Message from Chancellor Fox: One of UCSD’s greatest institutional strengths is the breadth and depth of faculty research on a range of important topics. Each month, Chancellor’s Corner will showcase cross-disciplinary faculty expertise in a specific area. I invite you to learn more about the work of these scholars, and I hope you share my pride in their achievements and their contributions to society.

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Steve Briggs
Steve Briggs is a professor of biology at UC San Diego's Division of Biological Sciences and a founder of Sapphire Energy, a San Diego biotechnology company that announced plans in May to turn algae into ultra-clean versions of oil and gasoline. A plant geneticist and member of the National Academy of Sciences, Briggs received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University and spent the first half of his career in industry, most recently as Senior Vice President for Corporate Research at Diversa. Previously, he was President of Torrey Mesa Research Institute. Prior to that, he was Director at Pioneer/DuPont for several research areas, including genomics. More…

Robert Cattolica
Robert Cattolica is Professor of Mechanical Aerospace and Engineering. He develops and employs diagnostic tools that are leading to a better understanding of the mechanics of combustion. Cattolica can provide critical perspective on matters of import to both environmental and energy policy including: the questionable use of oxygenates (ethanol and MTBE) as gasoline additives, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, clean-engine technology, and renewable energy from biomass. More…

William Gerwick
William H. (Bill) Gerwick is a professor of Oceanography and Pharmaceutical Science at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. His research interests focus on the discovery of novel bioactive natural products from marine algae and cyanobacteria, especially those with anticancer, anti-tropical disease or neurotoxic properties, and further, an examination of the biosynthetic pathways these organisms utilize to create these oftentimes exotic molecular structures. More recently, he has become interested in the regulation of lipid biosynthesis in marine microalgae as it relates to bio-diesel production. More…

James Hamilton
James Hamilton is Professor of Economics. He specializes primarily in the fields of monetary policy, business cycles, oil shocks, forecasting and econometrics. He is currently researching normalization in econometrics and the fluctuation of gasoline and oil prices. Hamilton has written extensively on issues in macroeconomics and econometrics, such as business cycles and the effects of oil shocks. He is the author of Time Series Analysis, the best-selling research text on forecasting methods in economics. More…

Brian Gregory Mitchell
Brian Gregory Mitchell is a Research Biologist and Senior Lecturer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. He is currently active in coordinating research and commercial demonstration of algae mass culture for biofuels and CO2 abatement. The focus of his research on algae commercial applications is optimization of yields of bioenergy molecules in the light-temperature-nutrient matrix that regulates algae growth, numerical modeling of the yield optimization, and design of closed and open photobioreactors that optimize yields. More…

Michael David Noel
Michael David Noel is Assistant Professor of Economics. He conducts research in the field of Industrial Organization, which studies such issues as firm pricing strategy, patent policy, mergers, entry and regulation. His recent work focuses on pricing issues in retail gasoline markets, pharmaceutical markets and on patenting behavior in the software and pharmaceutical industries. More…

Wolfram Schlenker
Wolfram Schlenker is Assistant Professor of Economics. His research examines the decisions of oil companies to explore for oil when the resulting discoveries have uncertain implications for the price of oil. He also conducts research in the field of applied microeconomics, specifically in environmental and nature resource economics. His recent work concentrates on the impacts of climate change on agriculture, with a special emphasis on the role of irrigation as a mitigation measure to counterbalance a potential increase in temperature. He is currently working on several follow-up projects with people at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and is interested in the economics of water resources, an area of special interest to California. More…

** To learn more about other campus faculty scholars and areas of expertise, please visit the searchable UCSD Faculty Experts Database at: http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/facultyExperts/

** Read more Spotlight on Faculty Research topics