December 15, 2000   —   Joseph L. Reid, professor emeritus of physical oceanography in the Marine Life Research Group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, is being honored with the Maurice Ewing Medal of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) for his outstanding scientific contributions to ocean sciences. The award is presented annually for significant contributions to the understanding of physical, geophysical, and geological processes in the ocean; to those who advance ocean engineering, technology, and instrumentation; and to those who perform outstanding service to the marine sciences. He will receive the award at a special ceremony presentation on Dec. 17, during the annual AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

December 11, 2000   —   A new hydrothermal vent field, which scientists have dubbed "The Lost City," was discovered December 5th on an undersea mountain in the Atlantic Ocean. The unexpected discovery occurred at 30 degrees North on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge during an oceanographic cruise aboard the research vessel Atlantis. A team of scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Duke University, the University of Washington and other institutions conducted the National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported expedition. "We thought that we had seen the entire spectrum of hydrothermal activity on the seafloor, but this major discovery reminds us that the ocean still has much to reveal, "says Margaret Leinen, NSF assistant director for geosciences.

December 11, 2000   —   Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Scripps Institution of Oceanography have discovered "strong evidence" for current volcanic activity at the Vailulu’u summit east of Samoa.

November 21, 2000   —   Professor Eduardo R. Macagno, Associate Vice-President of Arts and Sciences for Research and Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University, has been appointed as the Founding Dean of the University of California, San Diego's Division of Biology. Macagno, a professor of biological sciences who has served in his current administrative posts since 1993 and on the Columbia faculty since 1973, will begin his tenure at UCSD on February 1, 2001.

November 13, 2000   —   James R. Stewart, diving officer emeritus at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, was one of the initial inductees into the NAUI (National Association of Underwater Instructors) Hall of Honor. At a special awards ceremony held during NAUI's 40th Anniversary Reunion Nov. 10-12 in Houston, Texas, Stewart joined 21 other scuba pioneers who were honored for their countless hours of volunteer labor and valuable contributions to the field of scuba diving.

November 13, 2000   —   The White House announced today that Yuan-Cheng Fung, fondly known as the father of biomechanics, will receive the President's National Medal of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor. Fung, a professor emeritus of bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Jacobs School of Engineering, will be recognized at an awards dinner scheduled for December 1 in Washington, D.C.

November 9, 2000   —  

President Clinton today named Herbert F. York, a nuclear physicist and the founding chancellor of the University of California, San Diego, a recipient of this year's Enrico Fermi Award for his efforts and contributions in nuclear deterrence and arms control agreements.

November 7, 2000   —   Geochemist Jeffrey Severinghaus of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, has been selected a 2000 Packard Fellow for investigations to understand the stability of past and future climates.

September 27, 2000   —   Chemists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that the mysteriously high salt concentrations in exposed soils of Antarctica's Dry Valleys are due in large part to biological sulfur emissions in the oceans surrounding the continent.

September 18, 2000   —   Daniel Hartmann, an electrical and computer engineering graduate student at UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering has invented a new line of high performance, low cost polymer microlenses. These tiny optical components may be used as building blocks inside next generation computers and flat screen televisions. Hartmann was one of six first place winners at the 2000 Collegiate Inventors Competition, sponsored by the National Inventors Hall of Fame (http://www.invent.org/). He received a cash award of $20,000 for his creation.

September 11, 2000   —   William A. Nierenberg, who served from 1965 to 1986 as director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography and vice chancellor of marine sciences at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), died of cancer on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2000, at his home in La Jolla, Calif. He was 81.

September 6, 2000   —   While evidence of the 1997-1998 El Niño was readily apparent on land—with storms and flooding that caused millions of dollars in damage—new studies have detailed El Niño’s extensive consequences in the ocean environment.

August 31, 2000   —   Physicists and biologists at the University of California, San Diego have been awarded $3-million from the National Science Foundation to collaborate in characterizing, in an integrated way, the development of the ameboid protozoan Dictyostelium discoideum, an organism popularly known as a slime mold.

August 21, 2000   —   Using a silicon chip and parts from an inexpensive CD player, chemists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a portable nerve-gas sensor capable of detecting "G-type" nerve agents, such as sarin, soman and GF.

August 3, 2000   —   Scientists analyzing some of the oldest-known rocks on Earth have discovered for the first time a way to recover from the geological record details about the evolution of oxygen and ozone in the planet's early atmosphere-two key ingredients that permitted and recorded the expansion of terrestrial life.

August 2, 2000   —   How do you keep low-income high school students motivated in science and math, and encourage them to aggressively pursue college degrees in these subjects? A new federally funded outreach program at the University of California, San Diego may provide insight, program officials say.

August 1, 2000   —   Marking a first for research in an oceanic system, the William S. Cooper Award has been given to Paul K. Dayton, Mia J. Tegner, Peter B. Edwards, and Kristin L. Riser of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, for their investigation of one of Earth's largest underwater kelp forests.

