“I don’t really understand how people who have been active in the university can retire,” said William Fenical, UC San Diego distinguished professor of oceanography and director of the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “We’ve dedicated every waking moment of our lives for 50 years to doing things that are beneficial for folks. How do you just drop that?” At 74, Fenical is still is a full-time professor and still researching drugs from the sea, including compounds that look very promising to fight melanoma, multiple myeloma as well as breast and ovarian cancer.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s fleet of research vessels, soon to be augmented with the arrival of the new R/V Sally Ride, has logged hundreds of thousands of nautical miles exploring the world’s oceans—over undersea volcanoes and through monstrous waves—seeking answers to some of the planet’s most daunting environmental challenges.
When Zach Birmingham came to UC San Diego for his graduate degree in international affairs, he already had a love of all things boating. A former merchant marine, he holds a near-coastal, 100-ton commercial master captain’s license and has served on vessels in the Pacific, Middle East and Latin America. So naturally when he graduated in 2011, he took an internship at the Unified Port of San Diego — an internship that ultimately led him to a full-time career in government and civic relations.
Steph Barry, a UC San Diego alumna and global business executive, has been appointed Assistant Vice Chancellor of Alumni and Community Engagement, effective Jan. 29. Barry joins the campus Advancement team following her 19-year tenure at WD-40 Company, where she most recently served as Vice President for Strategic Projects. Headquartered in San Diego, WD-40 Company is a global organization that currently markets its products in 188 countries worldwide.
The University of California, San Diego is an institution known for achieving scientific and creative innovations. So it is no surprise that the Department of Visual Arts broke boundaries and crossed audiences when it recently transformed a 2,500 square-foot, San Diego Art Institute (SDAI) project-space at Horton Plaza into an unexpected home for innovative contemporary art.
In two weeks, UC San Diego Health orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Sonya Ahmed will head to Lillehammer, Norway for the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games. Ahmed is a former elite athlete herself—competing internationally in gymnastics and in collegiate pole vaulting. But this time she’s heading to the world stage not as an athlete, but as a doctor.
