SLUG REPORT > UC-championed Onward California tour highlights the university’s contributions to society
On Tuesday, Oct. 2, Onward California will be stopping over at UC Santa Cruz’s Quarry Plaza as it snakes its way around the Golden State. A traveling stage to showcase the UC’s contribution to society on a state, national, international, and personal level, the campaign is working to re-vamp public visibility and attract stronger financial partnership.
Documentary-flavored clips on the campaign’s website include three of UCSC professor of astronomy and astrophysics Steve Vogt (pictured) working in the UC Lick Observatory, demonstrating how the telescope uses light particle detection to locate distant, potentially inhabitable planets.
“This is the only job I’ve ever had,” Vogt says in one of the videos. “But why would you want to work anywhere else?”
As the telescope system’s circuitous connection between space, light and rocks is leading the way to another potentially inhabitable planet, the campaign focuses on emphasizing how less visible UC research impacts, and betters, our quality of life.
After a wave of press this past year profiling the astronomy department’s discoveries and international influence, it’s no surprise that the department was also featured in the tour’s dessert menu—a UCSC Lick Observatory-inspired “Vanill-Lick” ice cream will be available for sampling.
Professor Terrie Williams’ Oct. 4 presentation “Discovering the heart of America: An experiment in marine biology,” based on her work with monk seals, will also be mounted to the site—giving UCSC’s faculty two headline spots of seven currently on the website’s videostream.
