Due to construction, the UCSB Library has temporarily closed its 7th and 8th floors, starting Monday, Feb. 17.

The 8th floor Graduate Study Room will be closed until about March 14. See the chart below for all closings.

During the closure, all stacks, study space, and restrooms on these two floors will be inaccessible. If you require any collection materials from those floors, they can be retrieved for you by Library staff.

You can request collection materials directly from the Library Catalog or use this form on the Library website after Feb. 17. Items are retrieved every two hours on a daily basis and held at the Circulation Desk.

The Graduate Study Room on the 2nd floor of the Library will remain open during this time.

For more information about construction, see the additions and renovations page.

Credit: UCSB Library

Dr. Tracy Pintchman earned her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from UCSB in 1992.The goddesses were smiling on Tracy Pintchman back in 1992 when she earned her Ph.D. in Religious Studies from UC Santa Barbara. The native New Yorker had written her dissertation on the historical evolution of a Great Goddess figure in orthodox Hindu texts. Even before she finished it, a publisher, SUNY Press, expressed interest in turning it into a book. “I had a book contract within nine months of finishing my Ph.D.,” Dr. Pintchman said in referring to what would become the 1994 book, “The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition.” Dr. Pintchman was doing the right research at the right time. “As one of the peer reviewers noted,” she said, “in the early 1990s, goddess studies were ‘a growth industry.’”

The female deity she wrote about proved to be a “green” goddess for Dr. Pintchman, as it earned her some cash from the book deal. This research as well as her other excellent doctoral work at UCSB also helped lead to a job offer before she completed her Ph.D. of a tenure track position at Loyola University Chicago.

Tracy grew up in New York’s Westchester County in a largely secular Jewish family, the youngest of three daughters. Her father headed up public relations for Reader’s Digest Corporation and her mother was an office worker. Tracy had no ties to Chicago when she headed to Loyola in 1992, and she had not imagined staying in the Windy City more than a few years. But today, 22 years later, Dr. Pintchman is still at Loyola University Chicago, as a Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the International Studies Program. She has won teaching awards; and has written, edited, or co-edited seven books. Married for 18 years to another Loyola professor, Dr. William C. French in Theology, whom she met shortly after moving to Chicago, Dr. Pintchman has two children: Noah French, 11, and Molly French, 13.

If not for a Towbes fellowship – which is marking 25 years of awards to UCSB students – Tracy would have probably gone to Harvard. She earned her master’s degree in Religious Studies from Boston University in 1987. When she decided she wanted to pursue her Ph.D. in the discipline, her advisor suggested UC Santa Barbara. “I applied to Religious Studies Ph.D. programs at just two universities, Harvard and UCSB,” Pintchman said. “While I was accepted to both, the funding I received at UCSB was much more robust than what Harvard offered. I liked both programs, but getting the Towbes Fellowship support at UCSB was for me the deciding factor.”

Pintchman was the very first Towbes recipient, in the 1987-88 academic year.

“I remember I got a phone call from the then-Chair of the Religious Studies Department at UCSB, Phil Hammond,” Tracy recalled. “He told me I was being offered this fabulous fellowship. I did not really know anything about it.” Soon after coming to Santa Barbara, Pintchman was fortunate to meet Michael Towbes and his late wife, Gail, for lunch, where they discussed a mutual interest in music.

“The fellowship supported me fully for four years through teaching and research assistantships,” Pintchman said. “I took one year off in the middle of my Ph.D. program to study in India, and that year was supported by a different fellowship. So I was able to complete my doctoral program in five years without having to take out any student loans or work at McDonald’s.”

While studying at UCSB, Tracy’s “work-life balance” skewed heavily toward the “work” side, by her own choosing.

“The professors in the Religious Studies Department were fabulous teachers and mentors,” she said. “I did coursework the first two years, and I remember I was studying or writing papers much of the time.  Learning Sanskrit consumed a lot of energy. After I returned from my year in India, I spent two years writing my dissertation. So I didn’t have much time to enjoy living in Santa Barbara.”

Only a month before leaving California for Chicago, she went swimming at a Santa Barbara beach for the first time. “My dissertation was done at that point, so I decided it was OK to have a little fun,” she said.

“The outstanding scholars in the Religious Studies Department set the standard when I was there, and I simply tried to do what they were doing. I learned how to teach by watching great teaching in action."
– Dr. Tracy Pintchman

At Loyola University Chicago, Dr. Pintchman specializes in the study of Hinduism, with a focus on gender issues, Goddess traditions, and Hindu women's rituals. She has held grants from the American Academy of Religion, American Institute of Indian Studies, and the National Endowment of the Humanities. In addition to Loyola, she has also taught at Northwestern University and Harvard University, where she was a visiting scholar in the Women's Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School in 2000-01. She’s currently doing research for a book on transnational influences on a Hindu Goddess temple in Michigan.

Dr. Tracy Pintchman visits the Parashakthi Temple in Pontiac, Mich., in July 2013 with her family: husband Dr. William C. French; son Noah French; and daughter Molly French. Dr. Pintchman is writing a book about the temple.

For some, career paths take twists and turns in new and unexpected directions. But not for Pintchman, who knew exactly what she wanted to do when she was a graduate student.

“My goal then was to do pretty much what I have been doing for the last 22 years: to work as a professor in a university setting where I could teach, write, and think.” 

Awards such as the Towbes helped her achieve that goal. “Graduate fellowships like the Towbes Fellowship can help attract hardworking, committed graduate students and enable them to finish their programs in a timely manner with minimal distraction,” she said. “Fellowship support is probably more important in humanities doctoral programs than in many other kinds of graduate programs. Professors in the humanities do not earn the kinds of substantial salaries commanded by lawyers, business professionals, scientists, or medical doctors, so completing graduate studies somewhat quickly and without taking on a great deal of debt is important.”

Dr. Tracy Pintchman says she "read what my professors were writing so I would understand the standards of scholarship in my field."Dr. Pintchman also attributes her career success to her UCSB professors. “The outstanding scholars in the Religious Studies Department set the standard when I was there, and I simply tried to do what they were doing. I learned how to teach by watching great teaching in action,” she said. “Being able to serve as a teaching assistant in several classes also helped a great deal. So I had a handle on teaching by the time I started my job at Loyola. I read what my professors were writing so I would understand the standards of scholarship in my field. Barbara Holdrege and Gerald Larson were my main faculty mentors, and they were incredible; they were supportive, but they pushed and challenged me as well.”

Dr. Pintchman has some simple and straightforward advice for current grad students. “Stay focused, work hard, and don’t get distracted by department politics,” she said. “Watch what the best professors in your department do in the classroom, and read what they write. That will help you figure out how to be a professor yourself. Remember that a dissertation doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to be done if you are to ever get out of graduate school and start your career. So just do it. And maybe go to the beach more than I did.”

“I applied to Religious Studies Ph.D. programs at just two universities, Harvard and UCSB. While I was accepted to both, the funding I received at UCSB was much more robust than what Harvard offered. I liked both programs, but getting the Towbes Fellowship support at UCSB was for me the deciding factor.”
– Dr. Tracy Pintchman, Professor of Religious Studies
at Loyola University Chicago and UCSB Ph.D. alum

Dr. Robert Hamm is Graduate Division's new Coordinator of Graduate Student Professional Development. Credit: Patricia MarroquinThe UC Santa Barbara Graduate Division has hired a Ph.D. alum to serve graduate students’ professional development needs.

Dr. Robert Hamm assumed the role of Coordinator of Graduate Student Professional Development this week, working out of the Graduate Student Resource Center in the Student Resource Building. Dr. Hamm comes to UCSB from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of English for seven years. At LSU, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses on Shakespeare, Early Modern British literature, and print culture/the book trade; and won awards for his teaching. In addition, Hamm directed undergraduate theses and served on dissertation committees.  

Hamm holds two bachelor’s degrees – in English Literature and French Literature – from Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport. He earned his Ph.D. in English Literature from UCSB in 2004, and held a post-doc at UCSB for a year before joining the LSU faculty.

In his role as Coordinator of Graduate Student Professional Development, Hamm will assist in establishing priorities, setting goals, and developing campus best practices in order to implement effective graduate student professional development services. He will help to develop and present workshops; and will advise graduate students on matters related to academic success, professional development, career preparation, work/life balance, and campus resources. Among the events and initiatives he will assume a big role in planning and managing are: Graduate Division New Student Orientation; fellowship receptions; Graduate Student Showcase and the Grad Slam; and Commencement.

Hamm will also be working collaboratively on various initiatives with other campus units and staff members, including the new Career Services Assistant Director and Coordinator of Graduate Student Services, John Coate.  Read our GradPost article on Coate.

Hamm grew up in Shreveport, La., and spent more than a year pursuing post-graduate studies in Paris after earning his bachelor’s degrees. Back in Louisiana, Hamm decided he wanted to focus on Early Modern Studies for graduate work. “UCSB had a particularly good graduate program,” Hamm recalled. “When it came time to decide where to go, I narrowed down my offers to campuses within the University of California: Berkeley, Santa Barbara, and San Diego. After visiting the three campuses and meeting with faculty and graduate students, I chose UCSB.”

Having been a grad student at UCSB, Hamm offers his perspective on how students can make the most of their time here.

“I would encourage students to get out of their home departments whenever possible and seek out the exciting work that other graduate students and faculty are doing at UCSB,” he said. “Engaging with unfamiliar areas of campus helps not only to build community, but it can also have unintended benefits for one’s own research and areas of interest.”

Dr. Carol Genetti, Dean of the Graduate Division, said: “We are thrilled to be able to add Robert Hamm to the Graduate Division staff! He has energy and experience, as well as a strong dedication to ensuring that our graduate students have effective resources for finding the career paths that really work for them. I am confident that he is going to do great things for our campus – watch this space!”

In his role, Hamm hopes to engage students in activities and intends to seek out and respond to their ideas.

“I hope to make Career and Professional Development an active and inviting resource to help UCSB’s graduate students to succeed in their studies and to embark on meaningful careers in academia and the public and private sectors,” he said. “In addition to continuing the wonderful resources that are already in place, I plan to organize regular discussions, seminars, and workshops on topics related to personal and professional development. I also want to invite our students to suggest topics or identify activities to help them advance in their studies and into their careers.”

Hamm and his wife, Julie, whom he met while attending UCSB, have an “extremely energetic and curious” 7-year-old son named Finley who “has really taken to life in Santa Barbara,” he said. The couple are “passionate about food, so we spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I’m particularly interested in baking and home-brewing. I also enjoy hiking and am glad to be back on the Santa Barbara trails.”

