UC San Diego Founders Celebration 2014

UC San Diego Founders Celebration Symposium Nov. 13, 2014

UC San Diego’s annual Founders Celebration commemorates the day the campus was officially founded in November 1960. Launched during the university's 50th anniversary in 2010, this annual event provides an opportunity for faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends to join in and honor the founding of the UCSD campus and the remarkable Tritons around the world who have helped UC San Diego achieve recognition as a top ten U.S. public university and one of the top 15 research universities worldwide.

Founders Symposium - free and open to the public, no RSVP needed

Featuring short talks from extraordinary minds, including Scripps Oceanography Professor Matthew Alford

Symposium

• When:  Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014, 5-7 p.m.
• Where:  East Ballroom, Price Center, UC San Diego Campus
• What:  Wonder how research happening at UC San Diego translates into real-world benefits? Find out at the annual Founders Symposium where faculty experts will come together to present talks on two research themes: Understanding and Protecting the Planet and Enriching Human Life and Society. Before the symposium, join us for a reception at The Loft featuring undergraduate social innovators who are addressing issues such as poverty, health, education and the environment. The reception and symposium are open to the public.

Founders Day Symposium Scripps Speaker Highlight: 

Matthew Alford, Ph.D. ’98
Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
 Chasing Waves: Measuring Skyscraper-High Waves Beneath the Sea and Their Importance for Submarines, Coastal Ecosystems and Climate
 “Internal waves,” large waves that break underwater, can displace the ocean’s layers, mixing cold, nutrient-rich water below with the waters above. Alford will introduce these waves, describe the technology used to observe them and discuss their three primary impacts: interfering with submarine navigation, divers and offshore structures; fueling biological production and redistributing algae and larvae by transporting ocean nutrients into shallow coastal regions; and predicting climate change in conjunction with computer simulations of the ocean. Alumnus Matthew Alford received his doctorate from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. A seagoing observational physical oceanographer, Alford leads Wavechasers a group of scientists and engineers who measure, study and track skyscraper-sized internal gravity waves –  some five kilometers beneath the ocean's surface – which break and produce strong turbulence underwater. Learning about these deep waves and flows is critical to understanding the Earth's climate and can help to improve climate models.

Reception before the Symposium

• When: Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014, 4-5 p.m.
• Where: The Loft, Price Center, UC San Diego Campus