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Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise in a casino in scene from Rain Man | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

Recent UCLA grad helped Wikipedia set the record straight on ‘Rain Man’ and autism

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Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise in a casino in scene from Rain Man | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.
Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise as Raymond Babbitt and Charlie Babbitt in “Rain Man.”

Lucy Berbeo | December 21, 2022

The 1988 film “Rain Man” won four Academy Awards, earned millions at the box office and moved audiences with its depiction of a central character with autism, played by Dustin Hoffman.

But at least some of that depiction obscured or misrepresented aspects of autism spectrum disorder. And because the movie has reached such a wide audience, those discrepancies have informed how generations of viewers perceive the condition. Until recently, many of the same issues also lived on in the Wikipedia entry about “Rain Man.”

That’s where Madeline Utter comes in. Before she graduated from UCLA in June, Utter took a course called “Performance and Disability Studies,” taught by visiting professor Elizabeth Guffey. As part of the course, Utter watched the film for the first time, and she was struck by elements that seemed to misrepresent autism spectrum disorder and savant syndrome. The latter is a condition in which a person with a developmental disorder shows remarkable brilliance in a specific area, such as music or math — the film’s protagonist, Raymond Babbitt, for example, is able to quickly perform complex mathematical calculations.

Madeline Utter

Madeline Utter | Courtesy of Madeline Utter

For a course project, Guffey tasked her students with researching and rewriting Wikipedia entries about representations of disability in performance to ensure they reflected the latest disability studies research. Utter chose “Rain Man” — and saw an opportunity to right a few things that the film, as well as the Wikipedia entry, had gotten wrong.

Wikipedia allows any user to edit articles directly with the proviso that revisions and additions must be attributable to reliable sources or they may be removed by other users. Utter revised the “Rain Man” article, adding context about how the film’s portrayal of neurodivergent conditions led to public misunderstanding.

Wikipedia bills itself as the world’s largest reference website, and the “Rain Man” entry typically receives about 2,500 visitors a day. Since Utter updated the page in May, it has been viewed more than 465,000 times. Utter has two brothers with autism, so the opportunity to improve the public’s understanding of the condition has been especially meaningful for her.

“From watching the film through a critical lens, to getting feedback from my peers on the article, to finally seeing the published article, I learned so much,” said Utter, who graduated in June with a major in communication and a minor in film studies. “The biggest impact that this project had on me was to start to be able to recognize the places in film where disability representation can be improved.”

UCLA’s disability studies program comprises courses in a range of academic subjects, from media arts to anthropology to nursing. Students play an active role in advancing creative approaches to service and advocacy, from improving health care for people with disabilities to creatively reimagining assistive technology using 3D modeling.

“Our students in UCLA Disability Studies are future leaders in their fields, and they are already helping to create a more inclusive society,” said Adriana Galván, dean of undergraduate education in the UCLA College. “By participating in projects such as this one, they are making a real-world impact.”

A program operated by Wiki Education invites college students to write Wikipedia entries through their coursework. The nonprofit profiled Utter’s project on its website.

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

Image of actor Vin Diesel with director Justin Lin on the set of “F9: The Fast Saga.”Courtesy of Universal Studios

People of color helped keep movie business afloat during pandemic

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UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report emphasizes importance of minority audiences

Image of actor Vin Diesel with director Justin Lin on the set of “F9: The Fast Saga.”

Actor Vin Diesel, left, with director Justin Lin on the set of “F9: The Fast Saga.” The movie, which featured a cast that was more than 50% minority, was the year’s third highest-grossing film at the box office. Image Courtesy of Universal Studios

By Jessica Wolf |

A large percentage of the movie business’s box office revenue and home viewership was driven by consumers of color in 2021, according to UCLA’s latest Hollywood Diversity Report. The report examines the 252 top-performing English-language films — based on box office receipts and streaming data — during the second year that the COVID-19 pandemic forced movie studios to adopt unconventional release strategies.

The report tracks progress for women and minorities in acting, directing and writing roles, and analyzes audience segments by race and ethnicity, focusing on Asian American, Black, Latino and white audiences, and age, focusing on viewers 18 to 49.

Published twice a year — with one analysis of movies and another for TV — the Hollywood Diversity Report has consistently shown increases in the percentages of women and people of color in key jobs in front of the camera. Researchers have also tracked sustained, albeit stubborn, growth for women and minorities in Hollywood writing and directing jobs.

Chart showing that The largest single category of films considered in this report includes those that were released solely on streaming platforms12 (45.6 percent), which is down from the share of streaming-only films considered in the previous report for 2020 (54.6 percent). By contrast, only 17.9 percent of films were released solely in theaters in 2021.13 Meanwhile, 20.2 percent of films were released both on streaming platforms and in limited theaters,14 while 13.1 percent were released both on streaming platforms and widely in theaters.15 Finally, only 1.6 percent of films were released both theatrically and through transactional video on demand,16 and 1.6 percent were released on streaming after a modified theatrical release window (45+ days).17

The report’s authors noted that 2021 was the first year since they began tracking such statistics that the majority of Academy Awards went to films that were directed by people of color and featured minority actors in lead roles. And the year’s third highest-grossing film at the box office was “F9: The Fast Saga,” which featured a cast that was more than 50% minority and was directed by Taiwanese American filmmaker Justin Lin. Sixty-five percent of opening weekend ticket sales for “F9” were to minority audiences, the highest figure among all films in the top 10.

