Aggie Square, UC Davis’ planned innovation hub, will be the subject of town halls in February on the Davis and Sacramento campuses. Bob Segar, Aggie Square planning director, will lead the town halls, each of which will include a brief presentation and ample time for questions and answers.

“Join us to discuss the opportunities Aggie Square presents for our community,” the planning team announced on a flier. The town halls will be recorded and made available online.

UC Davis is working with the city of Sacramento to develop Aggie Square on the campus of UC Davis Health in Sacramento along the Stockton-Broadway corridor. The project is not be limited to the health enterprise — Aggie Square will be for all kinds of technology and innovation, a generator of ideas and companies as well as economic growth in the community.

“This is where the region’s most talented minds will be able to grow and work together to build a better, smarter Sacramento region — where you will go to find breakthrough talent, breakthrough ideas and breakthrough companies,” May said when he joined Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and others in announcing the Aggie Square location.

Here are the details on the town halls:

• Sacramento campus — noon-1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, 1222 Education Building, 4610 X St. (seating is limited; people are welcome to bring their lunches)
• Davis campus — 9-10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, ballroom, Activities and Recreation Center

More information about Aggie Square is available online. Questions? Contact the Aggie Square communications team by email or phone, 530-752-9838.

Information Security Symposium 2019

Information and Educational Technology is getting the word out about this year’s Information Security Symposium to be held Tuesday-Wednesday, June 18-19, and calling for proposals from people wishing to present.

The biannual event, held since 2003, is aimed at technical professionals and administrative managers from all UC campuses and medical centers/health systems, as well as guests from other institutions of higher learning and from California state agencies.

• Managing and Leading Security
• IS-3 and other Policy and Regulations
• Protecting Assets
• Data Privacy and Integrity
• Incident Management
• Secure Code and Applications

Organizers said the symposium will have room for about 450 people, the same as 2017 — and advise that the symposium usually sells out in advance. Registration will open in April, but interested people may want to start getting approvals now.

The registration fee is $125, which will be waived for presenters.

The symposium is seeking proposals for lectures, panel discussions, and hands-on labs on technical and nontechnical topics that concern information security and compliance. Lecture and panel discussions usually last one or two hours, and hands-on labs run two hours. Submissions are due by Feb. 28. More information is available in this TechNews article.

Vet students’ pets adorn calendar

OK, folks, we’re a month into the New Year … it’s time you got a new calendar (or another one)!  Like this one from the UC Davis chapter of the Student American Veterinary Medical Association — a calendar featuring the students’ own pets: dogs, cats, horses and a few reptiles.

The cost is $20 and all proceeds go to the chapter’s Professional Development Fund, which provides $17,000 per year to help students participate in conferences, externships and other educational programs.

Olga Maderych took all the photos. She’s a third-year vet student who runs Gadabout Photography when she’s not studying and working in the hospital.

You can purchase the calendars at the reception desk in the Small Animal Clinic, second floor of the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Can’t get there to buy a calendar? Send an email to Laurel Saldinger, president of the student chapter, and she will help you out.

Make a donation to the Student American Veterinary Medicine Association.

The Capitol dresses up for heart health

Banners showcasing the UC Davis Red Dress Collection — in support of women’s heart health awareness — went on display Jan. 28 in the state Capitol and will remain up through Friday (Feb. 1), National Wear Red Day and the first day of American Heart Month.

The UC Davis Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine Program and the Department of Design are partners in the Red Dress Collection — students design the dresses as a way to encourage women of all ages to live heart-healthy lives.

Begun 10 years ago, the collection now includes more than 60 dresses. Adele Zhang, a lecturer in the design department, mentors the designers who add to the collection each year.

Designs represent a wide range of esthetic and personal perspectives related to women’s heart health. Mai Vang’s dress, for example — “Golden Traditions” — blends traditional Hmong and modern styles to represent the need to link the past with the present in fighting heart disease.

“Today, through advances in medicine and technology, the Hmong community has been given a golden opportunity to merge modern science with their faith in herbal and spiritual healing,” Vang wrote in her design statement. “This Red Dress is a symbol of that alliance.”

Cardiologist Amparo Villablanca, director and founder of the Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine Program, said: “The Red Dress has been tremendously effective on a national scale in educating women that heart disease is their leading health threat, and our collection reinforces that message among younger women and within our own community.”

Learn more about women’s heart health. You can see the banners near the governor’s office, in the annex on the east side of the Capitol. You can see more of the dresses (and the designers’ statements) online.

516 pints of lifesaving blood

Vitalant, formerly BloodSource, collected 516 pints in last week’s two-day blood drive on the Quad. “I can’t thank you enough for the support and hospitality your campus provides for these lifesaving events,” said Felicia LaMothe, donor recruitment representative.

She said 675 people — including 231 people new to the blood drive — turned out last week; not everyone could complete the donation process.

To people who could not make it to the blood drive but still wish to donate, LeMothe urged them to visit a Vitalant center. In a Jan. 25 email, she cited a critical need for type-O blood, used in emergency situations when a patient’s blood type is not known. “Vitalant strives to maintain a four-day supply of type-O blood,” she said. “Currently we’re at less than half that amount.”

Find a Vitalant location near you.

The next campus blood drive will run for three days: Tuesday-Thursday, April 16-18.

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