Archive for category: Alumni & Friends

Portrait of Rafael Romero and Anastasia Lubarsky

A Powerful Tribute to a Legend

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Undergraduate scholarships honor Arnold Scheibel

Portrait of Rafael Romero and Anastasia Lubarsky

Rafael Romero and Anastasia Lubarsky | © Stephanie Yantz

By Margaret MacDonald

The late UCLA neuroscience pioneer Arnold “Arne” Scheibel once wrote, “Above all, to be a teacher is to play a very special life role, whose challenges and rewards are beyond price.”

During an eminent career spanning nearly six decades, Scheibel inspired generations of students and helped shape UCLA’s multidisciplinary neuroscience community while making major breakthroughs in his field. He led the UCLA Brain Research Institute from 1987 to 1995 and launched Project Brainstorm, a K–12 outreach program that continues to this day. Among his many honors, Scheibel earned election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as UCLA’s highest teaching honor, the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Today, Scheibel’s remarkable legacy lives on in the form of scholarships for UCLA neuroscience undergraduates.

In 2019, two years after his death at 94, trustees of the Scheibel Foundation Trust established the Scheibel Scholarship; they also recently donated a further $480,000, adding to the trust’s previous donations totaling $1 million. The scholarship — awarded so far to 67 outstanding neuroscience majors — provides financial support, hands-on research experience, mentoring by faculty, career workshops and networking opportunities.

Because neuroscience at UCLA is an interdepartmental major, students have vital access to the expertise of more than 200 faculty members spanning nearly 30 academic departments.

“This scholarship is instrumental to train the next generation of neuroscientists,” says Tracy Johnson, dean of life sciences. “This support is making it possible for our diverse and accomplished undergraduates to participate in research leading to groundbreaking discoveries.”

Scheibel Scholar Anastasia Lubarsky (class of 2023) works in the lab of chemistry professor Alexander Spokoyny conducting independent research on the neurological impacts on nearby populations of certain coal-mining techniques used in Appalachia.

“Working in the lab has been a highlight of my time at UCLA so far,” she says. “Thanks to the scholarship, I am able to work on my research part-time while being financially supported. It is my hope that the scholarship continues for years to come to help up-and-coming students like me to conduct influential research.”

Rafael Romero, instructor and academic administrator for the undergraduate neuroscience major, was a first-year graduate student when he took Scheibel’s neuroanatomy class in 2000.

“Arne Scheibel was deeply inspiring, especially to those of us who were considering teaching careers,” Romero recalls. “His ability to weave dry factual knowledge into beautiful narratives helped us all understand and appreciate the nervous system. He effortlessly commanded our full attention every lecture, and we could not wait to hear what he was going to teach us next.”

Romero adds, “The Scheibel Scholars are keeping his legacy alive by actively engaging in research in a well-mentored and supportive environment, and generating new nuggets of knowledge. Arne would be proud indeed!”

Glen Alpert, a neighbor and close friend, became co-trustee of the Scheibel Foundation Trust after Scheibel’s death.

“Arne had by far the most brilliant mind of anyone I’ve ever met. But he was also without ego, simply a wonderful person who loved his students and believed in humanity,” says Alpert, owner of L.A. business management firm Alpert & Associates. “He wanted more than anything to make a difference and move the field of neuroscience forward.”

To make a gift to support undergraduate students in need of funding to pursue neuroscience research, please click here.

Learn more about the Life Science Dean’s Award for Neuroscience Research – Scheibel Scholars.

Portrait of Arnold “Arne” Scheibel

Arnold “Arne” Scheibel

Born in New York City in 1923, Arnold “Arne” Scheibel received his M.D. from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1946. After a year of psychiatric residency training at Washington University in St. Louis, he entered the Army as a medical officer and received further training while on active duty at Brooke General Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. Scheibel then joined the neurophysiology laboratory of Warren McCulloch at Illinois Neuropsychiatric Institute. He subsequently became a faculty member in the UCLA departments of anatomy and psychiatry in 1955.

Scheibel’s research focused on psychiatry and the neural foundations of behavior. His laboratory studied the reticular core of the brain stem and thalamus, the organization of neural modules, and the structural correlation between aging and psychosis. His Golgi studies of human brain tissue extended the knowledge about the nature of neuronal changes in senile brain disease and in schizophrenia.

Scheibel led the UCLA Brain Research Institute from 1987 to 1995. Under his leadership, the institute’s culture of multidisciplinary, team-based collaboration was cemented. He launched the institute’s outreach program, Project Brainstorm, which to this day connects UCLA undergraduates, graduate students and faculty with local K-12 schools to offer hands-on introductory workshops and interactive demonstrations on neuroscience.

Among his many honors, Scheibel earned election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as UCLA’s highest teaching honor, the Distinguished Teaching Award.

In 2016, in tribute to his parents, Scheibel established the Ethel Scheibel Endowed Chair in Neuroscience in the Department of Neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine and the William Scheibel Endowed Chair in Neuroscience at the Brain Research Institute.

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Read more from the UCLA College Magazine 2022 edition.

UCLA College Magazine 2022 Edition Cover Image

Portrait of Marcia Howard

The Ripple Effect

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Well-considered estate plans make it possible to establish
deeply personal and highly impactful legacies in the UCLA College

By Margaret MacDonald

Creative compassion

Portrait of Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard | © Alyssa Bierce

When alumna Marcia Howard passed away in 2019, no one who knew her was surprised by her final act of generosity to UCLA: a bequest of $2 million.

The gift was split equally between two initiatives. The first, the English department’s Author in Residence program, brings eminent writers to campus to teach, introduce students to new perspectives and share their work through lectures and readings. The second is the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies, or LENS, in the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Through research and collaboration on storytelling, communications and media, LENS faculty and students explore how today’s environmental challenges connect to longer histories of imagining the natural world.

A retired insurance broker, Howard considered UCLA her second home — no fewer than 20 campus committees and organizations benefited from her leadership, advocacy and philanthropy during her more than 60 years of engagement. In addition to the humanities, during her lifetime she supported many other units and initiatives on campus.

Howard was particularly passionate about the importance of a humanities education. In 2014, she gave $1 million to establish the Marcia H. Howard Term Chair in Literary Studies in the English department, currently held by Ursula K. Heise, chair of the English department and interim director of LENS.