The report tracks the numbers of writers, directors and actors who identify as Asian American, Black, Latino, Middle Eastern/North African, multiracial and Native American. People in those groups make up 42.7% of the U.S. population, and they form an important consumer bloc for entertainment, including movies.

For six of the 10 top-grossing films that opened in theaters in 2021, people of color accounted for the majority of opening-weekend U.S. ticket sales.

The report also analyzed box office performance based on the diversity of the movies’ casts — whether minority actors made up less than 11% of the cast, 11% to 20%, and so on, up to 51% or more. The study revealed that films with 21% to 30% minority actors had higher median global box office receipts than films in any other tier. That echoed a pattern since the report began tracking box office performance in 2011.

The report also found that, as in previous years, films with the least diverse casts (11% or less minority) were the poorest performers at the box office.

Chart showing that Median global box office peaked for films with casts that were from 21 to 30 percent minority in 2021 ($107.4 million). Twenty-five films fell into this cast diversity interval, including Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($501.0 million), A Quiet Place Part II ($297.4 million), and Cruella ($233.3 million). In a year in which theater attendance began to rebound after a COVID-decimated 2020, theatrically released films with relatively diverse casts again outshined their less-diverse counterparts at the box office. Indeed, the 14 films with the least-diverse casts (less than 11 percent minority) were again the poorest performers in 2021. “Last year, every time a big movie exceeded expectations or broke a box office record, the majority of opening weekend audiences were people of color,” said Ana-Christina Ramón, a co-author of the report and the director of research and civic engagement for the UCLA College division of social sciences. “For people of color, and especially Latino families, theaters provided an excursion when almost everything else was shut down. In a sense, people of color kept studios afloat the past couple of years.

“Studios should consider them to be investors, and as investors, they should get a return in the form of representation.”

Overall, 43.1% of actors in the movies analyzed by the report were minorities. That’s more than double the percentage from 2011, the first year of data collected by the authors, when 20.7% of actors were minorities. And 31.0% of the top-performing films in 2021 had casts in which the majority of the actors were minorities.

“Minorities reached proportionate representation in 2020 for the first time when it comes to overall cast diversity in films, and that held true again in 2021,” said Darnell Hunt, dean of the social sciences at UCLA and co-author of the report.

Hunt said the phenomenon is probably due in part to the greater number of movies that are initially released on streaming services: Of the films analyzed in the report, 45.6% were released on streaming services only.

Chart showing that During the second full year of the pandemic, the volume of major films released via streaming platforms continued to increase, from 87 films in 2020 to 164 in 2021. Again, for all groups, median ratings were highest for relatively diverse streaming films in 2021. That is, for viewers 18-49 (3.08 ratings points) and Black households (12.49 ratings points), ratings peaked for streaming films with majority-minority casts. Seventy-two films fell into this cast diversity interval in 2021, including: Raya and the Last Dragon, Coming 2 America, Vivo, and Mortal Kombat. For viewers 18-49, though, it should be noted that streaming films with casts that were from 21 percent to 30 percent minority came in a close second (2.94 ratings points). For White (5.10 ratings points), Latinx (7.34 ratings points), Asian (5.90 ratings points), and other-race households (5.48 ratings points), streaming films that were from 21 percent to 30 percent minority also enjoyed the highest ratings in 2021. Examples of the 36 films that fell into this diversity interval include: Don’t Look Up, The Boss Baby: Family Business, and The Suicide Squad.

“We do think this dual-release strategy is here to stay,” Hunt said. “And it could have a lasting impact on diversity metrics in front of and behind the camera as studios think about how to finance content for different platforms.”

For example, the report found that women and people of color were far more likely than white men to direct films with budgets less than $20 million.

“A small production budget usually means that there is also little to no marketing and studio support, unless it’s from a production company known for making art house films,” Ramón said. “And that makes it more difficult for filmmakers to get the next opportunity if their films have to fight for attention.”

Hunt said studios are likely to bank on big-budget tentpole movies and sequels as traditional box office drivers, even as they continue to experiment with release platforms and adjust the amount of time between films’ theatrical releases and their arrival on streaming services or on DVD or Blu-ray.

Among the 2021 films released to streaming services, those with casts in which a majority of actors were non-white enjoyed the highest ratings among viewers aged 18 to 49 and in Black households. Seventy-two films with majority-minority casts were released on streaming in 2021, including “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “Coming 2 America,” “Vivo” and “Mortal Kombat.”

Chart showing that Among the White,24 Black, Latinx, multiracial, and MENA directors helming 2021 films, women lagged far behind men. Only among Asian and Native directors did women approach or reach parity with their male counterparts in securing these important positions.

“In 2021, diversity in front of the camera did not equate to more opportunities behind the camera for filmmakers who are women and people of color,” Ramón said. “They continue to receive less financing, even when they make films with white lead actors. Most of these filmmakers are relegated to low-budget films. For women of color, directing and writing opportunities are really the final frontier.”

