Monthly Archives: January 2022

4 ICS Professors Among 7 UCI Researchers Named AAAS Fellows

January 27, 2022

On Jan. 26, 2022, UCI announced seven new faculty members had been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) — an association that “seeks to advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people.” AAAS Fellows are “a distinguished cadre of scientists, engineers and innovators who have been recognized for their achievements across disciplines, from research, teaching, and technology, to administration in academia, industry and government, to excellence in communicating and interpreting science to the public.”

Among the seven new inductees at UCI are four researchers from the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS): Rina Dechter of the Department of Computer Science, Paul Dourish of the Department of Informatics, Annie Qu of the Department of Statistics, and Padhraic Smyth of both the Department of Computer Science and Department of Statistics. Congratulations to these four esteemed researchers for achieving this lifetime honor.

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Inaugural GDIM Speaker Series Draws All-Star Lineup

January 20, 2022

In fall of 2021, the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) launched the new Game Design and Interactive Media (GDIM) undergraduate degree program, a reboot of its decade-old Computer Game Science (CGS) major. Designed to keep UCI on the cutting edge of game development, GDIM — already an award-winning program — ensures students are industry-ready prior to graduation by supplementing faculty expertise with industry professionals. One example of this partnership is the inaugural speaker series piloting with the course “GDIM 53: Roleplaying and Improvisational Play.”

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The Atlantic: “What If We Just Stopped Being So Available?” (Melissa Mazmanian Interviewed)

January 14, 2022

As more people got mobile devices, responding to messages anytime became the norm among co-workers as well as friends and loved ones. The superpower morphed into an obligation. This is an evolution that Melissa Mazmanian, an informatics professor at UC Irvine refers to as the “spiral of expectations.” … Now, when people feel they haven’t responded sufficiently quickly, they think they owe their correspondent an apology.

Read the full story at The Atlantic.

Mashable: “College prep software Naviance sells advertising data on millions of students” (Roderic Crooks Interviewed)

Another study, conducted by University of California, Irvine [Informatics Assistant] Professor Roderic Crooks, examined how students in a Los Angeles high school that was 94 percent Latino and 6 percent Black responded to the introduction of Naviance and a school mandate that they use the platform to apply to at least four colleges. He found that students rebelled against software-enabled surveillance of the application process, in some cases uploading fake applications to Naviance in order to meet their quotas and avoid expulsion.

Read the full story at Mashable.

Tech Trends for 2022

January 10, 2022

ICS Professors Daniel Epstein, Mohsen Imani and Tianchen Qian discuss their research and the technological developments they expect in the coming year.

The new year starts with healthcare front and center, as COVID-19 continues to impact people’s daily lives. Throughout the pandemic, the fields of computer science, informatics and statistics have all played an important role in helping people move their lives online, stay connected, and analyze vast amounts of data for informed decision making. How will these fields continue to advance virtual and augmented spaces, find new ways to bring people together, and improve healthcare analytics and interventions in the coming year?

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