A breakthrough today was a crazy idea yesterday.
That’s a line from a new film project that documents a student-driven effort at UC San Diego and research institutions across the Torrey Pines Mesa to encourage students to turn ideas and breakthroughs into startup companies. The short documentary film was produced and directed by Rajesh Grover, an assistant professor at The Scripps Research Institute and a visiting investigator at the J. Craig Venter Institute in La Jolla, and Kenan Azam, a data scientist in the laboratory of UC San Diego bioengineering professor Shankar Subramaniam. Both are former leaders of the UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge for the 2011-12 academic year.
Their robot won’t break the world record for solving Rubik’s Cube, but Daryl Stimm and William Mutterspaugh have an even more ambitious goal: using it to get thousands of girls and boys interested in science and technology.
Scientists have discovered a general principle for how cells could accurately transmit chemical signals despite high levels of noise in the system, they report in Science this week.
George Thornton made his first batch of beer at his sister’s apartment, using the spare bedroom to store the fermenting ale. Today, the UC San Diego alumnus is the owner of The Homebrewer in North Park, a supply store and educational resource for both beginning and advanced homebrewers. Here, customers can choose from a variety of hops, yeast, grains, additives and equipment, as well as participate in classes taught by fellow homebrewers. Next year, Thornton will open a small production brewery and tasting room next door.
The Rady School of Management at UC San Diego entered the Bloomberg Businessweek rankings at 51st overall in its first ranking by the publication. Even more impressive, the school ranked 1st in the United States in Intellectual Capital, which is a quality measure of faculty research. The Rady School’s Full-time MBA program was the only MBA program in San Diego to be ranked by Businessweek.
Physics majors at the University of California, San Diego will have the opportunity to gain experience and training on the same high-tech tools that industry researchers use, thanks to contributions from Quantum Design. The San Diego-based technology company—which has strong alumni ties to the campus—is providing in-kind and cash gifts totaling $279,000 to update and modernize lab courses and instructional materials in the department of physics.