Diversity Job Fair

UC Davis employs more than 28,000 people, and at any given time the university could be looking to fill 100 or so vacancies. Interested in finding out what jobs are available, the requirements, and how to apply? Then consider attending the university's Diversity Job Fair, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 7 at the ARC Pavilion on La Rue Road.

"The goal is to reach a broader pool of diverse applicants to market UC Davis and UC Davis Health System not only as an academic, medical, research teaching institution, but also as a progressive and model employer," said Irene Day, employment and outreach services manager. People coming to the job fair are encouraged to bring multiple copies of their resumes and other application materials. During the fair, organizers said, career counselors and staff will conduct workshops on interviewing and resume preparation techniques, and offer other guidance regarding the UC Davis application process. For some jobs, people will have the opportunity to sit down for preliminary interviews at the fair.

For other jobs, people can go through informational interviews. Job listings can be found at http://hr.ucdavis.edu/emp and www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/hr.

Preview day slated

About 3,500 prospective students and their parents as well as school counselors are expected to explore UC Davis on Preview Day on Oct. 21. The all-day event, beginning at 7 a.m., will include campus and residence hall tours, information sessions, and a majors and activities fair. Campus tours will begin at 7:30 a.m. Presentations — covering topics from financial aid to academics — start at 8:30 a.m., and visitors may speak with faculty, staff, and students at the Majors and Activities Fair from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The day ends at 4 p.m. Admission is free, and parking is free until 11 a.m.

For more information and to register for the event, please visit http://admissions.ucdavis.edu/previewday or call (530) 752-2971.

Body found in Shields Grove

The body of a 50-year-old Vacaville man was discovered Sept. 22 in an oak grove on the campus, according to UC Davis police. The body of Gale Jagels was found in Shields Grove about 12:45 p.m., said Lt. Nader Oweis, spokesman for the UC Davis Police Department. It's unclear why he was on campus, Oweis said. He added that officials are waiting for the Yolo County Coroner's Office to determine a cause of death, but "right now, there's no indication of foul play."

Biofuels conference held

UC Davis hosted a daylong conference yesterday on the potential for making affordable, renewable transportation fuels from farm and forest residues, urban wastes and crops grown specifically for energy.

Called "Overcoming the Hurdles of Lignocellulosic Biofuels," the conference featured leaders in biofuels research and development from academia, government, business and industry. They include 26 speakers from UC Davis and UC Riverside; California Energy Commission; California Department of Food and Agriculture; U.S. departments of agriculture and energy; Ford Motor Co.; Chevron Energy Technology Co.; Archer Daniels Midland Co.; and Cargill Inc.

More than 100 scientists study biofuels in the UC Davis Bioenergy Research Group. On Sept. 19, Chevron Corp. said it would fund up to $25 million in biofuels research at UC Davis in the next five years.

Thursday's conference was organized by Sharon Shoemaker, director of the California Institute of Food and Agricultural Research, a program of the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology, in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

"If we are to overcome our 'addiction to oil,' are corn or other plant sources the answer, or are there other targets we should be pursuing?" Shoemaker asked. "Hopefully, we will come away with a view of what is possible."

Browse online fossil site

Fossil fans can get up close to the skull of a prehistoric reptile or examine the underside of dinosaur bones, thanks to a three-dimensional online fossil museum created by Ryosuke Motani, an assistant professor of geology. See the site at http://www.3Dmuseum.org.

Motani and his students scanned more than two dozen fossils, mostly from private collections and the Condon Museum at the University of Oregon. Visitors can move the fossils around and view them from any angle. Motani is using similar technology to study elasmosaurs, marine dinosaurs with necks up to six yards long.

Alumni nominations

The Cal Aggie Alumni Association nominating committee is currently seeking nominations for members of our board of directors. The association is looking for UC Davis alumni who have demonstrated their commitment to the association and the campus. People should consider nominating alumni they feel would bring strong leadership skills to the volunteer role.

Submit recommendations by Oct. 16. The form is at www.alumni.ucdavis.edu.

