FROM THE DE AN S OF THE UCL A COL L EG E
The Deans of the UCLA College From left to right:
V IS ION AND VALU E S
Miguel García-Garibay Dean of Physical Sciences
The humanities are at the heart of any great university. Because they embrace the rich legacy of human thought and creativity, the humanities underlie and support all academic disciplines.
Patricia Turner Senior Dean Dean and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education David Schaberg Dean of Humanities Victoria Sork Dean of Life Sciences
The humanities shine a light on memory and imagination, telling us where we’ve been and helping us envision where we’re going. In philosophy, we sharpen our ability to know truth and to act morally. In literature and art, we find visions and values and the tools with which we can make sense of our own world. In the study of languages and cultural practices, we learn to connect with one another. All these skills of communication and critical thought are essential to our ability to gather knowledge, exchange ideas and challenge the status quo. As you read this humanities-focused issue of the UCLA College Magazine, we hope you will explore the thought-provoking feature by humanities faculty on "truth," the subject of universal pursuit and universal debate. Exploring truth through a range of humanities disciplines – through philosophy, the languages, literature, archaeology and more – opens the door to more complex and nuanced perspectives. At the UCLA College, new ideas are born and thinkers challenge one another continually to be clearer, more effective and more inclusive. Through collaboration and discussion across disciplines, from the social sciences to physical and life sciences and the humanities, we can achieve breakthroughs in every area of human endeavor.
PHOTO: ALYSSA BIERCE/UCLA COLLEGE
Darnell Hunt Dean of Social Sciences
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O N T H E C OV E R
Josiah Royce’s observation, “The world is a progressively realized community of interpretation,” inscribed on Royce Hall, inspired humanities faculty to wrestle with concepts of truth.
COLLEGE DEVELOPMENT
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Megan Kissinger Assistant Vice Chancellor COLLEGE COMMUNICATION S
Margaret MacDonald Senior Associate Director of Communications
F E AT URES
Jessica Wolf Stuart Wolpert Media Relations
DEPARTMEN T S
Robin Migdol Contributor
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Genevieve Haines Editor
Kristina Hordzwick Art Direction and Design, Assistant Director of Communications Wanda Nyairo Graphic Design, Marketing Specialist
Cover and main spread art direction and design by Kristina Hordzwick, headline typography design by Katie Sipek Please address comments to: collegecomm@support.ucla.edu © Regents UC 2018
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Major Gift Supports Humanities Division and Philosophy Department
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
Narrowing the Gap Between Physics and Chemistry
C O L L E G E I M PAC T
Sheri Gordon Copy Editor
LIFE SCIENCES
Combining Antibiotics Yields Surprising Results
COLLEGE NEWS
College Rankings, Around Campus, In Memoriam
UCL A COLLEGE M AGA ZINE
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SOCIAL SCIENCES
The Value of Rent Control 20
New Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Fellowship in Iranian Linguistics
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Ludwig Lauerhass Boosts Spanish and Portuguese Department
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Morton La Kretz Funds Botany Building Renovation
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Undergraduate’s Lab Time Inspires Career in Bioinformatics 14
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Art Gallery Publishes Undergraduate’s Research
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Q& A
U N D E R G R A D U AT E E D U C AT I O N
O N T H E C OV E R : HUMANITIES
The Pursuit of Truth
In Conversation with Maggie Tsai ’83 STAY CONNEC TED
www.college.ucla.edu
@ UCL AColle ge
COLLEGE NE W S
UCL A TOP S R ANKINGS #1 among U.S public universities, according to the U.S. News & World Report "2019 Best Colleges" rankings.
#13 among universities worldwide, according to the U.S. News & World Report “2019 Best Global Universities” rankings.
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UCLA tops the list of U.S. public universities in the 2019 U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges” rankings, published in September. Five other University of California campuses were among the top 12 public universities in the overall rankings: Berkeley (No. 2), Santa Barbara (5), Irvine (7), UC Davis (11) and San Diego (12). In the overall rankings, UCLA was tied for 19th with Washington University in St. Louis. The publication’s methodology includes factors that tend to favor private universities, such as endowment size, rate of alumni giving and student-faculty ratio. UCLA was also No. 3 among American public universities and No. 13 in the world in the U.S. News and World Report “2019 Best Global Universities” rankings published in October.
Now in its fifth year, the rankings are based on the evaluation of the top 1,250 universities across 75 countries. UCLA ranked highly in several of the indicators used to measure global and regional reputation and academic research performance, including global research reputation (No. 8), publications (13), number of papers that are among the top 1 percent most cited (13) and total citations (15). In addition, the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, pub‑ lished in September, named UCLA the No. 2 public university in the U.S. The report also ranked UCLA No. 12 among all U.S. universities — public or private — and No. 17 worldwide. In August, UCLA was ranked No. 2 among U.S. public universities for its contributions to society by Washington Monthly.
COLLEGE NE W S
In memoriam: Paul Boyer, 99, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry Paul Boyer, who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his pioneering research on how adenosine triphosphate, or ATP — the cellular energy that drives all biological reactions — is formed, died June 2 at age 99. “Paul Boyer inspired both trust and ambition in his fellow faculty members, and had perhaps the most positive character of anyone most of us have ever known,” said his friend and colleague David Eisenberg, who is UCLA’s Paul D. Boyer Professor of Molecular Biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “He combined true modesty with unstoppable persistence and unmatched personal interactions.” Among his many honors, Boyer was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1970, and won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955. From 1959 to 1960, he was chairman of the biochemistry section of the American
Chemical Society and from 1969 to 1970 he was president of the American Society of Biological Chemists. A member of UCLA’s faculty since 1963, Paul Boyer donated a major share of his Nobel Prize award to provide funding for chemistry postdoctoral fellows at UCLA and two other institutions.
UCLA shares National Science Foundation grant to diversify STEM faculty nationally UCLA is among six collaborating institutions that were together awarded $10 million over five years from the National Science Foundation to develop new educational models and programs that will increase diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields and careers. UCLA will receive $750,000 for its role in this nationwide project. Funded under the NSF INCLUDES program, the new initiative is called the National Alliance for Inclusive and Diverse STEM Faculty, or NAIDSF. The alliance aims to attract more college students from groups historically underrepresented in higher education, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds — and to help these students graduate and succeed in STEM careers.
