SoCal Minds

A catch-up lagniappe with a soupcon from all over

From Cal State Fullerton, RAND, CSUN, Loyola Marymount, UCLA, UCR, UCI, Claremont Graduate University, Chapman

Let's play fast catch up. With apologies that the press of fuller time employment for actual pay has cut into the posting here -- and may continue to do so -- here's stuff from around the area worth a gander:

The Bruins open their spiffy, new Terasaki Life Sciences building today, a major facility named after the emeritus surgery prof, transplant pioneer and key developer of tissue typing technology who also donated $50 million to the school.

Also of note in Westwood: a $2.9 million study on gum disease among diabetics with emphasis in new genetic techniques that will let researchers better understand whether changes in health affect body systems and allow certain types of bacteria to flourish. Bruin scholars also will join colleagues from five other schools in a major new scrutiny of climate change in the Southwestern United States, a region that experts predict will be among the most affected by issues related to global warming.

In Fullerton, a researcher has put together nearly $7 million in grants to study and boost the health of Asian Pacific Islanders, some 870,000 of whom live in Southern California and must deal with particular challenges with obesity and cancer. Other research on campus recently has targeted Asian American women and their reproductive health, particularly since some of the student-assisted work found that this group of females, while sexually active, used contraceptives less and were unlikely to undergo routine testing for disorders affecting women. And yet another Titan scholar has become a surprising expert for highly personal reasons on the topic of suicide among people, especially young women, of Asian descent; suicide is the second leading cause of death among Asian American women ages 15 to24 and women of Asian descent in this age group, joined by those older than 65, have the highest suicide rates across all racial-ethnic groups, experts say.  

In Santa Monica, the think tank folks have found thatGood Samaritans could get better, more cost effective results if only they would work harder to coordinate all those after-school programs aimed at helping kids; the full report available here details how, in principle, five cities have proved they can help more urban youngsters reach their fullest potential through the after-school programs if sponsors work together. Other researchers, meantime, have raised questions about the market for residential wind and flood insurance, coverages that were found tragically lacking and still have not been put back together five years after Hurricane Katrina.

In Riverside, itty-bitty guppies have told a tale of species' resilience after a poor, early start in life, while in Orange, little sea slugs, jolted by electricity and shocked by nasty lobster attacks, have provided intriguing insights into brain activity and memory.

In Claremont, researchers have created a computer model to help figure how to reduce public conflicts over the location of power lines and other transmission facilities for advanced but remote solar and wind power plants, while in Westchester, student broadcasters are celebrating the resolution of a frequency dispute so that campus radio station KXLU (88.9) can be heard without interference in eastern Los Angeles, including by underground hipsters in Silverlake, downtown and Pasadena.

 

For young Jews nationwide, Trojans a No. 11 school pick

From USC

It may be time to rethink that Tommy Trojan stereotype, the dated idea of the bronzed, statuesque, Hellenic warrior as the emblem of a goyish student body.  A publication that proudly proclaims it's the 'world's largest circulated Jewish magazine,' has posted its fifth annual back-to-school material, including its finding that Exposition Park has become the 11th most popular choice among private schools for young Jews nationwide, with 12% of the undergrad student body self-defining as members of the faith. By sheer numbers of students, several Southland campuses tally many more Jewish undergrads, though they rank lower among their peer, public institutions as popular choices: the Bruins weigh in at 23, while Northridge and Santa Barbara stand at Nos. 27 and 28, respectively.

Exposition Park a popular place for Jewish students, magazine says

Click here for 'Reform Judaism' magazine's back-to-school stuff

Click here to see magazine's school lists and rankings

Do U.S. voters need mail ballots, bipartisan power-sharing?

