Annual Report 2015

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO ANNUAL REPORT 2015 UC San Diego Annual Report 2015 Contents Letter from the 3 Chancellor Overview: Defining the Future of 5 the Public Research University Understanding and 17 Protecting the Planet Enriching Human Life and 21 Society Exploring the Basis of Human 27 Knowledge, Learning, and Creativity Understanding Cultures and 31 Addressing Disparities in Society 35 UCSD Alumni 39 Private Support 43 UC San DIego Foundation Financial Overview for 46 Fiscal Year 2013–14 Cover: Geisel Library Left: Grammy Award winner Nathan East ’78 performs at Conrad Prebys Concert Hall. Back cover: An aerial view of UC San Diego UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla greets prospective students at Imperial High School, Imperial, CA Letter from the Chancellor As a public research university, UC San Diego has a responsibility to serve the citizens of California by educating our future innovators, and conducting and translating research so that it benefits our community and world. Our track record of success spans more than five decades and is nothing short of extraordinary. UC San Diego has graduated more than 160,000 alumni, spun off 650-plus companies, and attracted an average of $1 billion in research funding each year over the last five years. We will maintain our excellence and upward trajectory over the next five decades and well into the future with the goals, strategies, and research themes laid out in our first-ever Strategic Plan. The four research themes—understanding and protecting the planet; enriching human life and society; exploring the basis of human knowledge, learning, and creativity; and understanding cultures and addressing disparities in society—will enable our campus to draw on our deep and broad expertise. From medicine, engineering and oceanography, to the physical and social sciences, and the arts and humanities, we will continue to nurture a collaborative and interdisciplinary culture that advances the frontiers of knowledge, shapes new fields, disseminates discoveries that transform lives, and develops next-generation leaders who will address our world’s most pressing challenges. As these themes guide our research endeavors, we will continue to pursue discoveries, technologies, cures, and creative works that fulfill our vision as a student-centered, research-focused, service-oriented public university. With kind regards, Pradeep K. Khosla UC SAN DIEGO ANNUAL REPORT 2015 3 Defining the Future of the Public Research University FIVE YEARS IN A ROW 1st in the nation based on positive impact on the country Washington Monthly College Guide, 2014 UC San Diego is student-centered, research-focused, and service-oriented. Advancing the Frontiers of Knowledge The University of California, San Diego has a transformative impact on the economic, social, cultural, and imaginative experiences of the communities it serves. The campus has deep and broad expertise in multidisciplinary areas that are rich with possibility for creation and innovation, education, and training. At UC San Diego, a culture of collabora- the arts and humanities, engineering, and tion, risk taking, and innovation emerged the social sciences. The campus emphasis early on. Established in the 1960s as an on transformative research has served the experimental campus, the university world well. Fundamental scientific stud- benefited from pioneering faculty ies led to the modern science of climate members who pursued new frontiers change. Members of the faculty developed of knowledge, created new disci- the core technology for contemporary plines, and fostered the development wireless communications networks. A of a comprehensive university where focus on new health-care technologies interdisciplinary research, inspired helped transform the current health-care teaching, and creative expression quickly model into a system accessible by all the became hallmarks. Scripps Institution world’s populations. of Oceanography, founded in the early 1900s, served as a catalyst and an incuba- Multidisciplinary efforts exist harmoni- tor for UC San Diego’s initial growth. ously with individual, discipline-specific research and creativity at UC San Diego, The campus today is a student-centered, and both tracks will continue to be driving research-focused, service-oriented public forces for scholarly activities. Research institution that provides opportunity funding in 2014 surpassed $1 billion—the for all. Its researchers excel at thinking third time in the last five years the campus and working across disciplines to solve has achieved this milestone. complex problems in medicine, science, UC SAN DIEGO ANNUAL REPORT 2015 5 Setting the Stage for UC San Diego’s Future UC San Diego launched its first-ever campuswide strategic planning effort in 2012 to establish a framework for sustainable excellence and shared aspirations, and to unify the campus. To redefine its mission, vision, values, and goals, the campus engaged more than ten thousand stakeholders to gather ideas and insights, and benchmarked the university to peer institutions across multiple dimensions. The inclusive, collaborative effort required the commitment and bottom-up involvement of faculty, staff, students, alumni, university supporters, and community friends. Among the multiple avenues for participation were interviews, focus groups, workshops, on- and off-campus town hall meetings, division-level discussions, brainstorming sessions, and surveys. The UC San Diego Strategic Plan articulates five transformational goals, thirteen strategies, and four grand research themes that will shape the university for the decades ahead. It is a 4. Supporting and promoting just and sus- focused on providing educational oppor- living and flexible document with ample tainable forms of economic development, tunities to local youngsters. Admitted space for creative decision making at shared prosperity, and social and cultural students from across the region—from the departmental, unit, and individual enrichment regionally and globally South Bay to Imperial Valley—attended levels, and several key actions are welcome receptions where the chancellor already underway. 5. Creating an agile, sustainable, and personally congratulated local high school supportive infrastructure by ensuring and community college students who qual- The five overarching goals are: a dedication to service, people, and ified as Chancellor’s Associates Scholars. financial stewardship At community town hall meetings, Khosla 1. Delivering an educational and overall also thanked the community for its earlier experience that develops students Broadening University Access feedback, which had helped shape the who are capable of solving problems, Strategic Plan. leading, and innovating in a diverse and A UC San Diego education is attainable interconnected world and affordable for all young students As of fall 2014, 113 from all backgrounds. In 2014, Chancellor 2. Cultivating a diverse and inclusive univer- Pradeep K. Khosla took to the road to students had received sity community that encourages respect- deliver that message to several local the Chancellor’s ful open dialogue, and challenges itself to communities, reaffirm the university’s take bold actions that will ensure learning commitment to equity and inclusion Associates Scholarship. is accessible and affordable for all for low-income and first-generation college students, and announce the 3. Nurturing and supporting a collaborative expansion of the Chancellor’s Associates Khosla established the Chancellor’s and interdisciplinary research culture Scholarship Program. Associates Scholarship Program in 2013 to that advances the frontiers of knowledge, ensure affordability and access to shapes new fields, and disseminates dis- To bridge the demographic divides that UC San Diego for qualified local students. coveries that transform lives sometimes make the campus seem remote, Initially open to students from Gompers the chancellor and other campus leaders Preparatory Academy, Lincoln High held off-campus town hall forums that School, and The Preuss School UCSD, the 6 OVERVIEW From far left: UC San Diego Engineers for Exploration students at Geisel Library; outreach visit in Imperial Valley; global study in Vietnam program has since been expanded to eligi- has invested $3 million in undergraduate the planning stages, will promote a ble community college transfer students resources and services such as tutoring, culture of learning for both undergrad- from San Diego City College, Southwestern advising, and teaching assistants. In uate and graduate students. Another College, and Imperial Valley College. addition, UC San Diego is establishing real new initiative, the Office of Online Other additions are eligible students and virtual next-generation classrooms Learning and Technologically Enhanced enrolled in federally recognized Native and laboratories that offer interactive and Education, was recently announced. The American tribes, and students from Reality immersive experiences. A $4 million campus colleges also piloted a First-Year Changers, a nonprofit organization that annual investment over the next three Experience course for one hundred provides inner city youth from disadvan- years is earmarked for expanding instruc- students per undergraduate college. taged backgrounds with the resources to tional technology, upgrading classrooms Faculty and staff engage with students become first-generation college students. and computer labs, and ensuring that to advise on academic

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