The UCI Podcast
University of California, Irvine
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Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.
Available episodes
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3 days ago
UCI Podcast: A prescription to reshape healthcare
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 the entire continuum from drug discovery to clinical practice. On this episode of the UCI Podcast, founding dean Jan Hirsch discusses what differentiates the new school and how it will help solve healthcare's $528.4 billion problem.
Jul 27, 2020
UCI Podcast: Coronavirus crisis and economic recovery
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.
Jul 19, 2020
UCI Podcast: How UCI became a research powerhouse
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.
Jul 14, 2020
UCI Podcast: Flattening the coronavirus curve – again
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 of UCI’s Program in Public Health, argues that Orange County needs to pursue harm reduction by remaining dedicated to the most effective methods of preventing the spread of the virus, while also protecting our own mental health.
Jul 7, 2020
UCI Podcast: Professor Davin Phoenix on the political impact of the Black Lives Matter movement
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 and race play in politics. In his research, and his book “The Anger Gap: How Race Shapes Emotion in Politics,” Phoenix finds that anger benefits some groups more than others. In this episode of the UCI Podcast, Phoenix discusses the protests and their potential influence on the November elections. “Black people have the underlying sense that the system itself isn’t actually just,” Phoenix says. “So they can react to some of these threats not with indignation that fires up that political response, but with that sense of resignation. Been there, done that. We’ve been here before; we’ll be here again.”
Jul 1, 2020
UCI Podcast: Top Chef winner is UCI alumna Melissa King
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 as an Asian American queer woman.
Jun 29, 2020
UCI Podcast: Commemorating the 75th anniversary of WW II
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 account of an average GI's war experience and an intimate glimpse into the lives of two members of the Greatest Generation. Russ, a UCI political science research professor, tells the UCI podcast how that war affected family relations and touched all of their lives.
Jun 25, 2020
Anteater Insider: Paula Smith on bringing back UCI sports safely
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 to safely bring back sports for the fall.
Jun 22, 2020
UCI Podcast: In the ER with Dr. Chris Fox
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 50,000 people per year receive immediate trauma care. But the COVID-19 pandemic has considerably impacted how the UCI ER operates and the type of treatments it provides. Dr. Fox joins the UCI Podcast to describe to toll COVID-19 is taking on the ER these days.
Jun 18, 2020
UCI Podcast: Celebrating Juneteenth because George Floyd changed the world
June 19 — Juneteenth — marks the day in 1865 that the Union Army announced in Texas that the African American slaves 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 UCI Podcast about the history behind Juneteenth, the decades upon decades of continued struggle, and the hope she feels in this moment.
Jun 17, 2020
UCI Podcast: Coronavirus in the bathroom and waste water treatment facilities
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.
Jun 17, 2020
UCI's Melissa Mazmanian on her new book on our work, family and digital lives
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 she went through to write the book and how it relates to our lives in this time of global pandemic.
Jun 15, 2020
UCI Podcast: How the LEAD-ABC program gives black medical students a ‘powerful’ voice
This August, 12 black first-year medical school students will arrive at UCI — the most ever. What prompted that record-setting achievement? Much of the credit goes to a growing program at the School of Medicine called LEAD-ABC, which recruits top-level black medical school students and allies who are dedicated to working with those communities to pursue their degrees at UCI. LEAD stands for Leadership Education to Advance Diversity, and ABC stands for African, Black and Caribbean. In today’s episode of the UCI Podcast, Dr. Carol Major, who is the co-director of the LEAD-ABC program and the assistant dean for student inclusive excellence and a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and Kaosoluchi Enendu, who is a current UCI School of Medicine student in the class of 2021, discuss the origins of the LEAD-ABC program and the success it has already achieved.
Jun 12, 2020
Anteater Insider: UCI AVC of operations Rick Coulon on keeping campus clean for reengagement
Rick Coulon, UCI's associate vice chancellor for operations, has been putting a lot of thought and planning into the upcoming resumption of closer-to-full-scale activities on campus following the months' long curtailment to prevent the spread of coronavirus. He discusses the steps he and his colleagues are taking to prepare in this episode of Anteater Insider.
Jun 11, 2020
Anteater Insider: Tom Andriola on reimagining technology's role in reengaging operations
Technology has played a crucial role in UCI’s ability to shift to remote work, instruction and even patient care. As UCI starts to reengage operations, the campus has an opportunity to develop a new normal around technology. Tom Andriola is vice chancellor of information technology and data at UCI and he tells the Anteater Insider about the rapid transition to off-campus operations, the sheer scale of the change and how UCI can reimagine technology.
