March 3, 2026

Peter the Anteater and a student flash the Zot at UC Irvine Spirit Night at the Honda Center. Scroll to see photos from the event. (Photo by Steve Zylius / UC Irvine)

UC IRVINE NEWS

Women’s History Month

Each March, Women’s History Month offers an important opportunity to honor the vital contributions and enduring impacts of women across all sectors of social life. This year’s theme – “Leading the Change: Women Shaping a Sustainable Future” – emphasizes the historical and contemporary roles of women in shaping equitable, just and sustainable futures. The Office of Inclusive Excellence invites the campus community to read, watch, listen, engage, reflect and share to celebrate the women who have shaped the present and work together in the ongoing struggle for equal justice.

Advancing maternal health

Gestational diabetes mellitus is a common pregnancy complication that increases the lifetime risk of type 2 diabetes for mothers and elevates children’s risk for obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. American Indian communities bear a disproportionate burden of diabetes and maternal health complications. To address this gap, the American Diabetes Association has awarded the Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health with funding. “This project represents an important step toward translating proven gestational diabetes prevention strategies into real-world settings for communities that have historically been underserved,” said Dr. Luohua Jiang, lead biostatistician and professor of epidemiology and biostatistics. “By advancing maternal health equity in American Indian communities applying rigorous analytic methods to community-informed digital engagement strategies, we aim to build an evidence base for scalable, culturally responsive prevention.”

Three decades of satellite data

A new study by UC Irvine researchers found more than three-quarters of Antarctica’s coast-reaching glaciers to be stable, with the other quarter undergoing aggressive melting. “The grounding line is where continental ice meets the ocean, and measuring the movement of grounding lines with satellite-based synthetic aperture radar has been our gold standard for documenting ice sheet stability,” said Eric Rignot, lead author and Distinguished Professor and Donald Bren Professor of Earth system science. “We’ve known it’s critically important for 30 years, but this is the first time we’ve mapped it comprehensively across all of Antarctica over such a long time span.” NASA supported the work. #SpeakUp4Science

UC NEWS

A laser focus on melanoma

When Mihaela Balu was interviewing for a postdoctoral position nearly two decades ago, nearly everyone she talked to nationwide said, “You should go to Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic.” Now an associate professor of dermatology and biomedical engineering at UC Irvine, Balu and her team have developed a device that uses a low-power infrared laser to scan beneath the skin surface at a cellular level. The goal is to better detect early signs of melanoma – without biopsy – and to monitor the effectiveness of skin treatments. The National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense supports the work. #SpeakUp4Science

#UCIconnected

From career success to women’s support

Having mentored young professionals in commercial real estate for more than 25 years, Sara Brock Rollins has plenty of career advice to offer. After retiring as senior managing director of the Financial Consulting Group at CBRE, the double alumna of the School of Social Sciences and the Merage School of Business is focused on sharing her expertise with the next generation of UC Irvine students. Rollins is using her newfound extra time to mentor students through LeadHER, a career development and leadership program offered by the School of Social Sciences with support from the Women of the Dean’s Leadership Society. “I love seeing young faces eager to learn,” said Rollins. “Many of these young women are the first in their family to graduate from college, and they might not know exactly what they want to do yet. But through LeadHER, they can learn from all these other mentors about the whole gamut of opportunities available to them.”

UC Irvine Spirit Night at the Anaheim Ducks

(photos by Steve Zylius / UC Irvine)

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