As the new Vice Chancellor for Research, Sandra Brown oversees an office responsible for many of the university's key functions, including Organized Research Units, contracts & grants, technology transfer, animal care and welfare, research ethics and postdoctoral scholars, among others. A professor and researcher herself, she knows firsthand both the rewards and challenges of UC San Diego's research enterprise. She was appointed to her position in December 2010, just after the university surpassed $1 billion in research funding for the first time, a milestone that included bringing in more federal stimulus dollars than any other UC campus. In this interview, she talks about why research is an integral part of UC San Diego's mission and 50-year history, and what's next for the Office of Research Affairs.
After growing up in a predominantly Latino community in Los Angeles, Jacob Bailey had an eye-opening experience when he transferred from a Southern California community college to the University of Utah as an undergraduate. He realized he was one of only seven Latinos in his class at the College of Science, so he set out on a personal mission to recruit and encourage underrepresented students to attend college. Now a second-year medical student at UC San Diego, he continues his outreach efforts through the School of Medicine. He is determined to give back to his community through his research and career in medicine. .
After losing a college professor to AIDS, and later close friends to the disease, Steffanie Strathdee has dedicated herself to HIV-prevention and research. Now the Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences and Director of the Global Health Initiative at UC San Diego, she is focused on enhancing collaboration and communication among global health researchers on campus. She remains engaged in a number of HIV prevention research projects and training programs in international settings including Mexico, India, Canada and Afghanistan, and she leads three NIH-funded studies about HIV risk behavior. In addition, she is a Harold Simon Professor and Chief of the Division of Global Public Health in the Department of Medicine. In this interview, she talks about her research, the importance of collaboration in addressing global health issues, and how she and others at UC San Diego are taking action.
Jessica Baltmanas is connecting to her roots — the garden variety that is. You can often find her exercising her green thumb in UC San Diego's community gardens. As an environmental policy major, she believes in the power of farming to provide cost-efficient, sustainable food and to reduce dependence on other food sources. This is just one of Jessica's many green practices; she is also an EcoNaut who spreads the word to other students about environmentally friendly living. In addition, she's a sustainability coordinator with the Price Center. In this interview, she talks about why it's important to her to be green and her role in UC San Diego's upcoming 50th anniversary Green Open House.
Tony Jackson is in the business of helping people. As an emergency room physician in Los Angeles, he saves lives. As a UC San Diego alumnus and volunteer recruiter for the university, he helps students succeed. He believes it's in his genes to educate and mentor people. After all, he is the great-grandson of Booker T. Washington. Jackson has organized numerous trips for underrepresented students in Los Angeles to visit UC San Diego and he says he enjoys guiding young students to the campus that he loves. Jackson also serves on the UC San Diego Alumni Board and is co-chair of the Campus Climate Council.
Teresa Scroggins, a freshman from Imperial Valley, developed a love of languages and culture through her childhood experiences as a Navy daughter. She has lived all over the world including Japan, Washington state and California. She is fluent in both Japanese and Spanish, and hopes one day to travel the world again and work at an embassy. In the meantime, she spends her free time mentoring students at Chula Vista High School and motivating them to pursue their college dreams. She says it's her way of giving back since she had such a positive experience with the Early Academic Outreach Program when she was a high school student in Imperial Valley.
