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Portrait of Abel Valenzuela

Abel Valenzuela Jr. to serve as interim dean of UCLA’s division of social sciences

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Portrait of Abel Valenzuela Jr. at Royce Hall

Abel Valenzuela Jr. | © Carla Zarate

Beginning Sept. 1, 2022, Abel Valenzuela Jr. — professor of labor studies, urban planning and Chicana/o and Central American studies and director of UCLA’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment — will serve as interim dean of UCLA’s division of social sciences.

He will remain in the role through the end of the 2023–24 academic year as UCLA conducts a search for the division’s next permanent dean to succeed Darnell Hunt, who was appointed the university’s next executive vice chancellor and provost.

“I am proud to pass the torch to such an extraordinary colleague as Abel Valenzuela,” said Hunt. “He is an exceptional scholar, visionary and leader who exemplifies the highest ideals of the division, College and UCLA itself.”

“Stepping into this role is a deep honor and a remarkable opportunity to further the important and impactful work of the division under Dean Hunt’s leadership. The division is special for many reasons, including harnessing social science for the public good,” said Valenzuela. “We will move forward with excellence, doing what we do best at UCLA and in the division of social sciences: impactful research, teaching and service that make a difference locally, nationally and beyond.”

A faculty member since 1994, Valenzuela holds appointments in the César E. Chávez Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies and the labor studies program in the UCLA College division of social sciences, as well as in the department of urban planning in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

He has held several administrative leadership positions, including chairing Chicana/o and Central American studies for six years and directing the Center for the Study of Urban Poverty. He recently stepped down as special advisor to the chancellor on immigration policy after working with the chancellor and an advisory council to safeguard and enhance student success among immigrant, undocumented and international students.

As director of UCLA’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) for the past six years, he oversaw multiple units: labor studies, the Labor Center, the Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program (LOSH) and the Human Resources Round Table (HARRT), which are dedicated to advancing research, teaching and service on labor and employment issues in Los Angeles and beyond. Under his leadership, the Labor Center and LOSH have generated millions in extramural research grants and contracts. In fall 2019, the IRLE also launched the labor studies major for undergraduates — the first of its kind at the University of California — which continues to surpass yearly enrollment goals.

Valenzuela worked closely with campus and Labor Center leadership in the purchase, naming and current renovation of the Labor Center’s building located in downtown Los Angeles. In late 2021, the historic building was named in honor of Reverend James Lawson Jr., a labor and civil rights icon and UCLA Medal recipient.

During UCLA’s Centennial Celebration, Valenzuela led UCLA: Our Stories, Our Impact, an effort to recognize and uplift alumni of color who have dedicated their work to social justice and change. As a traveling exhibit, the project engaged the campus’s ethnic studies centers, UCLA community schools and local organizations.

Known as a leading national expert, Valenzuela continues to frame public and policy conversations on immigrant and low-wage workers. He has published numerous articles and reports on immigrant settlement, labor market outcomes, urban poverty and inequality. He earned his B.A. from UC Berkeley and his master’s and Ph.D. in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Given his experience in numerous leadership roles across campus and the UC, and his passion to leverage social science to better understand and lead positive change, I am confident Professor Valenzuela will provide effective leadership and continue the division’s momentum during this period of transition,” said Michael S. Levine, interim executive vice chancellor and provost. “I hope you will join me in wishing outgoing dean Darnell Hunt the very best as UCLA’s next EVCP, and in thanking Professor Valenzuela for stepping into this leadership role.”

Image of Bruce Fan

With redesign, UCLA’s Washington, D.C. program welcomes students from all majors

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The revamp is in line with UCLA’s broader commitment to community-engaged research and learning
Image of UCLA student Bruce Fan sitting in an office in Washington, D.C., as part of his quarter in the nation’s capital

UCLA student Bruce Fan sits in an office in Washington, D.C., as part of his quarter in the nation’s capital. | Courtesy of Bruce Fan

Elizabeth Kivowitz | 

Whether a student is studying linguistics or philosophy, international development studies or history, psychology or environmental science, there’s a space for them in UCLA’s Quarter in Washington program.

The program, which was revamped last year, offers a wider-than-ever variety of internships that should appeal to students with interests across disciplines.

“My goal is to build bridges with a broad range of disciplines including labor studies, English and the physical and life sciences so that all will see the value of taking time for study and interning in Washington, D.C., and more students will take advantage of the opportunity,” said Juliet Williams, faculty director of the program and a professor of gender studies.

Nearly 100 UCLA students spent part of the 2021–22 academic year in the nation’s capital as part of the program, whose revamp was also in line with UCLA’s broader commitment to community-engaged research and learning.