Students can meet with Hamm in his office in the Graduate Student Resource Center (1217 in the SRB); and he can be reached by phone (805-893-2671) and email (robert.hamm@graddiv.ucsb.edu).

Welcome to Graduate Division, Robert!

At UCSB, we're fortunate to have pristine beaches line our campus. We're even more fortunate to have graduate students, such as Jonathan Jones, who are working on preserving our beautiful oceans.

Jonathan is a first-year doctoral student in the Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Marine Science. His research focuses on ocean acidification and how oceans are changing as a result of increased carbon dioxide emissions (check out his blog to learn more).

Jonathan earned his undergraduate degree in biology from the College of the Holy Cross, a small liberal arts college in Worcester, Mass. He spent the last two years conducting long-term biological monitoring in the Pacific Northwest.

Read on to learn more about his research and what he has learned in his first quarter at UCSB.

Tell us a little about your research and how you came to choose the topic.

Jonathan JonesI am currently researching the decrease in ocean pH resulting from increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the phenomenon known as ocean acidification. Specifically, I am interested in the seasonal variability of coastal pH and how marine phytoplankton are affected by fluctuating pH and temperature conditions. I became interested in this area of research my junior year of undergraduate study during a summer internship at Olympic National Park.

I spent that summer, and the next three, hiking the rugged coastline of the National Park monitoring sea stars, tubeworms, amphipods, razor clams, surf smelt, mussels, barnacles, intertidal temperature and pH. Leaving the blustery snowstorms of New England for the warm marine layer of the Olympic Peninsula was a welcome change. Before joining up with a Ricketts-esc crew of biologists, I was unaware that jobs like mine even existed. Not long after I began work in this position, I started brainstorming about how I could make the beauty and excitement of that first summer last a lifetime. This experience sparked my interest to know more, to look deeper into the field, and to pursue a career in Ocean Sciences.

What has graduate student life been like for you?

Jonathan and a colleague searching historic sea star monitoring plots for Pisaster ochraceus. Every year they count the total number of sea stars and measure the longest ray of each. It was during one of these counts where they identified the “sea star wasting disease” in Olympic National Park.Graduate student life has been awesome so far. The Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Marine Science (IGPMS) graduate student cohort is a great group of young professionals that showcase the talent and creativity of the Marine Science Program. I am proud to be counted amongst their ranks.

I started my first quarter in the IGPMS program directly after completing the scientific diver program, a course offered through the university that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. Between diving, taking classes, writing proposals, and trying to hone some instrumental expertise, I have been both busy and extremely satisfied with my decision to return to school and pursue my research interests.

What has been a source of motivation or drive for you in your graduate studies?

Jonathan braving the high tide at Rialto Beach to try to collect surf smelt. This sardine-like fish is a food source for many Pacific salmon.Given the fact that ocean acidification is a relatively new topic of research in marine ecology, I am constantly motivated to keep myself informed as the field grows. The direct connection to human economy is great motivation for my research and I plan to use my time at UCSB to broaden the scientific and local communities’ knowledge of shifting baselines in marine ecosystems. Although the topic of ocean acidification can seem mechanistically abstract, the resulting implications for marine resources are highly tangible.

Name an accomplishment you are most proud of and describe why.

I am proud of being selected by the UC Santa Barbara Associated Students Coastal Fund to continue my research at Stearns Wharf, where I am currently monitoring local ocean pH. To be chosen by your peers to represent the community through research is a great honor and I look forward to contributing to the collective effort of conserving the UCSB coastline.

What do you do to relax? Any hobbies, collections, pastimes, favorite places to go, favorite things to do? Along these same lines, what makes you happy?

Intertidal temperature fluctuates with both tidal cycle and season. Here, Jonathan is downloading and replacing a temperature sensor, one of several located along the Washington coast.I enjoy SCUBA diving, seeing a good movie with my girlfriend, reading a great work of fiction, and long walks on high energy rocky coastlines. Although white sand beaches with gently lapping tides are beautiful in their own right, I am rather fond of the grey-blue cacophony of the morning high tide crashing against the rocks of the intertidal. I feel most inspired and also most mortal when I stand a few feet above the incredible power of the ebbing tide.

What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

I am a bit of a science fiction/fantasy literature fanatic. Three favorites: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", "The Kingkiller Chronicles," and "Anansi Boys." That is all I will say on the subject here, but as my lab manager Julia knows, I am always willing to discuss a great piece of fiction and even share suggestions for a good read from time to time.

What do you hope to be doing five or 10 years out of graduate school?

Jonathan getting ready to run pH samples in the Passow Lab.I hope to be living and working near the ocean where my nieces and nephews can come peer over the edge of a tidepool and scour the beach for glass floats. Beyond that, I hope to stay in the field and out from behind a desk as much as possible.

Do you have any advice for current grad students?

With only one quarter under my belt, I am in the market for taking advice, not giving it. I do, however, advise current and future students from all disciplines to get out into the ocean. Take a trip to the islands, sign up for a SCUBA class, visit the REEF touch tanks, or volunteer at the Sea Center downtown. With the ocean in our backyard, there is no better place than UCSB to experience the wonder of the sea!

Anything else you'd like to add?

Check out my website to keep up-to-date with my research: www.seagrad.org.

"Mad Science" columnist and UCSB grad alum Rachelle Oldmixon. Credit: Al JazeeraA 2013 UCSB master’s alum who is the science columnist for the Santa Barbara Sentinel wants to hear about grad students’ great work. Rachelle Oldmixon, who writes the Sentinel’s “Mad Science” column, says: “I would like to encourage graduate students with interesting work, recent publications, or upcoming dissertations in the science fields to contact me if they would like news coverage of their work.”

Rachelle received her master’s degree in Psychological and Brain Sciences at UCSB in 2013. “During my time with the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, I was a member of the Developmental and Evolutionary Psychology area,” she said. “I worked under Alan Fridlund researching how the personalities of jury members might affect their decisions in a criminal case. Were I to continue with the Ph.D., I likely would have begun integrating more of my personal interest: hormonal influences on cognition. However, I felt that my calling was in science outreach and communication rather than research.”

Rachelle also works with Al Jazeera America as an on air co-contributor to its science and innovation show “TechKNOW.”

The Sentinel columnist said she is looking to highlight research by UCSB grad students that is “local, interesting, and engaging.”

The Sentinel publishes “every other week from pier to peak.” Grad students who wish to share their research with Rachelle can reach her at r.oldmixon@gmail.com.

Credit: Sonia FernandezUC Santa Barbara’s Chemical Engineering and Materials programs have once again made the top 10 lists of best graduate programs among the nation’s universities, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2015 Best Graduate Schools rankings released today.

The College of Engineering’s Materials program ranked No. 2 on the overall U.S. News list, and placed No. 1 among public institutions. UCSB’s Materials program shares second place with Northwestern University and the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign. Massachusetts Institute of Technology claimed the No. 1 spot.

UCSB’s Chemical Engineering program was ranked No. 8 on the overall list, and No. 4 among public universities.

The College of Engineering moved up one notch this year, to No. 19 on the overall list. It ranked No. 11, tied with the University of Pennsylvania, on the public universities list.

“Our graduate programs are a great source of pride for the campus," said UCSB Graduate Division Dean Carol Genetti. Credit: Patricia Marroquin“The latest rankings confirm UC Santa Barbara’s leadership role in graduate education across a wide spread of disciplines,” Dr. Carol Genetti, Dean of the UCSB Graduate Division, said in an Office of Public Affairs and Communications (OPAC) news release. “Our graduate programs are a great source of pride for the campus and our students are known for their extraordinary impact on their disciplines and on our broader society. I am truly gratified to see this recognized at the national level.”

 “This upward trend in our rankings shows that UCSB’s impact in engineering and the sciences is recognizable on a global level,” Rod Alferness, Dean of the College of Engineering, said in the release. “We continue to be dedicated to the success of our engineering students and faculty. Our graduate programs are becoming known as the best in the world, and students seek out the unparalleled opportunities they find at UCSB.”

U.S. News does not rank all programs each year. Rankings for graduate programs in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Biological Sciences, such as Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Computer Science, and Physics, were not updated this year.

For more information, read the full OPAC news release; and U.S. News & World Report’s article.

Dr. Mike North will deliver the keynote address at Graduate Division's 2014 Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, June 15.The Graduate Division is pleased to announce that 2006 UCSB Ph.D. alum Dr. Mike North – an innovator, a science TV show host, and the founder of the nonprofit ReAllocate – will be the keynote speaker for the division’s 2014 Commencement Ceremony on Sunday, June 15.

Dr. North has been involved in all aspects of technological innovation – from inventing new materials and technologies in a cleanroom to creating cutting-edge prototypes on Discovery Channel’s “Prototype This!” TV program. He is an energetic and charismatic science and technology advocate who inspires grade-schoolers to CEOs.

Dr. North holds three degrees from UCSB: a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 2001; a Master of Science in Materials in 2002; and a Ph.D. in Materials with an emphasis in nanotechnology in 2006. His Ph.D. project involved studying the natural adhesive found on the pad of a gecko’s foot and designing and fabricating the world’s first synthetic adhesive that can be turned on and off electronically.

“I'm stoked to return to UCSB as speaker for the Graduate Division’s Commencement,” Dr. North said. “Having been ‘out in the wild’ for seven years, I have come to understand all of the ways that UC Santa Barbara prepared me for a modern-day career. Not only is UCSB a top-ranked school academically, but the extreme culture of collaboration that exists throughout this university also represents where our society is and needs to be directed in order for us to continue to innovate and build a better world.”

Dr. Mike North is an inventor, scientist, and engineer.Dr. Carol Genetti, Dean of the Graduate Division, said: "I am thrilled to be able to highlight Dr. North at this year’s Commencement ceremony. In addition to his distinguished scholarship, he is a sterling example of how UC Santa Barbara’s graduate alumni are transforming the campus ethos of interdisciplinarity, collaboration, and entrepreneurship into creative careers of tremendous impact."

Dr. North’s scientific interests include such specialties as biomimetics, micro/nanofabrication, nanoscale microscopy and micro/nanomechanical characterization. His investigations in these areas have been published in leading scientific journals, including Advanced Materials and Nature.

He also has a knack for building large-scale avant-garde art, such as fire-breathing 90-m.p.h. dragon ships and classic BMWs loaded with computer-controlled fire-blasting cannons.

Soon after he received his Ph.D. from UCSB, Dr. North’s unique mix of engineering and artistic skills got him noticed by the Discovery Channel. The network called upon him to develop the concept for and act as co-host of the television show “Prototype This!” In the 2008-09 series, Dr. North led teams of inventors, builders, and engineers to create never-before-seen spectacles of engineering in short periods of time. These experts from all areas of science, technology, and manufacturing built creations ranging from six-legged all terrain vehicles to 30-foot-tall waterslide simulators to lifesaving firefighting equipment.

