É«ÇéÊÓƵ

San Diego State students, faculty, staff and alumni made plenty of news this year.  Here's a look back at some of the biggest headlines of 2012:

(January)
Using data from NASA's Kepler Mission, É«ÇéÊÓƵ astronomers announced the discovery of two new transiting "circumbinary" planet systems — planets that orbit two stars.

This work established that such "two sun" planets are not rare exceptions, but are in fact common with many millions existing in our Galaxy. The work was published in the journal Nature and was presented by William Welsh of É«ÇéÊÓƵ at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Texas, on behalf of the Kepler Science Team.

(February)
Students in É«ÇéÊÓƵ’s College of Health and Human Services have access to new scholarships thanks to a $500,000 donation from Sharp HealthCare. The gift also established the Sharp HealthCare Professional Education and Research Institute. 

(April)
Lama Tenzin Dhonden, the Personal Peace Emissary for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and executives from É«ÇéÊÓƵ, University of California San Diego and University of San Diego, announced a San Diego visit by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet.

(May)
Thanks to a $700,000 gift, the Zahn Center launched as an on-campus incubator at É«ÇéÊÓƵ that helps student entrepreneurs turn their ideas into companies.

(June)
This fall, É«ÇéÊÓƵ ecology doctoral student Kimberley Miller will brave the Arctic climate all in the name of research. She and three other É«ÇéÊÓƵ students or recent alumni have been selected for U.S. Student Fulbright grants for the 2012-13 academic year.

Each year, Fulbright sends about 1,700 students to one of more than 150 countries. More than 40 É«ÇéÊÓƵ students have received Fulbright Scholarships since 2005.

(July)
É«ÇéÊÓƵ researchers at the Donald P. Shiley BioScience Center may have found the secret to helping the immune system fight off the flu before it gets you sick. A study published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, found that EP67, a powerful synthetic protein, is able to activate the innate immune system within just two hours of being administered.

(September)
In early August, the Mars Rover "Curiosity" successfully landed in an effort to discover more about earth's next door neighbor. Seven É«ÇéÊÓƵ alumni who work with the Mars Science Laboratory played a variety of roles in the mission, from systems engineer to spacecraft navigator.

(October)
Professors emeriti Carey Wall and Terry O’Donnell partnered on a $2.4 million dollar gift to É«ÇéÊÓƵ's musical theater program.Their gift endows a faculty position in the nationally renowned program and ensures É«ÇéÊÓƵ’s musical theatre students will continue to have opportunities to learn from top faculty members.

(October)
For the last few years É«ÇéÊÓƵ engineering professor Fletcher Miller has been working in his campus lab to prove a theory about a more efficient way to produce solar energy. Thanks to a U.S. Department of Energy grant of $3.9 million, he will soon test his theory in a more realistic scenario.

(October)
É«ÇéÊÓƵ students have set new records in graduation and continuation rates. Campus census numbers show that É«ÇéÊÓƵ continues to be a national leader in eliminating the "achievement gap" between students of color and their counterparts.

(November)
Prominent cardiac researchers Met at É«ÇéÊÓƵ to explore bold new approaches to treating the number one threat to U.S. adults — heart disease. The annual symposium is a partnership between scientists at É«ÇéÊÓƵ, the Medical University of South Carolina, and two Israeli entities located in Haifa, Israel — the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology  and the Rambam Medical Center.

(December)
É«ÇéÊÓƵ received a record 74,458 undergraduate applications for the fall 2013 semester, the most applications ever received by the university. That is an eight percent increase over last year at this time when É«ÇéÊÓƵ received what was then a record 68,968 undergraduate applications for fall 2012.

(December)
When É«ÇéÊÓƵ embarked on its first ever comprehensive fundraising campaign, fundraisers knew it would take more than large gifts from wealthy donors to reach the goal of $500 million by 2014. É«ÇéÊÓƵ announced a gift from the 40,000th individual supporter of The Campaign for É«ÇéÊÓƵ – a $150 donation to the College of Business Administration.

Staff favorite:
(October)
People came to see high-flying dunks and crazy up-and-down-the-court action. And, while Madness on the Mesa's sneak peeks at the new men's and women's basketball teams didn't disappoint, a freshman who doesn't play for either team stole the show.One of 4,000-plus fans in attendance, Craig Horlbeck hit nothing but net from half-court and won a brand new Toyota Tacoma.

Aztecs teams won a total of nine Mountain West championships this year, including Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball,  Football, Softball, Men's Golf, Men's Basketball and Women's Basketball.