News Archive

February 14, 2012 — Carlos Coimbra, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has been named the new Faculty Director of the IDEA Student Center at the Jacobs School of Engineering. He joined the Jacobs School in fall 2011. He is originally from Brazil, got his Ph.D. from UC Irvine, and has been on faculty at the University of Hawaii and UC Merced, where he was involved in many outreach and academic research programs for undergraduate students. Coimbra's professional goal is to develop the smart solar power farms of the future. He uses a network of solar observatories throughout the University of California system to harvest data for forecasting solar power output. He analyzes this data using artificial intelligence methods and a new, sophisticated type of variable order differential equations he developed. He answered some of our questions about his new role, the programs he has been involved with and the importance of diversity.

February 14, 2012 — Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is the leading cause of death in the United States. This form of heart attack kills 325,000 people every year, representing one death every two minutes. Almost all SCA victims die before they even reach a hospital.

February 14, 2012 — In scientific research, an anomalous finding can be cast aside because it falls outside of the typical and does not fit cleanly in a normal distribution curve. This very deviation is the premise for the “ANOMALIA” exhibition at the University Art Gallery Feb. 16 through May 18.

February 14, 2012 — The next Greenovation Forum on “Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning: The Ecological, Economic, and Governance Principles for Managing the Ocean” will take place at 4 p.m. Feb. 22 at Atkinson Hall.

February 14, 2012 — When the ground shook in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 12, 2010, the magnitude-7 earthquake left behind an estimated 4,000 amputees. Helping these victims has been a goal for a group of UC San Diego students, who visited Haiti in 2011 to treat amputees using an innovative mirror-box therapy developed by V.S. Ramachandran, director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at UC San Diego.

February 14, 2012 — For the fourth consecutive year, UC San Diego brought home league titles as both the men and women placed first at the 2012 Pacific Coast Swimming and Diving Conference Championships at the Splash! La Mirada Aquatic Center Saturday.

February 13, 2012 — Gazing into your lover’s eyes isn’t only romantic; it also releases a brain chemical called oxytocin that strengthens social bonds in a variety of species. For some people who suffer from depression, the so-called “hormone of love” might hold out hope. Researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine are conducting a clinical trial to study whether oxytocin – the brain hormone released with touches, hugs, or when a mother and her newborn baby bond – might help patients with depression.

February 13, 2012 — Two years ago, racist incidents on and off campus sparked student demonstrations at UC San Diego, resulting in a historic collaborative agreement that has strengthened our commitment to enhancing diversity. This slideshow showcases the past two years of change.

February 9, 2012 — Of 190 million obese Americans, approximately 10-15 percent engage in harmful binge eating. During single sittings, these over-eaters consume large servings of high-caloric foods. Sufferers contend with weight gain and depression including heart disease and diabetes.

February 9, 2012 — Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new method for making scaffolds for culturing tissue in three-dimensional arrangements that mimic those in the body. This advance, published online in the journal Advanced Materials, allows the production of tissue culture scaffolds containing multiple structurally and chemically distinct layers using common laboratory reagents and materials.