SoCal Minds

Plenty o' notice about Bukowski exhibit, Latino book fest

From the Hungtinton and CSULA

Attention readers, Latinos and L.A. Bohemian wannabes: we're giving a little more notice than usual about a couple of weekend events, even though, in the case of one, there's going to be a herd of folks racing to write about it. Still, whip out the calendars and get ready:

On Saturday, San Marino will become the literary mecca for the abundant numbers across the metropolis and elsewhere who believe that the late Charles Bukowski is nothing less than one of Los Angeles' poetic princes. His self-described 'raw, easy and simple' writing about prostitutes, gamblers, drunks and outcasts has captivated many and, with the assistance of his widow, Linda Lee Bukowski, a major exhibit will showcase his life works, displaying, among other items, his manual typewriter, rare first-editions and copies of his early publications, as well as examples of long gone 'little' magazines that were early and fast out of the gate to publish his poetry and stories. 

In San Marino, a paen to a 'Poet on the Edge'

In East L.A., readers of all ages can join in for the annual Latino Book and Family Festival, which this year will spotlight authors Victor Villasenor and Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, with Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries presenting a keynote address. There will be literary workshops, programs for adults and children, entertainment and other activities at the event, co-sponsored by Edward James Olmos, the actor, community activist and school alum. As the 2009 photo at right shows, he's an active event participant, bringing his own family (his mother Eleanor, in this case) to the weekend's festivities.

In East L.A., a festival for families, fans of Latino books

Take in a 'Grim Sleeper' talk, chess exhibition, print show

From CSULA, Caltech, Chapman & the Huntington

Rumble, rumble, rumble, ka-boom. Yes, there may be rolling thunderstorms, occasional sprinkles and muggy conditions prevailing this weekend. That's all the more reason to keep zipping around town to take in all the stuff going on.

That includes a forum in East L.A. this afternoon on the 'Grim Sleeper,' multiple homicide case and the forensic and DNA issues surrounding it, including the controversies over scanning not just individuals' but also families' genetic materials and records and how scientific advances may affect public crime labs. Or maybe if fun and games are the call, how about seeing a Russian chess master take on all challengers in a simultaneous exhibition in the Rose City this evening; may need to be a member of that super smart institution's official community to actually play. If art's the thing, it may be time for a stroll out to San Marino to take in the opening of an exhibition exploring the 'evolving ideas' of midcentury American printmakers. 

And a head's up on happenings on Monday, too

And, , yeah, they're really going to be part of the next work week. But head's up at least that if a certain kind of humor proves irresistible, alums of the 'National Lampoon' will be downtown Monday night for a free, public program (requires reservations) exploring the institution's big effect on pop culture and how time has left its personalities, ahem, 'drunk stoned brilliant dead.' There will be laughs of a different sort when the Orange County Bar members gather on Monday night hear the annual jousts between law school deans Erwin Chemerinsky and John C. Eastman about the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court term; the barristers also will honor the presiding justice of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division Three, in Santa Ana. And in Orange, starting Monday, for those feel the earth move under their feet (without Carole King singing in their heads), there will be an international, three-day, experts' workshop on electromagnetic signals associated with earthquakes and volcanoes.'

In East L.A., high honors for two legendary alums

From CSULA

Is it only in L.A. that two kids named King and Johnson -- one white, the other black, one a woman, the other a man -- could go to school, run and hit a ball, get amazingly good at what they do and go on to give the world a whole lot of magical athletic moments? Who could forget these two stellar careers, but who always remembers their local roots? The folks over in East L.A. took some time out recently at a major fund-raiser to honor their notable alums, naming the sprawling campus sports complex after tennis legend Billie Jean King and presenting a humanitarian honor to Olympic great Rafer Johnson. Among the reasons for honoring King: Her direct involvement, the school says, has generated $2.2 million in scholarships. And for Johnson, of course, his accolade recognized, in part, his long volunteer labors for the Special Olympics and with his Bakersfield center that supports special ed youngsters.

At fund-raiser, sports complex renamed for Billie Jean King; humanitarian award for Rafer Johnson

'Green shoots' abound in Southland campus projects

From Caltech, Harvey Mudd, Cal State Fullerton & CSULA

Color lots of folks at campuses throughout the area a concerned shade of green as efforts to protect the environment take center stage in some varied ways:

• In Pasadena, scientists say they have designed a new material from one of the most inexpensive, abundant substances around and this thin film, which they call a nanomesh, could pave the way for more efficient devices that help convert heat to electricity and vice versa. This material, they say, offers an advance on energy efficiency by taking advantage of what happens when scientists can get silicon get into a super thin film or sheet, which also has a grid-like pattern full of holes. This nanomesh, named because it is 22 nanometers thick (a nanometer being a billionth of a meter), has extraordinarily low thermal conducting properties while doing little to impede electrical conductivity. This means it could be a boon in super efficient refrigerators or other devices with electrical charges, and for heating and cooling.