“We are delighted to be among the first cohort of awardees for the NSF INCLUDES Alliance program, which will prepare UCLA graduate students and postdoctoral scholars for great careers in higher education,” said Robin Garrell, vice provost and dean of the graduate division, who leads the school’s Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning. UCLA and other institutions have partnered to form the Southern California Regional Collaborative — a partnership that includes Santa Monica College and several other community colleges, UC Riverside, San Francisco State University, California State University, Los Angeles and other academic organizations. The NSF funding provides an opportunity to expand this regional change initiative to new locations, including in Northern California. Learn more about the Collaborative at https://ucla.in/2G3h5r0.
Paul Boyer and family
UCLA's impact on California economy is $11.06 billion UCLA is an economic powerhouse for Los Angeles, Southern California and California overall. A study by the Beacon Economics consultancy found that UCLA generated a total of $11.06 billion in economic activity for the state of California during the 2016-17 fiscal year. UCLA is the fourth-largest employer in Los Angeles County, supporting more than 72,700 full-time jobs throughout the state. The UCLA Economic Impact Report also demonstrates that UCLA’s spending activity has a total impact far beyond that of its direct spending. For example, technology companies that license UCLAdeveloped technology and research are often valued in the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. Read the report at http://www.ucla. edu/economic-impact/.
72,700
full-time jobs in California
4th
largest employer in L.A. County
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COLLEGE NE W S
Television show The Good Place gave Pamela Hieronymi a visual shoutout (arrows added for emphasis).
How a UCLA philosophy professor helped construct The Good Place A funny thing happened in the world of philosophy in late 2016 — professors and students were buzzing on social media about a TV sitcom mulling questions like “Is it ever OK to lie?” and “Is morality judged on results or intentions?” That show is The Good Place, now in its third season on NBC. The series picks up the story of a young woman immediately following her untimely death-by-shopping cart. Eleanor Shellstrop, played by Kristen Bell, is greeted in “The Good Place” by Michael, an immortal magical being played by Ted Danson. But Eleanor, who in life was capricious at best, maniacal at times and nearly always frivolous with the feelings and needs of others, immediately realizes there’s been a mistake. And worse, there’s another Eleanor Shellstrop who’s suffering for the heavenly clerical error over in “The Bad
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Place.” Central to the show is the question of moral obligation to tell the truth when there are potentially dire consequences — in “fake” Eleanor’s case, being sent to “The Bad Place”— of doing so.
Pamela Hieronymi
One reason that the philosophically grounded, afterlife fantasy-comedy is getting things so right is that philosophy professor Pamela Hieronymi was an early consultant on the show. She met for several hours the year before shooting began with show creator Mike Schur (who also did Parks and Recreation) for a wideranging conversation about free will, moral responsibility, ethics and how much agency human beings actually have over their own attitudes, intentions and actions — all of which inform her research and teaching. Hieronymi, who has been a professor at UCLA since 2000, teaches a course on ethical theory and courses in free will and moral responsibility. She’s working on a book titled Minds That Matter, which will explore the ways in which the kind of control humans have over their minds, intentions and fears is not the same kind of control that they have over their actions.
COLLEGE NE W S
Brenda Stevenson awarded 2018 Carter G. Woodson Scholars Medallion Brenda Stevenson, an internationally recognized scholar of race, slavery, gender, family and racial conflict who holds the Nickoll Family Chair in History, was awarded the 2018 Carter G. Woodson Scholars Medallion from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Established in 1993, the Carter Godwin Woodson Scholars Medallion is presented to a scholar whose career is distinguished through at least a decade of research, writing and activism in the field of African American life and history. The recipient’s career should embody and personify the Woodson legacy to ensure a firm foundation for the continuance of African-centered education through dedication and commitment to African American history.
Dr. Woodson devoted his entire life and resources to chronicling African American history. Award recipients are recognized for continuing his tradition of correcting the deficiencies in American history where African American history is misinterpreted or distorted.
Website lets people experience a day in the life of a capuchin monkey A new website called HowtoBeAMonkey.org provides a glimpse into life inside a Costa Rican tropical dry forest — both for the capuchin monkeys that call it home and the humans who observe them. Anthropology professor Susan Perry has been working with teams of students and volunteers for 28 years, collecting data year-round at the Lomas Barbudal Monkey Project near Liberia, Costa Rica. They track the daily activities of 234 individually recognized capuchins in 10 social groups, witnessing their play and foraging behaviors, documenting their conflicts, and observing how their familial structures function. The work can be physically grueling, climbing steep hills 13 hours a day in heat
and humidity, visually tracking swift-moving monkeys in dense, thorny foliage. It’s also mentally taxing, requiring sharp attention to detail and an ability to quickly become adept at very specific data-gathering techniques. “This is not something everyone would want to do, or is able to do, even if they’d love to know more about the animals,” Perry said. To that end, Matt Ziegler, a former volunteer field assistant at Lomas, created the website HowtoBeAMonkey.org so the rest of us can get an idea of what it is like to witness and collect data on the behavior of this remarkable species. “The idea for How to Be A Monkey came because I really wanted to find a way to share some of their data — to decode it and make it understandable by ordinary people, to give a window into the research,” Ziegler said. The site follows a day in the life of a favorite capuchin named Winslow Homer, tracking his activities from a day when he was just 9 months old. As the son of the alpha female in his group, he’s popular in the social group and a prime subject to illustrate interaction among monkeys. The site is designed as an entry point for anyone who is curious about behavioral ecology in general and capuchins in part‑ icular, but Ziegler and Perry hope it will especially become a resource for teachers.
Researchers in the Costa Rican jungle
Brenda Stevenson
Two interdisciplinary teams receive major grants to study social media A research team led by assistant professor of communication Jungseock Joo has received $944,000 from the National Science Foundation to create a database of social and mass media and develop new approaches to analyzing news data. Joo and his team, which includes assistant professor of public policy Zachary Steinert-Threlkeld and comm‑ unication professors Francis Steen and Tim Groeling, will develop a framework for integrating massive amounts of data from different social and mass media sources and analyze the data’s text, images, video and audio. The new tool will enable people to learn more about how information is disseminated in the news by identifying topics, actors, events, sentiments and other large-scale patterns within the data. The team will also collaborate with Jennifer Pan, a social media data specialist from Stanford University. Another grant to study social network dynamics was awarded to a psychologist and a mathematician. With the threeyear, $977,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Carolyn Parkinson, assistant professor of psychology, and Mason Porter, professor of mathema‑ tics, will analyze the complexities of a social network based on its members’ relationships and their interactions with one another. Porter and Parkinson will combine methods from cognitive neuroscience with cutting-edge research in network science to gain insights into how our social networks shape the way that people process the world around them, and vice versa. They will also test how the brain shapes and is shaped by its social context. The researchers will conduct and develop new approaches for “multilayer network analysis,” in which the different layers may include friendships, online interactions and common interests. Some of the people in the network will also participate in functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in which the researchers will measure their brain responses to naturalistic videos.
