November 4, 2021

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VOLUME 140, ISSUE 7 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2021

RESULTS FOR CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL RECALL ELECTION IN YOLO COUNTY FINALIZED Election officials reflect on challenges to pandemic-era voting and urge students to vote in upcoming elections

BY YAN YAN HUSTIS HAYES city@theaggie.org

Gavin Newsom. (Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Creative Commons)

On Oct. 6, the Yolo County Elections Office finalized the results from the Sept. 14 California gubernatorial recall election.

Of the 121,550 registered voters in Yolo County, 78,048 ballots were counted, with a total voter turnout of 64.2%. Of that, 67.92% voted not to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom and 32.08% voted to remove Newsom from office. The official results are available on the Yolo County Elections website.

Yolo County Registrar of Voters Jesse Salinas said that while the turnout for presidential elections is typically higher, the turnout for this past recall election was consistent with past gubernatorial election turnouts.

“The last presidential election had record turnout, but typically in presidential elections we have around a 76-77% turnout,” Salinas said. “In this particular election, we had a 64% turnout overall, not what a presidential election is but still it was comparable to the gubernatorial election in November 2018.”

The pandemic has posed unique challenges to the way the county runs elections, according to Salinas.

“The pandemic has fundamentally shifted how we run elections in Yolo County,” Salinas said. “Before the pandemic, we had 96 polling places that were spread throughout the county.

What we discovered was that when the pandemic was just starting, we started to have a near crisis

in terms of poll workers.”

Salinas said that while the pandemic has posed challenges to staffing in-person polling stations, there has been a sharp increase in the number of mail-in ballots. “[For the Sept. 2021 gubernatorial recall election,] 95% of the voters voted using the voteby-mail ballot option and of those, 58% returned it by mail, another 30% used the drop box and 7% dropped it off directly at a voter assistance center,” Salinas said. “To give you context, in 2010 essentially 50% of voters voted by mail.”

Running elections is a long and involved process which means that it is very important that voter information is up to date, according to Salinas.

“We start preliminary work for elections now for June, things typically kick into gear 154 days prior to the election and what’s even more challenging is that redistricting is taking place,” Salinas said. “If you have moved at all, go online to the secretary of state’s office and register to vote online so we can get your latest address. We strongly encourage folks and especially students to update their address if they’ve moved, even if it’s just from one side of campus to the other.”

Third-year biological sciences major Briahna Oliva said that while she was already planning to vote, on-campus polling stations made the choice even easier.

“I was planning on voting before, just

because my friends always talk about politics and how important it is,” Oliva said. “It was easier because [the polling station] was on campus — voting is really important and it’s easier for you to vote as a student because there’s polling stations on campus.”

Oliva advised students who are going to be voting for the first time in the midterm elections to register in Yolo County and stressed the importance of paying attention to all elections, not just presidential elections.

“Make sure you’re registered in Yolo County — that was one of my mistakes when I was a freshman,” Oliva said. “I don’t think people thought [the recall election] was as pressing [as other elections] but they should. You want your opinion to matter.”

Yolo County Elections Office Outreach Specialist María Coronel said that ensuring that youth in the community vote poses a unique challenge.

“Historically, and regardless of the country or state of origin, youth in general have voted at lower rates than their slightly older peers,” Coronel said via email. “It is estimated that 50% of young people, ages 18-29 nationwide, voted in the 2020 presidential election, a remarkable 11-point increase from 2016 (39%) and likely one of the highest rates of youth electoral participation since the voting age was lowered to 18.”

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TWO ASUCD SENATORS LEAVE THE THRIVE SLATE TO BECOME INDEPENDENT Senators Mallika Hari and Owen Krauss chose to leave the Thrive slate due to differences in values, they said

BY EMILY REDMAN campus@theaggie.org Senator Owen Krauss, a second-year international relations major, and Senator Mallika Hari, a second-year political science major and public health minor, announced that they will be stepping down from all responsibilities with the Thrive slate at the Oct.14 senate meeting. They have both chosen to continue in their senator positions as independents.

“It is my belief that not only has this slate contributed to a toxic two-party system, but it has also actively caused hurt and strife among many,” Krauss said at the senate meeting after resigning from his position as vice chair and interim chair of Thrive.

Both Hari and Krauss stated that Thrive did not align with their values anymore, and they find that continuing as independents will better suit their goals as senators.

“My moral and ethical duty has centered around ASUCD, and I will strive to uphold the

duties and responsibilities of a senator,” Hari said at the senate meeting.

When choosing to run with the Thrive slate, Krauss said that he did not thoroughly research the slates before running with them.

“Probably in hindsight, I really should have looked at the slates I was picking and what I was running on,” Krauss said. “But even now, I don’t think it would have changed me becoming an independent.”

Hari initially chose to run with the Thrive slate because she valued the effort they put into listening to many opinions and perspectives. “[Bi-partisanship] is very vital to a functioning Senate,” Hari said via email. “Listening and compromising with each other to best represent the student body is close to my heart.”

For Krauss, the bi-partisan, two-party system was a reason to leave Thrive and continue as an independent.

“For a long time there’s been a two-party system gridlock,” Krauss said. “I’m not okay with being a part of this toxic environment.”

Krauss also said that Thrive and BASED

senators do not disclose when they are working together due to bi-partisan tensions, and he feels that senators should be focused on working for the students rather than slate politics.

“I think by not being a part of it, it allows me to work with anyone and everyone,” Krauss said.

Hari said that she learned about the history and beliefs of prior senators and does not feel that they align with her values.

“Being an Independent is the best position for me to be in, in order to represent my own perspectives and opinions and support the Student Body to the best of my ability,” Hari said via email.

Though his slate has changed, Krauss’ goals as a senator have not.

“The forefront of my campaign when I was running was LGBTQ advocacy and that hasn’t changed,” Krauss said. “Going forward, [the plan is to] do my best to not only set out what I came to do, but also to help reform a process that’s been toxic for so long.”

Hari looks forward to her future as an independent at the senate table and wants to

Mee Room located in third floor of the MU. (Quinn Spooner / AGGIE) focus her work on supporting students.

“Being independent encompasses my perspectives and opinions more,” Hari said via email. “I will be able to reach more of the student body and represent students from all walks of life.”

Senator Kristin Mifsud, the newly-appointed vice chair and interim chair of Thrive, was contacted but declined to comment on Oct. 29.

COMMUNITY LEADERS REFLECT ON IMPORTANCE OF FILIPINO AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH Eight UC Davis Filipino cultural organizations help students feel connected to their heritage

BY JELENA LAPUZ features@theaggie.org

AMY YU/AGGIE Filipino Americans celebrated October as Filipino American History Month. Various community leaders from different Filipino organizations on campus discussed their experience with Filipino American identity and the importance of Filipino American

History Month.

Ian Guzman, a fourth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major and vice president of Filipinos in Liberal Arts and Humanities (FILAH), explained that FILAH promotes selfexpression through the arts, such as singing, dancing, art and photography.

Guzman described his experience adapting to living in the U.S. after growing up in the Philippines.

“Living in the U.S. is definitely different than living in the Philippines because in the Philippines, you have a lot of your [extended] family around you,” Guzman said. “Living in the U.S., you’re just with your [immediate] family. You learn to be more independent.”

Guzman described that living in a new country was confusing at first.

“I felt kind of small compared to other people,” Guzman said.

“As a Filipino living in the Philippines, I know where to go. In the U.S., I don’t know where to go or what to do.”

Guzman explained that having support from the Filipino American community on campus helped him to stay more present in his Filipino American identity.

“One thing I experienced was homesickness,” Guzman said.

“I miss having my family and close friends around me. Having

Filipino organizations here on campus is a really great way for Filipinos who grew up here to get more involved in the Filipino community and learn about our culture.”

UC Davis alumnus Wesley Sosa, who was previously the communications team lead at the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies and the identity development coordinator at BRIDGE: Pilipinx Outreach and Retention, described his personal experience with his Filipino American identity.

“Initially, with my Filipino American identity, I didn’t really care about it because I considered myself Filipino first, considering I was born and raised in the Philippines,” Sosa said. “As I got to college and [became more involved with] Filipino American organizations, [I realized] the importance and value I have for Filipino American identity.”

Sosa explained the variety of experiences different Filipino Americans have.

“The Filipino American identity is not monolithic,” Sosa said.

“Serving the Filipino American community, one of the things I realized is that Filipino Americans are different from Filipino immigrants in some capacity. Sometimes, there’s also a divide between Filipino immigrants and those who are born and raised here who are second-generation immigrants.”

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HARPER JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL UNABLE TO USE FIELDS DUE TO SQUIRREL INFESTATION Studies suggest ways to curb squirrel infestations and explain how personality affects squirrel behavior

BY SHRADDHA JHINGAN city@theaggie.org Harper Junior High School, located in the Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD), has had a squirrel infestation that led to three of its fields becoming unusable, according to an article from the Davis Enterprise.

In 2008, UC Davis launched a research program to investigate how to stop a large increase in squirrel populations, specifically in tree squirrels that are non-native. Sara Krause, a doctoral student at UC Davis who led the project, explained in the news statement that at the time, there was a large increase in the number

of eastern fox squirrels, to more than 400.

