The UC Irvine Podcast

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 Team, together join the UCI Podcast to discuss these two programs and how the two initiatives work together to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

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 voters head to the polls, Ditto joins the UCI Podcast to discuss why the two sides are so far apart and how everyone can remain level-headed in these tense times.

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 fellow UCI professor James Weatherall, the co-author of the book, The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread (2019). In this interview, O’Connor discusses the most consequential pieces of misinformation this election season and the ways people can slow their spread.

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 UCI — and the California Community Colleges system — to elevate first generation college students to remarkable heights. In this interview with the UCI Podcast Oakley discusses his journey to UCI, the challenges the California Community Colleges faced in navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and the opportunities for using technology to increase college access for students. Plus, he shares tips for first generation students navigating their own college journeys. UCI is the #1 university doing the most for the American Dream, according to the New York Times’ College Access Index, and has been designated a Hispanic Serving Institution.

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 thing both sides seem to agree on is that at stake are some of the most contentious cultural issues of this era. On this episode of the UCI Podcast, Michele Goodwin, a Chancellor’s professor of law at UCI, discusses how Judge Barrett, if confirmed, could affect the Supreme Court.

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 Love the Federal Reserve,” published by Melville House. He answers those questions and more in this conversation with UCI Podcast.

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 nuclear engineer examining the small risks of a total election meltdown. In fact, Hasen, who is also a CNN election law analyst, wrote the book on it: “Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy” (2020). Hasen spoke with the UCI Podcast about the risks of election meltdown, how particularly close elections have unfolded before (such as the 2000 election), why there is a low risk of voter fraud, and what voters can do to make sure their vote is counted. Note: This episode of the UCI Podcast was recorded before reports emerged that President Trump tested positive for COVID-19.

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 five years ago that most of academia missed, what makes this program unique and what she sees for the future of digital learning.

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 children of her fellow refugees. For more information on Alachkar's work with schizophrenia, autism, and Alzheimer's, visit https://bit.ly/2EQte2S.

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 perspectives on this pivotal time in U.S. history and discusses what’s happening on campus, such as with the UCI Black Thriving Initiative he’s leading.

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, speaks to the need for comprehensive, widespread change.

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 about these kinds of free speech issues, and it's housed at UC’s Washington, D.C. location. UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman is the co-chair and Executive Director Michelle Deutchman is based here at UCI. The UCI Podcast spoke with her to get her take on how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting campus free speech.

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.

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 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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 UCI Podcast about the history behind Juneteenth, the decades upon decades of continued struggle, and the hope she feels in this moment.

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 she went through to write the book and how it relates to our lives in this time of global pandemic.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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/.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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 2002. He has published more than two dozen novels, stories, essays and memoirs, and he remains a strong voice of freedom around the world.

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.

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.

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.