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Tuesday, 27 October 2009
1. Cal, UCSF scientists form cancer research unit
San Francisco Chronicle
October 27, 2009
SCIENTISTS AT UC BERKELEY and UCSF have formed a research center to explore the physical principles that govern the origin and behavior of cancer cells, and how they multiply in humans.
With a five-year, $15.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute, the UC researchers have formed the PHYSICAL SCIENCES-ONCOLOGY CENTER where they will seek to understand the mysterious ways that cancer - its onset and responses to radiation and chemotherapy - are subject to the laws of physics.
The NCI announced the new grant Monday and said that related centers with similar goals have been created at 11 other major universities and research centers, and that all the groups will be collaborating with each other....
The first year of grants for the 12 centers will total $22.7 million, coming from stimulus funds under the National Recovery Act, according to a spokesman for the NCI. The national total is expected to exceed $250 million over five years....
Director of the new UC center is BERKELEY RESEARCH BIOPHYSICIST JAN T. LIPHARDT, and the co-director is UCSF pathologist Thea Tlsty. Neither could be reached for comment. Full Story
2. Some profs want Cal to stop subsidizing sports
San Francisco Chronicle
October 27, 2009
When UC BERKELEY lends its DEPARTMENT OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS millions of dollars to pay its bills each year - and even forgives that debt at times - it's helping a top-tier college sports program beloved by thousands of fans.
But a growing number of Cal academics are disturbed by the practice, arguing that the prestigious research university should not subsidize elite athletes at a time of soaring college costs, faculty furloughs and reduced course offerings.
The faculty, which will debate the issue at next month's FACULTY SENATE meeting, is not alone. Now the independent Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics - formed 20 years ago by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to raise academic standards in college sports - is turning its attention to an out-of-control "arms race" among college football programs competing to pay increasingly high coaches' salaries and other associated costs....
To make ends meet, CHANCELLOR ROBERT BIRGENEAU expects to lend the athletes more than $12 million by the end of next year from a $165 million discretionary fund of interest income, gifts and undesignated bequests, said CAL SPOKESMAN DAN MOGULOF....
No tax money goes into that budget. Mogulof said it's funded from a combination of revenue from the men's football and basketball teams, gifts, student registration fees and the chancellor's funds....
"The chancellor is disturbed by these deficits and is pressing athletics to close the gap as quickly as possible," Mogulof said, noting that the terms of repayment for the current loans have not been decided....
"We ought to stop subsidizing this program," said MICHAEL O'HARE, A PROFESSOR AT CAL'S GOLDMAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY. He and others say the loss to the school far outweighs any benefit because elite athletes generally have lower graduation rates and receive unfair benefits compared with regular students.... Full Story
3. At Google, Chu announces grants for 'out-of-the-box' global warming projects
San Jose Mercury News (*requires registration)
October 27, 2009
Fulfilling a campaign pledge to tap Silicon Valley innovation to combat global warming, Energy Secretary [and FORMER UC BERKELEY PROFESSOR] STEVEN CHU announced Monday at Google's headquarters the first federal grants for high-risk, high-reward clean-tech ventures — including revolutionary technologies like using bacteria to create gasoline.
"We are trying to hit home runs, not base hits," Chu said. "These are out-of-the-box approaches."
The administration's initiative drew cheers from the valley's clean-technology community, which sees federal funding playing a critical role in getting basic research off the ground, paving the way for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to take those ideas and turn them into multibillion-dollar companies....
The grants are being directed through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or Arpa-e, a relatively new organization modeled after a Defense Department program known as Darpa. Darpa pumped resources into high-risk military research ventures. Some of its funding, for example, backed research that became the backbone of the Internet.
The new agency received initial funding of $400 million through the federal stimulus act. Last week, the Senate approved ARUN MAJUMDAR, A [UC BERKELEY PROFESSOR and] scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to head up the organization. In all, 37 grants were handed out to small business, research groups and large corporations in the first round of funding for a total of $151 million....
[This story also appeared in the Contra Costa Times] Full Story
4. Physicists Say Former Los Alamos Scientist No Spy
New York Times Online (*requires registration)
October 27, 2009
Los Alamos, N.M. (AP) -- Scientists familiar with the work of a former Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear physicist whose house was searched by the FBI said he is not a spy.
HUGH DEWITT, a retired physicist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, called the FBI action against scientist P. Leonardo Mascheroni foolish.
''The FBI action is stupid and foolish and misguided and utterly wrong,'' said DEWITT, A RETIRED PHYSICIST WHO WAS A LECTURER IN THE PHYSICS DEPARTMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY when Mascheroni was a doctoral student there.
''There's nothing classified or secret in this at all. His files are big papers, letters and mission statements. There's nothing whatever that would endanger national security,'' he said....
[This story appeared in more than 200 sources nationwide, including the Washington Post, San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Sacramento Bee, and San Francisco Chronicle] Full Story
5. Which Way, L.A.?: The Changing Lives of Women (and Everybody Else)
KCRW
October 21, 2009
California's First Lady, Maria Shriver, has put her name on a year's worth of research titled A Woman's Nation Changes Everything. Half of American workers are now women, and that means change. We look at the good news and the bad news for men, women and their children.
Guests:
[UC BERKELEY LAW PROFESSOR] ANN O'LEARY: co-author, 'The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything'...
[Link to audio. Professor O'Leary also discussed this topic on the "Montel Across America" program on Air America (link to audio)] Full Story
6. All Things Considered: Online Data Present A Privacy Minefield
First in a four-part series
NPR
October 26, 2009
Is privacy still possible? For a lot of people, the answer is no, as companies collect personal data in ever-increasing volumes....
