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Water front and center

The swirling issue of California water is the topic for two seminars next week. Both programs are free and open to the public.

• California Water Policy Seminar Series — Professor Jay Lund, director of UC Davis' Center for Watershed Sciences, is set to launch this winter quarter series with a talk on "California’s Water Challenges." 4 p.m. Jan. 11, 216 Wellman Hall. Sponsors: Center for Watershed Sciences, John Muir Institute of the Environment, Institute of Governmental Affairs, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hydrologic Sciences Graduate Group and Geography Graduate Group.

• Policy Watch Seminar Series — Policy Watch, sponsored by the Instutute of Governmental Affairs, continues its subseries titled Meltdown: Institutional Challenges Facing California. In this installment, Jonathan Clay (Carpi & Clay Government Relations) and Philip Isenberg (Isenberg/O'Haren Government Relations, and former assemblyman and Sacramento mayor) engage in a "Dialogue on California Water Issues." 12:10 p.m. Jan. 13, IGA Reading Room, 360 Shields Library. Sponsors: IGA and Center for Watershed Sciences.

Time to talk tomatoes

Tomato Research Day is scheeduled for Jan. 13 in the Sensory Theater at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science.

The lectures are intended for tomato processors, breeders, growers, marketers and UC-affiilated researchers. The program is scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

Co-sponsors: Department of Food Science and Technology, the Robert Mondavi Institute, the California Institute for Food and Agricultural Research, the California League of Food Processors and Heinz Seed.

Ex-CIA chief to visit GSM as venture capitalist

The Graduate School of Management announced a talk Jan. 22 by R. James Woolsey, the one-time CIA director who today promotes national security in a different way, as a venture capitalist specializing in alternative energy.

Woolsey is a partner and senior adviser with VantagePoint Venture Partners, a San Francisco-area company that offers "creative capital for transformative companies," according to the VantagePoint Web site.

He is coming to the GSM as a Dean's Distinguished Speaker; his talk, "National Security and Alternative Energy," and a question-and-answer session are scheduled from noon to 2 p.m. in the AGR Room at the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center. That is a bigger venue than the one previously announced, due to a good response so far from people in the campus community who wish to attend. However, space is still limited, so organizers are requiring .

The event is being co-hosted by the Institute for Governmental Affairs and the Energy Institute.

Besides working with VantagePoint, Woolsey is chair of Paladin Capital's senior advisory group and counsel to the Washington, D.C., office of the Boston-based law firm, Goodwin Procter. As with VantagePoint, his work with Paladin Capital and Goodwin Procter is centered on alternative energy and security issues.

Woolsey served as CIA director from 1993 to 1995, under President Clinton. Altogether, he worked in the federal government — in Democratic and Republican administrations — for 12 years.