New Regent

Saturday, August 21, 2021

From the Bruin: Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Jose Hernandez to the University of California Board of Regents according to a press release Friday. Hernandez must be confirmed by the California State Senate and once approved, he will begin his 12-year term as a regent. Hernandez has served as the president and chief CEO of Tierra Luna Engineering, LLC since 2012. He worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for 10 years, and during his time there, he served as an astronaut, legislative analyst, materials research engineer and branch chief. In 2009, Hernandez was selected to be a mission specialist on board the space shuttle Discovery...

Hernandez is a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens and Latinos in Science and Engineering. In 2016, he received the National Hispanic Hero Award from the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute. Hernandez, a first-generation student, earned a master’s degree in electronics engineering, signals and systems from UC Santa Barbara in 1986. UC President Michael Drake and UC Board of Regents chair Cecilia Estolano congratulated Hernandez for his appointment in a press release Friday...

“As a native Californian, an alumnus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, a former researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and an astronaut, Jose exemplifies the power of a UC education,” [UC President Michael] Drake said in the press release. “His deep and diverse expertise will be a tremendous asset to the Board as we work together to serve students and families across the state.” ...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2021/08/20/gov-newsom-appoints-jose-hernandez-touc-board-of-regents.

Watch the Regents' Committee on Innovation Transfer & Entrepren...

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Last week on Thursday, the Regents had a second off-cycle meeting following the Health Services Committee meeting of Wednesday. Although there was a public comment option, no speakers signed up. (Maybe, no one quite knew what the new committee was all about.) The new committee had some outside advisors, among them Peter Taylor, one-time chief financial officer for the Regents. Taylor, when he was in office, opposed the kind of social divesting which the Regents have followed under his successor.* A lot time was spent talking about installing a system of systemwide patent tracking, apparently to prevent infringement of patent rights held by UC. One Regent did point to the UCPath system as a cautionary tale of new computer systems. There was discussion of various legal issues. Apart from the cautionary reference to UCPath, the committee seemed enthusiastic. I didn't hear a lot of "what-could-possibly-go-wrong" type comments.

You can watch the committee at the link below:

https://archive.org/details/regents-health-services-committee-8-18-2021/Regents-8-192021-Special+Committee+on+Innovation+Transfer+and+Entrepreneurship.mp4

*Taylor's view of divestment for social reasons (as of 2014) is at:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTXbABD-3o4.