“UCLA is a large research institution located in a global city, and well-positioned to be at the vanguard of higher education opportunities to have situated learning,” Williams said. “We can think more pedagogically as to what are the kinds of academic scaffolding we can create so that the internship is not a separate dimension but something that is integrated into students’ curricular plan.”

UCLA’s Center for Community Engagement has increasingly played a part promoting and supporting community-engaged research, teaching and learning in partnership with communities and organizations throughout Los Angeles and Southern California, across the nation and around the world.

Students in the program work four days per week at an internship, and take academic courses one day per week at the University of California’s D.C. Center along with students from other UC campuses. In their internship course, students are paired with graduate students who assign readings and writing assignments meant to enhance the internship experience.

“The academic work and the associated critical thinking and exploration enhances the day-to-day work of the internship experience, giving students opportunities to connect their experience to their learning and pre-professional development,” says Shalom Staub, director of UCLA’s Center for Community Engagement.

UCLA students had internships at nonprofits and advocacy groups like Public Citizen Global Trade Watch, the American Bar Association, the League of United Latin American Citizens, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the National Disability Rights Network. They also interned at government agencies including the Peace Corps’ Office of General Counsel, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. Others gained experience with research projects like the Political Violence Lab; at law firms and government consulting firms; and even at the White House’s Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Perspectives from three of the most recent participants:

Cassidy Bomberger, an international development studies major interned with State Department’s the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. She said the experience helped her realize she would appreciate a more active role in the field as opposed to an office job. She loved mixing with students from other UC campuses, and from other academic majors.

“It was great to meet film majors with minors in economics, or someone who majored in finance with a minor in philosophy,” she said. “There were so many combinations that stood out. It was interesting to see the diversity of thought. Many were agents of social change, with a lot of opinions. There was a lot of talk about women’s rights, abortion rights, the Supreme Court, Black Lives Matter. I appreciated how active and how vocal the students were.”

Bruce Fan, a political science major who interned in the office of U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu, whose district includes UCLA, said his UC seminar on the Biden presidency helped him understand how the executive branch works and how the president gains congressional support and pursues an agenda. For his internship course, he wrote a paper on restrictions on federal employees giving campaign contributions to members of Congress.

“We often do internships without self-reflection,” Fan said. “The course does a good job of relating academics to real world examples, forcing us to reflect upon what is happening in the internship process. We can apply our real-life experiences to the academic world — the theories of economics, political science, psychology, sociology and others.”

Chuyu Wei, a double major in cognitive science and political science, interned with Vital Voices Global Partnership, a nonprofit that works to empower female leaders around the world. She says her D.C. seminar in international development enhanced her internship experience, and she appreciated that Vital Voices has offices around the world, which she sees as a contrast to what she would have experienced had she interned in Los Angeles or California.

Based on her own experience, Wei had advice for fellow Bruins with majors in science fields: “Come, live on the East Coast,” she said. “There are a lot of opportunities and faculty are trying to help us find jobs. They accept all majors. It is great to be exposed to people from diverse backgrounds and work with a federal agency or NGO from around the world.”

The students also said the experience outside of California was a great way to expand their networks, which will help them in their career paths after UCLA.

“I made lifelong lasting friendships and connections that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Many of those people are D.C.-minded people,” Bomberger said. “We’re all connected on LinkedIn and I think it will be easy to find people in similar fields in the future.”

If you’re interested in applying for the 2023 winter quarter, applications are due on Sept. 30.

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more news and updates from the UCLA College, visit college.ucla.edu/news.

Graphic depiction of Quantum Computing. Image by Stephan SullivanStephan Sullivan

UCLA-led team develops new approach for building quantum computers

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The building blocks of chemistry offer the potential to dramatically scale up quantum processing
An artist’s representation shows the researchers’ quantum functional groups (brightly colored spheres) connecting with larger molecules.

An artist’s representation shows the researchers’ quantum functional groups (brightly colored spheres) connecting with larger molecules. Image by Stephan Sullivan

Wayne Lewis | 

Key takeaways:

   • Stronger, faster. Quantum computers promise far greater speed and processing power than today’s most powerful supercomputers.​​​​
   • The quantum quandary. Because these next-generation computers rely on the fragile interaction of atomic and subatomic particles, scaling up their processing power has proved a challenge.​​​​​
   • A chemistry solution. Researchers have created a new molecule that has the potential to protect quantum interaction at greater scales without the need for traditional electrical engineering tools and machinery.