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8,000 NEW ANTIBIOTIC COMBINATIONS ARE SURPRISINGLY EFFECTIVE Drug combinations may help prevent a deadly post-antibiotic era By Stuart Wolpert Remarkably, 8,119 new combinations of antibiotics are surprisingly effective at killing harmful bacteria, UCLA biologists reported Sept. 3 in the journal npj Systems Biology and Applications (a Nature research journal). The discovery of so many potent new antibiotics may help avert a post-antibiotic era in which severe, antibiotic-resistant pathogens and common infections can injure and kill large numbers of people, as the World Health Organization warned in a 2014 report on antibiotic resistance as a worldwide threat to public health. Analyzing eight antibiotics that are grouped by six mechanisms of attacking E. coli bacteria, the researchers tested every possible combination of four antibiotics, and five antibiotics at a time. The researchers expected some of the combinations would be very effective, but were startled by how many potent combinations they discovered. “We expect several of these combinations, or more, will work much better than existing antibiotics,” said Pamela Yeh, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and one of the study’s two senior authors.
“ We shouldn’t limit ourselves to just single drugs or two-drug combinations in our medical toolbox.” – Pamela Yeh
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“We shouldn’t limit ourselves to just single drugs or two-drug combinations in our medical toolbox. There is a tradition of using just one drug, maybe two; we’re offering an alternative that looks very promising. “Traditionally, scientists have thought the interactions among many drugs combined — such as four and five drugs together — would be too small to matter, or would cancel one another out. We have shown that is not the case.” The biologists tested 5,670 four-antibiotic combinations and 12,608 five-antibiotic combinations, including many where they tested varying dosages. The researchers report that 1,676 fourdrug combinations are unexpectedly effective at decreasing the growth of E. coli bacteria and 6,443 five-drug combinations are substantially more effective at killing the bacteria than the scientists predicted based on their knowledge of how pairs of the antibiotics work together. Surprising results “I was blown away by how many effective combinations there are as we increased the number of drugs,” said Van Savage, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and of biomathematics and the other senior author. “People may think they know how drug combinations will interact, but they really don’t.” Why are these multidrug combinations so effective? “Some drugs attack the cell walls, others attack the DNA inside,” Savage said. “It’s like attacking a castle or fortress. Combining different methods of attacking may be more effective than just a single approach.”
“A whole can be much more, or much less, than the sum of its parts, as we often see with a baseball or basketball team, and as we are finding when combining antibiotics,” Yeh said. She cited the decisive upset victory of the 2004 Detroit Pistons — a cohesive team with no superstars — over a Los Angeles Lakers team with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Karl Malone and Gary Payton, and coached by Phil Jackson, in the NBA championship. Scientists must combine antibiotics carefully and methodically. In this study, 2,331 of the four-drug combinations had reduced effectiveness compared with two-drug and three-drug combinations, and 5,199 of the five-drug combinations had reduced effectiveness compared with those with two-, three- and four-drug combinations, said
Van Savage
L IF E SCIEN C E S
Pamela Yeh (left), with Elif Tekin
PHOTOS: REED HUTCHINSON/UCLA
lead author Elif Tekin, who conducted the research as a postdoctoral scholar in both Yeh's and Savage’s laboratories.
of E. coli bacteria and provided the first detailed explanation of how they created their mathematical framework that can help predict which combinations of drugs will be New mathematical model tested most effective. The biologists developed and used a math‑ Other co-authors of the new research ematical formula for analyzing how multiple are Cynthia White, who conducted research factors interact. They call their framework in Yeh’s laboratory for four years as an underMathematical Analysis for General Interactions graduate and worked on this project as a of Components (MAGIC). research technician after she graduated; “We think MAGIC is a generalizable model Tina Kang, a doctoral student in Yeh’s laborathat can be applied to other diseases, including tory; Nina Singh, an undergraduate in Yeh’s cancers, and in many other areas with three laboratory; Mauricio Cruz-Loya, a doctoral or more interacting components to better student in Savage’s laboratory; and Robert understand how a complex system works,” Damoiseaux, professor of molecular and Tekin said. medical pharmacology, and director of UCLA’s The research team reported in 2016 that Molecular Screening Shared Resource. combinations of three antibiotics can often The research was funded by a James S. overcome bacteria’s resistance to antibiotics, McDonnell Foundation Complex Systems even when none of the three antibiotics on its Scholar Award, the National Science own — or even two of the three together — Foundation, the Hellman Foundation, the is effective. The biologists reported in 2017 National Institutes of Health/National Center two combinations of drugs that are unexp‑ for Advancing Translational Science, and a ectedly successful in reducing the growth UCLA Faculty Career Development Award.
Testing Variables Such as Heat Also Yield Important Findings In another paper, published Aug. 31 in the International Society of Microbial Ecology journal, Yeh, Savage, Tekin and colleagues report evidence that defenses against extreme temperatures give E. coli bacteria an advantage in fending off certain drugs. Adaptations produced as a result of the bacteria’s surviving extreme temperatures over millennia help explain why certain strains of E. coli are resistant to certain drugs, the biologists report. This research could help doctors administer antibiotics in a more precise manner, Yeh said.
