Feature Stories
Jul 15, 2020
There’s a secret at the UC Irvine School of Physical Sciences. The secret is at the Infinity Fountain, which sits outside Rowland and Reines Halls and in front of Aldrich Park, and which is where…
Jun 19, 2020
Giuli Zelaya misses her rats. She hasn’t seen them in months, because when the coronavirus pandemic hit, she, along with most of the rest of UCI’s undergraduates, had to abandon campus. It doesn’t matter that Zelaya will one day euthanize the rats as part of research into THC’s neurological effects — she still misses the rodents. “It breaks my heart,” said Zelaya, who’s majoring in neurobiology.
May 20, 2020
The international response to the coronavirus pandemic has so far slashed global carbon emissions by more than 8%, according to detailed estimates from a pair of independent research teams. That’s roughly three times the annual emissions of Italy. But energy consumption is already rebounding in China and elsewhere, and the pandemic could register as little more than a blip in the climate system as government-imposed lockdowns come to an end.
May 20, 2020
When particle physicist Mike Fenton moved to America last September, things didn’t go quite right for him. But Fenton will be the first to tell you that when the universe began some 13.7 billion years ago during the Big Bang, things started out just right.
May 8, 2020
Professor Albert Siryaporn couldn’t have known it, but research he and a team of scientists published last year in December would, just a few months later, position him and his lab to combat the raging coronavirus pandemic.
May 7, 2020
Inspiration is a wind that can kindle a fire. That wind stirred on October 29, 2019 in the Pacific Ballroom at the UCI Student Center as Professor Jonathan Feng gave a talk as part of the School of Physical Sciences’ Breakfast Lecture Series.
Apr 13, 2020
Coronavirus is affecting everyone, and our School is no exception. This piece is one of a series of snapshots about the people of the School and how they’re doing during the pandemic.
Apr 9, 2020
The Physical Sciences Student Affairs Office in Rowland Hall 134 is where people with questions can go to find answers. The doors open at 9a.m., and students walk in wondering about how to enroll in a class, and faculty walk in wondering how to construct a class that students will want to take. Don Williams, the director of the office, wants to make sure good answers find the questions that people have, because he knows that a bad answer can send someone down the wrong path. He also knows that…
Apr 7, 2020
Widespread testing, even of those not showing symptoms, is one of the most effective ways to track the prevalence of coronavirus infections in communities.
Apr 7, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it with tremendous impact to our work, our homes, families and everything in between. With so many changes, staying motivated and connected to research interests is hard! Through the Physical Sciences #UCIReignite campaign we hope to spur our research community to reconnect with their passion for science.
Apr 2, 2020
When Katy Rodriguez Wimberly came to UCI in the fall of 2016 to start her PhD in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, she came straight from a summer program offered by the university called “Competitive Edge.” The program gave her six weeks to get to know UCI, and to meet faculty and fellow grad students who gave her tips on how to do well in the years to come. The connections she made that summer helped her feel like she belonged in grad school, and that she was a part of the UCI…
Mar 31, 2020
Professor Rachel Martin’s March 13 chemical biology class was the last one she held in person during the 2020 winter quarter. The subject that day was the coronavirus, the very thing that forced her and other UCI faculty to move courses online and start shutting down “nonessential” research projects in their labs.