Quantum computing, though still in its early days, has the potential to dramatically increase processing power by harnessing the strange behavior of particles at the smallest scales. Some research groups have already reported performing calculations that would take a traditional supercomputer thousands of years. In the long term, quantum computers could provide unbreakable encryption and simulations of nature beyond today’s capabilities.

A UCLA-led interdisciplinary research team including collaborators at Harvard University has now developed a fundamentally new strategy for building these computers. While the current state of the art employs circuits, semiconductors and other tools of electrical engineering, the team has produced a game plan based in chemists’ ability to custom-design atomic building blocks that control the properties of larger molecular structures when they’re put together.

The findings, published last week in Nature Chemistry, could ultimately lead to a leap in quantum processing power.

“The idea is, instead of building a quantum computer, to let chemistry build it for us,” said Eric Hudson, UCLA’s David S. Saxon Presidential Professor of Physics and corresponding author of the study. “All of us are still learning the rules for this type of quantum technology, so this work is very sci-fi right now.”

Image of Eric Hudson in his UCLA office. | Stuart Wolpert/UCLA

Image of Eric Hudson in his UCLA office. | Stuart Wolpert/UCLA

The basic units of information in traditional computing are bits, which are each limited to one of only two values. In contrast, a group of quantum bits — or qubits — can have a vastly wider range of values, exponentially increasing a computer’s processing power. More than 1,000 normal bits are required to represent just 10 qubits, while 20 qubits require more than 1 million bits.

That characteristic, at the heart of quantum computing’s transformational potential, depends on the counterintuitive rules that apply when atoms interact. For instance, when two particles interact, they can become linked, or entangled, so that measuring the properties of one determines the properties of the other. Entangling qubits is a requirement of quantum computing.

However, this entanglement is fragile. When qubits encounter subtle variations in their environments, they lose their “quantumness,” which is needed to implement quantum algorithms. This limits the most powerful quantum computers to fewer than 100 qubits, and keeping these qubits in a quantum state requires large pieces of machinery.

To apply quantum computing practically, engineers must scale up that processing power. Hudson and his colleagues believe they have made a first step with the study, where theory guided the team to tailor-make molecules that protect quantum behavior.

The scientists developed small molecules that include calcium and oxygen atoms and act as qubits. These calcium-oxygen structures form what chemists call a functional group, meaning that it can be plugged into almost any other molecule while also conferring its own properties to that molecule.

The team showed that their functional groups maintained their desired structure even when attached to much larger molecules. Their qubits can also stand up to laser cooling, a key requirement for quantum computing.

“If we can bond a quantum functional group to a surface or some long molecule, we might be able to control more qubits,” Hudson said. “It should also be cheaper to scale up, because an atom is one of the cheapest things in the universe. You can make as many as you want.”

In addition to its potential for next-generation computing, the quantum functional group could be a boon for basic discovery in chemistry and the life sciences, for instance by helping scientists uncover more about the structure and function of various molecules and chemicals in the human body.

“Qubits can also be exquisitely sensitive tools for measurement,” said study co-author Justin Caram, a UCLA assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry. “If we could protect them so they can survive in complex environments such as biological systems, we would be armed with so much new information about our world.”

Hudson said that the development of a chemically based quantum computer could realistically take decades and is not certain to succeed. Future steps include anchoring qubits to larger molecules, coaxing tethered qubits to interact as processors without unwanted signaling, and entangling them so that they work as a system.

The project was seeded by a Department of Energy grant that gave the physicists and chemists the chance to cut through discipline-specific jargon and speak in a common scientific language. Caram also credits UCLA’s atmosphere of easy collaboration.

“This is one of the most intellectually fulfilling projects I’ve ever worked on,” he said. “Eric and I first met having lunch at the Faculty Center. This was born out of fun conversations and being open to talking to new people.”

UCLA postdoctoral researcher Guo-Zhu Zhu is the study’s first author. Other UCLA co-authors are doctoral students Claire Dickerson and Guanming Lao and faculty members Anastassia Alexandrova and Wesley Campbell.

The study was also supported by the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more news and updates from the UCLA College, visit college.ucla.edu/news.

Group image of Miguel García-Garibay, dean of the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences; Steven Chu, Stanford’s William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics and U.S. Secretary of Energy from 2009-2013; Mani L. Bhaumik, Institute founder, physicist and philanthropist; David Gross, UCSB’s Chancellor’s Chair Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics; Andrea Ghez, UCLA's Lauren B. Leichtman & Arthur E. Levine Chair in Astrophysics and winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics; Gene D. Block, UCLA Chancellor; and Zvi Bern, director of the Mani L. Bhaumik Institute.

Celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Mani L. Bhaumik Institute for Theoretical Physics

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Group image of Miguel García-Garibay, dean of the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences; Steven Chu, Stanford’s William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics and U.S. Secretary of Energy from 2009-2013; Mani L. Bhaumik, Institute founder, physicist and philanthropist; David Gross, UCSB’s Chancellor’s Chair Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics; Andrea Ghez, UCLA's Lauren B. Leichtman & Arthur E. Levine Chair in Astrophysics and winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics; Gene D. Block, UCLA Chancellor; and Zvi Bern, director of the Mani L. Bhaumik Institute.

At Mani-Fest 2022: Miguel García-Garibay, dean of the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences; Steven Chu, Stanford’s William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics and U.S. Secretary of Energy from 2009-2013; Mani L. Bhaumik, Institute founder, physicist and philanthropist; David Gross, UCSB’s Chancellor’s Chair Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics; Andrea Ghez, UCLA’s Lauren B. Leichtman & Arthur E. Levine Chair in Astrophysics and winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics; Gene D. Block, UCLA Chancellor; and Zvi Bern, director of the Mani L. Bhaumik Institute. (Not pictured is Barry Barish, Linde Professor of Physics emeritus at the California Institute of Technology and winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics, who delivered a presentation at the event, “Gravitational Waves and Multi-Messenger Astronomy.”) | Photo by Marco Bollinger

Jonathan Riggs | July 28, 2022

“I believe in one thing,” goes the famous quote by Albert Einstein, “that only a life lived for others is a life worth living.” From one world-changing physicist to another — Einstein’s truism could also be the motto of Mani L. Bhaumik, who celebrated two milestones this year: his 91st birthday and the fifth anniversary of the Mani L. Bhaumik Institute for Theoretical Physics at UCLA.

“Mani’s generosity is truly amazing, matched only by his deep passion for fundamental physics,” says Zvi Bern, director of the Institute. “I am confident that 50 years from now, people will see that the creation of the Institute was a defining moment that changed everything, bringing UCLA’s physics department to the top global echelon.”

Beginning with a transformative $11 million gift in 2016 that was the largest in the history of both the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences and the UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bhaumik’s vision of a world-leading center to support foundational work in quantum field theory, unification of forces and, more recently, foundational issues in quantum mechanics, has surpassed all expectations. In fact, its success has allowed UCLA to compete head on with the best universities in theoretical physics.

“Just this past year, two of our students got great faculty offers one year out of graduate school — it is extremely rare even at top universities for a single student to accomplish this, but two students in one year is simply unprecedented,” says Bern. “I am also happy to report that the most-cited paper of 2021 on the hep-th physics arXiv — pushing the frontiers of precision general relativity by using ideas from the quantum field — is from the Bhaumik Institute. We are doing what we promised Mani.”

In addition, the Institute currently has 10 postdocs and is providing fellowships for 31 graduate students this summer; it has sparked more than 250 scientific papers — and counting; it is involved in efforts to diversify the field of nuclear physics; and it has attracted top-tier faculty to UCLA, including Mikhail Solon, who won a Sloan Research Fellowship, and Thomas Dumitrescu, who won the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Early Career Award as well as funding to establish multi-institute collaboration on symmetries.

“The Institute attracts the best people with different scientific backgrounds, and fosters an environment where they can freely exchange ideas and pursue bold new directions. The focus is on supporting young people such as postdocs and graduate students: the lifeblood of the field,” says Solon. “This density of people and ideas really elevates the day-to-day scientific interactions and provides the stimulus for creativity. We cherish the intellectual freedom the institute provides, and use it to pursue the best science.”

“For me personally, coming to UCLA as a faculty member was completely entwined with the promise of the Bhaumik Institute —I have the honor of being the inaugural holder of the Mani L. Bhaumik presidential term chair in theoretical physics,” says Dumitrescu. “I think the Institute has made amazing strides and this rapid progress has definitely been noticed and is appreciated at UCLA and far beyond.”

Of course, none of this would be possible without Bhaumik himself, the largest supporter to the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences. In addition to a 2018 gift of $3 million, he recently completed his pledges early ($15.26 million for current-use and endowed funds for the Bhaumik Institute and $1.175 million to support the construction of the UCLA Collaboratory, formerly the chemistry library in Young Hall).

Prior to his distinguished career as a laser physicist, Bhaumik’s love of theoretical physics originated as a student in India where he learned about Kaluza-Klein theories from S. N. Bose (of Bose-Einstein fame), igniting his passion for deep questions in theoretical physics.