“The study of humanities is essential to all aspects of life,” Howard said at the time. “It teaches us to think, reason, write and explore the meaning of what it is to be human.”

A history major, Howard studied in France during her junior year, igniting a lifelong love of travel and European history and literature. After graduating, she worked as an activist in the Deep South during the budding civil rights movement before returning to Los Angeles in 1961. She received the 1998 Alumni Association’s University Service Award.

Learn more:

The Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies
Through research and collaboration on storytelling, communications and media, LENS faculty and students explore how today’s environmental challenges — which are as much cultural and political as they are scientific and technological — connect to longer histories of imagining the natural world.

Author in Residence
The Author in Residence program brings eminent writers to campus to teach creative writing in genres such as fiction, poetry and screenwriting. Authors-in-residence introduce students to new perspectives and approaches to writing and share their work through public lectures and readings.

Spiritual journeys

Portrait of Robert and Christina Buswell

Robert and Christina Buswell | © Yarell Castellanos

Eminent UCLA scholar of Buddhist studies Robert E. Buswell Jr. and his wife, Christina Lee Buswell, fulfilled a longstanding dream when they established the first permanent endowed chair in Korean Buddhist studies outside of Korea.

Through a “blended” gift with a portion paid over five years and the balance as a deferred gift from their estate, the couple committed $3.7 million to the UCLA Department of Asian Languages and Cultures. Their commitments created the Chinul Endowed Chair in Korean Buddhist Studies (pending Academic Senate approval) — named for Puril Pojo Chinul (1158-1210), the most influential monk in Korean Buddhist history — as well as the Robert E. and Christina L . Buswell Fellowship in Buddhist Studies in support of graduate students in the department.

Robert Buswell, who recently retired from UCLA after 36 years, holds the Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Humanities at UCLA and is considered the premier Western scholar on Korean Buddhism and one of the world’s top specialists in the meditative traditions of Buddhism. He founded UCLA’s Center for Korean Studies in 1993 and Center for Buddhist Studies in 2000, and served as this year’s UCLA Humanities commencement speaker.

“Robert’s impact on the fields of Buddhist studies and Korean studies has been unparalleled,” says David Schaberg, senior dean of the College and dean of humanities. “Not only has he built, here at UCLA, the nation’s largest programs in these two areas, he has also trained dozens of scholars now teaching and studying at academic institutions all over the world. I am immensely grateful for his leadership and for his and Christina’s extraordinary generosity.”

The fellowship gift was augmented by $25,000 by the Humanities Division Centennial Matching Program (made possible by the Kaplan/Panzer Humanities Endowment).

Buswell says that careful estate planning and creative philanthropy can allow faculty, who have devoted their careers to building academic programs as he has done, to ensure their scholarly legacy continues far into the future.

His path to UCLA began with a search for life’s meaning that led him to drop out of college in 1972 and serve for seven years as an ordained Buddhist monk in Thailand, Hong Kong and Korea. Drawn to the scholarly study of the Buddhist tradition, he returned to the U.S. and resumed his university education, eventually earning his Ph.D. in Buddhist studies from UC Berkeley in 1985.

Christina Buswell’s embrace of Buddhism also arose from her search for answers: Raised a Catholic in Korea, she immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 13, an experience that later led to much reflection about her cultural identity. She earned a B.A. in religious studies from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an M.A. in Korean studies from Columbia, and went on to become a translator of Korean religious scriptures.

“It was important to both of us that there be at least one U.S. university with a permanent faculty chair specifically devoted to Korean Buddhism,” she says. “UCLA is the ideal place since it has played such an important role in developing Korean and Buddhist studies as fields.”

“Buddhist studies is one of the department’s traditional strengths, but this new chair and graduate fellowship will make us that much stronger,” says Seiji Lippit, department chair and professor of Asian Languages & Cultures. “The chair provides a solid faculty presence to support the field and train graduate students, so the two gifts really go hand in hand.”

Learn more: Department of Asian Languages & Cultures receives $3.7 million in gift commitments

A better future for all

Portrait of Richard and Linda Turco

Richard and Linda Turco

“When you are lucky in life, it feels good to spread the luck around.” This pronouncement by Richard Turco, founding director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, underpins a recent $1.5-million pledge to the institute from him and his wife, Linda Turco, in support of graduate and undergraduate students. The couple’s gift commitment was augmented by $750,000 from the UCLA dean of physical sciences’ gift matching program, bringing the total to $2.25 million.

“Thanks in large part to the dedication and pioneering efforts of Richard Turco, the institute has evolved to become a real force for environmental truth and equity,” says current IoES director Marilyn Raphael. “And now we add our deep gratitude for the Turcos’ generous gift commitment, which will provide the resources to effectively recruit, retain and empower generations of students eager to become change agents for a sustainable environment.”

The initial gift funds will be contributed over the next five years, with the deferred balance coming from the couple’s estate. When fully funded, the endowment will support an annual lecture, publication awards and fellowships for graduate students, and research awards for undergraduates, with priority given to first-generation students and those with demonstrated financial need.

An atmospheric chemist, Richard Turco joined UCLA’s faculty in 1988 and built a multidisciplinary research group focused on pressing environmental problems, including ozone depletion, urban air pollution and the impact of aerosols on climate. Those efforts eventually led to the establishment of the IoES in 1997, which Turco oversaw until 2003. He retired from UCLA in 2011.

“The future of human civilization will best be served by education — at all levels, in all places — and the world’s great universities will be called on to provide an unshakable foundation for global progress, equity and prosperity,” says Turco, a distinguished professor emeritus and former chair of UCLA’s department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences. “Those who have benefited most from past access to education should be among the most willing to support future access for others, with generosity and hope.”

Miguel García-Garibay, dean of the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences, which houses the IoES, lauded the Turcos’ ongoing support: “Not only has Richard been instrumental in building UCLA’s excellence in researching environmental solutions, but he and Linda have chosen to establish a lasting legacy of financial support for this area, helping to ensure the institute’s impact for years to come.”

