SoCal Minds

He'll hold nation's first chair in Korean American studies

From UCLA

He was born in Seoul, reared in Illinois, earned a B.A. in physics and a Harvard law degree. He's written about the internment of Japanese Americans, violence against Asian Americans and civic and political engagement by people of Asian descent. He was the law professor of the year in 2007 in Westwood and has collected two major Bruin teaching accolades. And now, Jerry Kang, (shown at left) a co-founder of the law school's critical race studies specialization, has become what the university says is the first holder of a chair in Korean American studies. His post was named in honor of the folks who put out the Korea Times on this side of the Pacific and Hankook Ilbo in Korea, with Bruin alum and K Times chairman, CEO and publisher Jae Min Chang a big donor, along with Mike Hong, chairman and CEO of Dura Coat Products Inc., and Do Won Chang, co-founder and CEO of fashion retailer Forever 21. Kang's appointment will be in the university's noteworthy Asian American Studies Center, headed by David K. Yoo, a Yale Ph.D., longtime faculty member and administrator in the Claremont Colleges and himself a scholar of note on matters Asian American, Japanese American and Korean American. Los Angeles, of course, is a global capital of people of Korean descent, with their estimated population here at 300,000 -- one of the largest urban concentrations outside of the Korean peninsula.

Asian American Studies Center taps law prof as top scholar in Korean American studies

In Westwood, hand transplant center will be coast's first

From UCLA

Dr. Richard Kimble may have spent many a fugitive silver screen hour and more than a few boob tube years chasing after one-limbed killer, but Bruin researchers hope to reach out to and find and help some folks who may have suffered the tragic loss of a hand. As part of their path-breaking opening of a hand transplantation center -- termed the first on the West Coast and only the fourth in the country -- medical experts in Westwood also hope to conduct some key studies on surgical techniques and drugs used to curb rejection of transplanted tissues, research that requires some very special patients to help. While affirming the promise of their prospective handy and magical restorative and repair efforts, the docs do want to work now and in advance with individuals 18 to 60 who had an amputation at the wrist or forearm or below unrelated to cancer or a birth defect and who are generally healthy and especially free of infection with hepatitis B or C or HIV.

Bruin experts see promise in new surgery, also hope to conduct key supportive research

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

For Dead Sea scrolls, a season of lavish SoCal attention

From UCLA, USC & Azusa Pacific

Something ancient, lots news? This really is a summer of scholarly love for those long lost and much scrutinized Dead Sea Scrolls, the ancient papyruses covered in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek writings that experts say date to somewhere between 150 BC and 70 AD. They contain some of the oldest known surviving and controversial copies of the Bible as well as religious commentaries on Jewish culture that flourished after the return from Babylonian exile. A Bruin archeologist recounts in a soon-to-be aired National Geographic special his dozen years of research on the documents, including his rare chance (shown at right) to read from the Isaiah scroll entombed in a vault beneath the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. In Exposition Park, meantime, Trojan researchers are recalling how they tapped modern technology to record a trove of rare scroll fragments in the surprising locale -- a white-trimmed, red brick church in Teaneck, N.J. For Southern Californians who want to see some of these archeological marvels and get more insight into their religious context, of course, the folks in Azusa have put up a major Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition, which they have extended until the end of August.

Has biology become hot science for 'outlaws,' artists?

From UCLA & Cal Arts

OK, so let's admit it: Physics classes demanded too much math and chemistry got a little too complicated with its formulas and theoretical combinations. So good ol' bio, even with the sometimes gross dissections of various beasties, became the science of choice for many of us arts and letters types, who haven't looked back at much of it since, sigh. Here's two reasons to re-examine biology, which, clearly, isn't the 'easy' science of back in the day....

• The Bruins offer an intriguing examination of a nascent movement in the science, a move from sparkling, high-tech, scholarly and controlled ivy-tower labs to, um, grungy garages. In the same way that geeky teens like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs seized upon the then-developing field of computer science -- and voila, look how that changed the world -- experts are looking more closely at 'DIYbio' or 'Outlaw biology.' Sure, safety and risk underlie some concerns, particularly in the post 9/11 world. But some see potential advances in science and health when more members of the public, for example, undertake genetic study in their homes of rare diseases that afflict just a few. 

Will 'DIY' or 'Outlaw' biology revolutionize a science, society?

• Meantime, for those in non-scientific worlds, the folks in Valencia have decided to offer an interdisciplinary cluster of courses that examine biology and its intersection and interplay with art. Experts already have seen how creatives have built a teahouse out of fungus, recorded trumpeters in the echoing expanses of the Grand Canyon or even breeding plants into their work, or in controversial fashion, commissioning a lab to engineer a rabbit with the green fluorescent protein gene of a jellyfish. The courses will tackle safety in dealing with technology as well as aesthetic, philosophic, critical and practical considerations of science and art.

