Sliding into Summer
Vita Coco, an international health drink company, came to UC San Diego on April 29 as part of a national tour to give students the chance to be their next plant manager. Not the typical job application, students were asked why they would make the perfect plant manager while riding down a three-story-high, 300-foot-long waterslide.  Four winners will get to spend three days in New York at headquarters and then travel to Sri Lanka for one week, embracing the duties of a true company plant manager.  New Chiller Plant at Grossmont College to reduce energy costs by nearly 70 percent
The just-completed air-conditioning plant built to serve new structures in Grossmont College’s near future is being hailed not only for its good looks but its nearly 70 percent reduction in energy costs.
The $8 million, 2,700-square-foot chiller plant that serves the cooling needs of the entire campus marks a milestone for Proposition V, the $398 million bond measure approved by East County voters in 2012. The chiller is the first structure to be built using Prop. V funds, although numerous other projects have been completed at Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges, including renovations at the Cuyamaca College Exercise Science Building and track, and upgrades to the electrical system at Grossmont College.
Those who pass by the chiller plant may never know its true function, but college officials are OK with that. The new plant, which houses a 21,000-ton high-efficiency chiller, massive pipes, and three stainless steel cooling towers, could be mistaken at first glance for a classroom building.
Contractors faced the challenge of transforming an aging, water-wasting central plant into a modern, more efficient facility to meet the demands of more buildings, but at substantially less cost, while making the structure in the center of campus aesthetically pleasing. The cooling towers provide chilled water for air-conditioning while reducing demand on the power grid, but their visual impact was an issue.
“From the start, it was made clear that the college didn’t want something that looked like a mechanical building in the middle of the campus,” said Ken Emmons, senior director of districtwide facilities.
To shield the cooling towers from full view, the chiller plant’s exterior walls are 27 feet tall, about 2.5 stories in height. Large windows with obscure glass hide the towers even further. To break up the mass of the building’s exterior, plant screens were installed that will allow greenery to partially cover the block walls.
UC San Diego health conducts first large-scale population analysis, reinforces Ketamine’s reputation as antidepressant
Better known as an anesthetic or as an illicit hallucinogenic drug, ketamine has also long been noted for alleviating depression. But ketamine has not been tested in a large clinical trial, and all evidence of its antidepressant effects has come from anecdotes and small studies of fewer than 100 patients. Now, in the largest study of its kind, researchers at Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego mined the FDA Adverse Effect Reporting System (FAERS) database for depression symptoms in patients taking ketamine for pain. They found that depression was reported half as often among the more than 41,000 patients who took ketamine, as compared to patients who took any other drug or drug combination for pain.
The study, published May 3 in Scientific Reports, also uncovered antidepressant effects for three other drugs typically used for other purposes — Botox, the pain reliever diclofenac and the antibiotic minocycline. “Current FDA-approved treatments for depression fail for millions of people because they don’t work or don’t work fast enough,” said senior author Ruben Abagyan, PhD, professor of pharmacy at UC San Diego. “This study extends small-scale clinical evidence that ketamine can be used to alleviate depression, and provides needed solid statistical support for wider clinical applications and possibly larger scale clinical trials.”
The University of California San Diego men’s rowing team had its Varsity 8 and Second Varsity 8 boats finish second in their respective Grand Finals Sunday at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships.
University of California San Diego men’s rowing team leaves WIRA championships with two second-place finishes
In the V8 Grand Final, UC San Diego (5:42.762) was a mere 0.508 seconds behind UC Santa Barbara, which finished first with a time of 5:42.254.
Santa Clara took third and was followed by Orange Coast College, UC Irvine, UC Davis and UCLA in fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.
UC San Diego also took second in the 2V8 event, tallying a time of 5:51.806. UC Santa Barbara again took first with a 5:48.272.
The Tritons’ “B” boat finished in third with a time of 5:57.272. Orange Coast and UCLA took fourth and fifth.
In the Varsity 4 Grand Final, UC San Diego placed fifth, recording a time of 6:43.659. UC Irvine crossed the finish line first at 6:26.911.
Up next, the Tritons return to Rancho Cordova for the Western Sprints Championships on May 13.
UC San Diego women’s water polo takes down Sonoma State
The top-seeded and 18th-ranked University of California San Diego women’s water polo team took down third-seeded Sonoma State in a dominating performance to capture the 2017 Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Tournament title game by a final score of 15-4, Sunday at the SPIRE Institute.
The result marks the fifth straight conference crown for UC San Diego, and sixth in the last seven years under head coach Brad Kreutzkamp, who has led his squad to the WWPA final in all eight of his seasons at the helm.
UC San Diego earns the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship in Indianapolis, Indiana. The bracket will be announced during the NCAA selection show, which can be viewed at NCAA.com on Monday, May 1, at 5 p.m. PT.
The Tritons won their fifth consecutive game and improve to 19-14 overall. The Seawolves finish their season 11-18. Senior center Lauren Boyer led UCSD with a game-high six goals to complete her 13th hat trick of the season while senior two-meter defender Alexis Wieseler added four. Sophomore Chanel Schilling tallied two goals and freshman Jessee Ransone, senior Connie Wu, and junior Kayla Fedler added one apiece.
As a team, the Tritons grabbed 11 steals with Wieseler notching a team-best four. In goal, freshman Reilly Gallagher made seven saves and had one steal.
Celebrate Pups at Paws and Pints
The La Jolla Veterinary Hospital will present its fourth annual “Paws and Pints” fundraiser at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 18 at The Lot. The event will be held in support of the FOCAS program at the Rancho Coastal Humane Society and the FACE foundation.
FOCAS is the foster program at The Rancho Coastal Humane Society and is responsible for finding homes for thousands of animals in shelters all around San Diego County. FACE is a non-profit that provides financial assistance for San Diego animal owners who are unable to afford the cost of their pet’s life-saving emergency veterinary care. “This event is in our community, for the community, and it has evolved into something that La Jollans look forward to year after year,” said event founder Stephanie Coolidge, of La Jolla Veterinary Hospital. The fundraiser features an auction with autographed items from San Diego sports teams, VIP tickets to Padres games, surfboards, art from local artists, and countless restaurant, hotel, wine, museum and brewery packages. Other small businesses including Ark Antiques, Brick and Bell, MyOwnSpace and many others, have donated items and/or gift cards that will be auctioned off. The Lot will also donate a portion of the food and beverage sales from the night’s party to the beneficiaries. This year, there will be a new “wine grab” featured at the event and a photo contest on the red carpet.
For more details about “Paws & Pints La Jolla,” visit pawsandpintslajolla.com, or call La Jolla Veterinary Hospital at 858-454-6155. You can also e-mail Stephanie Coolidge of La Jolla Veterinary Hospital at [email protected]