“Mani’s vision for the Institute — to be a world-class center for theoretical physics, to plant the seeds for future Nobel prizes — can be intimidating, but I believe it can be realized and I am honored to be part of building this,” says Solon. “Mani’s vision for science is at the core of everything the institute is and does. His own quest to understand nature at a fundamental level inspires us all to pursue the deepest questions.”

“In addition to all the magnificent accomplishments of the Bhaumik Institute, I have immensely benefited from profound professional discussions with all the physics luminaries at UCLA,” says Bhaumik. “As a result, I have gained the intellectual satisfaction of confirming that non-relativistic quantum mechanics used by over 90% of the practitioners can be a real theory, and not just based on the collection of postulates.”      

This June’s conference, Mani-Fest 2022: Directions in Theoretical Physics, celebrated the past while looking to the future, covering issues ranging from quantum field theory to black holes to string theory to gravitational waves and beyond as well as featuring several presentations highlighting research carried out at the Institute. Among the notable attendees were four Nobel Prize-winning physicists.

“It was nice to see physics outside of the classroom; I was especially interested in listening and talking to people in the field that I’m moving into, high energy theoretical physics,” says attendee Anna Wolz, a first-year physics doctoral student at UCLA. “It was inspiring to see who are so passionate about their research and their new ideas. Honestly, it reminds me why I’m here and what I have to look forward to.”

“We are so grateful to Mani L. Bhaumik for launching this visionary Institute, and to everyone who has contributed to making his dream an incredible reality,” says Miguel García-Garibay, dean of the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences. “Its remarkable success benefits so many, from faculty to students to the field of science itself, and this is only the beginning.”

For more of Our Stories at the College, click here.

UCLA

$1.2 million from Kachigian family trust establishes UCLA lectureship in Armenian studies

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Armenian language scholar Hagop Kouloujian has been appointed to the position for a five-year term
Black-and-white portraits of Kachigian siblings

Left to right: Siblings George, Alice and Harold Kachigian | UCLA

Jonathan Riggs | July 21, 2022

Key takeaways:
   • Late siblings George and Alice Kachigian were longtime supporters of  Armenian scholarship at UCLA.
   • The inaugural lectureship holder, Hagop Kouloujian, seeks to revive Western Armenian by having students compose creative works in the endangered language.

The UCLA Division of Humanities has received a $1.2 million bequest from the estate of siblings George and Alice Kachigian to support the Armenian studies program in the department of Near Eastern languages and cultures. As part of the gift, the department created the Kachigian Family Lectureship in Armenian Language and Culture.

The inaugural holder of the lectureship will be Hagop Kouloujian, a UCLA scholar and instructor who specializes in Western Armenian, a language that since the Armenian Genocide of the early 20th century has been spoken almost exclusively by people in the diaspora. Kouloujian was instrumental in having it designated an endangered language by UNESCO in 2010.

“We are grateful for the kindness and visionary support of the Kachigian family,” said David Schaberg, dean of humanities and senior dean of the UCLA College. “Their generosity will contribute to the vitality of this endangered language and culture.”

Los Angeles, with the largest Armenian-speaking population outside Armenia itself, and UCLA are natural settings for such scholarship. Since the launch of the Armenian studies program in 1969, UCLA has been a destination for students interested in the field, and the creation of the UCLA Promise Armenian Institute in 2019 cemented the university’s leadership role in Armenian research and public impact programs.

Image of Hagop Kouloujian, UCLA’s inaugural Kachigian Family Lecturer in Armenian Language and Culture

Hagop Kouloujian, UCLA’s inaugural Kachigian Family Lecturer in Armenian Language and Culture | Courtesy of Hagop Kouloujian

Kouloujian’s ongoing Language in Action project at UCLA, funded by the Portugal-based Calouse Gulbenkian Foundation, exemplifies his “creative literacy” approach, which focuses on teaching students by encouraging their own creative output. His students have produced hundreds of pieces, ranging from creative works to nonfiction, with the goal of contributing to the vitality of Western Armenian language and culture.

In May 2022, for example, the department of Near Eastern languages and cultures held an event to celebrate the publication of “Girkov useloo, inchoo hos em?” (“To Say With Passion, Why Am I Here?”), a full-length volume of poetry written in Western Armenian by the late Tenny Arlen, a 2013 UCLA comparative literature graduate who learned the language and wrote most of the collection in Kouloujian’s courses.

