Oct. 10, 2024

UC IRVINE NEWS

Standing room only for unique clean room engineering class

UC Irvine boasts 15,000 square feet of “clean room” facilities. They are air-filtered and nearly dustless labs where semiconductor chips, microsensors and microdevices are made. Visitors must wear head-to-toe coverings to protect the machines from dust and other pollutants. A clean-room class is very rare for undergraduates in the U.S. – usually only Ph.D. students receive this highly skilled training. Isaac Mays, an electrical engineering student, said future job opportunities created by the CHIPS and Science Act are why he wants to pursue a semiconductor fabrication career.

UCI Libraries now offering audiobooks

UCI Libraries are now offering audiobooks for over 25 subjects and genres via OverDrive, including nonfiction, young adult fiction and even popular titles seen on TikTok. Students, faculty and staff can access these newly added audiobooks through a desktop or laptop on OverDrive as well as on any smartphone, tablet or Kindle with the Libby app. For more information on how to access OverDrive and other digital book collections, check out the Libraries’ article on accessing ebooks.

UCI Health honors exceptional nurses and caregivers

UCI Health nursing team members and other caregivers were recently honored for going above and beyond for their patients and colleagues. The DAISY award honors nurses who demonstrate excellence in patient care while displaying the values of compassion, courage and integrity. Rosey Vu (above), a nurse at the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, received the DAISY Award after being nominated by a patient who has been battling leukemia for several years. James Needham (below left), a nurse at UCI Health ― Los Alamitos, was honored with a DAISY Award after being nominated by a patient whose family is grateful for his support and empathy during a difficult situation with a loved one.

And Rafael Mendoza (below), a hospital assistant in orthopedics, was honored with the Sunflower Award, which recognizes non-nursing staff for their service. Mendoza’s nomination highlighted his warm, encouraging manner and willingness to go the extra mile for his colleagues and patients.

UC NEWS

Changes coming to employee health benefits in 2025

In an Oct. 8 letter, Cheryl Lloyd, the University of California’s Systemwide HR vice president, announced significant changes to employee health benefits in 2025. UC’s medical plan costs will rise again this year due to increased healthcare utilization as our population ages and rates of chronic health conditions rise, enhanced benefits, and the rapidly expanding use of costly new drugs and treatments. To limit the impact of rising costs on employees and retirees, the decision was made, in consultation with President Drake, EVP-COO Nava and EVP-CFO Brostrom, to increase UC’s 2025 contribution to medical premiums by $198M over 2024. Even with this additional contribution from UC, employee and retiree premium contributions will need to increase.

SAVE THE DATE

SFJazz Collective: 20th Anniversary Celebration Chris Potter, David Sanchez, Michael Rodriguez, Edward Simon, Matt Brewer, Warren Wolf, Kendrick Scott

Saturday, 8 p.m. (sponsored by Irvine Barclay Theatre)

An Evening with Yotam Ottolenghi

Sunday, 5 p.m. (sponsored by Irvine Barclay Theatre)

A Song for Cesar

Tuesday, 7 p.m. (sponsored by Irvine Barclay Theatre)

For more events, visit UCI Today.

#UCIconnected

Anteater’s amateur Sim racing team wins 3rd place at Buttonwillow

Anteater Sim Racing is a student-led organization whose mission is to inspire, connect and integrate UCI members with the motorsport field by using Sim racing and high-performance driving experiences to prepare them for real-life racing. In the Sept. 27-28, 24-hour-long “Lemon” race at Buttonwillow Raceway Track, the team fixed up a former 1990 Lucky Dog racing Mazda Miata, with help from Yokohama Tires, FSELA Repair Center, Project Dream, TPM parts and Soragami. The team finished with 218 laps (700 race miles in total) and finished third among first-time rookies. Despite an unfortunate electrical failure five laps into the race, it’s an impressive finish for a first-time race team.

#UCIconnected spotlights interesting updates from the UC Irvine community. #IamUCI spotlights profiles of students, faculty, staff and alumni. Send submissions via email or post on social media with the #UCIconnected or #IamUCI hashtags.

UC IRVINE NEWSMAKERS

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