It was 60 percent humidity. Water dripped down the walls of the building with an abundance of plants from all around the world. A loud noise reverberated within the room, sounding like something that could easily pass for a velociraptor.

No, this wasn’t Jurassic Park. It was the third floor of the Sciences Laboratory building in UC Davis’ campus teaching greenhouse.

“That’s the passive cooling system,” said Doug Walker, the supervisor of greenhouse facilities at UC Davis, referencing the Jurassic sound.

“You step right out of the hallway into the greenhouse,” Walker said. “It’s like a whole different change in world.”

Walker supervises the three different greenhouse facilities on campus: the research greenhouses, the Botanical Conservatory and the Sciences Laboratory Building (SLB) Greenhouse.

The SLB Greenhouse opened in January of 2005 when the $52 million building was built.

“Its mission is teaching only; there’s no research done in this building,” Walker said. “They wanted a strong integration of the greenhouse, the plants and the labs.”

The Botanical Conservatory and the SLB facility are both teaching greenhouses, which grow plants for laboratories or provide activities for teaching.

Biological Sciences 2B and 2C are two of the main classes which use the SLB greenhouse, but Plant Biology 102, 105 and 108 also share the space. Over 1,200 students use the greenhouse facility per quarter.

Students get hands-on experience with biome dioramas to measure plant diversity. Other students experiment with plants and mutant plants to measure competition between plants.

Walker said that the greenhouse houses many different varieties, although all have the same basic structures.

“Plants are made up of roots, stems and leaves – that’s it,” Walker said. “But you look all around and there are all these very different kinds.”

Some of the more unique types of plants in the greenhouse are the carnivorous plants, he said.

“It’s an actively moving thing,” Walker said of the Venus flytrap. “It closes and traps the organism.”

He then pointed to a tube-like leaf, which acts like a fisherman. It had a sugar substance to reel in the insects like bait, a slippery inside, and hairs to trap the insect in like hooks.

The greenhouse also contains desert plants, succulents, parasites and plants with leaves taller than a person.

These leaves belong to the stinky flower, which when in bloom, is over four feet tall and smells like a rotting carcass. Walker said they are growing the plant in the SLB Greenhouse to maximize light exposure to mark any growth changes.

Another unique plant is a South African plant, which has had the same leaves since it was planted in 1993. The leaves touch the floor and look more like hair than leaves, Walker said.

“You can see it’s just like if you grew your hair long,” he said. “You would get split ends, too.”

The most remarkable thing about this greenhouse environment besides the variety of plants is that it is completely computer automated. From light to humidity to irrigation, a computer controls the entire greenhouse.

The computer has control over fog machines for humidity control, electrolyte conductivity meters for water salt control, and over 30,000 watts of high intensity lamps and a shade cloth for light control.

“We tell [the computer that] we want these things to happen and it takes care of the rest of it,” Walker said. “It’s really nice.”

Although completely automated, staff members still have manual power to override the system.

“The more you try to control the environment, the harder it is to maintain it,” Walker said.

Hoorin Sandhu, a staff research associate for Biological Sciences 2C, graduated from UC Davis last June with a degree in biological sciences with a plant biology emphasis.

She came into contact with the SLB Greenhouse as a student in Biological Sciences 1C and then became a student assistant for the greenhouse where she brought out plants for labs.

“That was the first time I had to know which plant was which,” Sandhu said. “It was pretty scary at first because I couldn’t tell what was what … it was all over my head.”

After working as a student assistant, she took a job with UC Davis as a staff research associate.

Sandhu helps plant 70 trays of plants and grows over 2,500 plants per quarter.

“I had this image of vegetables and fruits just appearing in the grocery stores and here you actually see the stuff while it’s growing,” Sandhu said.

Becky Fu, a sophomore genetics major, worked in the Botanical Conservatory for her Biological Sciences 2C class.

Fu remembers going to the conservatory and looking at coffee bean plants and cacti.

“It’s just filled with these weird flowers that are giant,” Fu said. “They’re just weird looking, like alien plants.”

For Fu, one of the best parts of Biological Sciences 2C was visiting the conservatory.

“It was only a day; I wish it was a little longer,” Fu said.

Walker encourages students and staff interested to come check out the greenhouse.

“We have a lot of interesting stuff to get people to come in and get interested and maybe start a career or major in plant biology,” Walker said.

KATIE DARFLER can be reached at features@theaggie.org. 

Yesterday, UC Davis students staged their own version of Michael Jackson’s iconic song-and-dance number “Thriller;” only this time, it wasn’t Michael Jackson in the red leather jacket.

Around 10 students performed a satirical version of “Thriller” on the Memorial Union patio to protest Mark Yudof’s leadership of the University of California. One student played Yudof as Jackson’s character in the dance, with leather jacket and all. The rest were “zombies,” complete with the appropriate, white-faced makeup.

“Mark Yudof’s Thriller is an ode to Mark Yudof, who is motivating us all to find out just what we’re capable of by forcing many of us to work multiple jobs in order to pay off our education,” said Christina Noble, a senior dance and visual communications double major and creator of the performance. “Pretty soon, only students born into wealth will be able to attend schools in the UC system. Public education isn’t for everyone, silly!”

The performance began with Yudof sitting on the ground eating a picnic lunch. After being “interviewed,” he and the zombies broke out into the “Thriller” dance, with lyrics changed to emphasize the fee increases. A few extra moves were thrown in to the mix, including Yudof gyrating with dollar bills and stepping on three zombies’ backs.

Noble was inspired to create the protest after reading a New York Times interview with Yudof. In the interview, Yudof said, “Being president of the University of California is like being manager of a cemetery: there are many people under you, but no one is listening.”

Noble said the UC President’s quotation made her think of “Thriller” as a way to show students’ frustrations.