Jun 10, 2020
Anteater Insider: Hal Stern on the campus re-engagement plan
Interim provost and executive vice chancellor Hal Stern is leading UCI’s plan to re-engage with campus operations after a state-wide, stay-at-home order was issued in March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Anteater Insider podcast, he describes this methodical re-engagement approach, which started last week with the resumption of some research functions. It and it will continue over the summer to allow for essential employees to resume to on-campus work activities. By fall, the plan is to have the campus bustling with activity once again – this time with the expectations of frequent handwashing, the wearing of facial coverings and physical distancing. Welcome to the new normal.
Jun 9, 2020
Anteater Insider: Prof. Bernadette Boden-Albala on coming back to campus
UCI is reengaging operations and more people are getting ready to come back to campus, with university leaders generating plans and implementing measures to ensure a smooth, safe transition. Bernadette Boden-Albala, the director and founding dean of UCI’s Program in Public Health, talks with the Anteater Insider about those plans, where Orange County stands on COVID-19, and why it’s safe to return to campus.
Jun 8, 2020
Anteater Insider: Conducting research on the UCI campus with a steady eye on the pandemic
Pramod Khargonekar, UCI's vice chancellor for research, is the first guest on Anteater Insider, a new podcast series from UCI's office of Strategic Communications & Public Affairs. The vice chancellor discusses the plans and procedures UCI has put in place to enable increasing numbers of researchers to come back to campus, when necessary, to do their work.
Jun 4, 2020
UCI Podcast: Prof. Alison Holman on how the pandemic influences our sense of time
In this episode of the UCI Podcast, Alison Holman, an associate professor at UCI’s Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing, speaks with UCI's Aaron Orlowski about the different ways the coronavirus pandemic has affected our ability to keep track of time. An expert in trauma, Holman says the COVID-19 crisis has stripped us of our expected futures, unmooring us.
May 29, 2020
UCI Podcast: Where we stand on COVID-19
In this special edition of the UCI Podcast, infectious disease experts Drs. Ming Tan and Saahir Khan of the UCI School of Medicine examine the past, present and future of global pandemics, and where we stand as the global community works to solve the coronavirus riddle and the deadly COVID-19 disease it causes.
May 27, 2020
UCI Podcast: The race for COVID testing
In March, the UCI Medical Center became the first hospital in Orange County to provide COVID-19 testing. Dr. Ed Monuki, chair of pathology who leads UCI Health’s testing efforts, discusses how the campus came together to address this community need and how future testing for the coronavirus and its antibodies will play an important role with the resumption of our regular daily activities, like going back to work or the classroom.
May 6, 2020
UCI Podcast: On the front lines of COVID-19
If you were to point on a U.S. map where COVID-19 has hit the hardest, it would be New York City. And that’s where Dr. Robert Rowe, a critical care fellow and attending physician in emergency medicine with UCI Health, volunteered in the intensive care unit at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. The Elmhurst neighborhood has been called the “epicenter of the epicenter” of coronavirus infections in the United States. Dr. Rowe joins the UCI Podcast to discuss working 12-hour shifts for a week straight seeing severely ill COVID-19 patients, many of whom died. While COVID-19 cases are proportionately lower in Orange County than in other areas of the U.S., he warns its residents to continue to practice social distancing and other safe behaviors to stem the spread of the disease.
Apr 28, 2020
UCI Podcast: Mental health and home self-isolation
Jesse Borelli is an associate professor of psychological science at UCI, and she studies the links between close relationships, emotions, health and development, with a particular focus on risk for anxiety and depression. In this special UCI Podcast, she discusses how to stay safe and sane during social distancing.
Apr 22, 2020
UCI Podcast: Andrew Noymer
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 how and when life will return to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic. The good news is, social distancing seems to be working. In Orange County, COVID-19 infection rates are lower than predicted … for now. But, he says, don’t expect to return to your normal routines anytime soon. The “new normal,” as many call it, will involve opening up the economy, but social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands repeatedly will remain.
Apr 15, 2020
Coronavirus and inclusivity: A call for proposals
The Confronting Extremism Program in UCI’s Office of Inclusive Excellence has issued a call for proposals to promote understanding about equity in the age of the COVID-19. In addition to bringing to light some of the best qualities of ingenuity and empathy in individuals, the worldwide coronavirus crisis has exposed and exacerbated fault-lines of inequities in society. Douglas Haynes, vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion, talks about the call for proposals in this episode of the UCI Podcast with host Sheri Ledbetter from UCI’s Office of Strategic Communications & Public Affairs. More information about the project can be found at https://inclusion.uci.edu/.
