Jan. 13, 2026

The sun illuminates the quiet path toward the PBK Bridge. (Photo by Steve Zylius / UC Irvine)

UC IRVINE NEWS

Engineering students compete in ChemE Cube contest

(UC Irvine ChemE Cube students who attended the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Student Conference in Boston included (from left to right) Hailey Kautz, Angel Huante, Jillyan Canaveral, Zachary Arvin Wong, Caleb Chung and Rishabh Rakesh.)

Seven engineering students traveled to Boston for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Student Conference’s ChemE Cube competition – an international student competition to solve an environmental issue within a cubic foot cube of space. This year’s objective was to create a chemical and mechanical process to filter and remove carbon dioxide from the air with a budget of $2,500 or less. For that, the Anteater team created a compact and modular direct-air capture plant. “Although I can't quantify the exact amount of hours spent on the project, this time range adds up to about 44 weeks, 20-plus energy drinks crushed and one dance break,” said Zachary Wong, chemical engineering senior and one of the team leads.

Child safety

UC Irvine researchers have found no association between placing more children in foster care and reducing child abuse- or neglect-related deaths, calling into question a long-standing argument that removing more children from home reduces rates of fatal child abuse or neglect. “This research is especially important given recent policy reforms that aim to shift resources towards preventing foster care placements,” said Kelley Fong, assistant professor of sociology. “It suggests that reducing foster care and preventing child maltreatment fatalities are not necessarily opposed, but can go hand-in-hand.”

Medical mission brings advanced radiation therapy

(Dr. Priya Mitra (front row, second from left) kneels next to the first patient to receive brachytherapy treatment at the Jimma University Oncology Center in Ethiopia.)

UCI Health radiation oncologist Dr. Priya Mitra joined non-profit organization Radiating Hope on a medical mission to Ethiopia. She spent a week at the Jimma University Oncology Center to provide training on brachytherapy, a lifesaving treatment for women with advanced cervical cancer. Its new high-dose-rate brachytherapy machine is only the second in a country of 120 million people. The first patient to receive this form of radiation therapy was treated on the third day. "Everybody started clapping afterwards,” said Mitra. “It was heartwarming, and the patient was super grateful, as was her husband.”

UC NEWS

Helping first-gen students thrive

(Jermaine Griggs, UC Irvine alumnus ’05)

California’s pioneering spirit is at work in the thousands of UC students seeking to be the first in their family to earn a degree. They join faculty, staff, students and university leaders who themselves were the first to go to college. They are an important part of what makes UC great and how the University of California is working to keep our Golden State a land of opportunity.

#IamUCI

Catherine Liu's artworld influence recognized

Congratulations to Catherine Liu, professor of film and media studies, who is featured in ArtReview’s list of the Power 100 who “have shaped what art has been seen and how it has been seen” in 2025. Liu is recognized at number 66 as a “Thinker – writer and critical theorist opposing artworld elitism.”

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