BSLUG ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY & SMITH SOCIETY FUNDRAISER, FRIDAY, DEC. 4

Mark your calendars--the annual B-SLUG (Boston-area Local UC Santa Cruz Graduates) Holiday Party will take place on Friday evening, Dec. 4 at the home of fellow alum and very generous host, Sloan Nota.

The party is a fundraiser for the Smith Renaissance Society, founded by Cowell alumnus Bill Dickinson. The Smith Society provides UC Santa Cruz mentors, scholarships, and collegiate resources to foster children, homeless and runaway youth, orphans, and wards of the court. 

This year we have a VERY SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY to raise a ton of money for the Smith Renaissance Society. A matching campaign is being launched that will allow every dollar B-SLUGs donate to generate $2 in value. In addition, Bill Dickinson will match all that we raise, up to $1500. This means every dollar we donate will generate $3 of value--how fantastic is that!
WHERE: Home of Sloan Nota in Newtonville, Mass.
WHEN: Friday, Dec. 4, 7:00 p.m.- 10:00 p.m.
WHAT: We'll be providing an Italian holiday feast -- you'll be bringing the good cheer!
BYOB
What better way to greet the winter season than to spend a wonderful evening with fellow UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs! Friends and family are also welcome. 

Checks should be made payable to: "UC Santa Cruz Foundation" and write in the memo line: Smith Scholarship Endowment

Mail checks to: Beata Panagopoulos, 28 Maple Ave., Apt. 3, Cambridge, MA 02139-1130. You will receive a receipt directly from UC Santa Cruz.

Post a comment on Facebook for directions, car-pool arrangements, or any questions or contact Beata directly

Turning Stars into Gold: BSLUG Spring Speaker Dessert Event Saturday Evening, April 18

UCSC Professor Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz has been a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University this past academic year and has graciously accepted our invitation to talk to the BSLUGS.  Please come to another fabulous evening for UCSC alumni in West Newton where we’ll learn a lot, indulge in delicious dessert, and meet old and new friends.  As always, all friends and family are welcome!

Turning Stars into Gold

Most beginning chemistry students struggling with the complexities and underlying structure of the Periodic Table will simply accept the existence of the approximately 90 stable elements. Rarely does it occur to them that somewhere and in some way, all of the elements had to be synthesized. Such element generation or nucleosynthesis, through transmutation of one element into another, is a crucial byproduct of stellar energy generation. It has occurred since the birth of the first stars in the Galaxy, and without it life on Earth would not be possible. Although the general picture of element formation is well understood, many questions about the nuclear physics processes and particularly the astrophysical details responsible for forming the heavier elements such as platinum and gold remain to be answered. Here I focus on advances in our understanding—still very incomplete— of the origin of the heaviest and rarest elements in the Universe.

WHEN: Saturday, April 18

7:30-10 p.m. (7:30 p.m. dessert | 8:15 p.m. talk begins)

WHERE: At the home of Sloan Nota and Rob McKean in Newtonville, Mass. 02460

WHAT:  a fascinating talk, interesting discussion with fellow UCSC alums, and delightful dessert  

RSVP to the BSLUG Facebook Event invitation or by email to Beata (beata Panagopoulos verizon.net) by Monday, April 23

Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz is a Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). He is also the Director of the Theoretical Astrophysics Santa Cruz Institute and the Sophie and Tycho Brahe Visiting Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute. After studying at the University of Cambridge, he was the John Bahcall Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Since joining the UCSC faculty, Ramirez-Ruiz has won a number of national awards for his research, including a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering  and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award. He is also a highly regarded teacher and public lecturer. In 2010, he was elected a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. Then 35, he was the youngest scientist ever elected to the academy.