Dr. North co-hosts the Science Channel show “Outrageous Acts of Science,” and is currently in production with the Discovery Channel for his own new online show in which he travels the world finding top innovators across all disciplines, “catching them while they are still in the making.”

His advisor when he was a UCSB student, Mechanical Engineering Professor Dr. Kimberly Turner, was thrilled to hear the news that Dr. North will be the keynote speaker.

“Dr. North is definitely one of those students who continues to have lifetime lasting impact on me,” she said. “It was clear from the first time I met him, as a UCSB undergrad, that he was destined for great things. He is definitely a man with passion for discovery, and a deep humanitarian side as well. From the highly engineered ‘fire-breathing dragon’ art car he built to take to Burning Man, to the first reversible gecko-based adhesion, Mike takes on everything at full speed. I cannot wait to hear what he has to tell our graduates, and I can be certain it will be energetic and profound.”  

During his multi-faceted career, Dr. North has contributed his innovative ideas to the toy industry as the Chief Technology Officer at Nukotoys Inc., a company dedicated to “redefining toys for today’s digitally fascinated kids and their engaged parents.” And through his design firm, North Design Labs, he invents new materials and technologies.

Dr. North is most passionate, however, about the nonprofit he founded in 2011, ReAllocate. The organization leverages a volunteer network of high-level technologists, designers, and innovative thinkers to holistically address real-world problems. ReAllocate assembles teams of world-class talent and pairs them with issues faced in developing and disenfranchised parts of the world. By providing the structure, strategic partnerships, and funding necessary to address these issues, ReAllocate is executing innovative and effective solutions to a wide range of problems. Its motto is “World Class Talent, Real World Solutions.”

Dr. North also teaches a graduate course at UC Berkeley called “Cooperative Innovation.” In it, students learn to use their skills of empathy, creativity, collaboration, and storytelling to make a difference in the world. Seeking to broaden the reach of his class, which has 15 students, he is shooting the course like a reality TV show. He hopes by making these ideas more widely available through the Internet, people can learn and be inspired to take their skills and reallocate them.

Dr. North followed in his sibling’s footsteps when he came to UC Santa Barbara. “My older brother, now with his own lab at Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, also attended UCSB, and I'd be lying if I said that those trips down to visit him in IV in the early ’90s weren't part of the inspiration for coming to UCSB,” he  said. “Although when I finally left, it was the mountains that I would come to miss. I had some of my best ideas for my work in the cleanroom on hikes in those mountains!”

The 2014 Graduate Division Commencement will be held on Sunday, June 15, at 4 p.m. on the Faculty Club Green. Grad students, registration is open for 2014 Commencement; the deadline to register for the ceremony is Friday, May 2. For more information and to register, visit Graduate Division's Commencement page.

Dr. Mike North delivered a talk at TEDx Black Rock City during Burning Man in 2012. Credit: John David Tupper, Creative Commons Noncommercial

Nominations are once again being accepted for UC Santa Barbara's University Awards, which will be given to students who have performed "above and beyond the call of duty" in service to the university, the student body, and the community.

All students, faculty, and staff are strongly encouraged to nominate outstanding students who will receive undergraduate or graduate degrees in the 2013-14 academic year. The deadline to receive nominations is Wednesday, April 16, at 4 p.m.

There are six categories of awards: Thomas More Storke Award; Jeremy D. Friedman Memorial Award; Alyce Marita Whitted Memorial Award; Yonie Harris Award for Civility in Public Discourse; University Service Awards; and University Awards of Distinction.

Graduate students are eligible for three of these awards: the Service Award; the Award of Distinction; and the Yonie Harris Award. The following are descriptions of these three awards:

Yonie Harris Award for Civility in Public Discourse
This award is presented annually to graduates who best exemplify the principles of free speech and respectful dialogue and who foster a campus climate of civility and open-mindedness. It recognizes those who are principled leaders, conscientious citizens, and constructive and compassionate community members.

University Service Award
Service Awards, presented annually to graduating seniors and graduate students, acknowledge a depth of involvement in several different areas of campus life. GPA requirements are based on academic performance that is equal to or higher than a cumulative GPA of 3.067, which is the scholastic average of the undergraduate student body as a whole.

University Award of Distinction
These awards are presented annually to graduating seniors and graduate students who have made an outstanding contribution to a particular (perhaps fairly narrow) area of UCSB student life. The awards recognize in-depth or focused involvement and significant achievement in campus or community activities. As with the Service Awards, GPA requirements are based on academic performance that is equal to or higher than a cumulative GPA of 3.067, which is the scholastic average of the undergraduate student body as a whole.

For descriptions of all the awards, visit http://bit.ly/ua2014. The online nomination form may be found here: https://orgsync.com/49068/forms/99959/submission.

Associate Dean of Students Katya Armistead will chair the awards committee. If you have any questions, please contact her at katya.armistead@sa.ucsb.edu or 805-893-8912.

From left, UCSB Graduate Division Dean Carol Genetti, Film and Media Studies Ph.D. student John Vanderhoef, Assemblymember Das Williams, and Materials Ph.D. student Cyrus Dreyer. Credit: Pamela Jennings, UCOP

From Media to Materials, the important graduate research being conducted across UC campuses topped state legislators’ agendas March 12 during the 5th annual Graduate Research Advocacy Day in Sacramento. Two UCSB doctoral students, Cyrus Dreyer of Materials and John Vanderhoef of Film and Media Studies, were among a contingent of more than 20 grad students, administrators, and deans from all 10 UC campuses who came to the Capitol with a strong message: UC graduate students are critical to the research that improves quality of life and brings millions of dollars of investment to California.

John said the “fast-paced and whirlwind day” began at 8:30 a.m. in the Governor’s Council Room, where the UC group gathered for breakfast. They were welcomed by Senator Bill Monning, who represents the 17th Senate District. Others who offered remarks included Graduate Research Advocacy Day Co-Chairs Dean Kim Barrett (UC San Diego) and Dean Chris Kello (UC Merced); and Steve Juarez, Associate Vice President and Director of UCOP State Government Relations.

After a hot breakfast and warm welcomes, John and Cyrus, who were joined on this trip by UCSB Graduate Division Dean Carol Genetti and UCSB Director of Governmental Relations Kirsten Z. Deshler, attended a series of meetings with local lawmakers or their representatives “to stress the important work graduate students at UCSB do,” John said.

For John, a third-year Film and Media Studies Ph.D. student, that research work focuses on “attempts to map alternative video game production networks and their relationship to the dominant networks of the transnational gaming industry in order to examine the many and variable ways once-‘marginal’ game development communities have actually come to occupy the robust ‘center’ of gaming cultures and industry.”

The day’s meetings included conversations with Senior Policy Analyst Daniel Rounds, who stood in for Senator Hannah Beth Jackson; a representative of Assemblymember Katcho Achadjian (35th District); UCSB grad alum and Assemblymember Das Williams (37th District); and Douglas Lorenz, Communications Director for the Office of Assemblymember Jeff Gorell (44th District).  

This year, lunch was followed by a question-and-answer session with UC’s new President, Janet Napolitano, and Nobel Laureate Dr. Randy Schekman of UC Berkeley. You may read the Sacramento Bee's interview with President Napolitano. 

UC President Janet Napolitano, center in blue jacket, and Nobel Laureate Randy Schekman, next to her, were among the UC delegation at Graduate Research Advocacy Day in Sacramento. Credit: Melani King, UC Berkeley Public Affairs

John said he welcomed the opportunity to discuss with legislative representatives a Carsey-Wolf Center initiative he has worked on for two years. The Media Industries Project, he said, includes “our dynamic work with the Connected Viewing Initiative, a research collaboration with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, and our new Creative Labor Initiative, where we address concerns that range from conglomeration and globalization to working conditions, compensation, and benefits for creative labor. I also spent time talking about my dissertation work that focuses more on the changing dynamics of the global video game industry, an industry that contributes over $2.16 billion to California’s economy annually, according to a 2009 study conducted by the ESA (Entertainment Software Association).”

For John, who would like to find a post-doc or tenure-track faculty position after he graduates, the day provided “an opportunity to show how humanities graduate research can and does matter as much as more instrumental research in the hard sciences and engineering schools.”

"We wanted [legislators] to understand that the graduate programs make significant contributions that are distinct [from undergraduate programs] and should be kept in mind when considering
the impact of the UCs.”
–Cyrus Dreyer, UCSB Materials Ph.D. student

Representing that science and engineering side of UCSB research was Cyrus Dreyer, a 5th-year Ph.D. student in Materials. Cyrus’ research “involves using computational techniques to explore the materials properties of group III nitride materials, which have applications as light-emitting diodes for efficient general lighting, laser diodes for displays and optical storage, and power electronics used to convert electricity between alternating and direct current without loss of power.”

In his meetings with legislative representatives, Cyrus stressed two issues. “First, I discussed (in the context of my own research) how grad student research is driving innovation in important areas like energy efficiency, alternative energy, and sustainability. Second, I pointed out how the UC system nurtures entrepreneurship and allows these technological advances to be taken out of the lab and into industry, both by professors and graduate students,” he said.

Assemblymember Das Williams, left, “was very engaged and interested in my research," said UCSB Ph.D. student Cyrus Dreyer. Credit: Pamela Jennings, UCOP“Our concerns,” he said, “were general ones that mostly dealt with raising awareness for graduate students, so when decisions are made about funding the UCs, the legislators do not only think about it in terms of the benefits of undergraduate education. We wanted them to understand that the graduate programs make significant contributions that are distinct and should be kept in mind when considering the impact of the UCs.”

The highlight of the day for Cyrus was meeting Assemblymember Williams. “He was very engaged and interested in my research. Also, it was refreshing to meet a legislator who seemed to have wide knowledge and interest in science and academics.”

Cyrus found his conversations with representatives to be positive. “The legislators or their staff members were very interested in hearing about our research and excited about the implications, in the context of general scientific advancement as well as the economic benefit to the state from high-tech start-ups and the scientific training of grad students in general,” he said.

“Attending Graduate Research Advocacy Day was an interesting window into the legislative process,” Cyrus said. “I never realized that direct interaction with legislators and their staff was possible. It provided an option for involvement if/when I have a more specific concern about the way an issue has been legislated. After graduation, I hope to remain in academia and become a professor at a research university. The interaction that the advocacy day provided presented a model for how to constructively influence policy decisions that will influence my career, such as funding for universities and research in general.”

John thanked Film and Media Studies Professor Michael Curtin for recommending him and called UCSB Graduate Division Dean Genetti and Deshler "some of the best evangelists for UC graduate student research."

