Category Archives: Noteworthy Achievement

“How does play become industrialized as part of the larger practice of a culture industry?” This question is central to the research of William Dunkel, an informatics Ph.D. candidate in UC Irvine’s Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS).

“To explore this question, I examine a particular regional subsection of the global esports industry: Korea,” says Dunkel. As one of the biggest esports markets in the world, and as a global exporter of pop culture (owing to the Korean Wave known as “Hallyu”), Korea is an ideal focal point for Dunkel’s research.

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.

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.

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).

The weather cleared in time to reveal a beautiful blue sky on the evening of May 5, when nearly 200 UC Irvine engineering and information and computer sciences (ICS) alumni, faculty and friends gathered at the Inn at Mission San Juan Capistrano to celebrate six alumni for the 2023 Hall of Fame.

Mohammad Moshirpour, who joined UC Irvine’s Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) in January as an associate professor of teaching in the Department of Informatics, was recently recognized for exemplary contributions to teaching and learning. Moshirpour, previously an associate professor of electrical and software engineering at the University of Calgary, received a Summit Award for Excellence in Education from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).

Graduate students at UC Irvine are carrying out impressive research, but how does their work affect our daily lives? The Grad Slam competition bridges that gap between academia and application, helping scholars communicate how their research impacts real-world living. How can qualitative methods for assistive technology impact our lives and the lives of loved ones? Why should we care about spatially augmented reality on deformable surfaces?

UCI Graduate Division named informatics doctoral candidate Benedict “Bono” Salazar Olgado as a 2022-2023 Public Impact Distinguished Fellow.

Olgado is a Ph.D. candidate in UC Irvine’s Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS), with a graduate emphasis in global studies. He is co-advised by Geoffrey C. Bowker and Roderic Crooks within the Department of Informatics.