STEM in the News
A compilation of STEM-related stories in the media featuring Santa Clara faculty, staff, and students.
The momentous news of Santa Clara’s largest-ever gift of $100 million from John A. ‘60 and Susan Sobrato for the Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation was carried in hundreds of publications, TV spots, websites, Tweets and social-media shares, after the gift was announced Jan. 21. The Mercury News broke the story, which quoted Mr. Sobrato, Dennis Jacobs (Provost) and Michelle Marvier (Environmental Studies and Sciences). The story was republished in numerous outlets and sites including East Bay Times, True Viral News, and the aggregator site WN.com. The Mercury News’s “Around Town” columnist Sal Pizarro also wrote a column which noted the “thunderous ovation“ the gift elicited at Golden Circle. The Silicon Valley Business Journal wrote a story that was widely republished in sites including San Francisco Business Times, Chicago’s Daily Herald, and sites including Wopular, One News Page, and Biz News Index. Inside Higher Ed’s story generated a flurry of interest on social media, with dozens of Tweets and retweets. The Chronicle of Philanthropy covered the news, as did University Herald, CGArchitect, Philanthr
ENGINEERING
SCU’s Engineering students and professors are sought out frequently by the news media for their expertise in everything from drones to solar technology to climate and water science, to the Pope’s encyclical on protecting the earth. Some examples:
Santa Clara University’s win in the 2016 Tiny House competition (Engineering) garnered extensive news coverage, in Business Insider, World Architecture News, Tiny House Basics, The Santa Clara Weekly, and Collective Evolution. The story was featured in SFGate, Grind TV, EcoBuilding Plus, Solar Thermal Magazine, New Atlas, Last Minute Geek and Yahoo! Finance. More than 85 stories across the country focused on the design and unique features of SCU's winning rEvolve House. Coverage included national broadcast stories in major markets from Chicago and LA to Orlando, Honolulu, Colorado Springs, Spokane, Portland, Myrtle Beach, to Roanoke and more. Additional coverage included Monterey’s KSBW station, Sacramento's CBS13, KPIX, KGO, KNTV, & KOLO, and in the East Bay Times, Sacramento Bee, and Curbed.Com.
SCU School of Engineering students were interviewed on KCBS about their Tiny House project and its beneficiaries.
Student Scott Hunter (Engineering) wrote an article for Re/code about the excitement and fear of robots around the world.
A CBS5 story about a phobia-treating virtual-reality device created by Santa ClaraUniversity engineering students Bryce Mariano and Paul Thurston ran on more than 40 different stations nationwide. Originally airing on the local CBS station (KPIX-TV). tje stpry was picked up by CBS This Morning, CBS.com and stations, including Sacramento, Lafayette, La., Colorado Springs, and Green Bay, Wisconsin. The story was also posted on multiple tech websites such as Dailymotion.com, Styrk, and VRExperience.net.
The news of the driverless shuttles being tested and deployed on Santa Clara University’s campus received nationwide coverage, including in the Washington Post, USA Today College, TechCrunch, the MIT Technology Review, and Tech Times. The news was also announced via several broadcast outlets including NBC affiliate WPSD and KCSB-FM Radio.
Santa Clara University was featured on local television stations such as KPIX News , NBC Bay Area, KRON 4, KTVU and nationally for the first-in-the-nation driverless shuttle pilot program. IEEE.org for its first-in-the-nation driverlessshuttle pilot program.
Santa Clara University and Tim O’Keefe (Operations) was featured on CCTV America and on another Chinese language station, Skylink TV on air and on their Facebook site for coverage of the driverless shuttle operating on campus.
Tokunbo Ogunfunmi (Engineering) was interviewed by KPIX about a project to explore deep space called "Breakthrough Starshot."
Ed Maurer (Engineering) was quoted in an AGU Blogosphere blog about uniting faith and science to take action on climate change.
Silvia Figuiera (Computer Engineering) was quoted in a Campus Technology article about Santa Clara University's third annual "Hack For Humanity" put on by SCU's Association for Computing Machinery chapter.
Hisham Said (Engineering) was featured on an NBC Bay Area story about a construction mistake in the underground infrastructure of a Bay Area BART station.
Chris Kitts (Engineering) was interviewed by NBC Bay Area about new rules for drones.
Chirag Mehta (Computer Engineering) was quoted in Infoworld, CSO, CIO and NetworkWorld about the bright future of a distributed database called blockchain.
MILLER CENTER
Miller Center has trained, mentored and partnered with more than 600 businesses or organizations seeking to solve problems of poverty or climate crisis through business entities, or “social enterprises.” The stories and expertise offered by Miller Center leaders and students provid hope that technology and innovation can help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.
