UCR_Magazine_Spring_.. - The Magazine of UC Riverside

Transcription

SPRING 2014 VOL. 9 NO. 2
THE MAGAZINE OF UC RIVERSIDE
At UCR,
students are
encouraged
to conduct
their own
research
even before
earning a
bachelor’s
degree
Page 10
UCR Spring 2014 | 1
CHANCELLOR
Kim A. Wilcox
VICE CHANCELLOR, ADVANCEMENT
Peter Hayashida
PUBLISHER
James Grant
EDITOR
Lilledeshan Bose
WRITERS
Vickie Chang
Ted Kissell
Litty Mathew
Michelle Woo
SENIOR DESIGNER
Brad Rowe
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Luis Sanz
CONTRIBUTORS
Alyssa Cotter
Ross French
Bettye Miller
Sean Nealon
Konrad Nagy
Iqbal Pittalwala
E D I T O R I A L A S S I S TA N T
Bethanie Le
I L L U S T R AT I O N S
Colin Hayes
Paolo Lim
Mike Tofanelli
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Lonnie Duka
John Gilhooley
Carlos Puma
Carrie Rosema
DISTRIBUTION
Virginia Odien
UCR Magazine is published by the Office of Strategic Communications, University
of California, Riverside, and it is distributed free to the University community.
Editorial offices: 900 University Ave., 1156 Hinderaker Hall, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, telephone (951) 827-6397. Unless otherwise
indicated, text may be reprinted without permission. Please credit University of
California, Riverside.
USPS 006-433 is published four times a year: winter, spring, summer and fall by
the University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521-0155.
Periodicals postage rates paid at Riverside, CA.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to UCR, Subscription Services (0063),
900 University Ave., 1156 Hinderaker Hall, Riverside, CA 92521.
In accordance with applicable federal laws and University policy, the University of
California does not discriminate in any of its policies, procedures or practices on
the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age or handicap.
Inquiries regarding the University’s equal opportunity policies may be directed to
the Affirmative Action Office, (951) 827-5604.
Questions? Concerns? Comments? Change of address?
Contact Kris Lovekin at [email protected]
SPRING 2014 VOLUME 9
COVER STORY
THE MAGAZINE OF UC RIVERSIDE
NUMBER 2
10
Brain
Trust
F E AT U R E S
By encouraging
undergraduate research —
in labs, art studios and
beyond — UCR is
enhancing student skills in
every aspect
8
18
20
22
26
Looking to the
Future
Insect-inspired
From Mind to
Market
Sick, Twisted and
Totally Innovative
A Traveling Poetry
Handshake
Aaron Seitz’s
eye-opening research
on vision clearly
changes lives
Spike and Mike’s
Festival of Innovation
all started in
Riverside
A look at Juan Felipe
Herrera’s past two
years as California
Poet Laureate
DEPARTMENTS
Chancellor Kim A.
Wilcox lays out his
plans for UCR at his
investiture ceremony
How Distinguished
Professor of
Entomology Ring
Cardé’s childhood
fascination with bugs
turned into a career
03 | R View
29 | Page Turners
04 | R Space
30 | Alumni Connection
A message from Chancellor
Kim A. Wilcox
Catch up on the latest news
at UC Riverside
What’s New?
ON THE WEB
MAGAZINE.UCR.EDU
31 | Class Acts
36 | C Scape
Stephanie Martinez, a student in
the Mariachi Divas, on winning a
Grammy
You can digitally view the magazine via a Flash and downloadable PDF
version; now you can also share your favorite stories on your social networks,
watch videos and give us your feedback at magazine.ucr.edu.
Investiture Highlights
A video of Chancellor Wilcox’s ceremony
The Festival of Animation Comes to UCR
Craig “Spike” Decker on why he donated an extensive film archive to UCR
The Juan Felipe Herrera Playlist
Watch our California Poet Laureate in action through the years
Better Batters Through Brain-training
How Aaron Seitz’s research improved the vision of UCR baseball players
Making Lawnmowers Greener
Undergraduate researchers from BCOE on a lawnmower device they created
UCR Spring 2014 | 1
EVENTS
HAPPENINGS
dance.ucr.edu
Spring Forward: New Dances by
UCR Student Choreographers
6.4-6.5
music.ucr.edu
Concert of Mexican
Music and Dance
6.5
extension.ucr.edu
Wildlife of the San Jacinto
Mountains: The Upper Plateau
6.6
extension.ucr.edu
Field Study of Birds:
Southeast Arizona
6.7-6.15
extension.ucr.edu
Introduction to ArcGIS
6.7-6.8
commencement.ucr.edu
Commencement 2014
6.13-6.16
extension.ucr.edu
Digital Arts and Design
Information Session
6.21
alumni.ucr.edu/delmar
Seventh Annual Alumni Day
at the Races in Del Mar
8.3
alumni.ucr.edu/hollywoodbowl
L.A. Chapter Annual Hollywood Bowl
Event: “The Beatles’ 50th at the Bowl”
8.23
2 | UCR Spring 2014
Directed by New Zealand Maori choreographer Jack Gray,
this show offers dance majors and minors the opportunity to
showcase the various choreographic methods they have been
working on throughout the quarter.
The UCR Studio for Mexican Music and Dance presents a
concert of traditional and popular Mexican music. Dance
instructor Johnavalos Rios and students will perform the music
and dance “Son Huasteco,” a blending of Indigenous, African
and Spanish expressions.
This certificate course is led by James Cornett, ecological
consultant at the Palm Springs Desert Museum. Learn the
natural history and identification of the common arthropods,
amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals of the San Jacinto
Mountains.
This weeklong course examines the birds in southeastern
Arizona, one of the premier locations in the United States
to observe and study birds that are unlikely to be observed
anywhere else in the country.
Gain the hands-on experience and conceptual overview to
take full advantage of ArcGIS’s advanced display, analysis and
presentation mapping functions.
UC Riverside holds seven commencement ceremonies on Pierce
Hall lawn, near the campus bell tower. More than 3,000 students
are expected to make their way across the stage during the four
days of the 60th annual event.
Participate in a live webcast information session to learn about
UCR Extension’s Digital Arts and Design Academy. For serious
participants, the full program offers approximately 150 hours of
professional-level instruction.
Watch and wager on thoroughbreds with fellow alumni in a
private sky room with betting windows, a cocktail bar and a
balcony overlooking the track. Leonard Duncan, trainer and
handicapping expert, will share his inside knowledge of the
horses and his wagering tips.
For more on UCR events, visit www.ucr.edu/happenings
The L.A. Chapter invites alumni and friends to its annual
Hollywood Bowl outing — the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’
first iconic show at the Hollywood Bowl. The event, led by
musical director Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), will recreate the
historic set and perform many Beatles classics.
VIEW
R
Undergraduate
Research Matters
Whenever I’m out with my mom, she often proudly
shares that I’m a professor.
Which generally prompts the question: “What do
you teach?”
I often reply that “I study speech production
and perception.”
To me, teaching and research are tied so closely
together, one is impossible without the other. I start with
what I study, because what I teach derives from that —
and not the other way around.
Moreover, some of my courses are more closely tied to
what I study than others, and beginning with the end
product — the courses — can be misleading. While many
outside of the university see me as a teacher, I see myself
and my colleagues in the academy as lifelong students.
In the lab or creative studio, professors at UCR are
each day learning side-by-side with students ranging
from excited new freshmen to highly advanced doctoral
candidates and post-doctoral fellows. There’s a magic in
that process and in those spaces, and it’s a magic that
everybody at a research university deserves to experience.
Not only can complex theories learned in the
classroom come to life in the lab or the field or in the
studio, but those students engaged in research learn a
more fundamental lesson: The textbooks don’t have all
the answers. They only contain the best set of answers
available to the authors when they wrote the text.
This edition of UCR Magazine brings that story of
discovery to life in scenes of our wonderful students
participating in the collective advancement of knowledge.
Be it in India, where student My Hua spent part of a
summer helping screen patients for sight-saving cataract
surgery, or in the studio in Riverside with student Danni
Wei, who is using art to help those with autism learn
how to better communicate.
Photo: Carrie Rosema
“Not all undergraduate researchers go on to get
Ph.Ds. They may go into business, or professional school,
or law and medicine. So I think the really important
thing about being involved in research is developing an
empirical view of the world,” says UCR Professor of
Psychology Curt Burgess in the article (see p. 10).
Through the opportunity to engage in working
directly with a faculty member, our students are learning
how to engage in the lifelong pursuit of knowledge. By
the time they reach graduation, more than 50 percent of
UCR undergraduates will have participated in research
or creative projects with faculty members.
My wife, Diane Del Buono, and I feel so strongly
about undergraduate research that we recently decided to
endow a new Chancellor’s Research Scholarship with a
long-term gift pledge. It’s our way of trying to help pass
on the magic of the undergraduate experience at UCR to
future generations.
Research and creative projects have an impact on
these students that they’ll never forget. They know that a
university is not just about being taught. That professors
are not just teachers. These students know that
universities are places where we are all studying together.
Fiat lux,
Kim A. Wilcox
Chancellor
UCR Spring 2014 | 3
SPACE
R
Orchid Named
After UCR
Researcher
Katia Silvera was on a field
trip in central Panama eight
years ago with her father when
they stumbled upon an orchid
they had never seen before.
Unable to identify it, they
contacted German Carnevali,
a world authority on
orchids. The orchid turned
out to be an unnamed
species. So Carnevali
recently named it after the
Silveras: Lophiaris silverarum.
Now a postdoctoral researcher
in the Department of Botany and
Plant Sciences at UCR, Katia says
“Lophiaris
silverarum” is known
to grow only in
central Panama
Orchids are a difficult and confusing
taxonomic group. “Sometimes plants
can look alike morphologically,
but DNA informs us that they are
very different species, which makes
naming the species difficult.”
Currently, Lophiaris silverarum
is known to grow only in central
Panama. The plant blooms only in
November, the flowers lasting about
a month. It is not sold in the U.S.
because it is very rare and it reproduces very slowly.
4 | UCR Spring 2014
UCR to Digitize Historical
Newspapers with Ancestry.com
The UCR Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research has
partnered with Ancestry.com, the
world’s largest online family history
resource, to digitize millions of pages
of historical California newspapers.
This partnership will speed up the
processing of more than 100,000
reels of newspaper microfilm.
More than 1 million pages of the
San Bernardino Sun and Santa Cruz
Sentinel dating to the late 1880s
have been scanned from the center’s
California Newspaper Microfilm
Archive (CNMA) and digitized since
the agreement was signed in
spring 2013.