HeartBeat runs, health fair set for Oct. 15

The 16th annual HeartBeat Run/Walk and Health Fair, consisting of a 10K run, 5K run/walk, a kids' event and free health fair, is set for Sunday, Oct. 15 at the UC Davis School of Medicine in Davis.

Interested runners, walkers, and their families can get more information or register online at http://www.heartbeatrun.org. Race-day registration also will be available, from 7 to 8:40 a.m. The 5K run/walk begins at 9 a.m., while the 10K run starts at 9:20 a.m. There also will be a 1K kids' run starting at 10 a.m.

The HeartBeat Run/Walk is featuring a team competition this year. Entrants may register in teams of five to receive a registration discount and compete for special team prizes.

All proceeds from the event go to support UC Davis student-run medical clinics, which provide free health care to medically underserved populations of Sacramento and training for medical students. The event is organized and produced by the

UC Davis School of Medicine chapter of the American Medical Student Association.

Both the 10K and 5K courses start and finish at the School of Medicine on the UC Davis campus. The 10K run extends through flat farmland and olive-tree-lined roads west of campus, and the 5K run/walk loops through the scenic arboretum. The 1K kids' run will start after the 10K and 5K events and will go around the quad area at the medical school.

The HeartBeat Health Fair, set for 9 a.m. to noon, is free to the public. A variety of health information and services will be offered, including screenings for high blood pressure, unsafe glucose levels, high cholesterol and vision problems. Massage therapy, body-fat testing, lung-function testing and advice on nutrition also will be available.

Wildfire zones

Fire researchers at UC Berkeley have launched a new set of interactive online tools to help homeowners, community leaders and researchers assess the risk of wildfire damage to their homes and communities.

The interactive site, officially called the Fire Information Engine Toolkit, debuted Sept. 13 and can be found at http://firecenter.berkeley.edu/toolkit. It was developed by researchers at the Center for Fire Research and Outreach, based at UC Berkeley's College of Natural Resources. Users can type in a specific address to see if they live in a region at risk for wildfires, as well as obtain information about historic fires that have occurred in the area since 1950. Homeowners can also use the site to get a science-based assessment of their vulnerability to wildfire based upon the answers they provide on an online form.

Digital divide

The digital divide between immigrants and the native born is widening in the United States, with some immigrant groups less than half as likely to have computer access at home as nonimmigrants, according to a new study by researchers at UC Santa Cruz.

Only 36 percent of Latino immigrant youth have a computer at home, compared with 77 percent of U.S.-born non-Latino youth, according to the new report, "Crossing the Divide: Immigrant Youth and Digital Disparity in California." The report is available at http://www.cjtc.ucsc.edu/docs/digital.pdf. Overall, 70 percent of native-born individuals had access to a computer at home in 2003, compared with 56 percent of those living in immigrant households, a wider gap than existed in 1997, when the figures were 43 percent and 33 percent, respectively.

Bedside manners eyed

Physicians could do a much better job of communicating critical elements of medication use when they prescribe new drugs to their patients, a new UCLA study has found.

The study, slated for publication in the Sept. 25 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that in too many instances, physicians did not address such things as the purpose of a medication, potential adverse side effects or even the names of drugs they were prescribing to their patients. Yet these gaps in the patients' knowledge can lead to misuse, non-adherence, drug overdoses and under-doses and other potentially serious problems.

"Even though doctors prescribing new medications should tell patients the name of the drug, why the patient is getting it, how to take it and potential adverse effects, we're just not seeing this happen consistently," said Derjung M. Tarn, assistant clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the study's lead researcher.

The researchers analyzed data from the Physician Patient Communication Project, which examined audiotaped interactions between physicians and patients in two health care systems in Sacramento. These interactions involved 185 outpatient encounters with 16 family physicians, 18 internists and 11 cardiologists.

UC San Diego public art

The public art collection at UC San Diego has been named one of the 10 best campus art collections in America by Public Art Review, considered the leading national journal in the field of public art. The announcement was made in the magazine's "Art on Campus" issue. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was ranked number one. The other schools named were Arizona State University-Tempe, Johnson County Community College in Kansas, Pratt Institute in New York City, Texas Tech, the University of South Florida, Western Washington University, Wichita State University, and the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis/St. Paul.