discoveringUCSC

=Discovering the World of UCSC=

To get on mailing list, contact Sandy Brauner, 477-7081, sanjan@cruzio.com.

UCSC is teeming with phenomenal academic activity and research, and the members of Discovering UCSC want to learn about it all — and in depth! We gain fascinating insights into what’s really going on behind the scenes by visiting one department or program at a time.

Over the years, we’ve been privileged to be hosted by a number of wonderful faculty — generously giving of their time to share with us their perspective of their department’s //raison d’être//, the faculty’s teaching philosophy, their ongoing research projects — many of which have brought national attention to UCSC — and their dreams for the future.

Each month we visit a different department or program, usually on campus but occasionally at an off-campus site associated with UCSC, such as the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field and the UCSC Nature Reserve at Younger Lagoon.

Here’s how a typical visit goes: We sit down informally for a few hours with a professor — or, if we are very fortunate, a couple of professors and/or their graduate students — who tell us about their particular interests and research projects. We usually also have the participation of the department head for at least a part of the visit, because our inquiring minds want to know the answers to such questions as:

//What does the department view as its mission? How has the department grown since its inception; How does this department compare to its counterparts at other universities? What are the students hoping to achieve through a major in this department?//

The format of the meeting is left up to our host; while one might have a prepared Powerpoint presentation to start us off, another might simply open the meeting by asking “What do you want to know?” and yet another might want to take us to see his or her graduate students hard at work in the lab.

What all the lecturers, researchers, and department heads we’ve spoken with so far do seem to have in common, however, is that they usually appear to enjoy talking with us about their work as much as we appreciate their taking a few hours of their time to be with us. One department head said, at the conclusion of our visit, “I wish my graduate students asked the kind of in-depth questions you people came up with today.”


 * Leader**: Sandy Brauner, 477-7081, sanjan@cruzio.com.


 * Webpage**: http://ucsc-osher.wikispaces.com/discoveringUCSC


 * Membership Status**: Unlimited. On rare occasions, a visit is size-limited and the leader will request an RSVP.


 * Meets** Monthly – per arrangement whenever possible. Upcoming visits are posted on this webpage. Group members are notified by email providing details, including meeting place for carpooling to campus.

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Activities History
Here are some of the UCSC Departments and Affiliated Centers the Discovering UCSC Interest Group has visited:


 * University Affiliated Research Center ([|UARC]) at NASA Ames
 * Physics
 * Agroecology (UCSC Farm & Garden)
 * Computer Science
 * Map Room (UCSC Library)
 * Adaptive Optics (Visit to Lick Observatory)
 * Linguistics
 * Molecular Biology (Genome Project)
 * Astronomy
 * Psychology
 * Environmental Studies
 * Politics
 * Anthropology
 * Art
 * Long Marine Lab
 * Earth Sciences
 * History of Consciousness
 * Athletic Dept.
 * Economics
 * Literature
 * Community Studies
 * Music
 * University Affiliated Research Center (Moffett Field)
 * Engineering
 * Feminist Studies
 * UCSC Housing Services
 * Physical Sciences Research Symposium
 * Education
 * Environmental Studies
 * Digital Arts
 * Health Sciences
 * History
 * McHenry Library
 * Math
 * Theater Arts
 * Sociology

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