UCSD Ranked 14th Best Value University: Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine ranked UCSD as the nation’s 14th best value public university this year. UCSD was especially commended for its availability of Pell grants to low income students and its four-year graduation rates.
Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla praised the university’s continued commitment to social mobility.
“We are pleased UC San Diego continues to be recognized for providing a world-class education that is accessible and affordable to students of all backgrounds,” Khosla said in a statement. “At UC San Diego, we demonstrate how education can be one of the biggest enablers for upward social mobility.”
City Volunteers Begin Tree-Planting Initiative: Volunteers planted 2,000 trees along the San Diego River trail in Santee on Monday. The initiative was sponsored by Takeda California, a bio-tech company, in conjunction with the San Diego River Park Foundation and the City of Santee.
Takeda Company officials said they hoped to plant 20 times more trees than the company will use in paper goods next year. The elderberry, lemonade berry and oak trees were planted at the newly designated Walker Preserve.
The preserve is set to open a trail for hikers, joggers and mountain bikers in the future.
Water Main Breaks in National City: Residents in the South Bay and National City evacuated their homes following a water main break that flooded main roadways on Sunday morning. The break caused one-foot flooding along 45th Street and 43rd Street, entering neighboring homes and apartment complexes.
Damages caused by the cast iron pipe stopped water service to residents along 45th street and Mayberry Street for several hours, although crew members were able to restore service the same evening.
UCSD Women’s Health Ranked in Top 100: Becker’s Hospital Review listed UC San Diego Health System as among the top 100 hospitals for women’s health last week. There are many exemplary services and programs aimed towards women, including experts in gestational diabetes and high-risk pregnancies.
The in-hospital Birth Center is the only one on the West Coast that offers nurse-midwives and volunteer doula. The resources for breastfeeding mothers were recognized by Baby-Friendly USA, the neonatal intensive care unit in the same facility as labor and delivery services, and the fetal surgery program is nationally recognized.
Services for women not involved in pregnancy and birth include blood pressure and cholesterol screening, pelvic exams and pap smears, breast exams and bone density scans. Programs include the Maternal Weight and Wellness Program, The Menopause Health Program and the Women’s Pelvic Medicine Center.
CIRM Awards Disease Grant: The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine awarded professor of medicine and Deputy Director of Research Operations at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center Thomas J. Kipps a $4.18 million grant.
This is one of six “Disease Team” awards, totaling $61 million, approved by the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee. These were funded to move therapies from lab to clinical trials.
The goal of Kipps’s research is to find therapies that target proteins found only on the surface of cancer stem cells.
Hundreds Attend Winter GameFest: UCSD’s ninth annual Winter GameFest took place last weekend in the Price Center East and West ballrooms, drawing hundreds of attendees. The video game festival — organized by the Sixth College Tech Committee — was one of the largest of its kind in Southern California, offering over $5,000 in prizes for various video game tournaments set up on 200 computers.
