From left, Allison Horst, Das Williams, and Lindsay Palmer
Allison Horst was destined to be a graduate researcher in California. As a child growing up in San Luis Obispo County, she loved science and nature – “very clearly a result of two environmentally conscious and adventurous parents” – and had a knack for math. She would spend hours building and launching model rockets with her dad and exploring the county’s creeks. That youthful curiosity and drive to delve into environmental issues have followed her into adulthood. Today she is a UCSB graduate student researcher who is working to understand the impacts of newly created nanomaterials to keep them from damaging our health.
Horst was among a delegation of 20 UC graduate students, deans, and others who traveled to Sacramento recently to deliver an important message to legislators: Graduate student research is a crucial component of success not only for the University of California educational system, but for California and the nation as well.
On Graduate Research Advocacy Day in March, Horst and Lindsay Palmer, a UCSB grad student whose studies focus on the media, met one-on-one with lawmakers to explain in detail what it is they do and why it’s so important to the state of California. The UCSB contingent also included Kirsten Z. Deshler, Director, Governmental Relations, and Graduate Division Dean Dr. Gale Morrison.
In addition to discussing their specific research, the students were armed with some dramatic and impressive statistics about the University of California, its grad students, and their graduate research:
Through public university research over the past century and a half, UC has generated new technologies and industries, and has produced a skilled work force that fuels California’s economy.
The University of California awards more than 3,500 Ph.D.s a year – 7 percent of the nation’s Ph.D.s. In California, 60 percent of all Ph.D.s and 70 percent of Ph.D. degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are awarded by UC campuses. UC awards 8 percent of all Ph.D.s in the U.S. that go to students who traditionally are underrepresented in higher education (African Americans, Latinos, Pacific Islanders and Native Americans).
UC graduate and professional programs rate highly in numerous surveys, including U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings. In the National Research Council’s assessment of Ph.D. programs, 141 UC programs ranked in the top 10 in their fields.
California’s universities draw heavily on UC’s grad programs to fill their faculty positions. A quarter of all faculty members at UC and California State University campuses received their Ph.D.s through a UC graduate program.
State funding supports grad students; pays the salaries of UC faculty who educate, train, and mentor these students; and helps to keep labs and classrooms open and maintained. UC attracts exceptional grad students, but vital research programs will be threatened if the university can’t continue to draw the best students because of budget challenges.
Horst and Palmer shared these facts, as well as information on their own research, in meetings with legislators.
One of those meetings was with 35th District legislator Das Williams. California State Assemblyman Williams, D-Santa Barbara, is a Bren School alum who earned his master’s degree in Environmental Science & Management with a focus on water pollution, planning processes, and land-use law.
“He was very interested in the graduate research going on at UCSB, was very supportive of graduate research and funding, and took time to ask about both our specific research and our experience as graduate students,” Horst said.
Palmer told Williams and other legislators about her research involving media and news in California and beyond. “I specifically work on television news cultures, production, and content, looking at how these types of visual media shape our social histories, both in the state of California and in the nation,” she said. “I also look at media industries more broadly, thinking about convergence, conglomeration, and the Hollywood industry's negotiation with deregulation.”
Horst shared that a professor and mentor helped her thrive at UCSB. Horst earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering, with an emphasis on Environment, Risk, and Management, in 2005.
“I was lucky enough to have a wonderful research experience my senior year, with Dr. Patricia Holden in the Bren School, which led to a great interest in research with an environmental focus,” Horst said. She continued as a Master’s student in the Mechanical Engineering program, with an emphasis in Ocean Engineering (“it used to exist!” she said), with Dr. Holden remaining as her advisor. “I researched the effects of TiO2 nanoparticles and uranium on bacteria in aqueous systems.”
Horst is now working on her Ph.D., studying the effects of engineered nanoparticles on bacteria as a member of the NSF- and EPA-funded UC Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology.
“I am contributing to the overall mission of the center,” Horst said, “which is to ‘use a multidisciplinary approach to conduct research, knowledge acquisition, education and outreach to ensure the responsible use and safe implementation of nanotechnology in the environment.’” She expects to graduate in June and hopes to find “a teaching-focused position at a college or university so that I can help teach and mentor the next generation of scientists (and hopefully nanotoxicologists!).”
In their meetings throughout the day, Horst said, the senators and assembly members “were all friendly and receptive to our discussions about the importance of graduate research for California.” One assembly member in particular, Katcho Achadjian of the 33rd District, seemed especially interested in the economic benefits of nanotechnology in California, she said. “Everyone acknowledged that graduate research at the UC is important – but also acknowledged that the budget is making things more than a little difficult for public education and research.”
UCSB’s Deshler, who accompanied the students, said: “Governmental Relations does a number of advocacy events throughout the year in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., and Grad Research Day is always our favorite. It is also a favorite of legislators because it brings UC research into tangible focus when graduate students talk about their projects.”
Dean Morrison also enjoyed the opportunity to travel to Sacramento with the students. “Allison and Lindsay were great ambassadors for our campus,” she said. “Their enthusiasm about their research programs and their very clear expertise impressed all of the legislators and staff members with whom we met. It was an honor for me to accompany them on this visit.”
Said Horst: “I think that discussing the diverse and cutting-edge research performed at UCSB helped the assembly members understand that ALL UC’s are contributing the research that benefits the state, and that UCSB is a major force in graduate education, innovation, diversity, and research. “
What did Horst get out of this trip? “For me, this day was a way for me to give back to UCSB, which has been my academic home since 2001. I love this school. I felt that attending Advocacy Day was a small way to support the incredibly important graduate research being conducted here, and the people (graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff) who make it possible. I was proud to be a Gaucho representative in Sacramento.”
For more information about Graduate Research Advocacy Day, read the University of California's article.