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NARROWING THE GAP BET WEEN PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY By Stuart Wolpert UCLA physicists have pioneered a method for creating a unique new molecule that could lead to many useful applications in medicine, food science and other fields. Their research, published in the journal Science, also shows how chemical reactions can be studied on a microscopic scale using tools of physics. For the past 200 years, scientists have developed rules to describe chemical reactions that they have observed, including reactions in food, vitamins, medications and living organisms. One of the most ubiquitous is the “octet rule,” which states that each atom in a molecule that is produced by a chemical reaction will have eight outer orbiting electrons. (Scientists have found rare exceptions to the rule). The molecule created by professor Eric Hudson and colleagues violates that rule. Barium-oxygen-calcium, or BaOCa+, is the first molecule ever observed by scientists that is composed of an oxygen atom bonded to two different metal atoms. Normally, one metal atom (either barium or calcium) can react with an oxygen atom to produce a stable molecule. However, when the UCLA scientists added a second metal atom to the mix, a new molecule, BaOCa+, which no longer satisfied the octet rule, had been formed. Ultra-cold physics tools Other molecules that violate the octet rule have been observed before, but the UCLA study is among the first to observe such a molecule using tools from physics – namely lasers, ion traps and ultra-cold atom traps. Hudson’s laboratory used laser light to cool tiny amounts of the reactant atoms and molecules to an extremely low temperature – one one-thousandth of a degree above absolute zero – and then levitate them in a space smaller than the width of a human hair, inside of a vacuum chamber. Under these highly controlled conditions, the scientists
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could observe properties of the atoms and molecules that are otherwise hidden, and the “physics tools” they used enabled them to hold a sample of atoms and observe chemical reactions one molecule at a time. The ultra-cold temperatures used in the experiment can also be used to simulate the reaction as it would occur in outer space. That could help scientists understand how certain complex molecules, including some that could be precursors to life, came to exist in space, Hudson said. The researchers found that when they brought together calcium and barium methoxide inside of their system under normal conditions, they would not react because the atoms could not find a way to rearrange themselves to form a stable molecule. However, when the scientists used a laser to change the distribution of the electrons in the calcium atom, the reaction quickly proceeded, producing a new molecule, CaOBa+. The Hudson group’s approach is part of a new physics-inspired subfield of chemistry that uses the tools of ultra-cold physics, such as lasers and electromagnetism, to observe and control how and when single-particle reactions occur. Practical applications Graduate student Prateek Puri, the project’s lead researcher, said the experiment demonstrates not only how these techniques can be used to create exotic molecules, but also how they can be used to engineer important reactions. The discovery could ultimately be used to create new methods for preserving food and developing safer medications. “Experiments like these pave the way for developing new methods for controlling chemistry,” Puri said. “We’re essentially creating ‘on buttons’ for reactions.” Food decays, he said, when undesired chemical reactions occur between food and the environment. Similarly, many medicines
P HYSIC A L SC IEN C E S
Eric Hudson
PHOTO: STUART WOLPERT/UCLA
induce chemical reactions that can cause harm to the body. Perhaps in the future, scientists could prevent these types of reactions from occurring, or reduce their frequency, Hudson said. Hudson said one key to the success of the new study was the involvement of experts from various fields: experimental physicists, theoretical physicists and a physical chemist. Co-authors of the study are Christian Schneider, a UCLA research scientist; Michael Mills, a UCLA graduate student; Ionel Simbotin, a University of Connecticut physics post‑ doctoral scholar; John Montgomery Jr., a University of Connecticut research professor of physics; Robin Côté, a University of Connecticut professor of physics; and Arthur Suits, a University of Missouri professor of chemistry. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and Army Research Office. Findings lead to new areas of study “We realized we could create molecules in ways we had not appreciated before,” Hudson said. “That led us to start thinking about designing molecules differently.” As an outgrowth of this insight, a research team involving Hudson and led by Wesley Campbell, associate professor of physics, has been awarded a three-year, $2.7 million U.S.
Department of Energy Quantum Information Science Research Award. The emerging, multidisciplinary field of quantum information science is expected to lay the foundation for the next generation of computing and information processing, as well as many other innovative technologies. Quantum computers, once fully developed, will be capable of solving large, extremely complex problems that are beyond the capacity of today’s most powerful supercomputers. Among other applications, quantum systems hold the promise of potentially exquisitely sensitive sensors, with a variety of possible medical, national security and scientific applications. With this funding, faculty in chemistry and physics will develop and study “molecules functionalized with optical cycling centers,” accelerating research into next-generation chemical systems for quantum information storage and processing. The primary investigators of this grant are Campbell; Hudson; Justin Caram, a UCLA assistant professor of chemistry; Anastassia Alexandrova, UCLA associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry; Anna Krylov, USC professor of chemistry; John Doyle, Harvard University professor of physics; and Nick Hutzler, Caltech assistant professor of physics.
@
LEARN MORE: Learn about the interdisciplinary educational program in Quantum Science and Engineering UCLA is establishing to enable graduate students to build quantum technology, and to earn professional master’s degrees and Ph.D. degrees, at http://www.cqse.ucla.edu/. Watch Eric Hudson discuss his research on Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s The Science Show at https://ab.co/2yG2ziK.
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LOS ANGELES HOUSING CRISIS REMAINS CRITICAL WITH THE DEFEAT OF PROPOSITION 10 Luskin Center for History and Policy urges lawmakers to address the value of rent control policies By Jessica Wolf California voters rejected Proposition 10, which would have repealed the Costa-Hawkins act of 1995 and allowed cities across the state to implement broader rent control policies as a response to California's current affordable housing crisis. It’s an issue that the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy tackled in its first major publication since the center’s founding in 2017. The paper, titled People Simply Cannot Pay the Rent, was released well before Election Day in an effort to inspire dialogue around and contextualize the history of rent control in Los Angeles. It also presented several options (including the repeal of Costa-Hawkins) that could help ameliorate the economic vulnerability and anxiety of the growing number of people who cannot afford rent in Los Angeles. The center’s mission is to bring historical perspective to contemporary policy issues, and UCLA researchers will continue to push for meaningful policy decisions when it comes to this crisis. “The defeat of Prop. 10 does not solve the problem of affordable housing,” said David Myers, a professor of history and the center’s director. “The logic of rent control as a valuable policy tool remains as valid as ever. This is what our working paper showed – that rent control can be an effective instrument to protect the most vulnerable residents of a city. We hope that it is read with growing
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interest as politicians and policy leaders continue to grapple with the acute housing crisis in California.” Offering a historical perspective Aimed at city and state officials, as well as concerned citizens, the report documents the history of rent control policy in Los Angeles from World War II through the present day, focusing on three important milestones: the implementation of federal rent controls during World War II; the introduction of the city’s current rent stabilization ordinance in response to high inflation in the 1970s; and today’s crisis. Recent data indicate that Los Angeles residents face the nation’s largest rent burden, with median renters spending 47 percent of their income on rent. According to 2011 data, 57 percent of Los Angeles renters were considered “rent burdened,” up from 37 percent in 1980, when rent control was first established. The trend has also contributed
to the region’s homelessness epidemic – approximately 53,000 people in Los Angeles County are homeless. “Los Angeles is experiencing a perfect storm of affordable housing shortfalls, rising rents and dropping incomes,” Myers said. “It is crushing the poorest citizens of the city, particularly Latinos and blacks, with disproportionate force, and this interplay has exacerbated homelessness – the great social and moral scourge of our time, and an epidemic that threatens the life and soul of our city.” The report also suggests that public engagement is critical. Options proposed include requiring landlords and tenants to sign property registration forms so that tenants are aware of their rights, and a public relations campaign that would cast the crisis as a serious social and public health problem. Both of those actions were undertaken by the federal government during World War II, the paper notes.