“The great president of the University of California system deserves better. I think it’s time we started listening!” Noble said in an e-mail interview. “I want to show Mark Yudof that we’re underneath him 100 percent. I thought he’d be an excellent candidate to take over Michael Jackson’s reign as the King of Pop.”

Dozens of students gathered to watch and cheer for the performers. Daniella Leal, a junior dance and Chicana/o studies double major, enjoyed the new take on “Thriller.”

“I really liked it, but I wish more people would join in because it is for a good cause,” Leal said.

The protest’s unique form piqued the interest of students eager to show their distress with the university. Anreeka Patel, a senior international relations and comparative literature double major, said she decided to participate in the performance because it was a new, creative way to express her frustrations with Yudof and the Regents.

“I hope that people watching the performance [gained] a deeper understanding of the situation that the UC system is in. The UC system is becoming more and more privatized and Yudof is running it like a corporation,” Patel said in an e-mail interview. “It’s frightening and we’re being run like zombies.”

ERIN MIGDOL can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

TODAY

Campus Community Solidarity Day

Noon to 4 p.m.

Quad

Join the campus to bring together the community in solidarity against the recent hate crimes.

UC Davis Theatre and Dance Design Showcase

4 to 7 p.m.

Suite 202, 508 Second St.

Meet the designers and discuss their work for screen and stage.

Poetry Night Reading Series: Joshua Clover

8 p.m.

Bistro 33, 226 F St.

Enjoy poetry by Joshua Clover, winner of the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets.

THURSDAY

Meat Lab Sale

1 to 5:30 p.m.

Cole C Facility

The UC Davis Meat Lab is offering sales that are open to the public. Cash and check only.

Biomedical Engineering Seminar

4 p.m.

1005 Genome and Biomedical Science Facility

You are cordially invited to attend the department of biomedical engineering’s last seminar. Dr. Leonor Saiz will be speaking on multilevel modeling of cellular networks in biomedicine.

FRIDAY

Meat Lab Sale

1 to 5:30 p.m.

Cole C Facility

The UC Davis Meat Lab is offering sales that are open to the public. Cash and check only.

To receive placement in the AGGIE DAILY CALENDAR, e-mail dailycal@theaggie.org or stop by 25 Lower Freeborn by noon the day prior to your event. Due to space constraints, all event descriptions are subject to editing, and priority will be given to events that are free of charge and geared toward the campus community.

Everyday at UC Davis, students unknowingly mention the names of people influential to the campus.

When a student says they have class at Wellman Hall, they are paying homage to the 13th president of the University of California. Likewise, every time a student says they have to study at Peter J. Shields Library they are honoring the founder of UC Davis.

Now, every time engineering students have to go to Engineering 3, which houses the engineering and applied science departments and research facilities, they will be calling it by a different name: Ghausi Hall.

Bruce R. White, the current dean of engineering, was instrumental in the recommendation and proposal process for the naming of Ghausi Hall. The building was named after Mohammed S. Ghausi, a former dean of engineering at UC Davis.

White said that Ghausi, who he often called Mo, was a perfect choice for the naming of Engineering 3.

“He had a ‘can-do’ attitude that was contagious … he bred success,” he said.

Ghausi, who retired in 1996, played a crucial role in the success of the UC Davis engineering department. With the former dean of engineering’s help, UC Davis became one of the top 20 public institutions for engineering, White said.

“His was a very influential period … he set the tone and was instrumental in attracting students,” White said.

The naming process began more than a year ago when White began talking with Zuhair Munir, retired dean emeritus of the College of Engineering, about the naming of Engineering 3.

White then started a committee that created a proposal, which included information on Ghausi’s background and major contributions to the university.

The proposal was then sent to the chancellor and to the Board on the Naming of UC Davis Properties for review before being sent for final approval to the UC president.

John Meyer, the vice chancellor of administration and resource management, said there are two families of naming buildings.

The first types are buildings named after individuals who have made significant contributions to the university. The second are buildings recognizing individuals who have made substantial gifts.

“Over time, the majority of buildings were named after professors and deans … but in recent history, the chancellor is placing great emphasis on recognizing donors,” Meyer said.

Meyer cited two buildings on campus as examples of this shift towards recognizing donors. The Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and the Graduate School of Managements’ Gallagher Hall, named after UC alumnus Maurice J. Gallagher, CEO of Allegiant, are two such examples.

Ghausi Hall also had the potential to be named after donors shortly after its construction, White said.

Recognized donors are not limited to just individuals. Corporations who make philanthropic gifts to support UC Davis can also be recognized although that has not happened much, White said.

UC Berkeley’s Bechtal Auditorium, named after a world recognized private construction firm, is one example of a building named after a large donor corporation.

Individuals and donors’ involvement in the construction of buildings typically goes no farther than lending names or monetary contributions. However, one building on campus, Giedt Hall, honors an individual who actively helped with its construction.

The building is named after Warren and Leta Giedt. The couple had no children of their own and therefore donated the majority of their estate to the university. They remained involved in everything from the construction to picking of the materials for Giedt Hall, White said.

Shortly after the naming ceremony, Warren Giedt, a retired engineering professor emeritus, passed away.

“He kept himself alive and saw the building being used by students. He was a very remarkable person,” White said.

UC Davis’s naming process for buildings is unique compared to other UC campuses. UC Davis is one of the only universities in the UC system to allow individuals to be alive during the naming process.

Like Giedt, Ghausi was honored in the naming ceremony where he made a speech accepting the naming of Ghausi Hall in front of family and friends.

“It’s a rather nice feature of the [naming] process … that [the individuals] can enjoy the benefits and the honor of having a building named after them,” White said.

JESSY WEI can be reached at the features@theaggie.org.