The UC Irvine Podcast

Andrew Noymer is an associate professor of public health at UCI, and he’s an expert on public health responses to pandemics like COVID-19 and their long-term consequences. In this special UCI Podcast, he discusses what we’ve learned over the last eight months of the pandemic and what we can expect next with the novel coronavirus. For instance, we need to be prepared for a harsh winter with a surge...

With a student resident population of 7,000 for Fall Quarter, UCI embarked on an ambitious combined effort to help slow the spread of coronavirus on campus: weekly asymptomatic testing for resident students, and a contact tracing program unique to the UCI community. Dr. Albert Chang, the Medical Director of the UCI Student Health Center; and David Souleles, the Director of UCI’s COVID-19 Response...

The nature of political partisanship has metastasized in recent years, and the consequences are on full display this election season. According to Pete Ditto, a UCI professor of psychological science and expert on political partisanship, what used to be disagreements about the best way to solve common problems have morphed into a conflict that more closely resembles religious sectarianism. As vote...

The clouds of misinformation swirling on the internet have only thickened this election season, with unfounded allegations of rampant voter fraud and online conspiracy theories that severely strain credulity. To learn more, the UCI Podcast spoke with Cailin O’Connor, an associate professor in the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at UCI, is an expert on misinformation, and, along with...

Eloy Ortiz Oakley’s parents didn’t go to college, but today the UCI graduate (BA ‘96, MBA ‘99) leads the largest higher education system in the country. As chancellor of the California Community Colleges, Oakley oversees 116 campuses across the state that educate 2.1 million students, while he also serves on the University of California Board of Regents. Oakley's story demonstrates the capacity of...

With just weeks to go before the election, the Senate has launched confirmation hearings for President Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Conservatives have praised her judicial approach, while liberals are worried that she could contribute to undoing the gains they’ve made on social issues in recent decades — and especially on women’s reproductive rights. The one...

What is the Federal Reserve? What does it do? When is debt not a bad thing? Is a universal basic income economically sustainable? Why would you take financial advice from philosopher? Aaron James, UCI professor of philosophy works at the intersection of economics and political philosophy and is co-author of a new book, “Money from Nothing: Or, Why We Should Stop Worrying About Debt and Learn to Lo...

The possible scenarios for election night and the days after multiply like a many-branched tree: What if one candidate claims victory even as mail-in ballots continue to be counted? What if states end up sending competing slates of electors to Congress? What if no winner is determined before January 20? Rick Hasen, a Chancellor's professor of law and political science at UCI, views himself as the...

The pandemic-induced pivot to remote instruction has made digital learning the most important issue in education today, for students from pre-K to Ph. D. In 2015, the UCI Paul Merage School of Business launched an in-house Digital Learning Program that designs, develops and produces meaningful online learning experiences. Here, Program Director Natalie Blair tells UCI Podcast what she recognized f...

Since 2011, 13 million Syrians have fled the nation's civil war. Amal Alachkar and her family were among them. Alachkar tells the UCI podcast how she went from establishing Syria's first neuroscience research lab to an associate professor of teaching in pharmaceutical sciences at UCI to helping establish an online master's in pharmacology and working to prevent psychiatric disorders for the childr...

The Aug. 28 Black Lives Matters March on Washington D.C. marks three months of nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd. The movement has raised awareness to myriad issues related to racism and inequality, but where does it go now? In this edition of the UCI Podcast, Doug Haynes, vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion and a professor of history at UCI, offers his perspecti...

Major consumer brands across the country, from Disneyland to Quaker Oats, have announced plans to retire, evolve or review images used for marketing purposes, in response to complaints they perpetuate racial stereotypes. In today’s climate of heightened public awareness of the impact and legacy of images, Bridget R. Cooks, associate professor of African American studies and art history at UCI, spe...

