University Of California At Davis

The radioactive beagles are long gone, their frozen carcasses hauled off to a nuclear waste dump in Washington state along with 140 tons of radioactive dog sewage. Their legacy, however, has jolted residents of this environmentally conscious college town, which declared itself a "nuclear free zone" a decade ago. After all, this is a community where the bicycle is king, recycling is a popular pastime and smoking is banned even on downtown sidewalks.

MEET THE Anheuser-Busch Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at UC Davis. The what? There's a professor of beer in that teeming nest of winemakers? Indeed there is. He's Charles Bamforth, chairman of the department of food science and technology, a sturdy, jovial middle-aged Englishman with traces of a Liverpool/Manchester accent. On June 13 and 15, UC Davis will bestow diplomas on eight of his students -- along with their 37 classmates majoring in viticulture and oenology.

Superplasticity. The mere sound of the word makes you want to dance, right? Well, maybe not, but chances are that manufacturers are going to be singing its praises more and more in the coming years. Some metals, such as certain aluminum alloys, reach superplasticity when cooked to temperatures up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, the metal can be stretched like a sheet of thin plastic and forced against a mold to form an extremely strong, intricately detailed part.

UC Davis has received a record $100-million pledge from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to found a nursing school in Sacramento, the school announced Tuesday. The school, which will be named the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, is designed to produce leaders in the field. The university plans to begin accepting students in master's and doctoral programs in 2008.

The biggest problem that investors may face when considering California's latest tax-free, zero-coupon bond is whether they will be able to buy enough of them. Last week, state Treasurer Thomas Hayes announced the "College Savers Program," the keystone of which is a $10-million to $20-million bond issue to refinance the life sciences building at the University of California at Davis. The bonds, which will be sold Oct. 24, are expected to bear interest rates ranging from 7.25% to 7.

Ned Buyukmihci is building a home on 60 acres near here, where he cares for 150 stray or abused animals. "I look at them as non-human kids," the tenured professor at the University of California Davis veterinary medicine school said. "Each one has a story that helps you refocus on why you're doing what you're doing. It also makes you realize that what you are going through is nothing compared to what they have been through."

Yuta Sakane, a high school senior at a German-American school in Berlin, really, really wants to attend UC Davis. His aim has been to go to a college with top-notch programs in each of his two very different passions--agricultural science and art--and the Northern California school seemed like the perfect answer. So Sakane was thrilled late last month when he received a letter from the campus saying he was accepted for next year's freshman class.

The spoof issue of UC Davis' student newspaper, an annual mix of mischief and journalism, has sparked a brouhaha that could lead to an overhaul of the paper's operations. Responding to complaints about sexual and racial references in the year-end parody section, the student-dominated Campus Media Board agreed Tuesday to consider firing the newspaper's new editor in chief. The editor, Fitz Vo, assumed leadership of the California Aggie on June 1.

UC Davis issued an apology to 6,000 applicants who had been wrongly sent e-mail notifications of being chosen for a scholarship of as much as $7,500 a year. The university is offering the prestigious Regents Scholarships to 800 students newly accepted for this fall. However, in an e-mail foul-up this week, UC Davis mistakenly sent a notice telling another 6,000 accepted applicants that they were being offered the scholarships, too.

Jessica De La Cerda of Hart High, the runner-up in the 1,600 meters in the Southern Section Division I track and field championships last month, will attend Oklahoma State in the fall on a full athletic scholarship. De La Cerda chose Oklahoma State over Adams State, an NCAA Division II school in Colorado that offered a three-quarter scholarship. "I really liked the school and the town," De La Cerda said. "Everything was nice and green there and the people were really laid back and nice."

Researchers at UC Davis did not mistreat seven monkeys who died in their care after a building ventilation system malfunctioned, according to a report released Monday by the university. The report dismissed allegations that had been raised last year by a former employee who said that researchers routinely abused monkeys at the university's primate research center. In the report, campus investigators called the allegations "unfounded, out of context or too vague to be pursued properly."

A retired sociology professor from UC Davis has been missing for 99 days, and authorities fear that he may have been the victim of foul play. Authorities found blood at the house of John Finley Scott, 72, who was reported missing June 11, said Yolo County Sheriff's Capt. Larry Cecchettini. "Significant physical evidence was found that leads us to believe he sustained injury," Cecchettini said.

UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef could be hit with a no-confidence vote by faculty members for approving a secret settlement with an administrator who got a plum job after she threatened to sue. Five faculty members say they have collected more than the 50 signatures needed for the Academic Senate vote. Celeste Rose, who is black, threatened to sue the school for gender and racial bias after Vanderhoef told her she had to step down as vice chancellor.

A UC Davis police officer shot and killed a man Tuesday evening at a student housing unit on campus, a university spokeswoman said. Sacramento's KXTV-TV Channel 10 reported that the man had been loitering near the housing complex and that he opened fire when police approached him. UC Davis spokeswoman Sylvia Wright said there was a shooting involving a campus officer at Regan Hall about 5:30 p.m. that left one person dead. She said no further details were available.

A UC Davis medical research building was shut down this week after six research monkeys died of dehydration due to a heating malfunction in their room over the weekend, campus officials said. A seventh was later euthanized. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees inspection of animal research centers, has begun an investigation and will make an unannounced visit to the California National Primate Research Center soon, said USDA spokesman Larry Hawkins.

UC Davis officials apologized Friday for mistakenly sending 90 applicants e-mails telling them they should sign up for a summer advising program. The e-mails were sent this week by UC Davis' new electronic system, which is designed to simplify the application and enrollment process, said Yvonne Marsh, assistant vice chancellor for enrollment services. The 90 applicants were trying to transfer from community colleges to UC Davis.

UC Davis has received a record $100-million pledge from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to found a nursing school in Sacramento, the school announced Tuesday. The school, which will be named the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, is designed to produce leaders in the field. The university plans to begin accepting students in master's and doctoral programs in 2008.

Robert and Margrit Mondavi, the wine tycoons who contributed nearly $30 million to the opening of the COPIA wine and food museum in Napa last year, this week mark another grand opening: a performing arts facility at UC Davis. The Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis, a $57-million project, will open with a gala on Thursday. The sandstone-clad center includes an 1,800-seat theater and a more flexible 250-seat studio theater space.

UC Davis issued an apology to 6,000 applicants who had been wrongly sent e-mail notifications of being chosen for a scholarship of as much as $7,500 a year. The university is offering the prestigious Regents Scholarships to 800 students newly accepted for this fall. However, in an e-mail foul-up this week, UC Davis mistakenly sent a notice telling another 6,000 accepted applicants that they were being offered the scholarships, too.

UC Davis officials acknowledged Monday that they wrongly notified 6,500 college applicants that they had won academic scholarships worth up to $7,500 a year -- the second admissions foul-up by the University of California system in recent weeks. Admissions officials said the latest mistake occurred Monday morning when UC Davis sent out batches of e-mails to applicants for this coming fall.