Of the filmmakers who directed the movies analyzed in the report, 21.8% were women and 30.2% were people of color. Among the screenwriters for those films, 33.5% were women and 32.3% were people of color. Diversity in both jobs increased incrementally from 2020.

Out of the 76 minority directors of 2021’s top films, just 23 were women. And among Black, Latino and multiracial directors, at least twice as many were men as women in each racial or ethnic classification.

Although there was gender parity among Asian American and Native American directors, the overall numbers of directors from those groups were very small: just 17 Asian American directors and and just two Native American directors were represented in 2021. Among white directors, 32 were women and 143 were men.

The authors counted one trans woman among the directors of the 2021 films they analyzed.

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

UCLA, Howard University launch summer program on race, ethnicity and politics

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The new UC-funded Mark Q. Sawyer Summer Institute will support young scholars in this burgeoning academic field
Image of Mark Sawyer

The program’s namesake, the late Mark Sawyer, was a professor of political science and African American studies at UCLA and a pioneer in the field of race, ethnicity and politics.

By Jessica Wolf 

The first-ever Mark Q. Sawyer Summer Institute will bring four undergraduate fellows from Howard University in Washington, D.C., to the UCLA campus this June for an immersive six-week academic research program that explores the crucial role of race, ethnicity and politics in society.

The multiyear program, a collaboration between faculty from UCLA’s political science department and Howard, is funded by the UC–HBCU Initiative, which seeks to boost the number of undergraduate scholars from historically Black colleges and universities who enroll in and complete advanced degree programs at University of California campuses.

Named for the late UCLA professor Mark Sawyer, a pioneer in the field of race, ethnicity and politics, the newly launched summer institute will be led by UCLA’s Lorrie Frasure, an associate professor of political science and African American studies, and Natalie Masuoka, an associate professor of political science and chair of the Asian American studies department. Their Howard counterpart is Niambi Carter, an associate professor of political science and director of graduate studies.

“Our objective is to create an inclusive and supportive environment for students to develop their skills in research methods and design and to encourage participants to see themselves as confident and qualified applicants to an advanced degree program in political science,” said Frasure, who also serves as vice chair of graduate studies in political science.

Fellows in the program will focus on race and ethnicity as a central category that informs political processes in the United States and will help produce research that spotlights the underrecognized political role played by African American and other communities of color. The scholars will familiarize themselves with empirical research methods through innovative workshops and participate in seminars that explore theories of U.S. racial and ethnic politics, specifically Black politics.

The four undergraduate scholars selected for this summer, all of them political science majors entering their senior year at Howard, are Justina Blanco, Havillyn Felder, Donroy Ferdinand and Yasmine Grier.

Carter said the partnership between UCLA’s political science department and Howard’s program in Black politics provides an ideal opportunity for some of Howard’s best and brightest students to work on cutting-edge research while carving a pathway to graduate studies and professorships.

“I am excited that our students get to experience a different campus and different approaches to political science. I am also expecting UCLA to learn a lot from our students, whose worldview has been shaped in really important ways by Howard University and our motto, ‘Truth and Service,’” Carter said. “This partnership helps both our campuses achieve our shared goals of producing bright scholars who will bring all of who they are to the classroom and in their approaches to studying some of the biggest issues in political science. We look forward to creating lasting, deep connections and looking for other places to connect our campuses.”

As part of the mission of the UC–HBCU Initiative, the University of California will waive application fees for alumni of the initiative’s programs — including the Sawyer Summer Institute — who apply to any of the more than 700 academic graduate programs at the UC’s 10 campuses. Those admitted to advanced degree programs will be eligible to receive competitive funding packages.

The field of race and ethnicity politics at UCLA today serves as a model for universities across the nation, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Mark Sawyer, Frasure said.

Sawyer, a professor of political science and African American studies who died in 2017, co-founded the race, ethnicity and politics program in UCLA’s political science department in 2006 and was instrumental in establishing the campus’s department of African American studies in 2015.

“Professor Sawyer is remembered as an outstanding scholar and a committed mentor and teacher,” Frasure said, “but he is most remembered as a visionary builder of lasting institutions.”

UCLA’s political science graduate program is currently one of only a handful in the U.S. to have established racial and ethnic politics as an institutionalized field of study, and its political science department boasts one of the largest concentrations of faculty engaged in the specialty.

► See UCLA’s recent study of how attitudes toward politics and policy vary among racial groups.

The Sawyer Summer Institute will also benefit from programmatic partnerships with UCLA’s department of African American studies, Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies and Academic Advancement Program.

“We’ve assembled an incredible team of scholars and programs for this first year of the initiative,” Masuoka said. “We are eager to welcome these young researchers to UCLA but also look forward to learning from them. We have an opportunity to consider how their experiences and ideas can inform novel and innovative research questions.”