Ancestry.com will host the data
at Newspapers.com for three years,
after which the Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research will
also host it at the California Digital
Newspaper Collection (CDNC),
which is publicly accessible at cdnc.
ucr.edu. Access to the data will be
free during the three-year embargo
period to researchers at UCR and
at partnering institutions that help
obtain permissions from participating newspapers.
“This project will double the size
of the California Digital Newspaper
Collection,” said Brian Geiger,
director of the Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research. “We
were never going to get to 40 million
pages in the next decade, so this
arrangement is very beneficial.”
Susan Straight Receives
Lifetime Achievement Award
Susan Straight, a Riverside native
and professor of creative writing,
received the Kirsch Award for lifetime
achievement at the awards ceremony
for the 34th Annual Los Angeles Times
Book Prizes.
Straight is the author of eight novels
and two books for children, an essayist,
short story writer and reviewer. Many
of her books are set in a fictional
version of Riverside, called “Rio Seco.”
“Susan Straight is a Southern
California original and a tireless
supporter, and creator, of our literary
culture,” said Times book critic David
L. Ulin. “Her novels opened up not
just California literature but American
literature to the Inland Empire and to
the often-neglected voices of the people
there. Through her work as a teacher,
she has inspired a new generation of
California writers.”
Stroke Survivor Eric Barr’s Play
Inspires Acting Scholarship
A year ago, Eric Barr, a longtime
professor and chair of the
Department of Theatre suffered
from devastating strokes after
heart surgery. The strokes left
him paralyzed, unable to speak or
swallow, and confused. “I was alive
but I ceased to be the person I knew,”
he said. “I became a patient and a
stroke survivor.”
The experience inspired his
one-man show, “A Piece of my
Mind,” performed before a full
house of Department of Theatre
alumni, colleagues,
family, friends
and physical
therapists at the
University Theatre
last April. It also
became the impetus for the new
Eric Barr Acting Award scholarship
for acting students (advancementservices.ucr.edu/AdvanceOnlineGiving/search?key=eric+barr#).
The one-hour show grew out of
emails and Facebook postings that
chronicled his fight to survive, his
struggle with grueling and frustrating
rehabilitation sessions, and his gratefulness for the support of family and
friends.
“I told my therapists from the
beginning that I would write a show
about this,” he said
in an interview.
“As a theater guy I
process something
by writing about it
and performing it.”
Longtime
Supporters Leave
$1.3 Million to
Botanic Gardens
The UCR Botanic Gardens received
a bequest of $1.3 million from Victor
Goodman, who helped found the
gardens, and his wife, Marjorie.
“The idea for what eventually became
the UCR Botanic Gardens was Victor
Goodman’s,” said J. Giles Waines, the
director of the gardens. “He saw the
need for them and proposed that UCR
establish the gardens. He and Marjorie
lived close to campus and cherished this
museum. It comes as no surprise to me
that they left their estate to the gardens.”
Maintenance of the gardens costs
about $100,000 annually. Plans are
underway to place the major part of the
funds received from the Goodman estate
into the Victor and Marjorie Goodman
Endowment for the Botanic Gardens,
which will help maintain the much-loved
gardens in perpetuity.
Jodie Holt, the divisional dean of
agriculture and natural resources in
UC Riverside’s College of Natural and
Agricultural Sciences, said the gift will
enable UCR to complete key projects
and invest in additional maintenance of
important plant collections.
UCR Spring 2014 | 5
SPACE
R
Our Med Students
are Sophomores!
Campus Store to
be Operated by
Barnes & Noble
College
In July, Barnes & Noble College
will become the operator of UCR’s
campus store. Previously operated by
the campus, the store will continue
to reflect UCR’s brand, including
school spirit wear, gifts and other
merchandise. UCR reassigned the
Campus Store staff and avoided any
layoffs as part of the transition.
Officials say the move was spurred
by changing market conditions for
textbooks and books in
general, as well as
growing Internet
sales of branded
merchandise
and
computers.
“We looked
at several options
and Barnes & Noble
College best met our need
for services to support our
campus community,” said
Jim Sandoval, vice chancellor
for student affairs.
6 | UCR Spring 2014
UCR to Offer
Free Parking for
Visitors at
Selected Events
UCR will begin offering free
parking for guests as part of a new
parking initiative that campus
leadership hopes will encourage more
community members to participate
in on-campus academic, cultural and
student programs and gatherings.
“UC Riverside is a hub of
education, arts and culture, and
we want the community to feel
welcome to engage in these activities,” Chancellor Kim Wilcox said
in a statement. “This new program
responds to requests from both the
community and event organizers by
providing easier, affordable access to
the campus.”
In the series “The First 50,” we
folow members of the inaugural
class of the UCR School of Medicine
through the challenges they face.
With four blocks completed and
their first year drawing to an end, both
Janel Gracia and Rafael Ornelas have
surpassed the shock of transitioning
into medical school and are now more
comfortable to the demands of being
medical students.
“I wouldn’t say the blocks have
gotten easier, but I have definitely
learned how to manage [my studies]
a lot better than I did when I first
started,” said Gracia.
Ornelas adds, “It’s not just studying
anymore. Now I’m trying to focus on
managing the activities that I want to
get involved in.”
Ornelas holds leadership positions
in the Medical Spanish Selective and
in Latino Medical Student Association.
Gracia is involved in the Health
Sciences Partnership and volunteers at
the Student Run Health Clinic.
Looking ahead to their second year,
Gracia says, “I’m looking forward to
developing my skills with patients and
adding to what I learned in my first
year so I can use that at the clinic.”
Ornelas is looking forward to
interaction with the incoming first-year
medical students.
“I really want to see if some of
our ideas in how to develop a selfsustaining program at the UCR School
of Medicine will work. I want to see
the progress on whatever we
started and create that
path for the road
ahead for the rest
of the students.”
UCR NUMBERS
BY THE
1
UCR’s national rank, if you weigh graduation
rates, access and affordability equally, according
to Time Magazine. Read the whole story on
ucrtoday.ucr.edu/22354.
The anniversary that is being celebrated this
year. On Feb. 15, 1954, UCR opened its
doors for the first day of classes.
40,000
The number of visitors that the UCR Botanic Gardens receive yearly.
The number of surveys submitted from the UCR community for the
first-ever UC systemwide Campus Climate Survey.
73
4,443
The percentage of the UCR population that said that
they were comfortable or very comfortable at UCR,
according to the same survey.
The record-breaking amount of money that UCR Dance
Marathon raised on Feb. 22 for the Guardian Scholars
Program. The event had more than 400 dancers in attendance
and an anonymous donor chipped in a $20,000 matching gift.
544
$47,744.10
The number of cigarette butts collected at the Tobacco-free Butt Bash 2
Clean-up, held during the first week of March. The first Butt Bash Clean-up in
October found 1,388 cigarette butts on campus. Since the implementation of
the tobacco ban in January, there has been a significant drop in butt litter.
The publication year of Tommaso Campanella’s “Civitas Solis,” a rare volume
of utopian literature that the UCR Eaton Collection acquired. This was made
possible through a $54,000 grant from the B.H. Breslauer Foundation.
1623
UCR Spring 2014 | 7
Looking
to the
Future
With his booming
laugh and great
big heart, Kim A.
Wilcox was
officially
invested as the
ninth chancellor
of UC Riverside
on April 24.
BY LILLEDESHAN BOSE
“UCR plays a critical role in our region and has
developed thousands of great minds. It has long been
a vehicle of upward mobility for Riverside County.”
- Mark Takano M.F.A. ’10, congressional representative, 41st District
Read the story behind
this Investiture selfie on
8 | UCR Spring 2014
magazine.ucr.edu
“I bring greetings from the bears, mustangs,
anteaters, bruins, bobcats, tritons, gauchos and
lastly but most importantly — banana slugs. As you
can see, we’re an accomplished and fun group.”
- George R. Blumenthal, chancellor, UC Santa Cruz
INVESTITURE
First came the bagpipes. The highpitched drone of the march “Major George
Morrison” wafted into the Student Recreation
Center as the UCR Pipe Band led the
Academic Procession. The student marshals,
bearing their colleges’ flags, followed.
Then a rainbow of regalia worn by UCR
faculty members made its way up the aisle,
led by Ameae Walker, the faculty marshal. By
the time the official party walked in — the
vice chancellors, the administrative officers,
the honored speakers, the members of the
UC Board of Regents, and even UC President
Janet Napolitano — there was somewhat of
a traffic jam leading up to the podium.
It was April 24, and the whole campus
was celebrating the investiture of Kim A.
Wilcox, the ninth chancellor of the University
of California, Riverside. More than 650
members of the UCR and UC community
were in attendance at the investiture, which
was followed by a large public reception near
the campus’ iconic bell tower.
As Wilcox waited for his turn to walk
up on stage, a student jumped out of her
seat and asked to take his picture. No,
wait — could she also take a selfie with the
chancellor? Moments before he was to be
invested into office?
Of course, Chancellor Wilcox said yes.
To many, that gracious gesture says so
much about the kind of chancellor Wilcox
is. There is his vision, of course; an intention
to expand UCR’s faculty by 300 ladder-rank
scholars, provide for the addition of new
facilities, and take new measures to achieve
increased globalization.
There is his heart. As Wilcox spoke
about how his life paralleled UCR’s growth
(both were born in 1954, so to speak), he
choked up as he recalled his path to the
chancellorship. He was a first-generation
college student. His grandfather had only
a third-grade education. His father made
it through the sixth grade, and eventually
graduated from high school the year before
Wilcox’s sister.
“What distinguishes Chancellor
Wilcox as the perfect leader for
UC Riverside is his deep
commitment to diversity,
inclusion and student success.”
- Janet Napolitano, president,
University of California
And always, there is his Highlander
pride and knowledge that he is in charge of
leading UCR into a bright future. “UCR has
emerged as a model for higher education in
the 21st century,” Wilcox said in his closing
remarks. “I look forward to working with
each and every one of you to ensure that we
remain a model for others to emulate for
generations to come.”
Read more on the
chancellor’s vision for UCR
in the next issue, or go to
ucrtoday.ucr.edu
“Be bold and lead UCR into a bright future.
Make this a special place where young men and
women of every race, creed, religion and sexual
orientation and identity will grow and flourish.”
“UCR is setting a university standard
for other UC campuses in both the
admission and graduation rates.”
- Bruce Varner, chairman, UC Board of Regents
- Mary Schuler ’70, president, UCR Alumni Association
“[When we met Chancellor Wilcox for the first time] he
illustrated his genuine curiosity and receptiveness about
student issues, concerns and hopes. We, as students,
felt very connected and excited about the future of UCR.”
