KUCI: Office Hours

Climate Change and Social Change: Talking with an Environmental and Labor Activist

In this "Office Hours" double feature, Dr. Keith Danner speaks about his research on climate change, as well as his role as the local president of UC-AFT, the lecturers' union at the University of California. He describes potential outcomes of climate change in the coming years, and what preventative measures are urgently needed. He also describes the work UC-AFT has done to obtain job security for lecturers, and the rewards of union organizing. Dr. Danner is a lecturer of composition at UC Irvine.
Our intro song was "If I Had a Dime" by David Ryan Harris.
Find out more at:
https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=6616
https://www.newuniversity.org/2017/06/06/letters-to-the-editor-lecturers-union/
https://ucaft.org/content/irvine
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/global-warming/exxon-and-the-oil-industry-knew-about-climate-change/exxons-climate-denial-history-a-timeline/

The Intimacies of Revolution: Anticolonialism and Sexual Politics in the Dutch Caribbean

This week, we dive into a lesser known corner of trans-Atlantic colonialism with Dr. Chelsea Schields, a professor of history. She talks about her research on leftist anticolonial movements in the Dutch Caribbean, and how they imagined sexual politics and liberation as a part of the revolution. Postcolonial activists of the Dutch Caribbean wrote about issues of prostitution and reproductive rights, and argued that women's sexual freedom as well as LGBT equality were a key part of dismantling imperialist control of the islands.
Find out more at:
https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=6440
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3025&context=gc_etds
https://uci.academia.edu/ChelseaSchields
https://www.academia.edu/39851248/Eros_against_empire_Visions_of_erotic_freedom_in_archives_of_decolonisation
Our intro song was If I Had a Dime by David Ryan Harris.

(Gay) Pride and (Institutional) Prejudice

To celebrate Pride Month, this week we learn about LGBTQ history with Dr. Jennifer Terry, the chair of gender and sexuality studies at UC Irvine. We discuss how the medical and scientific communities have studied the LGBTQ community throughout the past century, as detailed in her book, An American Obsession: Science, Medicine, and Homosexuality in Modern Society. We also talk about the history of the gay liberation movement through the 60s, 70s, and 80s, amidst the AIDS crisis. The conversation concludes with discussing how the US government and its institutions of the military and the police currently treat LGBTQ citizens.
To find more of Dr. Terry's work:
https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=4925
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo3626344.html
Some places to donate to:
https://marshap.org/#
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
https://www.theokraproject.com/
https://www.naacpldf.org/
Our intro song was "If I Had a Dime" by David Ryan Harris.

Structures of Oppression: A Conversation on Race in America

In the wake of Juneteenth and the ongoing police brutality protests, "Office Hours" hears from Dr. Damien Sojoyner, a professor of anthropology, and Ms. Stephanie Jones, a PhD student in sociology. Both have focused on issues of anti-blackness and structural inequality in the United States. We discuss systemic racism, conceptions of race, the current protests, and Dr. Sojoyner's book First Strike: Educational Enclosures of Black Los Angeles, which describes how the policing, discipline, and curriculum in American schools leads to the oppression and subjugation of Black students.
Resources Mentioned:
https://thenewpress.com/books/fatal-invention
http://www.socallib.org/
https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
Other writings from Dr. Sojoyner:
https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/first-strike
https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/sojoyner/
https://escholarship.org/content/qt35c207gv/qt35c207gv.pdf?t=oxpfpy&v=lg
https://truthout.org/articles/keywords-in-black-protest-a-n-anti-vocabulary/
Our intro song was "If I Had a Dime" by David Ryan Harris.

Behind the Mysteries of Academia and Space

This week, "Office Hours" shoots for the stars with Dr. Virginia Trimble, a distinguished professor of astronomy and physics at UC Irvine. She discusses her research on the ways science is conducted, and shares some knowledge about stars, galaxies, and dark matter. Dr. Trimble has won several awards for her lifetime of contributions, and has served in leadership positions in the International Astronomical Union, the American Physical Society, the American Astronomical Society, and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics.
Find out more at:
https://www.wired.com/story/the-woman-who-knows-everything-about-the-universe/
https://www.aip.org/news/2019/lifelong-successes-public-enlightenment-virginia-trimble-receive-gemant-award-championing
https://baas.aas.org/pub/2020i0204/release/1
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1811.04310.pdf
Our intro song was "If I Had A Dime" by David Ryan Harris. For information and ways to help Black Lives Matter, go to blacklivesmatter.carrd.co

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart: AI in Cardio and COVID-19 Imaging

Join us this week as Dr. Arash Kheradvar, a cardiovascular engineer and a professor of biomedical engineering and medicine at UC Irvine, discusses his innovative research in using artificial intelligence to analyze cardiac MRIs for patients with congenital heart disease. Recently, he has used this AI technology to predict the course of the disease from looking at chest scans of COVID-19 patients. Dr. Kheradvar has worked on several lifesaving cardiac technologies through the years, has founded his own research lab at UCI, and is an elected fellow of the American Heart Association.
Find out more at:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arash_Kheradvar
https://pureresearch.americanheart.org/en/awards/cloudbased-ai-platform-for-automatic-segmentation-and-analysis-of-pediatric-cardiac-mri-datasets(ddf23476-13e3-4174-b773-20d03a8e9250).html
https://oc-covid19.org/engineers-aim-to-use-ai-on-chest-x-rays-to-predict-disease-severity/
http://kheradvar.eng.uci.edu/index.php
Our intro song was "If I Had a Dime" by David Ryan Harris

Hunting Down COVID-19

This week, "Office Hours" brings timely updates from cutting edge COVID-19 research. Dr. Weian Zhao is an Associate Professor at the Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology, and the departments of Biomedical Engineering, Biological Chemistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UCI. His current project is developing a more accurate method of testing for COVID-19 that detects antigens in the blood instead of the current nasopharyngeal tests.
Find out more about Dr. Zhao and how you can donate to his research here: https://pharmsci.uci.edu/dr-weian-zhao/
Our intro song was "If I Had A Dime" by David Ryan Harris

Fighting for Art with UCI Digital Filmmaking

In this episode, Ingrid Allen interviews an advocate and member of the UCI Digital Filmmaking minor, Jenna Morehouse. Jenna and Ingrid discuss the very competitive minor, what applicants can expect, the saga behind the threat of defunding this year, and how the minor has helped her.
Check out Jenna's film work on her Instagram: @jene.vie.ve
And the Digital Filmmaking site: http://digifilmuci.com/
Our intro song was "If I Had a Dime" by David Ryan Harris

Juvenile Justice

This week, we hear from Dr. Elizabeth Cauffman, a professor of psychological science, education, and law at UC Irvine. She discusses her research on whether adolescents should be tried as adults, and how they are affected by the criminal justice system. Tune in to hear how her unpack how the teenage brain develops, what her studies have shown, and how she contributed to the Supreme Court decision to ban the death penalty for minors.
Find out more at:
http://blumcenter.uci.edu/media/2018/our-kids-elizabeth-cauffman/
Our intro song was "If I Had a Dime" by David Ryan Harris.

It Changes Your Brain: The Neurology of Cocaine Addiction

This week, Cybelle Kaehler interviews Rianne Campbell, a phD student in neurology, who shares her findings on how the use of cocaine changes the long term structure of the brain. Rianne was also featured on "Bill Nye Saves the World". Join us as we dive into the science of addiction, and how her research is trying to combat it.
Our intro song was "If I Had a Dime" by David Ryan Harris.