Daily Business Report: Monday, Sept. 13, 2021
Historic Community College Baccalaureate
Bill approved by California Legislature
California lawmakers have approved historic legislation that would expand and make permanent the California community college bachelor’s degree pilot program. Assembly Bill 927 now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk with the backing of educational leaders and dozens of businesses and trade organizations.
AB 927 seeks to eliminate the 2026 sunset date on existing baccalaureate degree programs at 15 California community colleges in workforce fields with high demand and unmet need, in addition to allowing for up to 30 community college baccalaureate degree programs statewide per year. The bill is sponsored by the chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, Jose Medina (D-Riverside).
The bill mandates the California Community Colleges Chancellor to consult with and seek feedback from the California State University and University of California systems on proposed baccalaureate degrees and would require individual districts seeking approval to provide evidence of unmet workforce needs.
The baccalaureate degree pilot program was established when Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014 signed Senate Bill 850, sponsored by then state Sen. Marty Block. The bill allowed 15 colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees in specific workforce fields. The program was set to end in 2023, but subsequent legislation from state Sen. Jerry Hill extended the program’s sunset date to July 2026.
TOP PHOTO: San Diego Mesa College Health Information Management graduates celebrate at their commencement ceremonies in 2018. The college’s students were among the first to earn a bachelor’s degree from a California community college as part of the state’s baccalaureate pilot program.
Construction begins on research and laboratory
facilities in San Diego for Healthpeak Properties
Construction has begun on Sorrento Gateway, a research and laboratory facility to be built in San Diego for Healthpeak Properties, a national health care real estate investment trust. Project Management Advisors Inc. (PMA) and Swinerton are collaborating with architect Delawie on the project.
The development, located at 4930 Directors Place, consists of a ground-up 163,000-square-foot, five-story warm-shell building; a 14,000-square-foot tenant improvement of lobby, restrooms, storage and training; and 90,000 square feet of basement parking. It is anticipated to be delivered in December 2022. The site will include separate buildings for a fully equipped fitness center and an indoor/outdoor café, as well as outdoor event and meeting spaces.
Sycuan Casino Resort now hiring
for more than 150 positions
Sycuan Casino Resort is now hiring for more than 150 positions, which are in a variety of departments including customer service, cashiers, servers, cooks, hosts, bussers, housekeeping, janitorial, valet, shuttle drivers and more. Many of the positions offer both part-time and full-time opportunities at various skill levels.
To begin hiring for these positions, Sycuan is hosting a job fair on Tuesday, Sept. 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Wachena Ballroom located inside of Sycuan Casino Resort. During the job fair, hiring managers from Sycuan will be interviewing applicants and making on-the-spot job offers for certain departments.
Sycuan is also offering up to $500 sign on bonuses and retention bonuses for specific positions. Those interested in attending the job fair are encouraged to bring multiple copies of their resume.
Sycuan offers several employee benefits including health, dental, vision and life insurance, 401(k) retirement savings plans and company matching, corporate discounts and paid time off. Additionally, employees can take advantage of free transportation to and from work by using Sycuan shuttle busses throughout San Diego County.
For additional information on Sycuan employment opportunities and upcoming job fairs, please visit www.sycuan.com/employment.
Scripps Research biochemist Jeffery Kelly
wins Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
Pioneering biochemist Jeffery Kelly has been awarded a $3 million Breakthrough Prize for demonstrating that nervous system and heart diseases can be caused by protein clumping-associated toxicity, and for inventing a medication to slow progression of such diseases.
The 2022 Breakthrough Prizes in Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics are recognized as one of the world’s most prestigious science prizes. Kelly’s award, one of three life science prizes announced last week, recognizes transformative advances in the understanding of neurologial disease.
Kelly has been a leader in the field of protein misfolding and aggregation, helping illuminate its role in neurodegenerative disease progression.
Kelly is now teaming with other experts at Scripps Research on a strategy to aid early diagnosis and improve the body’s ability to clear toxic protein clumps.
“It is a tremendous honor to receive the Breakthrough Prize and to be included in the terrific company of this year’s other recipients and those of years past,” says Kelly, the Lita Annenberg Hazen Professor of Chemistry at Scripps Research, a professor of molecular medicine, and a Scripps Research trustee.
Foundation awards SD History Center $330,000
for restoration work at Junipero Serra Museum
The Conrad Prebys Foundation has awarded the San Diego History Center $330,000 toward the cost of restoring the North Tower and East Facade of the Junipero Serra Museum in Presidio Park. Work is to begin in spring 2022.
The museum has undergone a multi-year, $1.4 million dollar renovation of its exhibits. The renovation of the exhibits, focusing on the people who have used the San Diego River from time immemorial to today, is in partnership with the San Diego River Conservancy, State Coastal Conservancy and the Kumeyaay Diegueño Land Conservancy.