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

Image of Samantha Mensah, UCLA doctoral candidate in chemistryReed Hutchinson/UCLA

She’s a catalyst: UCLA doctoral candidate Samantha Mensah, co-founder of BlackInChem

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Image of Samantha Mensah, UCLA doctoral candidate in chemistry

Samantha Mensah, UCLA doctoral candidate in chemistry. Photo by Reed Hutchinson/UCLA

Samantha Mensah co-founded BlackInChem to help other students of color and women advance as chemists

By Nancy Gondo

Sparked by the national reckoning with racial justice, UCLA graduate student Samantha Mensah has spent the last two years rigorously pursuing her doctorate in chemistry while also trying to make chemistry and other science fields more welcoming to fellow Black scientists and underrepresented people.

In the midst of an isolating pandemic, Mensah has put in countless hours mobilizing Black scientists and their allies via emails and Zoom meetings to build a support system for thousands of Black chemists across the United States, Canada, Africa and Europe — and helped secure about $130,000 in funding for postdoctoral fellowships.

Such is the determination of someone who has recently dedicated herself to trying to help build a fuller and more easily accessible pipeline into the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math. One of the most important ways to accomplish that, Mensah said, is to have more mentors with similar experiences to help guide students — and especially to help students of color and women students thrive.

That’s why in 2020, she co-founded BlackInChem, a nonprofit that helps Black chemists network with and support each other and aims to boost diversity in the sciences.

“I want to continue to be a mentor to Black people in chemistry, which is something I’m doing with my nonprofit,” said Mensah, who is working toward her doctorate in materials chemistry in the division of physical sciences in the UCLA College. “If you can’t see people who look like you doing science, then it’s harder for you to imagine yourself doing it as well — without the idea that you’re an imposter or you don’t deserve to be where you are.”

As someone committed to helping others succeed, Mensah credits her first chemistry professor for inspiring the young girl who grew up loving robotics to pursue a career as a scientist.

Karin Chumbimuni-Torres, an associate professor at the University of Central Florida, where Mensah did her undergraduate studies, proved firsthand how a woman and person of color could thrive in a field historically dominated by white men.

“She showed me what opportunities there are in chemistry,” said Mensah, who worked in Chumbimuni-Torres’ lab throughout college. “She helped me realize that I can do research as an undergraduate, present at conferences and if I work hard in a lab, that I can publish papers. She influenced the trajectory of my career in a major way.”

Now Mensah hopes to help other women and people of color recognize science as a viable career option.

“There’s a lot of us who are aching to contribute in the field, but it’s hard to because of the representation issue,” she said, referring to the lack of women and people of color in science labs. “And it really affects the future of the sciences.”

Image of the BlackInChem logo

BlackInChem logo. Image courtesy of BlackInChem

BlackInChem is part of the BlackInX network, which is made up of more than 80 groups representing STEM fields such as physics, neuroscience and science policy. BlackInX launched in 2020, after George Floyd’s death and the Black Birder incident in New York, when a white woman accused a Black bird watcher of threatening her. These incidents once again exposed the embedded racial inequalities in the United States.

“The response has been amazing,” Mensah said. “People are supporting us, not only financially but also showing up at our events and amplifying our work and the work of Black scientists.”

In February, BlackInChem and the UCLA division of physical sciences announced a travel grant members can apply for to attend the American Chemical Society Spring Conference, which takes place this month in San Diego.

And in August, BlackInChem teamed up with the Emerald Foundation, Inc., a private biomedical research organization, to offer a postdoctoral fellowship. The award is intended to help more Black researchers make the transition to tenure-track positions at top institutions.

“We realized that we don’t have a network and online community of scientists,” Mensah said. “I feel like it only helps the oppressor when those who are oppressed aren’t speaking to each other, creating fellowship, and talking to each other about their experiences.”

The sky’s not the limit

After graduating from the University of Central Florida in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a minor in nanoscience, Mensah set her sights even higher. She applied to — and was accepted into — UCLA’s graduate program in chemistry. She received a master’s degree in materials chemistry in 2019 from UCLA.

“The illustriousness of the Ph.D. program attracted me to UCLA,” said Mensah, who studies biosensors that can detect neurotransmitters in vivo. “We have scholars who have accomplished amazing things. My department is not only advancing science and chemistry but advancing professional development of their people.”

And Mensah is doing her part to help a more diverse group of students tap the program’s strengths — at UCLA and beyond.

“Samantha is a visionary leader whose dedication is an example for anyone in the sciences, no matter the discipline,” said Miguel García-Garibay, dean of the division of physical sciences in the UCLA College. “Her commitment to increasing access and equity in the sciences has guided all of us to do better, from our home department of chemistry and biochemistry throughout the division of physical sciences and beyond.”

Mensah said she also appreciates her advisors, Anne Andrews, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Paul Weiss, distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry.

“They have been so supportive of all of my efforts and are training me to be a better scientist,” Mensah said.

At UCLA, Mensah also found inspiration in another woman — the late physicist and astronaut, Sally Ride. Ride, who took physics courses at UCLA, made history in 1983 by becoming the first American woman in space.

“I always knew about her but didn’t realize she was affiliated with UCLA,” Mensah said. “And then when I got here, I always passed her photo. There’s a Sally Ride exhibition in Young Hall with pictures and documents that I’d walk by every morning.”

That’s helped Mensah see the sky isn’t the limit — literally.

