Volume 32, Number 1 M A G A Z I N E Fall 2014 HI V’s true colors Surprising discoveries from James Hildreth’s lab FREEBORN HALL RETROSPECTIVE • HOT CROPS To see how the Campaign for UC Davis transformed the university, visit campaign.ucdavis.edu/gala. MAGAZINE Volume 32, Number 1/Fall 2014 FEATURES Disarming a Trojan Horse 12 James Hildreth, dean of biological sciences, is training a new generation of scientists to rein in HIV. by Sasha Abramsky Freeborn Hall Hot Crops 18 Retrospective 24 If the planet keeps getting warmer, will the plants that The box office is closed and the hall quiet, but sustain us thrive? UC Davis scientists are adapting Freeborn Hall still rocks in the memories of many staple crops to grow in drier, saltier conditions. alumni. Aggies recall some of their favorite concerts. by Pat Bailey by Kathleen Holder Departments About the cover: 2 Letters Research from James Hildreth’s lab 3 Calendar reveals the AIDS virus as a Trojan horse that acquires potency by stealing pro- 4 Discoveries, News, Health teins from host cells. See page 12 for a 10 Parents story about Hildreth’s work as a leading HIV researcher, student mentor and dean 23 Class Notes of the College of Biological Sciences. 42 Sports Digital illustration by Russ Thébaud. RECYCLED • RECYCLABLE UC DAVIS MAGAZINE / Fall 2014 1 LETTERS Move over Gunrock, Twitter remember Ollie [Re: “One to One: Being Gunrock, sum- mer ’14] Once upon time at a campus a UC Davis Magazine long time ago (1960s), there was Ollie, MANAGING EDITOR the mascot of the Cal Aggie Mustangs. Kathleen Holder ART DIRECTOR Sporting a golden paper-mache head Russ Thébaud and blue overalls with the distinctive DESIGNERS Jay Leek, Lisa Wells ’03 CA logo on the chest, he was the leader PHOTOGRAPHERS of Aggie Spirit at home and away ball Karin Higgins, Gregory Urquiaga games. He was loved by all and loved MULTIMEDIA SPECIALIST Joe Proudman everyone, especially little kids and the CA Song Girls. [The mascot was] the @whscounseling3 responsibility of the Rally Committee (Rally Com). No one really knew who Ms. Caruso & I [are] encouraging our students to #ReachHigher w/ our UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS made Ollie come alive—it just added a @ucdavis & @NewMexicoSt shirts. CHANCELLOR bit of mystique to keep folks guessing Linda P. B. Katehi #aggies #TShirtTuesday who it was “this time.” ASSOCIATE CHANCELLOR OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS George Brown ’67 Luanne Lawrence Former Rally Com vice chair CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sunny Teo Los Osos UC DAVIS MAGAZINE What, no print Aggie?! Published three times a year by the University [Re: “Aggie’s disappearing ink,” summer of California, Davis, for members of the @babybirdsmom Cal Aggie Alumni Association, members of ’14] I worked on the Cal Aggie from 1964 the Aggie Parent and Family Association, and to 1968 and cannot believe that there Every day is #AggiePrideFriday many donors and other friends of the campus. @ucdavis #GoAgs © 2014 by The Regents of the University of will be no print issue. We were the gen- California, Davis campus. Persons wishing eration that [took the Aggie from a to reprint any portion of UC Davis Magazine’s Instagram contents are required to write in advance for twice-weekly paper] to a print daily. It permission. Please email address changes to is shocking to me that UC Berkeley still [email protected], or mail to has a print issue of the Daily Cal . but UC Davis Magazine, University of California, the Cal Aggie will be no more. One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616-8687. All other email correspondence should be Howard Egerman ’68 sent to [email protected]. Oakland UC Davis Magazine is on the Web at ucdavismagazine.ucdavis.edu. Editor’s note: Stay tuned. Aggie Editor in Phone: 530-752-9607 Chief Muna Sadek says she hopes to have the paper back in print as early as this January. datsyuk_the_frenchie 2 UC DAVIS MAGAZINE / Fall 2014 CALENDAR Gregory Porter Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall Jan. 19 Dance Outdoors Music Wendy Whelan Storytime through the Seasons: UC Davis Symphony Orchestra Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall Under the Redwood Tree Christian Baldini, music director and Jan. 24 Native Californian tales, conductor, and Blythe Gaissert, games and arts. Free. mezzo-soprano. Exhibitions Arboretum, Wyatt Deck Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall Valentine Art Exhibition (Rain location: Environmental Nov. 22 Horticulture 146) and Auction Dr. John & The Nite Trippers Nov. 9 Nelson Gallery Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall Jan. 17–Feb. 14 (with live auction on Talk Dec. 3 Valentine’s Day) Temple Grandin Music and Words Festival Listening to the Stone: Author of Thinking in Pictures, Performances by So Percussion, Original Inuit Art this year’s Campus Community Empyrean Ensemble, Bob Ostertag, Book Project selection. Traditional and contemporary Inuit stone UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, sculpture, from a private collection. Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall emerging composers. C.N. Gorman Museum Feb. 10 Mondavi Center Jan. 29–31 Jan. 6–March 16, 2015 Celebrations Black Family Week Feb. 9–13 More events Mondavi Center Visitor Services Design Museum The Art Lounge mondaviarts.org visit.ucdavis.edu designmuseum.ucdavis.edu campusunions.ucdavis.edu Department of Music Arboretum Athletics Richard L. Nelson Gallery music.ucdavis.edu arboretum.ucdavis.edu ucdavisaggies.com & Fine Arts Collection Department of Craft Center Gallery C.N. Gorman Museum nelsongallery.ucdavis.edu Theatre and Dance cru.ucdavis.edu, click on gormanmuseum.ucdavis.edu theatredance.ucdavis.edu Recreation & Activities More event information at ucdavis.edu/calendar. UC DAVIS MAGAZINE / Fall 2014 3 DISCOVERIES THE GLOBAL COST OF CARS MORE THAN $100 TRILLION in public and private that 1.4 million early deaths associated with exposure to spending could be saved between now and 2050 if the vehicle tailpipe emissions could be avoided annually by world expands public transportation, walking and 2050 if governments require the strongest vehicle pollu- cycling in cities, according to a new report. tion controls and ultralow-sulfur fuels. Doubling motor Additionally, reductions in carbon dioxide emissions vehicle fuel economy could reduce CO2 emissions by an reaching 1,700 megatons per year in 2050 could be additional 700 megatons in 2050. achieved if this shift occurs, according to the report The report, “A Global High Shift Scenario,” is the first released by UC Davis and the New York-based nonprofit study to examine how major changes in transportation Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. investments worldwide would affect urban passenger A related analysis by the International Council on transport emissions. Clean Transportation included in the report estimated Food innovation ‘Free will’ or brain noise? OUR ABILITY to make choices—and brain. In the new study, decisions could UC Davis’ World Food Center and sometimes mistakes—might arise from be predicted based on the pattern of Mars, Incorporated, have agreed to random fluctuations in the brain’s back- brain activity immediately before a deci- pursue the establishment of a new ground electrical noise, according to a sion was made. institute designed to deliver big-impact, recent study from the Center for Mind The researchers found that the pat- Silicon Valley-type breakthroughs in and Brain. tern of activity in the second or so before food, agriculture and health. “How do we behave independently of the cue symbol appeared—before the The chocolate company will commit cause and effect?” said Jesse Bengson, a volunteers could know they were going a minimum of $40 million to support postdoctoral researcher at the center. to make a decision—could predict the the new Innovation Institute for Food “This shows how arbitrary states in the likely outcome of the decision. and Health over 10 years, and brain can influence apparently volun- The experiment builds on a famous UC Davis will provide $20 million tary decisions.” 1970s experiment by Benjamin Libet, a over the same period. The brain has a normal level of “back- psychologist at UC San Francisco who Links between UC Davis and Mars ground noise,” Bengson said, as electri- was later affiliated with the UC Davis date back as much as 40 years. cal activity patterns fluctuate across the Center for Neuroscience. 4 UC DAVIS MAGAZINE / Fall 2014 HEALTH NEWS Michele La Merrill, assistant professor disorders are potentially undiagnosed DDT and female of environmental toxicology. “If you’re and untreated,” said Steven Brass, asso- waistlines not generating as much heat as the next ciate clinical professor and director of Exposure of pregnant mice to the guy, instead of burning calories, you’re the Neurology Sleep Clinical Program pesticide DDT is linked to an increased storing them.” and co-medical director of the UC Davis risk of obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol The study found stark gender differ- Sleep Medicine Laboratory. and related conditions in female offspring ences in the mice’s response to DDT. later in life, researchers have found. Females were at higher risk of obesity, The study is the first to show that Type 2 diabetes and cholesterol, but in developmental exposure to DDT males, DDT exposure caused only a increases the risk of females later devel- minor increase in glucose levels. CT scans in kids oping metabolic syndrome—a cluster of Many children who get CT scans conditions that include increased body after apparently minor head trauma fat, blood glucose and cholesterol. Sleepless with MS do not need them, and as a result DDT was banned in the United States Undiagnosed sleep disorders may be at are put at increased risk of cancer in the 1970s but continues to be used for the root of the most common and dis- due to radiation exposure, research- malaria control in countries including abling symptom of multiple sclerosis— ers report.