Learn more: UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability receives $1.5 million pledge from founding director

UCLA’s Office of Gift Planning provides flexible, accessible ways to set up an impactful legacy gift. This includes gifts through a will or living trust (bequests); charitable gift annuities or charitable trusts; and using a variety of assets such as real estate, cash, appreciated securities, or retirement accounts. Some options provide fixed, lifetime income and/or significant income tax advantages, while others result in estate tax savings.

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Read more from the UCLA College Magazine 2022 edition.

UCLA College Magazine 2022 Edition Cover Image

Image of UCLA Chancellor Gene Block addressing attendees of the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies launchImage by Vince Bucci

Celebrating the launch of the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies

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Image of UCLA Chancellor Gene Block addressing attendees of the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies launch

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block addresses attendees of the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies launch | Image by Vince Bucci

Editor’s note: Check out our feature article, “Food for Thought,” in the UCLA College Magazine for additional coverage of the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies and its progress.

By Jonathan Riggs | June 6, 2022

Over a fresh farm-to-table meal courtesy of Lulu restaurant’s David Tanis and Alice Waters and the soundtrack of a UCLA student jazz group, members of the Bruin family gathered Monday, April 18 at the Hammer Museum to celebrate the launch of the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies.

“Food is one of humanity’s few universally shared experiences, but questions about how to feed the world are some of the most complex and pressing issues of our time,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. “These essential questions will be tackled by the Institute’s scholars and partners, who will take a holistic approach to understanding all there is to know about food and its impact on society.”

Guest of honor Marcie H. Rothman traced the night’s celebration all the way back to her parents, Ray and Shirley, who inspired her and her sister, Rita — all proud Bruins — to view the world with curiosity and to appreciate UCLA for the vast knowledge, impact and community spirit that epitomize its community.

When her own journey as a successful television chef and lifelong learner dovetailed with the opportunity to solidify UCLA’s global leadership in the food studies arena, Rothman was proud to help the Institute take permanent shape.

“Food connects and sustains, and the Institute will represent all of that and more for current and future students and faculty,” she said. “Tonight would have been my dad’s hundredth birthday, and I know both my parents would have considered news of the Institute the greatest gift they could have asked for.”

Highlights from the launch of the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies, featuring speakers (in order of appearance) Adriana Galván, Dean of Undergraduate Education; Marcie Rothman, TV and radio personality, food educator and author; Amy Rowat, Marcie H. Rothman Presidential Term Chair for Food Studies; and Evan Kleiman, speaker, chef, author, radio host (KCRW) and restaurant owner.

Dean of the Division of Undergraduate Education Adriana Galván took the opportunity to thank her predecessors, Judi Smith and Pat Turner, for paving the way for the division’s first institute and reflected on why this is such a transformational step for UCLA.

“It is clear to see that the building blocks of the Institute are as dynamic as they are interdisciplinary, and that’s what makes it so special,” she said. “The UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies will house UCLA’s popular Food Studies minor; provide ongoing funding for research, curriculum and library resources; and will bring together faculty, staff, students, chefs and members of the community.”

Galván went on to discuss how the global-leading work of the Institute will use food as a lens to guide and inform public policy while addressing wide-ranging issues, including food insecurity, climate change and advancing innovations in food systems, that impact us all.

“By providing a means and the resources to explore these concepts, our students will have an unparalleled collaborative opportunity and the experience of a lifetime to enact true change,” she added. “They will get to see how their work in the classroom translates to work in the real world.”

Renowned for pioneering the use of cooking as a medium to engage students and general audiences with science, biophysicist Amy Rowat shared her excitement for the new Institute, as well as her gratitude for being named UCLA’s inaugural Marcie H. Rothman Professor of Food Studies.

“I’m both thrilled and extremely grateful that the Marcie H. Rothman Presidential Chair will support my students’ food-based research to realize our vision of a world where we can produce delicious, nutritious foods to sustainably feed all,” Rowat said. “I’m also excited to expand my education research, using food to engage students in tackling complex societal challenges through interdisciplinary approaches.”

Rowat shared details from a new class she’s developing for the Institute’s Chef in Residence program, which includes studying historical narratives of enslaved Black chefs, learning about diffusion equations by marinating tofu, and exploring how soil pollutants can contribute to systemic health inequities.

“Food is truly such a powerful medium to engage students to become critical thinkers and advocates who will address pressing societal issues,” she said. “The Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies is a beacon of hope and innovation that will fortify this interdisciplinary food-focused approach to solve the challenges of our next generation.”

Famed KCRW “Good Food” host and restaurateur Evan Kleiman also spoke, describing how her life and career have been driven by curiosity focused through food, and how it can bring us into a better understanding of our humanity.

“My extreme focus on food made me kind of an outlier — it’s still hard to convince some people that food is worthy of serious academic study,” she said. “Recently, I asked Yale’s Paul Freedman why he thought that food was so often dismissed as an area of serious study. He replied that ‘materiality, necessity and repetition contribute to the apparent banality of food.’ I would say that this apparent banality is precisely why food is such a powerful holder of identity and culture.”

“The Institute has an exceptional opportunity to become a focus for deep interdisciplinary discussions of culture, community and how our decisions affect personal and planetary health,” Kleiman added. “Our health and wellbeing are linked to worldwide decisions about food production resources, and these decisions have consequences and costs regarding human health, poverty, justice and the natural world.”

As the evening drew to a close, Marcie H. Rothman led a toast honoring Alice Waters for being such a visionary UCLA collaborator while celebrating a bright future of many more efforts to come.

“I can think of nothing more important than connecting education and food,” said Waters. “The Rothman Family Institute has the potential to teach students the values we desperately need in order to live together on this planet: stewardship of the land, equity, community and nourishment. This edible education institute will be a prototype for schools in this country and around the world.”

Guests lingered over their dinners under the party lights in the trees, visibly inspired by discussions of the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies and its limitless potential.

“Thank you for joining us to launch an institute that will not only challenge the way we look at our plates, but will also reframe how we see our neighborhood stores, farms, supply chains, restaurants, and more,” Chancellor Block concluded. “This is a spectacular specialty that will really define UCLA and bring about important change.”

For more of Our Stories at the College, click here.