The free speech movement was born on college campuses in the 1960s as students protested the Vietnam War and voiced their support for civil rights. But what will happen as the COVID-19 pandemic suppresses in-person campus gatherings, and as discourse increasingly moves online? The University of California's National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement was formed in 2017 to foster dialogue...

UCI is writing the prescription that will reshape healthcare for the 21st century. Last week, the University of California Board of Regents approved the establishment of a new school of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UCI. As part of the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, the school will approach patient health holistically, conducting research and educating students on th...

The COVID-19 crisis has intertwined economics and public health into a single issue, creating a collective action problem. Eric Spangenberg, dean of The UCI Paul Merage School of Business and consumer behavior expert, joins the UCI Podcast to share his insights into the relationship between community action and keeping Orange County safely and successfully open for business during the pandemic.

In fiscal 2019-20, which ended on June 30, UCI researchers receive the most funding and campus history with $529 million in grants and contracts. Leading the effort to keep UCI’s researchers well-funded is Pramod Khargonekar, the vice chancellor of research. He joins the UCI Podcast to describe how the campus has become a research powerhouse.

Major portions of society are continuing to open back up in Orange County, even as some restrictions return amidst surging coronavirus cases in California. In the spring, Orange County managed to flatten the COVID-19 curve, and even served as an exemplary model for other cities around the nation. Now, the question is whether Orange County can do the same thing again. Bernadette Boden-Albala, dean...

The protests over George Floyd’s death and the wider activism seeking to end police brutality and fight anti-Black racism are swiftly reshaping political discourse. With the elections in November, the question is whether the energy and anger of this moment will lead to lasting political change. Davin Phoenix, an associate professor of political science at UCI, is an expert on the role that anger a...

Melissa King, a UCI alumna who earned her BS in cognitive science in 2005, won Top Chef: All-Stars L.A., the 17th season of the show. In this episode of the UCI Podcast, King dishes on the final moments of the show and her unique California-Asian culinary style. She also shares tips for college students cooking in their dorms — and offers advice for young people today who admire her achievements a...

When Russ Dalton's mother Sandy passed away in 2018, his sister Janet found a trove of letters their father Bob, a soldier in Patton's Third Army, had sent during his deployment to Germany. Earlier this year, Russ and Janet published a book, "Love Letters from World War II: Robert W. Dalton's WW II Service" that is an assembly of some of their dad's letters and photos. It offers a first-person acc...

The coronavirus pandemic caused the cancellation of winter and spring sports tournaments around the country, cutting short student athletes' seasons. Since then, UCI's student athletes have found innovative ways to stay in shape and keep team camaraderie strong. Paula Smith, UCI's director of intercollegiate athletics, tells the Anteater Insider how UCI Athletics is creating and implementing plans...

What’s it like to be on the front lines of the largest human health crises in more than a century? Dr. Chris Fox can tell you. He’s the chair of emergency medicine at UCI, and he helps oversee the best-equipped and one of the biggest emergency rooms in Orange County. The ER has become the epicenter of U.S. medicine, and in Orange County, that epicenter is at the UCI Medical Center, where more than...

June 19 — Juneteenth — marks the day in 1865 that the Union Army announced in Texas that enslaved African American were free. Since then, black Americans have honored the day, even as it has gone unnoticed by many others. But in 2020, with protesters filling the streets over the death of George Floyd, what is there to celebrate? Jessica Millward, an associate professor of history at UCI, tells the...

Can coronavirus be spread with the flush of a toilet? Can it be detected in municipal waste water treatment facilities? Sunny Jiang, professor and chair in UCI's Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, is working two simultaneous projects to answer these questions, which she discusses in this episode of the UCI Podcast.

Melissa Mazmanian, UCI associate professor of informatics, is an author of a new book titled "Dreams of the Overworked: Living, Working & Parenting in the Digital Age," published by Stanford University Press. In this episode of the UCI Podcast, the professor, who holds appointments in the Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences and the Paul Merage School of Business, discusses what s...