The Miller Center's Global Social Benefit Institute was profiled, along with five India-based attendees, in India West. It was also the subject of a lengthy article in Forbes, which profiled the social entrepreneurial businesses in attendance and noted the work of Thane Kreiner and Pam Roussos. A story in TakePart also profiled several attendees and described the GSBI program. Kreiner was also quoted in a KLIV radio story about the Investor Showcase event that took place on the last day of GSBI's in-residence program. A partnership between GSBI and USAID to support clean off-grid energy solutions was featured in Bombay News.
Thane Kreiner (Miller Center) wrote an article for TechCrunch about how technology and social entrepreneurship are "hacking" poverty.
Pamela Roussos (Miller) wrote an article for Ms. Magazine’s blog about how the Avon model of selling door-to-door, woman-to-woman, is thriving in developing countries, where social entrepreneurs sell life-saving goods.
The Mercury News ran a story about the unique relationship between Valley executive mentors and the social entrepreneurs in the Global Social Benefit Institute (Miller Center).
Work by John Koehler (Miller Center) on creative funding for social entrepreneurs was cited in a story in the site Impact Alpha, about one entrepreneur benefiting from his funding tool.
A financing tool created by John Kohler (Miller Center) which has been put to work in Nicaragua, was featured in an Impact Alpha article.
Pamela Roussos (Miller Center) wrote an article for NextBillion about young women social entrepreneurs in Sierra Leone.
Thane Kreiner (Miller Center) was profiled in the Silicon Valley Business Journal about his work at the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship.
Thane Kreiner (Miller Center) wrote a blog post for Triple Pundit about social entrepreneurship and development in West Africa.
The Miller Center's partnership with GE to work on maternal and child health innovations in sub-Saharan Africa has received positive press coverage in multiple outlets including News24 Nigeria, Innovation Village, and BizNis Africa. The center was mentioned in the Harvard Business Review for its work mentoring and training organizations.
Pamela Roussos (Miller Center) was profiled for her work with social entrepreneurs, in Crain’s Silicon Valley.
John Kohler (Miller Center) had an op-ed published in Devex Impact about how NGOs are turning to impact capital to accomplish their goals.
Marie Haller (Miller Center) wrote an article for NextBillion about the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship and how it keeps moms and children healthy.
Santa Clara’s Miller Center for Entrepreneurship was mentioned in All Africa about its recent initiative, The Healthymagination Mother and Child Programme, as well as a write-up in AfterSchoolAfrica, about GSBI programs for social entrepreneurs.
Numerous faculty members were quoted or wrote op-eds about the pope’s encyclical urging the world to protect earth, “our common home.” Keith Warner, OFM (Miller Center) wrote an op-ed about the Franciscan influence, which ran in Reuters, BusinessWorld and nearly a dozen other outlets
SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability is a key pillar for Santa Clara University’s mission to create a just, humane, and sustainable world. From the research and expertise of the Environmental Studies and Sciences department, to the work of the Center for Sustainability, SCU is a sought-out leader in addressing—often using the campus as its learning laboratory—the crucial environmental challenges of the 21st century like climate change, loss of biodiversity, and a need for renewable energy.
Virginia Matzek (ESS) was quoted in the Bowdoin Daily Sun for her contribution in the paper Climate Change Economics.
Chris Bacon (ESS) was quoted in a Grist story about the future for small rural coffee growers.
Numerous faculty members were quoted or wrote op-eds about the pope’s encyclical urging the world to protect earth, “our common home.” David DeCosse (Markkula), Ed Maurer (Engineering) and John Farnsworth (ESS) wrote an op-ed that ran in the Mercury News and eight other outlets, about how the encyclical is a “game changer.”
Ed Maurer (Engineering) and Iris Stewart Frey (ESS) wrote a response to a Marketwatch article, rebutting the author’s claims that the poor would suffer the most from halting fossil fuel extraction.
Iris Stewart-Frey (ESS) was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times about shrinking California ice packs.
Michelle Marvier (ESS) and Santa Clara University were mentioned in The New Yorker for a paper she just published about the shifting mission of the Nature Conservancy. Her work was also featured on the Nature Conservancy blog.
Cara Uy (Center for Sustainability) wrote a piece for USA Today College about ways to be sustainable on campus.
Lindsey Kalkbrenner (Sustainability) was interviewed for an article by the National Catholic Reporter for a story about SCU’s sustainability efforts and the pledge that many graduates take each year.
Lindsey Kalkbrenner (Sustainability) had an op-ed published in the San Francisco Chronicle about preventative water-saving measures we should be taking.
Lindsey Kalkbrenner (Sustainability) provided water-saving tips for a story on KCBS about Gov. Brown's conservation rules.