Image of Members of the quantum innovation hub at the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering.Marc Roseboro/UCLA California NanoSystems Institute

$5 million from Boeing will support UCLA quantum science and technology research

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Image of Members of UCLA Quantum Innovation Hub at the CNSI Building

Members of the quantum innovation hub at the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering. Image credit: Marc Roseboro/UCLA California NanoSystems Institute

By Jonathan Riggs |

UCLA has received a $5 million pledge from Boeing Co. to support faculty at the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering.

The center, which is jointly operated by the UCLA College Division of Physical Sciences and the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, brings together scientists and engineers at the leading edge of quantum information science and technology. Its members have expertise in disciplines spanning physics, materials science, electrical engineering, computer science, chemistry and mathematics.

“We are grateful for Boeing’s significant pledge, which will help drive innovation in quantum science,” said Miguel García-Garibay, UCLA’s dean of physical sciences. “This remarkable investment demonstrates confidence that UCLA’s renowned faculty and researchers will spur progress in this emerging field.”

UCLA faculty and researchers are already working on exciting advances in quantum science and engineering, García-Garibay said. And the division’s new one-year master’s program, which begins this fall, will help meet the huge demand for trained professionals in quantum technologies.

Quantum science explores the laws of nature that apply to matter at the very smallest scales, like atoms and subatomic particles. Scientists and engineers believe that controlling quantum systems has vast potential for advancing fields ranging from medicine to national security.

“Harnessing quantum technologies for the aerospace industry is one of the great challenges we face in the coming years,” said Greg Hyslop, Boeing’s chief engineer and executive vice president of engineering, test and technology. “We are committed to growing this field of study and our relationship with UCLA moves us in that direction.”

In addition to its uses in aerospace, examples of quantum theory already in action include superconducting magnets, lasers and MRI scans. The next generation of quantum technology will enable powerful quantum computers, sensors and communication systems and transform clinical trials, defense systems, clean water systems and a wide range of other technologies.

“Quantum information science and technology promises society-changing capabilities in everything from medicine to computing and beyond,” said Eric Hudson, UCLA’s David S. Saxon Presidential Professor of Physics and co-director of the center. “There is still, however, much work to be done to realize these benefits. This work requires serious partnership between academia and industry, and the Boeing pledge will be an enormous help in both supporting cutting-edge research at UCLA and creating the needed relationships with industry stakeholders.”

The Boeing gift complements recent support from the National Science Foundation, including a $25 million award in 2020 to the multi-university NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Present and Future Quantum Computation, which Hudson co-directs. And in 2021, the UCLA center received a five-year, $3 million traineeship grant for doctoral students from the NSF.

Founded in 2018, the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering draws from the talents and creativity of dozens of faculty members and students.

“Boeing’s support is a huge boost for quantum science and engineering at UCLA,” said Mark Gyure, executive director of the center and a UCLA adjunct professor of electrical and computer engineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. “Enhancing the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering will attract additional world-class faculty in this rapidly growing field and, together with Boeing and other companies in the region, establish Los Angeles and Southern California as a major hub in quantum science and technology.”

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. 

Image of Legendary journalist Bob Woodward. Image by Lisa BergImage by Lisa Berg

Bob Woodward speaks at UCLA’s Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership

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Image of legendary journalist Bob Woodward delivering the 2022 Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership

Legendary journalist Bob Woodward delivers the 2022 Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership on May 9. Copyright Don Liebig/ASUCLA

By Jonathan Riggs

Distinguished journalist Bob Woodward delivered the Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership on Monday, May 9, before participating in a conversation with Mario Biagioli, UCLA Distinguished Professor of Law and Communication.

“The Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership connects our university community to some of the most visionary figures of our time, inspiring all to create a lasting impact on society and change the world for the better,” said David Schaberg, senior dean of the UCLA College. “As a trailblazing truth-seeker, student of history par excellence and someone who embodies the highest ideals of journalism, Bob Woodward was a perfect choice.”

Associate editor of the Washington Post, where he has worked since 1971, Woodward has shared in two Pulitzer Prizes, first in 1973 for coverage of the Watergate scandal with Carl Bernstein, and second in 2003 as the lead reporter for coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He is the author of 21 best-selling books, including the enduring classic All the President’s Men.

Beginning with two deceptively simple questions (“What is the job of the president?” and “What is the job of the journalist?”), Woodward shared insights he gained from covering 10 commanders-in-chief, from Nixon to Biden. He concluded his talk by sharing some of the best advice he ever got from “one of the all-time great truth-tellers,” Katherine Graham, the legendary owner and publisher of the Washington Post.

“She owned more personalized stationery than anyone else in Washington, but after Nixon resigned, she sent Carl Bernstein and myself a letter on plain paper from a yellow legal pad,” he said. “She wrote, ‘Don’t start thinking too highly of yourselves. Beware the demon pomposity.’ She was right: it stalks the halls of everywhere.”

During the Q&A session, Woodward discussed his front-row seat to more recent world-changing events, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the attack on the U.S. Capitol to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He also shared his impressions of figures like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, former president Donald Trump and iconic White House reporter Helen Thomas.

Speaking about his own craft, he let the audience in on his favorite reporting secret—pressing one finger over another to remind him to listen rather than speak during an interview. He also shared lessons from some of his high-profile journalism mistakes; in particular, that a journalist has to completely understand and stand behind any story, no matter the pressure to publish.

“Journalists need to do better, more thorough work, where they really dig—and then dig a little bit more,” Woodward said. “Whether it’s Democrats or Republicans, it is human nature to hide things, and our job to report them.”

Established in 2011 as part of a transformative gift from Meyer and Renee Luskin, the Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership is an annual collaboration among the UCLA College, the UCLA School of Law, the Luskin School of Public Affairs and the Division of Social Sciences.

The Luskins’ vision in establishing the endowed lecture series gave UCLA an ongoing opportunity to share knowledge and expand the dialogue among scholars, leaders in government and business, and the greater Los Angeles community.

Image of Robert and Christina Buswell

Department of Asian Languages & Cultures receives $3.7 million in gift commitments

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Gifts from UCLA Buddhist Studies scholar Robert Buswell and his wife Christina will establish first permanent endowed chair in Korean Buddhist Studies outside of Korea

Image of Robert and Christina Buswell

Robert and Christina Buswell (Photo credit: Courtesy of Robert and Christina Buswell)

By Margaret MacDonald

The UCLA Department of Asian Languages & Cultures has received $3.7 million in gift commitments from distinguished professor of Buddhist studies Robert E. Buswell, Jr. and his wife, Christina Lee Buswell, a translator of Korean religious scriptures.