Donors George and Alice Kachigian, for whom the lectureship is named, were active members and generous supporters of the Los Angeles Armenian community. Although they moved to Oregon 30 years ago following the deaths of their parents and brother Harold, they continued to support UCLA’s Armenian studies program throughout their lives, providing research funding for faculty in the divisions of social sciences and humanities.

Alice died in 2017, and after George’s death in 2019, the siblings’ estate left generous funding to the Armenian studies program and the department of neurology at UCLA.

“The Kachigian family were friends to all, donated to many causes and counseled anyone who requested their help. They lived lives of goodness and kindness,” said Rafe Aharonian, trustee of the Kachigian Living Trust. “George, Alice and Harold wanted to help the youth learn more about Armenian heritage, and courses like Dr. Kouloujian’s encourage connections between UCLA students of Armenian heritage who might otherwise not have met.”

The Kachigians’ legacy will live on in all those at UCLA and elsewhere who, through the family’s generosity, have developed a deep connection to and appreciation for Armenian culture and language, said Kouloujian, who will hold the lectureship for five years.

“My aspiration for this lectureship is to continue to enhance UCLA’s Armenian work with forward-looking activities and community impact projects that will help invigorate the future of this language and culture,” he said. “I want to share the enduring, evolving beauty and power of Armenian with as many people as possible.”

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more of Our Stories at the College, click here.

Photo of Christopher, a white genderqueer man with short brown hair, small-framed glasses, a white t-shirt, and a black bomber jacket with a trans pride pin, smiles to the camera in front of a lavender background.

Finding himself at the intersection of communication and disability studies

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Activist, advocate and artist Christopher Ikonomou looks ahead to his UCLA senior year

Photo of Christopher, a white genderqueer man with short brown hair, small-framed glasses, a white t-shirt, and a black bomber jacket with a trans pride pin, smiles to the camera in front of a lavender background.

Christopher Ikonomou

Jonathan Riggs | July 18, 2022

Scroll through most UCLA students’ TikToks and you’ll find similar content: summer adventures, pet videos, comedic musings. That’s all there on Christopher Ikonomou’s TikTok, plus updates on the open-heart surgery he had June 13.

Diagnosed with Marfan syndrome at 18 months old, Ikonomou (who uses he/xe pronouns) posted regularly before and after the surgery, which often becomes necessary for those with the syndrome to avoid potentially fatal aortic dissections. (Ikonomou must rest frequently on his way to class, take elevators in lieu of stairs and avoid strenuous activities: a challenge on UCLA’s hilly campus.)

Unflappable with a kind, wry sense of humor — Ikonomou posted a post-surgical TikTok dancing in his hospital bed under the caption, “didn’t think I’d get to check off ‘hallucinations after open heart surgery’ this year” — he has built an impressive social media following. Even more so, however, is his reputation as an activist. An outspoken member of the Disabled Student Union at UCLA who participated in this February’s successful sit-in, Ikonomou is a communication major and disability studies minor who hopes to make a career and a difference at the intersection of these fields.

Photo of Quinn (left) and Christopher (right) standing with stern expressions in front of the UCLA Chancellor’s Office doors plastered with flyers and posters with anti-racist and pro-disabled messages. Quinn is a Brown genderfluid person with chin length dark hair, a black KN95 mask, a gold necklace and matching dangly earrings, a rose tattoo, and a brown tank top tucked into light-wash jeans. Christopher is a white genderqueer man with short brown hair, small-framed glasses, a black KN95 mask, a white crewneck sweater, and blue shorts.

© Rowan O’Bryan
Ikonomou and Quinn O’Connor take part in the 2022 sit-in at Murphy Hall.

“Knowing what I do about my community and the power of entertainment, I want to change disabled representation within media,” Ikonomou says. “When I started making TikToks and being very open about my disability, I saw firsthand what people’s first reactions could be.”

In one instance, he spoofed these reactions by participating in a popular TikTok challenge where users reveal their celebrity doppelganger; Ikonomou jokingly discovers his is the horror character Slenderman.

“The majority of comments I get like that compare me to things that aren’t human — our bodies are made to be the villains,” Ikonomou says. “The actor Javier Botet, who also has Marfan syndrome, has had a lot of success playing monsters in Hollywood. It’s cool he’s rich and gets lots of villain roles, but I think we should have the opportunity to play heroes as well. And I want to be a part of that.”

Ikonomou knows all about speaking truth to power — he’s a longtime debater who grew his high school team from six to 60, served as captain for two years and led them to a national No. 1 ranking. He’s also the Editor-in-Chief of UCLA’s official queer newsmagazine, OutWrite, and a popular Etsy creator specializing in queer and disability stickers, buttons, pins, apparel and prints. (Proceeds of up to 100% of the sales from his various collections are donated to related charities, including his Pride-themed CASETiFY phone cases.)