It was the second year Dr. Genetti participated in the event as Dean of the Graduate Division. “UC Graduate Advocacy Day is a great opportunity to remind lawmakers of the importance of our graduate programs," she said. "This year the presence of President Napolitano and Nobel Laureate Randy Schekman significantly amplified this message. I was so impressed by our students, who were effective and articulate advocates, and beautifully demonstrated the impact of their research for the state of California.” 

UC GRADUATE EDUCATION FACT SHEET
DID YOU KNOW THAT:

• UC awards more than 4,000 Ph.D.s a year, 8 percent of the nation’s Ph.D.s.
• In California, UC awards 65 percent of all doctorates, and 70 percent of those awarded in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
• More than 20 UC doctoral students have gone on to win a Nobel Prize.
• One quarter of all UC and California State University faculty received their Ph.D.s from a UC graduate program.
• UC Ph.D. earners are strongly represented in the workforce in fields outside of academia. Among UC graduate degree recipients working in California in 2012, about half went into sectors other than higher education, including government, medicine, business and manufacturing, engineering, and K-12 education.
• UC researchers produced 1,727 new inventions in 2013, an average of nearly five a day.
• UC research hatched 71 start-up companies in 2013. To date, some 640 startup companies have been formed with UC inventions or by UC researchers, many based on innovations that UC graduate students helped pioneer.

For more facts, view the University of California’s “The facts: UC graduate research.”

And for more information about UCSB grad students’ previous participation in Graduate Research Advocacy Day, read our GradPost coverage in 2012 and 2013: 

2 UCSB Ph.D. Students’ Voices Are Heard in State Capital on Graduate Research Advocacy Day, 2013

UCSB Grad Students Discuss Research During Sacramento Advocacy Day, 2012

Mark your calendars for some of the great Grad Slam presentations planned by your friends and fellow grad students taking place April 7-9.

If the titles are any indication, this is going to be a great event.

Shortest title: Untimely Ecologies. By Christopher Walker.

Longest title: Having “The Talk”: The Importance of Parent-Child Communication about Sexual Orientation in the Development of Youth Sexual Orientation Attitudes and Behaviors. By Audrey Harkness.

Funniest title: Let Them Eat Ketchup. By Caitlin Rathe.

Cleverest use of emoticon: Student Perceptions of Teacher:) Emoticon Usage. By Aubrie Adams.

Here is the complete schedule for the first five rounds.

Grad Slam Preliminary Round 1

Monday, April 7, 11 a.m. to noon

Student Resource Building Multipurpose Room

• Beyond War: Rebuilding Liberia’s Ethnic and National Identities, by Gary Haddow, Education.
• Complex Fluids Being Even More Complex, by Yassine Dhane, Chemical Engineering.
• Everyday Developers: The Production and Cultures of Indie Games, by John Vanderhoef, Film and Media Studies.
• Mapping the Finger: The Colonial History of Biometrics, by Mira Rai Waits, History of Art and Architecture.
• Method to Our Madness: Towards a Better Understanding of the Public’s Role in Policy, by Heather Hodges, Political Science.
• Towards Bringing One Billion More to the Light without Raising the Global Thermostat, by Christopher Proctor, Materials.
• Uncovering Mechanisms of Developmental Robustness Using Microfluidics, by Eric Terry, BMSE.

Grad Slam Preliminary Round 2

Monday, April 7, 3 to 4 p.m.

Elings 1605

• 4D to 5D Object Modeling for Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome, by Sudhish Kasaba Ramesh, Electrical and Computer Engineering.
• “Cell”ection Using Light and Flow: Detect It before It Is Cancer! by Mehran Hoonejani, Mechanical Engineering.
• The Fear of Art, and How to Eliminate It, by Barney B. Johnson, Music
• How Pizza Explains Yoga, by Philip Deslippe, Religious Studies.
• Kidney Punch: The Final Hit, by Kevin Kipp, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology.
• Let Them Eat Ketchup, by Caitlin Rathe, History.
• Reconstructing Proto-Sogeram, by Don Daniels, Linguistics.
• Student Perceptions of Teacher :) Emoticon Usage, by Aubrie Adams, Communication.

Grad Slam Preliminary Round 3

Tuesday, April 8, 11 a.m. to noon

ESB (Engineering Science Building) 1001

• Effects of Compost Application Rate on Area- and Yield-Scaled Greenhouse Gas Emissions, by Michelle Oyewole, Geography.
• Hansel and Gretel at the Piano: Children’s Music and Socialization, by Matthew Roy, Music.
• On-site Healthcare by Sleight of Hand, by Faye Walker, Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Partition-Based Similarity Search, by Maha Alabduljalil, Computer Science.
• The Origin of Ostracod Bioluminescence, by Nicole Leung, Bimolecular Science and Engineering.
• Understanding Second Language Acquisition from a Sociocognitive Perspective, by Jenna Joo, Education.
• Untimely Ecologies, by Christopher A. Walker, English.

Grad Slam Preliminary Round 4

Tuesday, April 8, from 3 to 4 p.m.

Pacific View Room, Davidson Library (8th floor)

• Analytics at Your Fingertips, by Vaibhav Arora, Computer Science.
• A Safe and Effective Nanotherapeutic to Control the Coagulation Cascade During Trauma, by Damien Kudela, Chemistry.
• Because Neglect Isn’t Cute: Tuxedo Stan’s Campaign for a Humane World, by Shari Sanders, Comparative Literature.
• Handling Our Dead: What Funerals Say about the Living, by Christine Murphy, Religious Studies.
• Improving Social Skills in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, by Sunny Kim, Education.
• Putting on Your Work Hat: The Role of [Un]Professionalism in Organizational Life, by Scott Banghart, Communication.
• Searching the Brain for Missing Parts, by Matt Cieslak, Psychological and Brain Sciences.
• The Brain in Action, by Deborah Barany, Dynamical Neuroscience.

Grad Slam Preliminary Round 5

Wednesday, April 9, 11 a.m. to noon

Student Resource Building Multipurpose Room

• Cocaine in the Brain, by Kyle Ploense, Psychological and Brain Sciences.
• Electrochemical Sensors for Rapid and Inexpensive Pathogen Detection, by Hannah Kallewaard, Chemistry and Biochemistry.
• Focused, Efficient, and Bright: The Promise of Laser Lighting, by Leah Kuritzky, Materials.
• Having “The Talk”: The Importance of Parent-Child Communication about Sexual Orientation in the Development of Youth Sexual Orientation Attitudes and Behaviors, by Audrey Harkness, Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology.
• Hyperspectral Remote Sensing of Giant Kelp, by Thomas Bell, Marine Science.
• I Know How You Feel: Literature and the Experience of Empathy, by Shay Hopkins, English.
• Teachers’ Beliefs about Language: Gaining Positive Perspectives, by Elizabeth Mainz, Education.

Mark your calendars for some of the great Grad Slam presentations planned by your friends and fellow grad students taking place April 9-11.

If these titles are any indication, these are going to be great talks.

Shortest title: Coral Reef Recovery . . . or Not? by Samantha Davis.

Longest title: Making Molecules “Cooperate”: Imitating Nature’s Ubiquitous Strategy of Biomolecular Cooperativity to Improve the Precision of Diagnostic Devices, by Anna Simon.

Funniest title: What Makes Grumpy Cat more Popular than the Higgs Boson? by Arturo Deza.

Best use of food: Cheeseburgers, Central Americans, and Carbon 12: One New Technique for Two Old Problems by Daniel Ervin.

Here is the complete schedule for Rounds 6 to 10.

Grad Slam Preliminary Round 6

Wednesday, April 9, 4 to 5 p.m.

IHC McCune Conference Room 6020

• Alien Citizens: The Mexican Repatriation Program, 1920s-40s, by Marla Ramirez, Chicana and Chicano Studies.
• Brutal Silence: Words That Don’t Matter, Writing That Doesn’t Exist, by Ryan Dippre, Education.
• Is Teaching Really the Best Way to Learn? by Logan Fiorella, Psychological and Brain Sciences.
• Low-Power and Reliable Resistive Memories for Future Memory Applications, by Amirali Ghofrani, Electrical and Computer Engineering.
• Predicting Information Spread in Social Networks with Incomplete Information, by Minh Hoang, Computer Science.
• Re-thinking Gay Rights Strategies: Perspectives from LGBTQ Women in the Rural Midwest, by Carly Thomsen, Feminist Studies.
• Tsunami Hazard along the Santa Barbara Coast, by Laura Reynolds, Earth Sciences.

Grad Slam Preliminary Round 7

Thursday, April 10, 11 a.m. to noon

Elings 1605

• Data Security and Privacy for Database Services in the Cloud, by Cetin Sahin, Computer Science.
• Documenting the Endangered Languages of Siberia, by Dibella L. Wdzenczny, Linguistics.
• HIV: Gene Therapy Stealth Attack, by Esther Taxon, Biomolecular Science and Engineering.
• I Have the Foggiest Idea, by Nate Emery, Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology.
• The Devil in the Brazilian Backlands, by Eduardo Viana da Silva, Spanish and Portuguese.
• This Is Your Brain on Flow: Observing the Brain During Optimal Experiences, by Richard Huskey, Communication.
• TIMSS, the Past, the Present, and the Future, by Sungmin Moon, Education.

Grad Slam Preliminary Round 8

Thursday, April 10, 5 to 6 p.m.

Santa Rosa Formal Lounge

• Celebrating Mourning: Memorializations of Vodun and Slavery in West Africa, by Haddy Kreie, Theater and Dance.
• Exploring the Academic Socialization Experiences of Latina/o STEM Graduate Students at UCSB, by Henry L. Covarrubias, Education.
• Insights into the Trophic Roles of Eastern Pacific Olive Ridley Sea Turtles from Compound-Specific Isotope Analysis of Amino Acids, by Lindsey E. Peavey, Bren.
• Making Molecules “Cooperate”: Imitating Nature’s Ubiquitous Strategy of Biomolecular Cooperativity to Improve the Precision of Diagnostic Devices, by Anna Simon, Biomolecular Science and Engineering.
• Measuring Cells from Space: Remote Sensing of Phytoplankton Size Distribution, by James G. Allen, Marine Science.
• Numbers DO Lie: Rethinking Inequality and the “Achievement Gap,” by Grayson Maas, Anthropology.
• Solon: Democratizing the Cloud, by Alexander Pucher, Computer Science.

