1995 - 2004
The campus gained recognition with Nobel Prizes, Cicerone’s leadership, research breakthroughs and three schools named.
Milestones
This decade brought Nobel honors, Cicerone as chancellor, breakthroughs in science and new schools named for Samueli, Trevor and Bren.
1995
1995 was a transformational year for UC Irvine. Professors Frederick Reines and F. Sherwood Rowland received Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry, respectively. Reines was honored for discovering the neutrino and investigating its properties. Rowland and former postdoc Mario Molina won for finding that chlorofluorocarbons contribute to ozone depletion.
1996
The Irvine Company spearheaded an effort to develop 185 acres next to UC Irvine and create the University Research Park in 1996. The area houses a mix of large tech companies, UC Irvine offices and local businesses.
1996
In 1996, UC Irvine became the youngest university to join the prestigious Association of American Universities, a group of 62 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. AAU members are consistently recognized for excellence in academic research and scholarship.
1997
UCI’s Chao Family Cancer Center was named a comprehensive center by the National Cancer Institute in 1997 for demonstrating depth and breadth in laboratory, clinical and population-based research as well as professional and public education and outreach. The designation is the highest level of recognition from the National Cancer Institute. There are 41 comprehensive cancer centers in the United States.
1998
Ralph J. Cicerone was appointed UCI’s fourth chancellor in 1998. During his seven-year tenure, UC Irvine climbed in national rankings, undergraduate admissions became more selective, private funding dramatically increased, construction began on a new university hospital, and another UC Irvine faculty member received a Nobel Prize. After leaving the campus in 2005, he was elected president of the National Academy of Sciences.
1999
UC Irvine renamed its School of Engineering for Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli in 1999, after he and his wife, Susan, donated $20 million to create endowed professorships, fellowships for graduate students, and scholarships for undergraduates. It was the first school on campus to be renamed. The Samuelis were awarded the UCI Medal in 2000.
2000
In 2000, UC Irvine’s School of the Arts was renamed in honor of Academy Award-winning actress Claire Trevor for her involvement with the school and its students. Trevor was known to frequent performances and rehearsals. Her stepsons, Peter and Donald Bren, donated $10 million to the school.
2000
In 2000, the California Institute for Telecommunications & Information Technology was established at UC Irvine and UC San Diego as part of the Governor Gray Davis Institutes for Science & Innovation. Calit2 is a multidisciplinary research institute that aims to develop innovative, information technology-based services and products that benefit society and drive economic development in the state. Today, more than 200 UC Irvine faculty and students are involved in projects at Calit2.
2002
Neurobiologist Frank LaFerla created the first triple transgenic mouse exhibiting two major symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in 2002. His engineered mice developed the plaques and tangles in the brain that characterize Alzheimer’s, which provided researchers with an invaluable living laboratory through which to better understand the behavioral, physiological and biological processes of the disease.
2004
UC Irvine’s School of Information & Computer Sciences, the first school of its kind in the UC system, was renamed on June 9, 2004, for Irvine Company chairman and philanthropist Donald Bren. He donated $20 million to the school, one of the largest single gifts ever given to UC Irvine. The same year, UC Irvine broke ground on the school’s new home, Donald Bren Hall.
2004
Professor of physiology & biophysics Irwin Rose was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovering ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, or how the body’s cellular building blocks facilitate the breakdown of old and damaged proteins. He shared the prize with Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko.
2004
Hans Keirstead, professor of anatomy & neurobiology, in 2004 developed a stem cell therapy that restored greater mobility in animal models (rats) with spinal cord injury. In 2009, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved human clinical trials, conducted by Geron Corp., based on Keirstead’s treatment. It was the world’s first embryonic stem cell therapy tested in humans.