The west façade of the museum was restored in 2019 with funds donated by R.E. Staite, Ray and Sue Carpenter, Wells Fargo and General Dynamics/NASSCO, as well as contributions from members of the San Diego History Center.
San Diego student Kyle Tianshi, 14, among 2021
International Young Eco-Hero Award winners
Kyle Tianshi, a 14 year-old from San Diego, is one of 25 young environmental activists from across the globe honored by Action For Nature (AFN) as a 2021 International Young Eco-Hero, an award that recognizes eco-conscious youth ages 8 to 16 who are taking crucial steps to solve tough environmental problems.
Kyle won the Innovator Award in the 8-14 year-old category for his project, NEREID and Clearwater Innovation.
Kyle invented NEREID, a patent pending, portable microscopic particle detector that can rapidly find microplastics in water using a laser.
This solution offers a low-cost alternative for families that do not have access to water filtration systems.
“There may be as high as 50 trillion microplastics in our seas and studies predict that 90 percent of our drinking water and tap water could contain microplastics.
That’s why I was thrilled that my invention has the potential to create a real impact for families concerned about microplastics,” said Kyle.
To read more about Kyle’s work, check out the project website at clearwaterinnovation.org
Endurance racer and author Robyn Benincasa
to speak at CREW San Diego Sept. 24 event
CREW San Diego, a membership organization dedicated to promoting, educating and supporting professionals in the field of commercial real estate, will host a keynote event with endurance racer and author Robyn Benincasa at Tom Ham’s Lighthouse on Sept. 24.
Benincasa will share incredible stories of extreme racing team dynamics and how that synergy can be harnessed and applied to both business and personal life. Topics of discussion include:
• Embracing times of great challenge and change as a springboard to future success
• Valuing and respecting diversity in team members’ background, experience, skill set and strengths
• Ensuring that all team members understand that they are also leaders in their areas of strength and expertise, regardless of tenure or titles.
Price: Members, $75; Nonmembers, $125.
Where: Tom Ham’s Lighthouse, 2150 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego 92101.
San Diego Community College District
adopts $872 million budget for 2021-22
The San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) Board of Trustees has adopted an $872 million budget for 2021-22 that represents a 12 percent increase compared with the previous year’s budget.
The SDCCD’s balanced, 2021-22 budget includes $552 million in General Fund spending and $320 million in other funds. Most of this year’s budget increase is in the General Fund for COVID-19 related federal and state stimulus funds to provide direct financial aid to students impacted by the pandemic and funding to ensure continuity of instructional operations.
Among the budget’s highlights:
• The district received $126.5 million from the Federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF) to assist with COVID-19 related expenditures and direct support to students in the form of $49 million in emergency grants.
• The SDCCD anticipates receiving $2.3 million from the state to help support the district’s tuition-free San Diego Promise, which benefits thousands of students at City, Mesa, and Miramar colleges.
Codex DNA releases full-length genome for Delta variant
Codex DNA has released its first full-length synthetic genome for the highly infectious Delga variant of the COVID-19 virus. The San Diego-based company used its BioXp 3250 for the process, a fully automated synthetic biology benchtop workstation for rapid, accurate, and reproducible writing of DNA and mRNA. The new synthetic genome is a key resource needed to combat coronavirus.
Plant protein startup Plantible Foods raises $21.5 million
San Marcos-based Plantible Foods has raised $21.5 million in a Series A round. The investment will enable Plantible Foods to gear up for its 2022 commercial launch and open its first commercial facility. The startup creates a lemna-fueled plant protein designed to replace the animal protein from a functional and nutritional perspective.
Qualcomm’s 5G chips to power Renault SA
electric vehicle’s infotainment system
Qualcomm said it will supply a key computing chip for the digital dashboard in a new Renault SA electric vehicle.
Qualcomm, the world’s biggest supplier of key semiconductors in mobile phones, has been expanding into vehicles with chips that can power dashboards and infotainment systems at the same time. The company earlier this year announced a deal with General Motors Co to use Qualcomm chips.
Qualcomm said that Renault’s Mégane E-TECH Electric will use its chips to power the vehicle’s infotainment system using software from Alphabet Inc’s Google, Qualcomm’s longtime partner in the Android phone market.
Forbes ranks UC San Diego as No. 3 best public college
The University of California San Diego has been ranked third among the nation’s top public colleges, according to the Forbes 2021 list of America’s Top Colleges. UC San Diego was No. 15 out of the complete list of 600 four-year private and public colleges in the country.
According to Forbes, “public universities can deliver the most outstanding education to the broadest range of students at the most affordable price.” This year, UC San Diego also joins fellow UC campuses such as UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC Davis in the list’s top 20 ranks. Overall, UC San Diego was selected from nearly 2,700 degree-granting institutions considered for the final 600 universities profiled in the America’s Top Colleges list.