A creative consideration of intersection, interplay of art, biology

In Westwood, a chance to catch notable emerging authors

From UCLA

Tired of beach time bodice rippers or weary of whiling away the luxury of summer reading with all too familiar authors? Then get thee to the Westside by 7 tonight to catch up with five of PEN USA's promising literary stars of tomorrow. The reading by the women who won fellowships from the notable writers' group will be free and open to the public, though space is limited and one per-person tickets, obtainable at the museum box office, are required. The authors reading will be: Lorene Garrett, Natashia Deon, Monica Carter, Bev Magennis and Simone Kang.

Free, public reading will feature 5 PEN USA fellowship winners

How new drugs may better treat learning disabilities

From UCLA

What's GABA got to do with it? Can't remember? Well, the finding of high levels of gamma-Aminobutyric acid in the prefrontal cortex suggests that this neurotransmitter hinders the activity of neurons in this key area of the brain, and, thus, interferes with working memory, Bruin researchers say, reporting on their recent mice research into neurofibromatosis 1. NF1 is a genetic disease that they say affects as many as 1 in 3,500 people and may be one of the most prevalent causes of learning disorders. Researchers have tracked the disease to mutations in the neurofibromin gene, which manufactures a protein of the same name; that protein turns out to be key in controlling the release of GABA, which, in turn, regulates brain cell activity, particularly communication among brain cells. These findings all could lead to a drug correction of GABA levels, and, thus, new treatments for learning disabilities.

New insights on brain, memory gained from scrutiny of common genetic disease

A micro focus on productivity, output of economists

From Chapman

Guess they just can't help themselves. The guys and gals who track everyone else's hours, energy and productivity, in macro and micro terms, also keep wonk-ish, detailed tabs on themselves, and, by at least one key measure, the folks in Orange may be said to be doing well in output, at least.  Forget the fetish that some have for baseball, golf, football or basketball stats. The economists in Orange County note that they're No. 9 on an academic publishing list, the RePEc, or Research Papers in Economics compiled by the University of Connectictut. Those figures track, publication, citations and working papers in experimental economics. The chart leaders at mid-year include the Friedman clan in the South Side of Chicago, folks in Zurich and Cambridge (England and Massachusetts), as well as guys and gals at UCSD (No. 6), UCSB (10), USC (16), Caltech (41) and UCLA (71). Vernon L. Smith, who lists affilations with the Agyros school, George Mason and the Cato Institute, ranks No. 4 on the individual economists' rankings, on which Gary Charness of UCSB is No. 8.

In Orange, a busy, notable period for economic publishing, work, citation

Click here for all the 'inside baseball' on economists' stats

How schools rank in 'Teach for America' placement

From UCSB

Boy, the world turns around and surprising stuff pops to the top for interest and prestige for today's collegians, as the current popularity of the Teach for America program attests. Do schools  boast about how many of their students go off to the Peace Corps? Do they tout their roles in AmeriCorps VISTA? Yes, sure, there are praises to be sung for the volunteer program that aims to take accomplished, promising young scholars from top institutions and to train and place them as teachers for a fixed term in poor, tough schools in hopes of improving the nation's educational efforts. A super tight economy has combined with the idealism and altruism of the young, however, to make this national public service program highly competitive, with 46,000 applicants from 630 colleges and universities chasing after 4,500 slots. Among the big institutions whose grads are showing particular success in nailing down these much coveted slots: UCLA (49), USC (44) and UCSB (31). Among small schools, Claremont McKenna (9) pops up on the list.

In Santa Barbara, a sense of pride about Teach for American participation

Here's the official word on which schools contribute most students to program

Click here to see the program's official ranking for number of chosen teachers by school size

New insights on curbing risky sex, clean needle programs

From UCLA & Cal State Dominguez Hills

Even as the Obama administration announced its new strategy to combat HIV-AIDS with a focus on high-risk groups, experts in Southern California have revealing new research about African American couples and intravenous drug users and the disease. In Westwood, Bruin scientists say they've seen promising results in promoting safer sex practices among black couples who have tested a culturally specific intervention program based in the African concept of 'Eban.' It symbolizes 'safety, security and love within one's family and relationship space,' researchers say, noting their program saw safer sexual behaviors in African American couples in which one partner is HIV-positive. Meantime, in Dominguez Hills, two psychology grad students, in examining the workings of 'clean syringe' programs that try to reduce HIV-AIDS infections among intravenous drug users, found geographical, attitudinal disparities among pharmacists who might be asked to sell safer needles to at-risk populations. While 74% of pharmacists in Los Angeles turned away suspected injection drug abusers seeking to buy clean syringes, only 33% of their professional counterparts in San Francisco did so, the researchers found, noting that the potential harm reduction (lessened risk of HIV-AIDS or Hepatitis C infection through shared kits) seemed vastly less persuasive in the Southland than the Bay Area.

In Westwood, African 'Eban' program found to help curb risky sexual behavior in black couples

In Dominguez Hills, a finding of skepticism among L.A. pharmacists about 'clean needle' programs