- Sahil Patadia, president, Associated Students of UCR
UCR Spring 2014 | 9
F E AT U R E
BRAIN TRUST
WITH CAMPUS-SPONSORED PROGRAMS AND VALUABLE FACULTY
MENTORSHIP, UCR IS NURTURING UNDERGRADUATES BY ENCOURAGING
THEM TO DO RESEARCH — IN LABS, ART STUDIOS AND BEYOND
BY
PHIL
PITCHFORD
BY VICKIE CHANG
10 | UCR Spring 2014
In Chennai, India, temperatures soar to their highest at a time that locals call Agni Nakshatram, which translates
literally to “fiery star.” In these months, it’s not rare for temperatures to reach upwards of 108 degrees.
The summer of 2010, My Hua, then a 19-year-old sophomore at UC Riverside, plunged into the sweltering heat and
unrelenting humidity of the southern Indian city. The English and biology double major was there with Unite For Sight,
a nonprofit organization dedicated to delivering eye care to impoverished villages around the world. With doctors and
volunteers such as Hua, the organization screened for operable cataracts and other treatable eye diseases.
UCR Spring 2014 | 11
“YOU REALLY DEVELOP
SKILLS LIKE PATIENCE
AND HUMOR BECAUSE
OF THE WAY RESEARCH
WORKS — OR DOESN’T,
NO MATTER HOW WELL
YOU PLAN IT.”
— Veronique Rorive
The Chancellor’s Research Fellowship
Begun in 2012, the Chancellor’s Research
Fellowship (CRF) is a competitive program
that supports undergraduates who take part
in faculty-mentored research and creative
projects. The program selects 12 participants
who are expected to participate in various
events throughout the academic year. Each
recipient is awarded $5,000 for materials,
supplies and travel expenses to study a topic
of their choosing. At the end of the year, the
students present their topics at the Annual
UCR Undergraduate Research & Creative
Activity Symposium.
After Hua graduates in June, she wants
to go back to school to become a physicianscientist by getting a combined M.D.-Ph.D.
“I went back on the plane from India
thinking, when I go back to the lab, I really
want to put in 150 percent because I don’t
want to live my life regretting something I
didn’t do,” she continues. “Since I have all
these opportunities, I must take advantage of
everything that I can.”
Hua is just one slice of this year’s
remarkable crop of CRF recipients, but she’s
also a part of a larger, outstanding group
of undergraduate students at UC Riverside
participating in research at large.
Of course, there are many available
research opportunities on campus for
students pursuing advanced degrees. But
what makes UC Riverside unique is the large
variety of campus-sponsored programs that
help students embark on their own research
even before they have earned a bachelor’s
degree.
Just a few of these programs include
the Bourns College of Engineering
Undergraduate Research Opportunities,
Minority Access to Research Careers,
Mentoring Summer Research Internship
Program, Medical Scholars Program, UC
Leadership Excellence through Advanced
Degrees, College of Natural and Agricultural
Sciences Dean’s Fellowship, Gluck Fellows
Program, California Alliance for Minority
Participation, University Honors Program,
and Undergraduate Education Quarterly
Research/Creative-Activity Mini Grants.
Research Develops Student Skills
“Undergraduate research is one of the
most important ways that students have to
really develop their thinking, their writing,
their data analysis skills,” explains Vice
Provost for Undergraduate Education
Steven Brint. “All of these types of skills
are important later in life, whether people
become researchers or not.” Undergrads
also gain guidance from being in touch
with faculty; the mentored experiences
are positive in most cases, Brint says. “It’s
become more common at UCR.”
The most extraordinary aspect may
be the sheer percentage of students
participating in some type of research
program. In the 2012-2013 academic year,
4,053 students — that’s 21.8 percent of
18,536 total undergraduates — participated
in research under faculty mentorship, with
248 participating in more than one activity.
By the time they reach graduation, more
than 50 percent of UCR undergraduates
will have participated in research or creative
projects. Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox would
like to see even more participation: so much
so that he and his wife, Diane Del Buono,
recently created an additional scholarship
for the Chancellor’s Research Fellowship
program, bringing the total to 13.
“Diane and I have felt such a warm
welcome from the UCR community,
including from our fantastic students,
and we noted that about 60 percent of
undergraduates are first in their families to
seek a degree,” said Wilcox, who himself
is a first-generation college graduate.
“Diane and I want to make sure that we
leave a legacy here, and that all of our
undergraduate students have access to
research opportunities that can transform
their personal and professional aspirations.”
“Science is not about the known, it’s
about what we don’t know,” says Susan
Wessler, distinguished professor of genetics.
Wessler is a pioneer in introducing actual
hands-on experimental research to firstyear students. In her Dynamic Genome
course, first-year students use cutting-edge
technology to conduct genomics research.
Aside from attending biology lectures, her
students design experiments, parse data,
debate results, master concepts and nurture
their own passion for discovery.
“The focus is for students to experience
the excitement of scientific research early in
their careers,” she explains. “If you have a
group of students and you want to tell them
about baseball, you don’t sit in a lecture
hall and map out the field. You give them a
bat and ball and you have them play! What
is exciting about science is participating in
scientific experiments.”
Meet all 12 of the Chancellor’s Research Fellows on
MAGAZINE.UCR.EDU
Photo: John Gilhooley
Not long after Hua was back stateside,
her mother lost vision in one eye. “My trip
to India and my mother are the reasons for
appreciating what I have — and are also the
reasons that I started thinking of what I can
do [in the realm of] health care,” Hua said.
That thirst to do more made her question
what she could personally do. The answer?
“It was research, unexpectedly.”
Now 23, Hua has been mentored by
Professor Prue Talbot of the Department of
Cell Biology and Neuroscience for the past
four years, studying potential harm from
e-cigarettes. She has published two of her
research papers in peer-reviewed scientific
journals as a first author, which is no small
feat for an undergraduate. She’s also received
the Chancellor’s Research Fellowship —
twice.
Hua has been mentored by Professor Prue Talbot of the Department of Cell Biology
and Neuroscience for the past four years, studying potential harm from e-cigarettes.
“UNDERGRADUATE
RESEARCH IS ONE OF THE
BEST WAYS FOR STUDENTS
TO REALLY FIND A
FOOTHOLD AND TO FIND
SOMETHING THAT MAKES
THEM STAND OUT AS AN
UNDERGRADUATE.”
— Christopher Miller
The benefits of undergraduate research
go beyond academia. Students who decide
not to continue with careers in research
walk away from experiences that can take
them well beyond the pages of a textbook or
the boundaries of a lecture hall.
“Not all undergraduate researchers go
on to get Ph.Ds. They may go into business,
or professional school, or law and medicine.
So I think the really important thing about
it is developing an empirical view of the
world,” says psychology Professor Curt
Burgess, a CRF mentor. “You should come
to conclusions based on actual data — that’s
just a way of thinking about things and, in
general, just a very important thing to learn.”
Veronique Rorive, director of the
Undergraduate Office of Undergraduate
Research, says that the true impact of
programs such as CRF is in how it affects
these young researchers’ way of thinking.
There are monthly meetings between
recipients, workshops that help with
presentation skills, and multidisciplinary
discussion. The interaction among the 12
awardees also develops into a support
system.
“You really develop skills like patience
and humor because of the way research
works — or doesn’t — no matter how well
you plan it,” explains Rorive. She pauses
and lets out a warm laugh. Rorive herself
participated in undergraduate research as a
student at UC Riverside. “When things fail
or when things don’t go right, it gives you
character development.”
student to work with them, whether they’re
funded through the CRF or through any
other venue — or not funded at all — is
awesome just for the fact that they’re giving
their time to mentor a student,” Rorive says.
“A lot of faculty are doing it without any
recognition whatsoever.”
This was the case for Christopher Miller.
A senior, he first met his mentor, Huinan Liu,
assistant professor of bioengineering, via
email. “I wrote her a nine-paragraph letter
saying that I wanted to do research, and
would she mind taking me on,” he says. “She
met with me over winter break just to see if
Faculty Mentorship and Friendship
From the range and diapause of face flies
(that’s musca autumnalis) to the linguistic
patterns of some of the world’s greatest
leaders, the topics chosen by undergraduate
researchers truly are diverse. But the
one common thread through all
these students and projects is
the utmost sense of respect
and gratitude for UC
Riverside’s supportive
faculty and staff
standing in as
mentors.
“Any faculty
member who
says yes to a
“I wrote her a nine-paragraph letter saying that I wanted to do research, and
would she mind taking me on. “She met with me over winter break just to see
if I was serious, and I was part of her lab by spring.“”- Christopher Miller
I was serious, and I was part of her lab by
spring.”
At Liu’s materials lab, Miller developed
his CRF project: finding a way to make
magnesium a viable biodegradable implant
material to help heal bones.
Apart from learning the science of
materials (which was interesting) and
developing diligence (which is what research
is all about), Miller says working in Liu’s lab
also provided opportunities that wouldn’t
have been available to him otherwise.
“Dr. Liu nominated me for the Student
Editorial Board last year and supported my
application for grants and the CRF. Without
her support, I definitely wouldn’t be where
I am.”
In fact, Miller says that while Liu kept
him on the right path with research and
theoretical issues, one of his favorite aspects
“IF YOU HAVE A GROUP
OF STUDENTS AND YOU
WANT TO TELL THEM
ABOUT BASEBALL, YOU
DON’T SIT IN A LECTURE
HALL AND MAP OUT THE
FIELD.”
of working with Liu involved something
bigger: happiness.
“Dr. Liu very much values finding
happiness and joy in what you do. There are
times when she noticed that I’d been stressed
out or not working as well as I normally do
and instead of berating me for that, she’d
always first sit me down and kind of have a
chat with me and make sure everything was
OK,” Miller explains.
The same goes for the staff involved
with the CRF, he says. “One thing that I do
appreciate about this university — especially
with Chancellor Wilcox’s recent efforts — is
the expansion of undergraduate research. It’s
one of the best ways for students to really
find a foothold and to find something that
makes them stand out as an undergraduate.”
expression for undergraduate research,
scholarly or creative activity.
Danni Wei, 21, is one example of how
research isn’t just limited to lab work and
numbers. Wei was born in Tianjin, China,
and immigrated to the United States when
she was just 8. A soft-spoken but expressive
junior majoring in art with a minor in
Art is Research, Too
The number of applicants that the
Chancellor’s Research Fellowship attracts
is robust. Yet in the CRF’s two years of
existence the majority of students have
been from life sciences, with just a
handful from the humanities and arts.
“We’re out there hustling,”
says Brint, the vice provost for
undergraduate education. “As [CRF]
becomes more institutionalized as
important recognition on campus,
we’ll have more and more people
from all throughout the campus
who will apply.”
In the CRF program, research
is a catch-all term, an encompassing
— Sue Wessler
Danni Wei, 21, is one example of how research
isn,t just limited to lab work and numbers.
statistics, she’s quick to answer why she
selected two such seemingly dissimilar fields
of study.
