DARPA Announces 3rd Grand Challenge

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will hold its 3rd Grand Challenge - an Urban Challenge - on November 3, 2007. The Urban Challenge will feature autonomous ground vehicles safely executing simulated military supply missions in a mock urban area.

First prize in the competition is $2 million dollars, second prize is $500,000, and third prize is $250,000. Stanford University won the 2005 Grand Challenge.

Web of Science Upgrade

This week, ISI released their quarterly upgrade to Web of Science. Changes include:

1. The maximum number of records that can be analyzed has been increased to 100,000 (the current maximum # is 2,000).
2. You’re now able to refine a search from within the results page instead of going back to the search page.

S&E Browsing Collection!!

This week, you may have noticed some books shelved where we normally display our new journal issues (the shelves with the blue-green endpieces, between the Current Journals and the Infostations). These are the first books in our new Browsing Collection, a popular science reading collection. Books are available to all patrons with a UCSD Library card (including faculty, staff and grad students) for 28 days + 1 renewal.

A few books so far:
• Many of the books featured in our Graphic Novels/Comic Books in Science display last fall, including the new Science of Anime: Mecha-Noids and AI-Super-Bots
• Programming the Universe : A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes On the Cosmos
• The Velocity of Honey : And More Science of Everyday Life
• The World’s 20 Greatest Unsolved Problems
• Make Your Mark in Science: Creativity, Presenting, Publishing, and Patents, A Guide for Young Scientists
• The Liar Paradox and the Towers of Hanoi: The Ten Greatest Math Puzzles of All Time
• How To Survive a Robot Uprising : Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion
• Partners in Innovation : Teaching Assistants in College Science Courses
• Geometry and Billiards
• Taking Chances : Winning with Probability

Over the next few weeks, we’ll continue to build up the core of this collection, and then new books will be added as published. If there’s a book you’d like to see included, we strongly welcome purchase recommendations. For the box where we ask how the material relates to UCSD programs, please Browsing Collection.

Faculty Lunch on Copyright, 5/31

Your Copyright is Worth Something: Don’t Sign it Away
This month’s Faculty Lunch Series seminar on scholarly/academic communication will feature Villanova University law professor Michael W. Carroll.

Date: May 31
Location: Faculty Club
Cost: none, but space is limited. To reserve your spot, please RSVP to Jennifer Tom (jtom@ucsd.edu)

The Faculty Lunch Series is a seminar series that explores the current state of academic communication and suggest possible improvements. Previous presentations have been digitally recorded for later listening at your convenience.

[h/t: BML]

New Roger Interface - Beta

We’re currently testing out a simpler, more streamlined Roger interface (newRoger). We welcome you to give it a test drive and fill out the accompanying 3-question survey to let us know what you like about newRoger and what needs some work.

New UCSD Articles: Chem/Biochem

Recent articles authored or co-authored by at least one member of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, as indexed in Web of Science.

Total synthesis and confirmation of the revised structures of azaspiracid-2 and azaspiracid-3
Nicolaou KC, Frederick MO, Petrovic G, Cole KP, Loizidou EZ
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION 45 (16): 2609-2615 2006

Conformational transitions in protein-protein association: Binding of fasciculin-2 to acetylcholinesterase
Bui JM, Radic Z, Taylor P, McCammon JA
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL 90 (9): 3280-3287 MAY 2006

Isotopic constraints on non-photochemical sulfate production in the Arctic winter
McCabe JR, Savarino J, Alexander B, Gong SL, Thiemens MH
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS 33 (5): Art. No. L05810 MAR 9 2006

Circuitry of nuclear factor kappa B signaling
Hoffmann A, Baltimore D
IMMUNOLOGICAL REVIEWS 210: 171-186 APR 2006

Reflective interferometric Fourier transform spectroscopy: A self-compensating label-free immunosensor using double-layers of porous SiO2
Pacholski C, Yu C, Miskelly GM, Godin D, Sailor MJ
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 128 (13): 4250-4252 APR 5 2006

Chirality breeding via asymmetric phosphination. Palladium-catalyzed diastereoselective synthesis of a P-stereogenic phosphine
Blank NF, McBroom KC, Glueck DS, Kassel WS, Rheingold AL
ORGANOMETALLICS 25 (7): 1742-1748 MAR 27 2006

Nonequilibrium self-assembly of linear fibers: microscopic treatment of growth, decay, catastrophe and rescue
Zong CH, Lu T, Shen TY, Wolynes PG
PHYSICAL BIOLOGY 3 (1): 83-92 MAR 2006

The fluorescent toolbox for assessing protein location and function
Giepmans BNG, Adams SR, Ellisman MH, Tsien RY
SCIENCE 312 (5771): 217-224 APR 14 2006
Continue reading New UCSD Articles: Chem/Biochem…

NYT Article on Peer Review

For Science’s Gatekeepers, a Credibility Gap, by Lawrence K. Altman in the 5/2 Science Times section of the New York Times.

Other articles:
• RESEARCH CONDUCT: Lessons of the Stem Cell Scandal (Science, 2/3/06)
• Should journals police scientific fraud? (Nature, 2/2/06)
• Scientific publishing: Peer review, unmasked (Nature, 3/21/2002)

Test a Database, Get a Giftcard

ISI, the company that produces Web of Science, is looking for volunteers (faculty, grads and undergrads) to test out a prototype for their new interface. It’s a great opportunity to offer feedback that will shape the next version of this core science and engineering database.

The testing, expected to last 60-90 minutes will be conducted May 16-18 in Geisel Library. For your time, you will receive a $50 American Express Giftcard.

Please contact Penny Coppernoll-Blach if you wish to participate.