Still, there are also plenty of people who do more than just rely on their gut instincts. They read the privacy policies and the fine print, and try to control who gets their information.
But CHRIS HOOFNAGLE says that may be futile. As the HEAD OF THE PRIVACY PROGRAMS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY SCHOOL OF LAW, he's been tracking the information economy for some time, and he says it's getting harder to make informed decisions.
"As there's been growing awareness of how commercial data brokers operate, they've become more secretive," Hoofnagle says. He says big data brokers are telling the public less about the provenance of their data — where they're getting their information — and he's been tracking this change by saving screenshots of those companies' Web sites....
[Link to audio] Full Story
7. KQED Radio News: Is California Sick?
KQED Radio
October 23, 2009
A lot of people, these days, think California is sick, including a majority of voters unhappy with the direction political leaders are taking the state. Today political scholars and reformers gathered at U.C. BERKELEY for a conference on "What Ails California, and how to move the state forward."
[UC BERKELEY PROFESSOR JACK CITRIN is interviewed on this program. Link to audio] Full Story
8. The MBA Life: MBA Dropouts: Business School, Interrupted
When opportunity knocks, MBA students sometimes drop out, for a semester or a lifetime. The good news? You can come back
Business Week
October 26, 2009
Sometimes destiny gets in the way of business school. You land upon a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity, you get pregnant, the military calls your number, someone in your family falls ill. And it interrupts the MBA learning process....
One would think that during an economic crisis, more students would be leaving B-school to pursue job opportunities or startups that become available midway through the program—and may disappear by graduation. That has not been the case, say administrators. In fact, the last time business schools saw an increase in the number of MBA dropouts was in the 1990s when dot-coms were flourishing. Even then, the numbers were small. Candidates are more likely never to join the MBA program than to drop out, says Michael Stepanek, MBA program director at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School (UNC Kenan-Flagler Full-Time MBA Profile), where 11 students have left the program in the last five academic years, including those who became ineligible because of poor grades....
Of course, there are rules for leaving and returning to school. Kenan-Flagler, for example, is keeping Handy's seat warm—and his scholarship intact—for two years. Most schools, including Kenan-Flagler and UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY'S HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS (Haas Full-Time MBA Profile), allow students to take leave only after completing the core. Administrators usually have lengthy conversations with students before they decide to leave. And they keep up the dialogue even after the student moves on.... Full Story
9. Families of US Hikers Held in Iran Release Video
New York Times Online (*requires registration)
October 27, 2009
Berkeley, Calif. (AP) -- The families of three Americans being held in Iran plan to release video footage that they say proves the three were simply on vacation and had no underhand intentions when they strayed across the border.
SHANE BAUER, 27, SARAH SHOURD, 31, AND JOSH FATTAL, 27, have been detained since July 31. They apparently crossed into Iran by accident while hiking in a scenic area in northern Iraq. They have been visited by Swiss diplomats, who oversee U.S. interests in Iran, but have had no contact with their families....
SHOURD, BAUER AND FATTAL ARE FRIENDS WHO ALL GRADUATED FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY. Bauer had been living in Damascus, Syria, with Shourd, his girlfriend. Fattal went to visit them after traveling overseas on a teaching fellowship with the International Honors Program.... Full Story
10. Montgomery Has Cal Gearing for Another Big Run
New York Times Online (*requires registration)
October 26, 2009
Berkeley, Calif. (AP) -- In one year, MIKE MONTGOMERY took California from ninth place in the Pac-10 to the NCAA tournament.
He had hoped for a quick turnaround in his first season leading the Golden Bears, and Cal's rapid strides even surprised those who know Montgomery's remarkable record and reputation as a winning coach during nearly two decades at rival Stanford.
The Bears won 22 games and placed third in the conference, five spots higher than they were picked to finish. And that's after the program lost reigning Pac-10 scoring leader Ryan Anderson early to the NBA....
''One year does not a program make,'' he said. ''Now we've got some attention and we're getting a better reception on the recruiting trail. People are paying little more attention. You have to be there consistently. Kids see it, they see you on television, they see you in the NCAA tournament and see kids coming out and going to the NBA. All those things are what kids look at these days.''
A coach with such a successful track record helps, too. Cal is expected to be in The Associated Press preseason poll for the first time since 1995-96. Before that, its best preseason ranking was sixth in 1993 at the start of Jason Kidd's sophomore season.... Full Story
11. Three to See: The Man of Logic
Boston Globe
October 27, 2009
Superheroes fly. They walk through walls. They shoot sticky, webbed netting from the palms of their hands. And now, they’re explorers in search of the logic of mathematics.
“Logicomix,’’ the newly released graphic novel by Apostolos Doxiadis and CHRISTOS PAPADIMITRIOU, traces the tale of a different kind of superhero, mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell, following his quest to the foundations of numbers, formulas, and calculations. On his search for absolute mathematical certainty, ideas from thinkers such as Frege, Hilbert, Poincaré, Wittgenstein, and Gödel come to life, weaving into Russell’s thinking.
Over lunch eight years ago, Doxiadis, a novelist and math enthusiast, revealed a glimpse of his most recent brainchild to PAPADIMITRIOU, A COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCHER AND PROFESSOR AT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY. Doxiadis was thinking about writing a story about the foundation of logic. In comic form.
“I did find it completely crazy in the beginning,’’ Papadimitriou admits, a position that his cartooned and appropriately bearded persona attests to in the book, “but soon it was agreed that that was a very appropriate form.’’
The author of the widely used textbook “Computational Complexity,’’ Papadimitriou said writing “Logicomix’’ “couldn’t be more different.’’ Rather than assembling detailed inscriptions of algorithms and equations, the focus is on characters and historical context, with just a splash of mathematics.... Full Story