Daily Business Report-Aug. 2, 2019
The inside of the tokamak at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego. (Image courtesy of General Atomics)
10 universities to share $10 million awards
to pursue fusion energy research in San Diego
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $14 million in awards to 10 universities across the country to pursue fusion energy research at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego.
A major goal of the research is to develop and test innovative methods for understanding and sustaining high-temperature fusion plasmas, a key enabling step towards making fusion a virtually limitless source of practical energy.
The projects range from computer simulations of the complex dynamics of fusion plasmas to deployment of diagnostic devices to techniques for understanding and controlling plasmas relevant to the international ITER experiment under construction in France. All of the projects will allow university researchers to apply work done at their home institutions in a realistic fusion environment at DIII-D, the largest magnetic fusion research facility in the U.S.
“Our university collaborators are a critical part of the work we do at DIII-D, as well as the broader U.S. fusion community,” said Wayne Solomon, deputy director of DIII-D. “By supporting university research, DOE helps to attract the best minds in fusion to advance the state of the art for the entire field and bring closer the realization of sustainable energy from fusion.”
DIII-D, which General Atomics operates as a national user facility for DOE’s Office of Science, hosts researchers from more than 100 institutions across the globe, including 40 universities. The heart of the facility is a tokamak that uses powerful electromagnets to produce a doughnut-shaped magnetic bottle for confining a fusion plasma. In DIII-D, plasma temperatures more than 10 times hotter than the Sun are routinely achieved. At such extremely high temperatures, hydrogen isotopes can fuse together and release energy.
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Upcoming Major Events at the
San Diego Convention Center
- UnidosUS 2019 Annual Conference (formerly National Council of La Raza)
Aug. 3-6 | 18,500 attendees
- 2019 SAAC Expo
Aug. 7-8 | 2,200 attendees
- SPIE Optics + Photonics Exhibition 2019
Aug. 11-15 | 6,000 attendees
- Private Corporate & Incentive
Aug. 18-20 | 4,500 attendees
- ACS Fall 2019 National Meeting & Exposition
Aug. 25-29 | 15,000 attendees
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NextLeft relocates headquarters to La Jolla Shores
NextLeft, a digital content and marketing agency, has relocated its corporate headquarters to La Jolla Shores. Located two blocks from the beach at 2255 Avenida De La Playa, the new office space is designed to cultivate an energetic and outdoorsy company culture as well as accommodate company growth, says CEO John McKusick.
The 1,600-square foot space, split between two large areas, has an open-floor layout for a collaborative and creative work environment. The company relocated to this space from 1010 Turquoise St. in Pacific Beach.
“We’ve grown quickly over the past three years and needed a space that reflected not only our design aesthetic, but also our values as a company,” said McKusick. “We look forward to continuing to grow and have such an inspiring space to do so.”
NextLeft is a team of digital marketing strategists with an average of 10 plus years each of agency and in-house digital marketing experience.
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San Diego industrial occupancy
skyrockets in second quarter
San Diego’s industrial market racked up 706,000 square feet of positive net absorption in the second quarter, which after virtually flat occupancy growth to start the year placed midyear growth at nearly 700,000 square feet, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s newly released industrial occupancy report.
The skyrocketing second quarter figure ranked well above the five-year quarterly growth average of 423,000 square feet —also considered a strong level—and was also the highest quarterly growth in nearly a year. With six months still to go, 2019 is on pace to finish midway between 2016 and 2017’s sub 1 million square feet of growth each and 2018’s lofty 2 million square feet growth.
“New construction was a key source of growth activity, with nearly half of the second quarter net absorption in new developments,” said Bryce Aberg, executive managing director with Cushman & Wakefield. “The largest occupancy stemmed from the completion of BioLegend’s new headquarters, a 235,000-square-foot R&D campus in Miramar. Other key growth contributors included a new 51,000-square-foot project purchased by Orange Circle Studio in Oceanside and a 37,000-square-foot build-to-suit for Easihair Pro in Carlsbad.”
