A Visual Story
At first glance , it ’ s just a red shoe , a big blue net or flashing neon words , yet from the quirky to the controversial , each piece in The Stuart Collection has its own story to tell ( and sometimes our trees talk back ). Our campus is home to the most eclectic , exceptional , even downright inexplicable collections of public art at any university . From Sun God and Bear to Fallen Star and Snake Path , every student past and present has his or her favorite , and all accept the everyday wonder of the Stuart Collection as part of our uniquely UC San Diego experience .
The first Stuart Collection piece gave birth to the Sun God Festival , said to be the one and only day of the year when UC San Diego students cut loose and class becomes unofficially “ optional .” Starting one year after the statue found its perch in 1983 , the annual event has brought forth indie , mainstream and student bands , DJs and a bevy of unique festival posters — check them out at tritonmag . com / sungodfest
Where computers like this from the School of Medicine once used reams of paper , the sleek powerhouses at the San Diego Supercomputer Center now draw researchers from institutions the world over to access the processing prowess on our campus .
Turning Data into Discovery
With names like Blue Horizon , Dash , Gordon and Comet , the processing powerhouses at the San Diego Supercomputer Center sound more like superheroes than supercomputers . But given that they ’ ve helped track the origins of the universe , fight runaway wildfires and catch notorious cybercriminals , they just may be a bit of both . Researchers from universities around the nation come to UC San Diego to harness their data-crunching power , resulting in discoveries that have spanned all frontiers — from genomic , seismic , and even the political arena . Stay tuned to Triton magazine for more on this unique campus superpower .
30 TRITON | SPRING 2017