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As always, your health and well-being are of primary concern. Individuals who can work effectively from home should plan on doing so through the end of 2020. UCI has resumed some campus operations as we begin to welcome students (Law and Medicine) and prepare the campus for their success. For the latest information, visit https://uci.edu/coronavirus.

Awards from federal and state agencies, leading foundations and forward-thinking companies increased by 20 percent over 2018-19 totals, reflecting strong and burgeoning support for UCI's top-ranked faculty, first-rate facilities, diverse and talented student body, and community-based programs. Congratulations to Vice Chancellor Pramod Khargonekar, staff in the Office of Research and across campus, and of course, the faculty, research staff and students on this fantastic achievement. This research funding milestone surpasses the UCI campus strategic plan goal of $500 million. Next up $750 million!

Across UCI, researchers swiftly adapted their work to help address the urgent need for scientific research aimed at better understanding the coronavirus pandemic and its impacts.

Some highlights of COVID-19 research include:

• UCI Team Led by Peter Chang Develops Machine Learning Tool to Predict Patients' Risk of COVID-19 Complications
• Lindsey Richland Awarded NSF Grant to Study the Impact of COVID-19 Emotional Stressors on Executive Function and E-learning
• UCI Researcher David Schaefer and Colleagues Awarded NSF Grant to Study the Value of Social Networks for Retaining at-risk STEM Students during COVID-19
• UCI's Sean Young Receives UC Seed Funding for Research Aimed at Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19
• Click here for a master list of externally funded projects. (Must be logged in to UCI VPN)
• Click here, for information on projects funded internally through the COVID-19 Basic, Translational and Clinical Research Funding Opportunity.

The National Science Foundation has funded a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at UCI. With this $18 million landmark achievement, UCI will join 19 other MRSECs in conducting state-of-the-art interdisciplinary materials research and education of the highest quality while addressing fundamental problems in science and engineering.

Recognizing the need to archive the experiences of our community during the COVID-19 crisis, UCI Libraries Special Collections and Archives created this short recording "Collecting Pandemic Histories: Experiences of Underrepresented Communities," to share how to document and archive COVID-19 experiences.

Michael Méndez, assistant professor of urban planning and public policy, has published a new book, Climate Change from the Streets: How Conflict and Collaboration Strengthen the Environmental Justice Movement (Yale University Press).

"This book foregrounds people, place and power in the context of climate change and inequality, and my goal was to have that opportunity to really center people of color in the climate change movement," says Professor Méndez. "Oftentimes, we see that low-income communities of color are erased from the environmental history of what has been achieved in the climate action movement of California and the entire United States."

Image: Peter Alexander, Cloverfield I, 1988, Oil, wax, and acrylic on canvas, 72 x 84 in., The Buck Collection at the UCI Institute and Museum of California Art, © 2018, Peter Alexander

The UCI Institute and Museum of California Art (IMCA) invites you to subscribe to Monthly Muse, a dynamic portal through which to explore IMCA's collection of art and artists inspired by the California experience.

UCI has awarded seven incoming faculty members with the inaugural Chancellor's Inclusive Excellence Awards. Aimed at attracting diverse ladder-rank faculty, the awards are part of a UCI pilot program funded through a UC Office of the President grant under the Advancing Faculty Diversity Program. These new hires are recognized for their deep expertise and demonstrated abilities to advance inclusive excellence and they represent diverse disciplines and approaches to championing diversity, equity and inclusion in their scholarship, pedagogy and service. Their two-year appointments will culminate in a public forum for UCI and community members to learn more from their research and activities. Click here to see the initial awardees with terms that began in July 2020.

The UCI Office of Inclusive Excellence is pleased to announce that grants have been awarded to support proposals that aim to address, "Advancing Equity in the Age of COVID-19." The grantees represent solo principal investigators and research teams focused on scholarly, pedagogical and community engagement projects that expose and interrogate the effects of the current pandemic on diversity, equity, and inclusion at UCI and beyond. The competitive grants also include cross-disciplinary efforts to improve societal and individual thriving during these challenging times.

Check out the new online resource organized to provide the entire campus community information and tools for wherever they are on their journey to accepting accountability for confronting anti-Blackness. It consists of three broad domains: Calling All Anteaters, Change the Culture, and Join Us. The page also features information on planned OIE courses on Anti-Blackness in the United States and a list of relevant UCI academic courses.

Launched in Fall 2019, the Inclusive Excellence Certificate Program inaugural cohort of participants included 117 UCI students, staff and faculty. The program featured a core course on Thriving, plus one elective in either Wellness or Community. Please contact inclusion@uci.edu to express interest in a future session.