“They’re two different ways to explore
any questions you have. With statistics, you
go out and gather data to get answers,” Wei
explains. “In art, you can make it about
anything you want to explore, and it’s on
very broad terms.”
Wei’s CRF project explores art as a
means of expression for people with autism.
It’s a subject that’s deeply personal to the
self-described introvert Wei. “I had a difficult
time bringing myself out to others; I was in
my own world for a while,” Wei explains.
“So I wanted to learn about alternative
means of communication. What ways can
we communicate with other human beings
that is not verbal, or focused on verbal
aspects?”
Wei’s curiosity was piqued by gestures
and body language, but it wasn’t until she
read an article about American autistic
savant artist Jonathan Lerman that she finetuned her CRF topic.
“Lerman’s voice was in his art,” Wei
says. “It was his way of reaching out to
the world.” That profound discovery led
her to speak to other autistic artists and to
communicate with doctors, professionals
and authors working in the field of autism.
At the 2014 Annual UCR Undergraduate
Research & Creative Activity Symposium,
Wei set up two projectors pointing out and
overlapping in the middle. People entered
the space by walking into the projections
to be a part of the experience. “I wanted to
capture the shared experiences I have with
the artists,” Wei says.
Wei says her CRF project was a means of
self-examination. “If you start with an open
mind and heart, anything is possible. Your
thoughts are not just empty — they can
turn into something great.”
From Zero to 60
As one of the most diverse public
research universities in the country, UCR
takes students with almost no lab exposure
and turns them into scientists at the end of
four years. (Or, as Brint says, “Going from
zero to 60.”)
It has resulted in a different class of
students — ones that Rorive says really blow
you away. “These students are the ones who
want to take an extra step outside of the
classroom, who take it to the next step and
challenge themselves in that way. They really
are awesome.”
For 22-year-old psychology major Insia
Hirawala, the opportunity for research
was a challenge she gladly took on. “I was
a community college student, so when I
transferred to UC Riverside, I realized I
wanted to apply to grad school. That made
me want to take advantage of what UCR
has to offer.”
Today she encourages students — no
matter what they do — to apply to the
program. “When I applied for the CRF,
I thought it’d be a long shot. I put a lot
of effort into it and when I received it, I
realized hard work really does eventually
pay off.”
Hirawala had previously worked as a
research assistant under Professor Rebekah
Richert in the UCR Child Cognition Lab
and was hoping to expand on her faculty
For 22-year-old psychology major Insia
Hirawala, the opportunity for research
was a challenge she gladly took on.
mentor’s work with children’s cognitive
development.
In her research, Hirawala has spent
many hours driving back and forth from
San Bernardino to her home in Fullerton to
conduct 48 interviews with children, ages 3
to 5, and their families.
Her CRF topic, “Muslim Children’s
Conceptualization of Allah and Prayer,” is
built upon Richert’s continuing research
that focuses largely on Christian and Jewish
populations in order to compare the three
predominant monotheistic religions.
“I’d ask questions about Allah (God)
— if he was happy, or if he was real — and
then ask the same question about their
mothers. I wanted to see if children could
understand that there is a difference between
the two,” Hirawala explains.
The daughter of a hairdresser and a car
salesman, Hirawala is a first-generation
college student. “My parents may not know
a lot about research, but my work ethic
is something I learned from them, and I
couldn’t have achieved my results or success
without their love and support.” Hirawala
plans on attending grad school and going
into marriage and family therapy and
counseling in the future.
“Research is being able to put together
something so complex,” Hirawala remarks.
“As an undergrad I learned a lot—being
independent, meeting deadlines. It’s also
really rewarding to see results come out of
what you initially collected data for. It’s truly
fascinating to see all that come together.”
Brint says CRF is hoping to grow and
continue the enrichment of students, as well
as increase the number of applicants and
make sure all major disciplinary areas are
represented.
“It’s certainly not the case that every
university is ignoring undergraduate
research, but there are a lot of places where
the focus is really on the graduate students
and the notion that undergraduates are
there to read, learn the literature and be
well prepared when they go to grad school
to participate in research,” Brint says. “We
don’t believe that here. We believe that the
students are very able and that you learn as
much or more by being involved in doing
the work than by just reading in the library.”
And look no further than the students
who emerge from the Chancellor’s
Research Fellowship with new sets of skills,
knowledge and a re-evaluated, readjusted
and refreshed sense of their own self-regard.
“The fact that we produce so many
students who go on to graduate and attend
professional school and who have careers,”
says Brint. “I think it’s a testimony to the
campus culture and faculty that promotes it.”
“IT’S CERTAINLY NOT THE CASE THAT EVERY UNIVERSITY IS
IGNORING UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH, BUT THERE ARE A LOT OF
PLACES WHERE THE FOCUS IS REALLY ON THE GRADUATE
STUDENTS AND THE NOTION THAT UNDERGRADUATES ARE THERE
TO READ, LEARN THE LITERATURE AND BE WELL PREPARED WHEN
THEY GO TO GRAD SCHOOL TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH.”
— Steve Brint
New Fellowship
Chancellor Wilcox and his wife,
Diane Del Buono, have created the
13th Chancellor’s Research Fellowship
to support first-generation
undergraduate students
In February, Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox and his
wife, Diane Del Buono, announced that they will
endow a new Chancellor’s Research Fellowship at
UC Riverside with a personal gift of $100,000.
In 2014-2015, a 13th research fellowship will
provide financial support to one more of an elite set
of undergraduate scholars at UCR. Wilcox and Del
Buono want to prioritize first-generation college
students when selecting the 13th recipient.
Wilcox himself was among the first in his family
to earn a college degree. He grew up in Northern
Michigan and, after undergraduate years at
Michigan State University, earned master’s and
doctoral degrees from Purdue University in speech
and hearing science. Wilcox has held academic
leadership positions at Michigan State University,
the University of Kansas, the Kansas Board of
Regents and the University of Missouri. He became
UCR’s ninth chancellor in August 2013.
Del Buono earned a master’s degree from
Purdue University and a law degree from the
University of Kansas, where she also served as
director of financial aid.
“Kim Wilcox and Diane Del Buono have a deep
and personal understanding of the transformative
effect on students of collaborative contact with
faculty members,” said UCR Foundation Chair S.
Sue Johnson. “On behalf of the UCR Foundation, I
am grateful to them not only for their leadership,
but for this gift that will create an enduring impact
on campus for generations to come.”
Insect-inspired
How Ring Carde’’s childhood fascination with
insects led to a highly decorated career
BY
LILLEDESHAN
BOSE
Distinguished Professor of Entomology Ring Cardé has worked at UC
Riverside for almost two decades. During that time, he has expanded
on his research on moth pheromones. He has also collaborated with
researchers from various fields of study, from entomology to
engineering. These days, when he’s not trying to keep up with the
ever-increasing volume of scientific literature, Cardé and his wife,
Anja, enjoy travelling. “Travel has given us an appreciation of our own
diverse country and also a window onto the rest of the world,” he says.
“The entomology department here at UCR has long been
considered world-class, and when an opportunity to join its
ranks became available, the opportunity was irresistible.”
How did you end up studying chemistry and entomology?
Like many other entomologists, my fascination with
insects dates back to my early childhood and I never
lost that interest. So to me it seemed natural to go on
to graduate work in entomology. Initially my thesis
work at Cornell concentrated on trying to figure what
was a “good” species among a complex of moths that
had long defied clear-cut classification with traditional
morphological traits. This in turn led me to wonder
how these very similar, co-existing species managed to
avoid hybridization. Moths use chemical messages
(pheromones) for mate-finding, and at that time we
were finding out that each moth species often had its
own unique scent. Fortunately for me, I was able to
work on the chemistry of these pheromones with
Wendell Roelofs, who was later elected to the National
Academy of Sciences. Roelofs had just begun his career
at Cornell’s New York State Agricultural Experiment
Station in Geneva. Moth pheromones became a major
focus of my thesis and in 1970 we identified the
pheromones that these moths use. My conversion
from taxonomist to chemical ecologist was completed
by a postdoc in Roelofs’ lab.
What led you to UCR?
In 1996 I was a distinguished university professor
and department head of entomology at the University
of Massachusetts in Amherst, but the entomology
department here at UCR has long been considered
world-class, and when an opportunity to join its ranks
became available, the opportunity was irresistible.
What do you like best about working on this campus?
We can tap into an extraordinary breadth of
expertise — within entomology and across campus.
Jocelyn Millar in our department is one of the world’s
premier insect chemical ecologists and he’s an
invaluable resource for our group. One of our most
productive projects was a joint endeavor modeling
insect navigation in a virtual world with Jay Farrell in
electrical engineering, sponsored by the Office of
Naval Research. That in turn led to new ways to
program search strategies of underwater robots
seeking out leaking sources of chemicals.
What is your research focused on now?
Our lab is split between studying mechanisms of
moth orientation to pheromones and understanding
which compounds are used, while the other half of our
lab concentrates on female mosquito orientation to
host odors and how repellents alter that response. The
mosquito work is a great collaboration with
entomology colleague Anand
Ray, with the support of the
National Institutes of Health.
What is an Endowed Chair
Much of what our lab does
and Why is it Important?
involves observing insects flying
in a wind tunnel and analyzing
An endowed chair is one of
their trajectories in 3-D.
the most important gifts to
How has the A.M. Boyce
endowment helped you and your
research?
The flexibility of endowed
funds is key. The Boyce
endowment allows me to send
students and postdocs to
scientific meetings and to explore
speculative areas of research that
fall outside of the range of those
funded by my current grants.
These pilot projects in turn can
jumpstart entirely new areas of
research.
higher education; it’s an honor
that fosters academic
excellence and recognizes
superior faculty. Established
with sizeable donor gifts to an
academic area, the endowed
chair provides invaluable
financial support above and
beyond salary that the
professor uses in research,
teaching or service activities.
FROM MIND TO MARKET
UltimEyes
Aaron Seitz’s video game can help you
see bigger, better, faster, more
BY TED B. KISSELL
The word “visionary” gets tossed about freely when speaking about inventors. In the case of Aaron Seitz, professor of
psychology at UCR, his work has less to do with his own vision than it does with everyone else’s. His pioneering research
in perceptual learning — essentially, training the brain to better perceive sensory input — has led to real-world
applications that improve eyesight. The eye-and-brain-training software Seitz has developed has worked well on those who
already have excellent vision — notably the hitters on the UCR baseball team. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
recently awarded Seitz a five-year, $1.7 million grant to research potential therapies for low vision, including such
conditions as lazy eye, cataracts and dry macular degeneration. He has also founded a company called Carrot
Neurotechnology, which creates vision-training video games.
