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- Getting wrong right: Mathematics professor Alexandre Chorin is named University Professor.
- Stanford parent: Former President Bill Clinton visits the Berkeley campus.
- Up with the Blue and Gold: Berkeley astronomers launch the High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) to study solar flares.
- UC vs. Enron: The University of California leads a class-action lawsuit against Enron and Arthur Andersen.
- Post-season players: Bears basketball advances to the NCAA tournament.
- Blues in the news
Getting wrong right
Mathematics professor Alexandre Chorin was named University Professor, one of UC’s most prestigious titles, in February. The applied mathematician becomes only the 22nd UC faculty member, and the ninth from Berkeley, to receive the honor, which allows him to teach at any UC campus.
Chorin works mainly on the problem of “optimal prediction”-trying to answer the question, How right can you be when you know you’re wrong? “Many problems in physics and biology are very complicated, and you cannot possibly describe them in full,” says Chorin. “You can describe them partially, but those calculations cannot be completely right. So the question is: How much of the solution is correct and what legitimate conclusions can one draw?”
Turbulence is one example of a problem that is too complex to model exactly. Nevertheless, engineers must model turbulence if they are to build airplane wings that can withstand such forces. Aircraft engineers know their models are “wrong,” but Chorin hopes to be able to tell them just how wrong-and, also, how right.
The usually modest Chorin allows himself a little pride when talking about his work on turbulence. “People used to think of turbulence as being completely incoherent and without any real, clear structure, but that’s not true,” he says. Chorin showed how elements of turbulence, such as vortices, can be used to better model the phenomenon. “The problem is not solved, but I feel I’ve made a dent,” he adds.
The impact of Chorin’s early work on fluid mechanics has been felt across a wide range of disciplines. The techniques he developed have been used in the computer modeling of such diverse problems as combustion, the movement of ocean currents, and blood flow in the heart and veins.
University Professors are recognized for scholarship of international distinction as well as for exceptional teaching. “It may well be that the production of graduate students is my main achievement,” says Chorin. Whether in the math department or up at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, where he is also a senior scientist, Chorin’s door is always open for his students.
Chorin was born in Poland in 1939, but his family fled to Israel to escape the Nazis. He first studied engineering, and then physics, before returning to his first love, math. He arrived in New York in 1962 and joined the Berkeley faculty in 1972.
The mathematician is used to traveling across the state to give talks, as is expected of a University Professor. His new title is already helping him cut through the red tape. “I have long wanted to teach a course at Davis, but it’s been complicated. Now, it’s easy,” he says.
Chorin feels honored to receive the title, and returns the compliment. “This is a very nice way of telling me that what I did is appreciated. But I also appreciate the campus very much.”
Stanford parent
 | Bill Clinton
(Photo by Noah Berger) |
As former President Bill Clinton walked onto the stage at Zellerbach Auditorium January 29, someone yelled, “We love you!” and the place erupted in cheers and applause. The seventh President to visit the campus-and the first since John F. Kennedy filled Memorial Stadium in 1962-Clinton was articulate and passionate as he gave his views on globalization and the world since September 11. Chancellor Berdahl presented him with the Berkeley Medal; following Clinton’s talk, Graduate School of Journalism Dean Orville Schell asked the former President some questions. Two Clinton comments brought down the house. The first came after he was given the medal, to enthusiastic applause: “That’s probably the nicest welcome ever given to a Stanford parent!” And, in response to a question from Schell about why the right wing despised him so much: “Because I won.”
Up with the Blue and Gold
On February 5, NASA launched a shiny blue and gold satellite into space. The High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, or HESSI, was designed and built by Berkeley astronomers to study solar flares, violent eruptions from the Sun’s surface that can seriously disrupt satellite communications. After an 18-month delay, the satellite was finally blasted  | HESSI, the High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager
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into orbit 40,000 feet above the Earth. As for the satellite’s colors, that was just a happy accident, says Robert Lin, director of the Space Sciences Lab and HESSI’s principal investigator. “Solar panels tend to be blue, and the thermal blanketing is gold for its thermal properties, not because it’s a Cal satellite. So a lot of satellites will look blue and gold,” he explains. “But, in any case, we’re happy that this one was blue and gold.”
UC vs. Enron
The University of California has been named lead plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit against 29 senior executives of Enron Corporation and its accounting firm, Arthur Andersen LLP. The University suffered one of the largest investment losses of any single entity as a result of the collapse of the energy-trading company last November.
As lead plaintiff, the University will be responsible for managing the lawsuit on behalf of the entire class, which includes several large public pension funds as well as individual investors and Enron employees.
“The advantage of being the lead plaintiff is that we can be sure that the case is being litigated vigorously and that we’re getting the largest possible recovery, not only for the University, but for all the members of the class,” says University Counsel Christopher Patti.
Between May 2000 and November 2001, the University bought and sold a total of 2.2 million Enron shares and lost $145 million. But despite these huge losses, UC Treasurer David Russ says that University retirees will not be affected as a result of the Enron collapse.
The losses represent just 0.3 percent of the pension fund, currently valued at $54 billion. In fact, Russ points out, during the Enron collapse UC’s retirement portfolio actually grew by $1.9 billion.
Post-season players
 | (Photo by Soummya Datta) |
Cal’s men’s basketball team swept UCLA and USC at Haas Pavilion in February en route to a 12-6, second-place finish in the Pac 10. They beat UCLA again in the Pac-10 tournament, before losing to Arizona. The strong season earned the Golden Bears an invitation to the NCAA tournament, where they topped Ivy League champion Penn, 82-75, in the first round before falling to Pitt, 63-50. The team featured a tough defense (tops in the Pac 10) and a balanced offense that in any game could be led by any player, including (above, left to right) guards Shantay Legans and Dennis Gates and forward Amit Tamir.
Blues in the News
 | San Francisco financier Richard Blum ‘58, MBA ‘59, husband of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, was appointed to the UC Board of Regents on March 14. He replaces Bill Bagley ‘49, Boalt ‘52, president of the Class of ‘49. |
Psychology professor and neurologist Robert Knight is the new director of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, a group of 40 scientists from various departments who are involved in brain research. |  |
 | Raymond Orbach, Ph.D. ‘60, chancellor of UC Riverside, was sworn in as head of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science on March 14. The former physicist will be responsible for 10 of the Department’s labs, including Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. |
Neal Benezra ‘76, former curator of modern art at the Art Institute of Chicago, has been appointed director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Benezra, who was born in Oakland, says that SFMOMA was the first museum he ever visited. |  |
 | President of Costa Rica Miguel A. Rodríguez, Ph.D. ‘66 was awarded the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award for his commitment to public service. He was keynote speaker on Charter Day. |
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Alexandre Chorin
Photo by Peg Skorpinski
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