View in browser: https://www.socsci.uci.edu/files/newsletters/2026/ne_012026.html

 
 
 
 
 
sbsg
 
 
 
Ngoc Le with her honors classmates
 
 
featured:
Notes from a future professor
 
UC Irvine political science major Ngoc Le is fast-tracking her way to a Ph.D. while discovering the joy of research

 
Read
 
Fei Yuan
 
 
featured:
Fei Yuan named one of ten global China Times Young Scholar Fellows
 
Competitive honor recognizes the UC Irvine anthropology Ph.D. student for research on China's elder care dynamics

 
Read
 
 
Lauren Ross
 
 
Bringing scientific insight to the causes of individual events
 
UC Irvine logic & philosopher of science Lauren Ross part of John Templeton Foundation-funded research team exploring token causation
 
 
David Agrawal
 
 
Policy Responses to Tax Competition
 
New book by UC Irvine economist David R. Agrawal with James M. Poterba and Owen M. Zidar offers a critical examination of the effects of tax competition
 
 
 
Eve Darian-Smith
 
 
Policing Higher Education named among Forbes' ten best higher ed books of 2025
 
Work by Eve Darian-Smith, UC Irvine global and international studies and law Distinguished Professor, explores on-going, increasing threats to academic freedom worldwide
 
 
Kopstein and Hanson
 
 
The Assault on the State named among best books of 2025 by Foreign Affairs
 
Work by political scientists Jeffrey Kopstein, UCI, and Stephen Hanson, William & Mary, examines causes, consequences of the erosion of modern government institutions
 
 
 
Fall 2025 grads showing what they zot!
 
 
Congrats to our fall 2025 grads!
 
Check out photos from the commencement celebration at the Bren
 
 
Pete Fielding
 
 
In memoriam: Gordon J. "Pete" Fielding
 
UC Irvine economics professor emeritus | 1934-2025
 
 
 
 
 
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.
 
Isabel Almeida

Latino family support is key to postpartum health

Isabel Almeida, Chicano/Latino studies, explains in this interview with KMEX TV-34 (Univision Los Angeles); segment begins at 13:45.
 
Belinda Campos
 
Campos on relationships
 
Your Tango
 
Sylvia Croese
 
Lockwood on
financial risk
 
Project Syndicate
 
 
 
Glenda Flores
 
Flores on Latino physicians  
 
UCLA Latino Policy
& Politics Institute

 
Nadia Chernyak
 
Chernyak on
gratitude
 
Science
News
 
JB Manchak

The universe is a puzzle that fits together only one way

JB Manchak, logic & philosophy of science, explains in this piece for Institute of Arts and Ideas.
 
Kimberly Jameson
 
Jameson on tetrachromacy
 
Popular Mechanics
 
Greg Hickok
 
Hickok on
aphasia
 
Psychology Today
 
 
 
Louis DeSipio
 
DeSipio on
politics
 
Channel News Asia
 
Sara Mednick
 
Mednick on
hormones, brain
 
LAist, MSN
 
 
 
 
mark your
calendar
 
 
 
 
 
 
06
 
JAN
 
   
 
Mexico City's "Gringo Go Home": Making Sense of Transnational Migration and Gentrification in an Era of Remote Work
 
12:30-2:00 p.m. Social | Science Tower, Room 777

featuring Emily Jorgenson, Department of Anthropology

 
 
 
 
 
 
08
 
JAN
 
   
 
Suburban Refugees: Vietnamese Placemaking in Orange County's Little Saigon
 
5:00-6:20 p.m. | Social Science Plaza A, Room 1100

featuring Jennifer Huynh, American Studies, University of Notre Dame

 
 
 
 
 
 
12
 
JAN
 
   
 
An American Marine and the Chinese Communists in WWII
 
4:00-5:15 p.m. | Humanities Gateway 1030 + Zoom

featuring Stephen R. Platt, Professor of History, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

 
 
 
 
 
 
13
 
JAN
 
   
 
Trump's First Year
 
1:00-2:30 p.m. | Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Room 1517

featuring Michael Tesler, Professor of Political Science, UC Irvine | Jeff Kopstein, Professor of Political Science, UC Irvine | Louis DeSipio, Professor of Chicano/Latino Studies and Political Science, UC Irvine | Davin Phoenix, Associate Professor of Political Science, UC Irvine | Graeme Boushey, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Jack W. Peltason Center for the Study of Democracy, UC Irvine

 
 
 
 
 
 
15
 
JAN
 
   
 
The Protective Effects of a Healthy Spouse: Medicare as the Family Member of Last Resort
 
12:30-1:30 p.m. | Social and Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Room 1517

featuring Tim Layton, University of Virginia

 
 
 
 
 
 
15
 
JAN
 
   
 
Neoliberal Folkdevils: Punitive Populism, MS-13, and Racial Capitalism
 
5:00-6:20 p.m. | Social Science Plaza A, Room 1100

featuring Steven Osuna, Sociology, CSU Long Beach
 
 
 
 
 
 
16
 
JAN
 
   
 
Darwin's Reasoning about Common Ancestry
 
3:00-5:00 p.m. | Social Science Plaza B, Room 1222

featuring Elliott Sober, Hans Reichenbach Professor and William F. Vilas Research Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Visiting Professor, Department of Philosophy, Stanford University
 
 
 
 
 
 
22
 
JAN
 
   
 
Queer Throughlines: Korean/American Activist Spaces of Kinship
 
5:00-5:40 p.m. | Social Science Plaza A, Room 1100

featuring Ju Hui Judy Han, Gender Studies, UCLA
 
 
 
 
 
 
22
 
JAN
 
   
 
Against Abandonment: Repertoires of Solidarity in South Korean Protest
 
5:40-6:20 p.m. | Social Science Plaza A, Room 1100

featuring Jennifer Jihye Chun, Asian American Studies and Labor Studies, UCLA
 
 
 
 
 
 
09
 
FEB
 
   
 
UCI Lunar New Year Celebration
 
1:30-6:00 p.m. | The Irvine Barclay Theatre - UC Irvine

Join us in honoring more than a decade of tradition, community, and cultural vibrance at UC Irvine’s Lunar New Year Celebration - where cherished customs, artistic expression, and shared experience bring campus and community together.

In the Year of the Horse, a symbol of vitality, momentum, and renewal, the celebration reflects the energy and spirit that have defined this tradition for more than a decade.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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...