MAY 2021
QUARTERLY Magazine
Celebrating our Nurses
A Message from Dean Hayes
going for gold inside and outside of the classroom
Table of Contents
A Message from Dean Hayes Tara Prentice Goes For Gold Inside and Outside of the Classroom Where are they Now: Pasha Ameli Dalton Salvo Sees Simulated Classrooms as the Future UCI Grad Slam Champion Leslie Heid Headlines Historic Event A Day in the Life of a Graduate Student During Covid-19 Celebrating Our Nurses Risk to Reward: One Alum's Journey Graduate Division Holds First Graduate Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series event Upcoming Events
A MESSAGE FROM DEAN HAYES
Dear Anteaters, I want to start off this message by simply saying thank you. In a year that has had too many twists and turns to count, one thing that has been overly evident to me through all of this is the strength of the UCI community. The latest example of this overwhelming support took place just a few weeks ago, when Graduate Division raised $33,700 for graduate education here at UCI during our fifth annual Giving Day. This was the most we’ve ever raised in the history of this event, and doing so on the heels of a turbulent 2020-21. This effort not only reaffirmed our community’s belief in the research going on at UCI, but also the confidence we have in these future leaders. When many of our graduate scholars take part in commencement on June 12th, it is not only a celebration for them, but should be seen as a triumph and point of pride for the entire Anteater community. After all, we are in this together. In this edition of the magazine, you will read about some incredible alums who have already gone on to do great things, while you’ll also get a sneak peek at some of the incredible research our current scholars are conducting. Thanks for reading and take care.
Gillian R. Hayes Vice Provost of Graduate Education Dean of the Graduate Division Robert A. and Barbara L. Kleist Professor of Informatics University of California, Irvine
"I have so much support from my teammates, coaches, advisors, and family. i couldn't do what i do without them."
The rigors of being a graduate student are very real. From late study nights, weekend research, and early classes, graduate students make countless sacrifices every day, but it’s all worth it because their research will help change the world for the better. Earning a graduate degree is truly the pinnacle of academia. In the athletics world, similarly, there may not be a bigger honor than representing your country in the Olympics. It’s almost every athlete’s dream, to proudly wear their country’s flag while competing against the best in the world. For UCI’s Tara Prentice, both these scenarios are her reality. Incredibly, she’s set to graduate with her MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship in June, while she’s also a member of UCI’s Water Polo team and is a finalist to qualify for Team USA’s Water Polo team in time to compete in the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in July“. I’m actually not sure how I do it sometimes,” says Tara. “Honestly, it’s such a team effort though. I have so much support from my teammates, coaches, advisors, and family. I couldn’t do what I do without them. My coaches actually believe in me more than I do.” Overachieving is nothing new for Tara. As an undergraduate she double majored and earned her degrees in political science and criminology, law, and society from UCI in 2020. She was nominated for the 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year award, which is one of the most prestigious awards any student-athlete can earn in collegiate athletics. It honors NCAA student-athletes who succeed in the classroom, in the arena of play, and are active in giving back to their community. "Tara has been uplifting the UC Irvine community in all of these areas since she set foot on our campus,” says UCI Water Polo head coach Dan Klatt. "What I am most proud of when I think of Tara is that her pursuit of personal excellence doesn't affect her ability to give time and love to her teammates, her friends, her family, her classmates, and her school. Tara has energy for everyone, and she pulls people up to the top of the mountain to enjoy their own personal successes alongside her. She has invested energy and made transformative personal adjustments to become an effective leader, and everyone around her are the beneficiaries." For Tara though, the support from her current coaching staff is not only a big reason why she’s an Anteater, but it’s also a primary reason she has a chance to represent UCI and the United States in the Olympics. Associate UCI Water Polo coach Andrew Rowe knows Tara from her youth water polo days and was the one who convinced her to transfer to UCI from UCLA after her freshman year in 2017. “I spent my freshman year at UCLA and it was and still is a great school, but it wasn’t for me,” Tara recalls. “It was actually Andrew (Rowe) who sold me on the idea of [transferring to] UCI. Not only did he take interest in my athletic talents, but he knows my academics were important to me and valued those even more than I could. UCI’s law school and criminology programs are some of the best in the country, so that’s what really sold me.” But it wasn’t just coach Rowe who supported her, head coach Klatt believed in her so much that he was actually the one to offer her a spot on USA Water Polo. In addition to being one of the top coaches in the nation, compiling a 326-165 record in 17 seasons, while even lifting the Anteaters to the No. 3 ranking in the nation last year, he also serves as the Senior Assistant Coach for USA Water Polo. One day, coach Klatt asked Tara is she’d like to join him as another fellow Anteater on the national team. “I couldn’t believe it,” says