Strolling through the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building at UC Irvine on May 25, 2023, local industry leaders saw more than 40 projects on display — including innovative medical solutions, education technology for improved learning outcomes, and projects that could one day spark new startups. These capstone projects, developed over 20 weeks, showcased the knowledge and skills of students in UCI’s Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS).
Continue readingMonthly Archives: June 2023
2023 ICS Commencement: Centering Humanity
June 26, 2023
On June 20, 2023, UC Irvine held its final gradution ceremony as students from the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) started their procession into the Bren Events Center for the ICS Commencement Ceremony. “This is the last but certainly not least of the 11 ceremonies,” said Dean Marios C. Papaefthymiou in his welcoming remarks to the crowd of students, families and friends, and esteemed faculty.
Continue reading2023 Southern California Software Engineering Symposium Unites Industry and Academia
June 21, 2023
Around 100 people gathered at UC Irvine on Friday, May 26, 2023, for the Southern California Software Engineering Symposium (SuCSES 2023). The half-day event, hosted by the Institute for Software Research (ISR), brought together industry leaders, technical practitioners and researchers to discuss software engineering trends and potential research collaborations.
Continue readingBreaking Barriers: VenusHacks 2023 Empowers Women in Computing
VenusHacks 2023, UCI’s largest women-centric hackathon, took place from May 26-28 and concluded with resounding success. Organized in collaboration with Women in Computer Sciences and Hack at UCI, the hackathon brought together more than 200 participants from over 20 schools and 20 majors. With a mission to empower underrepresented groups and make computing more inclusive and diverse, VenusHacks 2023 provided a platform for students from all experience levels to engage in innovative projects.
Continue readingFaculty and Staff Honored at 2023 ICS Awards Celebration
June 20, 2023
On June 6, 2023, the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) recognized faculty and staff at its annual ICS Awards Celebration. Dean Marios Papaefthymiou welcomed new staff, announced the recipient of the Jim McKenzie Staff Leadership Award, presented the Dean’s Faculty Awards and recognized a variety of faculty members for recent accomplishments.
Continue readingQT STEM: A Safe Space for LGBTQ+ Students in STEM at UCI
June 13, 2023
Last year, in honor of Pride Month, the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) shared a variety of resources in “Supporting LGBTQ+ in Tech.” This year, we’re spotlighting one of those resources: a student organization called QT STEM, which serves as a safe space for queer and/or trans people who are studying a STEM field at UCI.
Celebrating Dr. Jazette Johnson and Dr. Lucretia Williams: An Important First in Informatics
June 12, 2023
In 1982, Marsha Rhea Williams became the first African American woman to earn a doctorate degree in computer science. Forty-one years later, higher education is still celebrating important firsts for Black women in computing. This month, UC Irvine is recognizing Jazette Johnson and Lucretia Williams as the first Black women to earn their Ph.D. degrees in informatics from the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS).
Continue readingKUCI, Ask A Leader Podcast: “Bandwidth: Guard it Like Your Life Depends on it” (Gloria Mark Interviewed)
June 8, 2023
Gloria Mark, UCI Chancellor’s Professor of Informatics, gets the full hour to talk about her latest book, Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity. Luckily there’s a few people left with long enough attention spans to write about it, so we can have a little agency to regain, shore up the decline of this capacity and achieve some balance. “I thought that everybody is affected by how they use their devices and I thought that it’s really important to spread the message to a much broader public than academia because I think people can… improve their lives. People are exhausted, they feel overwhelmed, so I think people are looking for ways to get out of this mess that we’ve gotten into,” says Mark.
Listen to the full podcast.
Senior Spotlight: Jumanah Almajnouni Ready to Hit the Ground Running as a Software Engineer
June 5, 2023
Jumanah Almajnouni’s resume lists the various programming languages she has learned throughout her years at UC Irvine in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS): JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Python, Java and C++. Yet she’ll be the first to say you can’t rely on a resume alone when trying to land your first job. “Saying that you learned a certain language is not sufficient,” says the software engineering major, who will graduate on June 20. “What have you built with it?”
Continue readingConnected Wellbeing Initiative to Build Understanding and Action Regarding Teens’ Technology Use and Their Mental Health
June 1, 2023
The positive benefits of youth interacting with technology are often ignored while the negatives are emphasized. Today, the nonprofit Connected Learning Alliance and the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine, announce the new Connected Wellbeing Initiative. This collaborative effort focuses on amplifying benefits of digital technology for vulnerable youth by accelerating innovation, building a coalition, and supporting a more evidence-driven narrative about youth, technology and wellbeing.
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