News & Announcements

Headlines

Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences in the news
Did a comet cause freeze that killed mammoths?
April 20, 2017

A comet or asteroid striking the Earth around 13,000 years ago caused the climate to cool, leading to the vanishing of megafauna like mammoths and mastodons in North America, a new study suggests. The research bolsters the argument for indications of such an event, which ushered in a cool period known as the Younger Dryas.

Natural weather and climate changes explain breakneck pace of Arctic sea ice decline
April 10, 2017

Rising sea levels and reduction of atmospheric ozone are often the first cited pieces of evidence for global warming and the melting of the Arctic shelf, but previous models for projecting decline in Arctic sea ice over the past few decades have been lenient, as Arctic sea ice has declined significantly faster than estimated. A new study from the UW, the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), and other federal scientists has shown that 30 to 50 percent of Arctic sea ice decline is due to natural variability in atmospheric weather since 1979.lyst.

Mutant Lifestyles
April 3, 2017
  • An ultra-small bacterial cell (scale bar is 100 nanometers) is thought to be a relative of the microorganisms that encode diversity-generating retroelements. Photo Credit: BIRGIT LUEF, NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

It’s the stuff of science fiction, though there’s nothing fiction about it: Researchers have discovered a multitude of previously unidentified microorganisms possess a genetic element that enables them to self-mutate. What’s more, these organisms are so great in number that they dramatically expand the diversity of the tree of life.

Experts Say Climate Change May Be Making African Drought Worse
March 27, 2017

As East Africa struggles through a drought, scientists say climate change may be making the situation worse as a warming planet may be altering the weather patterns that bring rain to the region. In Somalia, the rains failed late last year. And the rains before that were meager. Livestock have died. Crops have failed.

Announcements

Divisional announcements and opportunities
Call For Applications: Errett Fisher Foundation

Funded through an annual gift of up to $75,000 from the Errett Fisher Foundation, the Daryl and Marguerite Errett Discovery Award in Biomedical Research is intended to honor the lives of Daryl and Marguerite Errett, while providing seed funding to the most exceptional young postdocs or research professionals (non-tenured faculty) at UC Santa Barbara early in their careers to support their innovative research in the field of biomedicine.

Call For Applications: Harvey L. Karp Discovery Award

All faculty members in the Division of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences (MLPS) and the College of Engineering are invited to nominate a postdoctoral fellow for this prestigious award that provides seed funding to support his/her innovative, cutting-edge research, that might be considered too risky by agencies such as NIH.

Call For Applications: Otis Williams Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Otis Williams Fund at the Santa Barbara Foundation will provide two years of support for post-doctoral research training at the interface of biology and engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. This fellowship is intended to support traditional biomedical fields such as biochemistry, molecular biology, and cell biology coupled with UCSB's unique strengths in materials, computing, and mechanical, chemical, and electrical engineering.

New Research Horizons

Two UC Santa Barbara faculty members — cryptographer Stefano Tessaro and condensed matter physicist Andrea Young — have been selected to receive research fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for 2017.