Your guide to what’s new and trending at UCI
Dear Friends of UCI,
Welcome to the Weekly Anteater report for what’s new and trending at UCI!
We’ve curated a collection of top news items and trending social topics. If you’re active on social media, please share this news with your friends and colleagues. We’ve attached social links and summaries for easy sharing!
On to this week’s big news…
UCI’s new ISEB brings together researchers to address the world’s biggest problems, from deadly diseases to climate change.
“UCI is once again leading the way with the opening of our state-of-the-art Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building. … The vital research collaborations that this magnificent new facility is designed to foster and accelerate will hasten the discovery of new knowledge … that will make life better regionally, nationally and globally.” — UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman
UCI biologists & mathematicians have developed a new tool to help decipher the language cells use to communicate with one another.
“To understand why cells do certain things…we need to listen to what they are saying to one another,” — Prof. Qing Nie, UCI Chancellor’s Professor of mathematics and developmental & cell biology.
As the world embarks on the biggest vaccination effort in history, pharmacists across the country and at UCI have stepped forward.
“UCI plays a critical role in Orange County and Southern California,” says Alexandre Chan, chair of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy Practice. “I’m proud that the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences can collaborate with the UCI Health in vaccinating our community.”
Who’s talking about UCI on social media?
UCI in the News
Erika Hayasaki, UCI associate professor of English writes, “In the Inland Empire, more than 40,000 people now work for Amazon warehouses …. For many workers who were juggling multiple jobs to make ends meet before Covid, Amazon suddenly became their sole source of income. Many of the jobs were physically demanding, with quotas dictating output. Those who might not have complained about working conditions or considered themselves activists started speaking up.”
Bridget R. Cooks … is an associate professor of Art History and African American Studies at the University of California, Irvine. Her most recent project, sponsored by a grant from the Ford Foundation, is “The Black Index,” a show and accompanying book spotlighting artworks which “build upon the tradition of Black self-representation as an antidote to colonialist images,” on view online and at UC Irvine’s Contemporary Art Center.
As the vaccine rollout continues, some controversies have arisen over who gets priority access. “These are challenging questions for sure and one way to break down the issues is to ask, ‘what are we primarily trying to achieve with the vaccine?’” said Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, director of medical ethics, [school of medicine], at UC Irvine. … “My own view is that from the beginning we should have said the overarching goal is to save lives and to reduce severe illness. And if you do that, then you prioritize really based on age.”