Grad Slam Preliminary Round 9

Friday, April 11, 11 a.m. to noon

Student Resource Building Multipurpose Room

• Bringing Bacchus to the People: Viti-Viniculture, Autarky, and Mass Spectacle in Fascist Italy, 1922-1945, by Brian J. Griffith, History.
• Cheeseburgers, Central Americans, and Carbon 12: One New Technique for Two Old Problems, by Daniel Ervin, Geography.
• Coral Reef Recovery . . . or Not? by Samantha Davis, Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology
• Economic Incentives in Collective Groundwater Management, by Eric Edwards, Bren.
• Levels of Alienation: Assessing the Effects of a Creative Writing Program on a Population of Incarcerated Adolescent Boys, by Michele N. Zugnoni, Education.
• Mussel Materials-Surprisingly Impressive, by Eric Danner, Biomolecular Science and Engineering.
• New Arsenal of Materials for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacterial Infection, by Michael Zakrewsky, Chemical Engineering.

Grad Slam Preliminary Round 10

Friday, April 11, 3 to 4 p.m.

Elings 1605

• Academic Socialization of Latina and Latino Undergraduate Students at UCSB, by Priscilla Pereschica, Education.
• Can Suburbia Get Smarter? Mixed-Use Developments in the Suburbs of Portland, Oregon, by Erik Solevad Nielsen, Sociology.
• Don’t Stop the Solar Fuels Party, by Dayton Horvath, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
• Edo Nobori: Performance of Identity in Ryukyu’s Embassies to Japan, by Travis Seifman, History.
• From “At-Risk” to “At-Promise”: Critical Pedagogy at Work for High School Youth Participants of Intervention Program, by Mario Galicia Jr., Education.
• Genetic Regulation: What the Human Genome Project Didn’t Tell Us, by David Jacobson, Physics.
• The Evolution of the Flashy Male Display in Ostracoda, by Emily Ellis, Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology.
• What Makes Grumpy Cat more Popular than the Higgs Boson? by Arturo Deza, Dynamical Neuroscience.

A massive, hot supergiant, Kappa Cassiopeiae is surrounded by a streaky red glow of material in its path called bow shocks, often seen in front of the fastest, most massive stars in the galaxy. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

UCSB astrophysicist Matteo Cantiello answers audience questions at the first Café KITP. Credit:Spencer BruttigThe stars came out on Wednesday night at SOhO restaurant in Santa Barbara. In fact, it was a standing-room-only crowd for these stars. The audience came to enjoy the inaugural Café KITP, a series aimed at opening up dialogue between physicists and the public. The first talk in the series was presented by UCSB astrophysicist Matteo Cantiello, who spoke on “Music of the Spheres: The Secret Songs of the Stars.”

The stars play beautiful music, through oscillations that travel many light-years to reach Earth, Cantiello explained to the crowd. By shifting the pitch several octaves, humans are able to hear the sounds of these oscillations, he added. “Humans have always tried to understand what the lights in the sky are as well as their meaning and function,” the Kavli astrophysicist told the audience in explaining the important role stars have in the chemical evolution of the universe.

The idea for Café KITP came about as a collaboration between UC Santa Barbara’s Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) and its journalist in residence, Ivan Amato, who is a science and technology writer, editor, and communicator based in Silver Spring, Maryland. In May 2011, Amato had spearheaded DC Science Café at a local eatery and cultural gathering place, Busboys and Poets, in an effort to engage the public with science issues.

“One of the drivers for me is that science is part of culture, not apart from it,” Amato said in an Office of Public Affairs and Communications (OPAC) news release. “I think the greatest gift that science has to offer is really the invitation to experience awe as science reveals how nature works.”

Greg Huber, deputy director of KITP, said in the release: “What the KITP is really good at is bringing researchers together from around the world and creating for a period the world’s greatest academic department in one particular area. And we’ve done that for the field of astrophysics.”

Café KITP’s motto is “Eat, THINK, and be merry!”  Audiences will be able to do so every few months when the Café KITP events are held. For more information about Café KITP, its events and topics, visit KITP’s Café KITP page. For the full OPAC article, read the Café KITP news release.

KITP journalist in residence Ivan Amato facilitates questions from the crowd. Credit: Spencer Bruttig

Winners of Round One, who will move on to the Grad Slam Semifinals, are: Mira Rai Waits of History of Art and Architecture, left, and Deborah Barany of Dynamical Neuroscience. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Monday, April 7, 11 a.m. to noon, Student Resource Building, Multipurpose Room.

Here is what you may have missed at the first round of the Grad Slam.

The Basics

Graduate Division Dean Carol Genetti was the host of Grad Slam Round One. Credit: Patricia MarroquinThe Glad Slam features 3-minute presentations of student research. 

The best two presenters from the preliminary round advance to the next round (and the best four receive a $50 gift card for the UCSB bookstore).

Kyle’s Picks

Best Dressed: Mira Rai Waits

Honorable Mention Best Dressed: Gary Haddow (for purple T-shirt featuring Africa)

Best Visuals: Deborah Barany

Fastest: Yassine Dhane (2:24)

Funniest: Heather Hodges

Judges’ Picks

Walter Boggan of Graduate Division was there to remind competitors of their time limit. Competitors were marked down for going beyond three minutes. Credit: Patricia MarroquinDeborah Barany (advances to the Semifinal round)

Mira Rai Waits (advances to the Semifinal round)

Gary Haddow

Heather Hodges

Presentation Summaries

The Brain in Action, by Deborah Barany, Dynamical Neuroscience.

Barany explained how humans are better than the smartest computers in completing movements. The human brain knows where you need to move and how to get there. Applications for the brain transforming thought into action are neuromotor prostheses, allowing physically disabled people to move objects with their thoughts.

Complex Fluids Being Even More Complex, by Yassine Dhane, Chemical Engineering.

Dhane explained the importance of squeezing complex fluids, such as plastics, through small tubes for industry. The bowl of pasta is the best model for studying complex fluids for suction power: how we suck noodles. Therefore, making even a .05% increase in suction power for this 200 million industry can make Yassine Dhane's talk was titled "Complex Fluids Being Even More Complex." Credit: Patricia Marroquinit into a billion dollar industry.

Beyond War: Rebuilding Liberia’s Ethnic and National Identities, by Gary Haddow, Education.

Haddow explained how there are always national violent conflicts going on in the world, especially in Africa, as a result of economics, religious, and ethnic differences. Specifically, when rebuilding a country after a civil war, such as Liberia, we need to understand how to rebuild a new national identity.

Method to Our Madness: Towards a Better Understanding of the Public’s Role in Policy, by Heather Hodges, Political Science.

Hodges explained we all matter in politics and policy, but we are weird and irrational in our decisions. The way information is worded and presented changes our responses to it. Also, are perceptions change depending on our relation to events. However, we still don’t understand how and why we matter or make decisions, so more research is needed.

Towards Bringing One Billion More to the Light without Raising the Global Thermostat, by Christopher Proctor, Materials.

Proctor explained one billion more people will gain access to electricity, but we cannot continue to use the same energy sources without having negative effects on our environment. Another problem is that fossil fuels are cheaper than renewable energy sources. However, plastic solar cells can provide a cheap source of energy, if only they were more efficient. Proctor’s research will try to make plastic solar cells way more efficient.

Uncovering Mechanisms of Developmental Robustness Using Microfluidics, by Eric Terry, BMSE.

John Vanderhoef of Film and Media Studies spoke about "Everyday Developers: The Production and Cultures of Indie Games." Credit: Patricia MarroquinTerry explained that heart disease is currently the largest cause of death in the U.S. One day many of us might need a new heart. So we need to understand how to take a single cell from ourselves to create an organ replacement. Currently, he studies C. elegans to learn how to use cells to make complex structures like a new heart.

Everyday Developers: The Production and Cultures of Indie Games, by John Vanderhoef, Film and Media Studies.

Vanderhoef explained that the video game industry is big, billions of people play video games, and the messages they deliver matter. However, games are not nearly as diverse as they could be, representing a white male culture. Fortunately, indie games provide more diversity. He studied how three different groups who make indie games, such as amateurs, independent game companies, and retro game developers, are now providing more choices and diversity.

Mapping the Finger: The Colonial History of Biometrics, by Mira Rai Waits, History of Art and Architecture.

Waits explained she is attached to her iPhone, which uses biometrics. Biometrics are now being used by governments and industry everywhere. But where did this trend begin?  It began in 1858, in Bengal, India, when a contractor used handprints in addition to signatures to identify people. Later, scientists discovered fingerprints were unique. Fingerprints were then used in prisons to identify and control the population. So the history of biometrics is darker than we realize.

Disclaimer: Apologies to any presenters if I misrepresented your research. I only had three minutes to summarize.

While the judges deliberate, Grad Slam Round One competitors take questions from the audience. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Advancing to the Semifinals from Round Two are Aubrie Adams of Communication and Philip Deslippe of Religious Studies. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Monday, April 7, 3 to 4 p.m., Elings Hall, Room 1605

Here is what you missed at the second round of the Grad Slam.

Ryan’s Picks

The Grad Slam Round Two judges were, from left: Ignacio Gallardo, Tania Israel, and Satie Airame. Credit: Patricia MarroquinBest use of images: Aubrie Adams

Best discussion of pizza: Philip Deslippe

Best use of music: Barney Johnson

Best reference to ancient Egyptians in unfortunate situations: Mehran Hoonejani

Best title: Kevin Kipp

Best pre-presentation dance: Caitlin Rathe

Best use of poetry: Saiph Savage

Judges’ Picks

Aubrey Adams (advances to Semifinal round)

Philip Deslippe (advances to Semi-final round)

Mehran Hoonejani

Barney Johnson

Aubrie Adams' talk focused on emoticons. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Presentation Summaries

Student Perceptions of Teacher Emoticon Usage, Aubrie Adams, Department of Communication

Aubrie explains that written text can come across to readers as cold, impersonal, and uncaring.  She looks into how teachers can show they care in text-based communication. She argues that emoticons allow teachers to improve perceptions of caring, although they carry with them the risk of influencing perceptions of confidence negatively. Aubrie performed an experiment that showed subjects three different messages, each with a varying number of emoticons (0, 3, and 12). These messages were then used to have subjects assess teacher caring levels and teacher competence. Teachers who used minimal emoticons (3) did not have an impact on perceptions of competence, but raised the perceived level. Because interactions increasingly are text-based, we need to know how to show emotions with our texts.

How Pizza Explains Yoga, Philip Deslippe, Religious Studies

Barney Johnson, Music Composition, spoke on "The Fear of Art, and How to Eliminate It." Credit: Patricia MarroquinYoga is a big deal these days. This occurred through a process of re-enculturation. The same process happened through pizza. Philip has explored the history of early American Yoga. Yoga is the site of constant interactions across multiple cultures in multiple times. Our modern perceptions of Yoga misunderstand the historical development of the practice. 