“This is an introduced species that has demonstrated elsewhere that it is prolific, adaptable, invasive and problematic for many reasons,” Krause said in the news statement.

The news statement also lists the impacts that the eastern fox squirrels could have on the campus, such as competing with other plants and native plants or damaging facilities on campus.

Though Harper Junior High School did not identify the breed of squirrels that was causing the infestation, the article explained that the infestation has prevented students from using the affected facilities, and thus, they are trying to find a solution, according to interim superintendent

Matt Best.

“Since the summer, we’ve been working to mitigate the squirrel problem,” Best said in the Davis Enterprise article. “It’s a challenge that if you don’t have the infestation under control, you’re just throwing money away for maintenance.”

In the 2008 research program, division director Sal Genito explained that the aim was not to hurt the squirrel or wildlife.

“Our goal is not to hurt the animals that find our grounds so attractive,” Genito said in the news statement. “It is to limit their ecological and human-health impacts as effectively and humanely as possible.”

Squirrel on UC Davis Campus. (Quinn Spooner/ Aggie) SQUIRRELSGALORE on 7

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STUDENTS, PROFESSOR DISCUSS CONNECTION BETWEEN BODY IMAGE AND NUTRITION Students and a professor provide tips for meal planning for college students on a budget

BY ELLIE LEE city@theaggie.org Dr. Debbie Fetter encouraged college students to make healthy changes to eating patterns, activity habits and overall lifestyle, which can all result in improved health outcomes in middle and old age. She emphasized that students nourishing and resting their bodies may set them up for success. They may be able to better tackle everyday challenges that college students face.

“Improving your health during college can create community and an outlet, as well as improve your health,” Fetter said. “Plus, certain foods have been shown to help with brain development and integrity.”

Fetter says body size and weight is often emphasized when it comes to the topic of nutrition, but she feels we need to reevaluate how these subjects are addressed.

“All of us are built differently, and I hope that as a society overall we can embrace size diversity so it’s more so like figuring out different factors associated with one’s body composition that can lead to increased risk for different diseases depending on that individual,” Fetter said.

To address weight fluctuations, she recommends identifying patterns. For example, in the dining commons where students are free to eat food from a variety of stations, she recommends taking about 15 minutes after each portion of food to determine if one is still hungry or already full.

“Oftentimes there’s a delay between registering that we’re no longer hungry versus still being hungry,” Fetter said. “If you’re hungry, then definitely eat.”

Student Nutrition Association (SNA) President and fourthyear clinical nutrition student Hannah Parducho said she struggled with body image while being an athlete. She swam for most of her childhood and has now started weightlifting regularly in the gym.

“Those thoughts come and go,” Parducho said. “It takes work to shift those thoughts but it’s really rewarding. Life is more about what you can do and not how you look; I find strength and courage in being strong. As a weightlifter, I try to feed myself and do movements that I enjoy that will help me become a better weightlifter.”

Katrina Zara, a third-year psychology student and mental health advocate who posts blogs on www.plantifullylivin.com and is an active board member of My State of Mind at UC Davis,

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE says she also struggled with body image but has coped with these struggles by focusing on her internal self.

“There’s no one in this world that matters as much as yourself.

You are the main character,” Zara said. “The body image doesn’t matter, as long as fulfillment of the internal self is present. If you focus on feeling good, the looking good will come.”

Zara said that mental health connects to nutrition.

“Because of the deficiency of nutrients, it’s harder for your brain to flow better,” Zara said. “This ties into exercise; the greater blood flow that your body has, the more neural connections it can make so the faster your brain can process things.”

Zara encourages students to attend a virtual mental health advocacy conference on Nov. 13 in partnership with the United Nations Millennium Fellows, called Mind Over Matter.

Speakers include youth activists from a variety of areas, including representatives of UC Davis mental health organizations and mental health professionals. The discussion will contain three themes: Educating on Mental Illness and How to Be an Ally, Defining and Accessing Therapy and Caring for Your Mental

Health and Well-Being.

Fetter recommended focusing on one high quality protein for fullness and to promote satiety. She approved of the concept of making half your plate fruits and veggies, as it is a simple way to visualize meals. She discussed choosing a whole grain option when possible and the recommendation of making half your grains whole grains.

“The secret to my recipes are the simplest recipes,” Fetter said.

Parducho discussed her recommendation on how students should plan meals.

“First, take an inventory of what you have,” Parducho said.

“Second, plan how much you anticipate you are going to eat, and then work backwards from there, figuring out the amounts you need to buy.”

To ensure an affordable budget of groceries, Parducho emphasized making a list before going to the store. She organizes the list by sections, like produce and nonperishables, and uses a checkbox function.

CITY OF DAVIS: A PRIME LOCATION IN CALIFORNIA FOR WINTER WATERFOWL OBSERVATION Six million waterfowl arrive every winter in California’s “Serengeti migration”

BY RACHEL SHEY city@theaggie.org Every winter, birders flock to the Davis area to see the native waterfowl populations, according to UC Davis Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology faculty Robert Furrow.

“There’s a lot of managed wetlands in the Central Valley, that’s a specialty of the Central Valley in general,” Furrow said. “Historically, the Central Valley used to be a huge wetland in the wintertime. It used to be a riparian forest with big floodplains along the edges of creeks that flooded over and made big marshy areas.”

Now that California is largely developed, these wetlands have vanished. They’ve been replaced by special agricultural measures to ensure habitats for the flocks of migratory waterfowl.

“We don’t have anything like the natural wetlands that would occur anymore, but a lot of agricultural fields are flooded to prevent weed growth,” Furrow said. “It’s super water intensive but simultaneously has an ecological benefit, so it’s often done in conjunction with waterfowl management groups to make sure that there are certain fields flooded in the winter and spring for the ducks and geese.”

Huge flocks of waterfowl travel to the Central Valley every winter from their nesting grounds in Canada, Alaska and as far north as Russia, according to UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology Curator Andrew Engilis Jr. “This is called the Pacific Flyway,” Engilis said. “There’s probably something around 6 million waterfowl that come and winter here over the course of a year. One of the best places to see them that’s close by Davis is the Yolo Bypass

UC Davis Arboretum. (Rachel Shey / Aggie) wildlife area. There’s an auto tour route so you can drive around a three or four mile tour route that, if the ponds are flooded, is a great bird watching location.”

The Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area is one of the managed wetlands that Furrow mentioned. It is supplied by the water in Putah Creek, and intended as flood protection for people living in the Yolo Basin. It now has a secondary purpose as a “duck stop” for wild waterfowl to rest up and prepare to raise their young in the spring.

“While it retains its flood-control priority, [the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area’s] seasonal and permanent ponds have been sculpted from fallow

farmland, and they are designed to play a role in reaching the wintering population objective for the Central Valley of 4.7 million waterfowl,” Peter J. Hayes wrote for Outdoor California.

While the species that migrate here are not rare or unusual, such large numbers arrive every winter, which makes their arrival into a fascinating spectacle of nature, Engilis said.

“I think of the Pacific Flyway as California’s Serengeti. In the Serengeti you have wildebeest and zebras that migrate and the predators follow them. It’s kind of similar to here, except the birds are the animals,” Engilis

said. “The geese and ducks come down by the hundreds of thousands and the eagles and hawks and falcons follow them down, so they’re here as well. They’re an important component to the diversity is in ducks.

“In terms of what we actually have breeding here, in most patches of wetland that we have year round, we’ll have mallards,” Furrow said. “And we also have wood ducks along Putah Creek, in part supported by efforts at UC Davis to install a bunch of nesting wood duck boxes along the creek. In winter, we have more than twenty species. You can open a field guide and almost every species of duck, you can find in some number here.”

Geese are also represented in the Davis area.

The five common species are widespread in the Pacific Flyway.

“At the Yolo Bypass, you can see snow geese and greater white-fronted geese, sometimes tundra swans, a smaller number of Ross’s geese and cackling geese,” Furrow said.

What’s the difference between geese, ducks and swans? These three main groups of waterfowl generally differ in neck length, with swans having the longest necks, geese having an intermediate neck length and ducks having the shortest necks.

They also differ in bill shape; geese tend to have conical bills, whereas ducks have wider, flatter bills, according to Furrow. Furrow also delineated the two categories of ducks.

“Dabbling ducks typically feed on the surface, on vegetation, and they do a sort of upending and pluck on vegetation, browsing and filtering through muddy water,” Furrow said.

“That contrasts with diving ducks which typically will be eating animals of some sort, invertebrates, molluscs, some fish [and] amphibians.”

UNIT DIRECTORS, DIRECTOR OF SHCS PROVIDE UPDATES AT OCT. 21 MEETING ASUCD plans to launch a mental health response task force

BY CHRISTINE LEE city@theaggie.org ASUCD Internal Vice President Juliana Martinez Hernandez called the senate meeting to order on Thursday, Oct. 21 at 6:10 p.m.

Dr. Cindy Schorzman, the medical director of UC Davis Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS), gave a presentation as an update on health initiatives related to COVID-19. This includes campus testing, vaccinations and contact tracing.