“She was not only a scientist, but an LGBT astronaut,” she said about Ride. “I am still holding onto the dream of becoming an astronaut. I love her tenacity.”

UCLA boasts others like Ride, who show what can be done with education. Anna Lee Fisher, a triple Bruin who earned a bachelor’s and master’s in chemistry from UCLA, as well as a medical degree from the UCLA School of Medicine, journeyed to space in 1984.

Becoming the mentor

Mensah’s path to UCLA wasn’t easy. Due to economic hardships, her family moved often, between the Dominican Republic, New York City and South Florida. Science didn’t make it on her radar until middle school, when she discovered afterschool programs ranging from journalism to theater to chemistry.

At first, she took classes after the bell rang to stall returning to her foster home. But she soon saw a whole new world of possibilities. Mensah especially loved the robotics club, where she learned how to code robots to perform tasks.

“It was my first introduction to STEM in general,” she says. “The sciences were what I was really excelling at. And once I realized I could manipulate matter on an atomic level, it was just onward from there.”

She’s never looked back. Instead, she hopes to serve as a visible inspiration to other Black women and girls who want to become scientists. Mensah channels Ride as she points out how important it is for girls to see role models in their careers so they can visualize themselves in those jobs. “You can’t be what you can’t see,” Mensah said, quoting Ride.

So, what’s next for the aspiring astronaut? After completing her doctorate, Mensah hopes to launch medical technology companies to help tackle medical issues such as heart disease, a leading cause of death in the Black community.

She’d also like to run for public office one day, so she can help advocate for STEM education and science funding.

“I remember thinking for years we need more diversity among scientists in government,” Mensah said. “And then later on, I realized that I could be the one striving toward representation.”

Related Links

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

Brookhaven National Laboratory/DOE

UCLA, partners win Department of Energy grant to boost diversity in field of nuclear physics

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Image of the DOE’s new Electron-Ion Collider in New York

Trainees will have the unique opportunity to conduct research related to the DOE’s new Electron-Ion Collider in New York (pictured), where scientists hope to determine the structure of quarks and gluons, the building blocks of matter. Image credit: Brookhaven National Laboratory/DOE

By Stuart Wolpert

The UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy has received federal government funding for a pilot program designed to help low-income, first-generation and historically underrepresented undergraduate students from across California pursue graduate degrees and careers in nuclear physics, with the aim of increasing the diversity of scientists in this field.

The $500,000 grant from the nuclear physics program in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science will support training, mentorship and hands-on research experiences for students, including internships at national laboratories and the opportunity to work on research related to the DOE’s cutting-edge Electron-Ion Collider, said associate professor of physics Zhongbo Kang, who is heading the program at UCLA.

The grant-funded program is a collaboration among UCLA, UC Riverside, the Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories, Cal Poly Pomona and the Cal-Bridge program, a statewide network of nine UC, 23 CSU and more than 110 community college campuses that seeks to create greater opportunities for underrepresented minorities in STEM fields. The undergraduate trainees are selected through Cal-Bridge.

Associate professor of physics Zhongbo Kang, who is heading the grant-funded program at UCLA and coordinating trainees’ work on the Electron-Ion Collider. Image Courtesy of Zhongbo Kang

“The UC and CSU systems are among the largest engines for social mobility in the United States and play a key role in providing opportunities to students from disadvantaged backgrounds,” said Kang, who is a member of both the Mani L. Bhaumik Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering at UCLA. “Their student bodies contain the largest pool of low-income, first-generation and underrepresented minority students in the nation, and we are in an excellent position to tap into this pool and broaden the nuclear physics pipeline.”

During each year of the two-year program, four trainees will join research groups at UCLA or UC Riverside and will intern for 10 weeks during the summer at either Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory or Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. At UCLA, the nuclear physics group conducts theoretical research under Kang’s leadership and experimental research under professor of physics Huan Huang. Trainees will be integrated into one of these groups based on their research interests and will work with the professors and a team of undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and staff scientists.

DOE’s Electron-Ion Collider: The future of nuclear physics

The chance to conduct research related to the nascent Electron-Ion Collider, or EIC — the DOE’s flagship research project for the future of nuclear physics — is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for the trainees, Kang said, and he hopes the experience will help them see themselves as members of the EIC community. The massive facility, to be built on Long Island, New York, will use electron collisions with protons and atomic nuclei to produce images of quarks and gluons — the elementary building blocks of matter. In California, scientists will be working on the physics undergirding the collider and developing the facility’s detectors. The next few years will be a critical period for the design of the detectors.

“Given that the EIC experiments will likely start in about 10 years and run until mid-century, the students will see that they could become deeply ingrained with the project,” said Kang, who will coordinate the EIC research training programs with the California EIC consortium. “Our goal is to establish a Ph.D. bridge to the EIC program by training a cohort of students from diverse backgrounds that will be in an excellent potion to apply to graduate school. The EIC project provides an excellent platform for training the next generation of scientists.”

The undergraduate trainees will present their research results at conferences and participate in the meetings and workshops of the American Physical Society’s Division of Nuclear Physics and the California EIC consortium. They will learn to work effectively on large research projects, communicate results to other scientists and general audiences, learn software skills to run large-scale physics simulations and develop technical expertise in data science and machine learning.