“ Los Angeles is experiencing a perfect storm of affordable housing shortfalls, rising rents and dropping incomes.” – David Myers
SO CIA L SC IEN C E S
PHOTO: COALITION FOR ECONOMIC SURVIVAL
POSTER: ILLINOIS STATE LIBRARY
The new report documents decades of the city’s rent control policy, including the introduction of a rent stabilization ordinance in the 1970s. Pictured: A 1978 rent control march on City Hall.
A contentious issue “Nearly $100 million was spent to defeat Prop. 10, four or five times what the proponents spent,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, a former Los Angeles County supervisor, current senior fellow at the center and author of the study’s introduction. “Money does make a difference. The legislature would be well-advised to pass legislation that removes some, if not all, of the shackles that the Costa-Hawkins law places on local governments to address the affordable housing crisis. If they don’t, there will be another Initiative in 2020 to repeal the whole thing.” The report’s author is Alisa Belinkoff Katz, fellow with the center and associate director of the LA Initiative, housed in UCLA’s Luskin School. Historical information was contributed by doctoral candidates Peter Chesney, Lindsay Alissa King and Marques Vestal. During a campus panel conversation the center hosted leading up to the election, Ph.D. candidate Vestal said he thinks taking the historical long view can help depressurize the contentious issue. Rent control policies date back to 1600s Rome when the Catholic Church imposed restrictions on Christian landlords who
owned buildings in Jewish ghettos. Most countries in Europe immediately implemented rent control policies after World War II to benefit recovering economies, he pointed out. “To an extent, housing crises are just a part of urban life,” he said. There is widespread agreement that more development is crucial to address Los Angeles’ current crisis, but even the most optimistic projections say it could take a decade to make a dent in that need, said state Assemblyman Richard Bloom. “The issue is how to help those people who are suffering now and in this moment and over the next 10 years,” he said. “We can’t simply write them off and say this is a lost generation who will not have housing or who will have a lower quality of life. That’s the main reason I took on the Costa-Hawkins debate in the first place.” Bloom was the first lawmaker to introduce legislation that would revise or repeal CostaHawkins. It died in committee. He thinks legislation is a more elegant solution than a ballot measure, and said he is certain there will be “folks banging on my door.”
A 1945 Office of Price Administration poster about rent control rights.
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UNDERGR ADUATE RESEARCH
IN SPIRE S ALUM' S FUTURE C AREER By Robin Migdol
Douglas Yao at Undergraduate Research Week
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freshman year to prepare for applying to medical school, but he found that he enjoyed spending time in the lab so much that he wanted to make research his career. Yao worked in four different labs throughout his undergraduate career as he homed in on the research topics that most interested him. Ulti‑ mately, his work in the labs of Thomas Graeber, professor of molecular and medical pharmaco‑
PHOTOS: ANA TAO
Douglas Yao discovered his passion for research as an undergraduate at UCLA. Now he’s embarking on a doctorate at Harvard in pursuit of his goal to run his own lab in the field of bioinformatics. Yao, who graduated in June with a bachelor of science in molecular, cell and developmental biology, entered UCLA as a pre-med. Initially, he began working in labs on campus during his
UND ER G R A D UATE E D UC ATION
Douglas Yao with his faculty mentor Thomas Graeber
logy, and Eleazar Eskin, assistant professor of computer science and human genetics, sparked a passion for the field of bioinformatics, in which scientists collect and analyze biological data. “Bioinformatics brings together three disp‑ arate fields: biology, computer science and statistics,” Yao said. “I saw that as a good opportunity because there has to be a breed of scientist who knows all three subjects.”
at UCLA, and how they inspired and prepared him for his career ahead. “If you don’t go to a big research school, it’s so much harder to get those research experiences,” he said. “I was really lucky to have picked UCLA because of the research environment.” Conducting his own research not only taught him new skills such as how to analyze research papers and participate in scientific discussions, but also introduced him to the world of being a Unique programs foster undergrad research professional academic and researcher. He realYao presented his original research projects twice ized how much he loved learning. at Undergraduate Research Week and currently “I don’t think there are a whole lot of careers has a paper in review about gene expression and that let you consistently learn every single day,” genomic instability in cancer cells. Yao said. “There’s so many interesting things out This summer Yao began his first year in Harvard's there in the world and we know so little. I think bioinformatics and integrative genomics Ph.D. [research will] help me appreciate just how weird program. He hopes to become a professor and and amazing the world is.” run his own lab one day, a goal that he acknow‑ ledges would be much harder to reach if he hadn’t Learn more about Undergraduate Research gotten his start at UCLA. Yao has seen how valua- Week: http://urweek.ugresearch.ucla.edu ble the undergraduate research opportunities are
Undergraduate Research at UCLA UCLA is the only university in the country with two undergraduate research centers, one for the sciences, math and engineering and one for the humanities, arts and social sciences. More than 4,000 undergraduates gain direct research experience guided by more than 1,000 faculty in all disciplines across the campus. The experience helps students define their academic interests, improve research skills and prepare for academic and research careers.
Winter 2018 UCL A COLLEGE MAGAZINE 13
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GIFT OF $25 MILLION TO SUPPORT HUMANITIES DIVISION AND PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT Donation is division’s largest ever, and among nation’s biggest to support philosophy By Margaret MacDonald The UCLA College humanities division has received its largest ever gift — and one of the largest ever to any university philosophy department: $25 million in honor of two longtime UCLA faculty members. Of the total, $20 million will support the philosophy department, while the other $5 million will provide seed funding to create a planned $15 million endowment to provide financial support for graduate students in the humanities division. Honoring a Bruin legacy Jordan Kaplan, his wife, Christine, and Jordan’s longtime business partner, Ken Panzer, made the gift in honor of Jordan’s parents, Renée and David Kaplan — each of whom has been a member of the UCLA faculty for almost 60 years — and to recognize his father’s contri‑ butions to the study of philosophy. The UCLA Humanities Building has been renamed Renée and David Kaplan Hall in recognition of the gift. “This extraordinary gift signals a new era for the humanities at UCLA and, in particular, for philosophy,” said Chancellor Gene Block. “It’s more important than ever to instill in our students the philosophical perspective that helps make sense of today’s complex societal challenges.” Jordan Kaplan is the CEO and president of Douglas Emmett Inc., a real estate invest‑ ment trust. David Kaplan is a renowned scholar of philosophical logic and the philos‑ ophy of language, and Renée Kaplan was a clinical professor of psychology and the director of training at UCLA Student Psychological Services. Both Renée and David earned doctorates at UCLA.
