Daily Business Report-Sept. 6, 2016
College senior Ryan Chaban, right, with mentor Dr. David Pace, spent his summer working on fusion technology at General Atomics. (Photo by GA)
Students Continue 25-Year Tradition
Of Pursuing Fusion at General Atomics
General Atomics said farewell to a team of 10 summer interns who completed the prestigious Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, and thanked them for their diligence and ingenuity as they worked in the San Diego-headquartered company’s laboratories.
With the goal of harnessing the same power as produced by the sun and overcoming the challenges of bringing this power to Earth, these interns contributed to the advancement of fusion – a safe, non-carbon emitting and virtually limitless energy source.
“It’s been an all-around fantastic experience – I’ve learned more in my 10 weeks at GA than I have in an entire semester at school, and I love school, so that says a lot. I especially admire the passion of the people at GA – the way they collaborate to advance the science of fusion energy,” said Ryan Chaban, one of GA’s interns, a rising senior at Case Western University in Cleveland. “My experience here has made me eager to see the impact that fusion science and technology will have on our civilization in my lifetime.”
Chaban and his nine fellow interns carry on a 25-year tradition of internships in fusion and plasma physics at GA. The program has been successful – turning multiple generations of interns into physicists and nuclear engineers. Many of these researchers then go on to mentor the next generation of leaders in scientific discovery.
The SULI program – made possible through the Department of Energy’s Office of Science – allows students to work on experiments at both GA’s Inertial Fusion Technologies program and the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, the nation’s largest magnetic fusion energy facility.
“The majority of the students who have done summer internships here have gone onto careers in science and engineering, and many of those have continued to work in the field of energy research,” said GA physicist Dr. Robert Pinsker, who manages the program. “As the students consider going onto graduate school, they do so with a better understanding of plasma physics and fusion.”
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Date Meets ZIP
Rare Normal Heights Event on Sept. 21
On Wednesday, Sept. 21, the community of Normal Heights will experience an event that occurs only once a century.
It’s called Date Meets ZIP.
The date of 9-21-16 will match the community’s ZIP code of 92116.
This rare occurrence will be recognized at a small event at the John Adams Post Office. It will be staged Sept. 21 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the John Adams Post Office, 3288 Adams Ave.
Attending the event will be San Diego Postmaster Lisa Baldwin, Erica Hall, station manager, and community leaders.
The possibility of having a Date Meets ZIP is quite rare. It only comes up every 100 years and for most locations, not at all.
Residents and businesses are invited to bring their own postcards, letters or purchase items from the John Adams Post Office and have it stamped with the commemorative postmark to mark the occasion.
The postmark will be available for 30 days after the event.
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Gov. Brown Vetoes Pro Bono
Requirement For Bar Entry
Gov. Jerry Brown has rejected a bill that would have required law school graduates to log at least 50 hours of pro bono work before joining the state bar, reasoning that the mandate would be an additional burden to law students already dealing with high tuition and shaky employment prospects.
In his veto letter regarding Senate Bill No. 1257, which was introduced in February by Sen. Marty Block (D-San Diego) Brown said that he is in favor of law students and lawyers providing pro bono legal services and commended the author of the bill for wanting to increase the amount of pro bono work being done, but he does not believe “a state mandate can be justified.
“Law students in California are now contending with skyrocketing costs — often more than $200,000 for tuition and room and board — and many struggle to find employment once they are admitted to the bar,” Brown said. “In this context, I believe it would be unfair to burden students with the requirements set forth in this bill.”
The governor went on to say that the focus of lawmakers instead should be on reducing the cost of a legal education, along with the cost of qualifying for the bar exam, according to the letter. “By doing so, we could actually expand the opportunity to serve the public interest,” Brown said.
The bill framed the proposed requirement as mainly an effort to ensure that law students had some “practical legal work experience,” but also noted the need for legal advice for people who generally are priced out of obtaining that advice. If the rule had been approved, it would have been applicable to all law students who entered law school by 2018.
Although the State Bar of California did not take an official stance on the proposed legislation, in July its board did approve recommendations by an internal task force on admissions regulation reform, which included a 50-hour pro bono requirement, according to bar records.
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FAA Rejects Aircraft Flight
Path Changes Over Point Loma
By City News Service
A proposal to tighten the loop made over Point Loma by some aircraft departing Lindbergh Field, possibly increasing jet noise in the neighborhood, was rejected by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA rejected the plan in a decision published last week.
