Today “Plant-Mediated Indirect Competitionbetween Insect Herbivores – Implications for Weed Biological Control“ James Nechols 122Briggs,noon to1p.m. Sponsored by the entomology department “L-Peach – A Crop Model That Can Be Useful to Horticulturalists,Physiologists,Molecular Biologists and Breeders“ Ted DeJong 3001Plant and Environmental Sciences,12:10to1p.m. Sponsored by the plantsciences department

The sound of metal clinking carries through the hallway as two students help bring out long pieces of steel through Bainer Hall. The students place the structures inside of a perimeter marked by white tape. The UC Davis Steel Bridge Team, better known as team “Chrome Ollie,” is setting up and about to practice assembling their steel bridge for the upcoming Mid-Pacific Regional Competition on Apr. 26 at the Mondavi Center’s Parking Structure from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30. The steel bridge contest brings out other teams in the region to compete against each other in the design and formation of scale-size bridge structures. While the competition can be stressful, it can also be fun.

The endeavor to introduce more energy-saving products and services into the homes of Californians received a boost last week, as three donors collectively pledged $1.1million in grants to the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center. Chevron Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will donate $100,000 per year for the next five years and Goldman Sachs is donating$100,000this year.Each company will also seat a representative on the center’s board of advisors. Founded in2006,theEnergyEfficiencyCenter’s “mission is to accelerate development and commercialization of energy-efficient technologies,” according to its website.The center has received a total of$5million in funds thus far.

Ozone kills A report released byNational Academies‘ National Research Council has found significant evidence that ozone leads to premature death,especially in the elderly.Children also can be negatively affected by the gas.Ozone(O3) is produced at the earth’s surface when light reacts with other air pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbons. Ozone oxidizes lung tissue,decreasing lung capacity,causing respiratory inflammation and worsening heart disease.It can worsen lung diseases such as asthma.

It’s that time of year again. If there’s a downside to the beautiful spring weather, the sunny days and warm nights we’ve been having, it’s the mosquitoes. But they are more than just annoying pests – these insects can pose a serious health risk. To raise awareness about mosquitoes and insect-borne diseases, the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District will be hosting its third annual Volunteer Day tomorrow. Volunteers will be canvassing Sacramento and Yolo County with educational materials on how residents can help reduce mosquito populations in their area and protect themselves against West Nile virus.

Speaker Imam Mohamed Abdul-Azeez will discuss Shar’iah, a code of law based on scholarly interpretation of the Islamic scriptures today at 8 p.m. in 126 Wellman. The event, titled “Shar’iah versus Democracy?” is sponsored by the Muslim Student Association in conjunction with the Muslim Law Student Association, and will address the code’s relationship with democracy. “There is an underlying assumption that the two are incompatible with each other,” Abdul-Azeez said, adding that his talk will focus on “dispelling that myth.”

President and CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Joseph A. Aguerrebere will be giving a Distinguished Educational Thinkers Lecture titled “Toward a Strong Profession” today at 5 p.m. in the University Club Lounge. Aguerrebere is hailed as a national expert on school reform and has held numerous positions in a variety of educational fields. These include service as an elementary school teacher and administrator, professor at California State University Dominguez Hills in Los Angeles, and deputy director of the Ford Foundation in New York. “His lecture will focus on strengthening teaching as a profession,” said executive director of the UC Davis Cooperative Research and Extension Services for Schools Center Mary Vixie Sandy. “It will also focus on the ways in which our systems support and do not support the development of education.”

Spring quarter is a time people tend to lay around on the Quad and turn the effort level down a little bit – except the Campus Unions department of operations, which has been hard at work on both the Silo Café andPuband second floor of the Memorial Union. The most noticeable improvements to the pub’s outdoor eating area are a new fleet of umbrellas and a green coat of paint on all the tables. Doug Wiersig, a student assistant in the Campus Unions department of operations and junior crop science major, said they have reorganized the entire thing.

The Davis College Democrats are holding a city council forum tonight to allow students to question the five Democratic candidates running for the Davis City Council and to familiarize the student body with the candidates’ stances on political issues in Davis. Davis City Council elections are held every two years, with three out of five spots open for this year’s election June 3. There are five Democratic candidates and one Green party candidate running for the three available positions. The three incumbents, Sue Greenwald, Don Saylor, Stephen Souza, and the two challengers, Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald and Sydney Vergis, will attend the forum to make their policies clear to students and answer questions about their campaign goals.

TODAY PostSecretDavis exhibit 10a.m.to3p.m. Griffin Lounge,MemorialUnion Learn what secrets UC Davis students and staff are keeping at this awareness exhibit.Sponsored by Students Against Sexual Violence.

Don’t call them ‘meter maids’ – the politically correct term is parking control officer. In big cities like San Francisco, this breed of civil servant is fighting against a fine increase they say would lead to more verbal and physical abuse than they already receive from angry drivers, according to an Apr. 16 article in The San Francisco Chronicle. Fortunately for parking control officers in Davis, people here seem to be a little calmer despite ongoing parking problems downtown.

What do you teach? Why did you decide to teach it? Well, I teach physics, and I actually got interested about the seventh grade. There was a brief stint when I wanted to be a forest ranger! The way I sort of got started in physics was because my aunt gave me a Christmas gift when I was in the seventh grade. It was a subscription to a book-of-the month club for children, and one of the first books I got was on the Manhattan Project, and they were describing nuclei and stuff and how big things were, and they said that if you take the nucleus of a hydrogen atom, which is a proton and you laid a quadrillion of them end to end they’d take up about a quarter of your fingernail and I said, ‘Wow! How do you measure something so small?’ Obviously, you don’t pull out a meter stick, so how did they determine that size? The seventh grade science teacher I had basically was clueless, but … basically when I got to college, I learned about the Rutherford experiments and how all these sizes were originally determined using the scattering of particles. So, it was just that quest, how do you measure something so small that got me interested in physics, and sort of held onto me.