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A critical time for giving “We are proud to participate in UCLA’s Centennial Campaign and be able to mean‑ ingfully support Humanities and Philosophy, areas of study that we feel are particularly important now to the health of our modern society,” Jordan Kaplan said. “Our hope is that this gift will encourage others to recog‑ nize the importance of these departments and join us in providing them with very much needed support.” The gift, the second largest made to the UCLA College during the ongoing Centennial Campaign for UCLA, comes two years after Renée, David, Jordan and Christine Kaplan donated funds to establish the Presidential Professor of Philosophy endowed chair. The new gift will help the humanities division and philosophy department recruit and retain top faculty, and attract the most outstanding graduate students. “We are deeply grateful for this inspira‑ tional gift from Christine and Jordan Kaplan and Ken Panzer,” said Scott Waugh, UCLA’s executive vice chancellor and provost. “It demonstrates not only their commitment to advancing the excellence of the humanities and our study of philosophy, but also their confidence in UCLA’s academic mission as we enter our second century.” The study of philosophy has been a cornerstone of the humanities at UCLA since the campus’ founding in 1919; an endowed chair in philosophy that was established in 1928 was the first in UCLA’s history. Among the department’s current faculty are recipients of Mellon and Guggenheim fellowships and National Science Foundation grants, and members of the American Academy of Arts
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Renée and David Kaplan Hall
and Sciences and the American Council of Learned Societies. UCLA doctoral graduates in philosophy have gone on to teach at the most preeminent universities around the world. Leadership into UCLA's second century “This gift will help make our department of philosophy the bellwether for departments of its kind around the world,” said David Schaberg, dean of the humanities division. “Especially valuable is the opportunity to build a $15 million endowment for graduate students in the humanities on the basis of
PHOTO: KATIE SIPEK/UCLA COLLEGE
“ This extraordinary gift signals a new era for the humanities at UCLA and, in particular, for philosophy.” – Chancellor Gene Block
the generous matching fund the gift creates.” Seana Shiffrin, chair of the philosophy department, said the gift will be transform‑ ative for the future of the department. “Philosophical issues touch on every aspect of life — including issues about what sort of creatures we are and could become, what we can know of ourselves and others, how we should treat one another, whether we are capable of forming a better society and what that would look like, and the signif‑ icance of our mortality,” she said. “A philosophy education introduces students to captivating ideas and perennial questions while imparting crucial skills of analysis, argumentation, clarity and precision. “In its capacity both to stimulate and to discipline the imagination, training in philos‑ ophy empowers students to enter any career, while enriching their entire lives by opening up new avenues of thought and fresh possi‑ bilities for living.” The gift is part of the UCLA Centennial Campaign, which is scheduled to conclude in December 2019, during UCLA’s 100th anniversary year.
The four original campus buildings on the Quad in 1929. Renée and David Kaplan Hall, most recently known as the Humanities building, is seen at the bottom right.
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LEARN MORE: For information on the matching gift fund for the humanities, please contact Sarah Murphy at smurphy@support.ucla.edu.
Winter 2018 UCL A COLLEGE MAGAZINE 19
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A NEW DIMENSION FOR LINGUISTICS RESEARCH The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Postdoctoral Fellowship in Iranian Linguistics By Margaret MacDonald
Inaugural fellowship awarded The inaugural fellowship was awarded to Vahideh Rasekhi, who in addition to pursuing research on Persian syntax, is teaching two undergraduate linguistics courses. “This generous fellowship enables me to expand my research and prepare for my career in academia, while achieving my goals of contributing to the field of linguistics in general and Iranian linguistics in particular,” Rasekhi said. Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, which was founded by Mir-Djalali in 2000, supports cultural and educational activities and nurtures new educators who can preserve the transmission and instruction of Persian language and culture. The institute has awarded several million dollars in grants to establish and strengthen Persian academic programs at prestigious universities in the U.S. and around the world, including another fellowship established at UCLA in 2002 – the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Fellowship for Excellence in Persian Studies. “We are delighted to establish this new fellowship specializing in Iranian linguistics
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at UCLA, with its well-known academic strength in linguistics,” Mir-Djalali said. “Persian and Iranian languages are woven into a rich culture going back thousands of years. It is gratifying to make this investment in postdoctoral scholars who truly grasp the linguistic complexities and cultural subtleties of these languages. Their work will strengthen the field and, more broadly, lead to greater cultural understanding.” Growth in a top-rated environment The UCLA linguistics department’s doctoral program has consistently been ranked as one of the top two or three such programs in the U.S. The department began as an interdepartmental graduate master’s program in 1960. A doctoral program was introduced in 1962, a bachelor’s program was added in 1965, and the department was formally established in 1966.
Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali
“The Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Post‑ doctoral Fellowship in Iranian Linguistics provides a unique opportunity to bring a new dimension of research to the department,” said linguistics department co-chair Anoop Mahajan. “This generous grant allows us to expand our empirical horizons into the intellectually rich area of Iranian linguistics.” Tim Stowell, co-chair of the department, said that thanks to Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute’s generosity and vision, the department can solidify its status as a premier destination for the study of Iranian linguistics. “This fellowship positions our department to better fulfill its mission to enrich our under‑ standing of the world’s languages,” he said. “This is entirely appropriate for a leading public research university in California, situated amid Los Angeles’ vibrant Iranian American community."
PHOTO: COURTESY OF ROSHAN CULTURAL HERITAGE INSTITUTE
A donation of $1 million from Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute established the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Postdoctoral Fellowship in Iranian Linguistics in the Dep‑ artment of Linguistics, one of the nation’s top-ranked linguistics departments. Named for the renowned linguist Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali, the fellowship promotes research on the linguistic heritage of Iran, focused on Persian and Iranian languages. Mir-Djalali is an expert in language education, cross-cultural communication and Persian studies. She was a faculty member at Georgetown University and UC Berkeley and holds a doctoral degree in linguistics with honors from the Sorbonne in Paris. “We are profoundly grateful to Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, whose grant expands on years of engagement with UCLA and is allowing us to bring the finest postdoctoral scholars to our campus,” said David Schaberg, dean of humanities.
