A test of the university’s WarnMe emergency alert system is scheduled for Wednesday (Oct. 17), starting just before noon. The test alert will go out to employees and students on the Davis and Sacramento campuses, and at other university facilities.

Messages will be sent to more than 86,000 work and personal email addresses, nearly 26,000 SMS (short message service) devices and about 950 pagers.

The messages will indicate that they are only test messages.

Officials urge all faculty, staff and students to register with the WarnMe system, or, if already registered, to check to make sure their contact information is up to date. Register and check your contact information here.

WarnMe uses employees' work contact information from the university's online directory, students' email addresses, and personal contact information that students and employees provide voluntarily.

New website serves Crocker and Bio-Ag shops

The Crocker and Bio-Ag machine and electronics shops have joined forces on a new website — shops.ucdavis.edu — to give campus researchers a single point of contact when they need equipment repaired or built to order.

The Crocker Nuclear Laboratory's machine and electronics shops, in Jungerman Hall, and the Department of Biomedical and Agricultural Engineering shop in Bainer Hall, are the only such shops open to all UC Davis researchers on a "for hire" basis, said Professor Tony Wexler, director of the Crocker Nuclear Lab.

The single website for the Crocker and Bio-Ag labs is meant to make the shops more visible and accessible to researchers, Wexler said.

Between them, the Crocker and Bio-Ag shops offer expert machinists, design engineers and electronics technicians experienced in working on academic projects. The services include computer-aided design, CNC machining, welding of large and small items, electronics design and fabrication, and lab equipment repair.

Bainer Hall also houses the Engineering Fabrication Laboratory, which supports teaching and researchers in the College of Engineering. A few other campus departments have small machine shops that are primarily for departmental use but that also accept some “for hire” jobs.

Library organizes programs for Open Access Week

The University Library announced a panel discussion and two other programs in conjunction with Open Access Week, a global event now entering its sixth year.

The UC Davis programs, free and open to the public, offer an opportunity “to discuss and learn about the potential benefits of open access publishing,” said the organizers, librarians Raquel Abad (Blaisdell Medical Library) and Phoebe Ayers (Physical Sciences and Engineering Library).

The schedule includes a panel discussion, Wednesday (Oct. 24), featuring University Librarian MacKenzie Smith and Professor Jonathan Eisen, chair of the advisory board of PLoS Biology, an open access journal.

Another program asks: Should You Publish in Open Access Journals? It is scheduled for Monday (Oct. 22) on the Sacramento campus.

The last program is a workshop, Data Management for Researchers: Organizing, Describing and Sharing Your Data, on Wednesday (Oct. 24), Shields Library.

Read more.

Fusion Fresh Cafe open for business, outside Mondavi Center

The Fusion Fresh Café opened this week on the Corin Courtyard at the northeast corner of the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

The mobile cafe sets up shop Monday through Friday, early morning to late afternoon, and later for at least some of the center's new series of free outdoor concerts (see the schedule here).

The Fusion Fresh menu includes pancakes, breakfast burritos and pastries, chicken cheese steak, and chicken, lamb and beef kabobs, plus quesadillas, tacos and spring rolls. 

The café is the latest offering from Sodexo, which runs the dining commons, the Gunrock Pub and other campus food services.

“One of our goals at the Mondavi Center is to create a welcoming environment not just when events are taking place inside, but, now, with the redeveloped Corin Courtyard, to be a place where members of our campus and community can sit and enjoy free wireless and meals,” said Don Roth, the Mondavi Center’s executive director.

Reservations due for Quarter Century Club dinner

Reservations are due by Thursday (Oct. 18) for UC Davis Quarter Century Club's 73rd annual dinner meeting.

At this year's event, Thursday, Oct. 25, in the Activities and Recreation Center Ballroom, the club will add 183 new members and recognize 65 members who have reached the 50-year milestone of UC Davis employment. See all the names here.

Human Resources identified the new members from among all classifications: faculty, staff and administration.

Dinner invitations have been mailed to the new members and the existing club membership. The club asks "veteran" members to connect with "newbies" to encourage them to join the celebration.

For more information about the dinner, call Jean Wigglesworth, Ceremonies and Special Events, (530) 754-2011.

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