Department of Applied Science, UC Davis

The Department of Applied Science, DAS, in the University of California, Davis was established in the fall of 1963, by Edward Teller who proposed for establishment of academic programs at the National Laboratories^[1].

DAS is a two-campus organization including Building Engineering III at the Davis Campus, and Hertz Hall adjacent to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It offers both graduate research programs and undergraduate majors in the College of Engineering. The undergraduate major of Optical Science and Engineering (OSE) is one of four Optical Science undergraduate programs in the US. The four-year OSE program focuses training for the telecommunications, laser, and optics industries, as well as providing a training platform for students who wish to pursue advanced degrees in applied physics, applied science, engineering, and basic physics^[2].

The graduate program of DAS has graduated more than 350 Ph.D. students, many of whom have obtained positions in the national laboratories or in Silicon Valley companies. The program specializes in combinations of traditional fields, with emphasis on laser physics and technology, plasma diagnostics, fusion energy, accelerator technology, computational sciences, biotechnology, and environment/energy sciences. Although it is now mostly centered at the UC Davis campus, most of the department's faculty have joint appointments with national laboratories, especially from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. As a result, most students have unparalleled access to both campus and national lab settings.

Teller, who had been director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory beginning in 1958, was named the first chairman of the Department of Applied Science. Chairs in the past decade were professors Richard R. Freeman and Ann E. Orel. The current department chair is Professor Yin Yeh.

On Friday, July 1 2011, the College of Engineering closed the department of Applied Science, after its 48 years of operation, citing the budget issue. The department’s 45 graduate students and eight undergraduates will be able to finish out their degrees. Of the department’s 16 faculty, 14 are moving into other departments while two are retiring^[3].

References

1. ^ "Controversial champion for defense, nuclear research Edward Teller dies", UC Davis Dateline, September 19, 2003, http://www-dateline.ucdavis.edu/dl_detail.lasso?id=6668
2. ^ Recent Optical Science and Engineering Alumni, http://das.ucdavis.edu/pages/academics/ose/alumni.html
3. ^ UCD department shuttered as more budget cuts loom, http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/ucd/ucd-department-shuttered-as-more-budget-cuts-loom/