a beaming Tara. “I remember he just asked if I’d like to be a part of the team, and of course I said yes. I even went as far as to tell him I was thinking about sitting out this season for UCI so that I could focus on qualifying for the Olympic team. He couldn’t have been more supportive.” Tara will find out in early June if she’ll be making the trip to Tokyo. She’s one of 18 finalists and 13 will make the Olympic roster. Not bad for someone who didn’t even start playing the game until she was 14. “A lot of people don’t know this, but I actually didn’t start playing water polo until I was 14,” Tara recalls. “In fact, I was a swimmer up until that point and I just got bored of it, so I tried water polo on a whim. I didn’t even know how to hold the ball correctly at first.” No matter how long Tara’s water polo career lasts, she has set herself up for success no matter what route she decides to take. Even as she prepaes to earn her third degree from UCI later this month, she already has her sights on another one, as she looks to potentially attend UCI’s Law School in the near future. “Intellectual property law is something that is really interesting to me,” says Tara. “ I really like that side of law, so I want to go to law school here at UCI and then eventually go work for a sports team.” Whether it’s through academics, athletics, business or all of the above, one thing is for certain – Tara’s impact on the world will be a big one, and we can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Tara prentice goes for gold inside and outside of the classroom
Dr. Pasha Ameli
Where are they now: Pasha ameli
"I definitely wanted to maximize my time at UCI."
Every student has their unique story. UCI is a destination for scholars all over the world. Whether it’s the impressive academic prestige, the world-renowned faculty, the plentiful professional development opportunities, or maybe it’s just the impossible to beat weather of Southern California, there are plenty of reasons people choose to make UCI their academic home. As it turns out, for UCI PhD alum Pasha Ameli it happened to be a combination of all of these things. Pasha made the trek to the United States from Iran to eventually earn his masters in civil engineering from UCI in 2010, while going on to obtain his doctorate in civil engineering from UCI in 2013. In addition to his academic success, Pasha continues to give back to his university today, helping to devleop the newly formed Graduate Alumni Chapter. UCI Graduate Division decided to catch up with Pasha and find out what he’s up to now. UCI GD: Why did you decide to come to UCI in the first place? Pasha: It was because of the research opportunity. UCI has one of the most impressive engineering programs in the world, so it’s something I wanted to be a part of. UCI GD: Obviously you came a long way to receive your graduate education. Did you always know you wanted to study in the United States? Pasha: My dad actually went to school in Berlin, so leaving the country to receive my education wasn’t something totally foreign for me. I knew what I wanted to study, so I was going to go where I could get the best opportunity to do that. UCI GD: When you first got to the United States and on campus, what was your biggest challenge initially? Pasha: I came to the United States with zero dependance on my family. That part of growing up was hard. I didn’t really see any big cultural difference though. I felt like the campus was very welcoming and I meshed in right away. I know that’s not the case for everyone, but for me it was. UCI GD: You were involved in a lot of extracurricular activities at UCI, can you talk about those a little bit? Pasha: Yes, I definitely wanted to maximize my time at UCI. I really enjoy communicating with people and I wanted to give back. I actually founded “AGS International”. Associated Graduate Students (AGS) has evolved into such a great resource for the student body and has come a long way. I just wanted to do my part and help incoming international students that might not have had the easiest transition. I remember actually having to convince my advisor to let me be involved in some of these things, because they thought I should be focusing more on my research, but this was so important to me. UCI GD: What made you so inclined to be involved and give back to the student body right away. Pasha: Why not me? Why not give back? I was actually an RA as well and it was one of the best times of my life. I really enjoyed putting myself in different situations and paying things forward. UCI GD: Talk about what you do now. How did your job come about at Exponent? Pasha: I wear a bunch of different hats at Exponent. I’m a managing engineer and work in construction consulting. I love my job and couldn’t be happier. They value quality and how hard you work which is a rarity these days in a society that seems to value who you know rather than what you know. I was actually the first UCI PhD graduate hired at the company. UCI GD: You still give back to UCI to this day, can you describe what you do for the UCI Graduate Alumni Chapter? Pasha: I’m super excited for what we’re going to be able to do here. It’s obviously very new, but we look forward to connecting graduate alums back to the university and reengaging with them. For information on the graduate programs UCI has to offer, visit us at www.grad.uci.edu and contact us at grad@uci.edu