Apr 10, 2020
UCI Health response to coronavirus pandemic
The entire University of California, Irvine community has taken unprecedented steps to confront the coronavirus pandemic. UCI Health is on the front lines of the crisis response. In this episode of the UCI Podcast, two key members of the UCI Health staff -- Linda Dickie, senior director of quality & patient safety, epidemiology & infection control; and Joe Brothman, director of environmental health & safety -- discuss the measures UCI Health has undergone thus far to prepare for a potential surge in COVID-19 cases and ongoing efforts to keep the community safe and healthy.
Feb 28, 2020
The UCI Podcast on travel during difficult times
With spring break around the corner, it is important to keep in mind best practices for staying well and considering your risk of exposure to the virus through travel activity. As you make plans to travel for spring break, or for other purposes Dr. Bernadette Boden-Albala, dean of UCI’s program in public health, shares some best practices for your safety and well-being while on your trip.
Feb 14, 2020
UCI Podcast on inclusivity in difficult times
Douglas Haynes, vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion at the University of California, Irvine, joins Sheri Ledbetter on this episode of the UCI Podcast to discuss some of the sensitive cultural and racial aspects of the present time, particularly with regard to the growing awareness of the threat of novel coronavirus.
Jan 28, 2020
Coronavirus discussion with UCI's Dr. Albert Chang
As medical director of the UCI Student Health Center, Dr. Albert Chang has gotten a lot of questions from UCI students, faculty, and staff about coronavirus. The respiratory infection was first detected in central China recently and has spread to several international locations around the world, including the United States. In this episode of the UCI Podcast, Dr. Chang talks with Sheri Ledbetter of UCI's Strategic Communications and Public Affairs about some of the misconceptions around the illness, and offers advice on how members of the UCI campus community can protect their own health.
Stay up to date on coronavirus at https://www.ehs.uci.edu/PublicHealth/coronavirus/faculty_staff-faq.html.
Jan 6, 2020
UCI research reveals molecular secrets of herbal remedies
Geoffrey Abbott, professor of physiology & biophysics in the UCI School of Medicine, is the senior author of a study on botanical folk medicines published recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He and his colleabues tracked the relationship of the human KCNQ5 potassium channel – known for its regulation of vascular smooth muscle tone – to genetic and culturally diverse herbal remedies traditionally used to reduce blood pressure, such as lavender, fennel seed and chamomile. In this interview with UCI's Lilibeth Garcia, Abbott says the future of medicine may just rest in the molecular secrets of ancient cures.
Jan 3, 2020
UCI researchers attend 2019 AGU Fall Meeting
In mid-December 2019 dozens of UCI faculty researchers, staff scientists and graduate and undergraduate students made the trip from Irvine up to San Francisco to attend the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, a gathering of Earth and space scientists from around the world. The UCI Podcast was there too, and here is our report.
Dec 13, 2019
Year-end UCI Podcast with Chancellor Howard Gillman
In this year-in-review edition of the UCI Podcast, Chancellor Gillman shares his insights on a brilliant 2019 at the University of California, Irvine. By any measure, it was a great year. The campus became the No. 1 choice for California’s high school graduates, reflecting our commitment to providing access, support and opportunity for all students. In August, Money magazine rated UCI the best college in America, and the Sierra Club magazine chose UCI as the ‘greenest’ school in the U.S. And in athletics, the Anteater men’s basketball team won its first NCAA tournament game ever. To top everything off, UCI kicked off its $2 billion Brilliant Future fundraising campaign, which will pave the way for continued growth in healthcare, research, student achievement and the arts and the humanities. A Brilliant Future, indeed.
Nov 21, 2019
UCI's Ask A Philosopher
Rena Beatrice Goldstein is a graduate student in UCI's Department of Philosophy. She's the driver behind Ask A Philosopher, a program that seeks to engage the public in philosophical thinking and discussion. For this episode of the UCI Podcast, we caught up with Goldstein and colleagues at the Ask A Philosopher pop-up kiosk at the Sit Stay Cafe in Huntington Beach.
Nov 17, 2019
Basketball is back at UCI
Basketball is back at UCI, and that means another season with Big West championships potentially in store for both the men’s and women’s teams. In this edition of the UCI Podcast, Trent Rush – the voice of Anteater basketball – catches up with head coaches Russell Turner and Tamara Inoue. Both are coming off record years. The 2018-19 men’s team was the best in UCI history. It won a record 31 games, the Big West Conference championship and its first NCAA tournament game ever. In addition, the women logged their first 20-win season in more than three decades. This year, both teams are preseason conference favorites and poised to once again contend for NCAA tournament berths next March. Let the excitement begin!