“Campus leadership and executive leadership are really listening to us, they’re following the science,” Schorzman said. “We have very frequent meetings with public health officers, two so far this week. They’re really looking at all factors. There are very low instances of COVID-19 on campus.”

Regarding the upcoming Thanksgiving break, fully-vaccinated students will have two weeks to get tested when they return from break as mandated every 14 days. These students must get tested between Nov. 29 and Dec. 12. Unvaccinated students must be tested between Nov. 29 and Dec. 2. During this four-day period, unvaccinated students will be admitted to campus facilities with a yellow “Overdue” result on their Daily Symptom Survey. Red “Not Approved” results will not be accepted.

Jason Kwan, the unit director of The Pantry, gave an update on their operations.

“If you were here around the summer you might’ve noticed that it’s really difficult to get food, so we’ve been working to reduce that,” Kwan said. “Previously people had to make an appointment

AGGIE FILE

online ahead of time to be able to get food. We removed that so people can just come to The Pantry and get in line.”

An Do, the unit director of the Aggie Reuse Store, gave a presentation as an update on its reopening.

“In the future, we want to come to senate with a future spending bill proposal in order to make sure that the EcoHub is an occupiable space,” Do said. “There’s a lot of dirt, there’s a lot of spiders and cobwebs, and they need to be cleaned before it can be occupied.”

President Ryan Manriquez led a presentation about the work

toward establishing a campus safety task force, which is subject to being renamed.

The aim of this project is to create a group to facilitate communication between students and the administration on topics relating to mental health issues and policies.

“This is a pretty high priority, what we’re working on is no side piece,” Manriquez said.

SR #7, SR #9, SB #15, SB #16 and CA #74 passed.

Martinez Hernandez adjourned the meeting at 10:19 p.m.

ARTS & CULTURE THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

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‘GUARDIAN: SPIRITS OF PROTENTION’ EXPLORES HEALING AFTER FACING LOSS Professor emerita and artist Ann Savageau shares the process and inspiration behind her installation

BY CLARA FISCHER arts@theaggie.org “Guardians: Spirits of Protection,” an installation by professor emerita and artist Ann Savageau, is now open for anyone in the community to view. Located in the UC Davis Design Museum in Room 124 of Cruess Hall, the installation is open to the public free of charge. Showing times are 12-4 p.m. every weekday until April 24.

Featuring 17 sculptures — each a unique guardian — the installation is an exploration of grief and humans’ unique ability to create beauty out of tragedy. Following extreme personal loss, Savageau started work on her collection. Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, providing even more inspiration for her to pull from.

Together, the guardians work to represent the overall theme of the exhibit, but upon closer inspection, the details of each individual piece

jump out at the viewer.

For example, one of the pieces holds an intricately etched COVID-19 virus sculpture in its hand and boasts the Rod of Asclepius (a trademark symbol of the medical field) on its chest. Another has two hearts etched in its palms, facing the back so that the viewer has to really interact with the piece to even notice this.

Thoughtful little things like these provide each piece with its own personality, and while viewers can interpret each guardian as they like, these small details do provide more context and offer viewers a starting point that they can then individually expand on.

As someone who has very little knowledge of anything to do with art, it can sometimes be difficult to truly appreciate all the work that has gone into creating a collection. However, it’s clear even to an art novice that Savageau has finesse and puts incredible dedication into her work.

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Three sculptures from the “Guardians: Spirits of Protection” exhibit. (UC Regents / Courtesy)

PHENOMENAL TURNOUT FOR AGGIE OPEN MICS’ FIRST IN-PERSON EVENT The organization puts on events that provide a safe and encouraging platform for artistic expression by all Aggies

BY SIERRA JIMENEZ arts@theaggie.org “Fetch that mic (insert name), let’s have fun tonight,” rang from Wellman 234 as the new club, Aggie Open Mics, hosted their first inperson event on Oct. 23. The room was dark, but the energy was high. From a previous turnout of

about 15 people via Zoom to a remarkable 80 RSVPs for the in-person event, applause radiated from the filled seats of the small classroom.

“Bringing the volume of the energy up and having everyone work together helps build a community and builds support,” said Murshed “Mush” Qasime, a second-year biomedical engineering major and co-host of Aggie Open

A performer at the Aggie Open Mics event on Oct. 23. (Aggie Open Mics / Courtesy)

BY ANGIE CUMMINGS arts@theaggie.org Pence Gallery’s Annual Holiday Market (212 D St, Public reception 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Nov. 12): Each year the Pence Gallery holds a holiday market full of perfectly giftable pieces of art, all from local artists, in addition to a large collection of donated vintage jewelry.

Even though the market will be held over multiple dates through Dec. 24, be sure to head over early to get first dibs on some adorable ceramics, beautifully woven scarves, small sculptures and more.

“Berlin PianoPercussion: Copland, Nichols, Seither, García” (Ann E. Pitzer Center, 3:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. on Nov. 13):

If you have an interest in contemporary music and ensemble performances, this combination of two renowned pianists and percussionists is something you will not want to miss. Featuring UC Davis’ own associate music professor Sam Nichols, students have the chance to see a faculty member’s teachings in action during this exciting musical ensemble. Tickets for students are $12.

“Tim Bluhm and the Coffis Brothers with The Sam Chase & the Untraditional” (Sudwerk Brewing Co., 6:00 p.m to 10:00 p.m. on Nov. 13): This amalgamation of talented soul artists are coming together for what is set to be an unforgettable show at one of Davis’ top brewing companies. Tickets are $18, and while you do have to be over 21 to partake in what Sudwerk has to offer, the music is open to all ages, so get them while you still can.

“Everybody’s doing something simultaneously… Everyone fuels each other. It’s all connected,” Qasime said.

There is beauty, courage and admirability in individuals giving themselves the opportunity to perform in front of a diverse community, coming together to share their unique stories, Qasime said. From improv poetry to electric guitar, students from all walks of life find a commonality in artistic expression.

One act in particular that brought the house down was Paulo Pareto, a first-year computer science major, with his smooth outer spacelike electric seduction. Starting off with some technical difficulties — necessary to satisfy the archetypal college open mic event — he crushed his performance as the crowd went wild.

With his mullet and turquoise-blue electric guitar in hand, he surprised the audience with the classic behind-the-head guitar maneuver.

But just as the crowd seemed to be at its peak excitement, he whipped out a new move by picking the guitar with his mouth. The audience screeched with exhilaration from this momentous performance. Pareto later confessed that he did not come up with his act until 3 p.m. on the day of the performance.

Only playing for about four years on and off, and performing live for the first time since his high school talent show, Pareto ignited the night with his psychedelic space-rock uniqueness.

“Wayang Bali - Indonesian Shadow Puppet Play” (Courtyard outside the Mondavi Center, 7:00 p.m. on Nov. 19): For just $12 per ticket, students have the chance to see the beauty of this traditional Balinese art form in person. This “symbol of the cosmos” combines music and shadow puppets to tell historical mythological stories, all the while being told in both English and the traditional Wayang Bali ancient language. This performance is being put on in conjunction with the “Rethinking the History of Indonesian Music” conference.

“Pamuya Performance” (Jackson Hall, 2:00 p.m. on Nov. 21): This group of dancers formed in 1995, and have since essentially created their own genre of “Inuit soul music.” This energetic synthesis of

“I like more avant garde stuff, and I want other people to start enjoying that… Less stuff that you would hear in traditional popular music,” Pareto said.

Pareto got his inspiration and desire to perform on stage after he first watched Eric Clapton’s live performance of “Layla” on YouTube. Since then, he has been expressing himself through experimental electric guitar with the hope of exposing more people to abstract music. He is currently working on a new piece for the next open mic event which will later be announced on Instagram @AggieOpenMics or on their website.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Jessica Solis, a third-year cell biology major, said. “It’s a supportive, intimate community… a safe place.”

Solis did not intend on performing that Saturday night; however, she was an active audience member supporting local artists and enjoying the crowd’s contagious energy.

Astonished by the copious talent and various majors of the performers, Solis took pride in being an Aggie that night. “[The performers] have something special they want to share with us,” she said.

Solis admitted that some of the acts made her emotional from the performers’ vulnerability with the audience.

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dance and music has elements of traditional indigenous drum dancing and contemporary R&B melodies, creating an exciting new presentation of their culture and talents as artists. Tickets for students start at $10.

“Jazz Bands of UC Davis” (Ann E. Pitzer Center, 7:00 p.m. on Nov. 30): This event is a chance for anyone to go support their fellow Aggies showcasing their immense musical talents. It is hard to imagine any jazz concert being boring, let alone one performed by students, for students, featuring all of UC Davis’ multiple jazz bands — this is sure to be an exciting Tuesday night that only costs $12 per person.

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SCIENCE AND TECH UC DAVIS RESEARCHERS CONDUCT CRITICAL RESEARCH ON IMPROVING CHILD MALNUTRITION RATES Small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements improve child health, growth and development

BY AARYA GUPTA science@theaggie.org Malnutrition, or a lack of proper nutrition, affects approximately 150 million children globally and increases risk of illness and mortality, said Christine Stewart, the director of the Institute of Global Nutrition and Corinne L. Rustici Endowed Chair in Applied Human Nutrition at UC Davis, via email.

