These spotlights illustrate only a partial list of the experiences faculty, alumni and students have during their time at the Bren School and beyond.
To suggest someone to spotlight please contact Sherry Main at sherry@ics.uci.edu or (949) 824-1562.
» CRUISE CONTROL
Jasmine Yau ’03 discovered that a career in information and computer sciences requires a lot more than strong technical knowledge. A business analyst at Kelley Blue Book, she works on the company web site, kbb.com, which requires her to rely on her interpersonal skills as much as her technical skill. more »» FUN AND GAMES
Hector Parra didn't want to graduate without taking the computer game development class, and while it gave him an opportunity to spend time playing in a virtual world, it also taught him intangible skills he can use in the real world. more »» KING OF RISC
Jeffrey Ma '03 is putting what he learned at the Bren School to full use at ARM, an intellectual property company specializing in mobile low-power, low-cost RISC processors. more »» THE PRODUCER
As Executive Producer of UCI's Vagina Monologues, Jacob Knobel found himself spending a lot of time on repetitive tasks, so the senior Informatics major utilized his programming skills to create a stage management software program that allowed him to work more efficiently and focus on more important aspects of the production. more »» THE DILEMMA
Trina Choontanom credits her two older sisters for sparking her interest in the field of computer science, however, she didn't know if she wanted to concentrate on computer software or hardware. Luckily UCI made the decision easy by offering a major that combined both areas. more »» STAYING CONNECTED
Informatics Ph.D. student Bryan Semaan is studying how people use technology to continue their collaborative work despite living in a disrupted environment caused by a natural disaster, terrorist attack or conflict. more »» IN THE ZONE
When Rebecca Maessen was considering where to attend college, she wanted a place that would allow her to fulfill her passion for basketball and computer science, even if it meant going half way around the world. more »» BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Michelle Ang, didn't know if she wanted to concentrate on computer software or hardware. Luckily UCI made the decision easy by offering a major that combined both areas. more »» SWEET MUSIC
Sam Archer is accustomed to creating fluid rhythms as a member of the UCI Pep Band, a trait he has carried over to the class room. more »» ON THE JOB EXPERIENCE
Heading into the end of his sophomore year David Purpura already has more job experience than most college graduates. more »» OUT OF THE CUBE
Aurora Bedford was interested in the human aspect of computers, not just hardware stuff and that interest drew her to the Bren School's Informatics major. more »» STARTING EARLY
Informatics major Bryant Hornick is one of the more than one-third of UCI undergraduates who don't wait until graduate school to do research with faculty. more »» A HELPING HAND
Della Halim, president of the Women in Information and Computer Sciences student group, helps ensure the female students in ICS feel more at home in their often male dominated classes. more »» KING OF THE ANTHILL
Jeff Fulkerson made Bren School history by becoming the school’s first student to run for and win UCI Homecoming King. He was coronated during halftime of the February 3rd men's basketball game. more »» THE COORDINATOR
Ph.D. candidate Anita Sarma is researching ways to prevent breakdowns in the coordination of software development projects. Her novel approach warns developers of relevant parallel activities and changes that will lead to potential development conflicts. more »» RUNNING ON OCTANE
During his freshmen year, Robert Olson's participation in the Bren School's hITEC OCTANe product development competition ignited his passion for entrepreneurship and earned him a $5,000 check. more »» FOREIGN EXCHANGE
After receiving a reciprocity fellowship from UC’s Education Abroad Program (EAP) and spending one year at UCI, Ph.D. student Pablo Diaz-Gutierrez decided that graduate school at UCI was right for him. more »» CHANGING COURSE
Ph.D. student Kristina Winbladh had her heart set on becoming a biomedical researcher, until she discovered that computers were a lot more logical than organic cells. more »» FAMILY TIES