The Fear of Art, and How to Eliminate It, Barney Johnson, Music Composition

Barney’s lifelong dream is to create a world where art is the center. He presents a series of multi-modal presentations of art that create an experience of art rather than a showing of art. His attention to detail extends all the way to the pictures on the wall and the wine being served.

“Cell”ection Using Light and Flow: Detect It Before It Is Cancer!, Mehran Hoonejani, Mechanical Engineering

Kevin Kipp delivered a "Kidney Punch" in his three-minute talk. Credit: Patricia MarroquinAfter informing his audience that cancer has been an issue in human society for thousands of years, up to and including current mortality statistics on cancer, Mehran explains a new and exciting approach to identifying circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the bloodstream. CTCs can be indicative of tumor size, and a good measure of the efficacy of drugs in use, but unfortunately they are very hard to find. Mehran proposes a method of tagging cells with biotags in order to identify CTCs. 

Kidney Punch: The Final Hit, Kevin Kipp, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Kevin Kipp’s awesomely titled presentation starts off a very interesting explanation of the issues and possible steps toward more effective treatments for Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD). He introduced the three hypotheses for PKD (mutant allele from parents, mutilation of second allele, and injury) and recommended caloric restriction as an alternative to the debilitating cancer-fighting drugs that are normally used to fight the disease. Caloric restriction has no negative side effects and can have positive benefits (such as anti-aging) even for people who don’t suffer from PKD. 

Let Them Eat Ketchup, Caitlin Rathe, History

Saiph Savage of Computer Science presented her talk in the form of a poem. Credit: Patricia MarroquinCaitlin studies the history of public policy, and in particular food policy. She explores the relationship between public food programs like food stamps and charitable food venues such as pantries.  She provided an overview of the history of the food stamp program from its inception to Ronald Reagan’s Task Force on Food Assistance in 1983 and 1984. Through this history, Caitlin identified a rise of food stamp and food bank usage, and is attempting to explain the reasons for that occurrence.

Understanding Online Audiences, Saiph Savage, Computer Science

Saiph began by scheming her audience, introducing a poem and claiming that “I thought it was a poetry slam.” However, this ruse was directed at showing the audience how people perceived their audiences when speaking or writing. Saiph then used that kernel of thought to expand on issues of understanding online audiences, who are constructed and responded to within the semi-private partition of the Internet.  Saiph wants to know that, if people have all of this data and can collaborate online to do things, how are they doing it? Why? For what purpose?

Grad Slam Round Two competitors answer questions while the judges deliberated. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

The winners of Grad Slam Preliminary Round Three, who will go on to the Semifinals, are, from left, Michelle Oyewole of Geography and Don Daniels of Linguistics. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Tuesday, April 8, 11 a.m. to noon, Engineering Science Building 1001.

Here is what you may have missed at the third round of the Grad Slam.

What’s Grad Slam, you say?

The Glad Slam features 3-minute presentations of student research. 

Faye Walker of Chemistry and Biochemistry discussed "On-Site Healthcare by Sleight of Hand." Credit: Patricia MarroquinThe best two presenters from the preliminary round advance to the Semifinal round (and the best four receive a $50 gift card for the UCSB bookstore).

Kyle’s Picks

Best Dressed: Christopher Walker

Honorable Mention Best Socks: Faye Walker (flowers)

Best Visuals: Jenna Joo

Fastest Talker: Faye Walker (2:45)

Funniest Talk: Don Daniels

Judges’ Picks

Don Daniels (advances to Semifinal round)

Michelle Oyewole (advances to Semifinal round)

Nicole Leung

Maha Alabduljalil of Computer Science listens during a question-and-answer session. Credit: Patricia MarroquinMatthew Roy

Presentation Summaries

Partition-Based Similarity Search, Maha Alabduljalil, Computer Science

Maha stated that examples of similarity search can be seen in what Google and Yahoo do, the collaborative filtering that connects people with similar interests, and spam detection. However, the problem with similarity search is that it has a great complexity: the more information one has to scan the longer it takes. Her contribution is to how to sort and partition documents and identify dissimilar partitions to increase the execution time.

Reconstructing Proto-Sogeram, Don Daniels, Linguistics

Don explained that every language family is derived from one language. For example, Romance languages are derived from Latin. Without written documents, one can still trace language development by cataloguing living spoken languages. In Papa Guinea, he is reconstructing the Proto-Sogeram language by looking at the nine languages that were derived from it. Unfortunately, these languages are dying, so the work is important to do.

Understanding Second Language Acquisition from a Sociocognitive Perspective, Jenna Joo, Education

Jenna showed an example of a student and tutor speaking in a classroom and explained how language learning is not just a private process, but also takes place within a community. When we focus on an individual learner we are missing out on a lot of the language learning process. Learning language involves multiple people. It also involves aspects such as facial expressions, tone, etc. Language learning should have a new framework that demonstrates that it is a highly public, shared, and co-constructed endeavor.

The Origin of Ostracod Bioluminescence, Nicole Leung, Biomolecular Science and Engineering

Nicole Leung of Biomolecular Science and Engineering spoke about "The Origin of Ostracod Bioluminescence." Credit: Patricia MarroquinNicole explained that a major challenge for biologists is explaining how such complex human traits as eyes are formed. In biology, genes correspond to single traits and multiple genes make complex traits. To study complex traits, she looked at bioluminescent crustaceans to understand how multiple genes make complex traits like bioluminescence.

She was able to identify the genes for this trait and was able to re-create the light in the lab. Possible applications for creating light in the body are whole animal imaging that will be both non-invasive and identify cells that are in diseased states.

Effects of Compost Application Rate on Area- and Yield-Scaled Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Michelle Oyewole, Geography

Michelle showed images of two fields of strawberries that looked the same, however one field contributed more to greenhouse emissions. The difference was the compost used. She will research compost to understand emission rates by looking at several fields with different composts and measure their emission rates. Then in the lab she will examine the compost to see which materials are responsible for the most emissions. This is a step in including agriculture into making a better environment.

Hansel and Gretel at the Piano: Children’s Music and Socialization, Matthew Roy, Music

Matthew Roy of Music spoke about children's music and socialization. Credit: Patricia MarroquinMatthew showed examples of children’s music, such as Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, and the song “if you’re happy and you know it.” Young music is a socializing and authoritative force for children. Pressure is placed on the adult downward on children and never the other way around. Matthew looked at Robert Schumann’s compositions for children’s and adults’ music. Schumann gave each piece a descriptive title that described the socialization people go through from childish (playing with toys) to adulthood (work).

Untimely Ecologies, Christopher A. Walker, English

Christopher showed an image of the effects of climate change on Earth. To understand climate change, we need to understand how we are individually impacted. The best way to do this is narrative. Narrative can explain complex stories of how an individual relates to the environment. Literary ecologies, or feedback loops, can be used to explain the interactions between humans and environment. By studying narrative forms, we can show untimely ecologies: impacts over a long period of time.

On-site Healthcare by Sleight of Hand, Faye Walker, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Faye stated that mobile phones have an 89% penetration in the developing world. Now these phones can be part of a new mobile health care system. One can use phone apps to follow health directions, use cameras to analyze results, and the screen to receive a diagnosis quickly. This can be done with tropical diseases, and the phone can even do a better analysis than humans for some diseases, in which one must count microbes.

Disclaimer: Apologies to any presenters if I misrepresented your research. I only had three minutes to summarize.

Competitors in Grad Slam Preliminary Round Three take questions from the audience while the judges deliberated. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Winners of Grad Slam Preliminary Round Four, who will go on to the Semifinals, are, left, Matt Cieslak of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Damien Kudela of Chemistry. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Tuesday, April 8, 3 to 4 p.m., Library Pacific View Room.

Here is what you may have missed at the fourth round of the Grad Slam.

The BasicsGraduate Division Dean Carol Genetti hosted Grad Slam Round Four. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

The Glad Slam features three-minute presentations of student research. 

The top two presenters from the preliminary round advance to the Semifinal round (and the top four receive $50 gift cards for the UCSB bookstore).

Kyle’s Picks

Best Dressed: Scott Banghart

Best Venue with a View: Library Pacific View Room

Best Visuals: Damien Kudela

Fastest: Damien Kudela (2:51)

Funniest: Shari Sanders

Judges’ Picks

Scott Banghart of Communication spoke about unprofessionalism in organizational life. Credit: Patricia MarroquinMatt Cieslak (advances to Semifinal round)

Damien Kudela (advances to Semifinal round)

Scott Banghart

Shari Sanders

(Editor’s note: This round initially had seven competitors. When three students withdrew, that left four competitors, all of whom received the bookstore gift cards. So "everyone’s a winner.")

Presentation Summaries

"Putting on Your Work Hat”: The Role of [Un]Professionalism in Organizational Life, Scott Banghart, Communication

Scott stated most of us will be working for most of our lives and it’s important for us to be professional. But what does it mean to be professional? 48% of Human Resource professionals say new workers are not professional. To figure out what professionalism is, Scott used a communication-oriented approach. He discovered there were components of professionalism: general skills (relevant to job description), behavior (appearance, emotions), and social component (romance, gossip, etc.).

Matt Cieslak discussed his research on concussions and other brain injuries. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Searching the Brain for Missing Parts, Matt Cieslak, Psychological and Brain Sciences

Matt stated brains are important, but can be affected by injury and disease, but soShari Sanders, holding Tuxedo Stan, responds to a question. Credit: Patricia Marroquinme injuries such as concussions cannot be seen with current MRI technology. This is due to neuroanatomy reasons too complex for this writer to explain here or anywhere, but it all makes it difficult to see the concussion. However, there is a way to help. Matt is helping to create a database of brain images to make comparisons for injuries.

A Safe and Effective Nanotherapeutic to Control the Coagulation Cascade During Trauma, Damien Kudela, Chemistry

Damien stated that accidents happen and stopping blood loss has been a problem forever. Brute force and clotting drugs are insufficient and have potential harmful side effects. A recent trend is to use nanoparticle-based therapeutics (smart drugs) to target injured areas and accelerate the clotting process to stop bleeding faster.

Because Neglect Isn’t Cute: Tuxedo Stan’s Campaign for a Humane World, Shari Sanders, Comparative Literature

Shari talked about how the cat Tuxedo Stan fights for animal welfare by putting a cute face on appeals for humane treatment of animals. Stan ran for mayor and merchandise purchases go toward charities. Stan’s cuteness appeals to humane treatment more so than harsher images of inhumane treatment of animals and helps raise money.

Disclaimer: Apologies to any presenters if I misrepresented your research. I only had three minutes to summarize.

For information on other events, visit the Graduate Student Showcase 2014 page.