As the world inches toward “normalcy,” it’s becoming apparent that some things will never be the same again. But perhaps that’s a good thing – maybe they were overdue for change in the first place. Dalton Salvo, a UCI PhD candidate in English who’s researching the effectiveness of virtual environments, argues that the potential of remote learning, for example, has been largely untapped – until now, that is. He believes that virtual worlds are “the next evolutionary step” not only for online education, but for classrooms in general. Salvo is putting that to the test at a one-day symposium that will be held later this Summer in Sinespace, an up-and-coming virtual world – specifically, in its offshoot platform, Breakroom. “Free Speech Today: Tensions & Intersections,” sponsored by the UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement and the UCI Humanities Center, will bring together students, scholars, legal practitioners and gaming industry experts to discuss the contemporary relevance of the First Amendment. Salvo also hopes, for his dissertation, to apply his theoretical research in the creation of a writing course designed for and held entirely in Breakroom. For the past five years, he had been studying how digital technologies such as virtual reality immerse their users and keep them engaged through creativity and exploration. Then the pandemic hit, and students and employees around the world had no choice but to work purely online. Suddenly, virtual worlds took on a new meaning: They could have real-world applications. As both a student and a teacher, Salvo understands the multiple shortcomings of online learning: the Zoom fatigue, limitations of videoconferencing, boredom, lack of interaction, logistical difficulties of group work, etc. “My thinking has been to leverage a navigable virtual space as a way to maintain class engagement,” he says. The key is to mimic the experience of an in-person class. “I’ve been arguing that that kind of setting and interactive capability is more likely to enhance participation because it more closely simulates reality,” Salvo says. “Just in terms of sheer logistics – at least as a Zoom or videoconferencing alternative – Breakroom offers all the same functionalities but so much more on top of that.” Although the platform is similar to Second Life – users can craft an avatar, build and explore environments, and communicate with others – Breakroom runs on a superior engine, he says, and also offers the ability to videoconference and screen-share like Zoom, making it ideal for educational and professional purposes. In addition, it allows the creation of fully contained infrastructures, meaning that UCI could develop its own “UCI Breakroom” within the platform, accessible only to UCI staff and students. A new social experience “The one thing missing from online conferences these days is the ability to network, socialize, and communicate on a small scale,” Salvo says. Along with speakers, the upcoming virtual conference will have booths – and people manning them. Navigating through an avatar, users will be able to visit any station, talk, share information or have a conversation with a group in a courtyard – valuable activities at an event focused on free speech. But the classroom holds special intrigue for Salvo, especially as the country transitions to an educational system that will be more hybridized than it was before. “In virtual spaces, you’re not limited to just a classroom,” he says. “You can create fully explorable and interactive environments.” In Breakroom, group activity is easier to manage than in traditional online education spaces. An instructor can begin the class with a lecture, then avatars can teleport to assigned breakout rooms for collaborative work. Each room has its own audio channel, so only the people inside can hear and communicate with each other. The teacher can pop in and out of all these different spaces to oversee and help by simply clicking on various tabs. The classroom itself could be constructed with a specific theme at its core, depending on the subject being taught. It can be a prefabricated dynamic environment that any student can plug into to “play” or upload documents. The spaces are persistent, so students can explore and interact with them at their own leisure – and even build in them if the instructor allows it. “I teach the video game theme, so I could create, in a sense, an interactive museum exhibit to showcase a specific topic,” Salvo explains. “For instance, I can have a ‘violence in video games’ station, where I have video clips of violent video games and their history. And you can even create a timeline for navigation.” Limitless possibilities Some of Breakroom’s greatest advantages are simply due to the lack of physical constraints. Schools can only build so many lecture halls and classrooms, Salvo notes, and those can only house so many students at a time. Mandatory classes, which are always in high demand, could be held on virtual platforms. “If we implemented this robust virtual infrastructure, we’d no longer be limited by any kind of concern for physical space,” Salvo says. “We’d only be limited by our available instructors. We could supplement our physical infrastructure with a virtual one as a way to meet demand more efficiently. This is a cost-effective way of expanding reach.” Introverted students and those with long commutes could also benefit from virtual classes, he adds. “I’m not saying we replace in-person teaching with this, but moving to this kind of social-virtual world would be better than traditional online school,” Salvo says. “Online school hasn’t fundamentally changed since it was invented.” The lessons he has taken from his research journey are part of the pandemic’s silver lining: the opportunity to grow in fundamental aspects of society. “COVID has been terrible, but it has clearly demonstrated the need for innovation in our current remote learning educational systems,” Salvo says. “Virtual platforms would be a dramatic improvement. They would allow us to progress and develop new ways of teaching and new ways of interacting with our community.”
