- Author: Wendy Powers
I took a new route to work today because I started from a different place. I wasn't looking forward to it because I thought the traffic would be worse and I would miss an exit somewhere along the way. It turns out that traffic was lighter than my usual path. I suspect, in part, that was due to my advanced preparation – I left 15 minutes earlier. And then I completely missed my BART stop because I was texting with someone. I used a portion of the 15 minutes to backtrack only to find the ‘back' gates to the building weren't even open yet. Imagine all I would have missed if I hadn't tried something new!
There's good news this morning on the Thomas Fire; finally more than 50% contained! I've heard from a couple of people that ‘traditional' media outlets aren't panning out to be the most up-to-date source of information and that social media has become the ‘go to' resource. How's that for the benefits of taking a different route! Rose Hayden-Smith shared with me a report that the person who has improved the use of social media for emergency reporting is a 21-year old! She also shared some information that people in Bangkok who used social media suffered less loss as a result of the 2011 floods. Clearly there's benefit to using the wisdom of the crowd. I'm guilty of not taking that path but who knows, with a new year upon us that may change!
In the face of California's worst fire season, it is no surprise that UC ANR is providing leadership to pre- and post-fire efforts. We learned yesterday that Lenya Quinn-Davidson will be the recipient of the 2017 CAL FIRE Partnership Award. She will receive the award January 8th in Sacramento. Congratulations Lenya – well deserved!
Speaking of partners, yesterday I attended a meeting with several from the Plant Sciences Department at UCD. Gail Taylor, the new department chair, was kind enough to invite Glenda, Mark and myself for the afternoon to talk about enhancing the partnership and working towards shared goals. It was nice to hear about the outcomes that are the result of funding support through UC ANR endowments where the payouts have been directed to the department. Of particular interest to me was conversation about long range planning that reflects departmental and division goals. The new chair is quite impressive, a real catch for UC Davis. I look forward to many more productive conversations with her.
Today and tomorrow seem to be interview days. So many Zoom meetings ahead before the winter break begins. Time to get ready for those meetings.