Category Archives: Features

Craig Caryl is a self-described “business ninja,” a seasoned production executive and master marketer whose entrepreneurial spirit knows no bounds. He has co-founded multiple startups, produced more than two dozen documentaries and worked in a variety of industries, partnering with companies ranging from Activision to Hasbro to Nike. So when Caryl reached out to Hadar Ziv, faculty director of capstone programs in UC Irvine’s Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS), it presented a win-win opportunity.

Yarn isn’t something most people associate with computer science curriculum, but “ICS 190: Recrafting Soft Technologies” isn’t your typical computer science course. Students start by building an open-source, software-enabled robotic loom kit, called Robo-Loom, and they conclude the course with a team-based weaving project.

UC Irvine’s Accessibility Research Collective works to shatter assumptions and empower people with disabilities.

While conducting research into meeting accessibility for software engineers who are blind or low vision, the first problem Yoonha Cha encountered was a lack of awareness. “I’ve talked to sighted software developers, and they’ve said, ‘I’m sorry, but software development is just something a blind person cannot do,’” says Cha, a Ph.D. student studying informatics at UC Irvine. (Watch developer Saqib Sheikh prove otherwise in this conference presentation.)

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).

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.

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.

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.

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?”

A mother moves her young family from Korea to the United States. Years later, she finds herself struggling to stay involved in her children’s education. She’s not sure how to support their extracurricular learning, especially given that she doesn’t speak fluent English. She hopes to find an engaging educational resource.