The couple’s gift commitments created the Chinul Endowed Chair in Korean Buddhist Studies—the first permanent endowed chair in Korean Buddhism outside of Korea—and the Robert E. and Christina L. Buswell Fellowship in Buddhist Studies in support of graduate students in the department. The endowments will be funded as a blended gift with a portion paid over five years and the balance as a deferred gift from the couple’s estate.

The endowed chair, which is currently pending Academic Senate review, is named in honor of Puril Pojo Chinul (1158-1210), the most influential monk in Korean Buddhist history. The graduate fellowship gift was augmented by $25,000 by the Humanities Division Centennial Matching Program (made possible by the Kaplan/Panzer Humanities Endowment).

Robert Buswell, who is retiring from UCLA after 36 years, holds the Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Humanities at UCLA and is considered the premier Western scholar of Korean Buddhism and one of the world’s top specialists in the meditative traditions of Buddhism. He founded UCLA’s Center for Korean Studies in 1993 and Center for Buddhist Studies in 2000.

Buswell has published extensively on Buddhism and served as editor-in-chief of the two-volume Encyclopedia of Buddhism and co-author of the 1.2-million-word Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Among his many honors, he was elected president of the Association for Asian Studies in 2008 and, in 2016, became the first (former) Buddhist monk elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

“Robert Buswell’s impact on the fields of Buddhist studies and Korean studies has been unparalleled,” said David Schaberg, senior dean of the college and dean of humanities. “Not only has he built, here at UCLA, the nation’s largest programs in these two areas, he has also trained dozens of scholars now teaching and studying at academic institutions all over the world. I am immensely grateful for his leadership and for his and Christina’s extraordinarily generous gift.”

Search for meaning

Robert Buswell’s path to UCLA began with an existential quest that led him to drop out of college in 1972 and spend seven years as an ordained Buddhist monk in Thailand, Hong Kong, and finally Korea.

As a teenager raised in a non-practicing Methodist family, he’d read texts by Western philosophers and pondered such questions as “How can we live without exploiting other people?”

“On my first exposure to Buddhism when I was 16, I was thunderstruck at how closely it mirrored the philosophy of life I had been creating for myself. I’ve been completely enamored with Buddhism ever since,” he says.

During his five years as a monk at Songgwang monastery, considered the “jewel” of the monastic community in South Korea, Buswell began translating texts by its founder Puril Pojo Chinul. After finishing his first translation project during the off-seasons between Zen meditation retreats, he realized he was still deeply drawn to the scholarly study of the Buddhist tradition. He decided to return to the U.S. to resume his university education, eventually earning his Ph.D. in Buddhist studies from UC Berkeley in 1985.

Christina Buswell’s journey to Buddhism closely mirrors that of her husband. Raised a Catholic, she immigrated from South Korea to the U.S. with her family when she was 13 years old, an experience that gave rise to much reflection and angst about her cultural identity.

She says, “My experience as a Korean-American immigrant led to a quest to understand myself and ask the question ‘who am I?’ I kept looking for answers, and in the end, Buddhism made the most sense to me.”

Growing the field

In the course of earning a B.A. in Religious Studies from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an M.A. in Korean Studies from Columbia, Christina found few resources directly related to Korean Buddhism.

“It was important to both of us,” she says, “that there be at least one U.S. university with a permanent faculty chair specifically devoted to Korean Buddhism. UCLA is the ideal place for this chair since the university has played such an important role in developing Korean and Buddhist studies as fields.”

As for the name of the chair, Robert Buswell adds, “It seemed appropriate to name [the chair] after Chinul, the most influential monk in Korean Buddhist history and the inspiration for much of my own scholarly work. Chinul believed that success in Buddhist meditation demanded a solid grounding in doctrinal understanding. This rigorous combination of doctrinal study and Zen meditation has remained the distinguishing characteristic of Korean Buddhism ever since.”

Ensuring a scholarly legacy

Robert Buswell says that careful estate planning and creative philanthropy can allow faculty who have devoted their careers to building academic programs, as he has done, to ensure their scholarly legacy continues far into the future.

“With this gift, we’ve fulfilled a long-term dream of ours to have the field of Korean Buddhist studies established permanently in the U.S. The graduate fellowship adds a crucial element to the mix, as it will enable the department to recruit and train the next generation of scholars in Buddhist studies.”

Seiji Lippit, professor and chair of Asian Languages and Cultures, adds, “Buddhist studies is one of the department’s traditional strengths, but this new chair and graduate fellowship will make us that much stronger. The chair provides a solid faculty presence to support the field and train graduate students, so the two gifts really go hand in hand. We can’t thank Robert and Christina enough for their generosity.”

Robert and Christina Buswell first met in 1997 at Dongguk University in Seoul. Together, they’ve traveled the world, sharing their practice and knowledge of Korean Buddhism along the way. In retirement, they plan to do more traveling and more hiking, and will of course be continuing to attend meditation retreats together in Korea.

Robert Buswell will be the keynote speaker for the UCLA Humanities Commencement ceremonies on June 11 at Royce Hall.

If you are interested in supporting the Robert E. and Christina L. Buswell Fellowship in Buddhist Studies, please consider making a gift at giving.ucla.edu/BuswellFellowship.

Historic image of cameramen recording Michi Tanioka, 5, as she waits to be sent from Los Angeles to the Manzanar prison camp in April 1942.Image credit: Library of Congress/Russell Lee

Exhibition puts viewers in midst of WWII-era removal of Japanese Americans

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‘BeHere / 1942,’ presented by the Yanai Initiative of UCLA and Tokyo’s Waseda University, opens May 7

Historic image of cameramen recording Michi Tanioka, 5, as she waits to be sent from Los Angeles to the Manzanar prison camp in April 1942.