From CSUN & UCLA

If the seemingly nonstop, 24-7 broadcast advertising barrage under way this fall hasn't destroyed whatever democratic appetites exist out there, researchers at two different Southern California campuses have offered some electoral information worth a ponder. In Northridge, Abraham Rutchick, a Ph.D. psychology professor (shown at right), urges elections officials to let all voters cast their ballots by mail and from their own homes, because, he says, his studies show that, ever so subtly and despite efforts to prevent it (such as barring campaign signs or materials all around the area), polling places can influence those who decide to make the trip but may not have made up their mind fully on key issues. He says that Christians, for example, vote more for conservative candidates and causes (such as bans on gay marriage) when their polling stations are in churches and Jane and Joe Citizens, when they ballot in schools, vote more favorably for educational measures, such as bond issues. In Westwood, meantime, Tim Groeling, a political science prof (shown at left), posits in his new tome that the best way for President Obama to see himself re-elected in 2012 would be for his Democratic Party to take an electoral slaughter this November. He says history shows that American voters hold high expectations when, as happened with Obama and his Dems in 2008, one party seizes the White House, House and Senate; if that party fails to deliver giant results, its members, historically, take a drubbing in the midterm elections but that, in turn, can lead to a political resurgence in the next presidential vote.

In Northridge, questions on neutrality of polling places

Would midterm electoral debacle for Dems improve odds for an Obama re-election?

A campus pulpit for preacher-teacher of nonviolent change

From CSUN

He's credited as a key theoretician and tactician of nonviolence in the U.S. civil rights movement, a friend and ally of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and the teacher of iconic figures including John Lewis and Diane Nash. A onetime conscientious objector whose peaceful activism led to his ejection from teaching at Vanderbilt, which was so embarrassed by the action that it not only invited him back later but made him senior faculty, he led one of Los Angeles' notable African American church congregations before retiring after a quarter century. And now, the Rev. James Lawson Jr. (shown at left), who has opposed the Iraq war and supported the rights of immigrants and Palestinians and workers seeking a 'living wage,' will join the folks in Northridge for a year as a visiting scholar dedicated to pursuing a campus dialogue about 'civil discourse and social change.' Lawson's eight public lectures, starting with one on Sept. 13, and his facilitation of eight student workshops are, advocates say, part of the school's effort to ensure the campus community has the capacity to deal well with divisive national issues, including the current economic crisis, education budget cuts, and battles over the roles of diverse groups -- including gays, immigrants and people of color -- in contemporary society.

In Northridge, a visiting scholar post and new mission for the Rev. James Lawson

Your suit and tie? It's making us very, very nervous ...

From CSUN

For those whose public contacts aren't meant to be excessively authoritarian but still can be stress-inducing for others -- um, think nurses, doctors, dentists, school administrators, HR types -- today's word is casual, according to an investigator in Northridge who sought to test a long-held beliefs about the garb worn by student research assistants. The lore holds that such individuals should be neatly and even formally attired as part of an effort to project a professional atmopshere in experimental settings involving human subjects. But the psychology researcher found a surprising twist: anxious subjects felt more at ease and responded better and more carefully to directions given by informally dressed research aides. The potential takeaway here: Dress still matters and it can affect others. So shuck that white shirt, suit and tie or dark skirt, white blouse and pearls if you don't want to make people nervous and you do want them to relax and follow your directions, easily and readily. Of course, who in Southern California really hangs in rags like that anyway?

Informal attire found to relax anxious subjects, making them more responsive in experiments

From Northridge to Fullerton, a focus on the environment

From USC, UCLA, CSUN & Cal State Fullerton

It will be interesting to see whether the considerable efforts in academia to be foward looking and environmentally conscious will spread into society at large, especially via students as next-generation leaders. So what kinds of green stuff are schools from Northridge to Fullerton taking on:

• In Exposition Park, a Trojan expert has joined with colleagues at Johns Hopkins to push for new policies on greenhouse gas emissions, which, if put in place, they argue, could create as many as 2.5 million jobs and lead to $134 billion in economic activity. The researchers based their findings on an analysis of and projections from existing greenhouse gas regulations in 16 states, which they praised for their transparent, consistent and formal procedures to quantify and measure their actions and policies in keeping with peer reviewable and accepted methods. The experts call for plans to develop greener power sources for heat and power, greater energy efficiency in business, smarter transit and land use, farm and wild area conservation and more recycling and waste energy recovery.

