UC Davis in the News

The University of California regents have voted to cut freshman enrollment next fall by 2,300 students. Six undergraduate campuses will see significant cuts to their ranks of California freshman, with UC Irvine and UC San Diego being the hardest hit.

The UC Regents have voted to cut incoming freshman by 2,300, or 6 percent, insufficient state funding to meet growing student demand. UC Davis is expected to cut 385 slots from next year's enrollment.

Daniel Sperling, director of the UC Davis Institute for Transportation Studies and co-author the new book entitled "Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability," goes on the radio to discuss the environmental impact of the world's growing car population.

This article, one from a series on the subject, is written by Diane Marie Amann, a professor of law at UC Davis.

Chevron has donated $2.5 million to UC Davis in order to create a permanent leadership position at the new Energy Efficiency Center. The campus will now conduct a national search for the chair, who will be responsible for bridging academic research with real-world applications.

Tests conducted at UC Davis and the University of Southern California helped reveal that domoic acid, a neurotoxin associated with red tides, was present in some of the afflicted brown pelicans. However, researchers believe the toxin to be a secondary effect, with the true cause of the illness still unknown.

More than 900 athletes will converge on the UC Davis campus to compete in the 2009 Special Olympics Summer Games in June. The event was originally scheduled to take place at UC Berkeley, but was relocated due to renovations of the school's track and field venues.

Sal Genito, director of buildings and grounds at UC Davis, discusses the campus's program to capture and mark squirrels before testing a new hormone to stop their reproduction. Genito states that the campus squirrel "population is exploding" and threatens to upset the area's environmental balance and overrun research orchards.

Economics professor Alan Taylor, political scientist Miroslav Nincic, sociologist Kimberlee Shauman and law professor Carlton Lawson were joined by moderator Zeev Maoz for a panel discussion on the problems facing the new Obama administration. 

Pulmonary and critical care specialists at the UC Davis Health System are participating in a clinical trial of a new valve system that redirects air flow from diseased portions of the lung to other, healthier areas. Andrew Chan, associate professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine, is quoted. 

The author of this article discusses how three UC Davis professors fare on a Web site that allows college students to rate their professors. The site is "a perfect site for kids to exact revenge" and is often unfair, he concludes.

As director of the UC Davis California Lighting Technology Center and a professor in the Design Program, Michael Siminovitch put together a team to create a more efficient lighting system for parking areas.

Dan Sumner, director of the Agriculture Issues Center at UC Davis, states that the agriculture industry is facing a tough economic environment, as the general economic downturn and recent rise in the value of the dollar limit opportunities on the world market.

Eli Sarnat, a graduate student in entomology at UC Davis, has created an interactive website that allows users to identify invasive ant species commonly found in the Pacific Island region.