Cameramen record Michi Tanioka, 5, as she waits to be sent from Los Angeles to the Manzanar prison camp in April 1942. This image, taken by photographer Russell Lee, and others by Lee and Dorothea Lange documenting forced removals along the West Coast were used as inspiration for Masaki Fujihata’s immersive AR re-creation. Image credit: Library of Congress/Russell Lee

By Alison Hewitt | May 2, 2022

Eighty years ago, during World War II, the U.S. government forcibly removed Japanese Americans from the West Coast, incarcerating 120,000 in concentration camps. This May, an exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum lets visitors step into those dark days of 1942 through an augmented reality re-creation at the very site where thousands of Japanese Americans living in downtown Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo neighborhood were ordered to report before trains and buses took them to the camps.

“BeHere / 1942: A New Lens on the Japanese American Incarceration,” which opens May 7, is presented by the Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities, a joint project of UCLA and Japan’s Waseda University, in collaboration with the museum.

The brainchild of pioneering Japanese media artist and former UCLA visiting professor Masaki Fujihata, the exhibition draws on thousands of historic photographs of the 1942 removal, including many taken by government-employed photographers Dorothea Lange and Russell Lee.

While Fujihata incorporates scores of these images into his exhibition, he also reexamines and transforms them to shed new light on the dynamics of the expulsion tragedy. He reimagines some as AR videos and hyper-enlarges others to reveal for the first time the reflections in subjects’ eyes, allowing visitors to see what they saw: reporters and government officials hovering just outside the frame.

“This is an exhibit about what photographs reveal and what they conceal,” said UCLA Professor Michael Emmerich, director of the Yanai Initiative. “On one level, it is about what happened here in Little Tokyo and all along the West Coast in 1942, but it is also about the present. Even 80 years later, we are still grappling with anti-Asian violence and racism and still dealing as a society with the same civil rights issues.”

Opening during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, “BeHere / 1942” launches almost 80 years to the day — May 9, 1942 — that 3,475 residents of Little Tokyo lost their homes, their possessions and their freedom. It was among the largest of the wartime Japanese American removals. About 37,000 Los Angeles residents of Japanese descent were incarcerated, including many who departed in April 1942 from the former Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, now known as the Historic Bulding on the museum’s campus.


A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the AR re-creation in Los Angeles | By David Leonard

In the museum’s outdoor plaza, facing the historic temple building, visitors can use smartphones (with the “BeHere / 1942” app) or museum-provided devices to view Fujihata’s massive 200-person AR installation. By aiming their device at the building and nearby spaces, they’ll see a series of historically inspired 3D videos overlayed on the physical environment, recreating a scene like the one that occurred May 9 and up and down the West Coast. The installation will remain visible even after the exhibition concludes on Oct. 9.

Drawing inspiration from the photographs of Lange and Lee, the digital re-creation involved dozens of volunteer “actors” in both Los Angeles and Tokyo who donned period costumes — some even got 1940s-style haircuts — then entered special film studios to have their likenesses recorded through a new technique called volumetric video capture and integrated into the AR app. Three of these volunteers were among those sent to the camps in 1942, including Michi Tanioka, 85, who was expelled from Little Tokyo with her family as a 5-year-old.

Left: Image of Michi Tanioka, 85, participating in the augmented reality re-creation. Image credit: Masaki Fujihata. Right, Tanioka at age 5, waiting to be sent to a prison camp. Image credit: Library of Congress/Russell Lee.

Left: Michi Tanioka, 85, participating in the augmented reality re-creation. Image by Masaki Fujihata. Right, Tanioka at age 5, waiting to be sent to a prison camp. Image: Library of Congress/Russell Lee.

“It was a major part of my young life to be taken away at that age,” said Tanioka, who recalled spending many years ashamed of her imprisonment before becoming a docent at the museum. “My family was just starting to have a better lifestyle, but then all of that stopped. After 9/11, I saw the same thing could happen to others if we weren’t vigilant and outspoken. Hopefully this exhibit sends the message that nothing like this should ever happen again.”

Tanioka was also among those photographed during the removal. A picture of her clutching a doll while a Japanese woman, possibly an interpreter, kneels next to her and two white cameramen record her is featured on the exhibition’s catalog. Fujihata used this image for reference in one of his AR scenes. He reviewed dozens of photos to depict one such moment frozen in time, with the camera panning to reveal the intimidating scene Tanioka and other children encountered.

The exhibition also encourages visitors to put themselves in the photographers’ shoes by imagining they’ve been dispatched to document the removal. Inside the museum is a smaller AR installation, a re-creation of downtown Los Angeles’ Santa Fe train depot from which Japanese American residents were sent to the camp at Manzanar. The scene is viewable only through specialized replicas of the Graflex camera used by Lange, and the installation displays pictures visitors take.

“I tried to understand how these photographs were made — the relationship of the subject and the photographer — and to find ways to look at these pictures, not just as a consumer of the image but from the perspective of the person behind the camera,” said Fujihata, who conceived the exhibition while a Regents’ Professor at UCLA in 2019–20. “When a cameraman came and asked to take your photograph, you couldn’t say no, especially in a situation like the forced removal, over which you had no control. There was a clear hierarchy then, as there is now, with the camera becoming a sort of weapon.”

This dual perspective invites deeper engagement with the removal and incarceration, inspiring deep sympathy with those being incarcerated while at the same time forcing visitors to see through the eyes of the photographers — some of whose photos, like Lange’s, so deliberately invoked the injustice that they were censored by the government.

Using new technology to teach about the forced removal and incarceration is a vital way to communicate about the importance of civil rights, especially after the survivors are gone, said Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum.

“It has been 80 years since people of Japanese ancestry were forcibly removed from their homes in Little Tokyo, yet issues of racism, discrimination and exclusion remain starkly present,” she said. “The need to advocate for inclusion and social justice remains urgent. By combining our historic knowledge with new and innovative technology to tell these important stories, we honor this legacy and help to reimagine a just future.”

Read more about the Japanese American removal and incarceration on UCLA Newsroom:

► A lesson in state-sanctioned injustice

► Understanding today’s anti-Asian violence by looking at the past

► Documentary explores the site of the Manzanar camp

► Bruins imprisoned in camps return 70 years later to receive degrees

‘I know I have civil rights’: How the incarceration resonates today

Image of June Aoichi Berk with her with her family at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas, where they were incarcerated.