16 state models for a national greenhouse gas policy to create jobs, boost economy

• Legal scholars who are both Bruins and Bears say that local communities must bear down on their thinking and planning about land use if the state ever has any hope to reduce global warming and environmental pollution related to unnecessary travel by energy guzzling cars, trucks, buses and other carbon fuel-burning vehicles. Experts from Berkeley and Westwood, in the latest part of their joint studies on climate change's effects on the economy, argue for new efforts to create sustainable development in California communities through vastly improved land-use planning, most importantly at the local level but with regional cooperation and cost-effective resource-sharing, particularly in the services of professional planners. If state residents increasingy could live nearer to where they work, shop and play, such housing and development could help curb global warming and environmental pollution more effectively than can even major breakthroughs in vehicle and fuel efficiency or other green efforts involving transportation, the legal scholars say.

How sustainable development in state could curb climate change, environmental pollution

• In Northridge, faculty, students and staff have rushed to take part in the vegetable part of a 'carrot-and-stick' kind of plan for healthier living. Really. Advocates say they have recorded swift, significant demand for a program that calls for fresh produce -- vegetables and fruits sufficient, for example, for a week for a family of four -- to be delivered in boxes that can be picked up on campus near the bookstore at scheduled times and for a reasonable fee. The seasonal produce will vary due to growing conditions and farming circumstance. But proponents say the good foods from the Underwood Family Farms will be good for the Matadors consuming it -- far better, say, than a diet of junk or fast foods typically downed by collegians -- while at the same time allowing a community, the university, that is, to support local agriculture. That large box, aimed at a family of four, costs $20 a week, by the way.

How a university community can support local agriculture, and eat healthier, too 

Click here for more information on Underwood Family Farms' community supported ag

• In Fullerton, as the university gets set to rev up a new, greener system that will generate half the power needed on campus, school officials have posted online a roundup of pieces on smarter energy research and applications and sustainable environmental practices. The Titans take note of their experts cooperating with researchers in Anaheim on energy efficiency and with others out in the Mojave to question the construction of heedless renewable energy resources. As for that new campus power system, it will employ high-pressure natural gas, waste heat and water to generate sufficient juice to power 4,000 homes.

A spotlight on campus energy awareness, saving and sustainability

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

Life-changing summer underway for science-, tech-talented teens

From CSULB, CSUN, Cal State Fullerton & Caltech

Send up a celebratory rocket or two this weekend to take note of programs across the Southland to keep this nation at the fore of science, technology and the changing 21st Century, all through some forward-thinking investment in a crucial commodity of American society: our smart and diverse kids. The programs go by some different names: in Northridge, one effort is called MARC U*GRAD or MARC U-STAR. In Long Beach, it's an effort aimed at 'Engineering Girls.' In Fullerton, advocates call it TEST: UP. And in Pasadena, it's known as YESS. These programs vary in their exact content and focus; they all are getting funding support. They aim to give teens a memorable summer, learning and working in science, technical and technological fields where some groups are traditionally underrepresented and good folks hope to ease these disparities.

Does red ink make teachers too harsh in grading?

From CSUN

Teacher, teacher, the researchers do declare: Put down that red grading pen or pencil and take up a blue marker because doing so may markedly benefit students. The experts took short, simple essays and gave them to different groups to grade -- some marking the papers with red-ink pens, the others armed with blue pens. When the red pens came out, presto, the grades went down, a comparative scrutiny showed. This occurred even though in half the instances, the essays were prepared so they actually contained no spelling or grammar errors; they still got harsher marks from the red-ink crowd. Why? After adjusting for various factors and taking in different theories, the researchers suggested that academics associate red ink with a custom of bleeding papers, finding fault and failure; put a red pen in their hands and they think they're supposed to be aggressive and negative.

Graders in a test find greater fault, give lower marks with red rather than blue pens in hand

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