New, silicon-based 'nanomesh' shows promise as a boost to thermoelectric devices

• In Claremont, some undergraduates spent their summer trying to see if nanotechnology could be used to create composite membranes that someday might help slow global warming by filtering harmful emissions of gases from power plants.

• In East L.A., a three-year, $1.7 million grant will let the school reconfigure and modernize 9,500 square feet of space in the engineering and technology building so faculty and students can dive deeper into path-breaking research in energy and sustainability. Work already was under way in this area as part of another five-year, $5 million federal grant that had established a center focusing on creating better, more efficient fuel, photovoltaic and combustion cells, as well as ways to capture greenhouse gases and sequester them so they don't contribute to global warming. 

In East L.A., a $1.7 million boon for energy and sustainability research

• In Fullerton, some business administration students surmounted their initial chagrin to tackle successfully an unexpected challenge: How could a Waterfront Hilton be made more green and environmentally responsible and sustainable? The b-school takes on many collaborative, consulting projects with area enterprises but officials said they typically involve finance or marketing issues. So this green case offered something of a twist. Still, the project, for the client and the young scholars, worked, as the proffered recommendations -- which still are getting put in place and tested -- focused on management strategies and ideas on potential utility savings and the benefits of key environmental certifications.

In Fullerton, business students tackle a waterfront consulting case with a green twist

A campus collaboration highlights murals, East L.A.

From CSULA

Of the many critical cultural elements distinctive of Los Angeles, few have both provided so much widespread, pleasing, pubic pleasure while struggling to win high-brow recognition as have the city's many colorful murals. That's all the more reason to vote with the feet and hurry to Long Beach to take in 'Partitura Visual,' a collaboration between Felipe Ehrenberg, a Mexican-born, Brazilian-based artist of renown and more than two dozen undergrads, grad students and alums from the East L.A. campus that has helped preserve, collect, honor and expand the art of public murals across the Southland. As part of an exhibit of more than 200 of Ehrenberg's works on display at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, a campus collective created a 24-foot mural that riffs off, in 'conversation' fashion, his images of singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel and la palmera roja (the red palm) while presenting the ideas, concerns, feelings and observations that are sui generis to East L.A. The mural and Ehrenberg exhibit will close on Sunday; the mural will become part of the MOLAA collection and will be exhibited again in 2011.

Collective crafts giant canvas in 'conversation' with famed artist

In East L.A., options to study climate change, SoCal shores

From CSULA

If global warming leads to an altered Pacific Ocean salinity that profoundly affects the aquatic life all along Southern California's shores, how much will that matter to the folks in communities of color in East L.A.? Well, it's good to know that educators and environmentalists are taking steps to ensure the diversity of the scientists of tomorrow who will tackle such concerns. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is collaborating with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, five UCs (San Diego, Los Angeles, Davis, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz), two Cal States (in LA and Humboldt) in a $55-million, federally funded marine ecosystems climate institute. For the students from East L.A., this will mean increased scholarship opportunities in environmental and climate change research, as well as in marine conservation policy.

Diversity plays a part in $55-million institute on marine ecosystems, climate

In Pomona, East L.A., advances in 21st century technology

From Cal Poly Pomona and CSULA

Great to see that the Luddite torpor that may seize some of us plays out in just the reverse in Pomona and East L.A. 

• In fact, for two dozen or so very different kind of summer campers, time spent on the Bronco campus may prove invaluable to them and to those seeking to combat cyber criminals. These recipients of an all-expenses, four-day immersion in the latest tools and thinking on cyber security won their spots by competing, online of course, in a 'security treasure hunt,' in which they tested for flaws in a target online system. Top competitors, some with serious IT credentials and others with no formal training, were invited to cyber camp, as part of the university's burgeoning effort to fill a targeted, dire need by society and industry for top talents to secure and protect our 21st century technology and online existence.

It's no dungeon with dragons: It's summer cyber security camp for top competitors

• Meantime, in East L.A., a quarter-mil or so grant from HP has helped more than 250 students in engineering classes, as well as their profs and the school, figure how to stay cutting edge in learning about and using the latest technology. This endeavor has employed tablet computers, wired classrooms and more virtual interaction for students and teachers so they can get hands-on experiences in working with, designing for and thinking about computers as customary, ordinary and crucial tools in the contemporary engineering workplace, as well as the machines and technology as teaching, learning and study tools.