“Deficiencies in specific nutrients are associated with impaired child development,” Stewart said. “Further, malnutrition in early childhood may also predispose individuals to a greater risk of longer-term adverse outcomes in later life, such as poorer performance in school, reduced economic opportunities as adults, and greater risk of chronic disease.”

Researchers at UC Davis analyzed data gathered from over 37,000 individual participants — between the ages of six months

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

and 24 months old — across 14 randomized controlled trials conducted in nine countries, to determine the effects of small-quantity lipidbased nutrient supplements on child growth, anemia and mortality, Distinguished Professor Emerita Kathryn Dewey said via email. This study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

According to the study, small-quantity lipidbased nutrient supplements provide energy, protein, essential fatty acids and macronutrients.

“Lipid-based nutrient supplements are a family of products that have been developed for the treatment or prevention of malnutrition,” Dewey said. “They provide the full set of daily vitamin and mineral requirements in a readyto-use food-base with lipid (fat) as the main ingredient (such as soybean or canola oil), because this protects the nutrients and allows for a long shelf life at room temperature.”

MALNUTRITION on 7

NEW RESEARCH AT UC DAVIS EXPLORES PROPERTIES, POSSIBILITES OF CLATHRATE CRYSTALS Utilizing chemistry, physics, materials science and artificial intelligence, the research will model and synthesize new clathrate structures with a wide array of potential applications

BY SONORA SLATER science@theaggie.org

Researchers at UC Davis and Iowa State University recently received a $700,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to

Clathrate crystals are known for their cage-like structure, pictured above; their physical properties change depending on the materials used to build the cages, as well as on the atoms that are trapped within. (Kirill Kovnir / Courtesy)

UC DAVIS RESEARCHERS AWARDED $10 MILLION TO OPTIMIZE GROUNDWATER, AGRICULTURAL IRRIGATION SUSTAINABILITY IN A LONGTERM PROJECT The study is looking to balance farmers’ sustainable management practices while improving their overall crop productivity

BY BRANDON NGUYEN science@theaggie.org Amid the unpredictable impacts of climate change, UC Davis has been recently awarded $10 million in grant funding by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Researchers from a wide range of fields — from socioeconomics to agricultural groundwater and soil health — will collaborate to optimize groundwater and agricultural irrigation sustainability in the Southwest for farmers to improve crop yield and cost efficiency.

Isaya Kisekka, an associate professor of agrohydrology and irrigation at UC Davis, will be leading a massive collaborative study with a team of researchers from California, Arizona and New

Mexico to develop climate adaptation strategies that effectively sustain groundwater quantity and quality as well as irrigated agriculture.

Kisekka introduced the climate issue that the study tackles and the limitations that farmers currently face.

“In California, we are always experiencing droughts and floods, the climate extremes,” Kisekka said. “During the drought, farmers typically rely on groundwater or in the past, they have relied on groundwater until 2014 when Gov. Brown passed a new law called the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act that limited how much water would be pumped in from groundwater. And so, if growers cannot pump groundwater during periods of severe drought, what can they do?”

GROUNDWATER on 7

Kisekka’s team working in the fields to develop sustainable groundwater and irrigated agriculture practices. (Srinivasa Rao Peddinti / Courtesy)

discover and synthesize new clathrates, according to a recent press release. Clathrates are a chemical crystal structure that are known for their cagelike frame. The word ‘clathrate’ comes from the latin word Clathratus meaning ‘with bars,’ or ‘latticed. The researchers aim to explore potential applications of the materials, from better cooling for computers and cars to renewable energy options, as well as simply the base rules that define clathrate structures and properties.

Davide Donadio, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at UC Davis and the principal investigator for the project, explained that clathrate crystals consist of two parts: a frame that forms the titular “cages,” and the “guest atoms” that reside within the cages.

The physical properties of the clathrates change depending on the atoms forming the cage structure and the guest atoms trapped within. They can exist naturally, as in water and methane, as well as through synthesis in labs.

“You have so many ways of designing these materials, from a chemical standpoint, to achieve different properties — the chemical space is pretty wide,” Donadio said. “You have to satisfy some chemical rules, you need to form covalent bonds, but there are a lot of possible realizations.”

Specifically, Donadio and Kirill Kovnir, an associate professor of chemistry at Iowa State University partnering with Donadio, will seek to synthesize clathrates built from type III-V and II-VI atoms, with alkaline-earth metal atoms in the cages. But according to Donadio, there’s lots of theoretical modeling that goes on before any clathrates are synthesized.

“My work is theoretical, and I think one of the strengths of this proposal is that my theoretical work is intertwined with experimental work by Kirill,” Donadio said. “So my group will set up a model to predict the stability of clathrates with a given chemical composition.”

Donadio elaborated, saying that they do this by modeling the interaction among the atoms a material is composed of in different ways depending on the properties they want to look at — things like if it’s a semiconductor, the stability it’ll have, the vibrations of the particles and so on. However, doing these calculations can be very time consuming and computationally expensive.

NEWENERGY on 7

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | 5

OPINION

‘TIS THE SEASON FOR COZY ACTIVITIES

THE

E DITO R IAL BOAR D

The Editorial Board shares our fall favorites Anjini Venugopal, Editor-in-Chief Growing up, rainy days often meant one of two things — my mom bringing home soup or my dad bringing home samosas.

With rainy days in somewhat short supply of late, I’ll accept a cloudy day instead of a storm as a reason to get a bowl of autumn squash soup (I haven’t found my go-to place for samosas in Davis just yet). Fall is my favorite season, and why wouldn’t it be? It’s the season of knit sweaters, corduroy pants, apple cider, pumpkin pie and falling leaves, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel gloomy at times. To cheer myself up, my snack of choice — to quote Adam Driver — is good soup.

Margo Rosenbaum, Managing Editor I’m not much of a coffee drinker, and every fall, instead of sipping pumpkin spice lattes, I go crazy for tea. It’s a little tradition my housemate of four years and I have created together. We love picking out new teas to try together, and surprising one another with a steaming cup while the other is studying. Tea is my perfect study treat — not too much caffeine but just enough to lift my heavy eyes aching for a mid-morning or afternoon nap. If I need a caffeine boost, my go-to is chai with a dash of oat milk and cinnamon sprinkled on top. But one of my favorite times to drink tea is in the evening, when it’s cold and all I want to do is curl up under a knit blanket and watch nature documentaries. At night, I don’t need caffeine, so I drink herbal teas (yes, I’m a fraudulent tealover, I know). I love the classics, like peppermint or chamomile with honey, but one of my new favorites is blackberry pomegranate Sleepytime tea — a perfect cup before bed.

Sophie Dewees, Campus News Editor Fall is easily my favorite season for baking. Among the many delicious recipes that come with the season, such as pumpkin and pecan pie and apple turnovers, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are by far my favorite thing to make. Since baking them for the first time in my first grade class, I have pulled them out of the recipe book almost every year as soon as the leaves start to change color. Whether I’m making them from scratch (using my firstgrade recipe) or using the Trader Joe’s box mix, there’s something about the blend of spices and sweetness that is both homey and a bit nostalgic for me. Paired with a cup of coffee or eaten on their own, they are the perfect treat to celebrate the changing of the seasons.

Maddie Payne, City News Editor From kindergarten up until sophomore year of college, my favorite fall activity on chilly Saturday mornings was playing soccer: Nothing’s better to a five-year-old goalie than diving in the mud during a rainy day match and celebrating afterwards with a warm Swiss Miss hot chocolate from the snack booth. But now that my weekends aren’t filled with games and tournaments anymore, I’ve found another way to enjoy dreary fall days without compromising my time outdoors — hiking in the rain. While it can be hard to get out the door when it’s drizzling and 50 degrees, once you make it to the trailhead, the same old hikes are completely transformed: The paths are empty with people trying to avoid the bad weather and the foliage takes on a whole new beautiful glow under the gloss of rain. One of the best feelings upon returning home is that warm toasty feeling immediately when you step inside, reminding you that your day was well spent surrounded by nature, even if it meant getting a little muddy.

C ALIFORNIA A GGIE

ANJINI VENUGOPAL Editor-in-Chief MARGO ROSENBAUM Managing Editor

Eden Winniford, Opinion Editor Every fall, I love curling up to the Great British Baking Show and drinking hot apple cider (bonus points if I’m sitting by a fireplace). I make most of my Christmas gifts by hand, so I’ll usually sew stuffed animals or work on other presents as I watch.

November is also the start of clementine season, so I’ll always have a pile of Cuties on the table next to me. Even though I don’t love chilly weather, fall is a perfect time to relax, do some projects and catch up on cheesy reality TV.