Photo of Christopher, a tall, thin, white genderqueer man with short brown hair tucked under a sky blue baseball cap, small-framed glasses, a black space-themed mask, a white Disabled Student Union t-shirt, black sweatpants, and purple shoes, standing in front of foliage beside Kaplan Hall at UCLA. He speaks into a microphone and holds up a protest sign reading “Accessibility Now! We Deserve Better!” in blue and yellow lettering. Beside him on the ground sits a teal water bottle with stickers on it.

© The Disabled Student Union at UCLA

As he eyes his senior year and his goal of revamping the entertainment industry from the inside, Ikonomou draws strength from the knowledge that he’s already overcome formidable challenges.

“I was good at math in high school, but the college level wasn’t for me. Announcing that I wasn’t going to be a math major anymore was the best and the hardest decision I’ve made in college,” he says. “I make a joke that it was easier for me to come out as trans than it was to say I didn’t want to be in STEM anymore to immigrant parents.”

Underpinning all Ikonomou’s learned so far in his college experience is having the courage to decide what he wants to do, putting himself out there to try and learning from the results. For example, Ikonomou wasn’t accepted into the UCLA design media arts major, but considers some of the classes he took in the area among his favorites, including a typography course that has helped immensely with magazine layout work. It’s this resilient, optimistic outlook that’s helped Ikonomou find like-minded allies — and himself.

“My number one inspiration is the community I have found, both online and in person at UCLA. My illness is very rare, but quite literally millions of people across the U.S. and world experience systemic barriers,” he says. “My disability studies minor has shown me how I can use what I’m learning to advocate for a better world for all. That gasses me up and keeps me moving forward.”

Raising awareness of Marfan syndrome is the main goal of Ikonomou’s educational TikToks, like this one. For more information, he recommends visiting the Marfan Foundation and its Instagram, where you might see a familiar face.

For more of Our Stories at the College, click here.

Darnell Hunt named executive vice chancellor and provost

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The longtime campus leader will become UCLA’s chief academic officer effective Sept. 1
Portrait of Darnell Hunt

Darnell Hunt, professor of sociology and African American studies, and as of Sept. 1, 2022, UCLA executive vice chancellor and provost. © Alyssa Bierce/UCLA

UCLA Newsroom | 

Darnell Hunt, the dean of the division of social sciences and a professor of sociology and African American studies, has been appointed UCLA’s next executive vice chancellor and provost.

“A longtime campus leader widely respected for his vision, diligence, fairness and commitment to inclusive excellence, Dean Hunt will bring considerable skills, knowledge and experience to his new role as UCLA’s chief academic officer,” Chancellor Gene Block said in a message to campus. “I am certain that his service will continue to elevate our great institution.”

Hunt, who will begin in his new role on Sept. 1, has been a leading figure on campus for more than two decades. After beginning his academic career on the sociology faculty at USC, he joined UCLA in 2001 as a professor of sociology and director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies. He led the Bunche Center from 2001 to 2017, and additionally served as chair of the sociology department from 2015 to 2017, before being named dean of the division of social sciences in the UCLA College.

As dean for the past five years, he has focused on supporting and elevating the social sciences and extending their reach across the academy and into the community.

Under his leadership, the social sciences division:

• expanded and continued to diversify its world-class faculty;

• established the Barbra Streisand Center for the Future of Women;

• created the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute;

• renamed the Downtown Labor Center after UCLA lecturer, civil rights icon and UCLA Medal recipient Rev. James Lawson Jr.;

• launched the “Big Data” and Society initiative and LA Social Science, an interactive forum designed to showcase research and engaged scholarship;

• secured a multi-year grant from the Mellon Foundation to support hiring and curricula with a focus on social justice, which was accomplished in conjunction with the division of humanities.

“Inclusive excellence and engaged scholarship are more than mere buzzwords,” Hunt said. “As EVCP, I look forward to working with campus leadership and our broader intellectual community to elevate these longstanding ideals at UCLA in concrete ways. By doing so, I know we can build on UCLA’s extraordinary contributions as one of the world’s great public research universities.”

Hunt earned his A.B. in journalism at the University of Southern California, his M.B.A. at Georgetown University, and his master of arts and doctorate in sociology at UCLA.