June Aoichi Berk (far right) with her family at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas, where they were incarcerated. Image courtesy of June Aochi Berk

June Aochi Berk, now 90 and a docent at the museum, vividly recalls preparing to go to the camps 80 years ago. Her parents and neighbors had a few days to sell most of their belongings, and, fearing arrest as they saw community leaders taken away, they built backyard bonfires to destroy family heirlooms suggesting connections to Japan.

“My older sister was very upset, and I remember she said, ‘I know I have civil rights. They can’t do this to us. We’re American citizens,’” said Berk, who participated in the AR re-creation. Though she used to avoid discussing her past, she now speaks about the incarceration to groups of students, many who have never heard of the camps or only know about them from a single paragraph in history books.

“When you start to blame people for where they come from, we get into very dangerous territory,” Berk said. “I’ve never been to Japan. There was nothing my family could have done to stop the war. American Muslims didn’t cause 9/11. American Russians didn’t invade Ukraine. We have to speak out, because when one person’s civil rights are taken away, everyone’s civil rights are diminished. This exhibit reminds us to be vigilant so nobody goes through this again.”

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more news and updates from the UCLA College, visit college.ucla.edu/news.

Image of Jessica Watkins, NASA astronaut and UCLA alumnaImage credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Ready for mission to International Space Station, alumna Jessica Watkins reflects on her journey so far

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Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Watkins’ advice to future astronauts and space scientists: “Find mentors who can help encourage and support you along the way. Don’t be afraid to takes risks; they will certainly pay off.” Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

By Elizabeth Kivowitz and Stuart Wolpert | April 7, 2022

Jessica Watkins, who earned a doctorate in geology from UCLA in 2015, will spend six months on the International Space Station as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission. The launch is scheduled for April 20 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

It will be the first trip into space for Watkins, who, as a mission specialist, will monitor the spacecraft during the flight’s launch and re-entry and serve as a flight engineer once she arrives at the space station.

The ISS is a modular research laboratory that orbits the Earth at an average altitude of 248 miles and a speed of about 17,500 miles per hour, completing 15 1/2 orbits per day. The space station’s initial module was launched in 1998 — it has expanded repeatedly since then — and the craft has been continuously occupied since 2000; Watkins will be the first Black woman to complete a long-term mission on board.

At a NASA news conference March 31, she called her role in the mission “an important milestone for NASA and the country.”

“I think it’s really just a tribute to the legacy of the Black women astronauts who have come before me, as well as to the exciting future ahead,” Watkins said at the NASA event. “Mentors have always been a force that have helped me determine my pathway. I have had many science teachers, starting in elementary school and later working in the lab, that have fueled my fire. I’m grateful for all those people in my life. I’m honored to return the favor.”

Watkins spoke more about the importance of mentors — to girls and women, especially — in an interview with UCLA Newsroom. “I would say to young girls of color, and to all young girls, dream big and continue to pursue what you are interested in,” she said. “Find mentors who can help encourage and support you along the way. Don’t be afraid to takes risks; they will certainly pay off.”

She also said she would encourage students to dive deeply into the subjects and pursuits that most excite them.

“Whatever it is that students are interested in or passionate about — whatever gets you out of bed in the morning — participate in that, study that, pursue it relentlessly,” she said. “If you want to be an astronaut, keep pursuing your studies in STEM fields, but find what it is that you are best suited for.”

Watkins earned her bachelor’s degree in geological and environmental sciences at Stanford University. She also played rugby, both as a member of Stanford’s team and on the USA Rugby women’s sevens national team. Watkins said she drew on those experiences in competitive sports throughout her journey to becoming an astronaut — and will continue to do so on her upcoming mission.

“A big part of being successful as an applicant and as an astronaut is the teamwork,” she said. “We’re headed up to ISS to live and work as a crew, and functioning as a team is a big part of what we will do up there. Being a team player, working together well, is so important.

“Also, rugby involves people of different body types and strengths. Every player has different things that are brought to the table, and all the different strengths are needed for a successful rugby team. The same is true in space. All my classmates and colleagues come from different backgrounds and have different expertise that needs to come together for a successful mission. We bring out the best in each other.”

The crew of which Watkins is a part will conduct research on how to grow edible plants and crops in space and how to improve astronauts’ health on longer space missions — reducing bone loss and maintaining muscle health, for example.

Both upcoming missions will see Watkins continue a journey that began when she first fell in love with space and science as a 9-year-old and eventually included her time at UCLA. As a doctoral candidate in the department of Earth, planetary and space sciences, Watkins studied Earth as a laboratory for understanding the geology of other planets.

“I was looking at land forms, features on the surface of Earth, doing field work, understanding the processes and then applying this knowledge to planetary surfaces, working with images and inferring what is occurring on other planets,” she said.

After her voyage to the space station, Watkins’ next mission will enable her to put that knowledge into practice in ways she could have only imagined at the time. She already has been selected for NASA’s Artemis program, which plans to return explorers to the moon by 2024. The program is one of the next steps toward NASA’s goal of establishing a sustainable human presence on the moon that will prepare the agency to some day send astronauts to Mars.

For future astronauts

UCLA’s department of Earth, planetary and space sciences, Jessica Watkins’ home base when she was a doctoral candidate in the 2010s, has played a key role in space science for decades. Faculty members and researchers play prominent roles in multiple NASA missions, including as principal investigators and deputy principal investigators.

In fall 2021, the department introduced a new graduate program for future astronauts and space research experts, offering master’s and doctoral degrees in planetary science.

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more news and updates from the UCLA College, visit college.ucla.edu/news.

Image of Gymnast Katelyn Ohashi on the balance beam.Image credit: Emily Howell-Forbes

Gymnast, activist Katelyn Ohashi to deliver UCLA College commencement address

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The UCLA alumna will speak at all three ceremonies June 10 in Pauley Pavilion
Image of gymnast Katelyn Ohashi on the balance beam.

Gymnast Katelyn Ohashi on the balance beam. | Image credit: Emily Howell-Forbes

By Jonathan Riggs | April 13, 2022

Award-winning gymnast, activist and UCLA alumna Katelyn Ohashi will deliver the keynote address at all three UCLA College commencement ceremonies on Friday, June 10. Three separate ceremonies will be held, at 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., in Pauley Pavilion. The program will also include remarks by UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and student speakers from the graduating class.