August 1, 2000   —   Robert C. Rhew, a graduate student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, has been awarded the Edward A. Frieman Director's Prize in recognition of excellence in graduate student research.

July 21, 2000   —   A novel family of anti-cancer compounds called acylfulvenes, discovered by two scientists at the University of California, San Diego more than 10 years ago from toxins of the poisonous jack-o'-lantern mushroom, is showing promise as a highly effective chemotherapy agent, according to clinical trial results reported on recently at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

July 7, 2000   —   CUREe and UCSD Host the "Ultimate Seismic Jolt," Expected to Severely Damage the House

June 22, 2000   —   Seven professors in the natural sciences at the University of California, San Diego are being recognized for their achievements. They are Terence T.-L. Hwa, Roger Y. Tsien, Edward A. Dennis, Yuki Goda, Carl E. McIlwain, Kim Baldridge and Ivan K. Schuller.

June 12, 2000   —   Chemists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered an isotope anomaly previously thought unique to meteorites and other extraterrestrial rocks in sulfate minerals on Earth.

June 5, 2000   —   The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) today announced that it has received a commitment of $2.5 million from Merck & Co., Inc. to help support second-year neuroscience doctoral students. This is the largest single gift for graduate fellowships in the history of UCSD.

June 2, 2000   —   Leena L. Shankar, a molecular biology major in Revelle College at the University of California, San Diego, has been named the first recipient of UCSD's Dr. Selma Silagi Award for undergraduate excellence in science.

May 31, 2000   —   Space-shuttle astronauts were the first to see these strange displays of light similar to auroras, more than 500 miles above our planet's surface. Their sightings were later dismissed because auroras typically extend from only 60 to several hundred miles above the Earth. Known as the northern and southern lights, these colorful auroras, are most commonly visible from the surface of our planet in the high northern and southern latitudes. They are caused by fluxes of charged particles, mostly electrons, emanating from the sun. These particles sometimes overload the radiation belts during periods of high solar flare activity and are then discharged into the atmosphere. As they collide with air molecules in the lower portions of the atmosphere, they produce shimmering displays of colorful light.

May 31, 2000   —   Three-dimensional images of magnetic storms from the Sun, developed by physicists at the University of California, San Diego and Japan's Nagoya University, are allowing space-weather forecasters to improve their predictions of solar disruptions on cycle.

May 15, 2000   —   Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that the proliferation in California of the introduced Argentine ant, a major pest that has invaded homes and displaced native species of ants in much of the coastal regions of the state, is due to the lack of genetic diversity among individuals up and down the coast.

May 10, 2000   —   Gertrude Stein once wrote that a rose is a rose is a rose. But not all roses consist of mundane single flowers. One of the more unusual curiosities of the plant world—among roses and other flowers—is a flower within a flower within a flower.

May 9, 2000   —   J. Andrew McCammon, a chemistry professor at the University of California, San Diego, has been selected in a national competition by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as one of 12 leading scientists who will become HHMI investigators in the emerging field of computational biology.

May 4, 2000   —   The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the University of California, San Diego $220,000 over the next two years to fund 40 scholarships for underrepresented and low-income undergraduates who are pursuing degrees in computer science, engineering or mathematics. Each scholarship provided through the NSF grant will total up to $2,500 annually for two years.

April 28, 2000   —   SAN DIEGO ­ University of California, San Diego structural engineers, with funding from the $7 million CUREe-Caltech Woodframe Project, are performing earthquake tests on a two-story full-scale woodframe house. A televised demonstration of the fully dynamic shaking test on the house will occur at UC San Diego on April 28. This is the first fully dynamic earthquake test ever performed on a full-scale woodframe building in the United States.

April 26, 2000   —   Four outstanding undergraduate students at the University of California, San Diego have been selected to receive prestigious awards from the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation that will allow them to participate in prolonged academic research projects with UCSD faculty members in the sciences.

April 17, 2000   —   SAN DIEGO — April 17, 2000 — In a broad measure designed to enhance the quality of education at all levels, QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) today announced a $25 million commitment for educational programs that will help with efforts nationwide to bridge the “Digital Divide.” The Company has designated the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), San Diego State University (SDSU), California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) and the Foundation for the Improvement of Mathematics and Science Education as recipients of this donation. The contribution is spread over a five-year period, beginning in fiscal year 2001.

April 3, 2000   —   Known internationally for his achievements in the molecular dynamics of chemical and biochemical reactions, Professor Wilson was a prominent member of UCSD's faculty who dreamed of uncovering the most exquisite details of chemical reactions and of building the best chemistry department in the world.

March 21, 2000   —   Minneapolis, MN-Physicists at the University of California, San Diego have produced a new class of composite materials with unusual physical properties that scientists theorized might be possible, but have never before been able to produce in nature.

March 1, 2000   —   Detailed measurements of sulfur isotopes in five Martian meteorites have enabled researchers at the University of California, San Diego to determine that the abundant sulfur on the surface of Mars is due largely to chemical reactions in the Red Planet's atmosphere that are similar to those that occur in Earth's atmosphere.