Previous Grad Slam 2014 coverage

Grad Slam Round One Recap: Topics Range From Hears to Handprints, Liberia to Light

Grad Slam Round Two Recap: Music and Poetry and Yoga, Oh My :-)

Grad Slam Round Three Recap: Clapping, Compost, Kids' Music, and More

 Damien Kudela answers an audience member's question. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Winners of Grad Slam Round Five, who will go on to the Semifinals, are: Leah Kuritzky of Materials, left, and Audrey Harkness of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Wednesday, April 9, 11 a.m. to noon, Student Resource Building, Multipurpose Room.

Roxanna Quach of Graduate Division helped audience members sign in. Several dozen people attended. Credit: Patricia MarroquinHere is what you may have missed at the fifth round of the Grad Slam.

Overview

The Glad Slam features 3-minute presentations of student research. 

The top two presenters from the preliminary round advance to the Semifinal round (and the top four receive $50 gift cards for the UCSB bookstore).

Kyle’s Picks

Best Dressed: Kyle Ploense

Best Preliminary Round: Round Five (eight really good short talks and visuals)

Best Visuals: Audrey Harkness

Fastest: Elizabeth Mainz (2:33)

Funniest: Leah Kuritzky

Leah Kuritzky displays a laser light prototype. Credit: Patricia MarroquinJudges’ Picks

Audrey Harkness (advances to Semifinal round)

Leah Kuritzky (advances to Semifinal round)

Hannah Kallewaard

Lisa McAllister

Presentation Summaries

Hyperspectral Remote Sensing of Giant Kelp, Thomas Bell, Marine Science

Thomas explained that hyperspectral remote sensing is much more advanced than multispectral scanning, allowing researchers to measure more data. Changes in coastal ecosystems affect kelp. By measuring kelp, we can measure changes in the ecosystems and its effects.

Having “The Talk”: The Importance of Parent-Child Communication about Sexual Orientation in the Development of Youth Sexual Orientation Attitudes and Behaviors, Audrey Harkness, Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology

Audrey talked about teens’ attitudes toward lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. Parents have an effect on these teen attitudes. She plans to determine empirically if parents’ messages about sexual orientation affect teen attitudes about sexual orientation. Audrey will interview parents and children and see if there is cause and effect. She will then develop workshops to help parents talk about sexual orientation.

Kyle Ploense joined the other Grad Slam Round Five competitors in answering questions while the judges deliberated. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

I Know How You Feel: Literature and the Experience of Empathy, Shay Hopkins, English

Hannah Kallewaard, left, answers a question from the audience. Credit: Patricia MarroquinShay explained that when we read a word such as “coffee,” our brain reacts like we smell coffee. Initially, brains do not distinguish between idea and experience. Reading fiction allows emotional growth and increase our ability to empathize with others.

Electrochemical Sensors for Rapid and Inexpensive Pathogen Detection, Hannah Kallewaard, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Hannah showed that there are way too many steps to test blood – from a blood test request to reporting those test results to a patient. While annoying to people in rich countries, this is a more serious issue in areas with few resources. Hannah is developing a device to detect pathogens and do a test that takes 15 minutes, costs 10 cents, uses only a drop of blood, can perform up to six tests at once, and which you don’t need skilled technicians to process.

Focused, Efficient, and Bright: The Promise of Laser Lighting, Leah Kuritzky, Materials

Leah said lasers can be used to solve the energy crisis. Twenty-two percent of our energy use goes to lighting, she said. The current state of art is the LED lightbulb, but as we increase LED efficiency, the lighting level drops. So how can you get high brightness, high efficiency, and low cost? Lasers. Her research is focused on the atomic scale to improve efficiency, so that in the future we can reduce energy consumption and light the world.

Teachers’ Beliefs about Language: Gaining Positive Perspectives, Elizabeth Mainz, Education

Elizabeth explained we have 4.5 million students in English language programs. Unfortunately, these students are marginalized because of their language. Teachers can change this paradigm. Elizabeth will look at teachers and their language beliefs, and ways to incorporate those ideas into the classroom, so in the future we can value these students.
Lisa McAllister of Anthropology focused on family planning in the Amazon Basin. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Family Planning in the Amazon Basin, Lisa McAllister, Anthropology

Lisa stated that populations are increasing all over the world and this will strain resources for food and water. However, smaller, indigenous groups will grow more and have even more strain on their limited resources. These groups realize the danger of overpopulation but her research showed these people won’t change because they feel unwelcome in cities and feel a need for larger families to help them in the fields. To solve this problem, family planning programs need to be more culturally aware.

Cocaine in the Brain, Kyle Ploense, Psychological and Brain Sciences

Kyle explained that addiction is the intense craving for drugs over sex and food, even chocolates. Drug Kyle Ploense's talk was titled "Cocaine in the Brain." Credit: Patricia Marroquinabuse cost us billions of dollars a year. Many have tried cocaine but only 1% are addicts, so researchers are studying how genes and environment interact to cause addiction. His research trains rats to do cocaine in two different environments: one addictive, and one not. They look at the molecules that push a person toward addiction, which will help in developing treatments.

Disclaimer: Apologies to any presenters if I misrepresented your research. I only had three minutes to summarize.

For information on other events, visit the Graduate Student Showcase 2014 page.

Previous Grad Slam 2014 coverage

Grad Slam Round One Recap: Topics Range From Hears to Handprints, Liberia to Light

Grad Slam Round Two Recap: Music and Poetry and Yoga, Oh My :-)

Grad Slam Round Three Recap: Clapping, Compost, Kids' Music, and More

Grad Slam Round Four Recap: Everyone's a Winner

Round Five of the Grad Slam attracted the largest crowd so far. More than 40 attended the round in the SRB's Multipurpose Room. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Grad Slam Round Six winners, who will advance to the Semifinals, are Logan Fiorella of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Carly Thomsen of Feminist Studies. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Wednesday, April 9, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., HSSB 6020.

Here is what you may have missed at the sixth round of the Grad Slam.

OvervieThe judges for Grad Slam Round Six were, from left, Paul Amar, Drew Carter, and Cindy Doherty. Credit: Patricia Marroquinw

The Glad Slam features three-minute presentations of student research. 

The top two presenters from the preliminary round advance to the Semifinal round (and the top four receive $50 gift cards for the UCSB bookstore).

Ryan’s Picks

Nicest socks: Ryan Dippre

Best timing: Logan Fiorella

Best use of a meme: Amirali Ghofrani

Best images of arrows pointing at mud and sand: Laura Reynolds

Largest amount of information in three minutes: Marla Andrea Ramirez

Longest title: Carly Thomsen (see below)

Best answer to “What would you do with the award money?”: Amirali Ghofrani (He'd go to Hawaii ... for research purposes)

The Round Six competitors share a laugh while answering questions from the audience. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Judges' Picks

Ryan Dippre pointed out that writing is not equally valued at all times in all places. Credit: Patricia MarroquinLogan Fiorella (Advances to Semifinal round)

Carly Thomsen (Advances to Semifinal round)

Laura Reynolds

Marla Andrea Ramirez

Brutal Silence: Words that Don’t Matter, Writing that Doesn’t Exist, Ryan Dippre, Education Department

This ruggedly handsome (Editor’s note: and modest) fellow really wore the hell out of that suit jacket. This presentation pointed out that writing is not equally valued at all times and in all places, and this leads some people to fail to realize the considerable rhetorical knowledge that they possess. By studying writers in moments of intense concentration, we can see what people are doing and how those actions can be used in other writing circumstances to give writers greater control over their writing world.

Logan Fiorella explored the claim that teaching is the best way to learn something. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Is Teaching Really the Best Way to Learn?  Logan Fiorella, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

This presentation explored the claim that teaching is the best way to learn something. Pointing to peer tutoring programs and their like-minded brethren, Logan argues that these programs only produce modest gains in learning. In order to explain this, and to harness the power of using teaching-as-learning as a tool, Logan recommends a six-stage model of learning-by-teaching.  Teaching is a dynamic process, Logan claims, and taking advantage of the complex dynamics of this process can really make teaching the best way to learn.

Amirali Ghofrani addressed the need for longer-lasting power. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Low Power and Reliable Resistive Memories for Future Memory Applications, Amirali Ghofrani, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Amirali recalls for us the painful misery of having a dead battery on our cell phone. He outlines the basic problem: that we need long-lasting power and we need high-capacity memories in our phones. Amirali suggests the power of resistive memories as an answer to some of these problems. 

Marla Ramirez listens to a question. Credit: Patricia MarroquinAlien Citizens: The Mexican Repatriation Program, 1920s-1940s, Marla Andrea Ramirez, Chicana/o Studies

This presentation explored the complicated relationship between the United States and Mexico, and in particular the expelling of 650,000 U.S. citizen children of Mexican ancestry in the era of the Great Depression. The presentation gives a brief overview of the Robles family in an attempt to understand what happened to two generations of people affected by this event.

Tsunami Hazard Along the Santa Barbara Coast: Lessons from Japan, Laura Reynolds, Earth Sciences

Laura Reynolds explored the possibilities for a tsunami along the Santa Barbara coast. Credit: Patricia MarroquinReynolds argues that we need the geological record to fill in the gaps and get an understanding of the realities of tsunamis and their cycles. Understanding tsunamis over the span of a human lifetime is not enough. She explores the possibilities for a tsunami along the Santa Barbara coast.  She does this by taking samples of inland deposits and looking for marine sands that have been deposited inland. 

Rethinking Gay Rights Strategies: Perspectives from LGBTQ Women in the Rural Midwest, Carly Thomsen, Feminist Studies

Beginning with the case of Jene Newsome – a member of the U.S. military who was expelled under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” rule after local police gave evidence of her sexuality to the military – this presentation explored something called “metronormativity,” which is the ideology that rural situations are naturally homophobic. Thomsen suggests, based on 50 interviews with people in the Midwest, that this leads to an estrangement between LGBTQ women in rural areas and the greater gay rights movement, which challenges certain aspects of queer study scholarship, such as the definition of what it means to be “out.” 

For information on other events, visit the Graduate Student Showcase 2014 page.

Previous Grad Slam 2014 coverage

Grad Slam Round One Recap: Topics Range From Hears to Handprints, Liberia to Light

Grad Slam Round Two Recap: Music and Poetry and Yoga, Oh My :-)

Grad Slam Round Three Recap: Clapping, Compost, Kids' Music, and More

Grad Slam Round Four Recap: Everyone's a Winner

Grad Slam Round Five Recap: Sex, Drugs, and Lasers

Carly Thomsen's talk started off with a discussion of a member of the U.S. military who was expelled under the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" rule. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Winners of Grad Slam Round Seven, who will go on to compete in the Semifinals, are Dibella L. Wdzenczny of Linguistics and Nate Emery of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Thursday, April 10, 11 a.m. to noon, Elings 1605.Judges for Round Seven of the Grad Slam were, from left, Frederic Gibou, Victor Rios, and Stephanie Tulley. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Here is what you may have missed at the seventh round of the Grad Slam. 

