February 6, 2006

Library ceremony honors UCSC faculty and the books that influenced them

By Tim Stephens

UCSC's Honored Faculty, Honored Books Program will hold a ceremony this week in celebration of the bond between the written word and the achievement of scholars. The event recognizes UCSC faculty who have attained tenure or received promotion and showcases the books that have influenced them.

The faculty and their selected books will be celebrated with a gala reception in the Current Periodicals Room of the Science & Engineering Library on Wednesday, February 8, at 2:30 p.m.

The ceremony will include remarks from Chancellor Denice D. Denton. Other speakers will include David Kliger, campus provost and executive vice chancellor; Stephen Thorsett, interim dean of physical and biological sciences; and Darrell Long, associate dean of the Baskin School of Engineering. The event is sponsored by the UCSC Libraries, the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences, and the Baskin School of Engineering.

The honored faculty and the books they have selected are featured on a commemorative web site, which includes descriptions by the faculty members of the significance of their chosen books to their lives and careers. The following is just one example, a description provided by Gregory Laughlin, associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics, of his chosen book, Inward Bound, by Abraham Pais:

"I encountered this volume by chance in the University of Illinois Physics Library while I was an undergraduate. I was studying for a looming quantum mechanics exam when I noticed the book lying out waiting to be reshelved. I picked it up distractedly, and was immediately hooked (to my definite disadvantage on the quantum mechanics exam, but now that's all water under the bridge). Pais does a wonderful job of describing the historical progression of the understanding of Nature on successively smaller size scales. I found this book to be of great value because of the way it entwines an accurately researched history of science with a masterful discussion of the scientific results themselves."

The faculty being honored this year are as follows:

 • Andrew Chisholm, Professor of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology

 • Donald Croll, Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

• Cormac Flanagan, Associate Professor of Computer Science

 • Lindsay Hinck, Associate Professor of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology

• Raphael Kudela, Associate Professor of Ocean Sciences

• Gregory Laughlin, Associate Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics

• Onuttom Narayan, Professor of Physics

• Karen Ottemann, Associate Professor of Environmental Toxicology

• Jie Qing, Professor of Mathematics

• Christina Ravelo, Professor of Ocean Sciences

• Holger Schmidt, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering

• Ali Shakouri, Professor of Electrical Engineering

• Hongyun Wang, Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics and Statistics

• Alan Zahler, Professor of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology.

 

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