UCI is fiercely dedicated to enhancing lives in our community and beyond through rigorous academics and cutting-edge discoveries. Here are a few of our latest accomplishments.
UCI is the place in America to pursue the most future-focused opportunities to improve human health and well-being. Beyond new cures, we are challenging the paradigm to create a sea change in healthcare: from episodic treatment of illness to dramatically enhancing well-being for life. Leveraging the strength of the entirety of UCI’s academic enterprise, we will redefine how new medical breakthroughs are discovered; how personalized, compassionate healthcare is taught; how patients are treated; and how communities are empowered for mental and physical health.
UCI is writing the prescription that will reshape healthcare for the 21st century. As part of the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, the school will approach patient health holistically, conducting research and educating students on the entire continuum from drug discovery to clinical practice.
UCI Solved the Ozone Problem. We will Stop at Nothing to Tackle Climate Change. Last year, the New York Times Editorial Board used research from UCI as the primary example of how scientific discovery can create transformative outcomes. When chemistry professor Sherry Rowland and his postdoc Mario Molina showed that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) deplete ozone they helped to launch a campaign that literally saved the world. Following their discovery, several changes in policy took effect in the U.S. and in 1987 the world agreed on the Montreal Protocol, a global arrangement to protect the stratospheric ozone layer by phasing out the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances. Fast forward to 2019 — the ozone hole was the smallest on record since its discovery.
This inspirational UCI success story continues to shape the university today. Among our top priorities is to provide solutions to the problem of climate change, an effort that unites our world-class climate scientists, chemists, biologists, engineers, humanities scholars and social scientists as we explore bold ideas in fusion energy, carbon capture and policy implications and more.
Rising from a dusty ranch in an undeveloped, sparsely populated area of early Orange County, UCI has become a regional mecca for knowledge, discovery and health.
The first faculty, students and staff who arrived on the rolling coastal hills of the nascent campus had a pioneering spirit and an adventurous embrace of innovation, befitting of the new land. The pioneering, can-do spirit that transformed the remote ranch more than five decades ago still remains ingrained in the culture. UCI is determined to find cures, solve problems and constantly raise the bar, stopping at nothing to build a brighter future Orange County and the world.
UCI researchers are working on what matters to all of us: saving the planet; securing data privacy; solving the mysteries of the brain, learning and memory; living longer, happier lives; and making our region one of the most prosperous global innovation hubs. With UCI's talent and enterprise adding billions to the economy, Orange County has become a high-performing ecosystem of medical device, computer gaming, cybersecurity and other high-tech firms that continue to have tremendous economic impact on our region, our state and our world.