2 Monday, August 6, 2012
The california Aggie
daily calendar dailycal@theaggie.org
TODAY Resume Basics 1:10 to 2 p.m. 229 South Learn the essentials of how to write a resume and cover letter that you get noticed.
TUESDAY What’s Up Seminar Series Noon to 2 p.m. 1043 Valley The Center for Comparative Medicine presents this seminar in which the Students Training in Advanced Research (STAR) will be giving a talk on their summer research projects.
upcoming Policy Forum Series: “Green Building Strategies: Achieving the Potential.” This policy forum series draws from the latest research on energy efficiency technologies and strategies and explores ways to meet the state’s ambitious efficiency policy goals. For more information, visit http://events.r20. constantcontact.com/register/event?oei dk=a07e66m6ndh10dde474&llr=e7yjij jab.
Interview Basics 12:10 to 1 p.m. 229 South Learn about the different types of interviews and strategies to respond to questions so that you can demonstrate your knowledge and qualifications for the position you want.
FRIDAY
Find a Job/Internship 3:10 to 4 p.m. 229 South Learn about the tricks and tools to help find a position that matches your career interests and goals.
WEDNESDAY Green Building Strategies Seminar: Achieving the Potential 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1130 K St., Sacramento Attend this free lunch to discuss the
Women’s Soccer 5 to 6 p.m. Aggie Soccer Field Watch the UC Davis women’s soccer team play the University of San Francisco. To receive placement in the AGGIE DAILY CALENDAR, e-mail dailycal@theaggie. org or stop by 25 Lower Freeborn by noon the day prior to your event. Due to space constraints, all event descriptions are subject to editing and priority will be given to events that are free of charge and geared toward the campus community.
police briefs Holy Ghost
WEDNESDAY Sitting Pretty Someone reported a prostitute sitting alone on Russell Boulevard, concerned that her pimps were nearby, though they were unable to say why they thought she was a prostitute.
Home Run A person in a baseball cap was believed to have stolen the “For Sale” sign at an apartment complex on Sycamore Lane.
THURSDAY Eggcellent Aim Someone was hit in the face by an egg thrown by a group of people in a passing car in the Save Mart parking lot on Anderson Road.
A group of people were ghost-riding a vehicle while several others watched near a church on Mace Boulevard.
SATURDAY A Midsummer Day-mare A woman was taking a nap under a tree when she was awoken by a passerby who said two men had been watching her sleep on Anderson Road.
Carjacking Someone stood outside their vehicle in the drive-thru throwing items at the employees at Jack in the Box on G Street. Police briefs are compiled from the City of Davis daily crime bulletins. Contact EINAT GILBOA at city@theaggie.org.
the level of benefits the trees provide to us.” Bartens said we’re still focused on grey infrastructure – sidewalks, roads, buildings – and we don’t want any of them to be “hurt” by tree roots. “But how to find the compromise of giving the trees what they need and getting out of the grey infrastructure of what we want, we’re kind of far away from that,” she said. According to Bartens, the great thing about the event is anyone can participate, but the vast majority of participants are in the same industry. “So we’re all tree folks who ride their bikes for a week,” Bartens said. “I think it’s a great feeling of community; you’re surrounded by people who think alike and do it for the same reason.” Currently, Bartens has raised about $3,000 of the $3,500 she needs in donations for the fundraiser. She has until the end of September to raise the money, but would like to achieve this goal by the end of August. “It’s not a race; you can’t win anything,” Bartens said. “You’re raising money, raising awareness and having a good time.”
trees
Cont. from front page woods again, so that’s kind of handy,” Bartens said. According to Bartens, she has a twofold reason for participating in the Tour des Trees event. “The athletic part of it – one of the biggest athletic accomplishments of my life – riding almost 600 miles in seven days, that’s huge for me. The other part is raising money and awareness for urban trees.” Bartens explained when it comes to research budgets, urban forestry is usually the first one to get cut. “Any federal grants or anything, urban forestry is never as important as it should be,” she said. “But I kind of get that — do you want to fund police or firemen, or do you want to fund urban trees?” For Bartens, riding in Tour des Trees is her way of helping in getting the word out about urban forestry. “Urban forestry is trees in urban areas,” she said. “To me, it’s more of trees that are influenced by human development. There’s a lot CLAIRE TAN can be reached at city@ that can be done to improve theaggie.org.