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Free college Promise program expands
to 3,100 students for new academic year
Enrollment has increased again for the San Diego Promise, the San Diego Community College District’s free college program. Approximately 3,100 San Diego Promise students are expected at San Diego City, Mesa, and Miramar colleges when classes begin August 19. This is a 48 percent increase over the 2018-19 academic year, when about 2,100 enrolled. It also makes the San Diego Promise one of the largest free community college programs in California
The San Diego Promise provides two years of free tuition and book grants to all first-time students who enroll full-time. The SDCCD launched the program three years ago with just 186 students. Since then, it has increased exponentially and is now attracting students from across the state. In fact, students from 122 high schools outside of San Diego County have enrolled for upcoming academic year.
To further boost student completion, and thanks to the generosity of donors, the San Diego Promise will for the first time enroll a limited number of part-time students who meet specific criteria.
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UC San Diego among top public
colleges that pay off in higher earnings
The University of California San Diego has been ranked the 11th best public university in the country among colleges that pay off the most in a new ranking by CNBC. The rankings measured UC San Diego’s costs, financial aid packages and the earnings for alumni at the start of their career ($61,300), as well as the mid-point ($94,050) and after they have been in the workforce for more than 10 years ($126,800).
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Y. Shirley Men named Editor-in-Chhief
of MRS Energy & Sustainability
The Materials Research Society and Cambridge University Press have announced the appointment of professor Y. Shirley Meng from the University of California San Diego as Editor-in-Chief of MRS Energy & Sustainability. She succeeds Editors-in-Chief David S. Ginley, National Renewable Energy Laboratory; David Cahen, Weizmann Institute of Science; and Elizabeth A. Kocs, University of Illinois at Chicago, whose terms ended in December 2018.
Meng is currently a professor of nanoengineering and materials science at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. She holds the Zable Endowed Chair in Energy Technologies. She is also the founding director of the Sustainable Power and Energy Center at UC San Diego
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Pacific Village releases new homes
for sale at 3 neighborhoods
Lennar announced the first phase of new San Diego homes for sale at three Pacific Village neighborhoods on Saturday, Aug. 3. Homebuyers have the opportunity to purchase in-person during the sales release at the Penasquitos Village Shopping Center parking lot beginning at 9:30 a.m. with a 9 a.m. check-in.
- The Promenade offers four floor plans of attached upscale townhomes.The homes range in size from approximately 1,611 to 2,214 square feet of living space with two to four bedrooms and two and one-half to three and one-half bathrooms. Prices start from the low $600,000s.
- The Pavilion Showcases three floor plans of attached townhomes with sizes ranging from approximately 1,454 to 2,005 square feet. Offering two to four bedrooms and two to three bathrooms, pricing starts from the mid $600,000s.
- The Commons is the only collection of single-family homes. With three floorplans, sizes range from approximately 1,935 to 2,270 square feet with four bedrooms and three bathrooms in each plan. Pricing starts from the high $700,000s.
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Aspiriant’s ‘Day of Giving’ program
to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities
Wealth management firm Aspiriant is sponsoring the annual “Day of Giving” event today that will benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego. The firm will be serving 150 or more people to help the community.
“In 2018, we had 530 corporate, community and individual groups (past families, friends of the Ronald McDonald House) serve meals to our families,” said Amy Parr, a board member of Ronald McDonald House since 2016. “We are unique in that our meals programs serves three free meals a day (365 days a year) to our 56 guest suite families and additional day visitors, families with hospital identification that are not staying over-night but use RMH resources during the day.”
“I’m finishing up a three-year term as trustee for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego’s Board of Trustees,” said Ami Aranha. “It’s been an incredible experience, and I feel very grateful to have worked with such a great organization and talented group of trustees. The Ronald McDonald House Charities is truly devoted to its mission, and has a very hard-working and dedicated group of people leading its charge – both staff and volunteers.”
