Our April 26 meeting was another sellout, 29 attendees in person, two by zoom.
Welcome back, Anders!
Also nice to see Claire McAdams again.
Rich showed up with his support dachshund. The pup spent most of lunch and Rich’s lap, but occasionally was under foot. Rich was entirely misunderstood when he warned people. “Don’t trip over my wiener”
Our musical excitement was provided by the full band known as Under the Influence. Al had suggested that your author’s reference to Under the Influence by its initial, was especially inappropriate for an Appellate Court, Justice. But apparently it’s caught on because that’s how President Lowry refers to them now.
Certainly makes it hard to forget, it keeps recurring.
Kendra told us a out the Kentucky Derby party on May 4th.
It has also been requested that we not refer to Kentucky Derby party as the KY party.
Btw- May 4th is also Star Wars Day. (May the 4th…. Say it)
Rich was detective as well as wiener holder and asked questions about the Kentucky Derby
The members did fairly well.
Derby has been going on for 150 years. The other two legs of the triple crown are the Preakness and the Belmont stakes.
The Derby has only been canceled twice, once in May 1945, it was rescheduled to September, and again in May 2020 because of Covid
Our guests were Dr. Peter Biehl and Almut Wulf. Almut asserts that being German is not required but suspicions linger..
Our special guest was home grown Piatt Award winner Jason Jacobsen
Al gave the history of the award: a vision of the Piatts to fund a post graduate scholarship at UCSC. They donated a substantial sum of money that is kept in accounts and generates the income for the scholarship. We have had 11 award winners. All of them have given presentations to the club.
The scholarship is also funded by donations from our members- Dr. Art has been especially generous
Last year we also got to actually go to the lab where the grad students develop their projects and had a tour, a presentation and a buffet lunch.
Dr. Biehl and Almut emphasize that the scholarship isn’t just about giving somebody money, it has created a friendship between Rotary and the program. We hope to go back to the campus again this year, it’s well worth everyone’s time.
Dr. Biehl present the slideshow with these strategic plan, which is on its way to achieving its goals of increasing the number of graduate students.
The program has the best genomics in the world.
It’s motto is “ leading the change.”
It has been difficult to recruit top students to come here, housing is an especially serious problem for students and faculty
Our Scholarship is very helpful
Only 20% of the programs funding is from the state, the rest is from grants and other sources
There are now 1400 grad students and 270 in PhD program
There are no liberal arts studies in China. India, Germany, many students from there coming here
Jasen Jacobsen went to Rio del Mar elementary and Aptos, junior high school, and high school. He Grew up on the water
He got his degree in oceanography from Humboldt. He had been studying in North Carolina until he was lured back- large thanks to our scholarship
He described the ocean as a thriving ecosystem. he referred to Wales, dolphins and or as charismatic megafauna
His project involves the study of intertidal waves that are driven by currents, not wind. They play a significant role and stirring the nutrients that feed plankton and zooplankton, which intern are the primary food sources for the other members of the ocean ecosystem.
He said his work is at the intersection of physics and biology
Light and nutrients are needed to build cells for the microscopic organisms, but only the top 100 meters of ocean are lit. But nutrients get consumed and so are more prevalent in the depths
Internal waves are sloped. He mathematically replicated internal wave action to see what biological consequence of waves/ which create tidal beams- which creates primary production
These Waves are independent from wind and are Dependent on temperature
Ocean warming has unknown consequences.
Jasen’s presentation was a grape blend of technical talk and plan English, and he made a very complex topic quite understandable. Our money is going to great use.