1
One of Seitz’s key discoveries was the
importance of rewards in perceptual learning.
“At the same time, there were other published
papers showing that you could train people to
improve their perceptual abilities by playing
action video games. There’s evidence that
people learn from those games, even if
they’re not specifically designed for
perceptual learning. I wanted to take the
knowledge I’d gained from my basic
research, get together with people who
create video games and make a custom
game.”
3
Seitz started a company with Adam Goldberg and
Simon Mathew, who were both in the video game
industry. They developed a prototype of a
game that came to be called UltimEyes and
started testing it out. He brought the
concept to the athletics department at UCR,
and the baseball team (whose game involves
a really small ball moving really fast)
volunteered. “With the baseball team, we
trained all position players for about 30
days. They came in for 25-minute sessions
four days a week. After 30 sessions, we
tested them and found that their vision had
improved by 31 percent. That is, they could
read the letters from 31 percent farther away
from the eye chart.”
Illustration by Colin Hayes
“We used food- and water-deprived human
subjects, and they came and sat in front of
split-screen computer display, with one eye
seeing a visual stimulus, while the other
eye was presented with a dim, subtle,
noisy pattern. Then, whenever the stimulus
appeared to an eye, we gave them a drop
of water as a reward.” After training for a
period of time, the subjects learned to
distinguish between the patterns that came
with a reward and those that didn’t —
without actually noticing the difference.
“This proved that learning could take place
without attention,” Seitz says.
2
4
5
In a paper published in February, Seitz and his
co-authors — including his longtime
collaborator, UCR postdoc Jenni Deveau —
estimated that the Highlanders won five extra
games as a result of their sharper vision.
“They had fewer strikeouts, scored more
runs and showed improvement across some
more esoteric statistics,” Seitz says. The
paper makes it clear that the improved play
was directly attributable to the UltimEyes
training, he adds.
The potential applications of this software
extend far beyond the sports world. The
company is starting a large study with the
Riverside Police Department looking at how
UltimEyes can impact police skills
including shooting, driving and reading
license plates. “We can also do studies
with helicopter pilots or with people who
suffer from schizophrenia,” Seitz says.
“We’ve had success in a normal lab
approach, but when you’re using some
specialized software that only some
computers run, you’re restricted in how far
your studies can go. Once you’ve got
something in an application that anyone
can download, that makes that many more
studies that you can do — under real-world
conditions.”
Watch Seitz’s vision training research in action on magazine.ucr.edu
6
UltimEyes is now available for download at both
ultimeyesvision.com and for mobile devices at
the iTunes Store. The two primary exercises
in the game are “static search,” in which
targets appear across the screen, and the
player must simply click on them; and
“dynamic search,” in which the targets
fade into view — with a sound cue —
rather than appearing all of a sudden. “It’s
not as fun a game as I’d like it to be,” Seitz
allows, “but it has all the key components,
and it has been demonstrated to give rise
to perceptual learning. Even still, it has an
addictive element to it, and I find that
when I start that I keep playing.”
Sick,
Twisted
and Totally Innovative
BY MICHELLE WOO
of the D.I.Y. animation movement, and it all started in Riverside
Saturday-morning cartoons, these
weren’t.
Before YouTube, folks bored with
the overload of saccharine television
programming would slip into art
houses and college auditoriums after
dark to watch short animated films
that were too edgy, avant garde or
politically incorrect for the mainstream
airwaves. (Deer-squashing and clown
pimps, anyone?)
Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation
became the vibrant breeding ground
of the D.I.Y. animation movement,
helping launch the careers of industry
heavyweights such as Nick Park and
Peter Lord (“Wallace & Gromit,”
“Chicken Run”), John Lasseter (“Toy
Story,” “Monsters, Inc.”), Pete Docter
(“Up,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “WALL-E”),
Craig McCracken (“Powerpuff
Girls”) and Mike Judge (“Beavis and
Butt-Head”). In his book “Outlaw
Animation,” cartoon historian Jerry
Beck writes, “Spike and Mike came
from nowhere with nothing and created
a market where none existed.”
Now the films are making their way
back to the city where it all began.
Riverside native Craig “Spike” Decker,
who co-founded the festival with
the late Mike Gribble, has gifted UC
Riverside with original reels of more
than 800 different titles spanning the
event’s 37-year history.
This page: Bill Plympton illustration. Opposite page: Sick and Twisted festival poster. Images courtesy of Spike Decker.
Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation became the breeding ground
The collection ranges from the
poignant, Oscar-winning “Bunny”
by Chris Wedge to Eric Fogel’s
“Mutilator,” a satirical story about a
post-apocalyptic superhero.
Derek Burrill, associate professor of
media and cultural studies, says he
“freaked out” when he heard about
Decker’s gesture. A longtime animation
fan, he attended the festival in 1990 as
a freshman at UC San Diego. “To see
something pushing the boundaries was
awesome,” says Burrill, who facilitated
the donation with Toni Lawrence,
director of development for the School
of Public Policy. “Animators are people
who tend to see the world differently.
They point out what’s wrong in our
society and culture and make fun of it,
making fun of ourselves. This sort of
self-policing is a very healthy thing for
a society to do.”
The animation mayhem started inside
a Victorian house on Magnolia Avenue,
where Decker and Gribble lived while
attending Riverside City College in
the 1970s. “It was a total ‘Animal
House’ atmosphere with all types of
characters and antics,” Decker says of
the commune. It was called the Mellow
Manor, which would eventually
become the namesake of Spike and
Mike’s production company, Mellow
Manor Productions.
When Decker’s ‘50s-style greaser
band broke up, the duo began hosting
midnight screenings of rock & roll
movies, which opened with animated
clips such as Max Fleischer’s “Betty
Boop,” “Popeye” and “Superman,” all
shown on 16mm film. People loved the
cartoons and asked to see more, so the
two young men decided to put together
an entire show made of animated shorts.
Borrowing $1,000 from a friend,
Decker and Gribble held the first Spike
and Mike screening in 1977 at Landis
Auditorium at Riverside City
College. “We were sweating,”
Decker says. “We didn’t know
if anyone would show up.
There was a stigma. People
would say, ‘Oh, cartoons?
Like Bugs Bunny?’ We were
like, ‘No, these are epic pieces
of work.’”
Despite his anxiety, the event
sold out and soon spiraled
into college towns across
the nation. They teamed up
with notable animators—
Will Vinton (The California
Raisins), Marv Newland
(“Bambi Meets Godzilla”),
Paul Driessen (“The Yellow
Submarine”), Bill Plympton
(“Your Face”), Danny
Antonucci (“Ed, Edd n
Eddy”)—and delved into
the world of computer
animation when it was just
a wild new experiment.
Spike and Mike’s Festival
of Animation branched into
two categories—the classic
show, which featured more
artistic, intellectual films,
and the lewder, cruder,
18-and-over “sick and
twisted” show, in which
audience members were
sometimes handed barf
bags. Over the years,
the independent festival
has toured everywhere
from the Cannes Film
Festival to Sundance to
Comic-Con. “We did it
first and we did right,”
Decker says of the
underground movement
he and Gribble created.
“We wanted to show
that animation isn’t
just for children — it’s
unlimited.”
“We wanted to show that animation isn’t
just for children — it’s unlimited.”
Spike Decker
Mike Gribble
Watch it: Spike on why he donated an
extensive film archive to UCR
MAGAZINE.UCR.EDU
Photo courtesy of Spike Decker. Opposite page: “Bambi Meets Godzilla” and John Lasseter photo courtesy of Spike Decker. Matt Stone and Trey Parker photo by
For Decker, the gift is a way to celebrate
the festival’s Riverside history. “We’re
going back to our roots,” he says.
ensceptico is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Andrew Stanton photo by nicolas genin and Mike Judge photo by Gage Skidmore are licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
According to Burrill, the Spike and Mike
collection at UCR can be used as an
academic resource for those who want
to study the early works of legendary
animators. A goal, he says, is to transfer
the film to digital video and have it
archived for generations to come.
FiveFilms
1.
imation was the
The Festival of An
r many of today’s
starting point fo
e
ors. Here are fiv
big-name animat
notable ones.
Launched at Spike and Mike’s
“Bambi Meets Godzilla” (originally created in 1969)
By Marv Newland
This blink-and-you’ll-miss-it tale of a monster crushing a poor, innocent fawn helped set
off the Spike and Mike explosion. The classic, black-and-white student film is an early
example of remix culture, creating something original with pre-existing, often well-known
works. “Marv’s irreverent use of animation was a turning point,” Decker says. “It was
something that wasn’t just for the kiddies and wasn’t Warner Bros. or Disney.”
2.
“The Adventures of André and Wally B.” (1984)
Animation by John Lasseter (CEO of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios)
Spike (left) with John Lasseter
3.
“A Story” (1987)
By Andrew Stanton (“Toy Story,” “Finding Nemo,” “WALL-E,” “Monsters, Inc.,”
“A Bug’s Life”)
Before becoming a Pixar legend, a talented CalArts student named Andrew Stanton made
a short film that broke all the rules. “A Story” is an anti-fairytale about a loner kid named
Melvin who meets a dinosaur and a killer clown. “[Spike and Mike] did all the production,
the ink-and-paint,” Decker says. “The film helped get Andrew a job at Pixar.”
4.
“Spirit of Christmas” (1995)
By Matt Stone and Trey Parker (“South Park,” “The Book of Mormon”)
Trey Parker (left) and Matt Stone
5.
Computer animation was in an experimental phase when this film from the Lucasfilm
Computer Graphics Project (which later spun off Pixar Animation Studios) premiered.
Telling the story of an android named André being awakened by a pesky bee named Wally
B., it was the first piece to use motion blur and manipulatable shapes in CG animation,
making the characters look more natural.
For the “South Park” pilot, Matt Stone and Trey Parker used thousands of construction
paper cut-outs and glue, filming each action frame by frame. The result was “The Spirit
of Christmas” starring foul-mouthed 8-year-olds Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Kenny
McCormick and Eric Cartman. The Colorado youngsters build a snowman, which comes
to life and kills Kenny. “Audiences loved it,” Decker says.
“Frog Baseball” (1992)
By Mike Judge (“Beavis and Butt-Head,” “King of the Hill,” “Office Space”)
It was this 10-minute cartoon that introduced the world to Beavis and Butt-Head, two
moronic metalheads from Texas who became the voice of a generation for their inane-yethonest commentary on what’s cool and what sucks. In the show’s pilot episode, the boys
come across a frog and decide to play frog baseball. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like.
