The University of California San Diego’s Department of Music is known for its unconventional approach to the art of sound. The fact that soprano Susan Narucki and composer Lei Liang are collaborating to create a chamber opera around the theme of gun violence only fits that reputation. Their unique project entitled, “Inheritance,” struck a note with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which awarded the UC San Diego team an Artworks grant as part of its first $30 million in major arts funding for 2017.
University of California San Diego history professor Frank Biess is interested in emotions. More specifically, he plans to examine the role of fear and anxiety within the historical context of postwar West Germany. The NEH Fellowship for University Professors enables Biess to address questions about how feelings are produced politically, how they impact society and how they change over time—demonstrating the valuable insight humanities scholars can gain when they engage with the expanding interdisciplinary research on emotions.
The University of California San Diego has received a record of 88,451 freshman applications for fall 2017, a five percent increase from the previous year. The university had the second highest number of applicants among the University of California campuses.
The Junior Seau Foundation has pledged $250,000 to support brain injury research and education at the University of California San Diego. The gift is made in memory of the beloved NFL Football Hall of Famer and longtime San Diego Charger, Junior Seau, who passed away in 2012 and was subsequently diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease associated with repeated blows to the head.
Modern hospitals are designed to aid healing in every possible space, from operating rooms and recovery areas to cafeterias and lobbies. One way is through art, and the new Jacobs Medical Center at UC San Diego Health reflects this with an extraordinary collection of paintings, photographs, sculptures, and other mediums, by renowned artists that are featured on every floor and inside every patient room throughout the 10-story hospital.
Three teams with ties to the Jacobs School were recognized at this year’s Triton Innovation Challenge at the University of California, San Diego. LifeCycled Materials, led by two Jacobs School alumni, won the competition and a $10,000 prize. Evolution Solutions, a startup cofounded by students at the Jacobs School and the Rady School of Management, came in third and received $2,500. Finally, One Village Philippines, a team that is part of the Jacobs School’s Global TIES program, won the competition’s social venture track and $2,500.
