Founders Celebration 2015

Join us as we commemorate the day UC San Diego was founded in November 1960. Celebrate the ways in which our scholarship, community and commitment have created a force for positive change in our region, our nation and our world.

Learn more at founders.ucsd.edu. Follow this hashtag on Twitter: #ucsdfounders

What is Founders Celebration?

The annual Founders Celebration commemorates the day UC San Diego was founded in November 1960. Faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends are invited to celebrate the many ways in which our scholarship, community and commitment have created a force for positive change in our region, our nation and our world.

Why have an annual Founders Celebration?

The common goal of the various Founders Celebration events is to engage the campus and community, as well as build our base of advocates and donors, by:

• Underscoring the impact of the campus on local, national and global communities to rally support for the campus;
• Sharing exciting research or work produced by UC San Diego staff, graduate students, faculty and leadership;
• Bringing the campus community together to foster camaraderie among our faculty, staff and students;
• Honoring outstanding supporters of UC San Diego and distinguished faculty through the presentation of the Chancellor’s Medals and Revelle Medals; and
• Raising the external visibility of UC San Diego.

Who will be honored during the celebration?

Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla will present three distinguished individuals with the Revelle Medal at Founders Day on November 13, and will recognize the support of three multifaceted leaders with the Chancellor’s Medal at Founders Dinner on November 14. We are truly grateful for the support of these remarkable individuals, foundations and corporations.

• Chancellor’s Medal Recipients

  The Chancellor’s Medal is one of the highest honors bestowed by UC San Diego to honor exceptional service in support of the university’s mission.
  • Carol Vassiliadis
  • The Family of Chris and Warren Hellman
  • Qualcomm Incorporated

• Revelle Medal Recipients

  The Revelle Medal recognizes current and former faculty members whose sustained and extraordinary service to the campus advances UC San Diego’s mission of exceptional teaching, research, service and patient care.
  • Cecil Lytle (Department of Music)
  • Hugh “Bud” Mehan (Department of Sociology)
  • Susan Shirk (School of Global Policy and Strategy)

Who will be Founders Symposium speakers?

The following faculty will be featured presenting TED-style talks related to the campus’ grand research themes.

• Understanding Cultures and Addressing Disparities in Society
  • Angela Booker, Ph.D., Department of Communication
  • Jennifer Burney, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Global Policy and Strategy
  • Craig Callender, Ph.D., Department of Philosophy
• Exploring the Basis of Human Knowledge, Learning, and Creativity
  • Alan Daly, Ph.D., Department of Education Studies
  • Paul Niehaus, Ph.D., Department of Economics
  • Emily Roxworthy, Ph.D., Department of Theatre and Dance

What are the Academic Senate Faculty Research Lectures, and who are the lecturers?

Concurrent with Founders Celebration, the Academic Senate recognizes two faculty whose research has made a significant contribution to the advancement of knowledge They will present a lecture topic of their choice.

• Yen Espiritu, Ph.D, Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies
  When: Monday, Nov. 4, 2015, 3–5 p.m.
  Where: Faculty Club, Atkinson Pavilion
  RSVP by Oct. 28, 2015 to awelch@ucsd.edu
• Anita Raj, Ph.D., Professor, Division of Global Public Health, Department of Medicine
  When: Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2015, 3–5 p.m.
  Where: Faculty Club, Atkinson Pavilion
  RSVP by Oct. 28, 2015 to awelch@ucsd.edu

Sand castles, surfing and computation: what drives these two Jacobs School researchers

Our colleagues at This Week @ UC San Diego asked Geno Pawlak, a professor of mechanical engineering, and Bill Griswold, a professor of computer science, about curiosity, passion and transformation related to their field of research. The answers featured surfing, sand castles and achieving humanity's full potential. The two researchers were speaking at the Founders Symposium Nov. 13 here on campus. Read their answers below.

Eugene Pawlak, Ph.D., ’97, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Turbulence: Chicken Soup for the Coral-Reef Soul

What initially sparked your curiosity about this area of study?

I grew up along the coast in Panama and have lived near the ocean and have surfed most of my life - so I’ve experienced first-hand the dramatic changes in the ocean that can occur due to storms, swell, pollution, etc. The Pacific coast of Panama sees tidal changes of 20 feet so you can see remarkable changes over six hours. I was also a sand-castle builder as a kid (and still am!) and so I was fascinated by the changes that came about due to waves and tides at an early age.

Day-to-day, what fuels your passion for you research?

On a very basic level, I think I’m passionate about understanding how things work. At a broader level, I’ve become more interested in applying this understanding to environmental problems, for example, making use of our knowledge of physical systems in understanding responses of biological and chemical systems in reef environments.

What potential impact—or transformation—do you see coming from this research?

My research is fundamentally about understanding physical dynamics of environmental systems, focused on connections between the coast and the open ocean. From an engineering perspective, this research has implications for predicting storm surge, tsunami inundation, water quality and coastal erosion. I believe the potential for transformative impacts arises from working across disciplines.

William Griswold, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Pervasive Air Quality Monitoring via the Crowd

What initially sparked your curiosity about this area of study?

I learned that there were just a handful of air quality monitoring stations in San Diego, and that we really knew so little about how air quality in the region was affecting the average person. I realized that recent developments in mobile computing technology and sensing devices would enable much more accurate and detailed sensing.

Day-to-day, what fuels your passion for your research?

Three things:

1. I believe that with each advance in computing, we get a little closer to achieving our full potential. Computing technology holds the promise to enhance our humanity and our potential as human beings: our creativity, our intelligence, our reach and how we relate to each other.
2. Students and their hunger for learning. I want to make their dreams come true.
3. The opportunity to make this a better world for everyone.

What potential impact—or transformation—do you see coming from this research?

CitiSense (which leverages smartphones and the advent of cheap, compact sensors to enable real-time monitoring of air quality) is one example of how pervasive data collection and analysis can reveal the state of our world and how it affects our well-being on a daily basis. It's hard to perceive while we're in the middle of it, but a revolution is afoot.