The first trainees began the program this month. The $500,000 grant is part a larger, $3 million DOE effort to broaden and diversify nuclear and particle physics through research traineeships for undergraduates.

“The ability to fulfill our mission to discover, explore and understand all forms of nuclear matter relies on the availability of a highly trained, diverse community of investigators, researchers, students and staff,” said Timothy Hallman, the DOE’s associate director of science for nuclear physics. “The goal of this program is to help broaden and diversity this community to ensure that it is drawn from the broadest possible pool of potential nuclear and particle physicists within the U.S.”

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

Dean Tracy Johnson honored for dedication to diversity in science

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Tracy Johnson, Dean of Life Sciences

Tracy Johnson, Dean of Life Sciences

Tracy Johnson, dean of the UCLA Division of Life Sciences, has received the 2022 Ruth Kirschstein Diversity in Science Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. According to the organization’s website, the award is given annually “to honor an outstanding scientist who has shown a strong commitment to the encouragement of underrepresented minorities to enter the scientific enterprise and/or to the effective mentorship of those within it.”

Tracy Johnson was appointed dean of life sciences in September 2020. She holds the Keith and Cecilia Terasaki Presidential Endowed Chair and is a professor of molecular, cell, and developmental biology. Since joining the UCLA faculty in 2013, she has been recognized for her scientific leadership; contributions to educational innovation; and dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion. She has served as associate dean for inclusive excellence in the Division of Life Sciences since January 2015.

Johnson is also a professor at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and created the UCLA–HHMI Pathways to Success Program, a four-year, intensive, honors-level program for undergraduate students majoring in the life sciences. The program is committed to the academic success and professional development of highly motivated students from diverse backgrounds who intend to pursue careers in the life sciences.

Read the full story at ASBMB Today, the member magazine of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. To learn more about Johnson’s work, visit her faculty page at the UCLA–HHMI Pathways to Success Program’s website.

Image of Carlos Galván and familyCourtesy of Carlos Galván

‘You belong’: How first-gen students have succeeded in STEM

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By Linda Wang

UCLA faculty and doctoral students reflect on challenges and offer advice to undergraduates

Image of Carlos Galván with his family

Carlos Galván, a doctoral student in the molecular biology interdepartmental program at UCLA, says his immigrant parents’ work ethic shaped his drive to succeed. Photo credit: Courtesy of Carlos Galván

UCLA prides itself on the fact that nearly a third of its undergraduate students will be the first in their families to earn a four-year college degree. Still, navigating the university experience can be a challenge for many first-generation students, and particularly for those in STEM fields, where they remain widely underrepresented.

One of the first things these students should recognize is that they’re not alone, says Carlos Galván, a STEM doctoral student. “There are resources on campus, but you have to put yourself out there and be willing to reach out for help.”

Here, Galván and other students and faculty members from the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA share their experiences as first-generation STEM students for National First-Generation College Celebration Day and National STEM Day. Their stories touch on familiar struggles — from dealing with financial hardships and “imposter syndrome” to the burden of “making it” for one’s family — and offer encouragement and advice on how first-gen students can make the most of their academic journey.

♦ ♦ ♦

Song Li 

Professor and chair of bioengineering, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
Professor of medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Image of Song Li.

Courtesy of Song Li

Alma mater: Peking University (bachelor’s in mechanics and master’s in biomechanics) and UC San Diego (doctorate in bioengineering)

Hometown: Liuzhou, China

Song Li grew up in China in the 1960s, a period in which there was significant disruption in the higher education system as a result of the Cultural Revolution. After the country began to reform and reopen in the 1980s, Li gained admission to Peking University, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. In the early 1990s, he moved to the U.S. to further his graduate studies.

What challenges did you face as a first-generation student?
My parents encouraged me to pursue higher education, but I had no clue about college life and future opportunities. I was overwhelmed my first year and was juggling many activities and contending with various challenges. However, I gradually learned to manage my time and focus on my classes, and I found my passion for doing research. To relieve the financial burden, I worked as a private tutor during summers to make money for traveling expenses, graduate school tests and school application fees.

What advice do you have for other first-generation students?
The general advice is to pursue a career you’re interested in and good at. I recognize, though, that first-generation college students might face additional hurdles like the lack of mentorship and financial obligations. Still, if you have a dream, go for it, seek advice and find mentors who can help you succeed. Now that I’m in a position to help, I’m eager to promote diversity and inclusion in my lab and classes, and I try to mentor and give career advice to first-generation students the way a parent would.

► See Song Li’s faculty page

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Aileen Nava

Doctoral student in human genetics
UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center trainee

Image of Aileen Nava

Courtesy of Aileen Nava

Alma mater: California State University, Fullerton (bachelor’s in biological science, cell and developmental biology)

Hometown: Huntington Beach, California

Aileen Nava’s younger sister suffered a cardiac arrest as a 1-year-old, leaving her disabled and requiring 24-hour medical care. This salient event motivated Nava to excel in school and pursue medical research so that she could one day develop treatments to help children born with congenital defects.

