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Media coverage of top UCI stories: Nov. 9, 2007
LAW SCHOOL COVERAGE:
1. The Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 9, 2007
$20-mllion gift bought donor a role in
picking UC-Irvine law dean
UCI MENTIONED: The University of California at Irvine agreed to
“periodically and confidentially consult” an Orange County billionaire on the selection of an
inaugural law dean in exchange for his $20-million gift, the Los Angeles Times reported
today.
Second Paragraph: Both the university and the
donor, Donald Bren, insist that despite that agreement, which was revealed in documents obtained by the
Times, Mr. Bren did not torpedo the initial appointment of Erwin Chemerinsky as founding dean.
2. Los Angeles Times, Nov. 9, 2007
UC Irvine gave Bren a say in dean
selection
UCI MENTIONED: UC Irvine gave Orange County billionaire
Donald Bren the right to be consulted in the selection of a dean for its new law school in return for his $20-million donation, according to documents released to The Times on Thursday.
Second
Paragraph: The eight-page gift agreement reveals the scope of
what Bren received for his money, ranging from major matters such as selection of the dean to specific
rules governing how prominently signs featuring his name were to be displayed on the campus.
GENERAL UC IRVINE COVERAGE:
3. The Economist (London), Nov. 8, 2007
Leapfrogging or piggybacking?
UCI MENTIONED: As is so often the case, Apple’s iPod is
the best example. The 30-gigabyte video version was manufactured in China by Inventec, a Taiwanese
company. It sold for about $224 wholesale in 2005. But where did that money go? Three
economists—Greg Linden of the University of California, Berkeley, together with Jason Dedrick and
Kenneth Kraemer of the University of California, Irvine—have peered into the white box to find out. Of the
iPod’s 424 parts, they reckon 300 cost one cent or less.
First
Paragraph: The back of Gopal Raj’s book Reach for
the Stars carries a black-and-white photograph of the nose cone of a sounding rocket, carried on
the back of a bicycle. The book chronicles the unlikely beginnings of India’s space programme,
which launched its first rocket in 1963 from Thumba, a fishing village in the state of Kerala.
4. Science, Nov. 9, 2007
Michael Walker: Seeking nature’s inner compass
UCI MENTIONED: “Walker is definitely a pioneer,”
says biophysicist Thorsten Ritz of the University of California, Irvine. Now Walker believes he is on the
verge of clinching the case that magnetite is the universal animal compass that scientists have been
seeking for a century. But the belief makes Walker a maverick: Most others in the field are convinced that
animals have more than one navigation organ.
First
Paragraph: Michael Walker slips off his shoes and enters an
enormous Maori ceremonial room, the University of Auckland’s Tänenuiarangi Hall. Padding across
long wooden planks, the biologist explains the significance of each of dozens of painted wooden carvings
on the walls and pillars. “This is Turi,” he says, pointing out a highly stylized humanoid with a
green bird on its shoulder. “He was the skipper of a canoe which sailed to New Zealand from the
Cook Islands.” For that unrivaled feat, Turi gained a place among the gods.
5. New Scientist (London), Nov. 8, 2007
Stem cell shots restore lost memory
UCI MENTIONED: In previous studies transplanted neural stem
cells survived and integrated into brain circuitry, says Mathew Blurton-Jones, a member of the team
carrying out the experiments at the University of California at Irvine. “We’ve now gone one
stage further in showing that once integrated, these new neurons are able to reverse cognitive deficits
associated with neurodegeneration or neuronal loss,” he says.
First
Paragraph: Stem cell injections might restore memory lost through
strokes, Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases - at least that’s what experiments
in mice suggest.
6. Newsday, Nov. 9, 2007
Gang members becoming Internet-savvy
UCI MENTIONED: And these violent groups are increasingly
using the Internet to communicate, espouse their philosophies, distribute their wares - even to ensnare
their rivals, said Al Valdez, a professor at the University of California at Irvine and a former gang
investigator.
First Paragraph: The defiant, authority-
bucking postures, clothing, words and musical style associated with hip-hop-influenced American street
gangs is being adopted by their gangster brethren worldwide, a gang expert told a conference on gang
subculture yesterday.
7. Associated Content, Nov. 8, 2007
EPA awards sustainability grants
UCI MENTIONED: Other schools that are awarded $300,000
include the University of Maine for an impact study of housing developments on lakes, the University of
California at Irvine for methods to determine the true value of urban green space, and the University of
Maine in Amherst to develop models to increase energy sustainability. The University of Michigan at Ann
Arbor is also getting $300,000 to study transportation planning and land use.
First
Paragraph: The Environmental Protection Agency announced today
that it is granting $3 million to nine universities and one state agency to study and create ways to promote
sustainability in the United States. The grants will be given out under the Collaborative Science and
Technology Network for Sustainability (CNS) program.
8. The Cincinnati Post, Nov. 9, 2007
Yahoo is but one ‘moral pygmy’ (op-
ed) (Originally published by the LA Times)
UCI MENTIONED: [About the author]: Peter Navarro is a business
professor at UC Irvine and the author of Coming China Wars.
First
Paragraph: Which company has committed the greater evil? Yahoo
Inc. helped send a reporter to prison by revealing his identity to the Chinese government. Cisco Systems
Inc. helps send thousands of Chinese dissidents to prison by selling sophisticated Internet surveillance
technology to China.