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O N BR A ZIL , B O OK S , A ND GI V IN G B ACK Alumnus supports graduate students with major gift to department of Spanish and Portuguese
PHOTO: ALYSSA BIERCE/UCLA COLLEGE
By Margaret MacDonald Ludwig “Larry” Lauerhass is an inveterate book collector, writer, bossa nova fan and world traveler with intellectual interests ranging from Brazilian history, culture and literature to American national identity and the atomic experience of postwar Japan. A UCLA lecturer emeritus in history and librarian emeritus, Lauerhass gave $250,000 to establish the Ludwig Lauerhass Jr. Centennial Scholars Graduate Fellowship in Brazilian Literature in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese in the UCLA College. The gift also secured matching funds of $125,000 from the UCLA Chancellor’s Centennial Scholars Graduate Match. “Graduate study is the soul of any program, and graduate students are the future of the profession,” said José Luiz Passos, professor of Spanish and Portuguese and director of the International Institute’s Center for Brazilian Studies. “Larry's gift will ensure UCLA remains competitive in attracting and funding the best graduate students interested in a Ph.D. on Brazil.” Lauerhass’ previous philanthropy to UCLA includes the establishment of the Ludwig Lauerhass Jr. Endowed Collection in Brazilian Studies and the Lauerhass Hiroshima/Nagasaki Collection Fund, both in the Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections; the Ludwig Lauerhass Endowed Graduate Student Fellowship in Brazilian History; and the Robert N. Burr Travel Award for History Students (established in memory of his close friend and mentor, a renowned UCLA professor of Latin American history). “Larry’s dedication and generosity have changed many lives and will continue to support new, active graduate engagement with Latin American cultures on our campus,” Passos said.
Ludwig Lauerhass
Paying it forward The recipient of multiple fellowships and assistantships as a graduate student, and later as a professional bibliographer and historian, Lauerhass said his philanthropy is a way of showing his gratitude for the support he was given throughout his education and career. “UCLA has given me so much: top flight education, new life directions, and exposure to so many stimulating academic and nonacademic connections,” Lauerhass said. Lauerhass and his wife Frances came to UCLA as graduate students in 1957. In 1959, he became the second student to earn his M.A. through UCLA’s Latin American Studies graduate program. He earned his Ph.D. in history in 1972, the same year Frances earned a doctorate in Romance languages and literature from UCLA. She went on to have a distinguished academic career at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Lauerhass’ philanthropy to UCLA reflects his deep connection to Brazil, sparked as an undergraduate when he read The Masters and The Slaves by Brazilian intellectual Gilberto Freyre about the country’s development as a patriarchal society in the colonial period. In 1963, Lauerhass spent several months in Brazil thanks to a Ford Foundation Foreign Area fellowship—a life-changing experience that led to a lasting fascination with the country. He also added 600 books on Brazil to his growing personal collection.
“The books I acquired on Brazil’s national identity and political development in the late 19th/early 20th centuries turned out to be incredibly important for my dissertation and future writings,” he said. Lauerhass served as UC Riverside’s first Latin American historian for two years before returning to UCLA in 1968. He completed his dissertation on Brazilian nationalism while working as the Latin American bibliographer for UCLA Library, where he helped build one of the country’s great Latin American collections. Alongside his work at the library, Lauerhass taught graduate seminars in the history department, earned a master’s degree in library science and worked closely with UCLA’s Latin American Center. He later served as the center’s executive director for five years and as founding chair of the center’s program on Brazil. He also served a year as director of the Education Abroad program in Brazil. After his retirement from the library in 1993, he taught undergraduate seminars on American monuments and their role in the development of national identity for nine quarters at the UCLA-D.C. Center for American Politics and Public Policy. Turning his attention to postwar Japan, Lauerhass recently co-authored a manuscript with Kanae Omura titled Remember Hiroshima/Nagasaki: Compelling Images of the Atomic Experience.
Winter 2018 UCL A COLLEGE MAGAZINE 21
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M ORTO N L A KRET Z GIV E S $ 2 0 MI L L I O N TO REN OVATE B OTA NY B UI L D ING By Margaret MacDonald
Deep roots in Los Angeles La Kretz grew up in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles during the Depression and was one of the few students from his high school to attend college. By the time he enrolled at UCLA, the U.S. had entered World War II and he interrupted his education to enlist in the Navy as an electronics technician. The war ended before he saw any action, and he returned to UCLA to earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1948.
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La Kretz is the founder and president of Crossroads Management, a real estate development and property management company. Among his notable achievements is saving Hollywood’s historic landmark Crossroads of the World from demolition in 1977 and restoring it to its former 1930s glory. Keeping conservation at the core For all his success in business, La Kretz said he is most proud of his philanthropy and its impact. “It is so satisfying to give young people an education that will enable them to focus on the pressing environmental and conservation issues of our time,” he said. He said his latest gifts aligned well with his philanthropy to UCLA over the past 16 years. His previous major gifts include lead gifts toward the construction of La Kretz Hall, which houses UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES); to create the La Kretz Center for California
Conservation Science, located in the Santa Monica Mountains and administered through the IoES in partnership with the National Park Service; to build an entrance to the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden; and to construct the La Kretz Garden Pavilion, which hosts events and classes and serves as a visitor center at the garden’s north end. To recognize his influence at UCLA and throughout Los Angeles, the university awarded La Kretz the UCLA Medal at a ceremony on Oct. 24. La Kretz is 92 but has no plans to retire, and he has passed on his passion for philanthropy to his daughter, Linda Duttenhaver, vice president of Crossroads Management. Duttenhaver shares his interest in supporting higher education and the environment: In 2017, she and her father established the La Kretz Research Center at Sedgwick Reserve, operated by UC Santa Barbara as part of the University of California Natural Reserve System.
Morton La Kretz (center) stands between his daughters Linda Duttenhaver (left) and Margaret Blume (right) at the botany building ribbon cutting ceremony, along with Chancellor Gene Block (far left) and Dean Victoria Sork (far right).
PHOTO: TODD CHENEY/UCLA
Longtime UCLA supporter and alumnus Morton La Kretz has given a total of $20 million – $15 million this year and $5 million in 2017 – to renovate the historic botany building in the southeastern part of campus. In recognition, UCLA has renamed the building the La Kretz Botany Building. “This generous gift will provide exceptional resources and opportunities to faculty and students doing vital research in conservation and plant biology,” Chancellor Gene Block said. “Thanks to Morton La Kretz’s extraordinary generosity, the La Kretz Botany Building will become a world-class research facility and first-rate training ground for future scientific leaders.” The renovation, which is already underway, includes a refurbished entrance and lobby accessed from Charles E. Young Drive; upgraded labs for teaching and research on botany and conservation; and a new technologically enabled class lab with an entrance on the south side of the building accessible to the garden. UCLA is working with the firm CO Architects on the architecture and design of the project, which is due for completion in January 2022. “We are tremendously grateful to Morton La Kretz,” said Victoria Sork, UCLA’s dean of life sciences. “His philanthropy has had a monumental impact on research and education on environmental and plant conservation studies at UCLA, and his latest gift to revitalize the botany building is yet another shining example.”