Dalton Salvo Sees Simulated Classrooms as the future
On March 4, 2021, UCI Graduate Division hosted its first ever virtual Grad Slam, where top scholars showcased their research in a three minute pitch for a chance to win cash prizes. The ten finalists spanned a diverse range of disciplines with each student working to leverage their graduate education to make a positive impact in the world. Leslie Heid, PhD student in Mathematical and Computational & Systems Biology, was named the UCI Grad Slam Champion. She delivered a presentation on quantifying DNA methylation pseudotime to rewrite a cell’s fate to become a different cell Grad Slam is a systemwide competition that highlights the prestige and importance of Graduate Education while also increasing graduate students’ communication and presentation skills. After winning the UCI event, Heid competed against the nine other UC champions for a grand prize of $7,000 in the systemwide finals on May 7th. Amidst the pandemic, the UCI Graduate Division team re-imagined an ordinary pitch competition, creating a fully virtual, yet authentic experience. The remote nature provided a unique opportunity for the audience to get to know the finalists both personally and professionally. Each student had an introductory video where they spoke about their passions and hobbies. This video was followed by a three minute research pitch, and a live Q&A session with the host, Bri McWhorter. Each of these moments illuminated the ambition, talent, and diversity of the UCI graduate student body. In addition to being phenomenal grad students, these scholars are: musicians, painters, mountain climbers, rubik’s cube experts, tennis players, adventurers, and post card collectors. Heid described the profound impact of her research in her winning pitch. “Some day from a simple swab inside a patient’s cheek we could grow a replacement liver or kidney or replenish bone marrow with a perfect match and my work will be a vital step in unlocking this potential-- once we succeed humanity will be changed forever.” “Winning is a big confidence boost,” said Heid. “Grad Slam is not easy but I feel like I can do anything now. I challenged myself, went outside my comfort zone, and succeeded. I am more optimistic about my PhD career and future prospects.” Jessica Vidmark, PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering, won 2nd place, and Hamsi Radhakrishnan, PhD student in Neurobiology and Behavior/Mathematical Computational and Systems Biology, took home 3rd place. Vidmark presented on deep brain stimulation to treat and understand movement disorders, and Radhakrishnan spoke about using water to image the brain. Prizes were $5,000 for the UCI Grad Slam Champion, $2,000 for 2nd place, $1,000 for 3rd place, and all finalists received $250. The virtual event was full of special surprises and heartfelt moments. Heid’s daughter proudly cheered for her mother as she won the UCI Grad Slam Champion award. Family and friends also cheered for the finalists from the live audience wall. UCI Grad Slam concluded with a warm congratulations from the Graduate Division Dean, Gillian Hayes, “You truly are the beating heart of graduate education at UCI and I am so proud of your contribution to our campus this evening, you each did a wonderful job.” You can rewatch the full event by clicking here.
UCI GRAD SLAM CHAMPION LESLIE HEID HEADLINES HISTORIC EVENT
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected everyone. It's been no different for UCI graduate students. Lucretia Williams is a PhD candidate in UCI's Department of Information and Computer Sciences. Watch below, as she gives us a sneak peek into her life as a PhD student working remotely.
