Medical building update; time blindness

March 12, 2024

Students are a blur of motion in the Anteater Learning Pavilion. (Photo: Steve Zylius/UCI)

UCI ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS

Falling Leaves Medical Innovation Building update

Construction site of Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building

Construction is progressing quickly on UCI’s 215,000-square-foot Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Building, which will feature state-of-the-art teaching space and labs. Exterior construction of the six-floor edifice is nearly complete and interior construction has begun on the first level. Each floor will be reserved for researching specific health issues, including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and vision loss, while findings will be transformed into more effective tools to prevent illness and treat disease. The building is scheduled to open in 2025.

Time blindness and ADHD

A common yet little-known experience among people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is time blindness. The phenomenon occurs when sufferers lose the concept of time and the sense of how long it takes for tasks to get done. UCI Health pediatrician Dr. Geeta Grover, who has practiced neurodevelopmental medicine for nearly 30 years, recently told U.S. News & World Report how the prefrontal cortex works as the brain’s “manager” to regulate emotions and impulses and help people maintain attention, manage time and complete tasks.

UC NEWS

Staffer wins diversity, equity and inclusion award

In recognition of her contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion in UCI’s tech community, Shohreh Bozorgmehri (third from left), director of Student & Academic Services, won UC Tech’s 2023 Golden DEI Leadership Award. Among the accomplishments noted in her award nomination, Bozorgmehri founded UCI’s Women in Tech project in 2020, as well as two other programs: Applause and LEAP (Leadership, Equality, Allies and Presence).

#IamUCI

Sociologist recognized for jail and inequality research

On any given day, a majority of the people in U.S. jails haven’t been convicted of any crime. Although some post bail quickly, others can’t afford that and remain confined until they go to trial. Little research exists to understand the experiences of the second group, but Kristin Turney, a Dean’s Professor of sociology, aims to change that. Her research “is animated by the insight that an event like incarceration affects not only the individual who is sent to prison, but also that person’s family and broader community,” say fellow UCI sociologists Rachel Goldberg and Paul Hanselman. Turney’s overall work to illuminate social inequality and the institutions that exacerbate it garnered her this year’s Academic Senate Distinguished Mid-Career Faculty Award for Research.

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