SOPHIE DEWEES Campus News Editor MADELEINE PAYNE City News Editor EDEN WINNIFORD Opinion Editor KATIE DEBENEDETTI Features Editor

Katie DeBenedetti, Features Editor I’m not afraid to admit that contrary to popular opinion, the dreary, rainy fall weather is my favorite. Every October I obsessively check my weather app, desperately waiting for the first 60-degree day to show up on my 10-day forecast. So, I welcome pretty much all things fall and cozy. Chunky sweaters, hot coffee, fuzzy socks — what’s not to love? But my absolute favorite activity for a rainy day is cozying up on my bed, lighting some pumpkin spice candles and reading a book. Not a school-assigned, metaphor-rich, annotated book, but some fiction that lets me enter another world entirely.

Most recently, my favorite has been “This Is How It Always Is” by Laurie Frankel, but “A Visit from the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan or anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid will always be my go-to recommendations.

ALLIE BAILEY Arts & Culture Editor OMAR NAVARRO Sports Editor MICHELLE WONG Science & Tech Editor

KATHLEEN QUINN New Media Manager BENJAMIN CHENG Photo Director

Allie Bailey, Arts and Culture Editor I have such mixed feelings about gloomy days — on the one hand, they make for a great excuse to treat yourself to a fall-flavored drink and emulate the main character in a Hallmark movie, but on the other, sometimes no amount of overpriced coffee can make up for a cold, dreary morning. So I can’t say I have a foolproof way to make every gray day a great one, but I do think I’m onto something with the corny Christmas movies: Listen to some jazz, throw on your favorite sweater, beanie or scarf, get a PSL and gaze out the window at the rain while you pretend to do your homework. Dark, dismal days are the perfect opportunity to romanticize your life.

There’s a chance this will just make you feel worse (was that graham cracker latte with oat milk really worth seven bucks?), but I did say it wasn’t foolproof.

Omar Navarro, Sports Editor Because I’m not a fan of the cold weather or the rain, this season sometimes feels endless and honestly pretty dull. But, one of the only bright spots I see in fall is that it is probably the apex of the sports season. There is so much going on in baseball, basketball, football and soccer that it feels like something is happening every day. When school or life gets hectic, I look forward to Sundays where I can decompress and just watch football all day or catch whatever great game is scheduled in basketball and other sports while eating whatever food comes to mind at the moment. It may seem very on brand for me, but having the ability to get away for a couple hours, talk with friends and engage with people on social media is something that I find myself needing more during this time.

Michelle Wong, Science Editor While the fall weather often has me taking shelter at home, this means my housemates — who share my aversion to the cold — will be huddled in our apartment as well. In the midst of academics

KATHERINE FRANKS Design Director JOELLE TAHTA Layout Director ANNE THISELTON-DYER Copy Chief SABINE LLOYD Copy Chief KESHAV AGRAWAL Website Manager ANTHONY NGUYEN Social Media Manager JOSHUA GAZZANIGA Distribution Manager JENNA HEATH Marketing Manager JELENA LAPUZ Outreach Director LAURIE PEDERSON Business Development Manager

and extracurriculars, I find myself surprised at how little time I spend with the very people I live with. The fall crisp brings with it the prospect of hot pot dinners, puzzling sessions, pumpkin painting, movie nights or whatever we happen to brainstorm that day. These moments remind me that college is more than just studying and working and to slow down and make memories with loved ones. Although the dreary rain and piercing winds are an inconvenience, I’m thankful for the opportunity they give to enjoy the company of friends and appreciate the bonds I have created over the years.

DUE TO DRIVER SHORTAGE, UNITRANS ALLOWS JUST ANYONE TO DRIVE THE BUSES “Crashes are up 300%, but hey, at least I’ll make it to class on time”

BY IAN COSNER iacosner@ucdavis.edu Labor shortages have hit the country hard, and UC Davis is no exception. Unitrans, everyone’s favorite red buses — and the one blue bus everyone hates — is now facing a labor shortage.

Unitrans isn’t the only organization struggling to find new students to make a profit off of. The CoHo, Silo and even the UC Davis Dairy Facilities are all under-staffed, much to the surprise of the administration.

“I mean, who wouldn’t want to wake up at 4 a.m. to shovel cow manure for $7.50 an hour? I mean, I wouldn’t — but that’s just me,” a UCD administrative worker said.

Whether it’s due to unlivable wages, poor working conditions or the army of Karens trying to tell you what your job is, students have had enough. This country is at the precipice of great change and organizations are faced with an

ultimatum: Keep struggling to make a profit by squeezing the life out of an exhausted, understaffed labor force or just pay people living wages.

So starting this quarter, ASUCD has fired all Unitrans staff and started a new “Bring Your Own Driver” or B.Y.O.D. program where every bus is now up for grabs. You heard us right — now any student with a UCD ID can hop on a bus and drive it to any location of their

IAN COSMER / AGGIE

choice, regardless of having the legally mandated commercial vehicle driver’s license.

So what does that mean for your local commute to school and back? Well, now if you find a bus, which in itself will be a herculean achievement, it’s first-come, first-served for whoever wants to drive it.

And don’t worry If you find yourself at odds with another passenger. Whoever gets to drive the bus is determined by a game of rock, paper, scissors, in which the winner gets to drive and the loser is thrown out of the bus at high speed.

If you find yourself alone, feel free to drive the bus to the location of your desire to the best of your abilities.

While the university would like to politely ask you to stop for your fellow students and take them to their locations as well, you have full reign of the bus and are never legally required to do anything. Drive it on campus if you like, through the Arboretum, heck, even into Putah Creek if

you’re so inclined. The potential for adventure is as limitless as the potential for irreversible property damage.

While the university has lost hundreds of thousands on crashed buses, streets are now littered with run-over bikes and skateboards and 90% of the student body is unable to attend school due to bus-related or bus-adjacent accidents, the university refuses to rehire the Unitrans staff.

So while we may live in a bus hellscape filled with vehicular manslaughter and to-the-death duels of rock, paper, scissors, close your eyes and think back on how lucky we are to have an in-person quarter this year. And keep thinking that when you’re inevitably sent flying into the Arboretum by a freshman listening to AirPods while driving a double-decker through the Art Building.

Disclaimer: (This article is humor and/or satire, and it’s content is purely fictional. The story and/or names of “sources” are fictionalized.)

HUMOR

DAMMIT, THEY REARRANGED SAFEWAY AGAIN I just wanted some granola and now I’m trapped in “The Maze Runner”

BY ANNABEL MARSHALL almarshall@ucdavis.edu I’ve got a list. That’s the way to do it, I think, to have a list. That way you can go in, get what you need and get out. God knows I’ve spent a few hours of my life procrastinating Chem 2C homework in the cereal aisle.

So I’ve got a list. Eggs, bread, bananas. Oat milk to put on my oatmeal to make it extra oaty.

One lonely avocado because I want to make guacamole and pretend I’m having a party, but I don’t want to have anyone over because then they’ll eat my guacamole. My roommate wants bagels, so I added that too. Shaving cream.

I start with the oat milk because having nondairy milk in my basket makes me feel superior to the layman. Layperson. It’s 2021; I’m superior to the layperson. It should be right over…

Oh no, they’ve done it again. They’ve rearranged. Why they do this, I’ve never understood. Wouldn’t it be easier to keep the dinosaur chicken nuggets in a permanent position? What if I were having a dinosaur chicken nugget emergency? Like yesterday? Or the five consecutive days before that. Come to think of it, I was here six hours ago. How did

they rearrange everything?

Let’s get this over with. Oat milk. Maybe it’s among the breakfast foods? Pop-Tarts make a mac and cheese flavor? And who knew there were eight different kinds of shredded Parmesan? And since when was beer next to the sushi counter?

I think I’m losing it. It begins to snow. Wait, those are just receipts. They burn to touch. They are made of seaweed. Biodegradable, nice. Good to see companies working toward the common good.

I look up. The ceiling unfolds and I catch a glimpse of Hell. The floor is flooding with nonfat Greek yogurt. The Hispanic foods whisper obscenities. Eggs, bread, bananas. Surely the eggs would be in the refrigerated section, but I’ve been past the dairy four times and the Moth people are rude to me every time.

Oat milk. I see it in the distance. I run. I am sitting in my Safeway shopping cart and wearing a watermelon as a helmet. You are there. It’s nice to see you. Did you do the sociology homework?

We reach the oat milk, but when I reach out, I find a single unwrapped glazed donut. It was just a mirage.

SAFEWAY on 7

Disclaimer: (This article is humor and/or satire, and its content is purely fictional. The story and the names of “sources” are fictionalized.)

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

6 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2021

SUDOKU Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row, column and 3x3 square must contain each digit. Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing.

Answer to previous puzzle 10/28/2021

CROSSWORD Answer to previous puzzle 10/28/2021

Scan this QR code to subscribe to The California Aggie’s Newsletter!

reduce. reuse. recycle.

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2021 | 7

RECALLRESULTS

MALNUTRTION

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 This trend of low youth turnout is compounded by the pandemic, according to Coronel.

“Another equally great challenge was to reach out to students who were participating in virtual and distant learning classes and away from campus and their Yolo County place of residence,” Coronel said via email. “The Yolo County Elections Office social media handles, voter information phone line, and email communication were essential tools for providing streamlined up-to-date information for this group of voters.”