“Katelyn Ohashi epitomizes Bruin values with her strength of character, compassion and leadership in the face of challenges,” said David Schaberg, senior dean of the UCLA College. “She will inspire our graduating seniors and UCLA community to approach the next chapter of their lives with open hearts and limitless courage.”

Image of Katelyn Ohashi

Katelyn Ohashi. | Image credit: Wasserman

From childhood, Ohashi was an avid gymnast, making her debut at the 2009 junior olympic national championships at age 12. She went on to become the 2011 junior national champion and defeated Simone Biles to win the 2013 American Cup. Despite suffering a back injury the next year and being told by doctors she might not be able to compete again, Ohashi persisted — earning a full gymnastics scholarship to UCLA.

“I am so proud to address my fellow Bruins and help celebrate this wonderful accomplishment in their lives,” said Ohashi, who graduated in 2019 with a degree in gender studies. “I hope to inspire them to embrace challenges, love themselves and find their voices.”

An eight-time All-American and four-time member of USA Gymnastics’ junior national team, Ohashi became one of the most decorated gymnasts in UCLA history. During her Bruin career, she earned 11 perfect 10s — including for a 2019 floor routine that became an internet sensation. She was named Pac-12 specialist of the year in 2018 and 2019, and was 2018 NCAA and Pac-12 co-champion in the floor exercise as well as 2019 Pac-12 co-champion in the floor exercise and balance beam. During her senior year, Ohashi took first place for each of her first seven routines.

In addition to her studies and gymnastics achievements while at UCLA, Ohashi led fundraisers to help individuals struggling with homelessness. She also volunteered for Project Heal, a nonprofit focused on helping people recover from eating disorders. As a motivational speaker and activist, she continues to advocate for body positivity. When Ohashi was honored at the 2019 ESPY Awards, she delivered a spoken-word poem denouncing body shaming, sexual assault and cyberbullying.

Ohashi was chosen to be the class of 2022 commencement speaker by a committee of students, faculty and administrators.

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more of Our Stories at the College, click here.

Image of Richard and Linda TurcoCourtesy of the Turcos

UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability receives $1.5 million pledge from founding director

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The gift from Richard and Linda Turco will support students engaged in environmental research

Image of Richard and Linda Turco

Richard and Linda Turco | Image courtesy of the Turcos

By Margaret MacDonald | 

Richard Turco, the founding director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, and his wife, Linda Turco, have pledged $1.5 million to the institute to establish an endowment for the support of undergraduate and graduate students.

The couple’s gift commitment has been augmented by $750,000 from the UCLA dean of physical sciences’ gift matching program, bringing the total to $2.25 million.

“Thanks in large part to the dedication and pioneering efforts of Richard Turco, the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability has evolved to become a real force for environmental truth and equity,” said the institute’s current director, Marilyn Raphael. “And now we add our deep gratitude for the Turcos’ generous gift commitment, which will provide the resources to effectively recruit, retain and empower generations of students eager to become change agents in the service of a sustainable environment.”

The initial gift funds will be contributed over the next five years, with the deferred balance coming from the couple’s estate. When fully funded, the endowment will support an annual lecture, publication awards and fellowships for graduate students, and research awards for undergraduates, with priority given to first-generation students and those with demonstrated financial need.

Richard Turco is a distinguished professor emeritus at UCLA and former chair of the university’s department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences. An atmospheric chemist, he joined UCLA’s faculty in 1988 and built a multidisciplinary research group focused on pressing environmental problems, including ozone depletion, urban air pollution and the impact of aerosols on climate. Those efforts eventually led to the establishment of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability in 1997, which Turco oversaw until 2003. He retired from UCLA in 2011.

The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship in 1986, Turco has also been awarded NASA’s H. Julian Allen Award for outstanding research, the American Physical Society’s Leo Szilard Prize and a UCLA Distinguished Faculty Research Lectureship.

The Turcos’ pledge is the latest major donation the couple has made to UCLA. In 2017, they established an endowment to fund fellowships for outstanding graduate students in their third and fourth years of study in the department of atmospheric and oceanic studies — vitally important years in a doctoral student’s academic career. A portion of that endowment also supports an award for research papers published in scientific journals by graduate students or postdoctoral scholars. A 2019 gift from the couple established the first endowed faculty chair in the department’s history.

“The future of human civilization will best be served by education — at all levels, in all places — and the world’s great universities will be called on to provide an unshakable foundation for global progress, equity and prosperity,” Richard Turco said. “With this in mind, those, like myself, who have benefited most from past access to education should be among the most willing to support future access for others, with generosity and hope.”

Miguel García-Garibay, dean of the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences, which houses the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, lauded the Turcos’ ongoing support for students and faculty in the environmental sciences.

“Richard and Linda Turco have set a shining example of giving back, for which we are immensely grateful,” García-Garibay said. “Not only has Richard been instrumental in building UCLA’s excellence in researching environmental solutions, but he and Linda have chosen to establish a lasting legacy of financial support for this area, helping to ensure the institute’s impact for years to come.”

The building blocks of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Aerial view of La Kretz Hall

La Kretz Hall, home of the institute. | Image credit: UCLA

As the head of the department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and a member of UCLA’s Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics in the 1990s, Richard Turco was well placed to tackle the challenges of what at the time was called “global change” — the planetary-scale environmental issues beginning to take center stage internationally.

Together with a group of like-minded faculty members from academic departments across campus, he organized a multidisciplinary research program to study the growing risks posed by ozone depletion, climate warming and other hazards. Turco and his colleagues felt strongly that a top research university like UCLA could — and should — take a lead role in the quest to understand and mitigate such existential threats to civilization.

Turco spearheaded several early projects, including a large-scale research study of the Los Angeles Basin watershed and the establishment of a geographic information system, or GIS, data processing lab. In 1997, the program officially became the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, which has since grown into broad and powerful agent in the service of a sustainable environment.

During Turco’s tenure as director (1997–2003), the institute moved into the newly built La Kretz Hall (above). The building, funded by a donation from UCLA alumnus and longtime sustainability supporter Morton La Kretz, was the first on campus to receive LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Design, certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more news and updates from the UCLA College, visit college.ucla.edu/news.