What challenges did you face as a first-generation student?
Money stressed me out the most. I never knew how I was going to pay my tuition each semester. While I received some federal financial aid, it didn’t cover everything. Luckily, my college stepped in and matched the federal funding. I never got a clear answer why this happened from the college financial aid office, but my logic was that since I was getting near-perfect grades, they wanted to keep me there.

I basically lived at the library while also working as a tutor for disadvantaged high school students in Huntington Beach, California, to make money to pay for food and gas. It was incredibly stressful juggling school and work, but I knew that quitting wasn’t an option. It took a lot of caffeine, and I probably suffered negative health consequences as a result. My basic human needs fell to the very bottom of my list of priorities in college because my mom, my sister, my whole family depended on me to “make it.”

What advice do you have for other first-generation students?
Succeeding in academia is less about raw intelligence and more about persistence, in my opinion. My vocabulary, my way of speaking — everything that I’ve accomplished until now — was all learned. So, even when it starts to feel impossible, know that it’s possible if you put in the work. You just have to find the right people to help you. I didn’t do it alone. At every institution I went to, there were always professors who saw my potential and counseled me through whatever hurdle I was going through.

► See Aileen Nava’s UCLA lab page

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Amander Clark

Professor and chair of molecular, cell and developmental biology, UCLA College

Image of Amander Clark

Courtesy of Amander Clark

Alma mater: University of Melbourne (bachelor’s in cell and developmental biology, doctorate in cell and developmental biology)

Hometown: Victoria, Australia

Amander Clark says she had an idyllic childhood growing up on a sheep farm in rural Australia, where she spent her time shearing sheep, wheat harvesting and helping with other chores and farm work alongside her two sisters. Her mother was a nurse and her father a farm laborer with a ninth-grade education. Both were supportive of their daughters attending college because they knew it would give them upward mobility.

What challenges did you face as a first-generation student?
I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I first got to college. I kept expecting at every point along the way for someone to point at me and say, “What are you doing here? You don’t belong.” That imposter syndrome is something I still have today. I think it’s a first-gen thing that sticks with you for a very long time.

As a country kid who never really went to a big city, I was incredibly off-balance my entire first year of university. I felt like I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know anything about art, I didn’t know anything about music. I felt so unprepared to go and live in a city, and I found it very intimidating to be surrounded by all these very smart people who seemed to have a lot more life experience than I did. But my love for learning really helped pull me through those early years of university. I really had a thirst for knowledge and dove into my studies.

What advice do you have for other first-generation students?
There are so many people who came before you that did it and there will be people who come after you whom you can help lift up. You just have to put in the work, but as long as you’re doing your best, you’ll succeed.

► See Amander Clark’s faculty page

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Carlos Galván 

Doctoral student in the molecular biology interdepartmental program
UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center trainee

Image of Carlos Galván and family

Courtesy of Carlos Galván

Alma mater: UCLA (bachelor’s in biochemistry)

Hometown: Fontana, California

Carlos Galván credits his immigrant parents’ work ethic with shaping his drive to succeed. As co-president of the UCLA chapter of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, or SACNAS, he’s passionate about organizing outreach events that expose young people from underrepresented communities to the magic and power of science.

What challenges did you face as a first-generation student?
Transitioning to college and having to be financially responsible for myself was really difficult. I was a full-time student and working multiple jobs. Coming from a low-income background, I had this big inner conflict of trying to balance everything. At one point, I was on the verge of academic probation because I was working so much — that was a huge wake-up call.

I wasn’t able to talk to my family or friends that I’ve known my entire life about my struggles because they wouldn’t understand what I was experiencing. I was also wrestling with thoughts like, “Am I not smart enough? Do I not belong here?” Once I started to join organizations like SACNAS and meet people that looked like me and had similar backgrounds, though — that’s when the imposter syndrome started to die down.

What advice do you have for other first-generation students?
Identify your allies, always advocate for yourself and don’t be scared to ask questions. There are resources on campus, but you have to put yourself out there and be willing to reach out for help. Join organizations like SACNAS to build community with people who have similar backgrounds and can understand your struggles. Above all, have confidence in knowing that you got into college just like your peers, so you belong.

► See Carlos Galvan’s UCLA lab page

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Pearl Quijada

Assistant professor of integrative biology and physiology, UCLA College

Image of Pearl Quijada

Courtesy of Pearl Quijada

Alma mater: UC Riverside (bachelor’s in biology), San Diego State University (master’s in cell and molecular biology), San Diego State University and UC San Diego (doctorate in cell and molecular biology)

Hometown: Los Angeles

Pearl Quijada was raised by a single mother and is the oldest of four children. A self-described “shy kid” who enjoyed solving puzzles and other activities she could do alone, she credits working in research labs with fostering her love for scientific collaboration.

What challenges did you face as a first-generation student?
The social aspect of college was hard for me. Everyone around me seemed to get it and knew exactly what they were there for. They knew that college wasn’t just about academics — it was about making friendships and joining various student clubs. I don’t know if it’s because I never had exposure to extracurricular activities growing up, but it was difficult to fit in and I felt like an outsider for most of my college experience.

What advice do you have for other first-generation students?
Make sure you’re mentally and physically healthy because burnout is real. Representation makes a huge difference, so I hope that by sharing my background, my students — particularly first-generation students — will feel more comfortable asking me for advice about how to navigate college.