To support educational and intellectual discourse on the topic of racism, the UCI Libraries are offering an ebook collection: Understanding and Combatting Racism. Faculty, staff and students can access the collection for free with their UCInetID through the OverDrive platform. You can learn more about OverDrive and how to access from phone, tablet, computer, or ereader here.

Bridget R. Cooks, associate professor of African American studies and art history, has received a grant from the Ford Foundation to fund the Black Index exhibition. Professor Cooks organized and curated the exhibition to center on the resilience and beauty of Black people and to create a space for community-building and grieving for what is lost.

Get to know Prof. Williamson in this KUCI Zoom Interview.

Ian O. Williamson has been appointed dean of UCI's Paul Merage School of Business, effective January 1, 2021. Professor Williamson currently serves as pro vice-chancellor and dean of the Wellington School of Business and Government at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. There, he developed and deployed a faculty strategic plan to enhance postgraduate education, increased student diversity, expanded international partnerships, established an entrepreneur and innovation program, and incorporated technology into the curriculum.

For 2020-21, five UCI assistant professors in chemistry, computer science, dance and psychological science were awarded grants to support research and scholarly work. UCI has had 58 Hellman Fellows since 2013. Click here to also read about a new University of California endowment to continue supporting the Hellman Fellows Program.

Leo Chavez, Distinguished Professor of anthropology, is the 2021 recipient of the Bronislaw Malinowski Award, presented by the Society for Applied Anthropology. The annual prize recognizes an outstanding social scientist who has made strides in understanding and serving society, and using social science concepts and tools to solve human problems. Professor Chavez' research on transnational migration, particularly among Latinx communities, is the focus of four books. His work has helped debunk stereotypes of the Latinx threat narrative echoed by politicians, pundits and journalists.

Plamen Atanassov, Chancellor's Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, materials science and engineering, and chemistry, has been named a fellow of the International Society of Electrochemistry in recognition of his excellent scientific record and contributions to the field. This year, Professor Atanassov is one of four researchers being inducted as ISE Fellows, nominated and selected based on scientific merit.

Elizabeth F. Loftus, distinguished professor of psychological science and criminology, law and society, has been named the 2020 recipient of the Patrick Suppes Prize by the American Philosophical Society. Moreover, she is donating the $20,000 award to the School of Social Ecology to bring a noted speaker to campus. The prize was endowed by the late Patrick Suppes, who was Professor Loftus' dissertation advisor, and honors accomplishments in three fields, rotating annually between philosophy of science, psychology or neuroscience, and history of science.

UCI Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic has named Thomas Milner its third director. He comes to UCI from the University of Texas at Austin. A pioneering developer of optical-based medical instrumentation, he will also join the faculty in the departments of biomedical engineering and surgery.

Oswald Steward, Distinguished Professor of anatomy and neurobiology and Director of Reeve-Irvine Research Center, has been elected incoming President of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). He will be the fourth SfN President out of 52 who is a UCI faculty member. Professor Steward is known for his research on how nerve cells create and maintain connections with each other, and how these synapses are modified after injury.

More than 7,400 students and their families participated in UCI's remote commencement ceremonies on Saturday, June 13. In a testament to our dedication to access and affordability, 47 percent of the bachelor's degrees awarded went to first-generation college students. This large percentage of traditionally underserved students is one reason why UCI has twice earned the No. 1 spot in a New York Times ranking of universities doing the most for the American dream. The virtual commencement can be viewed here.

The degree breakdown included:

• Bachelor's degrees: 9,907
• Master's degrees: 886
• Doctoral degrees: 299
• Law degrees: 193 (conferred May 9)
• Medical degrees: 92 (conferred May 30)

When the COVID-19 pandemic required an abrupt shift to remote teaching and learning, UCI faculty and staff quickly banded together to make the transition as seamless as possible. Because of UCI's active learning culture and our innovation in this area, many of the tools and resources to make a successful transition were already in place. Through the rapid response of various units, the campus was able to use this existing framework to offer guidance and stability to instructors in an uncertain time. The following articles summarize these efforts and offer information, resources and best practices to support remote instruction:

• Volume 1 - Transition to Remote Teaching – Spring Quarter 2020 Highlights
• Volume 2 - Insights on the Transition to Remote Teaching and Learning for Graduate Students
• Volume 3 - Provost Faculty Fellows and Active Learning Institute Alumni Step Up to Support Transition to Remote Teaching

PBS Newshour featured School of Education Dean Richard Arum to discuss the value of the residential college experience in light of his work on the Next Generation Undergraduate Success Measurement Project. You can see the piece on the Project website.

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