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NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson joins UC Davis faculty
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NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson joins UC Davis faculty By BRIAN RILEY Science Writer
Stephen Robinson, a UC Davis alumnus who acted as a mission specialist on four space shuttle missions, recently announced that he is leaving NASA to become a professor at UC Davis. Robinson started as an undergraduate at UC Davis in 1973 and graduated with a double major in mechanical and aerospace engineering in 1978. Robinson had initially been rejected by the admissions committee at UC Davis that had screened his application. “I fought it,” Robinson explained when asked how he got admitted. “I borrowed my parents’ car and drove up from the Bay Area to Mrak Hall. I met with someone in Mrak Hall in the admissions office and somehow talked them into it.” As an undergraduate, Robinson learned about a “cooperative,” or “co-op,” program that allowed students to experience an extended period working as a student at NASA. He got the call to work at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in Silicon Valley after another student declined the position. “It was a springboard for almost everything that came afterwards,” he explained. “It also gave me some real-world experience. I actually did better in my grades at UC Davis because of having the NASA co-op experience.” David Morse is the cur-
CAMPUS Cont. from front page at UC Davis, the hostility does not come from the Palestine supporters, but rather, the opposition who seek to harass the protesters and prevent them from exercising their protected free speech.” The lawsuit accusing the university of not assuaging a harsh environment against UC Berkeley Jewish students was filed in March 2011. In December 2011, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg dismissed the case with the ruling that the university did not infringe on the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs and that it was not legally obligated to intercede in political campus disputes. However, the case continued through an appeal of the court’s ruling. Felber and Maissy agreed to dismiss the lawsuit with the understanding that the university will consider implementing two possible changes to its policies on campus demonstrations after gathering campus opinion. The university is not required by law to do so. In June, UC president Mark Yudof assembled a group of 17 people to comprise the Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion. The members include students, faculty and administrators from UC campuses as well as leaders from various racial and religious groups. According to a July 13 press release from the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), the group was tasked with identifying, evaluating and sharing “promising practices” at institutions across the state and nation. They monitored the progress and method of each campus toward ensuring healthy conditions
rent Dean of Students at Ames. “When former Ames coops, like Robinson, say his NASA Ames co-op experience was the springboard to his entire career, it is nothing short of thrilling,” Morse said. Students from the NASA co-op and internship programs often go on to become NASA astronauts, taking part in worldchanging missions. Edgar Mitchell is one of the small group of 24 men in Earth’s history who have visited another planetary body. Of those 24 who traveled to the moon, he is one of 12 who have walked on its surface. Mitchell said humans would go to Mars “in due course.” “It depends on the equipment we have. We don’t have anything that can take humans to Mars right now,” said Mitchell. While Mitchell was part of the fifth group of men chosen by NASA to be astronauts in 1966, Robinson was part of “Group 15” who were selected in 1995. As a professor at UC Davis, Robinson will be able to apply his experience in creating a new research center. The center will study the way humans interact with vehicles, including space vehicles. Robinson says the center will provide an “opportunity to use engineering to extend the human presence into hazardous environments.” He thinks UC Davis has unique strengths to contribute to that effort. that supported the university’s mission and provided equal opportunities for all UC constituents. Many of the factors that were discussed and evaluated dealt with race and religion. “Both groups of students said UC could provide more and better accommodations for religious and cultural practices on campuses,” the release stated. This included having space available for meditation or prayer, more halal and kosher food options and appropriate gender-specific living space for Muslim women. “The report found that negative experiences for both groups of students were most common when outside speakers – known for their provocative stances toward Israel and Jews or for their fiery anti-Islamic rhetoric – participated in campus events . . . Both groups said they thought that UC administrators were biased against them in how they responded to or enforced campus regulations during some of these incidents.” The two feasible alterations the university will consider regarding demonstrations stem from “Apartheid Week,” during which mock checkpoints that are organized by SJP and the Muslim Student Association (MSA) are established. Students carry fake weaponry and question classmates about their religious backgrounds to simulate conflict at checkpoints on occupied Palestinian territory. One of the alterations is limiting the use of mock firearms on campus to only when “it would be obvious to a reasonable observer that the imitation weapon is not a real weapon.” According to lawyer Joel Siegal, the fact that members from SJP or the MSA did not carry imitation firearms at Apartheid Week
