The UCSD International Center recently released its annual report, ranking UCSD third in the country in number of students sent abroad. A record 756 students went abroad through either the University of California’s Education Abroad Program or UCSD’s Opportunities Abroad Program.
In the last 15 years, participation in the programs has increased by 764 percent.
In hosting international students, UCSD ranks fourth, behind Harvard University, UC Berkeley and UCLA. UCSD hosted 1,612 international students during the 1999-2000 school year.
The study also stated that UCSD students studying abroad and international students studying at UCSD received a total of $481,534 in scholarships.
Physicist, Anthropologist Named Research Lecturers
Lu Jeu Sham, a professor of physics, and Melford E. Spiro, a professor emeritus of anthropology, have been selected as the 1999-2000 Faculty Research Lecture Award Recipients at UCSD.
Sham will present a lecture, “”Dancing with Electrons (and to Herd Schroedinger Cats?)”” at 4 p.m. April 9 in the Garren Auditorium in the Basic Sciences Building of the UCSD School of Medicine. Spiro will lecture on “”Utopia and its Discontents”” at 4 p.m. on May 14 in the Basic Sciences Building’s Liebow Auditorium.
Sham’s theoretical research in the area of condensed matter physics is credited with an enormous impact in physics as well as in materials science, chemistry and electrical engineering. He is most renowned for his work on the density of functional theory, which he developed with UCSD professor Walter Kohn. The Kohn-Sham theory has played a major role in solid state physics, quantum chemistry, surface physics and chemistry and nuclear physics.
Spiro founded the department of anthropology at UCSD, which has since risen to the eighth-ranked such department in the nation. Throughout his career, Spiro’s reigning interest has been in the field of culture and personality. His other areas of study have been religion and supernatural belief, cultural theory and human nature.
A.S. Looking for Band to Open This Year’s Sun God
A.S. Festivals is looking for a UCSD musical group to play first at this year’s Sun God Festival. The deadline for submissions has been extended until Friday, April 6.
The committee asks that interested bands submit their CD or tape to the A.S. offices, located on the third floor of the Price Center. The band’s contact information must be on the submitted CD or tape to be considered.
The top five bands will be selected to participate in a Battle of the Bands, to be held April 13. The winner of the musical competition will perform in the opening slot of the Sun God concert. For more information call (858) 534-4451.
UCSD Researchers Expose Bare Facts on Skin
In a study conducted recently, UCSD researchers discovered a protein that is crucial for the creation of the top layer of the skin. This is the part of the epidermis that protects the body and prevents dehydration.
The findings were published in the April 5 issue of the journal Nature.
Michael Karin, who led the research in his lab, and his team used mice to identify the protein, which is called a keratinocyte differentiation-inducing factor and is instrumental in the establishment of the cells that make up the outermost layer of the skin.
These findings may lead to increased understanding of wounds and also to new methods of healing them.
The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Association for International Cancer research and the CERIES Research Award to Karin.
