Scripps researchers Jules Jaffe and Peter Franks will be spearheading an effort to design and deploy autonomous underwater explorers, or AUEs, which will trace fine details of fundamental oceanographic mechanisms that are vital to tiny marine inhabitants. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/11-09OceanDrilling.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/11-09ActiveDeskTS.jpg alt=Photo of Active Desk height=80 width=120 //p pUniversity of California, San Diego researcher Ernesto Ramirez has logged more than 34 miles of walking in the past month, and he hasn't even had to leave the office to do it. Ramirez, who is affiliated with the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at UC San Diego, has designed and built what he calls the "Active Desk" — a raised work station connected to a standard treadmill that allows him to walk while he works. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/11-09ActiveDesk.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/11-09SRC01TS.jpg alt=Photo of Sustainability Resource Center folks height=80 width=120 //p pStudents at one of the nation’s greenest universities won’t have to go far to get involved in the green revolution. On Nov. 20 UC San Diego will unveil the Sustainability Resource Center, a one-stop-sustainability-shop where students can learn about green jobs and courses on sustainability-related topics, how to conserve energy and water or find eco-friendly products. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/events/11-09SRC.aspMore/a/p

pSurpassing the $40 million in federal stimulus the university reported in August, the University of California, San Diego has now received more than $100 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds, with numerous proposals for additional support still being evaluated. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/11-09ARRA.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/11-09MummiesTS.jpg alt=Photo of a mummy height=80 width=120 //p pA new study finds that atherosclerosis, hardening of the arteries, was common in ancient Egyptians, challenging a belief that vascular disease is a modern affliction caused by current-day risk factors such as stress and sedentary lifestyles. Michael Miyamoto, MD, a graduate of the UC San Diego School of Medicine and assistant clinical professor, recently returned to the US following an expedition to Egypt to evaluate the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in 3,500-year-old mummies. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/health/11-09Mummies.aspMore/a/p

pThe University of California, San Diego will lead a new Center of Expertise on Migration and Health as one of three multi-campus initiatives launched by the University of California system under the auspices of the new UC Global Health Institute. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/health/11-09Migration.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/11-09SDScienceFestTS.jpg alt=San Diego Science Festival conference (Photo / Victor W. Chen) height=80 width=120 //p pSan Diego’s largest celebration of science returns to offer thousands of students and their families the opportunity to “excite their minds.” Today, the San Diego Science Festival announced that, in addition to year-round K–12 programs, the 2010 event will bring a week of science activities and exploration to San Diego County with hundreds of free events beginning March 20, 2010 and culminating in Expo Day at PETCO Park on March 27, 2010. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/11-09SDScienceFest.aspMore/a/p

pThe University of California, San Diego has embarked on a $73 million program to increase the energy efficiency of 25 of its older buildings to lower their combined energy consumption by at least $6 million a year. The project is part of a larger $247.4 million University of California initiative to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and cut energy costs at its 10 campuses by $36 million annually. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/11-09Energy.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/11-09Gordon01TS.jpg alt=Gordon Logo height=80 width=120 //p pThe San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego has been awarded a five-year, 20 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build and operate a powerful supercomputer dedicated to solving critical science and societal problems now overwhelmed by the avalanche of data generated by the digital devices of our era. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/supercomputer/11-09Gordon.aspMore/a/p

pThe University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering is the ninth best in the world for engineering/technology and 15th in the world for computer sciences, according to an academic ranking of the top 100 world universities published by the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/11-09Jacobs.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/11-09Water01TS.jpg alt=Photo of water height=80 width=120 //p pTaking the University of California, San Diego, off the "water grid" is a daunting proposition. As one of the largest clients of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, UC San Diego consumes 800 million gallons of water annually and spends a whopping $6 million per year on water and sewage services. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/11-09Water.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/10-09CREB01TS.jpg alt=Photo of Solar Panels height=80 width=120 //p pThe San Diego region has been allocated financing opportunities for 192 solar installation projects for public facilities, which will promote hundreds of new green jobs and increase by more than 40 percent the capacity of locally produced solar energy with an estimated 20 megawatts of additional solar power. A coalition of San Diego stakeholders, led by CleanTECH San Diego, captured $154 million in allocations for financing renewable energy projects for public facilities under the Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) program. The total allocations to the San Diego region make up 19 percent of the total allocations going to public agencies nationwide. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/10-09CREB.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/10-09CancerCenterTS.jpg alt=Logo of CIRM height=80 width=120 //p pResearchers led by Moores UCSD Cancer Center Director Dennis A. Carson, MD, professor of medicine, and Catriona Jamieson, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and director of the Cancer Stem Cell Research Program at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have been awarded $20 million over four years to develop novel drugs against leukemia stem cells. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/health/10-09CancerCenter.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/10-09Genius01TS.jpg alt=Photo of Luke Barrington height=80 width=120 //p pElectrical engineers recently pitted Genius – the music recommendation system in Apple’s iTunes – against two experimental music recommender systems. Genius appears to capture acoustic similarities among songs within the same playlist, the researchers found. The University of California, San Diego electrical engineers also discovered that the music recommender they built from scratch can generate song playlists that human subjects thought were as good as those that Genius generates. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/10-09Genius.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/10-09SpinalCord01TS.jpg alt=Photo of Mark Tuszynski height=80 width=120 //p pScientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that regeneration of central nervous system axons can be achieved in rats even when treatment is delayed more than a year after the original spinal cord injury. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/health/10-09SpinalCord.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/10-09iMurmur01TS.jpg alt=Photo of iPhone App height=80 width=120 //p pBeing a full-time, third-year medical student is tough enough but Michael “Fuj” Fujinaka is also busy helping his fellow students learn. He answered his own questions about identifying heart murmurs by inventing a practical, high-tech learning tool. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/health/10-09iMurmur.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/10-09Volcano01TS.jpg alt=Photo of Mt. Pinatubo eruption height=80 width=120 //p pA team of chemists from the U.S. and France has found compelling evidence of a previously undocumented large volcanic eruption that occurred exactly 200 years ago, in 1809. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/10-09Volcano.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/10-09HemmingTS.jpg alt=Photo of Alan Hemming height=80 width=120 //p pDistinguished transplant and cancer surgeon, Alan Hemming, MD, has been recruited to the University of California, School of Medicine to launch a multidisciplinary center for the treatment of advanced liver disease at the UC San Diego Medical Center and Moores UCSD Cancer Center. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/health/10-09Hemming.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/10-09MacKenzie01TS.jpg alt=Photo of Sophia Mac Kenzie height=80 width=120 //p pSince 1977, a small foundation based in Los Angeles has made a big impact on nearly 800 medical students at the University of California, San Diego. The Mac Kenzie Foundation—established by Sophia Mac Kenzie to alleviate the financial burden of medical school for California students—has given $1.7 million in total donations for students in the UC San Diego School of Medicine. This year, the foundation gave $85,000, benefiting 24 students. a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/campaign/10-09MacKenzie.aspMore/a/p

pimg src=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/graphics/images/2009/10-09NSFRankings01TS.jpg alt=Photo of UCSD height=80 width=120 //p pThe University of California, San Diego again ranks sixth among top U.S. universities in federal research and development expenditures for fiscal-year 2008, with $491 million in federal R and D money and 842 million in total R and D expenditures. The numbers were announced by the National Science Foundation (NSF). a href=http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/10-09NSFRankings.aspMore/a/p