Costa Mesa needs committee members Costa Mesa...

Costa Mesa needs committee members

Costa Mesa is looking for volunteers to serve on the following

council committees: Child Care and Youth Services; Cultural Arts;

Fairview Park Friend/Fundraising; Historical Preservation; Investment

Oversight; and Redevelopment and Residential Rehabilitation.

Interest forms can be obtained from the city clerk’s office at

City Hall, 77 Fair Drive or from the city’s website at https://www.ci.

costa-mesa.ca.us. Or letters of interest can be submitted to the

council. Materials can be mailed to Costa Mesa City Council, P.O. Box

1200, Costa Mesa, CA 92628. The deadline is 5 p.m. Friday.

Vanguard to host high school jazz competition

High school jazz bands from all over Orange County, including

Newport Harbor and Costa Mesa high schools, will compete at the

second Vanguard University Jazz Band Festival today from 3 p.m. to 7

p.m.

Newport Harbor will perform at 5:30 p.m. and Costa Mesa will

perform at 6:30 p.m. Other schools participating include Huntington

Beach High School, Tustin High School, home-schooled bands Sound

Waves and Zephyr and Lutheran High School of Orange County.

The festival is open to the public with no admission fee. Vanguard

University Jazz Band, under the direction of Daryl Gardner, will

round out the evening.

A snack bar will be providing refreshments to the audience and

participants.

Judging performances will be Gardner, a professional studio

musician who has worked with Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra; Ron Stout,

an accomplished jazz trumpeter who has performed with many musical

greats including The Four Tops and The Temptations; and John F.

Reilly, a long-time music instructor, now at Vanguard, who has

performed with Liza Minnelli.

Performances will be held in the Newport-Mesa Christian Center

auditorium.

Researchers honored by chemists’ society

Two UC Irvine researchers received honors Tuesday from the

American Chemical Society for their long-term contributions to

chemistry.

Professor of chemistry, Barbara Finlayson-Pitts, will receive the

American Chemical Society Award for Creative Advances in

Environmental Science and Technology. Finlayson-Pitts has studied how

chemical reactions contribute to urban air pollution.

John Hemminger, professor of chemistry, will receive the Arthur W.

Adamson Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Surface

Chemistry for his work on the fundamentals of how small molecules

interact with surfaces. His research has also focused on sea salt

particles interact with trace gases in the atmosphere.

The American Chemical Society is the world’s largest scientific

society, with more than 159,000 professionals.

UCI student earns

scholarship award

A UC Irvine announced Wednesday that an undergraduate student was

one of 77 nationwide to receive the Harry S. Truman Scholarship,

given to college juniors who have demonstrated exceptional leadership

potential and who are committed to careers in public service.

Jacqueline Chattopadhyay, a political science and economics

student, will receive a $26,000 grant, including $2,000 for her

senior year and the remainder for graduate study. She will also

receive leadership training, career and graduate counseling and

special internship opportunities in the federal government.

Chattopadhyay has had internships with Congresswoman Loretta

Sanchez and former Gov. Gray Davis. She is involved in mentoring

programs, honors society and other campus organizations.

As part of her Truman scholarship application, the lifelong Irvine

resident submitted a policy recommendation to establish a California

“rainy-day fund” that would protect higher education from budget

deficits and funding costs.

Corser named county’s financial director

Orange County’s Executive Officer James D. Ruth named former

Riverside County finance director Edward Corser as chief financial

officer of the county on Tuesday. Corser holds a bachelor’s degree in

political science and public administration and a master’s degree in

public administration, both from USC, and he has worked as an

assistant city administrative officer in Los Angeles. His annual

salary will be $175,000 and he will begin May 17. Corser replaces

Fred Branca, who has served as interim CFO for the last year.

Tickets for ZZ Top’s August concert on sale

Tickets are available to see ZZ Top at the Orange County Fair this

summer. The Texas blues band will perform the closing night of the

fair on Aug 1. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets,

online at https://www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at (714) 740-2000 and at the Orange County Fair & Exposition Center Box office at the

Pacific Amphitheatre.