Student registration drives are another big part of how Yolo County Elections reaches out to youth voters, according to Coronel.

“Yolo County Elections in partnership with organizations such as the League of Women Voters Davis and identified college campuses such as UC Davis have organized and led studentoriented Voter Registration Drives in these college campuses and communities,” Coronel said via email. “These registration drives provide students with the opportunity to register to vote, often for the first time, or as a reminder and realtime opportunity to update their existing voter registration in the event a change in name or address occurred.”

More information about upcoming voter drives and opportunities to get involved can be found on the Yolo County Elections website or on their social media pages.

FILIPINOHERITAGEMONTH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Sosa added a final comment regarding the Filipino American experience.

“There is no one single correct way to be Filipino American,” Sosa said.

Third-year Asian American studies major, and gender, sexuality and women’s studies and education double minor Mattia Sayson, who is also the community cultural chair for Mga Kapatid and a community youth development coordinator for BRIDGE: Pilipinx Outreach and Retention, described her experience as a Filipinx American woman.

“Something that really hits home for me is the saying, ‘No history, no self, know history, know self,’” Sayson said. “For me, that really centers this idea of how necessary it is to understand where we came from and our roots, our ancestors and their story, and how that’s connected to who we are as individuals.”

Sayson said that her identity is constantly changing.

“My identity as a Filipinx American woman is constantly changing just because of how I come to define what that means to me,” Sayson said. “As I continue to grow, heal, unlearn and understand what it means to be Filipinx American, whether that’s in the context of living in America, whether

that’s in the context of unpacking the stories and the backgrounds of my parents and my grandparents, I take a piece of what I learned from my community, now and in the past and really hold on to that.”

Sayson said that there are eight Filipino organizations on campus, which all serve unique purposes in the Davis community.

“There are eight organizations here on campus within the Filipino American community,” Sayson said. “I think what’s really special about our community and the different spaces is that while there are different spaces to target different interests and different focuses, whether that’s health careers or arts and humanities or religion, these conversations in these spaces are really open to anyone.”

Sayson shared why October is such an important time for all to remember Filipino American heritage.

“This month is a reminder that we have so much to celebrate because we would not be here without the legacies and the histories before us,” Sayson said. “October is only one chance to do that. Every chance we get, we should really celebrate our history and our story.”

SQUIRRELSGALORE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 According to the Davis Enterprise article, the school board has been trying multiple methods to help curb the squirrel infestation, such as putting water and sand in the burrows, live-trapping and more. A recent UC Davis study, for which the news statement was published on Sept. 10, detailed that squirrels have personality traits, which can affect how they use space.

These four personality traits are “boldness, aggressiveness, activity and sociability,” according to the study’s YouTube video. According to the study, these traits can have an impact on “wildlife management,” especially when considering the additional impact that human activities can have. Jaclyn Aliperti, the lead author of the study, detailed this idea further in the news statement.

“This adds to the small but growing number of studies showing that individuals matter,” Aliperti said. “Accounting for personality in wildlife management may be especially important when predicting wildlife responses to new conditions, such as changes or destruction of habitat due to human activity.”

Abigail Garofal, an energy and environmental stewardship educator at the University of Illinois Extension, explained in a webinar part of the reason why squirrel populations are so extensive.

“Starting in Central Park, actually in New York City, they introduced gray squirrels, flying squirrels and chipmunks, and then they actually started doing this in other cities as well,” Garofal

said. “And so these squirrels were so successful in this urban landscape that they actually ended up having to coal a few of the species back because they were actually causing damage to some of the park landscapes, but at that point, it was too late [...] so we started incorporating new trees into new neighborhoods as cities expanded.”

Dirk Van Vuren, a professor of wildlife biology at UC Davis, explained that the habitat may be conducive for squirrels and that from Google Earth, there seems to be “some great squirrel habitat on the south side of the school.”

“California ground squirrels prefer open, grassy habitats,” Van Vuren said via email. “They need open habitats. Their food is herbaceous vegetation such as grasses, and the seeds they produce. They especially like grazed areas, but looking on Google Earth, it seems there are plenty of ag fields nearby, which might be a source of the squirrels.”

Van Vuren said that the increase in squirrel populations was in response to the environment.

A good habitat can lead to an increase in the number of squirrels.

“These squirrels don’t often dig burrows in lawns, but they certainly like to live in nearby burrows, and feed on lawns,” Van Vuren said via email. “So, the setting of Harper seems to have provided good quality habitat for California ground squirrels, and they responded accordingly.”

GUARDIANS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 “It’s a difficult process,” Savageau said. “I would usually lay [the materials] out on the floor and play around with the different materials that I had, finally decide on one that I liked and then put it together from there.”

The exhibit also has an eco-conscious aspect to it — it’s made entirely from recycled materials that the artist collected herself. “The materials are gleaned from all over the place, especially the beaches of Northern California,” Savageau said.

“These are all things that are seen as worthless, with no value, that nobody else wants, but then if you put them together, you have a new object that is a composite of a lot of different objects from different places.”

And that’s what’s really striking about her work — this ability to capture poignant emotions

through an amalgamation of pieces that others may view as junk. Her work clearly resonates deeply with her audience, and to demonstrate this impact, the gallery also features an interactive component. Just beyond the sculptures, there is a smaller, slightly hidden area where viewers are invited to write down any thoughts, prayers or other comments they might have.

“I chose the topic of guardians to explore my feelings and to think about how all of us need protection from what’s going on in the world,” Savageau said.

It’s true — everybody has, in some way, experienced a loss in the past year. Whether that be lost time, a lost job or even the loss of a loved one, we all are in need of healing and protection, now more than ever.

OPENMIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 Everyone was welcome to take the spotlight and share their unique story in any form of expression, whether or not they signed up beforehand. The safety and support of the team and the audience generated an empowering energy evident throughout the night, inspiring people to take a risk and get onstage.

One of the foundations of the club is to be a safe space for expression, Qasime said. It is established from the get-go that if anyone is uncomfortable at any given point, they encourage open and honest communication in order to maintain this comfortable environment for everyone.

“[Open mic] is an opportunity to grow myself, but it was also a moment for me to step back and enjoy seeing people in that spotlight,” Qasime said. “To see them go out there and give themselves the opportunity and put themselves out there in front of other people…it’s admirable.

It’s a beautiful thing.”

There is an undeniable energy welcoming everyone and encouraging people to come back. The applause, the support, the safety and the creative expression make the environment contagious. Make sure to keep an eye out for the next event, whether to perform or enjoy the stories of fellow UC Davis artists.

SAFEWAY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 I begin to laugh hysterically and a nearby customer reaches out to me, but their fingers become Barilla Angel Hair Spaghetti, 20% off when you buy five. Do the thumbs count as spaghetti? Because I’m not paying full price for thumbs. Honey, will you Google it? Honey?

I think she’s taking an ice bath in the frozen spinach.

“This is what we wanted,” the workers say in unison. They chant in Portuguese. I am

beginning to understand Portuguese and also time and space. Eggs, bread, bananas. My list has caught fire. When I let go of it, it turns into a bird. The bird is trapped in the store. The bird is my soul. I cannot find the bagels.

Disclaimer: This article is humor and/or satire, and its content is purely fictional. The story and the names of “sources” are fictionalized.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Stewart emphasized that the results of the study demonstrate that tools — like this supplement — which can improve child health, growth and development are in fact available.

“We found that small quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements provided to 6-24 month old children significantly improved child health, growth and development,” Stewart said.

Stewart elaborated on these results, explaining that when compared to children who did not receive the small quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements, children who did receive such supplements were 12% less likely to have stunted growth, 14% less likely to experience acute malnutrition, 16% less likely to have anemia and 50% less likely to suffer from an iron deficiency or vitamin A deficiency.

Stewart mentioned that the results remained “relatively consistent” across study characteristics like geographic region and study sites, among other factors.

Strategic decisions must be made when it comes to implementing potential programs in different countries and contexts, according to Stewart.

“Our next step is to calculate the benefits [versus] costs of distributing small quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements through one or more national programs,” Stewart said. “We have already begun this next phase of the project and hope to be able to share those results soon.”

Nonetheless, Stewart said that this intervention moves the dial on multiple Sustainable Development Goal targets and reaffirms the three pillars of the UN Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ health.

According to an article published by UC Davis, this study was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Driven by the vision that all women and children have the nutrition they need to live healthy and productive lives, the foundation invests in nutrition to reduce preventable deaths and improve maternal and child health — empowering individuals, families, and communities to achieve their full potential,” the media relations team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said via email.

One way this vision manifests itself is through this project.

“SQ-LNS is one of those solutions we have supported and for which the results are powerful,” the media relations team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said. “The significant impact of SQ-LNS on reducing the incidence of stunting, wasting, underweight and anemia in children is a strong outcomes by any measure— and that’s in addition to the potential for a 27% reduction in all-cause mortality in children aged 6 to 24 months.”

NEWENERGY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 “Doing calculations to determine properties […] a simple material goes pretty fast, I can do it on my laptop,” Donadio said. “But when I start to simulate a more complex material like these clathrates, some of these have like 260 atoms, or a multiple of those, so machine learning is a way of speeding up complex calculations.”