C
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BY: Lilledeshan Bose
WO YEARS AGO, poetry Professor Juan Felipe
Herrera — already well-known for chronicling
the bittersweet lives, travails and contributions
of Mexican Americans — was named
California Poet Laureate by Gov. Jerry Brown.
Herrera’s term ends this year, but it has been lauded as one of the
most active laureateships in California’s history. From the
beginning, his goal was to visit as many communities as possible
and spread the word of poetry.
The son of migrant farm workers, Herrera was first in his family
to attend college. This made the introduction of poetry to
students who have little exposure to the literary form even more
important for the award-winning Chicano poet.
“People already have the poetry; they just need a reminder that
‘Yes, this is the time to express yourself,’” he explained. “So my
main goal was to shake hands with as many people as possible,
of all ages, and to reshake them into poetry.”
It was his unique ability to connect with everyone, regardless of
cultural or educational background, that made Herrera such a
great advocate of poetry, said Andrew Winer, chair of the UCR
Department of Creative Writing.
By the time his appointment ends in September, Herrera will have
created numerous projects to spark inspiration throughout the
state. He launched the i-Promise Joanna bullying project; he
commemorated the Bay Bridge reopening with poetry; and he
helped communities heal from tragedies such as the Boston
Marathon bombing and the mass shooting at Sandy Hook
Elementary School.
Throughout his two years as poet laureate, unity has been a
common theme and inspiration. “Believe it or not, one poem, one
phrase, one word, one voice can be magical. We need unity in
these times, and most of all, we need your call for unity to be
heard,” he said.
In October, Herrera will present “The Most Incredible & Biggest
Poem on Unity in the World” at the California Unity Poem Fiesta.
Herrera is making a call for contributions of original poetry
related to the theme “unity”; he will compile them into one poem
that will be read at the California Unity Poem Fiesta at UC Riverside on Oct. 9.
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ILLUSTRATION: Paolo Lim
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Five of the best moments from Juan Felipe Herrera’s poet laureateship:
1. “THE MOST INCREDIBLE & BIGGEST POEM
ON UNITY IN THE WORLD”
The Unity poem project — Herrera’s biggest as poet laureate
— has been soliciting submissions of poetry in the form of
words, phrases or stanzas for two years. This “rolling wave of
poetry” will be be assembled and read at the California Unity
Poem Fiesta on Oct. 9. Submissions to “The Most Incredible &
Biggest Poem on Unity in the World” may be sent as a Word
document to Herrera at [email protected].
2. I-PROMISE JOANNA
Inspired by Herrera’s own experiences as the Spanish-speaking
child of immigrants, i-Promise Joanna is a bullying-awareness
effort. It is named for 10-year-old Joanna Ramos, who died of
injuries suffered in the Long Beach fight in 2012. Herrera launched
the effort with fifth-graders from Moreno Valley’s Towngate
Elementary School at UCR’s Gluck Day of the Arts in 2013.
The effort was made possible with the UCR Gluck Fellows
Program of the Arts. Graduate fellows introduced the project with
a brief video of Herrera and a classroom poetry activity that
invited students to talk about the impact of bullying in their lives
and elicited a promise to seek peaceful solutions to disagreements.
3. CREATING POETRY IN SOLIDARITY
In the past two years Herrera and many of his students at UCR
have sent poems of sympathy and solidarity to communities that
have been struck by tragedy. There were poems for Newton, Conn.,
after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School; poems
for Boston after the bombing at the Boston Marathon; and to the
Philippines after a super-typhoon decimated the island of Leyte.
“Hawak Kamay: Poems for the Philippines After Haiyan” was
especially touching; after Herrera started the disaster relief
project, more than 1,620 members took part in the Facebook
group for comfort and inspiration.
“In a time of crisis, poetry from people’s hearts finds a way to
calm the storm,” Herrera says.“As a writer, it’s important to send
a message that’s a positive. And every positive action has a
positive outcome. So it does make a difference.”
5. “STARS OF JUAREZ: CUCA & EVA”
Herrera wrote this performance piece about three women who were
part of the Juarez/El Paso Border Arts Renaissance of the 1930s.
Cuca and Eva Aguirre and Elvira Macías are major influences on
today’s Latino and Latina performance arts. The poetic varietyshow, performed at UCR early in Herrera’s appointment, came up
in his interviews for the laureateship. “I told the California Senate
that this was one of the earliest post-Mexican Revolution pivots of
Latino art, and I wanted to bring this woman’s story to the public.
… I was so happy of all the families that came to the performance
at the dance studio and that people wanted to come and see it. Our
students performed the roles, sang and danced — everyone was very
pleased. I wrote the lyrics and the music was by Bruno Louchouarn.
That was definitely a highlight.”
5. BAY BRIDGE OPENING
Last year, Herrera participated in a traditional chain-cutting
ceremony to celebrate the completion of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge’s eastern span. He read a poem commissioned
for the event, “Bay Bridge Inauguration Poem, Labor Day 2013,
for all bridge dreamers, bridge builders & bridge crossers.” His
poem is displayed in a state facility near the bridge.
Having crossed the Bay Bridge as a child, the event was special to
Herrera. “In a way, I came back to that bridge which I crossed as
a child. And it is now rebuilt and transformed, as I have been
transformed. I came back to it by contributing a poem for
everybody — for kids, workers, designers, planners, hard
laborers, the ocean, the bridge itself.”
Bay Bridge Inauguration Poem
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge East Span, September 2, 2013
for all bridge dreamers, bridge builders & bridge crossers
Self anchored self-sustaining a light onto itself
This arc that lifts us this arc that sings us as we pass
Bay Bridge – I see you now your new design risen
Above star-waters a new galaxy appears a new trillion
May we live in your safety in your carriage in your heart
May all your hours and all your lights embrace us once again
May we curl across your shoulders as bird-fish singers
May we be the bridge for a new time of beauty and peace
Let us thank the workers – artists of space and matter
One sound one tree one knitted rebozo shawl for our mother
Aloft she turns she protects renewed waves of children
Today we are born to wind-sky steel and turquoise choirs
We are filled with light-strength height-gratitude and violet
Ocean stillness we open our arms our bridge of many bridges
Everything is different now melodic silver harmonious
Everything is open now spiritual inhalation of the Pacific Rim
Voyages migrations the conversations of generations Viva!
The workers applaud now iron-workers painters welders planners
Architects engineers laborers drivers Viva!
Lifters callers crane operators Viva!
Cement mixers cable threaders Viva!
After the earthquake
We shall live – yes
We shall round dance and honor
Spider buggies comin’ up!
Light poles hold ‘em steady
steady
Saddle template fit-up
North mainspan cable ready
ready
Motion sensors booster pump expansion tank
We shall live in our luminescent loom of lights and cosmos yes
We shall hula dance in expansive unity once again today yes
Hand to hand shoulder to shoulder woven and winged dancer
Bumper to bumper cable rider to cable flyer call it out now
We shall swivel alive golden silver dark sequenced with joy
We shall live crossing into the other from one to the second
From the second to the linked infinity today the chain is cut and we
Are released again Oakland San Francisco earth to all earth
Ocean to sky-wind to star nebulae once again you and me – we
The people the people El Pueblo it is the people Bay Bridge
Hold on to each other move now rise now for the world to see
— Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate of California
Listen to Juan Felipe Herrera read his poems on magazine.ucr.edu
PAGE TURNERS
A living multicultural
encyclopedia, essays on
“win-win-win” solutions
and other Page Turners
This comprehensive “living”
encyclopedia, among the first to
extensively use newly released
2010 U.S. Census data to examine
multiculturalism in America,
explores the changing landscape of
the nation with more than 900
signed entries on specific ethnic
groups, their histories and a full
spectrum of issues flowing from the
increasingly multicultural canvas
that is America today.
Carlos E. Cortés is a professor
emeritus of history at UCR.
Determinants of FDI Flows Within
Emerging Economies: A Case
Study of Poland
By Arkadiusz Mironko
Palgrave Macmillan
May 2014, 288 pages
This book provides a detailed
examination of foreign direct
investment in Poland and explores
the impact this has on foreign
investment policy. It also analyzes
and identifies the location patterns
of foreign direct investments across
different regions in Poland, and
strives to determine foreign
companies’ motives behind these
choices.
Arkadiusz Mironko is the
executive director of graduate
programs at UCR’s A. Gary
Anderson Graduate School of
Management.
These books are available for
purchase at the UCR Campus
Store and online at
www.ucrcampusstore.ucr.edu. They
have been discounted up to 30
percent
A Multicultural America:
A Multimedia Encyclopedia
By Carlos E. Cortés
SAGE Publications
September 2013, 2,528 pages
The Mason Gaffney Reader: Essays
on Solving the “Unsolvable”
By Mason Gaffney
Henry George Institute
October 2013, 244 pages
Mason Gaffney has devoted his
career to demonstrating the viability
of reconciliation and synthesis in
economic policy. In these 21
wide-ranging essays, Gaffney shows
how we can find “win-win-win”
solutions to many of society’s
seemingly “unsolvable” problems,
such as preventing inflation and
motivating workers.
Mason Gaffney is a professor
emeritus of economics at UCR.
Xylotheque: Essays
by Yelizaveta P. Renfro ’00
University of New Mexico Press
April 2014, 168 pages
Trees are guiding symbols for
Yelizaveta P. Renfro in her life and
in her work. Combining memoir
and nature writing, this book is
made up of nine essays that
represent different seasons and
slices of time, not unlike the rings
of a tree. No two rings are alike,
but each accretes to the next,
creating, section by section, a life.
Yelizaveta P. Renfro received her
bachelor’s degree in comparative science from UCR.
The Character of Democracy: How
Institutions Shape Politics
By Richard Clucas and Melody
Valdini ’99
Oxford University Press
January 2014, 312 pages
This book offers a uniquely
comprehensive overview of the
major democratic institutions found
around the world, including
electoral systems, party systems,
presidential and parliamentary
governments, legislatures,
federalism and constitutional
courts. Case studies of the political
structures found in Brazil,
Germany, Japan, South Africa, the
United Kingdom and the United
States illustrate how differences in
institutional design affect
democratic government.
Melody Valdini received her
bachelor’s degree from UCR in
political science.
ALUMNI CONNECTION
Mentor Students!
The Student Alumni Mentorship
Program (SAM) is looking for volunteer
alumni to mentor students. Through
SAM, students are paired with alumni in
their field of interest. Time commitment
is minimal, and communication between
the mentor and protégé is determined by
the two participants and can be done via
email, phone or face-to-face meetings.
To sign up to participate, please visit
www.alumni.ucr.edu and click on “Get
involved.”
Students Raise More Than $50,000
The third annual Dance Marathon
was held on Feb. 22 at the AberdeenInverness dining hall. The student-led
effort, which benefits the Guardian
Scholars Program at UCR, was
co-sponsored by the Student Alumni
Association and Golden Key
International Honour Society, Riverside.
