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University of California, Irvine Departments of Emergency Medicine and Informatics, in partnership with Wholistic Research and Education Foundation, introduce C.A.R.E.S., an exploratory survey reaching millions of CBD and cannabis users across the U.S. to assess the potential role of cannabinoids in reducing anxiety and insomnia and improving quality of life.

When the global pandemic first hit and people started to quarantine, Informatics Professor Iftekhar Ahmed heard conflicting stories from software engineering friends and colleagues regarding levels of productivity. He recalls how some would say, “I love working from home; I’m feeling so much more productive,” while others would admit, “I’m spending so many hours taking care of my kids that my productivity is way down.” So, as a software engineering researcher, he wondered how COVID-19 might be influencing software projects and development activities.

If getting the whole team on the same schedule isn’t feasible, remote workers should still try to make regular appearances at the office. “Ideally you should go into work once a week if you are going to be at home,” said Judith Olson, professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine.

Read the full story at CNN.

The Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, which aims to “bring together the sharpest, most thoughtful people from around the globe to tackle the biggest challenges presented by the Internet,” recently announced its incoming cohort. Joining BKC as an affiliate for the 2020-2021 academic year is informatics Ph.D. candidate Phoebe Chua, who was thrilled to get the news.

The 42nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) was scheduled to take place in May in Seoul, South Korea. As the premier venue for disseminating research in software engineering, the conference attracts thousands of researchers each year. However, because of the global pandemic, the organizers had to cancel this year’s physical conference.

Following in his sister’s footsteps, Greg Bolcer attended UCI for his bachelor’s degree — lured by her description of “living on the sand on Balboa Island.” In fact, the coast helped Bolcer financially support himself, as the Fullerton native worked as a lifeguard for the city of Laguna while earning his degree in Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) at UCI. After graduating in 1989, Bolcer traded his “beachfront” office for one at UCI, working for Professor Richard Taylor as a DARPA-funded programmer in ICS. He continued working full time at UCI while earning his master’s degree in computer science and software engineering from USC and his Ph.D. in ICS from UCI.

People probably won’t have much trouble remembering to stay in touch with their best friends while stuck at home, but less-regular catchups—such as occasional lunches with co-workers or bumping into an acquaintance at a coffee shop—are more at risk of falling by the wayside, because they’re often impromptu. Melissa Mazmanian, an informatics professor at UC Irvine, told me that it might help to proactively schedule a videochat date that functions as a “low-level exchange of ‘What’s going on with you today?’” to compensate for these lost interactions.

Read the full story at The Atlantic.

The 2019 Diana Forsythe Prize has been awarded to informatics alumna Lilly Irani (Ph.D. ’13) for her book, Chasing Innovation: Making Entrepreneurial Citizens in Modern India. The prize celebrates work in the spirit of Diana Forsythe’s feminist anthropological research on work, science or technology, and the book captures that spirit in its examination of how long-standing power hierarchies continue to influence opportunities. In particular, the book documents the rise of “entrepreneurial citizenship” in India, demonstrating how “a global ethos of development through design has come to shape state policy, economic investment, and the middle class in one of the world’s fastest-growing nations.”

In the UCI Stock Market Competition, students have the opportunity to learn about trading –– how to formulate trading strategies, execute trades and learn from wins and losses. In addition, the workshops teach both basic and advanced investing, information about the investment industry and how to invest when students land their first job.

Read the full story on the UCI Paul Merage School of Business news site.

“Students, you have survived!” André van der Hoek, chair of the Department of Informatics, cheered students at the Winter Informatics Student Project Showcase on March 18, 2019, applauding their completion of the two-quarter capstone course. He then thanked the sponsors for providing this opportunity for students to build their resumes and put their education to practical use. “I’m forever grateful for all the capstone sponsors,” he said. He highlighted that this experience lets students walk into an interview and say, “not only did I take these courses, but I took the capstone and was working with real clients in real situations and encountering real challenges, and here’s how I personally overcame these challenges.” He explained how that narrative can be the difference between merely landing an interview and actually landing the job.