HP grant, tablet computers, wired classrooms let engineering students, profs get with program 

A spotlight for those who build bridges, push boundaries

From CSUN & CSULA

In a time of budget slashing, program closings and seemingly curtailed opportunities for young folks seeking advanced education, here's a small cheer for two different boundary-pushing efforts:

• In Northridge, a smart push is under way to hook up a corps of world-class stem cell scientists in Westwood with energetic, capable and ambitious undergrads at the Valley campus known for turning out teachers, in hopes of getting more than a few of them into new careers in research. A $1.6 million grant from the state body that funds stem cell research will let 10 aspirants from the Valley campus pursue projects, study and training in this cutting-edge field with premier Bruin scientists, preparing the chosen few young folks, advocates hope, so they're ready to go on to graduate school or to top jobs as highly skilled and sought after technicians in research labs. 

Program builds stem-cell study 'bridge' between Northridge, Westwood 

• In East L.A., it took awhile. But the longtime, trail-blazing educational career of a longtime Los Angeles educator and college alum recently and finally got its own bit of recognition. There's a newly named middle school on the Los Angeles Unified School District's Belmont campus that gives a nod to Salvador B. Castro, who not only taught in the system for more than four decades but also played a key role in crucial protests against it in the Sixties. Castro was honored by President Clinton and featured in a 2006 James Edward Olmos film for his part as a teacher supporting youngsters in the 1968 'Chicano blowouts,' a student protest and walk-out that helped bring public attention and some reform to the dire inequities in LAUSD and the rotten schools that were serving Latino communities in East LA.

In East L.A., a small recognition for pioneering efforts of longtime educator, alum

Here's how the Times' Hector Tobar tells the tale

Something's funky with air above Gulf spill, Eurasia

From UCI & Cal State LA

Should anything less be expected of investigators from Southern California, an air pollution capital of the planet, that they're at the fore in finding matters amiss in the air from the Gulf to Eurasia?

• In Irvine, researchers say they're continuing to analyze samples extracted from the atmosphere above the BP oil spill in the Gulf and the preliminary findings aren't good: They say they have detected record levels of harmful chemicals -- and these are not particulates or materials related to oil burn-offs conducted to try to clean up the spreading mess. Instead, the researchers, who are struggling to find funding for their work and are cadging samples with the aid of fishermen and some helpful bureaucrats, say they are concerned about atmospheric gases, alkyl nitrates, methane, and hexane and butane compounds they have identified that could be from oil rising to the surface, the dispersant used to break it up or other unknown sources. While the official line is the gases still have not exceeded regulators' thresholds, there is skepticism and worry about this air problem adding the myriad spill woes.  

Record levels of harmful chemicals detected in atmosphere over Gulf spill

• In East L.A., meantime, a researcher has raised noteworthy questions on scientific theories about a key greenhouse gas after observing its actions above Eurasia via historic and recent satellite data. Conventional wisdom has it that water vapor in the atmosphere acts as a greenhouse gas and can play a significant role in climate change, influencing sunlight reflection, cloud cover, temperature and precipitation, among other factors. But water vapor, at least according to accumulated data, does not work exactly as theories say it should, decreasing in hot, dry, subtropical areas of Eurasia, even as temperatures increase. This suggests, the expert says, that hot dry regions will experience more severe drought and higher temperatures in global warming.

A challenge to conventional theories on actions of water vapor, a key greenhouse gas

How parental income carries lifelong effect on kids

From UCI & the Cal States

As politicians and policy-makers slash and burn social programs in their effort to stanch the flow of government red-ink, especially in Sacramento, an education professor in Irvine has some noteworthy research they might consider. He has examined the deep, sweeping data from a study that has followed more than 9,000 U.S. families and individuals for more than four decades. And, with colleagues, the researcher asked what would happen to kids younger than 5 if their parents got more annual income but nothing else changed in the picture -- mom and dad don't get more education, they don't alter their parenting practices, the family structure remains the same and genetic factors don't shift a whit. Well, look down the road and those youngsters show higher incomes and less use of food stamps (social programs) when they become adults, the researchers found, arguing for the importance of governmental efforts, if necessary, to supplement the incomes of families with youngsters to break a long cycle of potential poverty.

A key insight into breaking the cycle of poverty

And speaking of funding arguments, the Cal State system, like its powerful siblings in the UC network, has been lobbying furiously to try to stem the budgetary bloodletting now under way in public higher education in California. Part of the latest campaign aims to show the economic impact of the various CSU campuses, and, finally, there are detailed, online break-outs on the hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs that can be linked to each of the institutions.

Click here for online look at Cal States' economic impact