Guardian Scholars is a vital program that
provides assistance to former foster
youth who have beaten the odds and are
working toward getting their degree.
Aided by a $20,000
matching gift and
additional donations after
the event, participants
raised more than
$50,000 to support
emancipated foster youth.
The Alumni Association
would like to thank all
donors who assisted in
Students hold up the total donation amount on the night of the Dance Marathon.
making this possible.
Get Involved with Clubs and Chapters
Looking for ways to connect with
alumni in your region? The Alumni
Association is always looking for
volunteer leaders to help organize events
to connect Highlanders! We have clubs
and chapters in the following regions:
Inland Empire
For information on how to get
involved with any of our clubs and
chapters, please contact Bill Cole at
[email protected].
Travel the Globe and
Expand Your Horizons
The UCR Alumni Association travel
program offers a mix of exploration,
education and adventure in partnership
with reputable, prescreened tour
operators. These are just two of the
many trips we have available this year.
Visit www.alumni.ucr.edu/travel for
more details about the trips being
offered in 2014.
• China Connoisseur & Tibet, a
16-day deluxe journey offering the
most splendid highlights of China
and Tibet, Oct. 16-31.
Orange County
Los Angeles
San Francisco Bay Area
Washington, D.C. (now forming)
We also have special interest groups.
For a full list of clubs and chapters,
please visit the Alumni Association
website.
• Pearls of the Mediterranean,
cruising from Monaco to Spain,
Nov. 7-15.
Tour participants, whether UCR
alumni or not, must be members of the
UCR Alumni Association. Each member
may bring up to three travel
companions as guests.
I worked there, and when I wasn’t working, I was working
out once or twice a day there. I’m not going to lie; I might
have missed one or two classes to go get a workout in
(laughs). It was definitely a second home. I went to UCR
at 165 pounds and, after learning about weightlifting,
graduated at 230 pounds.
gh
Claude Phene ’66
received the 2014
Person of the Year
Award from the
Cory Butner ‘05
2
California Irrigation
Institute where he has served as
STATISTICS
director, president (1984-85) and
member for over 20 years.
Starnes Walker ’68,
M.S. ’70, Ph.D. ’73
was hired as the
founding director for
the new University of
Delaware cybersecurity initiative.
3
In his new role, Starnes will focus
on issues facing corporate
Anne ’69 and James ’71 Weatherill
co-authored and published “The
Helicopter War in Vietnam,” a
memoir of the year from 1967 to
1968 when James served as a
helicopter pilot in Vietnam and
Anne attended UCR as a pregnant
military spouse.
70s
Butner became the
third Olympian in UCR
history, finishing in
12th place in the two-
Russia. The Yucaipa
native recently moved
to North Carolina with
Logano.
director at the City of San Diego,
Public Utilities Department. In
gh
awards, including the Association
of California Water Agency 2013
Award for Excellence in Water
Leadership and the 2013
American Water Resources
Association Mary H. Marsh Medal
I just graduated and still living with Mom and Dad, trying
to get things going. My sister, Charity ’00, was visiting and I
overheard her talking about trying out for bobsledding. The
more I thought about it, the better it sounded. I went on the
U.S. Federation website and filled out a form to try out for
the team.
A few weeks later I got an email inviting me to come to
Lake Placid for a test.
It is kind of funny how well everything worked out. I
didn’t get a chance to play college sports because of my
size, but I found weightlifting and built my size and strength
to go along with my quickness. I found a sport, through pure
chance, that incorporated all those things.
You have been competing internationally for several years.
What is that like?
What are some your favorite memories of your time in
Sochi?
We got there three days before the opening ceremonies;
we were the first athletes in. We stayed in the main village
and watched speed skating, figure skating, some of the
earlier events that were going on. My favorite moment was
the Opening Ceremonies. You are walking with 260 other
athletes who have put in the same amount of work and effort
over the last four, eight or 12 years — as one team. Then
they announce “The United States” and you hear the crowd
cheering. That was one of the coolest things.
Winter Games in Sochi,
Marsi Steirer ’78 is the deputy
2013, she received a number of
4
man bobsled at the
his girlfriend, Danielle
How did you get involved with the sport?
The season starts in October in Lake Placid with team
trials, then the World Cup will start in November. Typically
we will do four races in America, then fly out to Europe and
do four races there, and then World Championships.
We definitely get a lot more recognition in Europe.
Especially in Germany – they love sliding. At every race, even
in practice, people are walking the track, taking pictures,
asking for autographs. It will be 20 degrees and the stands
are just packed watching the race.
America.
Blades Carry Me: Inside the
You spent a lot of time at the Student Recreation Center
during your time at UCR.
5
What is next for you?
I am planning on taking the next year off to get healthy.
I had shoulder surgery on April 11 to fix a couple of bones
that were pinching on something in there. I had competed
with it all season and at the Olympics it started getting
worse. I also have a bulging disc in my neck that I would
like to avoid having to have surgery for.
As far as the future, it all comes down to money. At
some point I have to start a career. I’ll probably look for
a “real job” in marketing or sales; I’d like to stay around
sports. I like the competition, but reality has to kick in at
some point if I want to have a family and a future.
Of course, I’d love to drive a race car (laughs).
for Exemplary Contributions to the
Names printed in blue indicate members of the UCR Alumni Association.
To update your membership, visit www.alumni.ucr.edu
CLASS ACTS
60s
TAKE FIVE
1
CLASS ACTS
M
E
E
T
M I N G L E
NETWORK
CONNECT
Protection and Wise Use of our
Wyo. Judyth lives in Cheyenne
Nation’s Resources.
most of the year.
Michael Haro ’79 has
Josefina Canchola ’88
been promoted to
was honored by
principal environ-
Assemblymember Ian
mental engineer for
Calderon as the 2014
Lockheed Martin
57th District Woman
Aeronautics Co. (also known as
of the Year. Josefina was
the Skunk Works) in Palmdale,
recognized for her dedication to
Calif. He is responsible for Skunk
the Chicano Latino Youth
Works’ environmental protection
Leadership Project and commit-
program and directs a staff of
ment to the advancement of
nine environmental specialists.
women.
Michael also helps set strategic
sustainability policy for all of
Lockheed Martin and has been
with the company for 25 years.
His environmental programs have
won numerous awards from the
U.S. EPA, CalEPA and local
regulatory agencies. Michael has
been an environmental education
advocate for more than 20 years,
raising environmental literacy of
K-12 students in the Antelope
Join UCR alumni
in your area for
a fun evening
of casual
conversation and
refreshments,
and welcome
the new Class of
2014 alumni!
UCR Alumni
Association
members at select
receptions* will
have a chance to
win two tickets to
the Hollywood Bowl
or Del Mar Races
alumni events.
Save the date for the event in your area!
Korean Alumni (Pasadena). . . . . . . 6/21
Los Angeles* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6/26
Inland Empire* . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7/16
Orange County*. . . . . . . . . . . . .7/23
San Francisco. . . . . . . . . . . . . .7/29
The event is free for all alumni to attend.
Registration required. Sign up at
alumni.ucr.edu/newgrad or call 951-827-2586.
Valley and Santa Clarita communites. He recently founded a
nonprofit organization called the
Santa Clarita Environmental
Education Consortium (www.
90s
Michael Battin ’90 was voted as a
2014 Southern California Super
Lawyer, an honor reserved for
lawyers who have attained high
peer recognition, meet ethical
standards and have demonstrated
achievement in their field. He was
also elected president of the
sceec.org) in partnership with
Legal Aid Society of San Diego.
College of the Canyons (COC),
Matthew McMurtrey ’93 has been
Castaic Lake Water Agency,
Newhall Land and other stakeholders. Michael is an adjunct
faculty member in the Earth,
Space and Environmental
Sciences department at COC,
teaching environmental studies.
appointed as a managing partner
at the law firm Sacks, Glazier,
Franklin, Lodise LLP. He joined
the firm in 2001 and became a
partner in January 2012.
Matthew obtained his J.D. from
the UCLA School of Law after
receiving his bachelor’s degree at
80s
UC Riverside.
Judyth E. Reed, M.A. ’80 was
teaches journalism and English.
elected president of the Wyoming
Before her stint at higher
Archaeological Foundation. The
education, Margo worked for 20
foundation manages the Hell Gap
years as a reporter and editor at
archaeological site near Douglas,
various newspapers, from the
Margo Wilson ’97 recently
published a novel, “The Main
Ingredient,” with Ramsfield Press.
She is the chair of the English
department at California
University of Pennsylvania and
Alberta, Canada, to the LA Times.
TAKE FIVE
00s
Shalon Hopkins ’01 and spouse
Brian welcomed a baby boy,
Cooper Joaquin Hopkins, in
1
gh
What is the best part of being a staff scientist?
The best part of my job is the challenge. We are
working to solve practical environmental problems
and I think it’s fun! And since my title is a “scientist”
Katherine
Djernes,
instead of a “chemist,” which was originally what I
was trained in, it allows me to see science as a whole.
It’s not just chemistry, but also geology, engineering
and more.
Ph.D. ’13
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
October 2013.
2
Out of all the Ph.D programs for chemistry, why did you
choose to go to UCR?
Cory Butner ’05 and his teammate
I chose UCR because I really like the resources
Christopher Fogt competed in the
that the school has to offer. It has all the benefits
2014 Winter Olympics in the
of a UC school, but it is still small enough to where
two-man bobsled. Cory, the third
Olympian in UCR’s history, piloted
you get to personally know your classmates and
the No. 2 bobsled for the United
professors. UCR has the best of everything!
States. (Read an interview with
3
Cory on page 31.)
UCR helped you in your position today?
Christina Jin ’06
recently founded the
The research that I do now is a similar,
startup SpaceHitch, a
commercialized version of my research back at
platform that
UCR. My graduate research focused on hydrocarbon
connects travelers to
oxidation and now I develop products to remove
people who need
hydrocarbon contaminates like diesel fuel from the
items elsewhere in the world.
Christina came up with the idea
after spending the past four years
working abroad.
Deepak Sharma ’06
transitioned from his
position as student
affairs officer at UC
Riverside to program
coordinator at the newly developed Leadership, Engagement,
Advising, and Development
(LEAD) Center at UC Berkeley.
Helen Lovejoy, M.A.
’06, Ph.D. ’11 is the
co-director of the
Katherine Djernes, a Ph.D.
graduate in organic chemistry,
completed her UCR research
on hydrocarbon oxidation under
Richard Hooley, associate
professor of chemistry. She
was the first graduate student
on the research team and is
working in the same field of her
research topic today. Currently,
Djernes is a staff scientist
at Regenesis Remediation
Technologies, working with soil
and groundwater remediation to
develop new products.
at Peninsula College. Helen, who
teaches English at the college,
environment. As a graduate student, I learned a lot
of other critical skills like problem-solving, public
speaking, writing clearly that I use daily in my current
position.