► See Pearl Quijada’s faculty page

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Check out UCLA First to Go, a resource hub to assist current UCLA undergraduate students.

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

 

Photo of Justin Caram, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the UCLA College, and graduate student Dayanni Bhagwandin.

New UCLA fellowship aims to make environmental science more inclusive

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Photo of Justin Caram, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the UCLA College, and graduate student Dayanni Bhagwandin.

Justin Caram, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the UCLA College, and graduate student Dayanni Bhagwandin.

 

Climate change touches every life on the planet — so why are so many environmental scientists white men?

Last year, UCLA became the first university to launch a center for diversity in environmental science to counter the problem. Its goal: to inspire a generation of leaders that actually matches the demographics of the U.S. population.

This year, the Center for Diverse Leadership in Science’s first class of fellows takes flight, building a critical mass to ensure students and faculty of diverse backgrounds have what they’ll need to succeed, from funding to a supportive community of scientists with similar backgrounds.

“With challenges like climate change, the stakes have never been higher for ensuring we have scientific literacy coupled with representation and innovation,” said Aradhna Tripati, the center’s founder and a UCLA climate scientist. “We need every person’s imagination to overcome some of the greatest challenges our society has faced.”

Karen McKinnon, a professor in the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability knows only too well how that sense of isolation affects a student. As one of just a few women in her doctoral program, McKinnon experienced first-hand what it’s like to be a minority in an academic setting.

“The experience of having only a small number of female peers was challenging because you always felt just a little bit out of place,” said McKinnon, who is also a professor of statistics. “It was a visual reminder that I was not the ‘typical’ scientist.”

In the United States, 86 percent of the environmental science workforce is white and 70 percent is male, despite the fact that the EPA found in a 2018 study that non-white communities had a 28 percent higher health burden from environmental issues. Those under the poverty line had a 35 percent higher health burden.

The inaugural fellows class consists of 47 high school, undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, along with 22 faculty fellows from UCLA. The students will work in groups on research and outreach campaigns while the faculty fellows serve as mentors and role models.

Photo of Postdoctoral scientist Adeyemi Adebiyi and Jasper Kok, associate professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.

Postdoctoral scientist Adeyemi Adebiyi and Jasper Kok, associate professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences.

The fellows aim to break barriers that prevent women and minorities from pursuing academic careers in the sciences through group collaboration, workshop training sessions and community outreach. Students are paid for their work with financial support from the National Science Foundation and private donations.

The fellows aim to break barriers that prevent women and minorities — including people of various gender identities and sexual orientations — from pursuing academic careers in the sciences through group collaboration, workshop training sessions and community outreach. Students are paid for their work with financial support from the National Science Foundation and private donations.

Ronald Thompson, a second-year environmental science student from Sacramento, said he is one of few black students in most of his classes.

“Diversity provides comfort in a work environment and shows that you can do anything despite your race, religious beliefs or sexuality,” said Thompson, who wants to pursue a research career in conservation biology. “It lets you be comfortable with what you’re doing and makes you feel like you’re not being judged or looked at differently.”

For his research component of the fellowship, Thompson works with other undergraduates in a group overseen by a doctoral candidate to analyze sediment from ancient lakes across the western United States. Their research aims to discover how those lakes persisted through past changes in climate — and how they might react to modern climate change. While the work is fulfilling, Thompson said the best part is working with others just as passionate as himself about the environment.

“People go above and beyond what is required of them out of pure passion for the work they do,” Thompson said. “Everyone wants to be a part of the change that promotes a better future.”

Next year, Thompson will be paired with a faculty fellow for one-on-one mentorship, a cornerstone of the fellowship program.

Tripati said that having a continuum of scientists at all levels — from high school students to professors — is an effective strategy to build professional communities that are inclusive of all forms of diversity: gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, race and ethnicity.

Lack of diversity in such programs can have global implications when it comes to environmental issues, she added.

“If you don’t have women in science, you’re missing some of that talent pool,” McKinnon said. “There remain a lot of fundamental questions to answer about how the climate system responds to human influence.”

One way to make students more comfortable in class is to encourage teachers to embrace inclusive teaching techniques, said Jasper Kok, who is one of the faculty fellows and an associate professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences in the UCLA College. Every class includes a 10-minute exercise during which students work with their neighbors.

“Techniques that engage students and let them work collaboratively help those students who feel like they don’t belong feel more at home and more likely to stay in that field,” he said.

For student fellow Thompson, the benefits are more personal.

“It’s an opportunity to give back to communities and be a role model to other college students, high school students and middle school students,” he said.

UCLA’s Hollywood Diversity Report reveals a few bright spots for women and minorities

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Counting each year’s 200 top-grossing films, the number of women directors nearly doubled from 2016 to 2017, according to the newest UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report, published today by the UCLA College Division of Social Science

Chicano Studies Research Center wins diversity award

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Throughout its 50-year history, the Chicano Studies Research Center has advanced diversity in the arts through scholarship, museum exhibitions, archival collections, public programs, community partnerships, professional development and policy-related research and advocacy.