Blue and gold blood courses through Sarah Gibas' veins, both her parents attended UCI as ICS majors, but it wasn’t just the strong family ties that lead her to choose UCI. more »» DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL
Orange County native Gerald Bortis is working on Dashboard, a project that allows software developers to become more aware of the work that is going on in their environment and helps them to more effectively collaborate with their teammates. more »» A PERFECT FIT
After completing his Bachelor degree at UCI, Ph.D. student Rex Chen saw no reason to leave the friendly and supportive confines of Irvine when he choose to pursue his Ph.D. more »» CUSTOMER CONFIDENTIAL
After graduating with his bachelor degree, Einar Mykletun worked as a programmer, but that was not satisfying enough and he ultimately decided to pursue a Ph.D. in the area of security and cryptography. Now, Mykletun is working on ways to protect the confidentiality of customer data stored on vendor databases. more »» THE MODELER
Ph.D. student Guy Yosiphon was looking for a challenge. After earning a bachelor degree he worked in the software industry for two and a half years as a programmer and project leader. The work was rewarding, but he missed the challenge of academic studies and the scientific research environment, two things he found at the Bren School. more »» BETTER, FASTER, SMALLER
What Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Donna Karan are to fashion, Ph.D. student Sudeep Pasricha is to small electronics we use on a regular basis. The next time you purchase a smaller, flatter cell phone or a digital camera that is the size of a credit card and weighs about as much, you'll have Pasricha's research efforts to thank. more »» TRAILBLAZER
A member of the inaguaral class of the Informatics major and the founder and president of the Informatics Student Association, (INSA), Gabriela Marcu is blazing a trail for future Informatics students at UCI. more »» FUELING A PASSION
Indecision about a career led Amber Israelsen to leave school and work for several years in a variety of industries. It was during these journeyman years, that she discovered her passion for computers. more »» MR. SMART
Articulation troubles experienced by transfer students inspired Bren School Senior Lecturer Norm Jacobson to create the SMART-ICS program. more »» THE SECOND TIME AROUND
At 45, David Lamb is only months away from graduation and beginning his second career as a computer scientist. more »» THE APPRENTICE
Although she's only 23, Bren School of ICS graduate Terica Kindred '03 has an impressive resume: Software engineer. Speaker. Author. more »» MAN OF THE HOUSE
Michael Golightly, housing assistant for the ICS Theme House, helps his 24 residents adjust to life in college by providing mentorship and resources for their development and enrichment. more »» UNLOCKING THE CLUB HOUSE
Jennifer Law, former president of UCI's Women in Computer Science (WICS) group, is working to help and encourage women to pursue a college degree and a successful career in computer science. more »» DYNAMIC DUO
Victor Liu and Adam Bonner took a risk when graduating from the Bren School by foregoing the opportunity to join established companies. Instead they decided to branch out on their own. That gamble is starting to pay off. more »» FATHER OF CAD/CAM
Success is somewhat commonplace for the trailblazing Patrick Hanratty. Anointed the 'Father of CAD/CAM' for his pioneering work in computer-aided design and manufacturing, industry analysts estimate that 70 percent of all 3-D mechanical CAD/CAM systems available today trace their roots back to Hanratty’s original code. more »» EXPERIENTIAL EXPERT
Ramesh Jain, former professor of embedded and experiential systems at Georgia Institute of Technology, was recently named the first Donald Bren Professor of Information and Computer Sciences at UC Irvine. more »» GOOGLED
Nhu Vuong '05 has come a long way since she began her career at UCI just over four years ago. Vuong, an information and computer science major, is now a software engineer at Google and working on building a company-internal web application. more »» CLIMBING HIGH
From her vantage, Debra Richardson sees computer technology transforming society for the better. more »» YAHOO!
Technical Yahoo probably wasn't a title that Shawn Shah '05 imagined having as an undergraduate major in information and computer science. more »» REVEALING RHTHYMS
Pierre Baldi uses math - and music - to help transform reams of research data into biological breakthroughs. more »