A Day in the life of a graduate student during covid-19
Celebrating our nurses
May 6-12 is National Nurses' Week. The week is a celebration of nurses and the nursing profession. This year, more than any other year, it feels important to recognize our frontline heroes. Read below to find out how our recent graduates from the UCI Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing are making an impact. Kim Paul, Alum ‘16 Where do you work? Orange County Global Medical Center What is your title? Registered nurse How has COVID-19 impacted your life? Though there have been many physical and emotional struggles, in many ways, the pandemic has also brought my family and friends closer together in our love and appreciation for each other. From all the distancing and isolation that are encouraged and enforced, it has become apparent to me of this very fact — that I have taken for granted the intimacy of a warm embrace, the cordiality of a handshake, and the fellowship of close conversations. I hope that we all will come out of this ordeal as more loving, compassionate, and gracious individuals who appreciate the little things that unite us in life’s simple joys. What initially drew you to nursing? My mother, who is a nurse, has been my main source of inspiration and motivation to study nursing. She would tell me stories about her interactions with patients, some incredible, some gruesome, some compelling, others repelling. But it was these stories of healing, compassion and unconditional empathy that intrigued me and ultimately convinced me to pursue nursing myself. What do you love most about being a nurse? What I cherish the most from nursing is its human connection. Nursing is more than medical care; it is human healing. It encompasses the physical, spiritual, emotional, and personal stories that ultimately connect us in our mutual pursuit of happiness and well-being. It is this very honor that I am blessed to regard as my profession. Lorren Yniguez, Alum ‘20 Where do you work? Hoag Hospital What is your title? Registered nurse How has COVID-19 impacted your life? COVID has impacted my family a great deal. We haven’t been able to see each other in person, only over Zoom or from a distance. I moved out of my house in the beginning of COVID to ensure their safety. Working in the emergency department, there have been many changes over the last year that have taken a lot of adjusting. I feel as coworkers, we have a stronger bond after fighting COVID together. I personally feel that it added an extra layer of anxiety to being a new grad nurse and impacted the regular new-grad education. What initially drew you to the nursing profession? Both life experiences and qualities of the nursing role drew me to the profession. I have always loved to take care of people and I love that nursing requires both compassion and critical-thinking skills. What do you love most about being a nurse? What I love most about being a nurse is bringing calm to someone’s chaos. Especially as an ED nurse, there is no better experience than being able to help save a life or watching your patient leave your care better off than when they arrived. I love that I get to love people by caring for them. Regardless of whether I know you or not, I’m here to say “I care about you and I’m here to help you.” I also love working with other people who have made it their goal to take care of others. Katrina Lazarte, Alum ‘19 Where do you work? University of California, San Diego Medical Center What is your title? Clinical Nurse II How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted your life? I think one of the biggest challenges of the of the COVID-19 pandemic is having to be physically distant from friends and family. I am very close to my family, so it was difficult to transition from in-person get togethers to virtual ones. The pandemic has also influenced my presence at the bedside. The no visitation policy that many hospitals have has placed an emotional toll on most patients. Thus, it has been crucial for me to ensure my patients that they are not alone by providing support to meet their social and emotional needs. What initially drew you to the nursing profession? My work in public health serving marginalized communities initially drew me into the nursing profession. By serving witness to the health disparities that exist within underserved communities, I became inspired to bridge these gaps through nursing. What do you love most about being a nurse? I love that nursing gives me the opportunity to be involved in so many avenues in healthcare: from advocacy, health promotion, and teachingto bedside care. In turn, each opportunity presents me with a chance to connect and make an impact on the health of my community.
Naples, Italy native Rosario Cammarota earned a PhD in computer science at UCI in 2013. The expertise he gained and the connections he made during his time at the Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences helped Cammarota land in his current role as a principal engineer at Intel Labs in Santa Clara, where he is now in charge of a new, federally funded data security collaboration. Here, Cammarota describes that project and shares some details of his background that brought him to where he is today. There have been media reports about a new collaboration between Intel Labs and the federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Could you describe this project? We recently announced that Intel has signed an agreement with DARPA to participate in its Data Protection in Virtual Environments program. Through DPRIVE, we’re architecting an innovative and high-performance processor for encrypted data. Here’s why that’s important: Fully homomorphic encryption allows us to protect the confidentiality of data during processing without decryption. This is a pretty radical concept, as it would enable technologies such as artificial intelligence to extract full value from massive datasets without ever compromising data privacy. An example would be the ability to deliver highly personalized recommendations to consumers without ever revealing any of their personally identifiable information. Processing data with fully homomorphic encryption is possible but expensive due to various forms of inefficiencies introduced during encryption to keep the data secure. A computation that would take milliseconds to complete on a standard laptop would take weeks to compute on a conventional server running homomorphic encryption in software today. We currently estimate that we’re about a million times slower to compute in the