Connecting Community and Ideas
UC San Diego has a long history of developing and maintaining connections inside and outside the university. We do this through interdisciplinary research, collaboration across institutions, and mutually beneficial partnerships with industry, government and community organizations. These connections create a larger well of ideas, uncover alternative perspectives and enhance deliberations that lead to more equitable, long-term solutions that benefit a larger swath of humanity. In a word, innovation.
We encourage these connections by creating physical, cultural and intellectual infrastructure that connects people and fosters our culture of collaboration. For example, this year the new UC San Diego Blue Line Trolley will begin operations, increasing direct access to our campus and medical centers for students, patients, employees and visitors. Our new Design and Innovation Building will open for creative experimentation and learning for partners on and off campus. And our new downtown San Diego location at Park & Market streets will open a mix of public, business, arts and educational spaces for civic engagement, learning and cultural experiences unique to our region. These projects will connect UC San Diego to our entire cross-border region.
On a national scale, we became a founding member of the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance. We joined Stanford, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard, the University of Kansas, the University of Oregon and the Salk Institute to transform health on a global scale by learning more about the biological principles underlying human performance. In the recently announced Institute for Learning-enabled Optimization at Scale, headquartered at UC San Diego, we joined MIT, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania and other leading research institutions to advance AI research and workforce development. Connections like these reinforce our position as a global hub for innovations that make a difference.
In this issue of Triton magazine, you will read about Tritons who have built connections that are advancing discoveries in complex issues such as climate change, wildfire, cardiology and more. Data science, technology, bioprospecting and “underwater libraries” are just a sample of the remarkable innovations shared in the following pages that highlight how connections are the engine that drives progress.
Don’t forget that you, too, are connected to UC San Diego. I encourage you to nurture your connections to each other and to your alma mater. We hope to see you soon at Homecoming or at any of our virtual or in person networking events. Let’s connect soon.
With kind regards,
Pradeep K. Khosla
Chancellor