He has written extensively about issues related to race, media and culture, including four books and numerous articles for academic journals and news outlets. While his research expertise is wide ranging, he has developed a particular focus on issues of access and diversity in the entertainment industry. Since 2014, he has been the lead author of UCLA’s influential Hollywood Diversity Report, providing comprehensive analyses of the employment of women and people of color in front of and behind the camera in film and television.

A sought-after commentator in news media on questions of media and race, he has also served on panel discussions sponsored by the Federal Communications Commission, the United Nations, the Congressional Black Caucus, numerous colleges and universities and other organizations. The findings of his research studies have been reported in thousands of print, radio, broadcast and online media outlets throughout the United States and abroad. In 2010, he was listed among Ebony magazine’s “Power 150 Academia” for his community-engaged scholarship.

Hunt is a member of the American Sociological Association, the Association of Black Sociologists and the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences. He has served as a member of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations Academic Advisory Board and as a staff researcher for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ hearings on the 1992 Los Angeles civil disturbances.

He currently serves as a member of the Chancellor’s Council on the Arts, the campus IT steering committee and the Faculty Forward Initiative task force at UCLA, and is also a member of the UC Press board of directors. In addition, he has served on numerous campus and UC committees including the committee on diversity and equal opportunity, the committee on undergraduate admissions and relations with schools, the classroom advisory committee, the civic engagement task force, and the UC Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools, and was the recipient of the UCLA Academic Senate’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award in 2011.

In his announcement, Block thanked the committee members who conducted the search and he also shared his appreciation for Michael Levine for serving as the interim executive vice chancellor and provost since last October.

“Interim EVCP Levine took up this position during a challenging period, and through it all he has remained a dedicated steward of our academic enterprise,” Block said. Levine will return to his role as vice chancellor for academic personnel in September.

In closing Block expressed his optimism about UCLA’s future as Hunt prepares to become executive vice chancellor and provost.

“Given Dean Hunt’s UCLA roots, coupled with his administrative experience and compelling vision for UCLA, I am confident that he will provide extraordinary leadership in this new role,” Block said. “I greatly look forward to working with him and the campus community to advance our shared goals.”

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more news and updates from the UCLA College, visit college.ucla.edu/news.

Portrait of Nanibaa’ Garrison

First, do no harm: Nanibaa’ Garrison on building bioethical bridges with Indigenous communities

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She’s helping create a more equitable biomedical research future for all

Stephanie Yantz

By Jonathan Riggs

Native Americans and Alaska Natives have long experienced disproportionate negative health outcomes, including lower life expectancy. Born and raised on the Navajo Nation, Nanibaa’ Garrison saw these disparities firsthand and vowed as a child to do something about them. Today, she is an associate professor at UCLA who holds appointments in the Institute for Society and Genetics, the Institute for Precision Health and the Division of General Internal Medicine & Health Services Research. Garrison also teaches bioethics for UCLA’s new genetic counseling program.

“I really found my place in bioethics exploring anthropological, sociological and historical questions of genetic research,” she says. “Most recently, I’ve been engaged in a lot of policy-related discussions with tribes to think through how to strengthen tribal governance over Indigenous data, how to ensure that tribes have the capacity to evaluate genetic research protocols and how to deliver more educational opportunities to tribes.”

Key to Garrison’s mission is building bioethical bridges between researchers working on world-changing science and communities who can benefit from it. This often involves restoring trust, explaining complicated concepts in layperson’s terms and navigating cultural differences to ensure that appropriate guidelines are mutually established, understood, agreed upon and followed. (A cautionary tale occurred in 2003, when the Havasupai Tribe successfully sued Arizona State University over misuse of their genetic samples. They won a settlement and the return of their DNA.)

“While my main focus has been with Indigenous communities, this work bleeds over into others as well,” she adds. “I identify barriers and then work with different teams to create solutions or pathways to reduce those barriers and move toward a more equitable future for all, with regard to genetics.”

It has been a special point of pride for Garrison that she can tackle certain aspects of her work with her father, a retired biology professor, and her mother, a Navajo language scholar, who both taught for many years at Diné College, the first tribally controlled and accredited collegiate institution in the United States. It’s important to her, too, that she can continue her work in Los Angeles, home to a large population of Native Americans and Alaska Natives, and at a university like UCLA.

Garrison remains equally excited about engaging with students, who approach these topics in ways that inspire and reaffirm her enduring passion for her work.

“Students often come in with grandiose ideas for change. Sometimes they aren’t achievable, but that’s OK, because I have big ideas, too,” she says. “This is a field where you face a lot of pushback, because we’re trying to accomplish very lofty goals. But I don’t look at my work as something to get done in a year or two — I see it as a lifelong commitment.”

 

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