homomorphic encryption world than we are in the plain-text world. The goal of the DPRIVE program is to nearly eliminate the homomorphic encryption performance tax as compared to the computational speeds we see on plain text. If we’re able to achieve this goal while enabling the technology to scale, DPRIVE will have a significant impact on our ability to protect and preserve data and user privacy while sustaining innovation through AI and intelligent automation. What prompted you to leave Italy and enroll at UCI’s Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences? I came to UCI in 2008 to pursue a master’s degree in computer science. It was part of an arrangement with the Italian National Labs; I remember it was nicknamed “the Italy program.” I had a stable and respectable job as a research engineer at a local company incubated in Italy’s Institute of Cybernetics in my hometown of Naples. But my aspiration to pursue higher education – to become a scientist and innovate, along with the chance to learn from pioneers in computer science – counterbalanced any argument to stop me from making such an investment of time and effort. Gaining mastery in subjects such as computer architecture, parallelizing compilers, embedded systems, distributed systems, and computer and network security would complement my original background in telecommunications engineering. The opportunity was tremendous. A few months later, I landed at LAX. I worked hard at UCI, so much so that once I obtained my master’s degree, I was given the chance to stay a little longer to pursue a PhD in computer science under the supervision of professors Alex Veidenbaum and Alex Nicolau. I earned the doctorate in 2013. The journey confirmed my initial intuition to seize that unique opportunity that I had been searching for relentlessly. Do you feel that your education at UCI prepared you for the work you’re now doing with Intel Labs? The program in computer science at UCI included courses in areas such as modern microprocessors, high-performance architecture and compilers, embedded and cyber-physical systems, networking, computer and network security, and computer graphics. These courses required doing research in the subject and had a considerable component of hands-on learning, which is a plus. What I enjoyed most was the interaction with the professors, including and beyond my advisors. That interaction awakened me and put me on the right track. It provided me with a solid foundation to become independent as a researcher and contributor to science and technology for the good of society. It eventually led me to where I am right now. The journey has been rewarding ever since. Prior to joining Intel Labs and the security and privacy world as a professional researcher, I was at Qualcomm Research in a security role that largely drew on my background in traditional computer science and telecommunications engineering. I still say that I received my postdoctoral education in applied cryptography during my time at Qualcomm. The combination of what I studied at UCI and my “postdoctoral work” opened up several doors for me, including but not limited to being a thought leader in the field, which ultimately brought me to my current role as principal investigator on the DPRIVE project at Intel Labs. It also helped nourish a healthy professional network spanning academic, industry and government research groups. Do you have any interesting memories from your time at UCI that you’d like to share, such as projects you worked on or people you worked with? UCI has been a gateway for me. I was able to build numerous and long-lasting relationships, not only with my advisors – with whom I still spend countless hours debating, laughing and learning – but also with many other professors, students, and administrators. Nearly a decade later, I still hang out with my sailing/surfing buddy, get together from time to time with alums who have become friends, and meet people from the school now scattered around the world when I travel. I remember UCI as being a diverse and inclusive environment that enabled many young, budding researchers like myself to find their wings early on. I feel very thankful. But the best of my memories, the one that eclipses all, is that I met my wife at UCI. She was also a student in the computer science department but with a different adviser. We’ve been married for more than 10 years, as happy as when we met, and are parents of a 4-year-old. Someday, we hope to give him a tour of the campus where Mom and Dad first met! What are some of your interests and pursuits away from work? When I don’t ride my skateboard side by side with my son or dedicate time to my wife, I love playing electric guitar. I have a collection of five guitars, each with a different personality. I’ve been playing for about two decades, and I can’t imagine ever stopping. I also try to exercise regularly – but not always successfully!
RISK TO REWARD: One alum's journey
Graduate Division launches First Dean's distinguished Lecture Series Event
About the Series In this series, Dean Hayes hosts three talks per academic year, each featuring a prominent leader in our community who speaks to one of Graduate Division's three core pillars: Student Success and Wellness, Diversity and Inclusion, and Industry Partnership. The goal of this series is to not only show what UCI Graduate Division prioritizes, but also illustrate why UCI's graduate students are the lifeblood of the university. Dean Hayes hosted professional leadership coach Greg Campbell in her first talk. The focus of his talk was on the importance of mentoring. In case you missed the event, you can watch it in its entirety here or scroll below. In her next Graduate Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series event, Dean Hayes will host Eloy Ortiz Oakley, the Chancellor of California Community Colleges. The talk will take place on September 14, 2021. More details to come.
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UPCOMING GRADUATE DIVISION EVENTS
UCI Graduate Alumni Chapter Meeting When/Where: May 26, 2021 Time: 5:30 pm - 7 pm PT UCI Virtual Commencement When/Where: June 12, 2021 Time: 9 am - Noon PT UCI Graduate Alums Talk Featuring Renee Reid, MHCID '19 When/Where: June 24, 2021 Time: Noon - 1 pm PT UCI Graduate Alums Talk Featuring Lamar Blackwell, PhD '11 When/Where: July 22, 2021 Time: Noon - 1 pm PT Graduate Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series Featuring Mr. Eloy Ortiz Oakley When/Where: September 14, 2021 Time: TBD
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