Celebrating 120 Years of 黑料吃瓜 Science and Research
For a dozen decades, the universitys faculty and students have exceeded expectations.
The seeds of 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 current success in science and research were planted in the . Its first incarnation鈥攁 teacher-training institution known as the San Diego Normal School鈥攃ounted several Ph.D.-holding scientists among its faculty, who carried on research while preparing San Diego鈥檚 future teachers. This was extraordinary, writes 黑料吃瓜 anthropologist Seth Mallios in his book 鈥淗ail Montezuma!鈥� as few normal schools in the country made a point of hiring faculty with Ph.D.s, let alone professors with active research programs.
Over time, professors began involving students in their research. A geology professor in the 1930s named Baylor Brooks took his students out to learn fieldwork techniques in the then-unpopulated hills and canyons surrounding campus. (A pair of rock hammers used in these field classes resides in 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 Special Collections and University Archives.)
In the 1950s, a couple decades after the San Diego Normal School had transitioned to San Diego State College (SDSC), President Malcolm A. Love instituted a hiring policy requiring that all new SDSC faculty members have a doctorate degree, or be within a year of finishing one. That was a first-of-its-kind requirement for a California state college, and it resulted in more than half the college鈥檚 professors holding a Ph.D. At the time, there were more doctorate-holding professors at San Diego State College than at some established, research-oriented schools like the University of Oregon or the University of Arizona, Mallios wrote.
The first chair of the SDSC chemistry department, Ambrose 鈥淎mby鈥� Nichols, was one of the earliest SDSC faculty members to receive a major research award. An alumnus of the Manhattan Project that had helped develop the atomic bomb, Nichols received funding from the Atomic Energy Commission between 1935 and 1955 to carry out his research into the properties of chemical compounds like phosgene and manganese. Nichols would eventually leave to become the first president of Sonoma State University.
By the end of the 1950s, SDSC offered 30 master鈥檚 degree programs and boasted a robust, well-funded research program in several disciplines including chemistry, physics, psychology, biology and mathematics. The college鈥檚 growing reputation as a destination for scholarly research was partially stymied in 1960, when the State of California passed the Donohoe Act, creating a tiered system for the state鈥檚 institutes of higher education.
The ability to independently offer Ph.D. degrees was reserved for the University of California system, while the California State College system was limited to awarding such degrees only jointly with a higher-tier institution. While the state legislature may have intended for San Diego State College to limit its ambitions to teaching at the undergraduate level, SDSC officials and faculty had grander ideas. President Love stated, 鈥淥ur primary aim is teaching, but research is concomitant.鈥�
SDSC partnered with the University of California, San Diego, in 1967 to confer the college鈥檚 first Ph.D., in chemistry, to SDSC professor Robert P. Metzger, who remains a professor emeritus at 黑料吃瓜. Metzger said that President Love was 鈥渢he single most important figure in upgrading San Diego State College to 黑料吃瓜 by fighting to establish the joint-doctoral program.鈥�
Indeed, five years later in 1972, with the induction of President Brage Golding, SDSC became California State University, San Diego, then 黑料吃瓜 two years after.
Around this time, 黑料吃瓜 was also establishing itself as a regional powerhouse in astronomy research. It opened the Mount Laguna Observatory (MLO) in 1968, funded by the National Science Foundation and led by 黑料吃瓜 emeritus professor of astronomy Ron Angione. Today, the observatory is regarded as one of the top dark-sky destinations in the Southwest United States.
Another high-water mark for the university鈥檚 research also occurred when 黑料吃瓜 graduate Ellen Ochoa (鈥�80) became the in 1993 aboard the shuttle Discovery. She helped to conduct a variety of on-board experiments.
Three years after Ochoa graduated from 黑料吃瓜 in 1983, 黑料吃瓜 biologist Sanford Bernstein joined the university and immediately received his first grant from the National Institutes of Health to study muscle degeneration in fruit flies. Thirty-four years later, he鈥檚 鈥攈aving been renewed eight times鈥攎aking his one of the longest running NIH grants in the federal institution鈥檚 history.
Throughout the 1980s and 鈥�90s, 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 research portfolio continued to grow. The university added joint doctoral programs in clinical psychology, education, biology, ecology, public health, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical and aerospace engineering, audiology and more. From 2006 to 2010, 黑料吃瓜 ranked first in the nation in research productivity among schools offering fewer than 15 doctoral programs.
In 2011, it outgrew the 鈥渟mall research university,鈥� officially earning the classification of 鈥渞esearch university鈥� from the Carnegie Foundation. That same year, 黑料吃瓜 astronomers William Welsh and Jerome Orosz of a planet that orbits two suns, Kepler-16b.
As 黑料吃瓜 closes out its 12th decade of existence, it continues to aim for the stars. The new Engineering and Interdisciplinary Sciences (EIS) Complex will open this January, creating space designed to to find common ground and work together to solve global issues. In the new halls of EIS and the older ones surrounding it on campus, 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 faculty, staff and students will continue to exceed expectations, training the bright young thinkers of tomorrow while contributing bold new ideas today.