Courtesy
NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson plays a guitar in the Cupola of the International Space Station while space shuttle Endeavour remains docked with the station. “There’s quite a collaborative atmosphere at UC Davis. Not all universities have such an environment that’s conducive to collaboration,” Robinson said. Robinson is eager to seek out new co-researchers. “A vision starts out usually with one person, but as more people become part of the effort, then it becomes a shared vision and it grows organically,” Robinson said. Philippe Spalart was a co-worker of Robinson’s at NASA Ames in the early 1990s when Robinson was working full-time and writing his dissertation. “[Robinson] combined experiments and numerical simulations, which was unusual,” Spalart said. “He knows how to build a [theoretical] bridge.” UC Davis also has two other astronaut alumni, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, a mission specialist, and Robert Phillips, a payload specialist. Caldwell Dyson
graduated in 1997 with a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. Robert Phillips, who graduated from UC Davis in 1965 with a Ph.D. in physiology and nutrition, was trained by NASA to be a payload specialist. Phillips served on the back-up crew for the STS-40 mission of space shuttle Columbia in 1991 and taught for many years as a professor at the University of Colorado. Ninety-eight NASA astronauts who have flown missions into space held an earned doctorate. Of these, Robinson was number 73. A number of Russian cosmonauts have held doctoral degrees as well. Of the astronauts who have flown into space, 15 have held positions as university professors. Robinson will be number when he begins work at UC Davis in September.
2012 demonstrates one of the aspects in which the lawsuit was successful. The demonstrations protesting Palestinian treatment by Israelis are staged in Sather Gate, a crowded area on campus. The second potential policy change is allowing pedestrians an unimpeded path during protests at Sather Gate. The efforts by UCOP to make UC campuses healthier learning environments for Jewish and Muslim students are not effective, according to former SJP CoPresident at UC Davis Lyla Rayyan, who was a member of the student group that met with UCOP earlier in the year. “They admitted that there is nothing much they can do, other than make recommendations that we all knew wouldn’t amount to much. UCOP turned a political discussion into a MuslimJewish problem and there are many Jewish students that have come out saying their testimonies and experiences were left out of the report because they were not pro-Israel. All in all, the UCOP’s efforts were probably a nice gesture that will do nothing for the issue at hand,” Rayyan said. The settlement also acquits the university from reimbursing the plaintiffs for their legal costs and paying them monetary damages. Once the lawsuit was settled, both plaintiffs were graduated alumni and therefore did not retain the ability to seek redress from the court, thereby leading to the Title VI complaint filed by Joel Siegal and Neal Sher — Felber and Maissy’s lawyers — to the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice on June 9. “The university needs to be consistent. When the Republican Club sold baked goods at different pric-
es the university issued a statement acknowledging it being offensive or after Compton cookout [called] for town meetings to acknowledge that offense. Yet year after year, the university allows the Apartheid Week performance and other anti-Israel demonstrations which go beyond the vale of criticism of Israeli government policies, but instead demonize Jews and attempt to delegitimize the very right of the existence of Israel as a Jewish state,” Siegal said. Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs or activities which receive federal financial assistance. A breach of Title VI by schools can result in loss of federal funding. “The recent issues arising in the UC community should not be matters of religious or cultural hostility. One of the biggest problems is framing these issues as such, and not distinguishing between political protest and racial tension. Progress cannot be achieved unless criticism of Israeli policy ceases to be falsely deemed anti-Semitism and the mischaracterization ceases to marginalize and silence students and communities,” said Elneil. Most recently, the group Jewish Voice for Peace ( JVP) released a statement asking President Yudof to table the report “until a methodologically sound and even-handed report can be conducted. Tikvah: Students for Israel at UC Berkeley, Aggies for Israel and the MSA were unable to be reached for comment. The report findings can be seen at UniversityofCalifornia.edu/ news.
BRIAN RILEY can be reached at science@ theaggie.org.
LILIANA NAVA OCHOA can be reached at campus@theaggie.org