UC Davis Stores and the UC Davis Fil-Am community announced a free and easy way to help with typhoon relief in the Philippines.
Starting Jan. 13 and continuing to Jan. 31, whenever you make a purchase of $1 or more at UC Davis Stores, $1 of your payment will be set aside for relief efforts — provided you tell the clerk that you want to contribute to the cause. You don’t pay extra!
The Fil-Am community will donate the UC Davis collection to the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns.
The Fil Am community comprises seven student organizations: BRIDGE (Filipino/a outreach and retention); Chi Rho Omicron, Filipino interest fraternity, Kappa Psi Epsilon, Filipina interest sorority; Filipino Association for Health Careers; Filipinos in Liberal Arts and Humanities; Filipinos Americans in Science and Engineering; and Mga Kapatid (Tagalog for “My Brothers and Sisters”), a social, cultural, political and academic organization.
Biomedical engineering to introduce new TEAM
The Department of Biomedical Engineering has put together a new TEAM and invites the public to come learn all about it during a special event this week.
TEAM stands for Translating Engineering Advances to Medicine, a facility where UC Davis researchers and others can design and build prototypes of the next generation of medical tools and devices, incorporating engineered molecules and organisms.
The objective is to speed the commercialization of freshly developed “hybrid” technologies, for example, those that include both electronics and biological elements.
Speakers and equipment demonstrations are planned as part of the public program, to be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday (Jan. 15) in the lobby of the Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility building.
Picnic Day applications available
The Picnic Day Committee has posted information packets and application forms on its website (click on “Applications & Forms”).
Three information packets are available as PDFs: for student organizations, ASUCD and sport clubs; UC Davis departments; and off-campus groups.
Online application forms are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, for animal events, entertainment, exhibits, parade and special events; and the multicultural children’s fair, nonprofit resource fair and student organization fair (except for food booths).
The deadline for food booth applications is Monday, Jan. 20, and the food booth lottery will be held at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21, in the Mee Room, third floor, Memorial Union.
For more information, contact the Picnic Day committee: in person, 349 MU; or by telephone, (530) 752-6320.
Immunization Information Clinic opens
The Immunization Information Clinic, operated by UC Davis Children’s Hospital, opened for the first time today (Jan. 14). The weekly clinic provides information and counseling to parents who may not want to have their children receive immunizations for school.
Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases, founded the clinic in response to a state law that took effect Jan. 1 regarding school enrollment for children without the required immunizations.
Previously, parents could decline immunizations for their children and still enroll the children in school. Now, parents need sign-off from medical practitioners.
The clinic aims to assist parents who do not have primary health care providers, or parents whose providers refuse to sign off on the parents’ decision to decline immunizations for their children.
“Parents are making an important decision for their loved ones, and we want to offer them resources and let them know about the risks and benefits,” Blumberg said. “Having this dialogue with parents is valuable, even if the parent still opts to not immunize.”
The clinic is open Tuesday mornings in the Glassrock Building, 2521 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento. Appointments are required; call (916) 734-3112. The cost is $25 per child, and health insurance will not be billed.
‘Watchful waiting’ for first cabbage white butterfly
UPDATE 5:15 p.m. Jan. 14: “Watchful waiting” on Monday turns to evolutionary victory today for Professor Art Shapiro in his own beer-for-a-butterfly contest — again! Read the story.
•••
Art Shapiro says he is in “watchful waiting” mode for the new year’s first cabbage white butterfly, scientific name Pieris rapae. It’s one of two prizes in his annual beer-for-a-butterfly contest.
Shapiro, a professor of evolution and ecology, prizes the butterfly and its date of capture for his research into biological responses to climate change. He’s been monitoring the cabbage white’s emergence for going on 43 years.
The other prize is a pitcher of beer for the person who snags the butterfly. If that person is Shapiro, as it usually is, he shares the beer, usually with his graduate students, who are his fiercest competitors.
Media Resources
Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu