An open casting call for the upcoming student travel documentary film “”College Travelers: Destination Europe”” will be held Feb. 2 at PB Bar & Grill from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The movie will be filmed this summer at various locations in Europe.
The crew is looking for people aged 18 to 25 who live or go to school in the greater San Diego area. The producers of the film are looking specifically for those without commercial or on-camera experience. The casting crew would also prefer people who have never left the country, according to casting director Matthew Seemann.
Those who wish to audition are instructed to show up at PB Bar & Grill with a bag packed with clothing, accessories and travel items that you would likely bring with you if selected for the film. Potential cast members may also have to answer several brief personal and travel-related questions. The interviews should last somewhere between five and 10 minutes.
Currently, only eight members of the 31-person cast have been selected. The finalists and standbys will be notified by next week.
For more information visit the producer’s Web site at http://www.collegetravelers.com or call (866) 464-3828.
UCLA survey finds freshmen more politically liberal
More college freshmen are identifying themselves as politically liberal than they have in the past, according to UCLA’s annual survey of the nation’s entering undergraduate classes.
The survey, conducted last fall by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, found that 29.9 percent of students entering four-year colleges and universities characterize their political views as “”liberal”” or “”far left.”” The number was substantially higher than the 20.7 percent who consider themselves “”conservative”” or “”far right.””
The number was also an increase over last year’s number of 27.7 percent of students who considered themselves “”liberal”” or “”far left.”” It is still short of the all-time high of 40.9 percent, which was recorded in 1971.
The plurality of students, 49.5 percent, identified themselves as “”middle of the road.””
UCSD biologists discover dual role for cell division protein
A team of UCSD biologists has discovered that the embryonic development of the first axis of an animal is linked to a protein complex that has long been known to be key in cell division.
The finding was printed in the February issue of the journal Developmental Cell.
The findings show how the cell sets up the molecular differences between organsims developing outer layer and inner layer. The team found that the protein complex Anaphase-Promoting Complex appears to play a central role in embryonic development.
Scientists have long known that the complex plays a key role in preparing the cell for division by allowing it to progress through the metaphase to its anaphase transition in the cell cycle. This new information will help scientists to better understand the developmental cycle.
The research team was composed of Raffi V. Aroian, an assistant professor of biology at UCSD; Akiko Tagawa, a graduate student in Aroian’s lab; Bruce Bowerman, a professor of biology at the University of Oregon; Rebecca Lyczak, a postdoctoral fellow in Bowerman’s lab; and Chad A. Rappleye, a graduate student in UCSD’s Division of Biology and the first author of the report.
Nobel Prize winners will participate in symposium
Three Nobel Prize winners in the physics division, Dan Tsui, Herb Kroemer and Zhores Alferov, will be speaking at a Jan. 31 UCSD symposium on “”Semiconductor Heterostructures: from Physics to Devices.””
The symposium is free and open to the public. It will take place in the Price Center Theater from 1:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. It is organized by UCSD’s electrical and computer engineering department.