According to Donadio, machine learning allows them to train a machine based on known calculations, to be able to predict the properties of new structures without going through all of the electronic structure calculations.

Zekun Chen, a third-year Ph.D. student in the chemistry department at UC Davis working for Donadio, and a machine learning expert, discussed the role machine learning has played in clathrate research.

“Machine learning is keen at inferring structure-property relations from the trend of known data,” Chen said via email. “Our goal is to build predictive machine learning models based on available data of thousands of known compounds. [We can then] apply them to make predictions on renovative clathrate materials.”

Chen went on to explain the value of these predictions.

“These predictions are important because they can help us understand the fundamental principles of this group of clathrates,” Chen said via email. “Meanwhile, once sufficiently developed, this machine learning workflow can be extendable to study other classes of materials.

Thus, machine learning can be helpful in material discovery in general.”

Donadio said that synthetic clathrates have been around for a while, but in a limited way, with most of the frames being made out of silicone, carbon, germanium and tin — all in the same column of the periodic table. But Kirill’s experimental efforts allowed him to synthesize clathrates with different elements, opening up the path to future research with a more diverse array of clathrates.

These new clathrates, if successfully synthesized, have many possible future applications, including in the field of energy through thermoelectric energy conversion.

According to the press release about the grant, thermoelectric materials can both “offer a fix for overheating” by transferring excess heat away from electronics and convert heat into electricity.

Susan Kauzlarich, a distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry at UC Davis who does experimental research centered around new thermoelectric materials, said that this works through what’s called “temperature gradients.”

“You have temperature gradients everywhere — the difference in temperature between the

air and your skin, that’s a gradient,” Kauzlarich said. “You can use a temperature gradient to create electricity because the carriers, which are electrons, carry heat, and move from a ‘hot side’ to a ‘cold side,’ and that’s how electrical current is generated.”

According to Kauzlarich, thermoelectric materials can convert a temperature gradient into electricity, or an electrical current can be put into those materials and they will generate a temperature gradient.

She went on to explain how clathrates are involved in the conversation and research around thermoelectrics.

“For a really good thermoelectric material, you have to maintain a temperature gradient, so you want something that does not conduct heat very well,” Kauzlarich said. “And that’s what clathrates do in general; many clathrates don’t conduct heat very well.”

Donadio went on to say that apart from thermoelectrics, there are also applications in batteries to make solid-state electrolytes to replace current plastics, for the sake of safety and efficiency. However, he said that application is not their project’s main goal — rather, they’re simply seeking to discover what clathrates can be synthesized, and what chemical rules define their stability and properties.

“We want to explore the chemical space to find new clathrates with possibly unprecedented properties,” Donadio said. “[...] If we find something with very low thermal conductivity and decent electronic properties, then it could be a good candidate for thermoelectrics, but we’re not focusing on that.”

Donadio and Kovnir’s research is inherently interdisciplinary, and Donadio described how that has been essential to the project.

“The research we do in my group is really across the boundary of chemistry, physics, and materials science,” Donadio said. “We are using methods that have been developed by physicists, and we are applying them to a chemical problem.

On top of that, we have all this new artificial intelligence that really plays an important role in this project.”

Kauzlarich emphasized the support the chemistry department has for Donadio’s research and the potential of new discoveries.

“We’re all very excited [...], and I know that he’ll make great progress looking at these, because again, there’s so many different combinations that you can have, and finding the best ones is like finding a needle in the haystack,” Kauzlarich said. “So I’m sure that his contributions to the area will help experimentalists everywhere.”

GROUNDWATER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Depleting and overdrafting groundwater can have serious consequences, leading to groundwater deterioration and land subsidence where the land starts to sink, affecting infrastructure like roads and canals. Kisekka and his team understand that many communities’ economies depend on irrigated agriculture, so balancing sustainability and production is the goal of the study.

“Growers have increasingly depended on groundwater during multi-year droughts and heat stress,” according to a recent UC Davis press release. “Part of the five-year project includes looking into aquifer systems in California’s Central Valley, central Arizona and the lower Rio Grande basin in New Mexico. These regions have all experienced unprecedented overdraft, which happens when more water is pumped from a groundwater basin than is replaced from sources, including rainfall.”

California is the largest agricultural state in the country, with agricultural receipts exceeding $50 billion, according to Kisekka.

“California’s agricultural sector is a huge industry,” Kisekka said. “But that industry relies heavily on water, because we are in semi-arid climates, with many growing areas having the Mediterranean climate where you don’t get a lot of rain during the summer.”

Iael Hoffmann, a postdoctoral at Kisekka’s lab studying agricultural water and nitrogen management, provided insight into how she is contributing to the study’s development of agricultural management strategies through her project in the Central Valley.

“We are looking into how management practices like processing tomato rotation fields affects groundwater quality,” Hoffman said. “So we’re measuring irrigation, water and nitrogen balances, but at the field scale, at soil scale and also at the groundwater scale. So we’re monitoring

these three levels.”

The core of Kisekka’s project is the development of better data and tools for farmers to optimize their growing practices toward more sustainable groundwater and irrigated agriculture. Kisekka provided examples of what his team of researchers plan to do for long-term sustainability of groundwater.

“One of the things we’ll be doing is managing aquifer recharge, where during a drought, we flood agriculture fields and make the water salt into the ground to recharge groundwater, which can be topped during the dry periods,” Kisekka said. “We are also developing best management practices on soil health, for example, using cover crops and other soil amendments to increase the ability of the soil to store water, also to make the crops more resilient either during a heatwave or severe drought. We’re also looking at smart technologies, like remote sensing and artificial intelligence so growers can start to use data to optimize decision making.”

These are just a few of the many potential management practices Kisekka and his team will be working on for farmers to best optimize their growing practices while sustaining groundwater under the limitations of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The future of agricultural practices is evolving, and Kisekka commented on what changes will need to be made to adapt to the constantly changing climate.

“Agricultural practices will have to be smart,” Kisekka said. “In some ways, it may be a smaller footprint, but more intensified. So you’ll have sustainable intensification of already very intensive systems. Instead of expanding the number of acres we are growing, we may cap or even decline a little bit, but productivity will increase. And [there] will be more use of data to make decisions and technology in general.”

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

8 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2021

SPORTS THE AGGIES TURN IN A DOMINATING PERFORMANCE EN ROUTE TO VICTORY OVER UC SAN DIEGO UC Davis reaches 10 wins for the first time since 2015

BY MARLON ROLON sports@theaggie.org For the three seniors on the UC Davis women’s soccer team roster, goalkeeper Nicki Rucki, midfielder Emma Hasco and defender Janessa Staab, this game would be their last to don the Aggies blue and gold uniforms. The home team proved to be too much as UC San Diego succumbed to the pressure, falling 3-1 to close out the season.

“Our seniors are everything, they’re always at the core of every great successful team,” head coach Tracy Hamm said after the game. “They’re just great people also and they’re all charismatic in their own way and they each bring something unique to the team in their own way and to the team so we were really lucky to have such a great group of seniors that got us a 10 win season and finished the season out on top with a win.”

The Aggies dominated early with a brilliant cross into the box from Emma Vane to Hasco in which she then found the back of the net to take the 1-0 lead within the first 10 minutes of regulation.

It was Hasco’s third goal of the season as the senior turned in an excellent performance in her last outing on the pitch as an Aggie.

UC San Diego would answer back with a superb finish by Sophia Bruno in the 29th minute to equalize the score making it 1-1 before closing out the half.

In the second half of the match, UC Davis came out blazing, seeking to make a statement with Vane again making her presence felt, assisting the team’s leading scorer Leslie Ferguso with a cross.

The talented and elusive Ferguso did not forgive on the pitch as she headed the ball toward the right post scoring the second goal of the match for the Aggies, making it 2-1.

In the 69th minute, Ferguso returned the favor with an assist to Vane who finished with brilliance to put the game out of reach making it 3-1.

The Aggies finished their season with a record of 10-8 and going 5-5 in conference play. UC Davis finished the game with 27 shots while their defense allowed eight shots. Ferguso finished the season with an impressive seven tallies, making her the leading scorer of the team. UC Davis looks to build on their 10 wins next season with a new generation of players looking to cement their legacy within the program.

Freshman Chandler Connors dribbling near the middle of the Aggie) “I think as a coach that’s what you look forward to the most, the key relationships on the field between players and who helps each other be successful and who highlights each other’s strengths,” Coach Hamm said. “We’ve definitely found some pretty dynamic duos and some dynamic trios on the field at the same time that are really going to be hard to stop moving forward.”

A reflection of the 2021 season Closing out the season with 10 wins is considered a success for the program when looking back at their last couple of years.

This season is something they can build on heading into next season with their younger players eager to get more playing time.

Even after being removed from the game for an entire year due to unforeseen circumstances, the growth of the team was astonishing to watch.

Coach Hamm spoke briefly about what this season meant after the cancellation of the 2020 season.