ST UDENT IMPAC T
ART GALLERY PUBLISHES UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ON ARTIST PATSSI VALDEZ By Robin Migdol
PHOTO: CHLOE HOURDEQUIN
Fourth-year art history major and digital humanities minor Rocio Sanchez-Nolasco’s original research has been published by a Southern California art gallery, all because of a photo her proud professor shared on social media. Sanchez-Nolasco will write a total of six essays about photographs taken by artist Patssi Valdez for posting on the internet-based Sanguine Gallery’s website every other month, with the first essay published in September. In her writing, she discusses the historical, social and cultural contexts of Valdez’s work and analyzes the photographs’ portrayal of Chicana femininity. Charlene Villaseñor Black, professor of Chicana/Chicano studies and art history, is Sanchez-Nolasco’s honors thesis adviser. For the past year, the two have met weekly to discuss Sanchez-Nolasco’s interests and home in on a research topic for her thesis. After becoming interested in Asco, an East Los Angeles Chicano artist collective during the 1970s and '80s, and doing research at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, Sanchez-Nolasco stumbled upon photographs by Valdez, a founding member of Asco who is more well-known for her brightly colored, avant-garde expressionist paintings. She decided to make Valdez’s photography the subject of her thesis. Exploring entirely new territory “I was blown away that she identified this as a topic that needed to be researched,” Black said. “No one has written about [Valdez’s photographs]. It’s a completely new topic.” Sanchez-Nolasco admired the photographs’ distinctive style and was surprised no one had examined them on their own,
Rocio Sanchez-Nolasco
not just within the context of Valdez’s other work. “I thought all these images were so beautiful and so amazing that I couldn’t think of a reason why no one has written about them collectively,” Sanchez-Nolasco said. Sanchez-Nolasco presented a poster about her preliminary research findings at Undergraduate Research Week in May. Black was so proud of her and all her undergraduate advisees that she posted pictures of them on Facebook, including captions about their accomplishments and projects. To her surprise, later that day, her picture of Sanchez-Nolasco standing in front of her poster at Undergraduate Research Week received a comment from Thomas Canavan, arts administrator of the Sanguine Gallery and creative arts and special projects manager of the Millard Sheets Arts Center in Pomona, California. Black met Canavan recently after she participated in a talk at Millard Sheets. “Is it possible to get a copy? We’d love to publish it!” Canavan wrote, referring to Sanchez-Nolasco’s poster about Valdez. As it turned out, the Sanguine Gallery was about to launch a Valdez exhibition, and the gallery frequently publishes writing and other creative works on its website to accompany its physical exhibits. SanchezNolasco’s research would be the perfect accompaniment to the Valdez exhibit.
Canavan said the Sanguine Gallery wants to provide a space for artists, creators and scholars of all ages and experience levels to contribute their voices and unique insights – even an undergraduate like Sanchez-Nolasco. It benefits everyone, Canavan said, since young scholars in particular may be more connected to certain cultural and artistic spaces that older people may not. “We exclude younger voices and because of that, they don’t have the opportunity to express what they think,” Canavan said. “If we’re not listening to them, we’re missing out on an opportunity to learn more about what’s around us.” Sanchez-Nolasco gives credit to her professor for supporting her research and for making her partnership with the Sanguine Gallery possible. “It’s inspiring to see that this is an opportunity I can now pursue as an undergraduate student,” she said.
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LEARN MORE: Read Rocio Sanchez-Nolasco's research on the Sanguine Gallery website: https://sanguinegallery.com/essays/ Learn about Undergraduate Research Week: http://urweek.ugresearch.ucla.edu/
Winter 2018 UCL A COLLEGE MAGAZINE 23
Q& A
IN CONVER SATION WITH M AGGIE T SAI '8 3 By Margaret MacDonald
As an engineering student, how did your interest in art come about? I’ve always loved to sing, draw and write, and as a child I loved going to art museums and galleries. My score in mathematics was the best in the class, which led me to engineering. But deep in my heart, art is my calling in life. Did you take any non-engineering classes as a UCLA student? I took classes in art, Chinese literature and the readings of Mao Tse-tung, as well as Cantonese and Japanese language classes. I also sat in on classes at the School of Music.
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What has UCLA meant to you? UCLA is a big school with a beautiful campus. It’s where I learned about different cultures and activities and how to work and live independently. Since most of my classmates were engineering students, they taught me how to think rationally. I still remember the good times when I sang in the UCLA Chorale. What advice would you give to college students? Three things: To pursue your dreams, you must stay true to your purpose and embrace innovation. Stay humble: No matter how good you think you are, there is always someone out there who is better. And seize your time in school to learn and make as many friends as you can. Why is a liberal arts education important? In the future, people might only need to work for two hours a day and many jobs will be replaced by robots that have neither feelings nor compassion. Technology brings progress, but good ideas are provided by people. I encourage students to study the liberal arts, such as history, geography, art or music. I believe that before one can really enjoy life and experience true happiness, one must first understand human nature, find one’s own beliefs and core values, and understand what love is.
How do you handle complex challenges or problems? Because of my engineering training, I’m used to seeing problems from different angles. I take every challenge as an opportunity to learn. We all have our own dreams, and some may give up easily when faced with pressure or difficulties. I will face the problem and consistently learn from it. What do you hope to accomplish? After 20 years of hard work, my foundation has built a good reputation of making art more accessible and introducing wonderful art experiences into everyday life. We are scheduled to launch a private museum in 2022, designed by master Italian architect Renzo Piano. With this museum, I hope to help young people experience art and feel its wonders. Any parting words of wisdom? I believe that art is not an object but a way to share with others. It is always better to share your happiness than to enjoy it on your own. We should pass on the wonderful feelings art evokes and the best of our wisdom from one generation to the next.
PHOTO: FUBON ART FOUNDATION
Maggie Tsai was born in Taipei, Taiwan, where she lives with her husband, Richard. A talented musician, she was awarded a music scholarship to attend UCLA, but ultimately graduated with an engineering degree. Back in Taipei, she founded Fubon Art Foundation in 1997, an organization that promotes art to the public through exhibitions and lectures. She also serves on the boards of the UCLA Foundation and the New York Philharmonic. Tsai and her husband recently established major endowments to support UCLA undergraduate and graduate students studying the arts, arts education and art history.
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WHOEVER YOU ARE AND WHEREVER YOU COME FROM, WHEN YOU STEP ONTO THE UCL A CAMPUS, YOU’RE INVITED TO SPEAK YOUR OWN IDEAS, TO DEFEND THEM THROUGH THE PEACEFUL EXERCISE OF GOOD THINKING, TO ANSWER CRITIQUES, PERHAPS TO CHANGE A MIND, PERHAPS TO CHANGE THE WORLD. — DAVID SCHABERG, DE AN OF HUMANITIES
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