View in browser: https://www.socsci.uci.edu/files/newsletters/2025/ne_122025.html

 
 
 
 
 
sbsg
 
 
 
Isabel Almeida
 
 
featured:
UC Irvine-led study finds protective role of culture in Latina mothers' mental health
 
Findings are first to link facets of familism to postpartum health benefits

 
Read
 
 
Smyth and Steyvers
 
 
Improving human-AI decision-making
 
UC Irvine professors Smyth and Steyvers receive $900k grant from the National Science Foundation for four-year study
 
 
Alana LeBron and Jun Wu
 
 
UC Irvine-community partnership honored for environmental justice work in Santa Ana
 
CPIP researchers Alana LeBrón and Jun Wu recognized with the 2025 Exemplary Project Distinction by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Awards
 
 
Richard Futrell
 
 
Bridging the communication gap between humans and AI
 
Richard Futrell, UC Irvine language science professor, receives NSF grant to study how humans talk about space across languages to improve human-AI interaction
 
 
 
First Gen Faculty
 
 
First-rate advice for first-year and first-generation Anteaters
 
In honor of National First-Gen Celebration Day on Nov. 8, UCI social sciences first-generation faculty shared tips for navigating the college experience
 
 
Anneeth Kaur Hundle
 
 
Insecurities of Expulsion: Afro-Asian Entanglements in Transcontinental Uganda
 
New book by Anneeth Kaur Hundle, UC Irvine anthropology associate professor and Presidential Chair in Social Sciences to Advance Sikh Studies, explores the lasting impact of Uganda's 1972 expulsion of nearly 80,000 South Asians
 
 
Sarah Whitt
 
 
Bad Medicine: Settler Colonialism and the Institutionalization of American Indians
 
New book by Sarah Whitt, UC Irvine global and international studies assistant professor, explores Indigenous histories tied to settler-operated institutions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
 
 
 
Jacob Sutherland
 
 
Beyond the books
 
UC Irvine political science Ph.D. student Jacob Sutherland explores how libraries and local governments respond to public pressure in polarized times
 
 
Cassie Zhang
 
 
Economics for social good
 
UC Irvine economics graduate student Cassie Zhang - who earned her undergraduate degrees in economics and international studies as an Anteater - aims to help consumers and support students
 
 
Jozef Robles
 
 
More than a status
 
UC Irvine sociology Ph.D. candidate Jozef Robles is using research to examine how immigrants carry the legacy of undocumented life long after legalization
 
 
 
Jaehyun Lee
 
 
Understanding scientific explanations
 
As a Ph.D. candidate in the UC Irvine Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, Jaehyun Lee investigates the very nature of scientific inquiry
 
 
Jeremy Yeaton
 
 
An interdisciplinary approach
 
Jeremy Yeaton, UC Irvine language science Ph.D. '25, demonstrates the value in taking a cross-pollinating approach to understanding speech loss
 
 
Kathleen Medriano
 
 
From data to models
 
UC Irvine cognitive sciences Ph.D. student Kathleen Medriano is challenging assumptions and traditional approaches to modeling
 
 
 
Maira Delgado Laurens
 
 
Minding the gap
 
Maira Delgado Laurens, UC Irvine global and international studies graduate student, researches one of the world’s most dangerous migrant crossings
 
 
Shalita Areeyaphan
 
 
Areeyaphan awarded Moore Scholarship for Community and Social Change
 
Honor recognizes psychology and biological sciences undergrad for academic promise and potential to enact change and improve the community
 
 
Adrienne Nguyen
 
 
A steward of information
 
Ensuring that peer-reviewed scholarship is accessible is how Adrienne Nguyen, '13 history and anthropology, fights back against the modern scourge of disinformation, artificial intelligence and censorship
 
 
 
Against Outer Space
 
 
on view:
Against Outer Space, Curated by Zachary Korol Gold and Valerie Olson
 
November 15, 2025-February 28, 2026
 
 
 
 
 
soc sci
in the media
 
Social sciences faculty and graduate students are consistently sought by media for their expertise in areas ranging from digital play to gender-based pay. Check out some of our top hits, expert commentaries and on-air interviews below, or visit us online for the full run down.
 
Greg Hickok

Why we dance

Greg Hickok, cognitive sciences and language science, explains this uniquely human trait in this piece for Psychology Today.
 
Alana LeBron
 
Lebrón on health
 
Health Affairs
 
 
Anneeth Kaur Hundle
 
Hundle on identity
 
Zocalo Public Square
 
 
 
Richard Arum
 
Arum on
higher ed  
 
Learning Well
 
Jan Brueckner
 
Brueckner on mansion tax
 
LAist
 
Bill Maurer

Why Nepal grows Japan's cash

Bill Maurer, anthropology, law and IMTFI, dives into the history of cash in this piece with Business Insider (video).
 
Snow and Goldberg
 
Goldberg, Snow on
homelessness
 
OC Register
 
Megan Peters
 
Peters on AI and consciousness
 
Gizmodo
 
 
 
Louis DeSipio
 
DeSipio on
politics
 
OC Register
 
Louis DeSipio
 
Brownstone on
pricing
 
Citizen Portal
 
 
 
 
mark your
calendar
 
 
 
 
 
 
01
 
DEC
 
   
 
Kiang Endowed Lecture | Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, A True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins
 
4:00-6:00 p.m. | In-Person + Zoom: Humanities Gateway, Rooms 1010 and 1030

featuring Barbara Demick, Journalist and National Book Award Finalist

 
 
 
 
 
 
02
 
DEC
 
   
 
The Futurities of Collaborative Reading and Goal Setting in the Humanities
 
12:00-1:00 p.m. | Humanities Gateway, Room 1030

featuring Natalie Aguilar and Maritza Duran

 
 
 
 
 
 
04
 
DEC
 
   
 
Pre-Criminalizing Race: African Migrants and European Containment
 
12:30-2:00 p.m. | Social Science Tower, Room 777

 
 
 
 
 
 
05
 
DEC
 
   
 
The Problem with Placemaking: Vibe, Holding Space, and Oakland's Radical Black Poetics
 
12:30-2:00 p.m. | Social Science Tower, Room 530

featuring Kaily Heitz, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, UCLA

 
 
 
 
 
 
08
 
DEC
 
   
 
CPIP 2.0 Celebration and Kick Off
 
3:00-5:00 p.m. | Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Room 1517

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
about
uci soc sci
 
We are not your standard school. Like Peter, our beloved Anteater mascot, we're quirky and different. We're on a mission to create positive change in society, economies and human well-being by breaking down traditional barriers and pushing the limits in teaching, research and service. Doing so requires a different attitude, aim and set of actions.
 
Learn more about ours...