4
gh
Do you have any advice to current UCR graduate
students?
There are incredible opportunities at UCR and
through professional organizations that are geared
specifically toward students. The Ph.D. program is all
research, and research tends to consume your time.
So my advice is to work hard in research but do not
be afraid to branch out and diversify your skill set.
5
Foothill Writers Series
and Magic of Cinema
Would you say that the research that you completed at
What is your favorite UCR memory?
I stayed really good friends with several of the
people at UCR and I really value these friendships.
was granted tenure on March 11
in Port Angeles.
CLASS ACTS
Spruce Grove Star near Edmonton,
Damian specializes in hyper-
10s
linking services, an innovation
Mark Broomfield,
that links construction documents
Ph.D. ’11 received
digitally. He is currently involved
a 2013-14 Faculty
in hyperlinking the construction
Diversity Program
contact documents for UCR’s
award from the
Glen Mor 2 Student Apartments.
State University of New York
Damian Torres ’07 works at ARC
Document Solutions, a global
reprographics company that is
now part of the digital revolution
of the construction industry.
I am a transfer
student.
I am a father and
husband.
system. Mark was the first
Angelique Weathersby ’07 earned
professor from the Geneseo
I am an electrical
engineering major.
a master’s degree in nursing at
campus to receive the award from
California State University, San
SUNY’s Office of Diversity, Equity
Bernardino, in December 2013.
and Inclusion since the program’s
Scholarships have
changed my life.
She works in the postanesthesia
inception 15 years ago.
care unit at Arrowhead Regional
Medical Center and serves as
director of District 1 for the
MY NAME IS PATRICK SMITH
AND I AM A HIGHLANDER
PeriAnesthesia Nurses of
California Association.
Ryan Rakib ’13 accepted a new
position with the Boeing Corp. as
the procurement cost analyst for
commercial airplanes.
Dennis Jeffrey, Ph.D.
’09 was promoted to
senior software
engineer in test at
Google Inc. He and
his wife, Smruti,
both earned their doctorate
degrees at UCR in 2009 and
2013.
You can change the
lives of students like Patrick.
Please make a gift today!
FUND
PO Box 112 • Riverside, CA 92502
Tel 951.827.1922 • Fax 951.827.7311 • http://givenow.ucr.edu
Are you celebrating a
milestone event? Maybe you
published your latest book,
you got elected to office or
you just turned 100. Tell us
all about it, send a picture,
and we’ll celebrate with you!
Email us at [email protected]
and we’ll include it in the
next UCR Magazine.
R E M E M B E R
ALUMNI
Henry Ramsey Jr. ’60, prominent
judge and educator, died in
Berkeley on March 15 after
a stroke. He was 80. Ramsey
grew up in Rocky Mount, N.C.
After serving in the Korean War,
Ramsey was stationed at March
Air Force Base. Astonished at the
possibilities that he discovered
were open to him in California,
he used money from the G.I. bill
to enter Howard University, a
historically black institution in
Washington, D.C. In 1957, after
a year at Howard, he transferred
to UC Riverside. He graduated
from UCR in 1960 with a degree
in philosophy and earned his law
degree from UC Berkeley’s Boalt
Hall School of Law.
He fondly spoke about his
experiences as a student at UCR,
and later established the Henry
Ramsey Jr. Revolving Emergency
Loan Fund to help undergraduate
students with short-term financial
emergencies.
“As a young student, I needed
this kind of emergency assistance on an occasion or two,” he
recalled.
After law school, Ramsey
served as a Contra Costa County
prosecutor — helping to integrate
the office — and as a trial lawyer
in private practice.
He was a member of the faculty
at Boalt Hall from 1971 to 1980.
During his tenure there, he served
on the Berkeley City Council from
1973 to 1977.
He served as an Alameda
County Superior Court judge from
1981 to 1990 before serving as
dean of the Howard University
School of Law for the next five
years.
He has served as chairperson
of the American Bar Association
section of legal education and
admissions to the bar. He is a
life member of the American Law
Institute and was the recipient of
the 2000 Robert J. Kutak Award
for promoting understanding
between legal education and the
active practice of law.
Ramsey is survived by four
sons; two daughters; his wife,
Eleanor; and seven granddaughters. His first wife, Evelyn,
died in 2010.
Robert Poole, M.A. ’64, mathematics professor. March 2014.
H. Leonard Francis ’68, avocado
expert. March 2014.
Robert Luxmoore ’69, environmental scientist. January 2014.
FACULTY
Carol A. Downey, former lecturer
in the English department, died
March 18 after a long illness. She
was 63.
Downey was born in New York
City on March 28, 1950. She
moved to California and lived for
many years in Huntington Beach,
where she raised two children and
worked as a psychiatric nurse.
After her children were grown, she
earned bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in English literature at
California State University, Long
Beach. In 2010, she earned a
doctorate in English literature at
the Claremont Graduate School.
She taught English composition,
Shakespeare and early modern
studies at CSULB, California State
University, San Bernardino,
and UCR.
She is survived by her brother
Frederick; two children, Alan
Downey of Orange, and Valorie Bell
(Jeff) of Huntington Beach; and
five grandsons: Alexander, Ethan,
Ollie, Theo and Nico.
Donald Carroll Erwin, emeritus
professor in the Department of
Plant Pathology and Microbiology,
died Feb. 22. He was 93.
Erwin’s career at UCR began
about the time of the university’s
founding. He received his Ph.D. in
plant pathology from the University
of California, Davis, in 1953 and
soon after joined the Department
of Plant Pathology at UCR as
a junior plant pathologist. He
became a professor in 1966 and
later served as department chair.
He retired in 1991.
His research specialties
involved the causes and control of
diseases that affect alfalfa, flax,
cotton and other crops. He was
known internationally as an expert
on the biology of Phytophthora, a
cause of many plant diseases and
published extensively on that and
other topics.
Erwin’s honors included a
Guggenheim Fellowship and a
Lifetime Achievement Award
by the Pacific Division of the
American Phytopathological
Society.
Herbert L. Baird Jr. died of heart
failure in his sleep on Dec. 23,
2013. He was 90.
A U.S. Army Purple Heart
Veteran of World War II, Herb
served from the beginning of
the war and was wounded while
serving as a medic supporting
Allied troops during the “Battle of
the Bulge” in Belgium. After his
recovery he was sent back to the
front lines in Germany where he
participated in the final grueling
march to the end at the Elbe. At
the end of the war, Herb returned
to California and enrolled at
Pomona College under the G.I. bill
to study Romance Languages; he
was a gifted linguist and ultimately
earned his Ph.D. in medieval
Spanish literature from University
of Chicago. A professor of foreign
languages and literature, Herb
started his teaching career at UCR
before he moved to the Western
Washington University where he
taught languages and literature
until his retirement as associate
professor emeritus in 1985.
Austin Turk, professor of
sociology, died on Feb. 1. He
joined the faculty at UCR in 1988
and in the years since fulfilled
many roles in that department,
including a period as chair. He
served on the CHASS Executive
Committee, the Committee on
Charges, the Law and Society
Program Committee and a host
of other boards and committees.
In the community of Riverside,
he was an avid supporter of the
California Museum of Photography and the Citizens’ University
Committee, and he also volunteered with the Riverside Police
Department.
Turk’s scholarly career spanned
more than five decades. He was
a Fellow and Past President of
the American Society of Criminology, and had also been Chair
of the Criminology Section of the
American Sociological Association.
His 1969 book “Criminality and
the Legal Order” is considered a
classic in the field.
He is survived by his wife, Dr.
Ruth-Ellen Grimes.
CLASS ACTS
W E
SCAPE
C
Stephanie Martinez has her childhood
best friend’s parents to thank for her
Grammy. “They forced her to study the
violin and I thought it would be fun to tag
along,” says Martinez. “I picked it up
pretty quickly. After a few lessons, I was
in love. It was my new passion. My
obsession.” Martinez, then 11 years
old, already sang and played the
guitar in church with her sister in El
Centro, Calif.
Now 24, Martinez plays violin
in Mariachi Divas, the L.A.-based
Mexican folk group made up
solely of women. She joined the
Divas in 2009 while they recorded
their sixth album; in 2014, the
group won a Grammy award for
Best Mexican Regional Music
Album, for their ninth recording, “A
Mi Manera (My Way).”
“The best thing about winning
is that our album is recognized as
No. 1 in the whole world!” says
Martinez. “It means what we’re
doing with mariachi music is lifechanging and making an impact
in the world. The music might
be hard and the hours of practice
endless, but being recognized makes
it all worthwhile.” Their success is also
notable since mariachi music is often the
domain of male singers and musicians.
Martinez, a sociology major at UCR,
is 20 credits shy of her bachelor’s degree.
She tours most of the year with the group
and hopes to finish when the Mariachi
Divas’ schedule slows down. The band also
performs year-round at Disney California
Adventure in their signature embroidered
black suits with bolero jackets. “UCR
has taught me dedication and constant
hard work. Managing two things that I
love — sociology and mariachi — and
being allowed to be part of two such
different worlds has been eye opening,”
says Martinez.
The Mariachi Divas, the first mariachi
group to win two Grammys, bring a unique
spin to mariachi music under their musical
director, Alberto Jimenez Maeda, who
“What we’re doing with
mariachi music is lifechanging and making
an impact in the world.”
writes most of the arrangements. “If you’ve listened to
any of our albums, you’ll hear
so many different genres,” says
Martinez. “The most wonderful thing
about mariachi music and my job is that
no matter what mood I’m in, I can escape
into a song. I absolutely love playing any
chance we get. To get people on their feet and
dancing at every single concert is the highlight
of my day.”
Illustration by
Mike Tofanelli
Health  Sustainability  Policy  Technology
LIVING THE
PROMISE
Real World Solutions
All in the numbers: Demographic research by UCR political
scientist Karthick Ramakrishnan reveals the rapid rise of
Asian Americans and the impact of their voting patterns on
immigration reform, civic engagement, and national politics.
Explore more policy impacts
promise.ucr.edu
Crime Prevention
Water Quality
Climate Change
Bilingual Literacy
HOMECOMING
11.15.14
S A V E T H E D AT E
FOOD TRUCKS | GAMES | LIVE MUSIC | TOURS | BASKETBALL GAME
A N D M O R E F U N F O R T H E W H O L E FA M I LY !
HOMECOMING.UCR.EDU

UCR_Magazine_Spring_.. - The Magazine of UC Riverside

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