Diversity @ UCR

UCR is the UC of the Future

Faculty and academic personnel looking to teach in a strongly diversity-based environment with both a global student body and international reputation for excellence in research will find a home at UCR. With more than $100 million in research grants, UCR is engaged in collaborative studies with partners all over the world. A leader in numerous areas of study including nanotechnology, discovery of the top quark, alternative energy sources and agricultural innovation, UCR provides a complete range of math and science opportunities as well as engineering, social science, arts, economics and education.

Currently, UCR faculty are engaged in new frontiers of research ranging from the tiniest particles and creatures to the largest magnets and issues.  Examples of leading research efforts engaged at UCR are evident all across the campus.

• View available faculty and academic staff job opportunities.
• View the UCR Affirmative Action Plan for Academic Personnel, effective March 2010 through February 2011, which includes veterans and individuals with disabilities.
• Read all about UCR's National Science Foundation Advance grant for the FORWARD project to draw more women of color into the STEM fields.

News & Events

• Muhamad Ali, Assistant Professor in Religious Studies, delivered a keynote address to the Regional Workshop on Islam and Multiculturalism in Southeast Asia, held at the Wahid Institute in Jakarta, Dec. 5-7, 2011. Speaking on the history of multiculturalism in Southeast Asia, Ali traced the rise of influence of Islam within this dynamic. His remarks also were condensed into an opinion piece that ran in the Jakarta Post. You can read it here.

• Author, Professor of Creative Writing and poet Michael Jaime Becerra, returned home recently to talk to students about his writing, education and to read some of his work. While the assemblies were a treat for the students, it was also a treat for Becerra to return to Kranz where he attended and once lived near. Though no longer down the street from the school anymore, he still lives in El Monte. Most of Becerra's literary work is set in El Monte and Kranz is even mentioned many times. His novels include "Every Night Is Ladies Night" and "This Time Tomorrow." His book of poetry, "The Estrellitas Off Peck Road" is a source used in eighth grade at Kranz to teach poetry. Read more…

• Catherine Allgor, professor of history and Presidential Chair at UCR, has been nominated by President Barack Obama to the board of trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation. The White House announced Allgor’s nomination on Sept. 6. It also requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate. The Foundation, established by Congress in 1986, promotes teaching of the Constitution through fellowships to secondary school educators to assist them in pursuing master's degrees in American history, American government, and social studies. The fellowships are named in honor of James Madison, the fourth U.S. president and primary author of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.Read More... »

• Christopher (Chris) Abani is a Los Angeles-based, internationally recognised Nigerian writer, whose poetry, plays, and fiction have been praised for their unblinking look at war and all of its attendant horrors: brutal violence, loss of innocence, post-colonial poverty, political corruption, and the communal heartbreak of a shattered but proud native culture...See full story. 

• Dr. Yolanda Moses, Professor of Anthropology, was recently interviewed by 'The Root,' a Washington Post Online partner, regarding the nationally acclaimed "Race: Are We So Different?" exhibit currently touring the country. Dr. Moses also serves the UC Riverside campus as Associate Vice Chancellor, Diversity, Excellence & Equity, has held posts as Vice Provost at UCR as well as president of a New York college in her impressive career.

Research & Scholarship

• Akua Asa-Awuku, an Assistant Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, and her team of graduate students are about to probe a new frontier in the understanding of global warming through a $450,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Project Agency. The grant will pay for a three-year study of how soot and other fine particles from tailpipes and smokestacks affect climate change. Asa-Awuka hopes to learn precisely how climate change could be affected by reducing particle pollution, which already has been blamed for health problems including aggravating respiratory conditions, such as asthma, and causing early death. Read more.

• Huinan Liu, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, has been awarded a $175,000 NSF grant to develop biodegradable medical implants. She plans to develop biodegradable implant materials that would promote tissue regeneration and disappear after serving their functions in the body. One use could be in coronary stents. Currently, surgeons insert medical implants made of titanium alloys or stainless steel. Such implants sometimes create problems because the materials they’re made from can cause complications and fail. Read more.

• Thomas Miller, Professor of Entomology, has been chosen by U.S Department State to receive 2010-2011 Jefferson Science Fellowship. Miller had been selected to spend a year in Washington, D.C., to advise State Department officials on issues regarding foreign policies related to biotechnology and entomology. In addition, Miller has been elected a fellow of the prestigious Entomological Society of America, the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines.

• Michalis Faloutsos, Professor in BCOE's Computer Science Department, has been awarded $1.5 million over five years by the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) to help create a collaborative technology alliance in network science. Faloutsos will be among 30 university and industrial labs comprising the Interdisciplinary Research Center (IRC) to be established at the Raytheon BBN Technologies headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

• Learn more about UCR Faculty/Academic Staff Research & Scholarships.

Awards & Recognition

• Elizabeth Cochran, a seismologist and Adjunct Assistant Professor in Earth Sciences, is shaking up the scientific community. So much so, she will receive a top honor from the U.S. government — the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Cochran was nominated by the National Science Foundation. She is being recognized for turning thousands of laptop computers — equipped with special sensors to detect ground tremors — into round-the-clock earthquake monitors. Her work emphasizes understanding the temblor risk while involving the public in collecting seismic data. Read more.

• Kathleen Montgomery, professor emerita of organizations and management at the School of Business Administration, was given the Myron D. Fottler Exceptional Service Award at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management in San Antonio. Recognizing her efforts over a career's worth of mentoring, professional leadership and research focused on the medical profession and health care organizations, the award is the most distinguished honor bestowed by the Health Care Management Division. It is not an annual award; rather, it is given only when a suitable nominee is identified. Montgomery is the 10th such recipient since its inception in 1999.

• Mavis Washington and Ray Dalke, two former UCR athletes will be inducted in Riverside Sport Hall of Fame on Sunday, May 15. Washington coached women’s basketball in Nebraska, Syracuse, Miami (Ohio), Idaho and Fresno State and was inducted into the UCR Hall of Fame in 1986. Dalke, the highest ranking American ever in the martial art of Shotokan Karate, worked in the physical education department at UC Riverside for 30 years, coaching the team to five national collegiate karate championships between 1967 and 1997. Dalke also coached eight individual national champions and his 1997 squad finished second in the International Collegiate Association Karate Tournament.
• Alexander Balandin, a professor of electrical engineering and founding chair of a campus-wide Materials Science and Engineering Program, was selected to receive the Pioneer of Nanotechnology Award for 2011.
• Learn more about UCR Faculty/Academic Staff Awards & Recognition.