“I think there was just always a great energy about being on the field and really appreciating what we have and being grateful for the opportunity to even compete, and I think we had a lot of time to really invest in each other as people which I think translated to our ability to compete on the field together and have a successful

year,” coach Hamm said.

The team kicked off the season with a record of two wins and three losses raising questions about the direction of the team.

However, according to coach Hamm, she never stopped believing in her squad which resulted in the team playing hard for their beloved coach. The following game, the Aggies flourished with a four goal performance against Idaho State routing them 4-0.

UC Davis built on that moral victory, beating the likes of their rival school Sacramento State, Saint Mary’s, CSU Bakersfield and CSU Northridge, claiming five wins in a row.

For the rest of the way, UC Davis’ women’s team alternated loses and wins resulting in their 10-8 overall record.

The team had three seniors that were fundamental pieces to the team’s success. Those three players: goalkeeper Rucki, midfielder Hasco and defender Staab were seen as the embodiment of what it means to be an Aggie. They showed heart, determination, leadership and resilience.

“We have a lot to look forward to,” coach Hamm said. “The seniors definitely left the program better than they found it, which is fantastic. There’s a lot of room for growth and development but we’ve really got a young team, and we’ve got a lot of experience now moving forward learning how to win and learning how to be consistent, so I think the future is very bright.”

The program in Davis has a lot to look forward to being rich in talent with the likes of midfielders Ferguso, Risa Yamada leading the way while proving to be an elite combination scoring a combined 13 goals. The duo also proved to be capable of facilitating the ball with a combined 12 assists between the pair.

Another rising star within the program is San Jose native Vane, occupying the striker position. The freshman found the back of the net four times while assisting teammates on three occasions.

Vane’s partner up front also includes freshman out of Chino Hills, Calif., Sammie Ruelas, who proved to be a great asset to the team, scoring three goals and adding three assists. The future in the striker position looks very bright with two young prospects gaining valuable experience during their freshmen seasons.

UC Davis is loaded with young talent in a program that seems to be flourishing. Be on the look out for this new generation of players looking to make a splash next season after earning 10-wins, a feat that hadn’t happened since 2015.

THE AGGIES STAMP THEIR SEASON FINALE WITH A PLAYOFF BERTH UC Davis tops rival school Sacramento State in thrilling fashion

BY MARLON ROLON sports@theaggie.org With an attendance of 869, emotions were high for the remaining seniors on the UC Davis soccer team as this particular game marked their last home game on the pitch under the UC Davis emblom. Stakes were high against bitter rivals, the Sacramento State Hornets, as a playoff spot was on the line.

Fans from both teams filled the seats in Davis, meanwhile, the home crowd was there to show their support to the remaining seven seniors: goalkeeper Derrek Chan, defenders Sean Cooper, Jake Haupt, Kaleb Schirmacher and midfielders Grant Fidler, Emmanuel Doherty and forward Robert Mejia.

“First and foremost at UC Davis we are student-athletes.

These guys are outstanding people; they’re outstanding young men, [have] great character [and] they’re super smart kids. They’re a pleasure to work with daily,” head coach Dwayne Shaffer said following the game. “A great group of young men, they’ve brought every bit of determination, effort, heart to the program. They’ve worked hard, they had great careers during their run. It’s been an awesome experience.”

The host team, UC Davis overcame adversity with Mejia’s game winner to clinch a playoff berth in the Big West. After being down 1-0, the Aggies stormed back to tie the game with a goal from senior Schirmacher before the half. Senior Mejia secured the win for the Aggies in the 54th minute with his emotional game winner.

“It meant a lot. The crowd definitely went crazy and that just made it 10 times more special. My teammates were completely

excited,” Mejia said after the game. “It was surreal for sure.”

The Aggies finished their season 8-9-1 overall and 4-4-1 in conference games. Causeway rival Sacramento State came into the matchup needing a win or draw to make the playoffs. As their season came to a close they finished with a record of 5-10-3 overall and 3-4-2 in conference play.

UC Davis dominated the first half of the game as they came out looking to make a statement offensively. The Aggies controlled the pace with their midfielders feeding the forwards while coming close to finding the net.

Davis contained the Hornets on their side of the field as Sacramento played defensively for most of the half. That is until the Hornets came away in a breakaway opportunity, striker Jhared Willcot drove into the box past the defense and shot toward the right post. The Aggies goalkeeper, Charles Janssen initially blocked the shot while Sacramento’s Christo Cervantes poached the ball off a rebound into the back of the net to make it 1-0 in the 38th minute.

The home team seemed to be in trouble, desperately needing a goal before the half to cut the deficit. Their needs were met with defender Schirmacher breaking through the Hornet defense for the equalizer right before the half ended as the home crowd was ecstatic.

The second half was more of a competitive battle with Sacramento State pushing the tempo. With the Hornets applying more effort offensively, that created openings for Davis in the counter attack. The Aggies’ Mejia stepped up by dribbling the ball with brilliance past the defenders to get inside the box and score a beautiful goal that would eventually seal the game for the Aggies.

“I’m thankful everyday that these coaches gave me a chance,

Aggie) Dwayne and Jason, they gave me a chance to play here. I’ll always be indebted to them. Soccer is a rollercoaster, you win some, you lose some,” Mejia said. “I’ve had a wonderful career here. We’ve done many good things. We’ve won the first Big West championship so I’m happy that we get a chance to do that again.”

The UC Davis soccer team qualified for the postseason as the fifth seed due to UC Riverside’s 2-1 loss to UC San Diego.

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GETTING A KICK OUT OF IT UC Davis’ taekwondo club finally returns to some normalcy and emphasizes the importance of being a team despite competing individually

BY KATHERIN RAYGOZA sports@theaggie.org Taekwondo has become a popular sport by gaining an international reputation, and it is one of the most systematic and scientific Korean traditional martial arts. Today, it is practiced by about 80 million people in 209 countries around the world.

The sport is not just about fighting; it teaches values of inclusiveness, respect and leadership. The best part is that anyone can join regardless of their age, gender, religion and ethnicity.

At UC Davis, the taekwondo club’s goal is to make sure it is an inclusive and accessible sport for all.

“It’s a super supportive team,” said Juliet Bost, a fourth-year biochemistry and molecular biology major and the club’s vice president. “I think it’s a great place to be because we’ve got people who have done taekwondo for a really long time and we also have complete beginners. Everyone is making sure we each are learning.

Often in taekwondo, you don’t experience a lot of team pride since it’s an individual sport but at UC Davis, we have a team dynamic.

We’re all about making the team the best that it can be.”

In terms of experience, the club has people from every level.

People who have never thrown a kick in their lives attended their first taekwondo practice on campus, and the team also has people who have been competing for more than 15 years.

The club team also has a unique process of accepting new members: They don’t require a tryout. The only thing necessary to participate with the team is to bring a positive attitude.

“It’s really fun to have people who have never competed before,” said Raye Chiang, an applied mathematics major at and one of the club’s co-presidents. “Since a lot of it is about having fun rather than being super competitive, it just helps the environment so that no one will have an elitist attitude. It’s important we build relationships, create a community and make sure everyone is included. We’re a pretty big family and I don’t think that being co-

president means we’re different from the other members.”

This year, the team exceeded a shocking amount of people wanting to participate in the club. Usually there are about 40 to 50 members — but in the beginning of fall quarter, about 70 members attended their practices.

“Part of the reason why we think so many people want to join this year is because people are really excited to be back on campus and in person,” said Madison Lee Hall, a fourth-year political science major and the club treasurer. “They miss that connection.”

There has been a huge shift to the team because of the ongoing pandemic. The team has not been able to practice, have socials or participate in any competition. Their competition and team bonding experiences have not been the same since they have been canceled for over a year and new members are arriving.

“Last spring, we did a bit of [in-person] training but still couldn’t make contact with each other,” said Bost. “So coming back, everyone is a little rusty. It’s taking some time to get back into it, but we can at least practice again.”

Team bonding is a crucial part of the club and because of COVID-19, team members were not able to meet each other in person. They stayed connected as much as possible all throughout the past year, in whatever way they could.

“All throughout the pandemic, we had online practices through Zoom. Even though, understandably, not many people attended, it helped us stay connected,” said Annie Kaur, a fourthyear biological psychology student and the club’s co-president.

“We also stayed connected through social media, and we made sure not to let anything die down.”

For the past year, there haven’t been any local tournaments in the Davis area, and it has been a long year since the club has competed. After waiting a year, UC Davis’ annual taekwondo tournament will finally be held on Nov. 20 at the University Credit Union Center. This is one of their special tournaments because this is an event where the entire community gathers.

They must follow COVID-19 protocols at the tournament.

In order for people and competitors to enter the facility, they must present “a symptom survey, a negative COVID test or be vaccinated and wear a mask,” according to Kaur.

Competitors are also required to wear masks during the competition even though they already have a mouth guard on.

This will be a challenge, but the team isn’t complaining and is just happy to be competing again after the long break.

With new members arriving and the competition season finally beginning, the club is hoping to stay connected and have fun together again.

“Our coach likes to say that even though taekwondo is an individual sport, we practice as a team and we are a team,” Lee Hall said.