Nov 11, 2019
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: How he wrote Devil on the Cross
On the latest UCI Podcast, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o – Distinguished Professor of comparative literature and English at UCI – shares the amazing story of his captivity, which led to the writing of his influential novel Devil on the Cross. In 1977, armed police pulled the Kenyan writer from his home and jailed him in one of Africa’s largest maximum-security prisons. His crime? He had written a play about class struggle, poverty and the legacy of colonialism that offended the brutal Kenyan regime. Ngugi was held in a block with 18 other political prisoners and quarantined from the general prison population. To fight back against the humiliation and the intended degradation of the spirit, he chose to write a novel on the only material to which he had access: toilet paper. Ngugi left that prison on Dec. 12, 1978, with streams of paper on which was written one of his most memorable books. Today, Ngugi is considered one of the world’s greatest living writers, and he’s been at UCI since 2…
Nov 4, 2019
KUCI’s 50th anniversary with Kevin Stockdale
When KUCI first broadcasted in 1969, the counter-culture college radio station brought unplanned, wacky programming to the nation’s largest planned community. This month, the highly admired station turns 50 and can be heard throughout most of Orange County and on the Internet. It’s our place to turn for compelling talk, UCI sports and innovative new music. But some UCI lifers like to recall KUCI’s eccentric past. In this episode of the UCI Podcast, host Tom Vasich talks about KUCI’s rich and eclectic history with its longtime broadcast media coordinator Kevin Stockdale.
Oct 25, 2019
UCI School of Physical Sciences Dean James Bullock
James Bullock, UCI professor and chair of physics & astronomy, became dean of the School of Physical Sciences in the summer of 2019, taking over for Kenneth Janda. In this UCI Podcast interview, Bullock talks about the past, present and future of the school, of which he has been a faculty member since 2004.
Oct 4, 2019
UCI's Brilliant Future Campaign
The University of California, Irvine officially launched its Brilliant Future philanthropic campaign on Oct. 4, 2019, with a goal of raising $2 billion to fund scientific research, provide scholarships for students, advance healthcare innovations, and foster deeper explorations into our shared human experience.
In this episode of the UCI Podcast, host Tom Vasich delves into the campaign with one of its behind-the-scenes leaders, Karen Isble, associate vice chancellor & campaign director, University Advancement.
You can learn more about the Brilliant Future Campaign at brilliantfuture.uci.edu.
Sep 3, 2019
UCI is a Sierra Cool School
The green streak continues! Sierra magazine has named the University of California, Irvine No. 1 in the nation and No. 2 overall in its annual “Cool Schools” ranking of sustainability leaders among U.S. and Canadian colleges. Learn more at http://news.uci.edu.
Aug 12, 2019
Willie Banks on why UCI is #1
Money magazine has ranked the University of California, Irvine No. 1 on its 2019-20 list of the nation’s “Best Colleges.” In this episode of the UCI Podcast, host Sheri Ledbetter speaks with Willie Banks, UCI's vice chancellor for student affairs, to gain his perspective on why the university has earned this top college ranking.
Jul 8, 2019
UCI's New Swan Theater readying for 2019 season
This latest episode of The UCI Podcast goes onstage at the New Swan Shakespeare Festival with its creative director Eli Simon. The eighth season of popular theater series kicks off this July with two of the Bard’s most archetypal plays: “The Merchant of Venice” and “The Two Gentlemen of Verona.”
May 23, 2019
UCI Podcast Esports Edition
In this episode of the UCI Podcast, we meet with Mark Deppe, director of UCI Esports, and Avi Behar, jungler on the Anteaters collegiate champion League of Legends team who are defending their title this week. The two discuss the history and culture of the UCI Esports program and their excitement about competing in the College League of Legends championship.
Apr 9, 2019
UCI Podcast on exoplanet hunting and queer video games
This episode of The UCI Podcast features two interviews with University of California, Irvine faculty members. In our first conversation, we'll discuss the history of video games through the lens of LGBTQ theory with Bonnie "Bo" Ruberg, assistant professor of informatics, whose new book, "Video Games Have Always Been Queer," is on shelves now. Then we'll talk about what it takes to find exoplanets orbiting dim M-dwarf stars in the Milky Way with UCI assistant professor of astronomy Paul Robertson. Learn more by visiting news.uci.edu.
Mar 20, 2019
The UCI Podcast on TMJ treatments
This first episode of The UCI Podcast features an interview with Kyriacos Athanasiou, Distinguished Professor of biomedical engineering at the University of California, Irvine. Athanasiou's group at UCI has been looking into ways to treat defects to the temporomandibular joint, which impact about a quarter of the population.