The plan was staunchly opposed by Point Loma residents, who crowded several public meetings on the issue over the past year or so.
Most flights headed for destinations to the east of San Diego make a roughly 270-degree left turn after takeoff from Lindbergh Field. The FAA had suggested tightening that turn, which would have increased noise over Point Loma.
“This doesn’t solve all the problems related to flight noise for residents but it’s something the community and elected officials have been working together to achieve,” said county Supervisor Greg Cox, who also serves on the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. “We have been working with Congressman (Scott) Peters, Mayor (Kevin) Faulconer, Councilwoman (Lorie) Zapf and the community to get the FAA to be more responsive to the needs of the community and this decision is one of the objectives we’ve sought.”
The proposal was part of the FAA’s SoCal Metroplex Project, which seeks to re-route some of the region’s air traffic.
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CONNECT Receives $50,000 Grant
From Small Business Administration
San Diego startup accelerator CONNECT was selected as a winner of a $50,000 prize in the third annual the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition from the SBA and its agency partners, the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and Department of Education.
A total of $3.4 million in prizes was awarded to 68 accelerators across country. Winners of this year’s contest were chosen by more than 100 experts with entrepreneurial, investment, startup, economic development, capital formation, and academic backgrounds.
“This grant will enable us to better serve San Diego’s entrepreneurs in our Springboard Accelerator Program and help entrepreneurs garner more funding to grow their companies,” said Greg McKee, CONNECT CEO. “We are truly grateful to Administrator Contreras-Sweet for her continued commitment to San Diego’s startups, ensuring that our city remains a global hub for innovation long into the future.”
The funds will be used to increase awareness and understanding of
Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer funding programs, as well as to provide assistance and support for local entrepreneurs, researchers and mentors who are commercializing technologies qualified for these programs.
“This grant will help foster the expansion of innovative local businesses and the continued growth of the San Diego economy,” said Ruben Garcia, the SBA’s San Diego district director.
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City of San Diego Website
Named 2nd Best in the U.S.
By City News Service
The city of San Diego’s website was named the second best municipal web portal in the U.S. by the Center for Digital Government, while the county of San Diego website was honored for county-constituent relationship management.
“Government websites have changed a lot over the past 20 years and so have citizen expectations,” said Todd Sander, the center’s executive director. “This year’s winners are well positioned to take up the challenge of a new era and lead the impending transformation toward more integrated, anticipatory and personalized electronic services.”
San Diego’s redesigned website — which debuted in March — ranked behind that of the city and county of Denver. Hayward, Tampa and Louisville placed third through fifth in the center’s 20th annual Best of the Web awards announced Thursday.
“We set a new standard for community involvement by talking directly to thousands of San Diegans and designing the website based on their feedback,” Mayor Kevin Faulconer said. “From making our city more transparent with our public records portal to implementing the new `Get It Done’ system to improve customer service, I’m proud of the work we’ve done so far but we’re not finished yet. Exciting new features will continue to be added to make sure San Diego’s website is as innovative and dynamic as the people it serves.”
The top county web portal was Baltimore County, Maryland. Although San Diego County’s site didn’t rank in the top five, it was listed with a quintet of other finalists. It was also one of five honored in the “Driving Digital Government” local government category.
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Datron Receives $495 Million
Contract from Army Command
Datron World Communications Inc., a San Diego-based supplier of military radio equipment to the international marketplace, has received a five-year, $495 million contract from the U.S. Army Communications Electronic Command to provide international FMS customers with reliable HF and VHF military voice and data radio products; and vertical takeoff and landing small unmanned aircraft systems. Earlier this year Datron was awarded a $13.4
million spares contract to support existing fielded radios.
“The new award spotlights Datron’s past performance and future commitment to our international customers and the U.S. Government FMS Program,” said Art Barter, president and CEO of Datron. “This contract will complement our customers’ fielded radios with additional support through new products and services.”
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Johns Hopkins and Salk Co-Lead
Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder Effort
Johns Hopkins and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies will co-lead a $15.4 million effort to develop new systems for quickly screening libraries of drugs for potential effectiveness against schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has announced. The consortium, which includes four academic or nonprofit institutions and two industry partners, will be led by Hongjun Song of Johns Hopkins and Rusty Gage of Salk.