Overview

The Glad Slam features three-minute presentations of student research. 

The top two presenters from the preliminary round advance to the Semifinal round (and the top four receive $50 gift cards for the UCSB bookstore).

Hala’s Picks

Fastest: Sungmin Moon (2:30)

BeJoshua Munsch of Graduate Division helps mic up Grad Slam competitor Eduardo Viana da Silva. Credit: Patricia Marroquinst Dressed: Dibella L. Wdzenczny

Best Storyteller: Esther Taxon

Best Visuals: Richard Huskey

Judges’ Picks

Dibella L. Wdzenczny (advances to Semifinal round)

Nate Emery (advances to Semifinal round)

Richard Huskey

Sungmin Moon 

Presentation Summaries

The Devil in the Brazilian Backlands, Eduardo Viana da Silva, Spanish and Portuguese

Eduardo discussed the personification of evil and the literary significance of the Devil in history and literature. He is examining novels written about one of the harshest wars in Brazilian history, the Battle of Canudos, 1896-97. This war, fought by the backland residents of Brazil, was seen as a struggle against the Devil himself. By conducting literary analysis of novels such as Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas’ “La Guerra del Fin del Mundo,” Eduardo hopes to better understand the motivations of those involved.

Walter Boggan of Graduate Division keeps the "stopwatch" in view of Grad Slam competitor Nate Emery. Students faced markdowns in their scores if they went beyond the strict three-minute limit. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

I Have the Foggiest Idea, Nate Emery, Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology

Nate discussed about how seasonal fogs can have an impact on plant physiology and wildfires in Southern California. Nate talked about how wetness in an area affects the plant growth and size. Nate referred to fog as a “hidden form of precipitation,” which influences the occurrence and frequency of wildfires in the coastal area of California. 

This is Your Brain on Flow: Observing the Brain During Optimal Experiences, Richard Huskey, Communication

Richard Huskey of Communication discussed what goes on in the brain during "flow." Credit: Patricia MarroquinRichard shared his research on exploring the nature of our brain flow. His research focuses on finding out what specific aspects of an activity (e.g., playing video games) cause flow. Further, his research investigates what is going on in the brain during the flow, especially when a person is involved in a difficult task or activity. His research on flow measurement is unique because despite a long history of academic research on the concept of flow, there are limited studies on how to measure flow. 

HIV: Gene Therapy Stealth Attack, Esther Taxon, Biomolecular Science and Engineering

Esther discussed the current research on gene therapies and how that can cure genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Her research involves using HIV and other viruses (e.g., adenovirus) to “sneak” in under the human immune system to produce lifesaving genes. Esther is hopeful about this gene therapy trend in research as a way to treat diseases.
Dibella Wdzenczny talked about endangered languages in Siberia. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Documenting the Endangered Languages of Siberia, Dibella L. Wdzenczny, Linguistics

Dibella’s research raised concerns on the language assimilation and the possible extinction of indigenous languages in Siberia. Currently, there is a language shift in Siberia, where children are not learning and maintaining their heritage language, but instead learning and speaking Russian and Chinese. Dibella explained how there is an urgent need for linguists to help maintain the indigenous languages in Siberia to preserve heritage, culture, and linguistic diversity.

TIMSS, the Past, the Present, and the Future, Sungmin Moon, Education

Esther Taxon discussed her research on gene therapies. Credit: Patricia MarroquinSungmin’s presentation called for further involvement of fathers in children’s education to improve U.S. math and science achievement level. Sungmin’s research compares South Korea and U.S. growth of math and science education in history, and correlates these findings with father involvement in child’s learning.

For information on other events, visit the Graduate Student Showcase 2014 page.

Previous Grad Slam 2014 coverage

Grad Slam Round One Recap: Topics Range From Hears to Handprints, Liberia to Light

Grad Slam Round Two Recap: Music and Poetry and Yoga, Oh My :-)

Grad Slam Round Three Recap: Clapping, Compost, Kids' Music, and More

Grad Slam Round Four Recap: Everyone's a Winner

Grad Slam Round Five Recap: Sex, Drugs, and Lasers

Grad Slam Round Six Recap: Writing, Repatriation, the Rural Midwest, and More

The Round Seven competitors took questions from the audience while the judges deliberated. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Round Eight of the Grad Slam produced four winners, who will advance to the Semifinals. They are, from left, James Allen of Marine Science; Lindsey Peavey of Bren; Haddy Kreie of Theater and Dance; and Alexander Pucher of Computer Science. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

About 80 people attended Round Eight, including 55 undergraduates from Associate Dean Don Lubach's class. Credit: Patricia MarroquinThursday, April 10, 5 to 6 p.m., Santa Rosa Formal Lounge.

Welcome to the review of the eighth round of the Grad Slam. Unlike previous rounds, this round set a precedent by sending four presenters to the Semifinal round. It was also different in that it was held in the lounge of an undergrad dormitory, giving undergraduates an opportunity to hear about graduate student research. More than 80 people attended this round, including 55 of those were undergraduates in Associate Dean Don Lubach's Education class.

The Basics

The Glad Slam features three-minute presentations of student research. 

The top two presenters from the preliminary round advance to the Semifinal round (and the top four receive $50 gift cards for the UCSB bookstore). In this case, however, all top four presenters will be advancing to the Semifinal round.

Graduate Division Associate Dean Karen Myers addresses a packed Santa Rosa Formal Lounge for Round Eight of the Grad Slam. Credit: Patricia MarroquinKyle’s Picks

Best Dress: Haddy Kreie

Best Future in Politics: Alexander Pulcher

Best Visuals: James Allen

Funniest: Lindsey E. Peavey

Most Improved Title: “Sea Turtle Hunger Games” (changed from Lindsey Peavey’s original title of “Insights into the Trophic Roles of Eastern Pacific Olive Ridley Sea Turtles from Compound-Specific Isotope Analysis of Amino Acids”)

Judges’ Picks

James Allen (advances to Semifinal round)

James Allen talked about the use of satellites to study phytoplankton. Credit: Patricia MarroquinHaddy Kreie (advances to Semifinal round)

Lindsey Peavey (advances to Semifinal round)

Alexander Pucher (advances to Semifinal round)

Presentation Summaries

Measuring Cells from Space: Remote Sensing of Phytoplankton Size Distribution, James G. Allen, Marine Science

James said half of what we breathe comes from phytoplankton. Phytoplankton is also responsible for taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. However, we don’t know by how much. Scientists are measuring this by sailing around the oceans to help determine its role in climate change. However, there is an easier way to measure the carbon dioxide uptake by phytoplankton. Answer: Use satellites. Satellites can measure size and distribution of phytoplankton and measure the whole planet in a week to nine days.

Haddy Kreie will travel to Ouidah, Benin. To find out what she learned, she said, you'll have to attend Grad Slam 2015. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Celebrating Mourning: Memorializations of Vodun and Slavery in West Africa, Haddy Kreie, Theater and Dance

Haddy showed popular images of voodoo and explained these images do not show a realistic portrayal of the religion or of black culture, making black culture hypersexualized. Her research investigates how these distorted images affect our perceptions of voodoo and black culture. Voodoo came from Africa, where there are now memorials to slavery in Africa and she will research if these memorials are exploitive and misrepresentative just like the popular media images of voodoo.

Numbers DO Lie: Rethinking Inequality and the “Achievement Gap,” Grayson Maas, Anthropology

Grayson stated that there is a so-called “achievement gap” in education between minorities and the majority culture. However, this achievement gap problem is in reality a framing problem. We frame the gap in terms of deficit explanations for individuals rather than pointing the finger at the inadequacy of the system that is biased against the non-majority culture. Ability groupings are often determined by the English ability level of students, which works against second-language speakers of English. So he will investigate how this ability grouping affects children’s success in school.

Lindsey Peavey talked about her research into sea turtles, and their importance for a healthy ecosystem. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Sea Turtle Hunger Games, Lindsey E. Peavey, Bren

Alexander Pucher wants to make small local Cloud providers competitive again. Credit: Patricia MarroquinLindsey stated that she is a vegetarian but we wouldn’t know this unless we followed her around all day and observed what she are. However, an easier method would be to take a sample of her skin and test it. This method works for sea turtles too. Sea turtles also happen to be an important part of a healthy sea ecosystem. However, sea turtle numbers have declined. So she is studying sea turtles food habits, collecting and analyzing sea turtles skin tissue to determine their place in the food web. She discovered that Costa Rican turtles are eating the best. She will use this information to provide the best protection measures for all sea turtles in the future and improve the ecosystem.

Solon: Democratizing the Cloud, Alexander Pucher, Computer Science

Alexander wants to democratize the cloud. We all use the cloud every day by using email, Facebook, and Netflix. Many of our phone apps use the cloud to store information since our phone memories are so small. However, data centers that run the cloud are so expensive that only places like Google and Microsoft can own them. Therefore, they have more power in the market. Alexander wants to make small local providers competitive again. He wants to link up smaller data centers to provide more competition and make the market more democratic.

Anna Simon discussed her research into molecular machines. Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Mimicking Nature to Engineer Ultrasensitive Molecular Machines, Anna Simon, Biomolecular Science and Engineering

Anna stated that hemoglobin spreads oxygen around the body. Hemoglobin uses a mechanism known as cooperativity to be more efficient. This method of cooperativity could also be used to help detect toxins and pathogens. But we need to make molecular machines do this work. Since this field of research is new, these applications are decades in the future.

Disclaimer: Apologies to any presenters if I misrepresented your research. I only had three minutes to summarize.

For information on other events, visit the Graduate Student Showcase 2014 page.

Grayson Maas talked about his research into the so-called educational "achievement gap." Credit: Patricia Marroquin

Previous Grad Slam 2014 coverage

Grad Slam Round One Recap: Topics Range From Hearts to Handprints, Liberia to Light

Grad Slam Round Two Recap: Music and Poetry and Yoga, Oh My :-)

Grad Slam Round Three Recap: Clapping, Compost, Kids' Music, and More

Grad Slam Round Four Recap: Everyone's a Winner

Grad Slam Round Five Recap: Sex, Drugs, and Lasers

Grad Slam Round Six Recap: Writing, Repatriation, the Rural Midwest, and More

Grad Slam Round Seven Recap: Fog, Flow, Fathers, and More

Grad Slam Round Eight speakers took questions from the audience while the judges deliberated. Credit: Patricia Marroquin