UCSD News

Research led by a leading expert on the positive benefits of napping at the School of Medicine suggests that Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep enhances creative problem-solving. The findings may have important implications for how REM sleep fosters the formation of associative networks in the brain. More

In its newly issued rankings, Newsweek has named The Preuss School at UC San Diego among the nation’s top 10 high schools, the only California school to be listed in that elite top 10 category. More

With four or more intense years of college-preparatory courses behind them, 96 senior class members of The Preuss School at UC San Diego will receive diplomas during graduation ceremonies at 4 p.m. June 26 on Manchester Field. An impressive 94 percent of the class will celebrate reaching the goal they’ve worked toward — acceptance at a four-year college or university. More

UC San Diego graduates from all years came back to campus to participate in the university’s inaugural Alumni Weekend, enjoying a variety of activities from a Birch Aquarium event, to the 31st Annual Alumni Awards for Excellence gala, to a brunch-time concert in one of the world’s finest concert venues — the Conrad Prebys Music Center. More

UC San Diego graduates from all years came back to campus to participate in the university’s inaugural Alumni Weekend, enjoying a variety of activities from a Birch Aquarium event, to the 31st Annual Alumni Awards for Excellence gala, to a brunch-time concert in one of the world’s finest concert venues — the Conrad Prebys Music Center. More

As a UC San Diego senior, she served as a volunteer at the Preuss School at UC San Diego. Today, Kelly Kovacic is not only a faculty member at The Preuss School, but she’s also won “teacher of the year” honors in district competition. More

A total $57,000 in scholarships was awarded to 43 students for study abroad or graduate study on campus by the Friends of the UC San Diego International Center during the organization’s recent annual dinner. More

Climate change is altering North American winter bird communities in ways that models currently favored by ecologists fail to predict. Based on patterns of animals found in different climate zones today, ecologists would expect that as habitats warm, numbers of species found there will increase, and that those species will be smaller in size and restricted to narrower geographic ranges. More

UC San Diego engineering students are studying the fluid dynamics of water in order to build a more comfortable and sanitary urine collection device for space travel. The mechanical and aerospace engineering undergraduates mimicked the behavior of streams of human urine in zero gravity in order to collect the data necessary to make better space urinals for both women and men. More

The first time Anna Kornfeld Simpson visited Michael Sailor’s lab at UC San Diego, she was just one of a group of high school freshmen who had come to learn more about the researcher’s work. But while her classmates asked Sailor about rainbows, Anna asked whether he used a specific kind of crystal and how it worked. Anna’s first visit led to a long-term stint in Sailor’s lab starting the following summer. There, she developed a robot that won the Project of the Year award last month at the California State Science Fair. More

Ten seniors at The Preuss School will get a chance to conduct hands-on cancer research this summer on the UC San Diego campus. It’s all part of a new grant from the National Cancer Institute. The new program is a partnership between UCSD, Preuss and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research. More

More than half of commuters to UC San Diego’s La Jolla campus and Hillcrest Medical Center are using alternatives to single-occupant vehicles, according to a new study by UCSD’s Transportation Services. The annual survey showed that 54 percent of commuters entering the La Jolla campus and 52 percent entering the Hillcrest Medical Center used alternative transportation, including campus shuttles, public transit, carpooling, vanpooling, walking and bicycling. More

Senior Shae Lynn Zastrow has been an advocate for Native American issues and a dedicated mentor to middle and high school students. Preston Sharp, a graduate student at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, volunteered in the Peace Corps, where he found his passion: international development. This Friday, Zastrow and Sharp will be rewarded for their efforts with the Outstanding Senior and Outstanding Graduate Student awards during UC San Diego's All Campus Graduation Celebration. More

Charles Kennel, former director of UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has been named a member of NASA’s Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee. During the course of the review, the panel will examine ongoing and planned NASA development activities and potential alternatives in order to present options for advancing a safe, innovative, affordable and sustainable human space flight program following the space shuttle's retirement next year. More

Lebron James, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the 2008-09 season, will bring his summer basketball camp for boys and girls to the UC San Diego campus July 24 to 28. More

The core technologies behind the top three finishers in a UC San Diego student-run business plan competition were developed by graduate students at the Jacobs School of Engineering. A team founded by bioengineering graduate students finished first in the UC San Diego Entrepreneur Challenge. The winning business plan focused on their new early cancer diagnostic technology. More

When she was just 5 years old, Dr. Sopheap Ly was snatched, along with her family, from her home and taken to the Cambodian countryside, where she was forced to work as a child slave laborer. There she endured the loss of her father and her grandparents, and many other hardships. But fast-forward three decades: Ly has become a successful physician at UCSD and the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and the mother of twin girls. More

Clive W.J. Granger, one of the globe’s leading economists, Nobel Prize-winning econometrician and research professor and professor emeritus at UC San Diego, died May 27 in San Diego. He was 74. More

Guest speakers ranging from a global investor and a retired four-star admiral to students selected by their colleagues will be among honorees addressing some 6,300 graduates at 11 commencement ceremonies June 6 and 7 as well as June 13 to 15. More than 65,000 family members and guests are expected to attend. More

UC San Diego's first appearance in the NCAA's Division II World Series ended in the semifinals Thursday, when the Tritons fell to Emporia State in a 5-3 heartbreaker. The two teams battled until the very end of the game. More